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56
Special Academic Opportunities
2. A designated honors course created specifi cally for the Honors
Program;
3. An honors experience or internship (only one honors internship/
experience can count toward completion of General Honors);
4. A general honors thesis;
5. In special cases, a student may apply to the Honors Council to de-
velop a contract with an instructor to do honors work in a particular
course.
Advanced Honors
All students in Advanced Honors will be required to complete a one-
credit colloquium on the topic "Scholar as Citizen" coordinated by a
SUNY Potsdam faculty member. In addition, students should complete
one of the following options:
1. A Presidential Scholars project
(column to the right).
2. The Departmental Honors Program in their majors.
3. A project/thesis within their major if there is no departmental honors
program.
4. A project/thesis outside their major.
5. An upper-division honors service-learning project.
6. An honors internship.
There is an expectation that SUNY Potsdam honors students will use
their talents in service to the College community by volunteering their
time as tutors or advisers, or for other support services.
Orientation and Advising
The Honors Program Director serves as a secondary academic adviser
to all honors students. Honors students have the opportunity to develop
an advising team, selected from teaching faculty, non-teaching faculty
and staff from across the campus, that will facilitate development of
coherent educational plans; a library adviser to assist with research
(to be developed in consultation with the library staff ); and a student
mentor selected from upper-division honors students. Honors students
will be awarded priority registration privileges, and will be given the
opportunity for priority assignment to "study intensive space" in the
residence halls (e.g., through the Honors FYE Floor and other residential
housing and programming designed for honors students).
Graduation Requirements
Graduation with General Honors requires completion of the "General
Honors Colloquium" (1 cr.) and three additional General Honors
courses (9-12 credit hours), with a minimum overall GPA of 3.25 in
the honors courses and a minimum overall GPA of 3.0.
Graduation with Advanced Honors requires satisfactory completion
of the "Scholar as Citizen" honors colloquium (1 cr.), and satisfactory
completion of one or more of the following options:
1. Presidential Scholars project;
2. Official Departmental Honors Program;
3. Project/thesis within the major department if departmental honors
exists;
4. Project/thesis outside the major department if no departmental
honors program exists;
5. Upper-division honors service-learning project;
6. An honors internship.
Students who complete both General Honors and Advanced Honors
will be recognized as SUNY Potsdam Distinguished Scholars in ad-
dition to their recognition as having completed General Honors and
Advanced Honors.
Presidential Scholars Program
Contact Person:
Rebecca Gerber
Schuette A102, (315) 267-3228
(gerberrl@potsdam.edu)
The Presidential Scholars Program off ers a unique opportunity for
talented and motivated SUNY Potsdam students to expand their
educational horizons. Presidential Scholars are selected on the basis of
academic excellence, a commitment to individual intellectual goals,
and a willingness to share their endeavors with the community. The
program provides support to those whose breadth of experience and
diverse interests might otherwise go unrecognized. Scholars have taken
advantage of the support provided by the program to conduct extensive
research on a topic of their choosing, enroll in coursework off ered by
other colleges that is not available at SUNY Potsdam, and travel to
conferences to present their work. Students are given the opportunity
to design an academic curriculum suited to their own needs and, in
addition, are entitled to the following benefi ts:
  • priority registration for classes each semester,
  • an academic advising team from within SUNY Potsdam faculty,
  • a guaranteed annual stipend for directed project support.
    • Students will be eligible to apply for admittance to the program after
    completing at least 30 credit hours at SUNY Potsdam and a minimum
    GPA of 3.5. Students accepted into the program will have at least four
    full semesters remaining at SUNY Potsdam. Eligible students will be
    notified by mail.
    Tutorial Study
    Contact Persons:
    Arts and Sciences: Dean Pletcher, Dunn 106, (315) 267-2231;
    Crane: Dean Solomon, Bishop C218, (315) 267-2415;
    Education and Professional Studies: Dean Amoriell, Satterlee 115,
    (315) 267-2515
    Students may undertake tutorial or independent study to investigate
    areas for which there is not sufficient demand to warrant a regular
    course off ering, to pursue research interests that cannot be met by an
    existing advanced course or to undertake interdisciplinary investigation
    under two or more instructors where existing courses do not provide
    such opportunities.
    Tutorials must be carefully planned in advance with a tutor. The
    planned work should be described on the Proposal for a Tutorial form.
    The form, together with the Tutorial Study Registration Form, should
    be submitted for approval to the chair of the department off ering the
    tutorial. Both forms are then submitted to the dean of the appropriate
    School. If the proposal is accepted, the dean forwards the registration
    form to the Registrar.
    Undergraduate tutorials carrying liberal arts credit are designated 198,
    298, 398 or 498. ose carrying non-liberal arts credit are designated
    197, 297, 397 or 497. The assignment of liberal or non-liberal arts