Honors

Students interested in graduating with departmental honors are strongly urged to inform the Associate Chair or the Chair of the departmental Honors Committee of their intention as soon as possible. Ideally, this should happen by the end of the sophomore year to ensure sufficient time to complete all the requirements. The formal requirements of the College and the Department appear below in somewhat abbreviated form.

College Requirements

Graduation with departmental honors is awarded in recognition of exceptional performance in mathematics, completion of a program of independent research or an alternative project, and a strong overall academic record. In addition to the departmental requirements (see below), the College requires the following for graduation with departmental honors:

  1. Candidates must inform the Associate Chair or the Chair of the Honors Committee of their intention to work for departmental honors no later than the time of enrollment for the final undergraduate semester. Copies of the intent form should be returned to College Student Academic Services.

     
  2. The candidate must have achieved an overall GPA of 3.25, and a GPA of at least 3.5 in Mathematics. These grade point averages include work done at other institutions, as well as at KU.

     
  3. Successful completion of all departmental honors requirements must be certified to the departmental honors coordinator(s) by a panel composed of at least three members of the College faculty who have heard the oral presentation of the independent research.

 

Departmental Requirements

In addition to the College requirements above, the student must attain a grade point average of 3.5 or above in all mathematics courses taken (numbered 500 or above). The student must also complete two out of the following four sequences: MATH 727/728; MATH 765/766; MATH 781/782; and MATH 790/791, with a grade no lower than B- in each of these courses.

The student must make a satisfactory oral presentation to the department on a topic related to his or her mathematics course work. It is suggested that the oral presentation be made during the second semester of the senior year. Preparation should include enrollment in Math 699 Directed Reading (for 1 or more credit hours) with a faculty mentor. The student should make arrangements with a mathematics advisor at the beginning of the semester in which the presentation is to be made.