barrett honors college thesis

Thesis: Vasectomy: Goals, Practices, and Effects

Editor's note:

Cole Nichols defended his Barrett Honors College thesis entitled, "Vasectomy: Goals, Practices, and Effects" in Spring 2023 in front of committee members Jane Maienschein and Dina Ziganshina.  https://keep.lib.asu.edu/items/184626

Vasectomy is one of few widely available methods of contraception for people with male reproductive systems aside from condoms, abstinence, and the withdrawal method, and it is the only one of those options that can be permanent (Amory 2016). The procedure’s prominence has led me to investigate the history of vasectomy and particularly the evolution in vasectomy technique over time. Since its introduction in the late nineteenth century, the procedure has had a variety of impacts on many people across the world. In this research project, I have sought to analyze what the technical evolution of vasectomy reveals about the changing priorities of the medical systems that use it. In particular, I point to ways the eugenics movement’s attempts to control individual reproduction have led to both vasectomy’s efficacy and its restrictiveness.

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Create opportunities for your future with an Honors Thesis.

An honors thesis a sustained, independent research project in a student’s field of study. the thesis is an opportunity to work on unique research under the guidance of a faculty advisor. it often provides a writing sample for graduate school, and is also something you can share with employers to show what kind of work you can do. , what is an honors thesis.

Most of your work in college involves learning information and ideas generated by other people. When you write a thesis, you are engaging with previous work, but also adding new knowledge to your field. That means you have to know what's already been done--what counts as established knowledge; what's the current state of research; what methods and kinds of evidence are acceptable; what debates are going on. (Usually, you'll recount that knowledge in a review of the literature.) Then, you need to form a research question  that you can answer given your available skills, resources, and time . With your advisor, you'll plan the method you will use to answer it, which might involve lab work, field work, surveys, interviews, secondary research, textual analysis, or something else; research methods will depend upon your question and your field. Once your research is carried out, you'll write a substantial paper (usually 20-50 pages) according to the standards of your field. 

When and how should I register for my thesis?

Register for your major's Honors Thesis course (often numbered 799) in the spring and/or fall of your Senior year. In most cases, departmental permission is needed to register, and you will need to have a commitment from your thesis advisor in advance. The thesis course is an independent study, overseen by your Thesis Advisor. Your advisor sets the standards, due dates, and grades for your project. You must earn at least a B to qualify for Honors. Your thesis must count for at least 4 credits (some majors require that the thesis be completed over 2 semesters, and some require more than 4 credits).

What do theses look like?

The exact structure will vary by discipline, and your thesis advisor should provide you with an outline. As a rough guideline, we would expect to see something like the following:

1. Introduction 2. Review of the literature 3. Methods 4. Results 5. Analysis 6. Conclusion 7. Bibliography or works cited

In 2012, we began digitally archiving Honors theses. Students are encouraged to peruse the Honors Thesis Repository to see what past students' work has looked like. Use the link below and type your major in the search field on the left to find relevant examples. Older Honors theses are available in the Special Collections & Archives department at Dimond Library. 

Browse Previous Theses

Will my thesis count as my capstone?

Most majors accept an Honors Thesis as fulfilling the Capstone requirement. However, there are exceptions. In some majors, the thesis counts as a major elective, and in a few, it is an elective that does not fulfill major requirements. Your major advisor and your Honors advisor can help you figure out how your thesis will count. Please note that while in many majors the thesis counts as the capstone, the converse does not necessarily apply. There are many capstone experiences that do not take the form of an Honors thesis. 

Can I do a poster and presentation for my thesis?

No. While you do need to present your thesis (see below), a poster and presentation are not a thesis. They may be part of a different Culminating Experience, however. 

How do I choose my thesis advisor?

The best thesis advisor is an experienced researcher, familiar with disciplinary standards for research and writing, with expertise in your area of interest. You might connect with a thesis advisor during Honors coursework, but   Honors advisors can assist students who are having trouble identifying an advisor. You should approach and confirm your thesis advisor before the semester in which your research will begin.

What if I need funds for my research?

The  Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research  offers research grants, including summer support. During the academic year, students registered in credit-bearing thesis courses may apply for an  Undergraduate Research Award  for up to $600 in research expenses (no stipend).  Students who are not otherwise registered in a credit-bearing course for their thesis research may enroll in  INCO 790: Advanced Research Experience,  which offers up to $200 for research expenses.

What if I need research materials for a lengthy period?

No problem! Honors Students can access Extended Time borrowing privileges at Dimond Library, which are otherwise reserved for faculty and graduate students. Email [email protected] with note requesting "extended borrowing privileges" and we'll work with the Library to extend your privileges.

What happens with my completed thesis?

Present your thesis.

Many students present at the  Undergraduate Research Conference  in April; other departmentally-approved public events are also acceptable.

Publish your thesis:

Honors students are asked to make their thesis papers available on  scholars.unh.edu/honors/ . This creates a resource for future students and other researchers, and also helps students professionalize their online personas.

These theses are publicly available online. If a student or their advisor prefers not to make the work available, they may upload an abstract and/or excerpts from the work instead.

Students may also publish research in  Inquiry , UNH's undergraduate research journal.

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ASU Dissertations and Theses

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Honors Theses: Introduction

Honors theses: fall 2012 to the present, honors theses: 2006 to mid-2012, honors theses: 1962-2005.

Undergraduate students in the honors program must produce a thesis before graduation. This is just one of several requirements the students must meet;  therefore, the existence of a thesis does not automatically mean a student did graduate with honors. The Honors Theses collection starts in 1962 although Barrett, the Honors College, did not form until 1988. The Libraries' collection of honors theses ends in 2005; Barrett continues to maintain their own collection of the theses. Details are below.

• Fall 2012 to the present
• 2006 to mid-2012 

Starting with Fall 2012, Barrett is adding copies of the honors theses to the ASU Digital Repository under the  Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection .  Although the bibliographic information is freely available, the College has requested that access to the full text be restricted.

• ASU employees (faculty and staff) and currently enrolled students may access the full text by clicking on the "Sign In" link in the upper right corner of the repository screen; input your asurite id/password and once authorized, the pdf link(s) in the right-hand column for each thesis will now be active.
• For non-ASU individuals or ASU alumni, please email the College at [email protected] or use their Contact Barrett  form to check on the availability of a specific thesis.   
• These theses are not available for Interlibrary Loan. 

Barrett, the Honors College, maintains a print collection of ASU Honors Theses; their collection starts in 1970 and goes to the present. Barrett's collection is the only place where the Spring 2006 through the Spring 2012 theses are available. Please email the College at  [email protected]  or use their  Contact Barrett  form to check on the availability of a specific thesis. These theses are not available for Interlibrary Loan.   

The ASU Library maintains a print collection of the Honors Theses from 1962 to 2005; the collection is not complete and none of the theses are available in electronic format. Use the  ASU Library's Catalog  to identify the availability of a specific thesis.  

• With very few exceptions, the collection contains only one, archival copy of each thesis. The collection is housed in the Library's high-density storage; users must contact the Wurzburger Reading Room (480-965-4932 or [email protected] ) in advance to set up a time to view a thesis; archival material may not be checked out or loaned to other libraries.  
• For the few titles that have a second copy, this copy may be checked out and may be loaned to other libraries. Second copies from 1962 to 1998 are kept in the High-Density Collection; from 1999 to 2005, the second copies are kept in Hayden stacks, call number LD179.145  [year] [cuttered by author]
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• Last updated: Jan 2, 2024 8:27 AM
• URL: https://libguides.asu.edu/asudissertations

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Barrett Honors College theses and creative projects are restricted to ASU community members.

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Q. How do I access a thesis from the Barrett Honors College Thesis collection?

The Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection (in our KEEP Institutional Repository ) is directly managed by the Barrett Honors College. Full text access is only available to the ASU Community. If you are not currently affiliated with ASU, you will need to ask permission.

ASU employees (faculty and staff) and currently enrolled students may access the full text of a thesis by clicking on the "Sign In" link in the upper right corner of the repository screen and signing in with their ASURITE User ID. They will then be able to view the PDF.

Alumni and persons not affiliated with ASU are encouraged to contact [email protected] for additional assistance.

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Demystifying Barrett: The past, present and future of The Honors College

An exploration into the history of the honors college and what it brings to the student experience.

To many Sun Devils and future students, Barrett, The Honors College may seem like just an advertisement in a pamphlet — a mysterious ASU gimmick only really understood by the select students enrolled in it. 

On its website , Barrett touts itself as a “community of scholars at all four of ASU’s metropolitan Phoenix area campuses” that is “designed to complement your overall ASU experience by providing additional opportunities within your major or the university at large.” 

But what The Honors College actually is may still be unclear to those outside Barrett. 

According to its website, Barrett offers its students access to over 600 “honors academic experiences” each semester — including the yearlong set of foundational courses called The Human Event — special topics courses on subjects in which Barrett faculty specialize and exclusive study abroad opportunities.

While some students have embraced Barrett’s curricula, not all students have had the same experiences. For the students in Barrett who enjoy the variety of courses and experiences offered by The Honors College, there are also students who dislike the price they must pay for these exclusive offerings — from a more demanding workload to higher expectations and weightier responsibilities. 

Barrett’s history

According to faculty who have worked at Barrett for decades, The Honors College hailed from relatively humble beginnings — given that it’s now an academic behemoth encompassing thousands of students and dozens of faculty. 

“When I first came here in 1992, I became the third...of a three-person faculty,” said Michael Stanford, an Honors Faculty Fellow and professor at Barrett. “The student body couldn’t have been more than six or seven hundred.” 

“We were tiny,” said Jacquie Lynch, another Honors Faculty Fellow and Barrett professor. “When I started in 2001, we had under 2,000 students, as opposed to our almost 8,000 now. (Among) the faculty, when I joined it, there (were) maybe seven of us.”

Established in 1988, Barrett has now grown to house over 7,200 students and a community of more than 20,000 alumni. It employs 135 faculty and staff members, with nearly 60% of them working full time.

Although the college came from simple beginnings, it was then that much of the foundation of the core Barrett experience was developed.

“In some ways, it’s very much like it is now,” Stanford said. “We had a course called The Human Event, which was required of all freshmen, and it was basically a Great Ideas course modeled on the kind of similar courses at some of the best private universities — Chicago, Stanford, Columbia.”

But Barrett still needed to grow to better fulfill its own and the University’s missions, according to Lynch.

“(Growth) went hand in hand with ASU’s charter for inclusivity , and so we wanted to make (Barrett) available to a lot more students,” she said.

Despite Barrett requiring its students to take The Human Event sequence, some faculty members still felt its curriculum lacked educational depth for an honors college. But change would come — in the form of a mandate from ASU President Michael Crow.

Barrett grows

“When Michael Crow gave us a mandate to grow The Honors College to 10% of the undergraduate class, we hired a lot more people and got a lot more resources that way,” Lynch said. “It was an explosion of growth.”

The order — which sought to have 1,600 incoming first-year students enrolled in Barrett on the Tempe campus by fall 2015, according to Nicole Greason, director of marketing and public relations for Barrett — led to a variety of impactful changes.

One involved the creation of a faculty mentoring program, which is in place to this day. In the program, Honors College faculty participate in a two-year training period, during which they visit other Barrett professors’ classes and give each other feedback, according to Lynch. 

“It’s why I can be teaching some of the same classes 22 years later with the same enthusiasm,” she said. “(Class curricula are) always changing, and we’re always learning from each other.”

In addition, Barrett grew and diversified its student base. Initially, the college was mostly filled with English and philosophy students, according to Lynch.

“Now the pendulum has swung to the point where we have very high percentages of STEM and business students who wouldn’t necessarily otherwise get the kind of interdisciplinary studies that the honors curriculum offers,” she said. 

Course curricula also became more diverse once many Barrett professors introduced non-Western texts to their classes in an effort to teach students about key ideas from civilizations worldwide, as opposed to just Western civilizations.

“It’s more stimulating to me because I get to read more widely in a lot of different cultures, rather than restrict myself and my students to reading (Western books),” Stanford said. “I would say that we’ve advanced, we moved on, we’ve progressed.”

Recently, Barrett has focused its expansion efforts on online education. In fall 2021, Barrett launched its online program, which welcomed its first student cohort.

Benjamin Fong, a Barrett professor teaching online sections, said the program has since “gone swimmingly.” The level of student engagement he observed in his online classes surprised him, given the time zone differences that divided his students. Currently, he teaches a class from 6–8:45 p.m. MST, and some students in the class live on the East Coast.

“One would expect the kind of situation that by the end of the seminar, students are kind of checked out a little bit...It’s extremely late on the East Coast,” Fong said. “But I just haven’t experienced that at all — my students stay engaged throughout the seminar until the very end, and oftentimes, they want to go over.”

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Honorable devils

Barrett’s unique curriculum has elicited mixed reactions from students enrolled in the college — from wholehearted enthusiasm to lukewarm ambivalence to outright opposition.

Some students, like Hannah Lennon, a sophomore majoring in global studies, have thrived as a result of the courses, experiences and academic environments offered by Barrett. 

“It’s been incredible — to be surrounded by such a motivated and inspiring group of students has really impacted my college career,” she said. “Every day I go to class, and I see my fellow peers in Barrett, and they just inspire me in so many ways because they’re so dedicated to their studies and really wanting to make a difference in this world.”

For Lennon, Barrett’s approach to learning helped her develop important academic and professional skills. The Human Event, which was one of her favorite classes she’s taken, was invaluable to her educational experience at the University.

“We read literature that involves science and philosophy and history and culture and religion,” Lennon said. “And you’re presenting that information to a group of students coming from various majors — you synthesize that information, you come to conclusions, you make arguments. I ultimately feel like that embodies what...Barrett inspires out of their students.”

With aspirations to one day work in health care, she found Barrett’s interdisciplinary studies have primed her to be a more understanding and flexible provider. 

“I recognize the importance of the learning process and considering other perspectives — challenging what I know to be true — in order to make myself a better health care provider,” Lennon said.

For other students, like Sarah Brown, a junior majoring in film, being a part of Barrett has harmed their educational experiences more than it’s enriched them.

Brown said she dropped out of Barrett at the end of her freshman year due to stress from classes and anxiety about the required honors thesis . According to Brown, she struggled as a freshman to keep up with the additional workload Barrett brings to students’ plates.

“We had to do three rough drafts and three argumentative essays...that were between five to seven pages each,” Brown said. “I felt like that was just a lot to introduce everyone in The Honors College to. 

“I probably would have stayed if that was something I could do more later on in my college experience, rather than just the beginning of my freshman year.”

In addition, she felt daunted by the expectations she felt were set for her as a Barrett student and the way faculty responded to a situation in which she was reprimanded. Brown and her friends had gotten in trouble in Gordon Commons during her freshman year, and when meeting with Barrett faculty about the incident, she said she felt “intimidated.”

“(T)hey said something along the lines of how being in (B)arrett meant we had to uphold more reputation and we had more to lose in a sense,” Brown wrote in a message.

Despite these negative experiences, she said she does regret leaving Barrett. 

“I know it would be better for my resume to say that I was in The Honors College for more than a year,” Brown said. “It’d be better for me careerwise and academically.”

Furthermore, Brown recommended that new students stressed with the heavier workload Barrett brings should work to push through it as best they can, rather than leave the college entirely.

“Once you get past the hard parts in the beginning, it should go more smoothly from there,” she said. “I wish I had stuck through it and just tried to get all my work done then because now, I do have regrets about it.”

Other students, like Jace Clark, a senior majoring in computer information systems and supply chain management, harbor mixed feelings about their time in Barrett. While Clark has had doubts about Barrett, ultimately, he said he is thankful he decided to remain in the program.

“There was a time for a while where I was like, ‘The thesis is gonna be too much for me. I might drop it,’” Clark said. “But I figured it was probably worthwhile to just stick it out regardless, and the thesis wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought.”

Through all his doubts, what he said kept him in Barrett was his experiences with the honors faculty.

“I think (the) Barrett faculty are all really nice — they’ve helped me when I’ve had issues,” he said.

Through the years, Barrett has undergone dramatic change, and it’s certain to evolve even more in the future. But through it all, what Barrett itself means has also shifted from student to student — the Barrett experience is fluid, amorphous and in constant flux, defined by the students themselves.

Edited by Camila Pedrosa, Savannah Dagupion and Madeline Nguyen

This story is part of The Element Issue, which was released on Nov. 1, 2023. See the entire publication here .

Reach the reporter at [email protected] and follow @swmcgeemedia on X.

Like State Press Magazine on Facebook, follow @statepressmag on X and Instagram and read our releases on Issuu .

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Honors students showcase undergraduate research at ASU symposium

Barrett Honors College students Lukas Severinghaus and Audrey Schlichting display the parafoil they designed and built for their honors thesis at the 22nd annual Celebrating Honors Symposium.

It took more than 40 hours to laser cut fabric and sew it together to make the parafoil that is the centerpiece of the project titled “Manna: An Autonomously Guided Parachute Delivery System” that Arizona State University students Audrey Schlichting and Lukas Severinghaus collaborated on for their honors thesis.

Schlichting, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering systems and professional flight who is also a certified pilot, and Severinghaus, a junior majoring in robotics – both at the Polytechnic campus – combined their interests and knowledge to create an automated, low-cost, safe airdrop system consisting of a parafoil and guidance unit.

The pair of students in Barrett, The Honors College presented their project at the  22nd annual Celebrating Honors Thesis Symposium  held last week on the Tempe campus. Theirs was one of more than 100 projects presented by honors students from all four campuses across 10 colleges in addition to Barrett, including the W. P. Carey School of Business, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, College of Health Solutions, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and the School of Sustainability. Eighty faculty members from througout ASU served as thesis directors.

Schlichting explained that traditional airdrops of food, supplies or medicine, for example, are often done by pilots tossing packages out of plane windows or open compartments while flying over places that cannot be easily reached by ground. She and Severinghaus set out to create an alternative delivery method that would employ a less risky, more accurate, steerable and more affordable system using a parafoil and drone.

In addition to custom designing and making a parafoil and guidance unit, the pair conducted many test flights, completed an 89-page paper documenting their research, methods and outcomes, and made a poster and slide presentation.   

“With my experience in flying and his in robotics, we were able to bring our vision to life,” Schlichting said.

Severinghaus agreed. “We come from two very different fields, but each of us brought our own knowledge to the project. This is a really good cross-disciplinary collaboration,” he said.

The duo plans to continue refining their autonomous delivery system. They have been invited to work with an international organization to determine how their system could be used for humanitarian missions.

Severinghaus and Schlichting are a great example of what the Barrett undergraduate experience and symposium are all about.     

“Our Celebrating Honors Symposium every spring allows us to showcase innovative undergraduate research in the advancement of scholarship and community impact across multiple disciplines,” said Kristen Hermann, Barrett vice dean.

“These intellectually rigorous projects can be in the student’s major, but students often choose to study projects outside the major as well, given their multiple talents and the interdisciplinary nature of Barrett. The thesis experience and process also prepares students to publish or get a leg up on the graduate school or job interview process,” she added.

Jasmine Lopez, a biology and global health major with a Spanish minor, brought her disciplines together for a project titled “Salud Empoderada: Bilingual Pre-Health English-Spanish Blog.”

“I was able to combine all of my interests and passions, including science, health care and the Spanish language into this thesis,” Lopez said.

Lopez said she created the blog to address the lack of Latino representation in medical schools and scientific doctoral programs and increase high school and college students’ exposure to careers in medicine and science. Blog posts, infographics and interviews with professionals in these fields are featured on Salud Empoderada.

Jude Kolodisner, a senior majoring in biomedical sciences, analyzed social isolation in animals and humans, finding that both share similar biological responses.

Kolodisner, who plans to attend medical school, said his research project, titled “Comparing Human and Non-Human Animal Social Isolation,” has implications for spotting and understanding symptoms of social isolation, such as stress and depression, and determining effective interventions.

Anika Islam, a senior business health care major, examined social curiosity — an interest in acquiring new information about how other people think, behave and feel — among young children.

This psychology-based project titled “The Malleability of Social Curiosity in Early Development” involved a study of 5- to 8-year-old children and surveys of their caregivers.

“I was able to be a part of the process of creating a whole research study as an undergraduate. If I wasn’t a part of Barrett, I would not have had this experience. It was a fun and creative experience that I’m grateful for,” said Islam, who will graduate in May and work in Phoenix as a health care analyst for consulting company Cognizant. 

After a couple hours of students presenting their research in many formats, including posters, made objects and online, the event closed with a reception honoring the students and their thesis directors from multiple disciplines throughout ASU.

Defense and thesis approval

Defense calendar.

Honors thesis defenses are open to the ASU community. Attending a defense is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of fellow Barrett students and to observe the process firsthand. Visit the Barrett Defense Calendar to view upcoming defenses.

Defense and Thesis Approval Form

In consultation with your thesis committee, determine a date, time, and location for your defense. Once your defense is scheduled, fill out the Defense and Thesis Approval Form . The submission of this form is essential for your thesis director to receive an approval link on the date of your defense.

Group projects

Each Barrett student is required to submit an Honors Defense and Thesis Approval Form.

Thesis Director Approval

Following your defense and outcome, your thesis director will report final approval using the link that is emailed to them on the date of your defense.

Final Thesis Submission

Following your defense and Thesis Director Approval, your next step is to upload your approved final thesis to the Barrett Digital Collection. Submissions are released to the public collection following a manual review for accuracy and embargo conditions at the end of the semester. For this upload, please prepare the following:

• a brief summary of your honors thesis
• a PDF of your final approved written component saved as LastName_Semester_Year
• If applicable, additional files or creative components (photos, videos, etc.)

Each Barrett student is required to upload a Final Thesis Submission. Consult with your group to ensure you each have the same title, summary, and documentation prior to submission. 

*Embargo option

An embargo delays the release of an honors thesis to protect information of commercial value, patentable rights, pending publication or sensitive information. To place your submission into embargo status, email [email protected] after you have uploaded your approved final thesis.

Formatting and Style

Use a style manual in your discipline for correct form of footnotes, bibliographies, tables of contents, title pages, and more. Consult your thesis director for best practices.

Honors - Barrett, the Honors College policies

Students who have demonstrated high levels of academic achievement in high school or college may apply for admission to Barrett, The Honors College. Each candidate must file an application to the college separate from the ASU application, in accordance with the appropriate Barrett deadlines.

Applicants are evaluated on the basis of their academic records and high school class ranking within their graduating class. Barrett continues to be ACT and SAT “test blind” for spring 2024 and fall 2024; scores are not considered even if submitted. Students are, however, asked to share their Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate test results on the Barrett application and to indicate instances in which test-sitting cancellations impacted their plans to complete an AP or IB examination. The college also values students who have special talents and aptitudes, exhibit leadership qualities, have unusual life experiences, and display community involvement. High school GPAs used in the evaluation process are calculated in accordance with the Arizona Board of Regents competency requirements, pursuant to ABOR Policy 2-121 Undergraduate Admission (PDF).

The Barrett admission application and additional information about the college and its activities are available at the Barrett website .

Notice of nondiscrimination

ASU prohibits all forms of discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Students should review ASU’s policy ACD 401: Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation .

Title IX protects individuals from discrimination based on sex in any educational program or activity operated by recipients of federal financial assistance. As required by Title IX, ASU does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the education programs or activities that we operate, including in admission and employment. Inquiries concerning the application of Title IX may be referred to the ASU Title IX coordinator or to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights or to both. For more information, students should email [email protected] , call 480-965-0696, or visit the office located at 1120 S. Cady Mall, INTDSB 284. For information on making a report, students should reference the Report It website.

Undergraduate policies

Barrett students have advisors in their major, an assigned Barrett honors advisor , and faculty honors advisors in departments throughout the university. Students are encouraged to stay in regular contact with all these resources, and they are required to complete mandatory advising sessions with their Barrett honors advisor during the first, second and third year of study. To schedule an appointment with a Barrett honors advisor, students should visit the online Barrett Appointment Scheduling System .

Students can review honors opportunities in majors through the Faculty Honors Advisors page. There are also special preprofessional advising opportunities for Barrett students. Students should contact the Barrett advising office for more information.

Degree requirements

Barrett academic course requirements.

Honors students must maintain high standards of academic performance and show progress toward completion of graduation requirements in their disciplinary majors and in Barrett.

To graduate from Barrett, students must complete the following, which include 36 credit hours of honors coursework:

• HON 171 The Human Event and HON 272 The Human Event are expected to be completed in sequence during a student's first two semesters in the college.
• Thirty additional credit hours of honors coursework must be earned with a letter grade of "C" (2.00) or higher. This may include HON prefix classes, honors sections of classes, honors enrichment contracts, internship and research credit, honors study abroad programs, and graduate-level coursework.
• Included in the 36 credit hours of honors coursework are at least 18 hours of upper-division or graduate-level honors credits for an earned letter grade of “C” (2.00) or higher. Students should investigate specialized honors, upper-division tracks within their majors.
• Students are required to complete an honors thesis project, for which they earn a maximum of six credit hours. These credit hours are included in the 18 required hours of upper-division honors coursework. The honors thesis is launched with a prospectus that is due one academic semester before the defense. Prior to enrolling for credit for a thesis work, students must complete a required preparatory workshop or course. The final copy of the honors thesis must be filed by the posted deadline during the student’s graduation semester.
• ASU graduation requirements in an academic major must be met.
• Students must earn a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher by graduation.

Barrett course requirements may be met in a variety of ways. Only courses in which a student receives a grade of “C” (2.00) or higher may be used to meet Barrett requirements.

Those entering the college as lower-division students may take as many as 18 lower-division honors credits, which include HON 171 The Human Event and HON 272 The Human Event, and at least 18 upper-division credits (total honors credits must be 36). HON 171 and HON 272 are transdisciplinary seminars that acquaint students with ideas that form the foundation of a university education and emphasize critical thinking, discussion and writing.

Those who enter as upper-division students must take 21 upper-division honors credits, including HON 370 History of Ideas taught by an Honors Faculty Fellow, 18 credit hours of upper-division honors coursework, and an honors thesis. Upper-division transfer students are required to complete 21 credit hours of upper-division honors coursework.

Those who enter as Barrett Online students must take 21 upper-division honors credits, including HON 370 History of Ideas taught by an Honors Faculty Fellow, 18 credit hours of honors coursework, and an honors thesis. Lower- and upper-division credits may apply toward the 18 hours of honors coursework through oCourses.

Departmental honors-only courses are limited to honors students. Compared with their nonhonors equivalents, these courses are designed to offer a richer, more complex intellectual experience appropriate to the discipline and the level of the course for all students enrolled. Other disciplinary honors courses group honors students in small cohorts to work on research projects of common interest or offer mixed classes of honors and nonhonors students with specific honors opportunities.

Honors enrichment contracts are available in many departmental courses, allowing honors students to contract with the instructors of designated nonhonors courses to earn honors credit by pursuing enrichment activities, which include supplemental sessions with the instructor. Honors enrichment contracts are filed during the first weeks of the session and are to be completed during the semester in which the course is offered. The enrichment contract form offers guidelines to aid students and faculty in developing appropriate contracts. Contract work is due on the last day of the session unless otherwise indicated by the supervising faculty member.

Courses reserved for students in Barrett and that always count for honors credit are those listed in the online ASU Class Search and Course Catalog as course numbers 492 Honors Directed Study, 493 Honors Thesis, and 497 Honors Colloquium; all classes with the HON prefix; and those with a departmental prefix or course note that carries the honors designation. Barrett recognizes internships, research, teaching assistant courses and 500-level graduate courses for honors credit. Students may consult with the Barrett advising office for additional honors course credit opportunities, including courses coded for automatic honors credit, such as ENG 105. The Honors courses webpage provides guidance on honors courses.

Departmental courses numbered 492 and 493 are reserved for honors students completing their honors thesis. A student may enroll in these courses with approval from the sponsoring academic department and the faculty member who serves as the student’s thesis project director. Passing credit in 492 and 493 courses counts as upper-division honors credit for Barrett students.