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Departmental Honors Program

The Department of Philosophy offers an honors program where qualified students can work closely with a professor on a long-term research project. This program will help prepare advanced students for graduate study in philosophy, law, business, and other fields, by improving their research, writing, and oral presentation skills.

The program has the following two curricular components:

  1. A year-long, two-semester Directed Studies course, PHIL 498: Undergraduate Honors Thesis, in which the student writes an undergraduate thesis under close supervision of a tenured or tenure-track Philosophy Department faculty member. Thesis advisors will be selected by mutual agreement between student and faculty member.
  2. A weekly seminar, PHIL 497: Undergraduate Honors Seminar, in which all the students admitted to the Honors Program in a given year will workshop their theses, using the feedback they receive to make improvements and modifications.

Students will typically enroll in PHIL 498 in fall and spring (3 units each semester), and in PHIL 497 in spring (3 units).

Students who have been admitted to the Honors Program and have successfully completed these two requirements will graduate with Honors in Philosophy.

Eligibilty

All undergraduate philosophy majors who have satisfied the following requirements are eligible:

  1. A minimum 3.5 GPA in the major anda minimum 3.0 GPA overall.
  2. Successful completion of all lower-division courses in the major – PHIL 203, 204, and 270. (An exception to this requirement may be made if a student with an excellent overall academic record is taking one of these courses concurrently with the honors program courses).
  3. Successful completion of at least 9 units of upper-division courses (with at least 6 units completed at CSULB).

Contact Information

The Department of Philosophy organizes an informational meeting at the end of each Spring semester to introduce students to professors and to describe the benefits of the program. The current year's honors students will do short presentations on their theses. Eligible students are encouraged to attend! (Date and time will be posted in Spring 2010).

For more information, contact:

Prof. Jason Raibley, Honors Program Director
MHB 913
jraibley@csulb.edu