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Departmental Honors

Departmental Honors

Owned by Carmen Escobedo
Apr 12, 2023
2 min read

The following is an edited version of the policies provided by the UW Honors Program.

What is Departmental Honors?

Departmental Honors allows students the opportunity to explore their chosen major in greater depth, usually with guidance from a faculty mentor. The foundational goals for all Departmental Honors programs are:

  • to allow students the opportunity to explore their chosen major in greater depth and with greater personal ownership;

  • to extend the departmental or disciplinary vision into individual student work in new and creative ways; and

  • to facilitate mentorship and scholarly guidance from a faculty adviser.

Students are able to participate in Interdisciplinary Honors without participating in Department Honors (to graduate "with Interdisciplinary Honors.")  Departmental Honors can be completed on its own alone  (to graduate “with Honors in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering.”)  When students complete both honors programs they will have achieved College Honors (to graduate “with College Honors in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering.”)

Departmental Honors Requirements for Aeronautics & Astronautics

  • 3.3 or higher UW cumulative GPA at time of declaration and graduation

  • 3.5 or higher department GPA at time of declaration and graduation

  • 9 honors credits to include the following

    • at least 3 credits of A A 499H research credits*

    • at least 3 credits of ad hoc honors**

*A note about A A 499H: If you have previously participated in research, it may be possible to retroactively convert those credits into honors credits, pending faculty adviser approval.  

**You can earn ad hoc honors credits by taking on something extra not expected of students in a A A prefixed 300/400-level course you are already taking (like a design, or a build, or a literature review, etc).  Be sure to utilize the ad hoc honors application to create a contract between you and the instructor of the course.  You may also use A A prefixed 500-level courses to automatically count towards the ad hoc honors requirement (does not include seminars, independent study, research credits, etc.)

  • Example: A A 499H (3 credits) + A A 402H (3 credits) + A A 528 (3 credits)

  • Example: A A 499H (3 credits) + A A 499H (3 credits) + A A 516 (3 credits)

  • Example: A A 499H (3 credits) + A A 532 (3 credits) + A A 541 (3 credits)

How do I declare Departmental Honors for Aeronautics & Astronautics?

An e-mail invitation will be sent to students who are eligible before the A&A senior year.  Students should reply to the invitation indicating they would like to participate and the A&A Academic Adviser will mark your degree audit as participating in Departmental Honors for Aeronautics & Astronautics.