Undergraduate Design majors who meet university requirements and successfully complete the application process can complete an honors project thesis in order to be eligible for high honors or highest honors upon graduation from UC Davis. A student will enroll in DES 194HA (3 units) and DES 194HB (3 units) for this honors project, and the courses are typically graded using deferred grading where students receive a grade only at the completion of the project after 6 units of work. In addition, the UC Davis Department of Design requires honors students to apply to the Undergraduate Research Conference with their honors project (application in February).
Graduation with high or highest honors will be conditional upon both the maintenance of the required grade point average and the completion of the senior thesis project. Students who anticipate doing a senior honors thesis should plan for 3 units of independent study in the program during each of two quarters in the senior year as course options.
The minimum GPA to qualify for acceptance into the honors program changes yearly, so please contact the advising office for this information.
Written honors proposal requirements:
- Proposed research/creative activity to be undertaken including questions to be answered in the process
- Methodologies employed in the process as well as a statement of available resources (archival materials, computer access) necessary for the project
- Tentative statement of the scope and nature of the final product
Online submission requirements:
- Agreement of a faculty member who will serve as the major adviser
- Written Honors Proposal (stated above)
- Portfolio of 10–15 works that show visual and conceptual skill as related to proposal
NOTE: All Honors Projects in Design will include a written component that contains some element of self-reflection. Each thesis will have a major adviser and a second adviser. The major adviser will be the instructor of record for both quarters of the 194H course. Upon completion of the project the major adviser and second adviser will make a recommendation to the entire faculty as to the student’s eligibility for high or highest honors at which time the faculty will take a formal vote. Typically, “A” quality work will be considered for high honors and “A+” quality work for highest honors. The awarding of either of these categories of distinction is further contingent upon the student’s GPA based on the guidelines of the College of Letters and Sciences. In some cases, students may not receive honors because their overall GPA is not sufficiently high. In this instance, the student will still have the notation of completing an honors project on their transcript plus knowing all this extra creative effort is a good preparation for Graduate School.
Proposals will be evaluated primarily for:
- Significant importance of contribution to the field of knowledge
- Scope of project that reflects work beyond the undergraduate classroom experience
- Feasibility of timely completion
- Availability of student resources for successful completion