Honors
Why do Honors?
The Honors Program in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences is intended to provide outstanding students majoring in Psychology with opportunities to become involved in original research and scholarship. This experience gives students an opportunity to integrate what they have learned by designing their own projects. The Honors Program contributes to the development of skills that will be useful in a broad range of later endeavors and is an advantage for entrance into graduate and professional schools. Above all, the Honors Program gives qualified and motivated students an intensive exposure to scholarly work. This program has two major components.
The Honors Thesis is usually an empirical research project that is planned and conducted with the student's faculty mentor; it may also be a scholarly paper that reviews a major research area. Students must complete a two-semester sequence, PSYC 405 (3 credit hours) and PSYC 406-WR (3 credit hours), in that order, which is the class designation for preparing the thesis proposal (405) and writing the thesis itself (406). For research-based theses, a research plan is decided upon with the faculty mentor and guidance on its format is provided early in the Honors Seminar. Over the course of at least two semesters, the proposed research is conducted, data are analyzed, and a report of the work is prepared (the thesis). The program culminates in an oral defense of the thesis, administered by the student's Honors Thesis committee, consisting of their faculty mentor and two other faculty members.
The Honors Seminar (PSYC 400) meets for one hour per week (one credit hour) under the supervision of the Honors Coordinator. Students are guided in their research and future professional efforts and discuss their projects. Students take this seminar concurrently with PSYC 405 and PSYC 406, for both semesters.
Requirements for admission into the Honors Program
You must:
Be an official Psychology major
Have taken at least 18 credit hours in psychology
Have a GPA in Psychology classes at UofL of 3.4 or higher
Have an overall UofL GPA of 3.0 or higher
To apply for the Honors Program:
For further information, contact:
Rich Lewine, Ph.D.
Honors Coordinator
Dept. of Psychological & Brain Sciences
343 Life Sciences Bldg
University Honors Program vs Psychology Honors Program vs Arts & Sciences Graduation Honors
There are two honors programs available to qualified psychology majors: the University Honors Program and the Psychology Honors Program. Please note that the University and Psychology Honors programs are different and have somewhat different criteria for acceptance. Students can complete one or the other or both programs.
The criteria for graduating with honors in the College of Arts and Sciences (cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude) are different from those of either honors programs and are as follows:
Cum laude : expanded GPA of 3.5 and no thesis required
Magna cum laude expanded GPA of 3.75 and no thesis OR expanded GPA of 3.65 and a University thesis
Summa cum laude: expanded GPA of 3.75 AND a University thesis
The Psychology Honors Program thesis can be used to satisfy the Arts and Sciences thesis and/or the University Honors thesis requirement. Please note: you are not required to have been in the University Honors Program to submit an A&S thesis for eligibility for graduation honors. However, to use the Psychology Honors thesis to meet the A&S requirements for honors at graduation as listed above, a proposal must be submitted to the Arts and Sciences honors thesis committee for approval. This does not happen automatically as part of the Psychology Honors program. Details, including committee composition and deadlines for proposal submission and oral defense, are available at Guidelines for A&S Honors Thesis.
