Graduation with Distinction
The Graduation with Distinction program recognizes students who demonstrate academic excellence through the successful completion of a substantive written project evaluated by a committee of three faculty members. Traditionally, such work has been undertaken in the student’s major area of study. Indeed, all academic departments and programs offering a major, as well as Program II, have established procedures for conferring graduation with distinction on students who meet their standards and requirements. In Spring 2009, the Arts and Sciences Council approved an expansion of the Graduation with Distinction program beyond Distinction in the major to permit qualified students to undertake a thesis or other substantive project worthy of Distinction in an area outside that of the major (or Program II). Henceforth, successful candidates for Distinction will be recognized by earning the right either to:
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Graduation with Distinction in the Major (or in Program II)
or -
Graduation with Distinction (for a project not associated with the student’s major).
This recognition is separate and distinct from Latin Honors. See History of Graduation with Distinction.
GRADUATION WITH DISTINCTION IN THE MAJOR
In general, qualified students seeking to graduate with Distinction in a major (or in Program II) will participate during their junior and/or senior years in a seminar and/or a directed course of reading, laboratory research, or independent study that results in substantive written work. Each student's overall achievement in the major or in Program II, including the thesis project, is assessed by a three-member faculty committee. The Graduation with Distinction program permits the awarding of Distinction at one of three levels: Distinction, High Distinction, and Highest Distinction, though departments and programs vary with respect to the levels of Distinction they recognize.
Since Fall 2002, Trinity College has offered the option for a student to earn double honors for a single thesis written for two separate departments or programs, an option distinct from that of completing two entirely separate theses and earning honors in each.
GRADUATION WITH DISTINCTION
Beginning in Fall 2009, qualified students seeking to graduate with Distinction on the basis of a thesis or other substantive scholarly project not anchored in a major but rather in a certificate program, a minor or any other elective field of study may apply for admission to the Graduation with Distinction program. Each student’s overall achievement in the field, and in particular the thesis project, is assessed by a three-member faculty committee. Graduation with Distinction may be awarded at one level only: Distinction. Graduation with Distinction is not intended to supplant Graduation with Distinction in the Major, and therefore will not be considered for double honors (i.e., Distinction awarded in two units for a single thesis). Nor will a student be considered an eligible candidate for Graduation with Distinction who is eligible for Graduation with Distinction in the Major based on the same thesis. However, a student could be eligible for Graduation with Distinction in the Major and for Graduation with Distinction based on separate theses. (For detailed information about the requirements for Graduation with Distinction, click here.)
WHY PURSUE DISTINCTION?
All qualified students in Trinity College are encouraged to pursue a thesis project leading to either Graduation with Distinction in the Major or Graduation with Distinction in a field unassociated with a major simply for the sake of the rewards that accrue from pursuit of independent academic research under the guidance of a faculty mentor. The opportunity to forge a close personal and working relationship with one or more professors in one's field of intellectual interest is invaluable per se, and the mentor's familiarity with the student's work and potential can also be enormously helpful when the student is applying to post-graduate programs of study. Distinction, whether in the major or not, is thus not only an honor that is noted on the transcript, but can also represent a high point in the student's academic career and be beneficial to one's subsequent scholarly pursuits.
For more information about the Graduation with Distinction in the Major and the Graduation with Distinction programs contact:
Norman C. Keul
Associate Dean, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies
Box 90043, 011 Allen Building
Phone: 919-684-2096
Fax: 919-660-0488
E-Mail: nkeul@duke.edu
In support of interdisciplinary efforts at Duke, the Curriculum Committee approved in Fall 2002 an option to permit a student to pursue double honors for a single thesis written for two separate departments/programs offering Graduation with Distinction in the Major. In doing so, the Committee established certain guidelines that all departments/programs choosing to offer the double honors option must use. Students earning double honors will have both distinctions indicated on their transcript and have their names cited in both departments’/programs’ lists in the Commencement program.
Whether or not to include this option as part of their Graduation with Distinction program rests with the individual units.
See also: