The honors program in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) is open to academically talented and motivated students who wish to engage in independent study and research under the close supervision of a faculty advisor. All juniors earning a B.A. or B.S. in SLHS with an overall GPA of 3.5 or better are eligible for participation.
The honors program involves a sequence of three semesters. During the spring semester of their junior year, students enroll in SLHS-S398, a seminar designed to develop skills in a number of areas, including reading and understanding research, writing a scientific report, and thinking critically about research design.
During the senior year, honors students enroll in SLHS-S399 in the fall and SLHS-S499 in the spring. These seminars provide opportunities for students to discuss their research progress and receive feedback on their writing. Honors research typically involves an experimental study that is presented in a formal, written document known as a thesis. The thesis includes a review of the literature, the details of the study, together with the results and discussion of the study. The finished thesis is expected to be approximately 25 typed pages (double spaced) in length.
Students who complete the entire sequence of study and the honors thesis receive credit for their intensive writing requirement. The culminating experience of the honors research project is a poster session at the end of the spring semester in which students present their results to faculty and students from the department. As final recognition of the completion of the honors program, students receive a notation on their diplomas and are eligible to wear gold honor cords at graduation.