Honors

Qualifying for Honors Designation

Students who qualify for recognition at the ceremony will be sent a letter from the Dean's Office of the School in which their major is located. This letter authorizes students to receive honor cords at Grad Finalé. You must present the letter to receive your honor chords. To recognize the students who received honors, the University will be providing the honor cords free of charge.

Candidates with an Individualized Degree Program Major will be identified for honors purposes within the School most prominent in their major.

To qualify for graduation honor recognition at the commencement ceremony, a student must have the specified GPA and must have completed a minimum of 50 semester hours of academic credit at MSU Denver by the end of the term of graduation.  UCD pooled classes and transfer credits are not considered when determining honors.  Recognition at the commencement ceremony does not guarantee final honors designation on the official record.  Honors announced at the commencement ceremony will be based upon a preliminary calculation, which does not include grades from the term of graduation.

Honors Policy

Graduation honors are awarded to students who have demonstrated superior academic ability in their baccalaureate degree while attending MSU Denver. Honors designations are determined according to the following criteria:

• Summa Cum Laude - Top five percent of graduates within each school with cumulative MSU Denver GPA of no less than 3.65.

• Magna Cum Laude - Next five percent of graduates within each school with cumulative MSU Denver GPA of no less than 3.65.

• Cum Laude - Next five percent of graduates within each school with cumulative MSU Denver GPA of no less than 3.65.

To determine each honors category, GPAs from the previous spring semester graduates are arrayed in rank order. This rank ordering is then used to determine the honors category thresholds for the following fall, spring and summer graduates. The GPA cut-offs for each School are listed below.

2012-13 Academic Year

IDP Majors are identified with a School determined by the program content.

The honors designation is calculated twice: once for the commencement ceremony and again at the end of the final semester for the official designation. 

Official Honors Designation

Grades earned for the graduating term will affect honors. GPA's are not rounded up (Example: A GPA of 3.149 is not rounded to 3.15).  The Official Honors designation will be calculated following the processing of final grades. This recalculation will take into consideration any grade changes submitted to the Office of the Registrar during your graduating term.  Only the official honors designation is added to the final transcript and diploma.  A student must maintain the specified GPA and must complete a minimum of 50 semester hours of academic credit at MSU Denver by the term of graduation. UCD Pooled classes and transfer credits are not considered when determining honors.

Honors Programs

Visit the Honors Program 

Honor Societies

Visit the Honor Societies Web Site.