Honors in History

The Honors Program in the Department of History provides a small number of highly qualified and motivated history majors with intellectual enrichment, rigorous training, and recognition for unusual achievement, leading to graduation from NC State with Honors in History. Additionally, the History Department invites participating students to attend faculty seminars and other academic and social events, to meet visiting scholars, and to make their own contributions to the intellectual vitality of the University.

Admission to the Honors Program

Students may enter the formal course work of the Honors Program if they have:

• a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 3.25 overall, and
• a GPA in History courses of at least 3.5 with a minimum of nine hours completed.
• For an applicant with a cumulative GPA between 3.0 and 3.25, the Director can make an exception if the GPA in History courses is over 3.5.

Degree Requirements

• As a part of successfully completing the Honors Program, students must achieve an overall GPA of at least 3.25 and a GPA in History courses of at least 3.5.
• Fall theses must be defended by November 15.
• Spring theses must be defended by April 15.

For most students, the first contact with the Honors Program in History comes with an invitation to participate in the Honors Seminars. These non-graded, non-credit seminars are conducted by various members of the History Department, and occasionally by visiting scholars. In these sessions, usually three evening meetings each semester, students and faculty gather informally to discuss a common reading. The assignments are chosen so as to represent the very wide range of topics and approaches that historical inquiry encompasses — from established classics to some of the most recent and controversial works.

Attendance at the Honors Seminars is required of all students graduating with Honors, but all interested students whose Grade Point Averages (GPAs) would qualify them to participate in Honors course work are invited to attend.

The Department of History will, unless future financial constraints make it impossible, purchase the required books for those students (up to a maximum of 12 participants) who agree during the Spring pre-registration period to attend the Honors Seminars in the following academic year.

• Students completing Honors in History will take a two- or three-semester sequence of research and writing courses as part of their selection of Advanced Electives. The end product is the Honors Thesis, a substantial piece of original historical work.

Discuss Participation in History Honors

Dr. Steven Lechner, Director of History Honors
selechne@ncsu.edu
919-513-2217
274 Withers Hall

History Honors Thesis Courses

1. HI 494: Honors Directed Readings in History (3 credit hours)

This course is taken with the advice and consent of a member of the History faculty chosen by the student. HI 494 is a directed readings course covering the literature of a broad historiographical field, from which the student should ultimately draw a more specialized topic for an Honors Thesis. Both written and oral assignments based on the assigned reading may be made at the instructor’s discretion. Additional training in bibliographic and research techniques may be included in HI 494 should the student and/or the instructor believe this advisable.

HI 494 should culminate in the selection of a topic for the Honors Thesis that is acceptable to both the student and the instructor. Under ordinary circumstances, the instructor directing the student’s HI 494 readings course will also direct that student’s Honors Thesis. Students may take this and all other Honors courses with scholars outside the regular faculty of the Department of History only with the concurrent approval of the Director of the Honors Program and the Director of Undergraduate Programs in History. (If a student should decide upon completing the assigned work in HI 494 not to write an Honors Thesis, or if the student is unable to formulate a suitable topic, the instructor should assign a grade based on the quality of the work done for the course. The student is not obligated to write a thesis by virtue of having taken HI 494.)

Alternatively, a student may  substitute for HI 494 a 400-level History course, completed by the end of the student’s junior year, and in which the student has earned a grade of at least A-, provided that the instructor of this course has agreed, in consultation with the Director of the Honors Program, to serve as mentor for the Honors Thesis.

Upon completion of either HI 494 or the approved 400-level course, the student shall have identified a clear topic for research leading to the writing of an Honors Thesis.

2.  HI 495: Honors Research in History I (3 credit hours)

In this course (usually in first semester of the Senior year), the student conducts intensive research in preparation for the writing of the Honors Thesis — the final and most rigorous requirement in the History Honors Program. The student works closely with their Honors Thesis advisor to plan and implement the research project.

3. HI 496: Honors Research in History II (3 credit hours)

The Honors Thesis is completed and the final revisions are made. The completed thesis (usually 50-60 double-spaced pages in length, although shorter theses may be considered) should be submitted at least a month before the end of classes in the semester for which the grade for HI 496 is to be given. The work will be read by the Thesis Director, a second faculty reader in a related field of expertise, and the Director of the Honors Program. The student will then take part in an oral discussion of approximately one hour, during which they will have the opportunity to discuss the work and its implications with all three of the readers, and to receive suggestions for improving the final, polished version of the Honors Thesis. One copy of this finished version shall be retained in the permanent collection of the History Department. (The grade for HI 496 will be determined by the Thesis Director.)

Note: Completion of a thesis does not necessarily guarantee graduating with Honors in History. The Honors Director, after consultation with the readers of the thesis, will  make the final judgment on that distinction based on the quality of the thesis, the maintenance of the required Grade Point Averages, and the completion of all other requirements for graduation with Honors in History. Students graduating with Honors in History will be appropriately recognized at Commencement and will receive a certificate of achievement from the Department of History as well as the “Honors” designation on their permanent University record.