Program Overview

Introduction to the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department

The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at James Madison University enjoys a close relationship with the JMU Honors Program. This relationship provides numerous benefits to students, including opportunities for scholarly research, individual mentoring, and engagement in unique clinical populations, research in animal models, investigations of treatment interventions, and raising and answering scholarly questions.

How to Become an Honors Student

Students can enter the Honors Program through two avenues:

1. Entering freshmen who have at least a 3.5 high school GPA and high scores on their SAT or ACT are invited to join the Academic Honors Program as Honors Scholars. These students take 9 credits of GenEd honors courses, 9 credits of honors electives, and 6 credits of multidisciplinary honors seminars and colloquia. As long as they maintain a 3.25 GPA, they are also eligible for 6 credits of honors research in their major.
2. Other students who maintain a 3.25 GPA and demonstrate "sufficient evidence of initiative, originality and intellectual maturity to warrant the expectation of distinction" are also permitted to apply to the Senior Honors Project Program and, if accepted by the Honors Program, engage in 6 hours of honors research in their major.

Requirements for Honors Scholars and Senior Honors Students

• Honors Scholars and Senior Honors Students are expected to identify a research mentor during the fall or spring term of their junior year.
• They must select a research topic and plan and a committee of readers by spring semester's end.
• They are then expected to engage in the appropriate research during the senior year, culminating in a published honors thesis that is bound and catalogued in JMU's Carrier Library.
• Honors Scholars also graduate with distinction, and their thesis title and chair are listed in the graduation program.

Honors Option Policy Regarding CSD Courses

The Honors Option policy allows Honors students to convert an existing course not already designated as an Honors course into an Honors course. To be eligible, students must:

• Have earned at least a B+ on each of the required courses (CSD 207, 208, and 209).
• Find a faculty member willing to accommodate them with the Honors option by assigning a project in addition to those already satisfying the syllabus.
• Determine through a written contract how the additional project will be accomplished and graded.

Grading Policies for Honors Option Courses

• The additional project will earn an additional grade calculated into the student's final course grade.
• If the project grade lowers the student's course grade below a B+, the course will NOT be counted as an Honors option.
• Honors students must maintain a 3.25 average to remain in the Honors Program.

Communication Sciences and Disorders Department Contact Information

The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department is located in the Health and Behavioral Studies Building, MSC 4304, 235 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807.