Honors Program Requirements

Achievement of a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 overall and 3.70 in Political Science to graduate with honors.

The Honors Program will require 16 credits of honors work.

All students beginning the Honors Program will take a new 4-credit course: Great Ideas in Political Science (POS 496Z). This seminar will be taught each fall and will be restricted to honors students.

Students in the Honors Program must take two 3 credit POS 300 level courses for one additional credit each (which is acquired by registering for either the 1 credit POS 300 or 300s in conjunction with any 3 credit POS 300 level course). In addition to attending classes and doing the same assignments as the other students in the course, the additional fourth credit is earned through a tutorial with the faculty member teaching the course that includes extra reading and writing assignments.

Students in the Honors Program will have the option of capping their studies with either a 4-credit honors thesis (POS 499Z) written under the supervision of a faculty member of the student's choosing or a 4-credit version of an existing 400-level course in which the honors student will undertake a writing project (a 1 credit POS 400 level in conjunction with any 3 credit POS 400-level course) or POS 495Z.

Honors students will need to have the traditional upper-division area of concentration in American Politics, Global Politics, Public Law, or Political Theory as required of all POS majors. The two 300-level honors courses and the 400-level honors course or honors thesis can be used to fulfill this requirement.

Completion of 20 additional credits in Political Science to satisfy the minimum program requirement of a POS major of 36 credits, which will include the required introductory courses POS 101, POS 102, and POS 103.

Honors Program Admission

Majors may discuss admission with the Political Science director of the Honors Program (Professor Morton Schoolman) at any time during their first or second year or at the beginning of their third year. Transfer students should apply upon their admission to the University. The requirements for admission include:

Overall cumulative grade point average of 3.50 and 3.70 in Political Science courses. The Director of the Honors Program, however, may make exceptions to this rule for students who show promise of achieving the requisite GPAs overall and in Political Science by graduation.

Completion of 9 credits in Political Science (including one or more of the introductory courses, POS 101, POS 102, or POS 103) before beginning the program.

The Idea Behind the Program

The Honors curriculum is designed to create a program that is intellectually rigorous and challenging. The "Great Ideas in Political Science" seminar (POS 496Z) will be the intellectual bedrock of the Honors Program. It will provide students in the Honors Program with a high-level examination to the most prominent theories and concepts in each subfield of Political Science. While providing a sense of the entire discipline and the interconnections between its parts, it will also help students to determine where their own special interests lie. The seminar will allow for sustained student interaction and the development of an honors community.

The 4-credit honors versions of 300- and 400-level courses should make the Honors Program very appealing. Instead of being able to take only the specialized 400 level seminars offered each semester, honors students are able to take as honors courses any 300 or 400 upper-division course taught by professors with whom they most want to work. Honors students will have the special opportunity to take part in a tutorial with those professors, meeting with them to complete special assignments.

Through POS 499Z the Honors Program offers the option of an honors thesis for those students interested in pursuing an independent writing project. Other top students have the alternative of undertaking a writing project as part of a 4-credit honors version of a 400-level writing intensive course. Taking this alternative students will be functioning within the more well-defined framework of a conventional course. Within this framework students should have an easier time selecting and refining a topic and developing a schedule that will bring the project to completion by the end of the semester.

Honors students who take part in the Washington Semester program will be able to fulfill the requirement for a writing project in POS 495Z (Research and Writing in Washington).