Undergraduate Study
Honors Program and Societies
CSU has a well-established University Honors Program, located in E201A Newsom Hall and directed by Professor Michael B. Histand (491-5679). If you have a 3.5 GPA and you did not enter the Honors Program as a first-semester freshman, you may still do so. For information about requirements and thesis, stop at the Honors Office, Newsom Hall.
Membership in Lambda Iota Tau is available to majors in English or the Department of Foreign Languages. If you have 12 credits of literature courses and have maintained a 3.2 GPA in those courses, you are eligible to join LIT, the International Honor Society for students of Literature. Candidates submit a brief application, recommendations from their advisor and from a full-time member of the literature faculty, and a scholarly, critical or creative paper. A $20 application fee covers Administrative costs, a newsletter and a lettered certificate suitable for framing.
If your GPA ranks in the top 5% of the Junior class in the College of Liberal Arts and you have made a professional contribution (published an article, story, or poems) or rendered exceptional service to the University (served on university/college committees, ASCSU, etc.), you are eligible for nomination to Phi Kappa Phi and listing in Who's Who. Nominations for these prestigious honors come from the Department and are reviewed by a College committee. The College of Liberal Arts selects one student for Phi Kappa Phi and four for Who's Who. For information, see the Chair of the Scholarship Committee.
If your GPA as a senior is 3.5 or above (3.75 for juniors), if you have had at least one year of foreign language at the University level, and if 75% of all your courses are in approved liberal arts and sciences, you may be eligible for Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and best-known honorary. Campus members of Phi Beta Kappa screen eligible candidates and send out invitations in March. For information, contact Department representative Mike Palmquist at 970 491 7253.
Freshman with a 3.0 GPA are eligible for Spurs, an international service organization. At CSU, Spurs is a group of 50 students who undertake various fundraising projects and do campus and community service. Applications are accepted at the Student Center, Box 209, from eligible freshmen wishing to participate during the sophomore year. Candidates are evaluated on the basis of activities (high school and college), grades, and a personal interview.
Hisperia is a CSU honorary for about twenty-five juniors dedicated to community service. Members are selected late in the sophomore year on the basis of academic record, letters of recommendation and service in the community. For more information, call the Student Organizations Office, Campus Activities Center or Lory Student Center.
Juniors and seniors with GPAs in the top 15% are invited to join Golden Key, an international academic honorary. Members may also join local chapters and take part in campus and community service activities. The international office offers a $1000 scholarship to each local chapter for one of its members and supports a number of $10,000 post-graduate fellowships. For more information, call the Student Organizations Office, Campus Activities Center or Lory Student Center.
Juniors with outstanding academic, service, and leadership records are tapped for Mortar Board, a highly prestigious senior honorary. The ten to forty members of Mortar Board select juniors for membership as seniors. For more information, call the Student Organizations Office, Campus Activities Center or Lory Student Center.
Students in the top 10% of the College of Liberal Arts graduate with special honors. Those in the top 1% of the College graduate Summa Cum Laude (with highest distinction); those in the next 3% graduate Magna Cum Laude (with high distinction); those in the next 6% graduate Cum Laude (with distinction).
For information about course offerings and registration procedures for the upcoming semester or summer session, please view the Rambler, the Department's student newsletter.
This information is not intended to replace your advisor or the information in the CSU General Catalog, the Class Schedule, or the Department Checksheets.
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