Undergraduate Honors in Education

Program Overview

Students typically lay the groundwork for SUSE Honors through coursework in the School of Education during the first three years of their time at Stanford.  They apply for the honors program during their junior year.  The summer following their acceptance into the program, students begin preparing for the thesis year in earnest, typically through the Bing Honors College.

During Fall quarter of the senior year, students enroll in EDUC 199A: Undergraduate Honors Seminar (3 units) in which they develop a cogent proposal for their inquiries.  Students defend their proposals orally at a public event in November.  At that time, each student also is paired with an individual advisor from among the School of Education faculty.

During Winter and Spring quarters, students enroll in 199B and 199C, respectively.  Both are 1-unit courses providing continued support toward completion of their projects under the mentorship of the Honors Director.  Students also register for additional Honors Thesis units with their thesis advisors during Winter and Spring quarters.

The program concludes in May with a public presentation and submission of the final thesis.  Upon successful completion and graduation, honors are noted on the student transcript/diploma and theses are bound and catalogued by the Cubberley Library.

Sample recent honors theses titles:

• "Home and School Factors in Language Minority Students' Reading Development during the Transition into the Middle Grades: New Evidence from the ECLS-K"
• "The Language of Threats: A Study on the Portrayal of Communism and Terrorism in High School U.S. History Textbooks"
• "Growing Up Girl: Literature in the Adolescent Journeys of Self and Identity"

Additional Course Requirements

At any point during their undergraduate careers, honors students must enroll in at least one course in each of the following areas:

• Educational Policy and History
• Contemporary Issues in Education
• Foundational Disciplines

Ideally, courses will be selected in consultation with the Honors Director and Thesis Advisor.

Sample Courses

Educational Policy and History
EDUC 201, History of Education in the United States
EDUC 202, Introduction to the Study of International Comparative Education
EDUC 165, History of Higher Education in the U.S.

Contemporary Issues in Education
EDUC 149, Theory and Issues in the Study of Bilingualism
EDUC 179, Urban Youth and their Institutions: Research and Practice
EDUC 197, Education and the Status of Women: Comparative Perspectives

Foundational Disciplines
EDUC 110, Sociology of Education: Social Organizations of Schools
EDUC 204, Introduction to Philosophy of Education
EDUC 220, Social Sciences and Educational Analysis

Note: Education Interdisciplinary Honors courses may overlap (double-count) towards major or minor requirements. The Major-Minor Course Approval form is not required for Interdisciplinary Honors programs.

Applying for Honors

The School of Education welcomes applications for projects that are reasonable and creative extensions of prior courses of study in any field.  Applicants from all fields are given equal and serious consideration.

Qualified applicants will be in good standing, normally with cumulative grade point averages of 3.5 or higher; will demonstrate exceptional initiative; and be comfortable working with a high degree of independence.

Students intending to apply to the program should schedule an informal meeting with Honors Director Mitchell Stevens ([email protected]) at some point during their junior year to discuss SUSE honors and the potential project. Inquiries from potential applicants should include a brief description of academic background and the nature of a potential honors project.

During the 2011-12 academic year, applications for Honors in Education will be accepted in two rounds:

Fall Quarter Deadline: Friday, November 18 at noon
Winter Quarter Deadline: Friday, March 16 at noon

A complete application includes:

• a one-page resume
• a brief (1000 word maximum) narrative detailing:
  • the nature of the applicant’s interest in SUSE Honors (i.e., why pursue honors instead of conventional coursework? Why SUSE Honors instead of an honors degree in the major field of study?);
  • the nature of the proposed inquiry;
  • how the proposed inquiry extends the prior course of study and/or anticipates the applicant’s future ambitions
• names of potential Honors Advisors from the SUSE faculty
• an official transcript
  
  A PDF version of the complete application (including an attached official electronic copy of the Stanford academic transcript) should be sent electronically to [email protected] by the posted deadline.