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. The requirements are listed below with further details on each at the bottom of this webpage. 

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

Notes for Current UHP Students:  1) Successful completion of these requirements is required to earn UHP transcript notation at the end of the academic year.  2) You are encouraged to find more details about the UHP requirements on the UHP Canvas Page.   

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.    

Research Preparation Workshop Series (RPWS)

All UHP students complete Research Preparation by the end of their third year. This workshop series 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.  

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 UHP advisor to discuss. 

• 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 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.
• Research Seminar
• As you begin preparing for your Signature Work project, we are pleased to offer courses designed to support, develop, and guide your research process. Each of these courses may be used to satisfy the UHP Third-Year/Transfer Year-One Project requirement. They can also serve as preparation for your Fourth-Year/Transfer Year-Two Signature Work.  These courses are offered quarterly and are viewable on the UHP Course Listing webpage. Each course is 1-2units.  
• 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. 

• 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.
• 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.

• UC Center Sacramento
• Students from all UC campuses may enroll in UC Center Sacramento. Our mission at UCCS is to provide an exceptional experiential learning opportunity for UC degree-seeking students, and as a result we will not be able to review or accept applications from non-UC degree seeking students. Our academic program is offered every quarter and in the summer. Internship placements are tailored to students' background, experience, and career goals. By enrolling in the UC Center Sacramento, you have the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of California's public policy challenges and processes. The program includes coursework (16 quarter units/14 semester units) as well as professional experience while living, interning, and attending classes in Sacramento. Want to be reminded of upcoming deadlines? Fill out the Student Interest List!    

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.