Honors Program

Each year during the spring semester, the Psychology Department will invite a select group of junior majors to submit Honors Proposals for consideration.

Requirements

Students are invited to submit an Honors Proposal based on the following criteria: 

  • Psychology and cumulative GPAs typically of at least 3.7
  • Breadth of Willamette Psychology classes (including completion of PSYC 253 by the end of the junior year)
  • Contributions to the classroom and the Department.

Typically 2-4 junior majors are invited to submit an Honors Proposal each year. 

Students who are invited to submit a proposal for Psychology Honors can either accept or decline this invitation.  For those who wish to accept the invitation, the Honors proposal will be available in the Resources link on WISE for PSYC 300, a required class for all majors in Psychology that is taken during the spring semester of one's junior year.  

Honors Proposal

Students who are invited to submit an Honors Proposal and who accept this invitation, will need to submit their Honors Proposal as part of their final internship application due to WISE on the last day of PSYC 300.  Proposals must be for empirical research (either original research or as part of research with a Psychology faculty member). If students decide to do a research internship as part of their senior internship experience in Psychology, their internship research can count as their Honors project.  However, students do not need to complete a research internship to stand for Honors.

**NOTE: You will need to choose a Psychology Department faculty mentor who can help you craft your proposal and who will serve as your Honors Advisor.  This faculty member needs to sign off on your Honors proposal before you submit it attesting to their willingness to serve as your Honors Advisor, or your Honors proposal will not be approved.

The Honors Proposal requires students to provide a narrative description of their proposed Honors Project, including the following required components of the proposal: 

  • Proposed research question(s) and why students wish to study the topic they do
  • Summary of supporting literature (at least two sources) that serve as justification for the proposed study
  • Brief summary of the methods by which students would study their topic (e.g., Will they collect new data, and if so, what are the proposed methods, population of study, how will students obtain their sample, etc.? Will students use an already-existing data set and, if so, what are their contributions to the data collection or analyses?)
  • What hypotheses will the students test?
  • Broadly, what types of analyses do the students anticipate conducting to test their hypotheses? 

Selection Process

The Psychology Department will select students to stand for Honors based on the quality of their Honors Proposals, the feasibility of the proposed project, and whether deadlines for Honors proposals are met.

Each selected Honors student will have an Honors committee comprised of two faculty members.  The chair of the committee will be the faculty member who agreed to supervise the student’s research.  A second faculty member will be assigned by the Department to serve as a second reader for the Honors paper.  All students who are selected to stand for Honors will need to give two presentations in April of their senior year: one at SSRD and an Honors presentation and defense. 

To receive Psychology Honors: 

  • The quality of the Honors paper is deemed of “honors quality" by both members of the student’s Honors committee (in the case of disagreement, a third faculty member will be asked to read the paper)
  • The quality of the student’s Honors presentation and defense must be deemed of “honors quality” by members of the Psychology faculty
  • The overall quality of the student's academic work, as reflected in the student's Psychology and cumulative GPAs, must remain at a level worthy of Honors
  • All deadlines for Honors must be met
  • The student's demeanor throughout the Honors process, both inside and outside the classroom, should serve as a role model for fellow psychology students

Recipients of Honors in Psychology

  • Lyndsey Shimazu
  • Kendra Good
  • Hio Tong Chao
  • Seth Eggleston
  • Madison Montemayor
  • Malayka Mottarella
  • Stephen Bartz
  • Crystal LeFebvre
  • Brenna Smelt
  • Alexandra Babij
  • Shannon Cain
  • Laura Cullen
  • Charleen Gust
  • Eve Wiggins
  • Ziv Feinberg
  • Erica Hayes
  • Shoshana Jarvis
  • Megan Nanry
  • Ami Snur
  • Paige Mullins
  • Nicolette Rickert
  • Julia Ladner
  • Sari Matisoff
  • Kellie Menghini
  • Madison Niermeyer
  • Sarah Schroeder
  • Molly Enzminger
  • Alia Yasen
  • Kachina Kudroff
  • Lydia Marsalli
  • Leila Mitsunaga
  • Olivia Saccomanno
  • Hayley Freedman
  • Stephanie Good
  • Kalia Gurnee
  • Acacia McGuire
  • Tara McLauchlan
  • Thanh-Truc "Quyen" Nguyen
  • Lauren Bucholtz
  • Jordan Charboneau
  • Cason Schmit
  • Kari Proud
  • Gale Lucas
  • Miranda Scolari
  • Nathan Foster
  • Allyson Neary
  • Leslie M. Radin
  • Matt Snodgrass
  • Lindsay Washington
  • Erin Winterrowd
  • Emily Kern
  • Jeff Golimowski
  • Lindsay Tuck
  • Melissa Blanock
  • Debbie Joa
  • Anna Krauthoefer
  • Alexa Leinaweaver
  • Jennifer Baker
  • AmyKay Boatright
  • Karen Sharp
  • Jessica Baker
  • Amy Kahler
  • Lynsey Vogeltanz
Willamette University

Psychology Department

Address
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301 U.S.A.
Phone
503-375-5306 voice
503-375-6512 fax

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