Honors

Students enrolled in the Schreyer Honors College (SHC) receive a challenging education in CAMS. More than 30 percent of our majors are Schreyer Scholars. Ideally, admission occurs at the time of admission to Penn State, but a limited number of students who have compiled a superior academic record may be nominated at the conclusion of the second year.

In addition to the requirements of the SHC, CAMS has established the following requirements for students completing a research thesis.

1. A student must be enrolled as a Schreyer Scholar to receive an honors degree in CAMS. The student must fulfill the requirements for the major or, if not enrolled in the major, must complete 18 credits of CAMS courses, or CAMS-related courses approved by the Scholars Adviser, including 6 credits at the 400 level.
2. Unless temporarily delayed because of absence due to study abroad, the student must submit the SHC thesis form, approved by both the thesis director and the Scholars Adviser, one year prior to graduation. Within the limitations posed by the student’s language preparation or access to raw data, the thesis must represent a critical engagement with an issue or problem and provide some original contribution to the matter at hand.
3. Unless exempted by the Scholars Adviser, the student must enroll in 3 credits of CAMS 494H during the semester or summer session prior to the semester of graduation. At the conclusion of this course, the student must submit to the thesis director and the Scholars Adviser 1) an annotated bibliography, 2) a full detailed outline of the thesis, and 3) the draft of a substantial part (e.g., a full chapter) of the final thesis. The grade will be assigned by the thesis director based on the above assignment.
4. Unless exempted by the Scholars Adviser, the student must enroll in 1 credit CAMS 494H the semester of graduation.
5. The student is required to make an oral presentation of his or her research as part of the CAMS Lecture Series a minimum of three weeks prior to the thesis deadline.
6. The final completed thesis must be submitted for approval to both the thesis director and the Scholars Adviser a minimum of two weeks prior to the SHC thesis deadline.