"The Guide"
Updated as of March 1, 2007
The Program and its Mission
The Council
Advising
The Special Honors Curriculum
Majors
Certification
College-wide Requirements
Graduation Audit
Scholarships and Fellowships
Significant Odds and Ends
This guide contains almost everything you need to know about
the Program. Please keep it handy. It supersedes the earlier
version of the guide and, we hope, makes requirements and
procedures clearer.
The
Program and its Mission:
The Thomas Hunter Honors Program is an interdisciplinary
program designed to provide superior students with an
individualized course of study suited to their needs and
interests. Open to students of high intellectual ability and
interdisciplinary interests, it permits them to replace some
of the usual College requirements with a Special Honors
Curriculum under the supervision of the Council on Honors. It
also provides its participants the chance to study with
outstanding faculty members who have indicated an interest in
assisting exceptional students. In general, students selected
for the Thomas Hunter Honors Program must show evidence of
high academic potential, diversified interests and
intellectual curiosity, willingness to challenge themselves,
and sufficient maturity to plan and carry out an
individualized program of study in semesterly consultation
with a Council on Honors faculty advisor.
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The Council:
The Council on Honors is the interdisciplinary faculty body
that governs the Thomas Hunter Honors Program. The current
members are:
Professor Elizabeth K. Beaujour,
Chair (Russian)
Professor
Diana Conchado, Co-chair (Romance Languages, Spanish)
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Professor
Philip Alcabes,
(School of Health Sciences)
Professor Richard
Belsky (History)
Professor Anthony
Browne (AFPRL)
Professor Richard Burke
(Music)
Professor
Martin Chodorow, (Psychology)
Professor L. Michael Griffel (Music) [Emeritus]
Professor Bernadette McCauley (History) [on leave]
Professor Gerald Press (Philosophy)
Professor Joseph Roitberg (Mathematics & Statistics)
Professor Ezra Shahn (Biological Sciences)
Professor Larry Shore (Film & Media Studies)
Professor Carolyn Somerville
(Political Science)
Professor Richard Stapleford
(Art)
Professor Robert J. White
(Classical & Oriental Studies)
Professor Jason
Young (Psychology)
Current advisors for this semester are in bold type.
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Advising:
You are required to meet with an advisor for general academic
advising at least once per semester. During the semester in
which you are accepted into the Program, we request that you
meet with an advisor twice (once for a welcome session, and
the second time for registration advising). At least four
professors advise for the Program each semester (current advisors
for this semester are in bold type). You can choose your advisor
because he/she interviewed you, or you have taken a class
with him/her, or because you like him/her, or perhaps only
one advisor’s schedule suits yours. If you fail to meet
with an advisor once a semester, the designation “HP”
will be removed from your record. In effect, you lose all
the privileges granted to members of the Thomas Hunter Honors
Program, including priority registration. You must continue
to see an advisor every semester even after you have been
certified in order to avoid any academic or bureaucratic problems
that might come up, and to avoid nasty surprises at graduation
audit time. It is too late to find out in your last semester
that you haven’t done something essential. You should
make sure your advisor reviews all requirements with you several
semesters before you plan to graduate. He/She can also help
you with your personal statement for scholarships and graduate
applications.
All students in the Program are required to register for
a minimum of 4.5 credits each semester. Any waiver of this
requirement must be approved by an advisor during your registration
conference.
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The Special Honors Curriculum:
The three integrative interdisciplinary colloquia which all
members of the Thomas Hunter Honors Program must complete
are the core of the Special Honors Curriculum. These colloquia,
which change every semester,
all attempt to demonstrate how knowledge gained from a variety
of disciplines can be related and integrated in an effort
to understand complex processes and phenomena. Fostering the
capacity for such integrative thinking is the primary goal
of the Honors Program. You must take a 200-level colloquium
in your first year in the Program and a 300-level colloquium
thereafter. The third colloquium may be at either the 200-
or 300-level. If you are a part-time student, you must take
the first colloquium by your fourth semester in the Program.
While the specific content of these courses varies from semester
to semester, the underlying principles remain the same.
The 200-level colloquium is always taught by one professor,
often a member of the Council on Honors, who approaches a
specific problem using materials and methodologies of two
or more disciplines. You may take a 200-level colloquium,
even if you are a junior or senior.
The 300-level colloquium usually involves two professors
from two different areas, who focus on a given topic. Occasionally,
300-level colloquia are taught by only one professor, but
in those cases there are invited guest speakers from different
disciplines. You may also take more than one of these colloquia
if you so desire.
For a colloquium to be counted toward the requirement of
three, you must have earned the grade of B- or better.
As a member of the Thomas Hunter Honors Program, you are
released from strict compliance with the Distribution Requirement
or General Education Requirement. This gives you additional
flexibility, but not absolute freedom. To graduate from the
Honors Program you must:
a) take 3 colloquia as described above and receive a grade
of B- or better in each of them.
b) take at least 1 lab science course*. Courses that satisfy
the Special Honors Curriculum lab science requirement are:
ANTHP 101 or 102
ASTRO 100 and ASTRO 107 (lecture and lab)
BIOL 100 or 102
CHEM 100 and CHEM 101 (lecture and lab)
PGEOG 130
GEOL 101
PHYS 101 (lecture and lab)
*Higher level lab course are also
acceptable.
Equivalent courses taken at other universities may be used
to satisfy the lab science requirement. Please schedule an
appointment with an advisor if you have any questions about
your lab science requirement. We strongly advise you NOT to
wait until your last semester to take your lab science course.
c) The Council also expects that you will choose courses
in the three subdivisions of the Arts and Sciences: Humanities
and Arts, Social Sciences, Sciences and Mathematics which
will provide a solid, wide-ranging introduction to the materials
and methodologies characteristic of each branch. You are further
advised to make sure that you take some courses which provide
a sense of historical development and some knowledge of the
fundamental background texts and materials essential to general
culture and to the disciplines which most interest you. You
must maintain breadth in your curriculum.
d) Nine-credit secondary (mini) concentration:
You are expected to take a sequence of 3 courses in a subdivision
of Arts and Sciences other than that of your major or primary
concentration. (That is, if your major is in the Social Sciences,
your area of secondary concentration must be either in the
Humanities and Arts or in Sciences and Mathematics. If your
major is in the Humanities and Arts, this area of concentration
must be either in the Social Sciences or in Sciences and Mathematics.
If your major is in Science and Mathematics, your mini concentration
must be either in Humanities and Arts or Social Sciences.)
This usually means 3 courses in a single department; 2 of
which are at the 200- or 300-level. The purpose of this requirement
is to ensure that you do not over-concentrate in closely related
disciplines and that you achieve more than an entry-level
knowledge in at least one field or discipline from a second
of the three major disciplinary groupings of the Arts and
Sciences. If you think that the 12-credit minor you are
completing for your major satisfies this requirement, see a
THHP advisor for approval. This "mini concentration" must
be approved by a Council advisor. You should have
completed at least one course in your "mini-minor" by the time
you are reviewed for certification. This “min concentration" must be approved
by a Council advisor. (See below
for further details.)
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Majors:
Although the Thomas Hunter Honors Program is considered a
major and will appear as such on your final transcript (it
will state “Special Honors Curriculum”
when you graduate), most students in the Program also complete
one, or sometimes even two, departmental majors. If you want
to major in English, for example, you declare a major with the
English Department. You thereby put yourself under whatever
major and minor requirements that Department sets. Keep in
mind that you must complete a minor for your non-THHP major.
If you decide to declare two departmental majors,
usually both departments will waive minor requirements if you
request it, unless they require a specific minor.
You are expected to sign up for "honors" work in at least one
of your major departments, if it is available. It is
important that you consult with a THHP advisor about how you
intend to complete this requirement.
Should you prefer to create your own personal, interdisciplinary
major instead of doing a departmental major, as a member of
the Thomas Hunter Honors Program, you may do so. You must work out and submit
an academic plan and have it approved by a Thomas Hunter Honors Program
advisor. This cannot be done at the last minute, and you must
submit a proposal by the time you have completed 90 credits.
You cannot decide just before graduating that you are going
to have only an interdisciplinary Honors major. In addition,
if you choose this option you must complete either HONS 301.99
or HONS 491.51 and produce a substantial piece of writing
which reflects and pulls together the knowledge acquired in
the interdisciplinary course of study you have been pursuing.
If you choose this option, only “Special Honors Curriculum”
will appear in the slot for majors on your final transcript.
If you have several majors, they will all appear. You never
have to formally declare your Special Honors Curriculum “major.”
We tell the Registrar when you are “certified.”
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Certification:
Your initial admission into the Honors Program is provisional.
(The registrar codes this as “HP”.) Final certification
into the Program, with the privilege to have Special Honors
Curriculum on your record as a major, is usually made after
two full semesters (24 credits) in the Program (for part-time
students, certification will, of course, take longer). You
will be considered for certification if you:
a) are maintaining a minimum cumulative index of 3.5 or better
and have completed the necessary colloquium (one 200-level)
with a grade of B- or better;
b) have completed or been exempted from English 120. If you
feel you should be exempted, submit a well-written paper for
an advanced course to the appropriate person in the English
Department (currently Professor Evelyn Melamed) with a request
for exemption. Make sure the Registrar then posts this exemption
on your transcript;
c) have 18 credits of 200- and/or 300-level courses in a
variety of disciplines, with at least 3 of these credits,
and preferably 6 credits, in a subdivision of Arts and Sciences
other than that of the major. (Honors Colloquia do not count
towards these 18 credits.)
d) have declared your 9-credit
secondary concentration ("mini-concentration" as described above) with
your THHP advisor, and have completed at least one course in
the sequence.
When you have completed all of the above requirements, the
Council reviews your record. If your continuing academic
promise, and your compliance with the interdisciplinary
principles of the Program so warrant, the Council certifies
you as a permanent member of the Program. Once that determination
is made, the transcript comment “Special Honors Curriculum”
is placed on your record by the Office of the Registrar, along
with any other major. A student who has failed to maintain
a cumulative index of 3.5 at the time when certification should
occur is allowed one semester in which to raise his or her
cumulative grade point average. One of the good things about
being certified is that if your GPA drops below 3.5 after
certification, you can no longer be dismissed from the Program
for this reason. Another benefit is that you may be eligible
for Presidential Scholarships (see “Scholarships and
Fellowships”).
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College-wide
Requirement:
Pluralism and Diversity:
This is a College graduation requirement for everyone. If
you entered Hunter in Fall 1993 or thereafter, you must fulfill
it. If you believe that you have taken courses that should
be acceptable for this requirement and have not been so considered,
there is an appeal process through a committee of the Hunter
Academic Senate.
Foreign Language Requirement:
Students who enter Hunter College in Fall 2001 or thereafter
are required to complete the language requirement, as it has
now a graduation requirement. If you have proficiency
in a language (native language other than English, four years
of a high-school language, etc.), please make sure it shows
on your transcript. Take some form of proof to the appropriate
language department advisor if you are a native speaker
of a foreign language, or if you have completed four years
of high school language, see either Ilene Drapkin or Bonnie
Kaplan in Student Services. In either case, ask to have the
proficiency indicated on your transcript. If you are beginning
a language at Hunter, you are urged to take your first language
course as soon as possible, and not to leave substantial time
gaps between levels. Please note, that even if you
have satisfied this requirement, if you want to take another
language, you will not receive credit for completing the first
semester of the language unless you also complete the second
semester.
Quantitative Reasoning and US History Requirements:
You are expected to take one course in something
"quantitative" which must be approved by a THHP advisor.
You also need to take one history course or POLSC 110.
CUNY Proficiency Exam (CPE)
All Hunter students who entered Hunter in Fall 1999 or later
must take and pass the CUNY Proficiency Exam once they have
completed between 45 and 60 credits. NO ONE IS EXEMPTED FROM
TAKING THIS EXAM, which is given once a semester. If you are
unsure whether or not you are required to take this exam,
speak with an advisor. In order to register for the exam you
must have completed or been exempted from English 120. DO
NOT DISREGARD NOTICES (A HARD COPY FROM THE OFFICE OF THE
PROVOST AND AN E-MAIL SENT TO YOUR HUNTER E-MAIL ACCOUNT)
CONCERNING THIS EXAM, AND DO NOT FAIL TO SHOW UP FOR IT ONCE
IT IS SCHEDULED. IF YOU DO NOT SHOW UP ONCE YOUR ARE SCHEDULED
IT IS CONSIDERED A "FORFEIT." A STOP IS PLACED ON YOUR RECORD
WHICH WILL PREVENT YOU FROM REGISTERING FOR COURSES THE NEXT
SEMESTER.
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Graduation Audit:
All forms are available online
at the following address:
http://registrar.hunter.cuny.edu/forms/Degreeaudt/GER/BA%20GER.pdf
Or click
here to download the form.
Filling out the Grad Audit form(s):
Since you can only fit one major and one minor on each
form, you will need at least two copies of page 2. If you
have two majors besides Special Honors Curriculum, you
will need to print three copies of page 2.
Page 1: ALL
-
Put your name and social security number on all pages and number
the pages 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3, etc.
-
Fill out all of the information requested on the top of the form
and make sure you sign and date the form.
-
At
“Undergraduate Major 1” List Special Honors Curriculum.
[Since you do not list your majors on the Commencement Card,
unless Special Honors Curriculum is listed first on the
Grad Audit form your name will be listed in the general roster
of graduates instead of being given special recognition during
the ceremony]. List your second and/or third majors and your
minor.
-
DO NOT FILL OUT anything on the left side of the
form except for Stage 1 - "Academic Foundations". Include
the semester you completed English 120. If you
are exempt from this requirement, write EXEMPT.
[Keep in
mind that it must be stated on your transcript that you are
exempt]. Leave everything else in Stage 1 blank.
-
List the courses that meet the Foreign Language requirement. [If
you are exempt from completing the Foreign Language requirement,
write EXEMPT next to Course 1 under the Foreign Language
heading. Again, it must be stated on your transcript that you
are exempt from this requirement].
-
List the courses that meet Pluralism and Diversity.
-
List the courses that meet the Writing Intensive requirement. All
HONS courses satisfy the Writing Intensive requirement.
-
Finally, circle YES for passing the CPE exam.
Special Honors
Curriculum and One Disciplinary Major:
Page 2:
-
In
the space next to Major write “Special Honors Curriculum” and
put 9 credits under # of required credits.
-
List the three required Honors Colloquia in the major area. Put
a line through the space provided for the Minor.
Page
3:
-
List your second major. Include the number of credits required
for the major. It is your responsibility to know the number of
credits required. If you are unsure, speak to an advisor in
your major department.
-
List the courses required for
your minor
Special
Honors Curriculum and Two Disciplinary Majors:
Page
4:
-
On page 3, cross out the area
for a minor
-
List the courses that fulfill
your third major
-
In order to have the minor requirement waived,
you must bring it to the attention of your
two non-honors departmental advisors as you do your grad audit!
Have each non-Honors advisor write waived all across the
boxes in the minor area and sign his/her name to that effect.
Most departments will waive a minor if there are 2 full
departmental majors, unless the major
requires a specific minor. (See an advisor in your
major department if you are unclear about the minor requirements
for your major).
Schedule
an appointment with a THHP advisor at
the start of the semester in which you plan to graduate, and
present all of your filled-out forms to your Honors Program
advisor. You should meet with a THHP
advisor before you see your departmental advisor, since
he/she will stamp the GER area on the page 1 of the form and
sign off on your Thomas Hunter Honors Program courses on page 2 of the form.
Next, you will need to make an appointment with your
non-Honors department advisor(s) to get a signature and
stamp underneath their respective courses on page 3 and/or page
4 of the graduation audit form(s). It is advised that you do
this as early as possible. If there are problems, there will be
time to have them resolved well before it is time for you to
graduate. If, after you have filed for graduation, you cannot
complete all of your graduation requirements, notify the
Graduation Audit division to cancel your graduation, and
file to graduate in the following semester. You will not be
able to register for courses unless you cancel your audit.
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Scholarships
and Fellowships - Undergraduate and Graduate:
You should periodically consult the student
E-bulletin (now called the Hunter Gatherer) for interesting scholarship and internship
opportunities. It is a very useful tool.
Undergraduates - Myrna
Fader’s office in Student Services, 11th floor East is where
you can find out about Newcombe and Belle Zeller scholarships,
etc, pick up helpful information and perhaps schedule an
appointment with Myrna Fader. Her Undergraduate & Graduate
Grants Guide details a variety of scholarships (not TAP, etc.)
for which you may be eligible. It is also available on-line
at
http://studentservices.hunter.cuny.edu/grants/GrantsGuide.pdf.
Ms. Fader also produces a Planning for Graduate School
booklet, which is available in her office.
If you intend to go on to graduate school, do
not forget to file an application for a Scholarship and Welfare
Fund Senior Scholarship for Graduate Study by the deadline
posted on the web-site of the year in which you plan to
graduate. This scholarship for first-year graduate study may be
used anywhere and is independent of anything your graduate
institution may give you. The application is available on-line
at the following web-site:\
http://studentservices.hunter.cuny.edu/ScholarshipandWelfareFundApplication.pdf
Apply for it even if you are going to take a year
off. The scholarship may be deferred for one year.
The Scholarship and Welfare Fund of the Alumni
Association also provides small scholarships for excellent
undergraduate students. Apply through the Office of Student
Services. (Deadline is May 1st.) In addition, they award a
small number of larger scholarships to Thomas Hunter Honors
Program students recommended to them by members of the Council
on Honors.
Members of the Honors
Program intending to graduate in January or June who are
majoring in one of the humanities or arts, or history, and who
plan to go on to graduate school, should tell our office by
September of their intention to graduate, so we will think of
them when we are asked to nominate students for certain
fellowships, the deadline for which occurs in the early fall.
Outstanding students contemplating applying for very special
scholarships for graduate studies (e.g., Fulbright, Javits, NSF,
Jack Kent Cooke) should see the Chair or an advisor, as well
Marcia Cantarella in the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences
early in their junior year (at the 60-70 credit point) for
assistance during the application process.
All certified Thomas
Hunter Honors Program students are eligible to apply for several
special scholarships reserved for Thomas Hunter Honors Program
students. If you expect to receive certification in a given
semester, you are also encouraged to apply then. In addition to
an outstanding academic record at Hunter, the other criteria for
the scholarships are:
a) a transcript
showing intellectual commitment to the interdisciplinary
principles of the Thomas Hunter Honors Program
b) financial need.
If
you should find yourself in real financial difficulty, see the
Chair, or just speak to an advisor.
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Significant Odds and Ends:
a. Incompletes and FINs:
(1) The Honors Program strongly advises against taking an
Incomplete in any course. However, if you find yourself in the
situation in which that is your only option, and your
instructor(s) agree, fill out a “Contract to Resolve
Incomplete Grades” with your instructor(s) and give the office
a copy. This will hopefully encourage you to complete the
course requirement(s) in a timely manner, and will also give
us a record of your intention. If you take an Incomplete in
any course, you will not be on the Dean’s List for that
semester.
(2) An Incomplete in an Honors Colloquium will prevent you
from being certified in the Program.
(3) A FIN in an Honors Colloquium will prevent you from
registering for another Honors Colloquium until the FIN is
resolved. If you have an Incomplete, you are placed on the
wait-list for any new Honors colloquium until the work for the
previous colloquium has been completed. Please note that if an
IN turns into a FIN by the end of the semester in which you
plan to graduate, and if the FIN is not resolved before the
deadline, you will need to cancel your grad audit and your graduation
will not be in effect until the work has been completed and
the change of grade form has been submitted to the Registrar’s
office.
c. Credit/No Credit Grades (CR/NC): You must maintain a
3.5 GPA to be certified in the Program. The use of CR/NC is
discouraged by the Council on Honors, except in special
circumstances and with the permission of an advisor. If you
opt for a CR in one of your Honors Colloquia, it will not
count towards the three Honors colloquia you need. In
addition, while CRs and NCs are not averaged into your Hunter
GPA, you will not be on the Dean’s List in a semester in which
you take a CR/NC. Medical schools and many graduate schools
consider CRs taken in courses where letter grades are
available to be the equivalent of a C, and law schools may
factor in NCs as though they were Fs. (None of this applies to
internships, etc., where CR and NC are the only grades given.)
d. Leaves of Absence: The College does not recognize
leaves of absence. If you leave for more than one semester,
you are technically ‘not on file’ and you must apply for
readmission to Hunter. Deadlines for readmission are July 1
for Fall, December 1 for Spring, and April 1 for Summer
admission. You are required to pay a $10.00 fee. If you are
not on file for two consecutive semesters the designation “HP”
will be removed from your record. Make sure you come to the
Thomas Hunter Honors Program office and notify us that you are
planning to be readmitted. If we don’t know that you are
planning to return, you will lose priority registration for
the semester that you do return. You should also see an
advisor.
1) If you have been certified in the Thomas Hunter Honors
Program, you will be readmitted to the Thomas Hunter Honors
Program automatically if your GPA was 3.5 or better when you
left.
2) If you have not yet been certified in the Thomas Hunter
Honors Program, you will be readmitted to the Program
automatically if your GPA was at or above the entering
eligibility requirement (currently 3.65).
3) All other cases will be reviewed individually.
e. Phi Beta Kappa and other Honor Societies: Many of
our students are invited to join prestigious national honor
societies such as Phi Beta Kappa. If you receive an invitation
to one or more of these, please do not disregard it, as
admission to such societies is definitely a feather in one's
cap. If you have doubts about whether or not you should join,
see an advisor and discuss the matter. Do not simply dismiss
the invitation.
f. If you need money and are interested in part-time jobs,
or if you are a work-study student, please tell our office so
we will think of you when people call. Conversely, if there is
a position available where you work, please let us know! We do
keep an active list of students who are looking for work.
Foreign students on student visas may work on campus only.
g. GRE, MCAT, and LSAT preparation: If you are going to
take a preparatory course, Princeton Review gives all Hunter
students a 30% discount.
h. If you change your address, phone number, or e-mail
address, please tell our office in addition to notifying the
Registrar’s Office. Our databases are not connected. In
addition, for those who list the dormitory as a permanent
address, please remember to let us know your new address when
you graduate.
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