Honors Program in Gender and Women’s Studies

Women power

If you are a gender and women's studies major who has demonstrated superior academic ability, you are eligible to participate in the Departmental Honors Program and to earn your degree with the designation: Honors in Gender and Women's Studies. In the honors program, you work closely with a faculty advisor for two semesters, researching and writing an honors thesis. You gain the experience of in-depth research and writing in close consultation with a faculty advisor and you complete a thesis, with a bound and electronic copy available in Adams Library in the Gender and Women's Studies archives.

Program Details

Admission Requirements

Students normally apply to the Departmental Honors Program during their junior year and work on their honors project during their senior year. To be eligible, you must:

  1. Major in gender and women's studies.
  2. Complete at least four 300-level gender and women's studies courses.
  3. Have a minimum GPA of 3.25 in the gender and women's studies major.
  4. Have an overall GPA of at least 3.0.

Program Requirements

  1. You will work with a faculty advisor, and during the second semester of your junior year, you will submit a preliminary proposal for an honors project to the department's Honors Committee. The Honors Committee will consist of your faculty advisor, two Gender and Women's Studies Program faculty members and a student from the Gender and Women's Studies Program.
  2. If your proposal has been approved by the Honors Committee, you enroll in GEND 490: Directed Study in the first semester of your senior year.
  3. You will present your final proposal for your honors thesis to the Honors Committee.
  4. If your final proposal is approved by the Honors Committee, you enroll in GEND 491: Directed Study in the second semester of your senior year.
  5. At mid-semester you and the Honors Committee will again convene to discuss the progress of your project.
  6. You will submit your honors thesis to the Honors Committee at the end of GEND 491 to be assessed on a Pass, Pass with Revisions, or No Pass basis.
  7. The Honors Committee will meet with you for a presentation of your final thesis project.

Final Evaluation

  1. You must receive at least a B from your advisor in GEND 490 in order to continue in the program.
  2. You must maintain at least a 3.25 GPA in gender and women's studies courses while enrolled in the program.
  3. You will be awarded your degree with the designation Honors in Gender and Women's Studies only upon recommendation by the department's Honors Committee.

For more information on the Departmental Honors Program, contact Professor Leslie Schuster at lschuster@ric.edu.