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Academic Honors and Recognition

Departmental Honors

Departmental Honors are offered by most departments to qualified students. Typically, the student must fulfill the following requirements in order to be granted departmental honors. The student:

  • must have a superior record in the major.

  • must complete a thesis or project that has been approved by the department or program and be supervised by at least one faculty member within the department and receive a grade of A or A- on that thesis or project.

  • must present their work to the department or program at a designated forum.

  • must not have been found guilty of violating the Honor Code of Responsibility.

In some cases, individual departments may have more specific guidelines for departmental honors. See the individual department listings for details.

The Dean’s List

The Dean’s List was established to recognize undergraduate students’ academic excellence. To be included on the dean’s list, compiled each semester, a student must have obtained a semester GPA of at least 3.50, have earned at least 12 credits using the letter grade system, and not have been found guilty of violating the Honor Code of Responsibility during that semester. For more information, contact the Dean of the Undergraduate Program.

Academy

Academy is Simmons’s honor society. Senior students who have demonstrated superior achievement according to the rules of the faculty and who have not been found guilty of violating the Honor Code of Responsibility may qualify for admission after completing at least 48 semester hours of Simmons credit using the letter grade system. Students are considered for academy at three points during their senior year. Usually, as a result of this process, the number of students admitted into academy equals about 10 percent of the senior class by the end of the academic year.

Latin Honors

Latin Honors of summa cum laude (3.90- 4.00), magna cum laude (3.75-3.89), and cum laude (3.55-3.74) are granted to graduating seniors who achieve grade point averages at a distinguished level, have earned at least 48 semester hours of letter grades, and are not in violation of the Honor Code of Responsibility.