The university offers three levels of honors at graduation: cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude. Please note that:
- Transfer credits and S-U option credits are excluded.
- Post-baccalaureate students are not eligible for honors recognition.
- Honors recognition is printed on the university diploma.
To graduate with the distinction of cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude, a student must meet the requirements below and be recommended by the college faculty.
The student must have completed at least 45 semester hours of credit in residence at the university. Only the junior-/senior-level GPA exclusive of internship/student teaching will be considered. Credit earned through correspondence or extension courses is not included when computing grade point averages.
- Cum Laude:
To graduate cum laude, a student must have earned a 3.40 or higher GPA for all coursework taken while classified as a junior/senior.
Magna or Summa Cum Laude:
Students in the College of HHP are eligible for magna cum laude or summa cum laude by earning a 3.70 or higher GPA for all coursework taken while classified as a junior/senior and completing a senior paper or creative work. The student's supervisory committee makes the recommendation for these distinctions based upon an evaluation of this work.
Submitting an Honors Thesis (http://www.honors.ufl.edu/thesis.html )
Please follow these guidelines when preparing an Honors Thesis:
- Submission of an undergraduate thesis in order to graduate magna cum laude or summa cum laude. For this purpose, the paper should reflect a high caliber of work.
- If you are looking for help writing your thesis, the Honors Program recommends Conquering Your Undergraduate Thesis, by Nataly Kogan (available on Amazon. com or at your local bookstore). This book offers helpful and practical advice from fellow students and recent graduates. Another excellent resource is How to Write a BA Thesis: A Practical Guide from Your First Ideas to Your Finished Paper, by Charles Lispon (also available from Amazon.com).
- Please have your advisor review your thesis and honors thesis submission form for organization, content, grammar, and spelling before you submit it.
- Your abstract should begin with a definitive statement of the problem or project treated by yrouthesis. The porpose, scope, and limit of the thesis should be clearly delineated. Then, as concisely as possible, describe research emthods and design, major findings, the significance of your work (if appropriate), and conclusion. The abstract should be 100-200 words.
- Students whose thesis involves "creative" work such as original fine art, music, writing, theatre, film, or dance should descrive process and production, indicating the forms of documentation on file as "thesis" materials.
- The Honors Thesis Submission Form must be completed with a typewriter or computer. Handwritten forms will not be accepted.
- You must upload the final revision of your thesis to the Honors Program by May 4 for spring semester graduates, August 10 for summer graduates, and December 21 for fall semester graduates. This can be done by completing the online title/abstract submission form available at http://www.honors.ufl.edu/webapps/thesis/submit/
HHP Honors Thesis Submission Deadline
Honors Thesis/Graduation requirements are completed during the last one or two semesters at UF. (If you plan to complete an internship outside of Alachua County, you must complete your honors/project paper the term prior to interning). The final thesis submission is established and posted by the Registrar's Office under Academic Deadlines and Calendars (http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/adhub.html ).
APK Summer 2012 Departmental Process:
- Verify your Upper Division (UD) GPA meets the Department minimum using your degree audit on ISIS and/or meet with your APK Academic Advisor to confirm your eligibility. (The APK4940C, Internship, course is not computed in your UD GPA.)
- Select an APK faculty member in your discipline with whom you would like to work on a research project. Approach the faculty member and discuss your interest in an honors project, and review with him/her the opportunity and paper/project requirements. The faculty member will act as your Honors Faculty Committee Chair. A second faculty committee member will be provided by the Department.
- JUNE 8, 2012 - Submit a preliminary TYPED Honors Thesis Submission Form (http://www.honors.ufl.edu/forms/thesis.pdf ), to your Academic Advisor. This enables the college to ensure your honors designation is printed on the commencement program. Please indicate on the top of the form which project you are completing.
- JULY 16, 2012 – On or before this date, submit a preliminary draft to your Committee for review and discussion. This enables you and your Committee ample time for correction and final submission.
- AUGUST 1, 2012 - Submit to the APK Department Chair a copy of the thesis/project, a final TYPED Honors Thesis Submission Form (http://www.honors.ufl.edu/forms/thesis.pdf ), and a memo from your Honors Faculty Committee Chair recommending summa or magna cum laude. The Department Chair will forward the documents with a recommendation for summa or magna cum laude to the Dean’s office.
AND
- Complete electronic process for the Honors Program office as outlined above (http://www.honors.ufl.edu/upperdivisionhonors.html )