Honors Program

PURPOSE

The Honors Program in the Department of Communication Studies aims to identify, encourage, and recognize students with the potential for exceptional analytical, creative and communicative skills. Students will strengthen their research and writing skills under close mentorship of a faculty advisor and benefit from the oversight of a committee of faculty members.

ELIGIBILITY AND ADMISSION

Petition for admission to the Honors Program is initiated by the student. Minimum eligibility criteria are listed below:

• Achievement of an overall GPA of 3.3 or higher; this standard must be maintained throughout the period of participation in the Honors Program;
• Achievement of a GPA of 3.3 or higher in all Communication Studies and Journalism courses; this standard must be maintained throughout the period of participation in the Honors Program;
• Completion of at least 30 (at UNC Charlotte) but not more than 90 credit hours at the time participation in the Honors Program will begin (determined by the start date of the student’s first Honors Program regularly scheduled course or independent study);
• Achievement of an A in COMM 2100: Introduction to Communication Theory;
• Completion of COMM 3100: Communication Research Methods preferably before beginning the research proposal;
• Completion and submission of the Honors Program application form (applications are typically processed within a week when school is in session other than summer semesters)
• Submission of a one page statement of interest, emailed to the Honors Program director, Dr. Tiffany Gallicano (Tiffany.Gallicano@charlotte.edu) The statement should include a summary of the applicant’s general research area of interest and what the applicant wants to achieve from the experience. Applicants should also include how they intend their research project to contribute value to the academic community and either the professional community or the public sphere. Applicants can change their research topic later if desired. The statement should be single-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font, with a line of space between paragraphs and no paragraph indentations. It can be in a Word document, PDF, or a Google Doc. The quality of the content and writing will be considered in the decision to admit the student.

CURRICULUM

Successful Honors Program candidates will complete at least nine credit hours of Honors courses, or at least six hours of Honors courses for early-entry students in the communication studies master’s program, count toward the 120 hours required for graduation and toward the Related Coursework requirement for all Communication Studies concentrations.

Specific requirements are listed below:

• Completion of at least one three-credit academic Honors course (not including experiential or project-based courses) offered through the University Honors Program (HONR 3700); this requirement is waived for early-entry graduate students in the communication studies master’s program.
• Completion of COMM 3790, a three-credit Honors independent study under the supervision of the student’s Honors advisor and reviewed by the student’s Honors committee. The student will develop an original research proposal for this course that is situated within scholarly work in communication studies and represents a systematic investigation into a problem, issue, topic, or idea related to the communication studies discipline. The research proposal should be driven by research questions and/or hypotheses and be aligned with theory. The proposed methods must be grounded in best inquiry practices, including ethical practices. In addition, the research proposal will describe the community that would be interested in the work and be accompanied by a layperson summary. By the Reading Day of the semester before graduation, the student must submit the Part One Form via DocuSign, following the directions on the Honors College website. The student must earn an A in COMM 3790.

• Completion of COMM 3791, a three-credit Honors course based on the research proposal approved by the student’s Honors Committee. The research project must provide provisional answers to the inquiry presented in the proposal (minor changes are permitted by committee approval) in a written, oral, visual, aural, or experiential format. Examples include a written thesis, which can be ideal as a writing sample for a graduate program; a product  (e.g., an AI program or app that serves a discipline-related purpose); a formal training (e.g., workshop, panel, or presentation); exhibition of visual creative work; performance; guided community gathering, portfolio-based project or journal; or other product approved by the department’s Honors Program director. If a written thesis is chosen (see the example here), it must be between 35-75 pages, be double-spaced, use 12-point font, adopt one-inch margins, and use an appropriate scholarly writing style (e.g., APA or MLA style).
  
  Completion of COMM 3791 also includes the requirement to share the insights generated by the inquiry process and the resulting product with relevant stakeholders and the target audience. At minimum, the sharing requirement includes the submission of the product to Niner Commons and the presentation of the product to the student’s Honors Committee. The research product could possibly be shared in other ways, such as a thesis repository, oral presentation at a stakeholder meeting or conference; digital sharing (e.g., website or social media); journal article, scheduled viewing or exhibition of work (e.g., screening of a documentary); or another method approved by the Honors Program director. By Reading Day of the semester of graduation, the student must submit the Part Two form via DocuSign, following the directions on the Honors College website. The student must earn an A in COMM 3791.

STUDENT’S HONORS PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Each Honors student must obtain the participation of two full-time Communication Studies faculty members and a third full-time faculty member. Members of this committee will advise the student on course selection, evaluate the student’s research proposal, and evaluate the completed research project. The student’s Honors Advisor will serve as the committee chair and the primary contact for the student. At least one of the three members must be tenured/tenure-track. When appropriate, based on the student’s academic interest, one of the three faculty members may be selected from an outside department. The student is responsible for scheduling and coordinating all meetings with the committee as a whole or with individual members, including the research project presentation.

TIMELINE

Students may withdraw from the Honors Program in writing at any time without penalty. Any Honors courses in progress must be completed unless the student withdraws from the course under normal university procedures.