Honors Concentration
The department’s Honors Program emphasizes the ideals of a superior liberal arts education and gives students a more rigorous and intensive preparation in political science. The honors concentration consists of twenty-seven (27) upper division hours in political science, including completion of POLS 401 , POLS 487 , and POLS 488 . These 27 hours must include at least one course in each of the four areas of the discipline. To graduate with honors in political science, the student must have a minimum GPA of 3.3 in political science, and a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25.
The Honors Program encourages fruitful contacts between individual students and faculty members, and student involvement in planning and developing the program. As a senior, each student takes POLS 487 and POLS 488 , investigates a topic of his or her choice, and presents the results in an Honors Thesis. This project develops with the assistance and supervision of the Honors Director or another member of the Political Science faculty. Students are encouraged to take POLS 401 in advance of POLS 487 and POLS 488 , because POLS 401 will help students better to design and undertake thesis research.
