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Honors in Classics

(Effective Fall 2003)

It is possible to do Honors in Classical Civilizations, Classical Languages, Greek, or Latin. The requirements and procedures for Honors are as follows:

1. Standing.

A student must be a declared major in the Classics Department and in the subject in which Honors is done. A student must have a 3.3 overall GPA and a 3.3 GPA in the major courses.

2. Course Work.

Completion of the major program.

(Classical Languages, Greek, Latin only) Completion of at least one Senior Reading course in Greek or Latin poetry and one Senior Reading course in Greek or Latin prose; these can be done as part of the major program itself.

Completion of the appropriate Honors course (Classics H195, Greek H195, or Latin H195) with the grade of "C-" or better. Each course is worth 4 units.

Classics H195:
(a) Taken for Honors in Classical Civilizations:
Prerequisites: Appropriate preparation and eligibility for admission to the honors program. Largely independent study for one semester building on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the Classical Civilizations major; the work will result in the writing of a thesis, to be evaluated by an honors committee of three members. Written thesis due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which the course is taken.
(b) Taken for Honors in Classical Languages:
Prerequisites: Appropriate preparation and eligibility for admission to the honors program. Largely independent study for one semester building on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the Classical Languages major; the work will result in the writing of a thesis, to be evaluated by an honors committee of three members. Written thesis due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which the course is taken.

Greek H195:
Prerequisites: Appropriate preparation and eligibility for admission to the honors program. Largely independent study for one semester building on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the Greek major; the work will result in the writing of a thesis, to be evaluated by an honors committee of three members. Written thesis due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which the course is taken.

Latin H195:
Prerequisites: Appropriate preparation and eligibility for admission to the honors program. Largely independent study for one semester building on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the Latin major; the work will result in the writing of a thesis, to be evaluated by an honors committee of three members. Written thesis due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which the course is taken.

Note on preparation: The course descriptions above state, "Largely independent study for one semester building on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the … major." The work in that upper division course must include a term paper, which is then used as the beginning of the honor's thesis work in the H195 course. It is also possible to do independent study work in a Classics/Greek/Latin 198/199 course the semester before honors, to begin to prepare the thesis material. A student interested in this option needs to contact a professor willing to sponsor such a 198/199 and make the appropriate arrangements.

To sign up for an H195 course the student must first form an Honors Committee and determine who the Chair of the Honors Committee will be (see next item). S/he must then fill out the Independent Study Form available from the Undergraduate Student Services Adviser (Cassandra Johnson). Upon submission of this Form, the student will be issued a Course Control Number which will allow official enrollment in the H195 course.

3. Committee.

The student doing Honors is responsible for organizing his/her Honors Committee. This is done by direct communication with professors the student would like to work with. The Honors Committee is composed of three Berkeley professors. At least two must have appointments in the Classics Department. Under exceptional circumstances, one professor may be from a Classics Department outside Berkeley (e.g., Stanford), but the other two must be from Berkeley's department.

The student establishes that one of the three professors will be the Chair of the Committee. The Chair of the Honors Committee coordinates the student in his/her honors work, and is the Instructor of Record for the H195 course. The Honors Chair and the student consult the other members of the Honors Committee during the work on the thesis.

The student submits a completed thesis by the Monday of the 13th week of instruction of the semester in which Honors is to be awarded. The Honors Committee, under the coordination of the Honors Committee Chair, reads and evaluates the thesis by the Friday of the 14th week of instruction. The Committee determines by agreement what level of Honors the thesis will be given, if any. The levels are: cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude. A simple "P" may also be given in the course for work in the "C- to B-" range, with no Honors awarded; NP is the grade for work in the "F to D+" range. The levels of honors notionally correspond to the grades of "B/B+"(cum laude), "A-" (magna cum laude), and "A/A+ (summa cum laude)".

4. Award of Honors.

The Chair of the Honors Committee informs the student and the Chair of the Department of the level of Honors (if any) to be award. This must be done by the end of the 14th week of instruction.

Award of Honors is announced at Commencement and a certificate is presented.

Honors in the Department is entirely separate from Honors in General Scholarship, the parameters for which are based solely on overall GPA and are determined by the Registrar for each graduating class. An Honors Cord is worn at graduation to mark either Honors in General Scholarship, or Departmental Honors in the Major, or both.