Graduating with Distinction
To graduate with distinction in the POE, seniors must complete an honors integrative experience, which is approved by two faculty members and presented in a public forum.
To achieve distinction in the POE, a student must:
- have completed the requirements for a biology POE
- have a minimum GPA of 3.0 overall and also in biology course work at the time of application for distinction
- Prior to the senior year, preferably by the Fall semester of the Junior year, get consent from a faculty member to participate in research with that faculty member. The student and the faculty member must submit to the department a letter of application for distinction in the POE with the names of the faculty members who will compose the students Honors thesis committee. This thesis committee includes the faculty mentor and one additional faculty member. One member of this committee may be from outside the Biology department. The student must then engage in a research project with the faculty mentor for a minimum of 6 credit hours.
- complete BI499W (Senior thesis) under the direction of the research mentor as it pertains to their research project
- A student may wish to pursue the honors integrative experience based on a summer research experience or internship. The internship or summer research experience must run a minimum of ten-weeks and the student must arrange to complete Senior thesis, with the writing under the direct supervision of the research or internship mentor. In this case, as above, the student must have the approval of the Biology department prior to the senior year that they wish to pursue distinction in the POE. Approval is in the form of a letter of agreement from two Juniata faculty willing to serve as the Thesis committee and from the internship mentor, agreeing to supervise the thesis writing.
- present their research at the Juniata Student Research Symposium
- have their thesis evaluated and passed by their Honors Committee and subsequently confirmed by the Biology department that the research and thesis are of sufficient quality to merit distinction.
- complete the registrar's "application for distinction" form, obtain required signatures, and submit to the registrar's office by the last day of classes in the student's final semester.
NOTE: The Health Professions Program provides advising for career tracks and as such, does not offer POEs. However, students aspiring to careers in the health professions may attain distinction in POEs in their respective departments.
