UHP Year 3 – Signature Work Preparation

As third-year students dive into upper division and major coursework, the University Honors Program (UHP) seeks to enhance each student's educational experience by providing flexible curriculum options centered on community service, project activities, and research-based interests to help them prepare for their fourth-year UHP Signature Work. 

Students may begin their Year 3 curriculum any time after starting at the university and must complete all the following by the end of their third year. Please review the following requirements below:

1. Attending Group Advising during Fall Quarter.
2. Participate in the Research Preparation Workshop Series during one quarter.
   • You may waive this requirement if you meet the criteria to do so, please review below
3. Complete a Project.
   • Please review the requirements for each project activity via canvas. Upon completing the project, please fill out the project survey located in canvas.
4. A total of 20 hours of Community Service.
   • This item will be turned in via canvas through a survey once it has been completed

Transcript notation for UHP Year 3 is earned by completing each activity by the end of the academic year and meeting the UHP GPA requirement.

Group Advising 

During Fall Quarter the University Honors Program advising team hosts Group Advising sessions to review the UHP curriculum and professional development content. These advising sessions will focus on helping you become familiarized with year-specific UHP curriculum, strategies to maximize your academic potential, and exercises to develop your individual professional goals.    

To receive credit you must attend the session and complete the assignment.  The goal of the assignment is to help you prepare for the year with UHP.  It will be incorporated into work with your advisor over the academic year.  At the end of the academic year the UHP advising team will check-in with you on your progress toward that goal to provide further support.  

Research Preparation Workshop Series (RPWS)

All UHP students complete Research Preparation by the end of their third year. This workshop series (new in fall 2021) helps students explore their potential research interests and learn how to navigate the research university and its processes in advance of their culminating fourth-year signature work. This workshop series is offered for both continuing UHP students and incoming transfer students.  

Fall 2025 will be held asynchronous.  Winter 2026 and Spring 2026 are currently in planning and may be held in person or remotely. Planning for Winter 2026 and Spring 2026 will be finalized at a later time. 

Sign up for the Research Preparation Workshop Series Fall 2025 by Monday, September 22nd: Here

If you are a student who has already worked in a research lab under a faculty member for two quarters and is currently working in the lab, you are eligible to waive the Research Preparation Workshop Series. You must turn in the RPWS Waiver via canvas by the end of the Spring quarter of your Third Year/Transfer Year 1.

Project 

Through the Project students engage in a wide variety of opportunities that help them explore their future academic and professional careers. The Project allows students to take deeper dives into interesting course material, conduct research in labs, develop professional skills, grow their leadership skills, study abroad, and intern in Washington D.C. To learn more about the project options click each heading below.

Upon completion of their project, students complete a survey that prompts them to explore how the experience impacted their personal and professional development in addition to its potential impact on their future.

If you have a project that you may think would qualify, please contact your Third Year advisor to discuss this

• Honors Contract
• An traditional Honors Contract (1-unit) allows students to create an independent project to augment a concurrent or previous upper division class to enrich and deepen the academic experience under faculty mentorship. This option can take the form of a research project, literary review, work of art, or other project.  The Special Honors Contract (1-unit) allows students to do a literature review under faculty mentorship in an area that may be preparatory for their signature work.  This must be submitted before the 10th day of instruction in the quarter you would like to do it in.
• Fall 2025: Honors Contract (HNR90X), Biological Sciences with Professor Susan Keen 
• Pre-Requisites: completed BIS 2C
  Description: For this Honors Contract with Susan Keen, UHP students who have completed BIS 2C would work in pairs or individually to decide on a literature-based research project that they would complete during the quarter.
   
  For the project, the student/students would select a characteristic of life that they were interested in (for example, cell membrane aquaporins, vertebrate heart or the cephalopod nervous system) and map the evolution of that character over some part of the tree of life.  
   
  The student/students will have an idea of how the character had evolved, and from there, would work with Dr. Keen to form a testable hypothesis.
   
  From there, the student/students would be taught to: define different character states, search for the distribution of the character states across different taxa using the library databases such as Biosis and eventually to map the characters to demonstrate how the character had evolved over evolutionary time. 

   

  Please connect with Professor Susan Keen if you are interested and for a signature on the Honors Contract form at slkeen@ucdavis.edu 

• Individually Designed Project (IDP)

• An Individually Designed Project (IDP) requires that the student engage in career-related, creative, or scholarly pursuits. This hands-on, applied learning opportunity ranges from internships to service-learning to laboratories, which extend beyond the classroom. Students may already be involved in these activities (e.g., internship, research). Students do not have to create their own project in order to participate – the structure of the project or activity may already exist, such as an internship, on campus employment, off campus employment relating to their professional growth, or research position.  An IDP formalizes the pursuit, requires a minimum of 30-hours over one quarter, and fulfills a year three honor project activity.

  Examples of an Individually Designed Project (IDP) include: being a research assistant in a lab, a paid or unpaid internship, designing and implementing an activity or event and more!

  The Individually Designed Project (IDP) form must be turned in to UHP by the 10th day of instruction of the quarter you plan on doing it in. 

• Fall 2025 Individually Designed Project Opportunity: The UC Davis Math Project (UCDMP) 

• Looking for an Individually Designed Project (IDP) opportunity? The Math Project is looking for students interested in working with them in their office to help support their mission. 

  The UC Davis Math Project (UCDMP) is a regional site of the California Mathematics Project (CMP), one of nineteen California Subject Matter Projects (CSMP). UCDMP is a professional development network, perfectly situated to assist schools and districts in meeting professional development needs in the area of mathematics education. UCDMP programs are standards-based and focus on improving mathematics achievement for all teachers and students.

  You can find more information regarding this opportunity here: The UC Davis Math Project (UCDMP)

  If you are interested or have If you have any questions regarding this opportunity, please contact Diana A Zaragoza at dazaragoza@ucdavis.edu. 

• Project Management Course (PMC)
• The PMC (3-units) is led by faculty who guide students in working with small teams of 4-5 on a project, much like a consulting group. Participants develop real world experience in client relations, project design and planning, research, white paper development, and service learning. Successful completion of the PMC meets both the service and project requirement.
• Center for Leadership Learning (CLL) Cultivating Leaders for Social Change (CLSC)
• THIS IS CURRENTLY ON PAUSE AND WE WILL POST UPDATES ONCE IT IS UP**The Cultivating Leaders for Social Change program (CLSC) is a Center for Leadership Learning (CLL) certificate program that seeks to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of difference, improve individual abilities to address complex social issues, and cultivate an inclusive environment. DLDP integrates competency-building seminars and applied professional learning.
  
  Completion of the Leadership Essentials Workshop Series (LEWS)—six  topical workshops—is a prerequisite. Successful Completion of the SLDP meets both the Service and Project curriculum.
• College Corps
• The College Corps program is a statewide program partnered with California Volunteers through the Office of the Governor. As a College Corps Fellow, you will serve 450 hours in an area of K-12 Education, Food Insecurity or Climate Action over the course of the academic year. This roughly equates to 15 hours per week. College Corps provides their fellows with stipends for participating in the program. Please discuss with your advisor about this project option as this may qualify as both service and a project. You will be required to submit your college corps Fellow Service Agreement and your hours completed via America Learns to receive full credit for both the project and service.
• Study Abroad
• Study Abroad and the University of California Education Abroad Program (UCEAP) facilitate student studies, exploration, and engagement with other cultures that broaden perspective and involvement in the world.  This third-year choice can be taken earlier if schedule and resources allow. Other international opportunities outside of those noted are discussed in consultation with a UHP advisor to determine applicability.
• Washington Program
• The Washington Program offers an opportunity to combine course work, exciting field research, and internship experience (e.g., NASA, National Institutes of Health, Smithsonian, Capitol) in the District of Columbia, allowing students to examine their perspective career path, while building a resume and developing industry contacts that can lead to employment upon graduation.
• Quarter at Aggie Square

• Quarter at Aggie Square is an academic program for undergraduates housed at UC Davis’s Sacramento campus. Even before Aggie Square opens the doors to new buildings, undergraduate programming will be offered beginning Fall 2020 in campus spaces. 

  Students will work across multiple disciplines on our urban campus. Our initial offerings focus on health and educational equity, and leveraging the health campus to inform biomedical engineering. 

  In the spirit of the Washington Program and Study Abroad, students will study with a cohort, taking all of their courses for the quarter in Sacramento, holding local internships, attending public lectures, and engaging with the regional community.

Community Service

One of the core values of the University Honors Program is Service. Honors students exemplify service through a wide variety of opportunities; students give back through research and academics, career exploration, and local community service and global projects.

By the end of their third year, UHP students must engage in at least 20 hours of community service, although most students are driven to go above and beyond. You must record your completing via a survey located on canvas once you have completed all your hours.

Students may also begin their service hours before they begin their third year as long as they have started at the university. Upon completion of their service hours, students complete a survey that prompts them to explore how the experience impacted their personal and professional development in addition to its potential impact on their future.