10.0 Honors program

Students enrolled in the honors program in the College of Public Health will:

  • Enrich their program of study through honors or honors embedded coursework
  • Complete an honors capstone (either an honors internship, honors thesis or honors field experience)
  • Receive priority scheduling
  • Have the opportunity to apply for honors housing
  • Be able to participate in special programming that is offered through the University Honors and Scholars Center
  • Be able to participate in special programming offered by the College of Public Health

Being enrolled as an honors student does not entitle students to receive Latin or college honors at graduation. The only way to graduate “with honors” from the College of Public Health is to successfully complete a College of Public Health honors contract and have met all requirements therein at the time of graduation. Learn more about Latin and college honors.

Enrolling in the honors program

Incoming first-year students

Incoming freshmen can apply for the university honors program prior to starting at Ohio State. Interested students must indicate this on their application to The Ohio State University.

Current Ohio State students switching to the BSPH

Current Ohio State university honors students who transfer into the College of Public Health from other Ohio State academic unit do not need to apply to the College of Public Health honors program. However, they are required to:

  • Meet with a College of Public Health undergraduate academic advisor during the same term they transfer into the BSPH major or pre-major
  • Complete an honors contract in order to retain their honors status

Current BSPH majors/pre-majors

BSPH majors and pre-majors who are not Ohio State Honors students but wish to join the College of Public Health undergraduate honors program are required to:

  • Complete a minimum of 15 Ohio State credit hours
  • Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher
  • Meet with a College of Public advisor to discuss the honors program and to receive instructions on completing an honors application
  • Complete an honors application
  • Submit the honors application and an advising report to the honors advisor (through a Qualtrics form).

Transfer students (new to Ohio State)

Transfer students who enter as BSPH majors or pre-majors who wish to join the College of Public Health honors program are required to:

  • Complete a minimum or 12 hours of coursework at The Ohio State University
  • Have a minimum 3.4 cumulative GPA
  • Have completed no more than 60 earned hours
  • Have an opportunity in the curriculum to take honors courses without taking additional elective hours

Review of applications

Each honors application will be reviewed by the College of Public Health honors co-directors, who will decide whether the student should be admitted into the honors program. Once a decision is made, the student will be notified of the final decision.

Maintaining honors enrollment

Students must meet the following criteria to maintain honors enrollment:

  • Maintain a 3.4 cumulative GPA
  • Complete a minimum of 18 credit hours of upper division (3000+) or graduate-level courses over the first two to three years of study. This excludes upper division BSPH core and specialization courses, which are required for all students (honors and non-honors)

Reviews of academic records are conducted each term to confirm that students meet the criteria to remain in the honors program.

The College of Public Health honors contract

The honors contract allows students to construct an especially challenging curriculum by incorporating strong coursework throughout their program of study. Once approved by the Public Health honors co-directors, an honors contract admits students to candidacy for graduation with honors in public health.

The honors contract should be completed within two semesters of entry into the Public Health honors program.

Completing the honors contract

To complete the honors contract, students are required to:

  • Complete a degree plan that includes 18+ credit hours of honors coursework, upper division (3000+) or graduate-level courses over the first two to three years of study courses. This degree plan should be made in consultation with the student’s academic advisor
  • Make a preliminary decision on the honors capstone experience type
  • Submit the contract to their academic advisor, who will forward it to the Public Health honors co-directors for review and approval

In rare instances, the honors co-directors will determine that a student’s program of study would benefit from additional or different course work. In this case, the student will be notified and should work with their advisor to update and resubmit the honors contract.

Students will receive a copy of their approved honors contract. The approved contract describes all requirements the student must meet to be eligible to graduate with honors in public health. The student should refer to the approved contract often to make sure they are following their approved curriculum.

Changing an honors contract

Any deviation to an honors contract should be discussed with the honors advisor before the student takes the substitute class. The honors advisor may consult with the honors co-directors to review requested changes. Requests that either maintain or increase the strength or focus of the student’s program will receive routine approval. Changes which diminish the strength of an honors contract (e.g., replacing an honors course with the non-honors version of the course) may not be approved.

Honors capstone experience

Honors students are required to complete an honors capstone project application before beginning their capstone work.

Honors capstone prep

Honors students must enroll in PUBHLTH 3180E as their capstone prep course.

Honors capstone experiences

Honors students can select from three types of capstone experiences:

  • PUBHLTH 3191E Undergraduate (Honors) Internship in Public Health (2 cr)
  • PUBHLTH 3189.05: Field Experience in Global Public Health: Costa Rica (2 cr)
  • EARTHSC 5797.20 Exploring Environmental and Human Health Issues in Japan (3 cr)
  • Other pre-approved (by CPH) Education Abroad Experience
  • PUBHLTH 4999.01H Senior Honors Thesis (2 cr minimum)

Additional honors capstone requirements (non-thesis)

All honors capstone experiences require additional work beyond the requirements of the non-honors version of these experiences. Students completing an honors internship or education abroad will be expected to complete an independent project related to the chosen internship site or education abroad experience. This should be developed under the guidance of a faculty member in the college and/or the honors co-directors. This project is typically completed during the term following the student’s internship or education abroad experience.

Honors research thesis

The honors research thesis is completed under the mentorship of a faculty advisor who will guide the student through the process. Students must identify an advisor and a research topic well in advance of the graduation semester. Ideally, the student would start the thesis research at least three semesters prior to graduation. Students must also choose a second faculty member to serve as the second reader of the thesis. Either the faculty advisor or the second reader (or both) must have a primary appointment in the College of Public Health.

The faculty advisor is responsible for overseeing the honors thesis project. Prior to beginning the thesis project, the student and faculty member should establish guidelines for frequency of meeting, submission of preliminary drafts and deadlines for submitting work. Failure to follow these guidelines may result in termination of the project. The faculty advisor should also indicate how long they will take to review drafts.

If the faculty member will be absent during any part of the project, they must appoint another faculty member to supervise the project during that period, and the honors co-directors should be notified of this arrangement. If the student will be conducting research off campus, the student and faculty member should devise mutually acceptable guidelines for maintaining contact and reporting progress. In some cases, this might include the designation of an "on-site" advisor, and the honors co-directors should be informed of these arrangements.

The faculty advisor is responsible for informing the student if it appears that their research will require approval of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human subjects research or approval of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (ILACUC) for animal subjects research.

At any point, if it appears that the work on the honors thesis is not of superior quality to qualify for graduation with honors research distinction, the student and faculty member may agree to continue the project as regular independent study or to terminate the project. The honors co-directors must be notified of the decision not to complete the project for graduation with honors research distinction. If the project is not completed, the faculty advisor may still judge that sufficient work has been done to merit a grade of "S" in the 4999.01H course.

Students will typically complete and defend the honors thesis during the semester in which the student graduates, but earlier dates are acceptable as well. See below for information about the oral defense.

Electronic submission of thesis

The thesis must be submitted electronically to the University Libraries’ knowledge bank no later than the last day of final examination week of the semester in which the student will graduate.

Oral defense of honors capstone experience

All honors students, regardless of the type of capstone experience they complete, are required to orally defend their project or thesis to a committee of at least two faculty members. For students completing a research thesis, these two faculty members will be the faculty advisor and second reader. For students completing an honors internship or education abroad, this committee will include the faculty member guiding the independent project and one other faculty member. The student’s academic advisor can assist in finding the second committee member.

When the faculty member determines that the project is complete, the student must schedule the one-hour exam and reserve a room for the meeting. All members of the committee must be present at the oral examination, with video conferencing allowed if necessary.

The oral defense should be scheduled for one hour. The student should prepare a 20 to 25-minute presentation (including slides/visuals), and after the presentation the committee will ask questions for another 20-25 minutes. Typically, questions go beyond just reviewing the project and often require students to critically think about their honors project or to draw on material taught in courses. While an oral exam may seem stressful, it is an opportunity for the student to demonstrate their expertise and articulate and defend their ideas.

At the conclusion of the oral exam, the committee will ask the student to briefly leave the room so they may discuss the exam. If the committee judges that the student has satisfactorily completed the oral exam, they will sign the appropriate form to indicate that the student qualifies for graduation with honors (internship, education abroad) or with honors research distinction (thesis). This form must be returned to the Office of Academic Programs and Student Services by the 10th Friday of the semester of graduation.

Graduating with honors

There are two types of honors graduation distinction available to BSPH honors students: graduation with honors in public health and graduation with honors research distinction in public health. Details are provided in this handbook in 8.0 Graduation.

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