Departmental Honors in Psychology

Honors Colloquium

Honors Courses

Illinois State Scholarships for Honor Students

Psychology Honor Students Describe Their Experiences

Departmental Honors in Psychology
Illinois State Honors students in good standing who are Psychology majors are eligible and strongly encouraged to earn Departmental Honors in Psychology at graduation.

Honors requirements are:

• A 3.5 or higher grade point average in all psychology courses;
• Complete a senior thesis with a Psychology faculty member;
• Worked previously in the same faculty member's research lab; and
• Present a senior thesis project at the Psychology Honors Colloquium.

Students who complete the above requirements and apply to the Honors Program for departmental honors will have Department of Psychology Honors printed on their Illinois State diploma. Students must declare their intent with the Honors Program when they file for graduation.

Questions about Honors in Psychology should be directed to the Honors Coordinator, Dr. Jeffrey Wagman, at JeffreyWagman@ilstu.edu.

Honors Colloquium
The Honors Colloquium is an opportunity for Honors students to present their theses to faculty and students in the department in a public forum. There are two colloquia, during the fall and the spring semesters. In the fall, the Honors Colloquium is held in conjunction with the colloquium for Advanced Research Apprenticeship (PSY 390) students. At the colloquium, students make oral presentations of their honors theses describing the background, methods used, findings, and conclusions of their research. Family members and friends are welcome to attend.

Students who have registered for senior thesis hours will receive the Honors Colloquium Registration Form in the mail or the form can be downloaded. Completed forms should be returned to the department in order to register for the colloquium.

Registration Form (MS Word) (PDF)
This Microsoft Word document will download to the computer's desktop. The MS Word form is interactive and can be filled out on the computer. The completed form can be saved and sent as an e-mail attachment to the Honors Coordinator.

Adobe® Acrobat® is needed to access this PDF document. If the PDF document will not open, click on Adobe Reader to download a free copy of the software. The PDF form is interactive and can be filled out on the computer. The completed form should be printed and returned to the department (DeGarmo 435).

See Honors Colloquium to view pictures from the 2007 Honors Colloquium.

Honors Courses
Out-of-Class Honors credit: The department and the Honors Program offer a number of ways for students to earn honors credit outside the standard classroom experience. Students can participate in a research apprenticeship or conduct independent research with a faculty member or complete a honors thesis under the guidance of a faculty member. See Out-of-Class Honors Credit for more information.

In-class Honors credit: The department also offers Honors sections of content and skill psychology courses, such as for PSY 110, 138, and 231. Students can earn Honors credit by completing the Honors section of these courses.

Honors students may also approach faculty about in-class honors projects for psychology courses. These projects have often involved an additional research paper, but can be any project faculty and students agree upon that is in addition to normal course requirements.

See Honors Courses for more information about specific courses.

Illinois State Scholarships for Honor Students
See Scholarships for information about Honors scholarships for incoming freshmen, based on their high school academic achievements, and for current Honors students. The Honors Program also provides information about national and international awards for Honors students.

Psychology Honors Students Describe Their Experiences
Being involved in the psychology department honors program was a great experience that helped me prepare for my work in graduate school. The program gave me an opportunity to do independent studies work on different research projects that I found interesting. My projects included work with Dr. John Pryor on sexual harassment and Dr. Dawn McBride on automatic memory. As a result of my work on these projects I was able to get valuable experience by presenting my work at the Undergraduate Research Symposium that ISU holds annually. These experiences as well as the smaller more intimate setting of honors classes really prepared me for the graduate work environment. Currently I am attending Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL, working on my Master's in Clinical Psychology.
—Heather Shoudel

I am receiving a monetary stipend for my honor's thesis through the honor's mentorship program. For my thesis I have designed an experiment that examines the prediction of the ideal free distribution to humans. Only three studies have applied this prediction to humans, and I am currently working with Dr. Critchfield and a professor at the University of Wisconsin who has published one of the three human ideal free distribution papers. Being the lead investigator of an experiment has broadened my understanding of the research process. I am now fully aware of the hard work, flexibility, time, and dedication that are necessary to finish an experiment successfully and put it into writing for publication.
—Jorie Colbert

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