Guidelines for Graduating with Honors in CDS
Students demonstrating academic excellence in their major are eligible to graduate with departmental honors. This page outlines the eligibility policies and requirements for earning this distinction: a minimum 3.7 Major GPA and a successful Honors Project.
Eligibility
Students must earn at least a 3.7 GPA in their Major Communication and Digital Studies or any special major sponsored through the department.
An Honors Project is a paper or project completed in a CDS capstone seminar or individual study. That work must receive an A, and the faculty evaluating the project must agree that the work merits distinction as an Honors Project. The faculty member may turn down the student’s request for approval of an Honors Project, or they may require further work on a graded paper or project before approving it. Students intending to apply for departmental honors should consult with the supervising faculty by the mid point of the semester to ensure that the project is worthy of honors.
Once approved, the project will be archived and published through Eagle Scholar, the UMW Library’s digital repository. There, it will be featured among our growing archive of undergraduate research, including past CDS Honors Projects.
Please note: research projects that involve subjects may require IRB approval before they can be published in Eagle Scholar.
Applying to Graduate with Honors
Candidates for departmental honors must first declare their intention to apply for honors no later than the first Wednesday of November (for Fall graduates) or the first Wednesday of April (for Spring graduates). For Fall 2025, this deadline is Wednesday, November 5, and for Spring 2026, the deadline is Wednesday, April 8. Students should communicate with their sponsoring faculty as soon as possible and before submitting this formal declaration of intention.
Then, by the Wednesday of final exams week, candidates must complete their application to graduate with honors in CDS. This application must include:
- The project title
- A 150-word abstract for the project
- The name of the sponsoring professor
- The title of the course for which the project was completed
- A high-quality photo of the applicant
- The final version of the project
Finally, after the application to the department, students must submit it for publication in Eagle Scholar no later than 4:00 PM on the Friday of the week of final exams.
The project’s abstract and student’s photo will be presented at the CDS Reception for Graduating Seniors (held the week before Spring commencement), displayed in the CDS Department areas in James Farmer Hall, and featured on our social media accounts.