Prior to graduation, students will complete six courses: Honors Ethics and one course from each of the five seminar areas (Versions of the Self; Art of Culture; Hudson River Valley Studies; Global Engagement; and Science, Technology, and Society). Each seminar will be capped at fifteen students. The Honors experience will culminate in an Honors Senior Project, the proposal for which must be approved in advance by the Director of Honors. The project does not have to be a written essay, but rather may take a form appropriate to each individual's interests and disciplinary requirements. For example, the project may be a research essay, laboratory experiment/project, multimedia presentation, advertising campaign, etc. With faculty approval, this project may stem from prior upper level coursework, but it must be a significant extension or revision of that initial assignment. This project may also be the result of an independent research project undertaken outside of coursework. The Honors Senior Project will be submitted to the Honors Council for review six weeks before the end of the semester in which the student will graduate and will be part of an Honors Symposium held at the end of each academic year.
The Honors Council will assess the Senior Honors Project on the basis of the following criteria, not all of which may apply to every project:
Once admitted to the Program, a student must maintain a cumulative 3.500 GPA, with all Honors work with a grade of "B" or higher to remain in the Program. If a student's GPA drops below 3.500, the student will be allowed to continue in the Program in probationary fashion for one semester. If the cumulative GPA continues to fall below the 3.500 requirement after one semester, the student will be dismissed from the Program. If the student receives a final grade less than a "B" in any Honors Seminar, he or she will be immediately dismissed from the Program. There is no reinstatement after an official dismissal from the Honors Program.
