Main navigation
Undergraduate students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have the opportunity to graduate with Honors in the Major, with related honors projects ranging from research in a UI lab to a theatrical or musical performance or from a thesis on a theme, topic, or special interest of the student to the completion of a volume of poetry, for example.
CLAS undergraduates earning Honors in the Major must maintain a minimum cumulative University of Iowa GPA of at least 3.33. Other requirements for earning Honors in the Major are set by the department or program offering the major, with all requiring a minimum major GPA of at least 3.33 (with this GPA decided by the department or program), honors related courses, and a special project. Specific requirements may be found in the General Catalog under the chapter related to the major and its requirements. (See the Honors tab on the program of study page.) Most departments and programs also have these requirements on the departmental or program website; links to these websites by major are included on the contact page for the Faculty Honors in the Major Advisor.
Undergraduates wishing to learn more about Honors in CLAS should first meet with the faculty member acting as the coordinator for Honors in the Major in that department or program as soon as possible to discuss requirements, experiences, and projects of interest to the student. A list of those faculty advisors is at this link.
Students who have earned Honors in the Major will see this achievement added to the Commencement Program and announced at the graduation ceremony; the designation is also noted on the transcript and diploma.
Learn more about honors in the major
CLAS students earning Honors in the Major are not required to be members of the University Honors Program; however, many students earn both University Honors and Honors in the Major. The UI Honors Program allows undergraduates to complete Honors in the Major for the 12 semester hour experiential learning requirement for UI Honors. It is not necessary for the student to submit the thesis or project to the UI Honors program since they receive information about the Honors in the Major through the student record system.
Each student's goals and needs are unique and all students are strongly encouraged to talk with advisors and mentors who can support the student's individual choice about how to pursue honors opportunities at the University of Iowa.
An honors contract allows an undergraduate to earn honors credit for a course that can be applied to an honor requirement even if the course is not formally designated as an Honors offering.
The student works directly with the instructor of the course, with the student proposing an additional project to be completed during the student's enrollment in the course. Before requesting an honors contract for a non-honors course, the student must meet with the faculty member advising for the department's Honors in the Major program to see if the course will count toward the Honors in the Major requirements. If the honors contract course will be used for UI Honors requirements, that program must also approve the contract.
Students must apply for the degree during the semester in which all requirements will be met. A degree application must be filed for a student to be considered eligible for the degree. The University of Iowa does not confer degrees without a completed application. Please note the important deadline for this application. Students are urged to apply as soon as possible.
Students should meet with their professional academic advisor before completing a degree application to ensure appropriate timing for completing all needed requirements for graduation. The professional advisor, the faculty mentor overseeing the thesis or project, and the departmental Honors in the Major faculty coordinator all must be kept aware of your progress as you complete the requirements for Honors in the Major.
Students must also make sure that any related thesis or project is submitted to the instructor grading the project as soon as possible in the semester of graduation. Verification for this project or for the thesis as well as final courses must be completed and graded before Honors in the Major can be awarded.
The student is responsible for making sure the project or thesis is completed in ample time to be graded and verified for the award of Honors in the Major.
Students should discuss these procedures with their professional advisor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, with the faculty mentor overseeing the final Honors in the Major project or thesis, and with the department's faculty coordinator for Honors in the Major.
Students apply for the degree via the MyUI student portal during the semester of completion of all requirements for the degree and for Honors in the Major. The student must be in Pursuing Honors status before the application for the degree occurs. The professional academic advisor in most departments ensures the student's academic record has been updated to this Pursuing status.
Visit the Registrar's page for more information on the application for graduation and the deadline.
For information about the submission of a thesis or project to UI Iowa Research Online, a service provided by UI libraries, please see this page. All students are encouraged to participate in sharing their work through the UI IRO repository but students are not required to submit a thesis to this site. Likewise, students are not required to submit the thesis to a central CLAS location nor to University Honors.
Faculty coordinators
Updates may be sent to jennifer-eimers@uiowa.edu.
Overview for honors in the major faculty coordinators
University Honors: University Honors is a centralized program and requires the completion of the specific curriculum established by the University Honors Program. Students are allowed to completed the 12 semester hour Experiential Learning requirement of University Honors by completing Honors in the Major.
Honors in the Major: Honors in the Major is a collegiate honors program and is administered separately by each UI undergraduate college.
Faculty Coordinator for Honors in the Major: This faculty member oversees standards and requirements for Honors in the Major in a particular department or program, coordinating Honors in the Major and communicating with the department, faculty mentors, and professional advisors.
Faculty Mentors: Faculty mentors directly oversee a student’s Honors in the Major thesis, research, or another specific activity required by the department or program.
Professional Academic Advisors: Professional academic advisors have the access to MAUI records needed to add crucial information in the student record related to Honors in the Major. The professional academic advisor moves the status in the MAUI database of the student from Pursuing Honors in the Major to Initial Approval and then to Final Approval. This access to the data base is restricted by the Registrar and access must be requested because of its sensitive nature.
University Honors and CLAS Honors in the Major are administered separately.
- A student’s progress and completion of Honors in the Major is communicated to the Registrar and University Honors using the MAUI database and related reports.
- University Honors staff no longer verify that CLAS students have met the requirements for Honors in the Major and CLAS faculty and students no longer need to give this information to University Honors. (In the past, this verification was done so that students completing Honors in the Major could apply these hours to the University Honors experiential learning 12 semester hour requirement; students may still apply HM to this requirement, but this information is now shared through the MAUI student record system and related reports.)
- Students no longer submit the thesis to the University Honors program.
- CLAS does not require the submission of a thesis and does not collect theses in a central collegiate location. CLAS does not require departments and programs to keep theses, but many do.
- Students may submit the thesis for publication at the UI Iowa Research Online Repository. This is not required but permission is required from related faculty and from the student before the thesis may be published. Learn more about this process.
- A CLAS student’s completion of the Honors in the Major requirements are verified by faculty and staff in these roles:
- The Honors in the Major faculty coordinator.
- The faculty mentor overseeing the completion of the thesis, research, or other project.
- The professional academic advisor affiliated with the related major.
For faculty coordinators
- Informs students about procedures for Honors in the Major (HM).
- Gathers information on students planning to graduate in the upcoming year with HM, sharing this with the professional advisor.
- Reminds faculty and students of related deadlines and procedures.
- Verifies that a student’s HM requirements have been met immediately after semester grades have been submitted, updating the faculty mentor and professional advisor.
- Informs new faculty HM coordinators and faculty mentors about changes in procedures.
For faculty mentors
- Shares the student’s progress on the thesis, project, or research with the coordinator and professional advisor, particularly at the beginning of the project and near its completion and near the end of the student’s final or penultimate semester.
- Reminds the student of key deadlines and procedures.
- Submits any final grades related to the thesis or project while also sending any final information about the completion and success of the thesis/project to the coordinator and advisor as soon as possible.
For professional academic advisors
- Gathers information on students planning to graduate in the upcoming year with HM, sharing this with the faculty coordinator.
- Adds and updates students’ progress of earning HM in the MAUI database, with these flags added by the advisor at each appropriate step (the last three affect other processes in the system so timely addition is critical):
Interest in Honors in the Major (i.e., student express interest in earning HM)
Pursuing Honors in the Major (begins working on HM requirements)
Initial Approval Status (is on track to complete all HM requirements)
Final Approval Status (has successfully completed all requirements)
- Communicates with the faculty coordinator, the faculty mentor, and the student about progress and related procedures or deadlines.
- Contacts Registrar for help, if needed, particularly if the student is not in Pursuing Honors status when the student has applied for graduation (curt-graff@uiowa.edu).
- Verifies/double checks student’s completion of all HM requirements to ensure accuracy; once a student is in Final Approval Status, the Registrar will award HM.
- Review additional information for advisors.
- Honors contract courses (i.e. requests by students to add Honors status to a “regular non-honors course”) are now approved through a workflow form and must be submitted before the deadline for the Application for Graduation. Learn more about honors contract courses.
- A student must be in Initial Approval status before or by the first four weeks of the semester in which the student will graduate in order to have Honors in the Major status added to the student’s entry on the commencement program. Contact 120 Schaeffer if a student has missed the deadline to see if the student can be added (clas-undergrad@uiowa.edu).
- The deadline for asking for thesis publication on the UI Research Online is the Friday before final examination week begins. If a student misses this deadline, contact those listed below.
- Students may come to 120 Schaeffer Hall to receive a white cord for commencement signifying Honors in the Major has been earned (8:00 to 4:30, M-F). Students should no longer be sent to University Honors for the white cord.
Departments without a professional academic advisor may ask for access to the MAUI database; complete the MAUI Online Access Request Form. In the Other Access Request textbox, you may enter academic.curriculum.admin Other and for Workflow Routing, please enter Cornelia Lang in CLAS Undergraduate Programs.
Questions about procedures related to Honors in the Major may be addressed to CLAS Undergraduate Programs, clas-undergrad@uiowa.edu, 120 Schaeffer Hall, 319-335-2633.