Major in History with Discipline-Specific Honors

A student must do all of the following in order to earn discipline-specific honors in history:

1. Meet the history department’s admission requirements for its honors program;
2. Complete as a part of the 36-hour requirement for the history major:
   1. Honors contracts in two upper-level, content-based courses:
      • The courses must be regularly scheduled classes or directed studies; no independent studies will be allowed;
      • The courses must be taken either during the fall or spring semester;
      • The courses must be taken from two separate history professors;
      • The student must have a minimum 3.5 GPA for the two classes.
   2. Honors contracts in two courses (HIS 497, HIS 498) that focus on the student’s honors thesis:
      • The student must take an independent study (HIS 497) to launch the honors thesis project;
      • The student must take a directed-study senior seminar (HIS 498) to complete the honors thesis;
      • The student must earn a final grade of at least a B in HIS 497 and an A in HIS 498;
      • The student must complete the honors thesis by the end of the fall semester of their senior year (based on the assumption that the student will graduate at the conclusion of the spring semester that immediately follows).
3. Present their honors thesis in an abridged form at an acceptable history conference.
4. Defend successfully their honors thesis before a committee of three full-time Union University professors, two of whom will be from the Department of History.
5. Satisfy in their junior and senior years Honors colloquium requirements as determined and published by the directors of the Honors Community.