Department of Government and Justice Studies

Honors Program in Political Science or Criminal Justice

The Department of Government and Justice Studies maintains honors programs in Political Science and in Criminal Justice to provide qualified students the opportunity for advanced research in a seminar atmosphere. At the freshman level, the Department of Government and Justice Studies participates in the campus wide honors program for eligible new students, offering honors sections of a variety of introductory and upper division courses on a rotating basis. These programs are open to Political Science majors (both BA and BS students) and Criminal Justice majors (BS students) who have achieved an overall grade point average of 3.25 by their junior year. If you have any questions about departmental honors, please contact the honors program director, Dr. Ellen Key, at keyem@appstate.edu or 828-262-7196.

Eligible students can fill out this short form to have an honors block added to their DegreeWorks and stay up to date with special opportunities available only to honors students!

• Eligibility for Honors in Political Science - Classes in the honors program in Political Science will be open to all Political Science majors (both BA and BS students) who have achieved an overall grade-point average of 3.25 by their junior year, or who have been recommended to the honors program by the honors committee or by the director of the honors program. To graduate with “honors in political science” a student must complete at least 10 semester hours of honors courses in Political Science at the junior or senior level, 1 hour of which will be P S 4509 (Honors Thesis Preparation, graded on an S/U basis), 3 hours of which will be P S 4510 (Senior Honors Thesis), and must have achieved a 3.45 GPA in Political Science courses and at least a “B” or better in honors courses.  Students may substitute one Criminal Justice honors course (maximum three hours) in the place of a Political Science honors course with the approval of the Honors Director (the substituted class will count in the GPA calculation).

• Eligibility for Honors in Criminal Justice - Classes in the honors program in Criminal Justice will be open to all Criminal Justice majors who have achieved an overall grade-point average of 3.25 by their junior year, or who have been recommended to the honors program by the honors committee or by the director of the honors program. To graduate with “honors in criminal justice” a student must complete at least 10 semester hours of honors courses in Criminal Justice at the junior or senior level, 1 hour of which will be C J 4509 (Honors Thesis Preparation, graded on an S/U basis), 3 hours of which will be C J 4510 (Senior Honors Thesis), and must have achieved a 3.45 GPA in Criminal Justice courses and at least a “B” or better in honors courses.  Students may substitute one Political Science honors course (maximum three hours) in the place of a Criminal Justice honors course with the approval of the Honors Director (the substituted class will count in the GPA calculation).

Honors Course Contract 

Students are encouraged to choose their honors courses from those offered as honors classes on the schedule. However, in some situations, such as scheduling conflicts that cannot be resolved, students may apply to receive honors credit for a non-honors course (with the instructor's permission). In such cases, the student and professor must complete the  form: Application for Honors Course Contract Credit

• If you are a University honors student who plans to complete both departmental and University honors, please see: http://www.honors.appstate.edu/ as your requirements will be different.

Congratulations to Mallory Block on the publication of her thesis in the Pi Sigma Alpha Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Fall 2018! 

Other examples of completed Honors Theses can be found here

Departmental Honors Program Requirements

  Additional forms for the Honors College can be found HERE

**Please note that fillable PDFs need to be downloaded and changes made from your save file.