Honors and Programs

The James Scholar Honors Programs run by the various colleges of the University are named after Dr. Edmund J. James, President of the University of Illinois from 1904 to 1920. Students who are admitted to The Grainger College of Engineering as freshman are eligible to participate in the Freshman James Scholar Program provided that they achieve an ACT composite score of 33 or higher or an SAT score of 1450 or higher or are in the top 1 percent of their high school graduating class. The program will be discussed and admission applications accepted for incoming freshmen during the summer orientation program.

Freshmen who do not qualify upon admission may apply during the first two weeks of their second semester if they have achieved a 3.3 Grade Point Average or higher during their first semester. (3.5 GPA for ECE majors)

James Scholar Program Benefits:

Some of the benefits of participating in the James Scholars Program are

• • Formal recognition of participation is shown on your academic record;
  • Priority scheduling during registration;
  • A library stack pass (available at the Circulation Desk of the University Library, Rm. 203);
  • Invitation to the annual Engineering Honors Conference at Allerton Park and other special honors activities.

James Scholar Program

The Campus Honors Program (CHP) offers special challenges and opportunities to a small number of academically talented and highly motivated undergraduate students. It fosters collaborative relationships between students and distinguished faculty through small intensive classes, a faculty mentor system for introducing students to the intellectual standards and methodologies of academic disciplines, and informal contacts encouraged by cocurricular offerings. CHP sponsors four series of noncredit cocurricular events: a "Scholar Adventurers" lecture series on faculty research; a "Study Abroad at Home" series of seminar-workshops centering on other cultures; a series of dress-rehearsal visits at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; and an "International Tasting Club" lunch series. The aim is to encourage breadth and excellence from the outset of the student's college career, and to facilitate interaction with scholars at the cutting edge of their disciplines. Only approximately 125 new students can be admitted to the CHP each year as first-year students. A few additional students, however, may join the program on an off-cycle basis at the beginning of the sophomore year. Designated as "Chancellor's Scholars," CHP students may be enrolled in any undergraduate curriculum. Those who meet retention requirements continue as Chancellor's Scholars throughout their undergraduate career.

Campus Honors Program

The Bronze Tablet is a recognition of continuous high academic achievement. The student's name is inscribed on the Bronze Tablet, which hangs on a wall in the Main Library Building. To qualify, undergraduate students must have at least a 3.5 (A= 4.0) cumulative grade-point average for all work taken at the university through the academic term prior to their graduation, and rank, on the basis of that average, in the top 3 percent of the students in their college graduating class. Transfer students must in addition, by the end of the term before graduation, have earned at least 40 hours at the UIUC and have cumulative UIUC grade-point averages as high as the lowest ones listed for Bronze Table students who completed all their work at UIUC.

Dean's List designation is given to the top 20 percent of students in each curriculum on the basis of grade point average in a semester. To be eligible, students must successfully complete 14 academic semester hours of which 12 hours are for a letter grade. If you believe you should be placed on the Dean’s List as a result of a grade change or a grade received more than a month after the end of the semester, notify the Office of Undergraduate Programs (333-2280) to ensure that corrective action will be taken.

Office of Undergraduate Programs

The national honor society of Phi Kappa Phi recognizes and encourages superior scholarship in all academic disciplines. To be eligible, a junior (72 to 89 letter-graded hours) must have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.75 and a scholastic rank in the upper 5 percent of the junior class; seniors (90 or more letter-graded hours) must have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 and a scholastic rank in the upper ten percent of the senior class. Invitations are mailed to all eligible juniors and seniors and an initiation program is held near the end of each semester.

Phi Kappa Phi