The Departmental Honors in Nutrition provides the opportunity for outstanding students to distinguish themselves by pursuing challenging classes and exciting research projects within their chosen subject area. You’ll have the opportunity to work closely with the faculty, to explore your interests more deeply, and to develop skills that will be useful after graduation whether in the workplace, in graduate school, or the professional world. Honors status is indicated on your diploma and signifies academic excellence to future employers or admissions committees for post-graduate education.
Nutrition Honors Liaison
General Requirements for Completing Departmental Honors
- Overall GPA of 3.5 or greater at time of enrollment and at the time of graduation
- A total of 16 credits of honors-designated work, which includes:
- Approved Honors-designated courses (8-12 credits, ~ 2-3 courses)
- Senior Honors Thesis (4-8 credits, conducted over the equivalent of two semesters)
- Note: You do not need to be in the University Honors Program to complete Departmental Honors. For more information go to University Honors.
Enrolling in the Departmental Honors Program:
- Register your intent to complete Nutrition Departmental Honors using this online form.
- Sophomore year is not too soon to begin exploring research areas that interest you, as well as talking with potential faculty who might mentor you in a Senior Honors Thesis.
- Your academic advisor can also offer advice about selecting an Honors Thesis Advisor.
- Projects performed off-campus should have an on-campus faculty liaison to supervise overall project compliance and to submit grades.
- Before the end of your junior year:
- Discuss with your academic advisor or with the Nutrition Honors Liaison the honors coursework you plan to take to fulfill the requirements of the program.
- Identify a faculty member who will serve as your Honors Thesis Advisor. Complete the Honors Thesis Contract and submit to the Nutrition Honors Liaison.
- If feasible, consider beginning your thesis project in the summer before your senior year. Also, consider applying to the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research SURF that would allow you to receive a stipend to conduct nine weeks of full-time research.
Honors Coursework (8 to 12 credits)
- Students must take one of the following courses with an Honors designation as one of the requirements to complete the Departmental Honors requirements:
- NUTR 720 - Community Nutrition
- NUTR 750 - Nutritional Biochemistry
- NUTR 751 - Nutritional Biochemistry of Micronutrients
- NUTR 755 - Treatment of Adult Obesity
- NUTR 773 - Clinical Nutrition
- NUTR 780 - Critical Issues in Nutrition
- Any other 600- or 700-level courses in Nutrition or closely related fields that are on the Nutrition Curriculum Checklist for the option that you are participating in can also be used to satisfy the requirement for 8-12 credits of Honors coursework.
- To designate a course as Honors, obtain permission from course instructor and then complete the UNH Honors Designation Form in consultation with the instructor.
Honors Senior Thesis - NUTR 799H (4-8 credits)
- In combination, no more than 4 and no less than 8 total credits of NUTR 795 Investigations and NUTR 799H Honors Senior Thesis may be used to fulfill the Departmental Honors requirements.
- Research/scholarship is typically conducted over two consecutive semesters, during which the student enrolls each semester for 1-4 credits of NUTR 799H.
- Expect to spend a minimum of 3 hours per week on the project for each credit-hour.
- It is recommended that a thesis project proposal is written within the first month of commencing the senior honors thesis.
- The thesis proposal is reviewed and approved by the Thesis Advisor and a copy sent to the Honors Liaison.
- Students are encouraged to seek funding for their thesis research project by submitting a proposal to the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research. Hamel Center proposal deadlines are usually about a month into each semester.
- Students cannot receive payment for work for which they will receive course credit, but they can receive financial assistance for expenses related to the conduct of the research project.
- During the academic year, students may apply to the Hamel Honors & Scholars College for an Honors Thesis Grant, which provides funds to help pay for expenses associated with the thesis.
- At the end of the first semester, an “IA” grade will be submitted for NUTR 799H, indicating that the work is still in progress. At the end of the second semester, a grade will be reported for all earned NUTR 799H credits.
- The final product consists of a written thesis and a public presentation of the work accomplished.
The Written Thesis
- Length: 20-40 double-spaced pages.
- Components of the written thesis usually include Abstract, Introduction/Background/Literature Review, Statement of Hypothesis, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References Cited.
- Writing the Senior Honors Thesis is an iterative process that involves writing a draft of the thesis, having the document reviewed by your Thesis Advisor, and incorporating their comments into a revised version. Two or three iterations of the writing process are typical before the final version is completed.
- Two paper copies of the thesis must be submitted to the student's Thesis Advisor for grading no later than the last reading day of the semester (before finals commence). One copy will be returned to the student with comments and a final grade; a duplicate of the graded copy is sent to the Honors Liaison. The second copy is retained by the Thesis Advisor.
- Upload your thesis to the UNH Scholars' Repository.
The Public Presentation
- The public presentation should be modeled on presentations typically given at scientific conferences or meetings of professional societies.
- Presenting at the University URC is encouraged. A departmental seminar, classroom setting, or an off-campus scientific conference are also acceptable public settings for your presentation.
