Honors in Sociology
Several Honors students at our recent 2007 Sociology Research Institute.
Prof. Joachim Savelsberg, Former Faculty Honors Representative
CLA Honors Information
The College of Liberal Arts Honors Division is located in 20 Nicholson Hall. Friendly and well-informed advisors await you there to discuss honors opportunities and requirements and to assist you with the application process. The Honors Program provides unique opportunities and encouragement to highly motivated liberal arts majors. Honors students are offered a broad range of scholastic experiences, including small classes and group discussions, more interpersonal contact with faculty, innovative teaching and learning environments, independent studies, interdisciplinary team research, internships, and apprenticeships.
In addition to providing an academic alternative to large classes and remote instructors, the honors program offers a special events group that attends a wide variety of cultural activities in the Twin Cities, information and guidance on career opportunities and graduate programs, counseling on procedures that can lead to honors scholarships, registration for courses ordinarily restricted to graduate students, and an Honors Senate.
Students are admitted to the college honors program on the basis of academic ability and interest in the education opportunities provided by the program. Generally, those who have declared a major concentration or are in the process of doings so are required to have at least half their degree credits graded "A" to qualify for admission into Honors. No student will be accepted into the program who has fewer than four semesters of registration remaining before graduation. No student can graduate with honors (cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude) unless s/he is in the Honors program for at least the last four semesters before graduation. Please note: Individual departmental requirements may require participation in the Honors program for longer than two semesters. Sociology requires participation beginning early in the junior year, so plan early!
Students may remain in the Honors program as long as they continue to participate actively in honors opportunities. For freshmen and sophomores, this is defined as four honors opportunity each year. For juniors and seniors, this means a total of 3 opportunities each year. On the basis of a review conducted at the end of the junior year, students who are not maintaining the minimum standard for graduating with honors may be dropped from the Honors program.
Honors opportunities are defined as (1) honors colloquia for freshmen and sophomores coordinated by the CLA Honors Division; (2) college honors seminars for juniors and seniors, also coordinated by the Honors Division; (3) a wide variety of honors courses or sections, arranged by individual academic departments; (4) Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and other faculty-directed research (5) study abroad (6) national student exchange (7) internship exeriences (8) community engagement projects (9) publication in a scholarly or professional journal (10) conference poster presentations (11) tutoring and teaching experiences. Students will need to approval from their UHP advisors for non-course options.
Eligibility is based on the GPA in the student’s final 60 graded credits (only full semesters will be used, i.e. more than 60 credits may be included in the honors GPA.) The Honors graduation GPA Levels are as follows:
- cum laude 3.5 GPA or higher
- magna cum laude 3.66 GPA or higher
- summa cum laude 3.75 GPA or higher
Students must complete the honors requirements for their degree within two years of the term in which they apply for graduation in order to graduate with Latin honors. Residency: Students must complete a minimum of 60 graded credits at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus (transfer credits are not included). All Honors courses must be graded A-F.
Honors Opportunities and Requirements in Sociology
Honors students who major in sociology write the Honors Thesis in close collaboration with faculty and in a small seminar context together with other honors students. The process begins with a two-semester Senior Proseminar. Students begin by developing a thesis topic and research question and complete a prelinary literature search. Students are then guided through the research process to write their literature review, possibly collect data, conduct data analysis, and complete the writing of their thesis. In this process, students will be guided not just by the faculty member who teaches the Proseminar, but also by a second faculty member who has special expertise in the topical or methodological area chosen by the honors student.
Honors students must have a major program on file in the sociology advising office, 923 Social Sciences. Occasional departmental honors meetings are held so that sociology honors majors can meet one another, share common concerns and intellectual interests, and become acquainted with the faculty. The Department of Sociology has an honors faculty advisor who consults with prospective and active honors majors in sociology.
Like all Sociology majors, Sociology honors students must complete the coursework for one of the major options in either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science track. Yet, instead of the Advanced Project Seminar, honors students will prepare and write their honors theses in a two-semester sequence involving the Senior Honors Proseminars I and II.
Honors students must complete the Sociology core requirements (Soc 1001 or Soc 1011V. Soc 3701, Soc 3801 and Soc 3811) and at least three of their Sociology electives before registering for Soc 4977: Senior Honors Proseminar I. At least two of the upper division Sociology electives must be at the 4xxx level or above.
Sociology honors students complete their senior thesis through registration in SOC 4977and SOC 4978: Senior Honors Proseminar II. This seminar sequence is taught by a sociology faculty member. In this seminar setting, the student will define, refine, and research a suitable thesis topic and research question, and write the honors thesis. Other faculty participate as mentors, advisors, and readers for individual student theses.
Typically, when the thesis is complete, the student has formed a three-faculty committee composed of two faculty from the sociology department (one of whom may be the seminar professor) and one from a related department. The final review of the honors thesis will include a face-to-face gathering of the honors candidates and the three readers for a conversation about the research process and the student's individual research. The level of honors granted upon graduation is determined by the grade point average and the level of achievement on the thesis as judged by the faculty committee after the student's final oral presentation. For more information, please consult the Sociology Honors representative.