Contact:
Sally Deckard
Director of Academic Operations
School of Informatics and Computing
919 East 10th Street, Room 104
856-5372
1. How is your honors degree program administered? Is there a specific
person who acts as coordinator? Is there a faculty committee?
The director of undergraduate studies acts as the departmental program
coordinator. The departmental honors committee provides approval to
students who wish to participate in the program.
2. What are the requirements for admission into your honors program?
How are students recruited for your program? May students recommend
themselves?
Any student may apply, and at any time. We announce the availability of
the program on degree requirement sheets and occasionally in the monthly
undergraduate newsletter. Students new to the major are sent a welcome
letter, and those students with a 3.3 cumulative GPA are asked to
consider the honors program. Prospective majors in the honors college
are sent a letter from the honors chair announcing the availability of
the program.
3. How does a student graduate with honors from your department?
A candidate for a honors degree is expected to complete 9 hours of
honors courses ("H" prefix), which parallel courses required of all
majors. Students in the honors program must maintain an overall 3.3 GPA
and a 3.5 GPA in courses used to satisfy major requirements. Completion
of honors capstone (H450/H451) or a university thesis (I460/I461) is
required.
4. What courses do students take as juniors and before in order to
prepare for working on the senior project? How are these honors seminars
and courses typically conducted? What are the usual requirements in such
courses?
The honors (H) courses may be either small independent courses or
combined with a parallel non-honors course, but with a laboratory or
discussion section restricted to honors students. In either case, honors
sections present added challenges, learning opportunities and
expectations.
5. What is the nature of the senior project and what are the
requirements for completing it?
There are two options for completing the senior project requirement.
Student may choose to pursue an honors capstone (H450/H451) project,
which will include the selection and execution of a solution for a
problem that demonstrates a synthesis of skills learned throughout a
student's undergraduate education. Alternatively, students may select a
research problem with a faculty advisor and pursue a rigorous
exploration of the research problem and publish a thesis document that
thoroughly explains the results of the research.
6. How might the work required for earning an honors degree be
particularly beneficial in future endeavors?
In addition to preparation for graduate work, completion of the honors
degree is beneficial in the eyes of prospective employers in industry
and provides more depth and breadth of training in informatics.
7. What are the advantages for students who pursue the honors degree
compared to a regular degree in your area?
Honors students have additional opportunities for advanced instruction
with other honors students.
8. Explain the background of honors course offerings in your
discipline. When were honors courses or sections first offered? When
was your honors degree program instituted?
The School of Informatics first offered undergraduate courses in 2000,
and offered an honors laboratory section for its introductory course
(I101) in 2002. Our first officially-designated honors course was
offered in Fall 2007, following a detailed examination of student needs,
interests, and capabilities.
