Honors in the Major (HITM) Program

• Must be a current FSU student. 

• Must be accepted formally into their major at the time of application. 

• Must have at least a 3.20 GPA for both FSU and Cumulative GPAs at the end of the semester of application.  

• Note: in keeping with FSU Registrar’s policy, we do not round up to the third decimal place. 

• Must have completed at least 60 college credits at the end of the semester of application 

• Must have completed at least 12 graded FSU hours at the end of the semester of application. 

• Must have at least two semesters remaining until graduation 

Written portion. 

• A written research paper or a creative or applied project accompanied by a written analytical reflection. 

Oral defense. 

• Students are required to defend their HITM project in front of their faculty supervisory committee by the last day of classes in their defense semester. 

Application Semester 

• Should be at least 3 semesters before graduation 
• Must find a faculty Chair from Public Health. 
• Must submit HITM application by posted deadline. 

Prospectus Semester 

• Students will recruit 2-3 committee members 
• Students will write their prospectus.
• Faculty Chair and committee members will approve prospectus by 7^th week of the semester. 

Defense semester

• Students in their second or third semester complete their HITM project by way of a formal defense in front of their supervisory committee during their final semester of project work.

Submission to the Archive  

• All undergraduate HITM projects must be published to the archive by the last day of classes to officially earn Honors in the Major recognition on their transcript.  

Graduation 

• HITM graduation medallion ceremony is hosted every fall, spring, and summer semesters before the college’s commencement ceremonies.  
• Students must complete the University Honors Program Graduation application to participate in Honors Program graduation medallion ceremony. 
• All students will have “With honors” written by their major in their college commencement program and on their official transcript.  

All students are responsible for identifying and seeking funding for potential expenses for their HITM project during their application semester.

Potential opportunities for their HITM project include:

• Bess H. Ward Honors in the Major Funding Award

• Honors in the Major Mentor Award

• Kingsbury Undergraduate Writing Award

For more information on Funding and awards, please refer to the Honors Funding and Awards page.

No. University Honors and Honors in the Major are separate programs at FSU that have separate application processes and criteria.

Students should consider what major requirement classes they have most enjoyed and what previous research collaborations they may have had with faculty members to consider faculty director options. Going to office hours to talk with potential faculty directors is a good way to share your interest and explore whether they might have interest in mentoring you. If you need additional guidance, speak with your major’s honors liaison. Once a faculty director has been identified, you should talk with them about committee member possibilities. Since one committee member must come from outside of your major department or area, this is an excellent opportunity to include someone whose classes, research, and/or creative work have inspired you.

A scholar who is not an employee of FSU may serve as a member of the supervisory committee if they are classified as a “visiting scholar” or have a courtesy faculty appointment at FSU. This potential committee member would join as the fourth optional committee member, meaning in this instance that the committee must also consist of three FSU faculty members. If a student wishes to include such a fourth committee member, they must first secure the approval of the Director of Honors by emailing HITM@fsu.edu. Scholars without these FSU affiliation classifications may not serve on the committee, although a student could still unofficially consult with them, with the approval of their faculty director. See page 17 of this handbook for additional information.

Talk about HITM project ideas and possibilities with the honors liaison and with your faculty director. To help brainstorm ideas, you are encouraged to review previous HITM projects from your major in the Research Repository. Another option is to locate a top academic journal in your field (talk with a librarian if you aren’t sure how to do this) and look through issues from the last one to two years. What jumps out at you as familiar or intriguing? Finding current peer-reviewed publications that stand out to you, and looking through their findings and conclusions to see what the authors identify as gaps in knowledge, is good way to consider possibilities. Wherever your ideas come from, talk with your faculty director to identify your next steps.

Every discipline or field has different conventions regarding sufficient page length and number of works cited. For page length and works cited averages by major, which have been calculated from an analysis of the 1700+ HITM projects completed at FSU between 2009 and 2020, see Appendix C. 

Please note that this information is provided to give students an idea about the characteristics of typical HITM projects that have been produced by previous HITM students from their major department or program. You are not required to produce an HITM project that meets or exceeds the averages listed. In other words, you could write a strong HITM project that has fewer pages or works cited than what the table in Appendix C lists. Your faculty director will speak to the conventions of your field and what’s appropriate for your HITM project.

For creative HITM projects whose main outcome is visual art, creative writing, a performance, or some other creative output other than written scholarship, note that the final written portion must be a minimum 10 pages of text. See page 5 of this handbook for more information.

No. The Prospectus and Prospectus Approval Form are always due by the deadline in the first semester of the HITM project, regardless of whether a student completes the project in two or three semesters.

Yes. Even though Session B starts later in the summer than Sessions A and C, students registered for Session B are still responsible for meeting the same HITM summer deadlines.

No. University policy requires that students spend two to three semesters completing the HITM project because high quality original projects of sufficient depth require longer than one semester to develop and complete.

You should consult with your faculty director to come up with a three-semester HITM plan before you start. You are encouraged to think broadly about your educational and research options, including study abroad, which can greatly enrich your research experience and even position you well for applying to post-graduate fellowships like the Fulbright. If you wish to study abroad, you will not be registered for main campus credit hours during the semester of study abroad. Therefore, the Honors Program does not expect you to register for HITM credit hours that semester. So again, you should consult with your faculty director to determine out of the three semesters for the HITM project, which semester will you study abroad and which two semesters will you register for HITM credit hours. Doing so will help you make sure you meet the minimum six HITM credit hour requirement. Once you have a plan, you should email it to HITM@fsu.edu.

Unless your faculty director or committee member decide not to continue their involvement, or unforeseen difficulties make it imperative for you to find a different faculty director or committee member, it is not advisable to make such a change. First, the faculty director and supervisory committee and you have already committed to the project and put much work into it. And second, your potential new faculty director may not feel comfortable supervising your HITM project when another faculty member has already guided you through work on the project. Should you find yourself in a position where you are thinking about making a change, talk with your major’s honors liaison for guidance. If you do wish to make a change, send an email with your honors liaison CC’d to HITM@fsu.edu with the requested changes.

Possibly, depending on your proposed research’s interaction or intervention with human subjects. Review the IRB resources on pages 14 and 15 of this handbook, and discuss with your faculty director whether an IRB review is necessary.

Completion of the HITM program is recognized by the distinction of graduating “With Honors,” as designated on the transcript. HITM recognition is not noted on the diploma.

Yes! Many students will invite members of the public to their oral defense to observe their presentation and to celebrate their achievement. Talk with your faculty director about the possibility of inviting family and friends.

There may be important reasons why the submission of your HITM project to an open access database like the Research Repository may not be appropriate, even if you have the option to request an embargo. For example, making your project available to the public on Research Repository might compromise the privacy and safety of your or your research subjects, even if they have been anonymized. If you believe you have legitimate reasons for not submitting your HITM project to the Research Repository, first consult with your faculty director. If they agree with your concerns, you should email a brief rationale to HITM@fsu.edu with your faculty director CC’d on the email. In consultation with the Assistant Director of Honors in the Major, the Director of Honors will review the rationale for your exception request, and a decision will be communicated to you and your faculty director via email within three to five business days. 

Fall 2025 HITM info session: Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 11:30am 

RSVP by October 20 via: https://fsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cSxvznx8QEKzjLg