Honors in Geology

Admission to the Program will be by invitation of the Honors Committee, normally at the end of the sophomore year and normally will be extended to students with an overall GPA of 3.0 or better and a GPA of 3.0 or better in all courses required for the major.

Graduation with Honors normally requires completion of the curriculum, grades of B- and A- or better in GEOL 393 and GEOL 394 (i.e., grades for one semester must be at least an A-, and the second semester grade cannot fall below a B-), and maintenance of a 3.0 overall GPA and a GPA of 3.0 or better in all courses required for the major. Maintenance of a general GPA and GPA in geology major courses of 3.5 or above and a grade of A in both GEOL 393 and GEOL 394 will earn the distinction of Graduation with High Honor.

The Honors Program Curriculum

The curriculum for Honors in Geology follows the University Honors Program Track I: Thesis Option with a 15 credit minimum.

  1. The requirement for upper division Honors courses will be met by a minimum of 9 hours as follows:
    1. GEOL 497H Recent Advances in Geology (3 credit hours - taken in senior year), and
    2. 6 credit hours from the following:
      1. up to two 3 credit hour graduate-level courses approved by the Departmental Honors Committee,
      2. up to two Honors Option projects in three or four credit hour upper-level courses from the offerings in the Geology Department. The Honors Option Proposal must be approved by the Departmental Honors Committee, the professor teaching the course and the University Honors Program. A proposal must be approved in the Department and submitted to the University Honors Program by the 10th day of class in the semester in which the course will be taken and the project completed,
      3. no more than one University Honors Program seminar (3 credit hours) addressing a relevant topic in natural sciences. (Typically, this would include seminars offered by faculty in the college of Computer Mathematical and Physical Sciences or Chemical and Biological Sciences.) The University Honors Program seminar must be approved in advance by the Departmental Honors Committee.
  2. The research and thesis requirement will be met by completion of GEOL 393 and GEOL 394 with grades meeting the criteria outlined above (6 credit hours).