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The English Undergraduate Advising Office has gathered much of the information below to help keep majors, potential majors, and other students informed of UW procedures, policies, and opportunities.
English Undergraduate Advising sponsors two student e-mail lists,
ENGLMAJORS, and ENGLCHAT. The lists are designed for undergraduate
students in English, but others who are interested may subscribe themselves
as well. ENGLMAJORS is a departmental list for undergraduates
in the English major and other interested parties. English advisers post
information about program requirements, courses, campus events, jobs, internships
opportunities, and so on. ENGLCHAT is a discussion list for UW
English majors and others interested in English -- a place to meet other readers
and writers and discuss English-oriented issues and events.
Every Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarter, new majors are welcomed into
the department at a meeting conducted by the English Undergraduate Advising
Office. New majors
are given an overview of the department, introduced to the major, and
informed
of services available
to them as majors of the Department of English. The orientation typically
occurs on the 3rd Thursday of the quarter at 3:30pm. Applicants will be sent
the time and location by e-mail.
Sigma
Tau Delta is
the English Honors Society. The UW Chapter, Alpha Nu Beta, is affiliated
with the national Sigma Tau Delta honors society. An internationally
recognized society, they strive to provide high achieving English majors
with many opportunities. As
members of Sigma Tau Delta, members have access to scholarships,
internships, publication and student leadership opportunities.
In addition to the academic perks, Sigma Tau Delta members have the
opportunity to participate in community activities with people who share
similar
passions
for the
literary arts. And the best part is, as a Sigma Tau member, you have
a huge say in what these activities consist of! Do you want a poetry
reading? To attend a play at discounted rates? Collaboration on a particularly
difficult English paper? Insight into graduate school from an English
professor? To simply chat at our group meetings about your current coursework?
(Meetings usually occur in a cozy coffee shop, by the way...). For more
information, please visit the Sigma
Tau Delta web site, or e-mail litgeeks@u.washington.edu.
If you want to graduate by the end of Autumn Quarter 2008, your graduation application must reach the Graduations Office by October 10, 2008. To apply for graduation, see an English adviser in A-2-B Padelford by October 9th at the latest. (But see Graduating Senior Priority deadlines.)
Please consult the UW
Commencement website for
information about the UW's annual Commencement Ceremony in June. Students
graduating in December, March, or June, or who are scheduled to graduate
in August (and have applied for graduation by the appropriate GSP deadline)
are eligible to participate.
Please see the Departmental Graduation Ceremony web site for information about the English Department's graduation celebration in June. Students graduating in December, March, or June, or those scheduled to graduate in August, are eligible to participate.
Students who plan to graduate in March or June 2009 and who wish to
be eligible for Graduating
Senior Priority (GSP) registration for Winter
and Spring Quarters must deliver a completed graduation application
to the Graduations Office
by the Wednesday prior to the beginning of Winter preregistration (usually
early November). See the Academic
Calendar for precise dates for 2008-2009.
You will have two quarters of GSP. If you register using GSP for two quarters, you will have used up all your GSP options. If you don't graduate and continue to take classes, you will be eligible for regular senior registration according to the schedule outlined in the Time Schedule.
Baccalaureate Honors: Cum Laude ("with praise), Magna Cum Laude ("with great praise"), Summa Cum Laude ("with greatest praise").
Baccalaureate honors are awarded upon graduation to undergraduates earning their first bachelor's degree with at least 90 UW credits, of which at least 60 are numerically graded. Correspondence credits do not count as "UW credits."
These honors have nothing to do with whether the students are in either the deparmental or college honors program; unlike the invitation to join Phi Beta Kappa, they do not require any particular distribution of credits. In addition, students who have earned quarterly and/or annual Dean's List recognition do not necessarily qualify for baccalaureate honors.
All graduates earning baccalaureate honors are given a gold honor cord to wear in the Commencement ceremony. For students graduating in spring, the honors listed in the commencement program, as well as honor cord distribution, are based upon a student's cumulative GPA as of the winter quarter, since spring grades are not available for this determination. Spring classes are ultimately included in the credit totals and GPA calculations for honors posted to the student's final record.
The GPAs for baccalaureate honors are set each year for the following
year (autumn through summer) by a subcommittee of the Faculty Council
on
Academic Standards, based on statistics for the current year provided by
the Graduation and Academic Records Office. Since 1995-96, cutoffs
have been different for each of the colleges of the University. See Baccalaureate
Honors for details.
PBK is a prestigious national honorary
organization whose purpose is to recognize and honor students with excellent
academic records. Election occurs during fall quarter, based on academic
work through the junior year, and spring quarter, based on academic work
through
the senior year. For "junior election," students must present at least 130
UW residence credits with at least a 3.75 gpa. The requirements for "senior
election" are slightly less rigorous: students must present at least 160
credits, of which at least 80 must be UW residence credits (from a minimum
of 5 quarters in residence) with at least a 3.67 gpa. Grade averages are
based on UW residence credits only. In addition, students must have fulfilled
an upper-division "liberal" course requirement of 9 credits. These courses
will normally be numbered 300 and above, and be outside the student's major
area. Students do not apply for PBK. Instead, the Registrar's Office provides
the UW chapter
with the transcripts of all students who meet the credit and gpa requirements.
The chapter then determines whether the distribution and upper- division
breadth requirements are met. If so, they mail the student an offer of election.
The English Department Honors Program is open to students who have shown
exceptional ability in English, or those who are members of the University
Honors Program. Information about eligibility, application, and requirements
is available on line at the English Honors webpage.
This is a workshop held during Autumn Quarter and open to interested English majors on a first-come, first-served basis. The object of the English Major Skills Workshop is to explore and identify the kinds of skills that English students learn as they advance through their major. This is a critical task to accomplish because it grounds and orients a student in the first steps of a job and career search, helping to answer such questions as "What can I do?" or "What skills do I have?" We attempt to arrive at some answers through a variety of techniques and exercises.
English Department scholarships are awarded to declared English majors
who show academic achievement and promise. You must have been enrolled
at the UW as an undergraduate for at least two quarters before you apply
for a scholarship, and have a UW gpa of 3.5 and a UW English gpa of 3.7.
For information and application forms for the English scholarships, contact
Linda Ahern in Undergraduate Programs, 206-543-2408,
or lahern@u.washington.edu.
Applications will be available in the English
Advising office during Autumn quarter. Check
in with English Advising in A-2-B Padelford for further information. Information
about and applications for Creative Writing awards are available in the Creative
Writing office, B-25 Padelford, 206-543-9865, or jleroux@u.washington.edu.
Bricolage is
the University of Washington's student literary arts journal and is created
each
year by a staff of students drawn primarily from the English Department, but
embracing other departments as well. It was established in 1982 and
has been presenting some of the University's best artistic effort every year
since. In late Spring Quarter, the departing officers elect a staff
for the coming year, briefly orient them and leave them a budget, and each
year a completely new publication is created. If interested in working
on the Bricolage editorial staff, contact the managing editor at brico@u.washington.edu or ask an
English adviser. No special background is required except an interest
in literature and the arts.
