Disciplinary Honors is its own unique track within the Honors College that allows sophomores and above to join the Honors College and explore your major in depth. Admission to Disciplinary Honors requires a minimum cumulative UNCG GPA of 3.30 to 3.50, depending on your major.
In Disciplinary Honors you’ll work one-on-one with professors in your major, study topics in depth, and do original, sophisticated research, scholarly work, or creative projects that will help prepare you to enter graduate or professional school or embark on a career. The requirements for the Disciplinary Honors Program vary by major, but require few, if any, additional classes. Students are responsible for verifying their department’s individual departmental requirements via the UNCG Undergraduate Bulletin or in consultation with your Honors Liaison or the Honors College’s Disciplinary Honors Adviser.
The Disciplinary Honors requirements by department are available HERE.
Each academic department at UNCG has a faculty member who serves as Honors Liaison who is knowledgeable about his or her department’s Disciplinary Honors program. You are encouraged to get to know the Liaison in your department, especially by the time you are a junior and fully in your major.
The majority of a student’s work within Disciplinary Honors typically is encompassed by enhancing courses already required by your specific major through an Honors Contract. Generally, these enhancements take the form of an additional paper, an additional presentation, an expansion of course assignments, additional meetings with the professor teaching the course, or some combination of these enhancements. Some majors also offer special Honors sections of courses or require specific courses within the major for Disciplinary Honors.
The Senior Honors Project is the culmination of a student’s Disciplinary Honors experience. The Senior Honors Project can take a variety of forms: a paper, a performance, a scientific experiment, a product. Whatever its form, the Project must have a written component, it should employ scholarship, and it should make a significant contribution to a body of knowledge.
Topics, methods of investigation, and modes of presentation vary from discipline to discipline. Typically, students announce a problem that they wish to solve, survey background information to define and explain the problem, and present evidence and reasoning in support of a thesis or hypothesis. The student’s work culminates in an original essay, an annotated creative work or performance, a scientific experiment or report, or a product.
The length of a Senior Honors Project depends on the topic and discipline. A Project in the humanities could be a paper of 30 to 50 pages, whereas the written part of a Project in the sciences or performing arts could be considerably shorter. The Project can focus on any topic of the student’s choosing. Senior Honors Projects must be supervised and approved by a UNCG faculty member from a department in which the subject under consideration is taught. Students should speak to their Honors Liaison well in advance of beginning the Senior Honors Project.
Some past Senior Honors Projects may be found in NCDOCKS. Previous students have said that reading through examples of previous years’ projects helped them immensely. We would be happy to talk with you about your Senior Honors Project.
Disciplinary Honors students are full members of the Honors College and are eligible for all the same opportunities and benefits as International Honors students, including:
Graduation with Disciplinary Honors
Students who have completed all requirements for Disciplinary Honors by graduation will be recognized at the annual Spring Honors banquet or Fall Cording Ceremony and will have the Disciplinary Honors designation, along with the title of their Senior Honors Project, added to their official transcripts. Graduating Honors students will be assessed a $30 graduation fee.
Graduation with Full University Honors
Students who complete both the Disciplinary Honors Program and the International Honors Program or Global Honors Program are awarded Full University Honors for their sustained Honors work throughout their time as undergraduate students.
The Department of Human Development and Family Studies offers a B.S. degree in Birth through Kindergarten Education with two concentrations: BK Licensure and Early Care and Education. Students are admitted to UNCG as pre-majors, then gain Secondary Admission to be majors following completion of specified major courses and earning a minimum required GPA. Both programs afford students the ability to complete all degree requirements online with asynchronous and synchronous course delivery and offer the opportunity to pursue Disciplinary Honors.
The Bryan School of Business & Economics offers two undergraduate online degree completion programs: B.S in Business Administration with a concentration in Business Studies and a B.S in Information Systems & Supply Chain Management with a concentration in Supply Chain Management. Both programs afford students the ability to complete all degree requirements online with asynchronous delivery and offer the opportunity to pursue Disciplinary Honors.
The Department of Public Health Education offers a B.S in Public Health with a concentration in Health Studies. Our online degree completion program allows students to complete all degree requirements online and provides enriching academic opportunities for students to pursue the distinction of Disciplinary Honors.
The College of Arts and Sciences offers three online degree programs: a B.A. in History, a B.A. in Liberal Studies with concentrations in Humanities, Social Sciences, and Professional Studies, and a B.A. in Philosophy. These online degree completion programs allow students to complete all degree requirements online and offer the option to pursue Disciplinary Honors.