Spring 2020 Honors Policies

Spring 2020 Honors Policies

The Department of History is following the March 20 directives of the central campus administration and the College of Letters and Science regarding undergraduate grading by allowing Pass grades to count toward any major requirement. All undergraduate students are encouraged to take all of their classes P/NP. Please refer to the College policy updates and FAQs(link is external).

 
In light of these directives, the Department has adopted the following more specific policies for Honors in the Spring 2020 semester:
 
(1) The History Major will allow Pass grades to be used toward major requirements, including History 101.
 
(2) For History 101, if you stick with the P/NP option, this will not affect your eligibility for Honors. But to determine your eligibility, your instructor will still calculate the letter grade you would have earned under a letter-grade system, based upon the quality of your work. That is, while you do not need to "opt in" to letter grades in order to be eligible for Honors, if you get a "P," your instructor needs to assess that under a letter grade system, you would have received an A or A- for your work.
 
(3) Similarly, for the purpose of Honors GPA calculations at graduation, we will check what grade students would have received in the 101 class. If the grade you would have received would make a positive difference for your GPA, for the purposes of History Honors, that grade will be factored into your final GPA calculations.
 
(4) If a student has extra classes that can be used toward major requirements, we always include only the best grades in the major GPA, as long as all the requirements are met.
 
(5) The Department is in favor of relaxing the page requirement for the senior thesis, including the one-year thesis. This will be at the discretion of the individual instructor on a case-by-case basis. Please discuss this with your instructor.
 
(6) The Department is in favor of relaxing some requirements around the type of project that constitutes a senior thesis in history. Once again, this will be at the discretion of the individual instructor on a case-by-case basis. Please discuss this with your instructor.
 
(7) One-year thesis writers may now opt to write a shorter paper than originally planned, with the aim of Honors rather than High or Highest Honors. That is, they may go significantly below the page range for the one-year thesis. With the consent and guidance of their individual instructor, they may even do a project in lieu of the paper. In such circumstances, if they receive an A or A- in the class, it will mean that they will be eligible for Honors. Meanwhile, please bear in mind that particularly in light of the current challenges, a student trying to write too much in order to be eligible for a nomination for HH or HHH may end up hurting themselves and producing a weaker paper that does not earn an A or A- (and thus is not eligible for Honors). Please discuss this with your instructor.