EIU Pine Honors College

Departmental Honors

The Departmental Honors Program is designed for students who have begun upper division work or courses within a declared major.

Most departments on campus offer this advanced specialization within their discipline. The program permits eligible students to participate in the Honors College by taking 12 hours of advanced, individualized work within their major and/or area of interest.

Departmental Honors classes are primarily individualized course sections, research, independent study, and thesis supervised by professors who are distinguished in their field. Departmental Honors allows students to pursue areas of personal interest by delving deeply and independently into a topic.

Admission Criteria

Generally students admitted to departmental honors will have a strong EIU GPA (particularly in the major) and will have demonstrated an ability to do independent work in the discipline by having performed well in several classes. Each department has its own departmental honors coordinator who is responsible for admitting students. 

Transfer students who have not completed 12 hours at EIU may be admitted with the recommendation of the Departmental Honors Coordinator.

Honors Requirements

Program requirements vary slightly within the departments, but generally require 12 hours of coursework in independent study, research, graduate work, and thesis. Courses typically substitute for major requirements.

The Departmental Honors Coordinator is the primary supervisor for the program. Departmental Honors provides students with an exceptional opportunity for interaction and mentoring by faculty who are paramount in their field.

The Application for Departmental Honors must be completed by the Departmental Honors Coordinator in consultation with the student.

Programs and Coordinators

For more details on specific program requirements, please contact the Departmental Honors Coordinators in the specific department.

• Barbara Carlsward, Biological Sciences, bscarlsward@eiu.edu
• Tina Wang, Business, nwang@eiu.edu
• Ed Treadwell, Chemistry, emtreadwell@eiu.edu
• Angela Anthony, Communication Disorders & Sciences, abanthony@eiu.edu
• Anna Kochigina, Communication Studies, akochigina@eiu.edu
• Linda Ghent, Economics, lsghent@eiu.edu
• Melissa Caldwell, English, mcaldwell@eiu.edu
• Jim Davis, Geography, jadavis2@eiu.edu
• Katie Lewandowski, Geology, kjlewandowski@eiu.edu
• Ed Wehrle, History, efwehrle@eiu.edu
• Eunseong Kim, Journalism, ekim2@eiu.edu
• Andrew Parrish, Mathematics & Computer Science, ajparrish@eiu.edu
• Rebecca Johnson, Music, rrjohnson2@eiu.edu
• Grant Sterling, Philosophy, gcsterling@eiu.edu
• Jie Zou, Physics, jzou@eiu.edu
• Kevin Anderson, Political Science, kranderson@eiu.edu
• Steve Scher, Psychology, sjscher@eiu.edu
• Lauri DeRuiter-Willems, Public Health & Nutrition, ljderuiterwillems@eiu.edu
• Angela Glaros, Sociology, Anthropology, & Criminology, acglaros@eiu.edu
• Isaac Slaven, Technology, islaven@eiu.edu
• Anne Thibault-Green, Theatre Arts, athibault@eiu.edu
• Christiane Eydt-Beebe, World Languages & Cultures, ckeydt@eiu.edu

Graduation Certification

Students who have completed the Departmental Honors requirements and have a 3.5 GPA at graduation will be certified as graduates of the Honors College.

Here is the template for the title page to be used as the cover of Honors theses and final projects: Thesis Title Page Template  (will download as a word document)