Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Studies: Lynn Mahoney
Director: Tim Caron
Assistant Director: Duan Jackson
Office: Library West (LBW), Room 214
Phone: (562) 985-4706
The University Honors Program provides a selected group of highly qualified students with a unique educational experience. With small classes and opportunities to work closely with distinguished faculty and advisors, the University Honors Program offers students the best of a small college experience alongside the opportunities afforded by a comprehensive university setting. It unites the committed student and faculty member in a learning relationship in which each has the highest expectations of the other. Students will be immersed in the learning process and therefore must have both the ability and willingness to do intense and often self-directed intellectual work as well as a desire to make the most of the opportunities available in the University.
Available within the University Honors Program are three alternatives designed to meet the varying needs of students.
Students who successfully complete the requirements of the University Honors Program will receive a Certificate and an annotation on their transcript which mark the graduate as a person of intellectual accomplishment, one who has demonstrated a disciplined curiosity and dedication to the pursuit of knowledge.
General Honors is a special approach to the General Education Requirements of the University to advise students in their academic planning to meet the University’s General Education requirements through a cohesive and unified program of study. It is a program of carefully selected courses and specially designed, multi-disciplinary seminars from which a student chooses a minimum of 24 units (a minimum of 15 units in the case of upper division transfers or continuing CSULB students who enter the program), most of which are applied toward the 48 units of General Education courses required for graduation of all students. General Honors courses encourage student participation on an academic level not generally possible in the usual curricular offering and prepare students to write an Honors Thesis that demonstrates that the student has acquired the intellectual confidence and academic independence that are indicative of the maturely educated person.
There are three ways a student may enter the University Honors Program :
Qualified students may enter General Honors as late as the junior year. Where Honors transfer agreements have been negotiated with a community college (such as with Long Beach City College) up to 12 transfer units will be accepted as meeting the requirements of the CSULB University Honors Program. Otherwise a waiver of some of the required Honors credits (not more than 6) may be granted by the Director and the University Honors Program Advisory Board.
General Honors students must complete all university-wide graduation requirements and the requirements for their major. General Honors is itself not a major. A student must maintain an overall GPA of 3.00 or better in Honors and in all University courses attempted.
General Honors Plan I (minimum of 24 units) is designed for entering freshmen and consists of a minimum of 18 units of lower- and upper-division General Education courses (which include UHP 100 and UHP 150) and a culminating 6-unit senior thesis/project in the student’s major (UHP 496, Research Participation, and UHP 498, Senior Thesis/Project).
General Honors Plan II (minimum of 15 units) is primarily for upper-division transfers from community colleges and current CSULB students who have achieved a GPA of 3.5. It consists of nine units of upper-division General Education courses and a culminating 6-unit senior thesis/project in the student’s major (UHP 496, Research Participation, and UHP 498, Senior Thesis/Project).
Many CSULB majors provide students with an option to pursue Honors in the Major. Students in General Honors whose major department offers an Honors in the Major Program may apply to participate in both programs, in which case the General Honors thesis requirement would be satisfied through the Honors in the Major option. Honors in the Major (minimum of 9 units) consists of a minimum of one upper-division Honors-specific course in student’s major department and a culminating 6-unit senior thesis/project (courses in the major department equivalent to UHP 496 and UHP 498).
Although Honors in the Major requirements may vary among departments; usually they entail independent study, seminar courses, high levels of performance, and senior projects or theses culminating in a broad knowledge of subject matter. Information concerning Honors in the Major is available in the University Honors Program Office and in participating departmental offices.
Please contact the department office or the University Honors Program Office for information regarding admission. Normally a student must be a declared major, usually with at least sophomore (30 units) standing.
Students who have failed to enroll in courses for Honors credit for two consecutive semesters will normally be withdrawn from the program. Students must remain full-time or will be withdrawn from the program.
A University Honors student who withdraws from the University during any semester will also be withdrawn from the program. A student may apply for readmission at the beginning of any semester in which he/she plans to enroll in an honors class.
