Honors Orientation
Program Overview
Eligibility
Application
How Your Units Can Be Allocated
Honors Lounge
Honors Orientation
Please watch the Honors Orientation/Information video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/
Program Overview
The honors program runs through all three quarters of the senior (4th) year, with successful applicants enrolling in POLS 197 A, 197 B, and 197C. Students conduct research in a largely unstructured environment, meeting weekly with other honors students and with their faculty advisors. Success requires the ability to manage time well and to work toward long-term goals in a self-motivated way. The culmination of the Honors program is a written thesis document and an end of the year colloquium wherein each student presents his or her work publically to political science faculty, peers, and invited guests. Students completing the Departmental Honors Program will graduate with Distinction in the Major.
Eligibility
Eligibility for the program requires:
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A minimum 3.3 cumulative UCSB GPA, and a 3.6 overall POLS major GPA.
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Completion of all but one of the required lower division Political Science courses (excluding POLS 15); and at least two upper division Political Science courses by the end of the spring preceding participation in the program.
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Completion of POLS 15 with a grade no lower than a B+, no later than the spring quarter of the junior (3rd) year. [Students intending to write a project in Political Theory are exempt from this threshold requirement.]
- Approval of a research proposal and an agreement to serve by a ladder rank faculty member of the Political Science Department, or an affiliate faculty member of the Department, as your advisor, by September 1st. Your application to the honors program must be signed by your proposed faculty mentor to be considered.
***Transfer Students will be eligible for the program based upon a UCSB GPA of 3.6 in the major (after two quarters of residence at UCSB) and the completion of two upper division courses by the end of the spring preceding the start of the program in the Fall. They must have completed the equivalent of POLS 15 at another institution with a grade of B+, or higher, or so do at UCSB before beginning the program in the Fall. [Students intending to write a project in Political Theory are exempt from this threshold requirement.]
If you think you should have received an invitation to the program but did not, or have other questions about the department's honors program, please contact either Professor Daniel Masterson (Director of the Honors Program) or Dr. Alison Keleher (Undergraduate Program Coordinator).
Application
Students who are extended an invitation to the program need to complete the Orientation Form by the end of the Spring Quarter and submit it to prospective faculty advisors and the director of the honors program.
A draft of your application form must be submitted to your prospective faculty during the summer. Please check with potential advisors as to their availability during the summer to make sure that they will have time to evaluate your draft application. (You may submit these drafts to more than one faculty member.) Potential faculty advisors will inform you over the summer whether they will serve as your faculty advisor.
You must apply to the honors program by September 1, using the application form. This application form must be signed by a faculty advisor, which indicates that they would serve as your advisor if you were accepted into the program.
Criteria used for acceptance to the Honors Program include the quality of the proposed research description, feasibility of the project, appropriate skills to complete the honors project and the endorsement of a faculty member or affiliate of the department of political science.
Acceptance decisions will be made by September 15. Those who are accepted into the program will be issued an add code for POLS 197 A in the Fall.
How Your Units Can Be Allocated
Up to eight units of Honor's Program credit may be applied to a student's core concentration by petition. Further, four of these eight units may be applied to another (non-core) area by petition. Reallocation of units to subfield areas must be consistent with the actual work done in project. See the attached petition form for additional information: Honors Unit Reallocation Petition.
Honors Lounge
Honors students, and members of Pi Sigma Alpha (the Political Science National Honors Society) have access to the Lancaster Room, or Honors Lounge, during regular Department operating hours (9am-5pm, Monday through Friday). For information on access to the Lancaster Room, students should check in with the Peer Advising Office (Ellison Hall #3838).
