• Honors Courses
• Senior Honors
• SAS Honors
• Recent Senior Honors Projects

I. Sociology Honors Courses for Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors

Every semester the Sociology Department offers an honors course for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors who desire an intensive, intellectually rich experience (920:198 or 298 or 398). You do not have to be a Sociology major to take this course. The course is designed for students who want a deeper introduction to the field than the usual survey course or for those who want to begin a sequence of honors-level work before they declare a major. It is excellent preparation for the subsequent Sociology Honors Program for seniors (see below). You must contact the instructor to get special permission to register for this course. The only prerequisite is Introduction to Sociology (920:101), but this prerequisite may be waived by the instructor depending on your motivation and interest.

The honors course is organized as a seminar with a maximum enrollment of 20. This is a tremendous opportunity to develop your scholarly potential in a group of highly selected students, and to get to know a faculty member very well. Students often earn glowing letters of recommendation from the faculty member in this course, which are necessary for future applications to graduate or professional school.

Each semester a different Professor of Sociology teaches the course, which is focused around his or her current research and scholarly interests. Check the course listings for more information.

II. Sociology Honors for Seniors

The Sociology Honors Program involves an independent project developed over two semesters. Seniors* in the Sociology Honors Program enroll in the Honors Seminar (920:497 in the fall, 498 in the spring), and they select an individual advisor from among all Sociology faculty. The Seminar, which meets once a week, covers topics that everyone faces when doing an independent project, such as narrowing a topic and organizing a paper. Students also present problems that they are trying to solve, and the class helps them find a solution.

*In exceptional circumstances, it is possible to enroll in the Junior year. Juniors must meet all of the normal requirements. Exceptional circumstances mean an academic conflict, such as a semester abroad in the senior year. Contact the Undergraduate Director before the second semester of your sophomore year to make special arrangements.

Eligibility
Admission to the Sociology Honors Program requires completion of 18 or more credits in Sociology with an average of 3.6 or more. It also requires an overall GPA of 3.0 at the end of the junior year. To be considered, declare a Sociology major by May of your junior year. The Seminar (920:497, 498) meets the major requirement of a 400 level course, and it has the usual prerequisites (2 courses selected from 311, 312, 313, 314).

Invitations
The Department identifies eligible students in June, when it has GPAs for Sociology majors that include Spring semester of the junior year. Eligible students get a letter that describes the program and an application form. Those accepted receive a special permission number for 920:497 in July. If you are interested in the program:
(a) be sure the Department has your summer address (otherwise, we use the address provided by the university, and some of these addresses are out-of-date), and
(b) be sure your official University records indicate a Sociology major by May of your junior year and that they show the correct graduation year. (If these are wrong on your official record, you do not appear on the list of majors with a 3.0 or higher average.)

Getting the invitation does not guarantee acceptance. If an exceptionally large number of students apply, some will not be selected.

The Project
Each Honors student selects a topic for their project and an individual advisor who helps them develop the topic. The Honors Seminar instructor must approve the topic. Some students collect original data. Students have carried out informal interviews, developed questionnaires, observed behavior, and analyzed both texts and images such as advertisements. Other students use data already collected by someone else. Still others develop theoretical or conceptual analyses of a sociological issue. The final papers range in length; most are between 25 and 50 pages.

The project is due very early in April. Each student turns in a final written copy, and they also present their project at one of the Department's Colloquia in early April. Faculty attend, and students invite parents and friends. In recent years, Honors Students also have made Posters for the Department's April Poster Day.

Projects that involve "human subjects" must be reviewed by the IRB (Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects). This means writing a brief protocol that describes the project and identifies any risk to subjects. If you want to collect information from minors or information on a topic that involves risk "out of the everyday," your proposal requires a full review. This takes time. If the protocol is not ready by October 12, you are likely to have trouble collecting data in time. [It is difficult to collect data during exams and during the holidays.]

Click here to read about honors projects from past years.

Grades and Level of Honors
At the end of the fall semester, each student doing good work gets a temporary grade of H. [It is possible, at this time, to convert from Honors to Independent Study. This requires permission from the Undergraduate Chair.] In April, the Honors Seminar instructor and the student's advisor together assign letter grades for both Fall and Spring. Honors students can graduate with Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors in Sociology. High or Highest Honors means the instructor, the advisor, and a small committee of other faculty members find project exceptionally well done.

Anyone with questions regarding the Sociology Honors Program should contact Judith J. Friedman, .

III. SAS Honors for Seniors

Students who meet additional eligibility requirements and are willing to do extra work may participate in both the Sociology Honors Program and the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program. It is possible for the same research project to partially satisfy the requirements for both programs, although the project must then be more ambitious and of greater scope than is typically the case.  Note that there are two separate application processes, both of which must be undertaken. Details about how to participate in both programs may be obtained at the Sociology Office, Lucy Stone Hall Rm. A268, Livingston campus. In addition, eligible students should contact the coordinator for the Honors Program at SAS.