The School of Human Ecology offers several honors opportunities to our students. You will encounter the humanities and the sciences, business and the arts. Our students become physicians, clinical dietitians, cancer researchers, public health professionals, museum curators, social workers, retail entrepreneurs, public policy practitioners and apparel designers. Our students develop knowledge through observation, interaction, research, and writing.
As an honors student, you want to take your education further. You want to take smaller challenging courses. You want to be a part of a scholarly community. You want to do cutting-edge research. You are inquisitive, and you care about people.
You are science based and human focused–just like us.
To view faculty research interests and program opportunities, learn more on the School of Human Ecology website:
Degree Program (HDF Only)
What: Complete a 4-year degree plan that allows students to take small honors versions of major level courses, work closely with faculty, complete independent research, write a thesis and present at the School of Human Ecology Honors Symposium. Dive deeply into the Human Development & Family Sciences major while getting a strong natural sciences education. Visit the Honors Program Resources for more information.
This is currently available for the BS Human Development & Family Sciences: Honors in Advanced Human Development & Family Sciences (HAHDFS) degree option only. All other majors in the School of Human Ecology offer the opportunity for Special Departmental Honors (BS degrees only), see below for more details.
Benefits: Be a part of a small community of honors scholars; work closely with faculty; explore and perform cutting edge research; dedicated staff and faculty support; scholarship opportunities. Receive an honors degree, a certificate, and a line on your transcript stating “Special Honors in [department]”
Eligibility:
- Demonstrated high academic performance in the past and potential for future success
- Must have 3.3 GPA overall and 3.5 GPA in Human Ecology courses
Receiving Honors:
- Maintain the GPA requirements listed above
- Submit a Special Departmental Honors Thesis Application Form/Thesis Proposal and receive approval before registering for the 379H thesis course
- Earn a letter grade of at least a B on the 379H thesis course
- Present at the School of Human Ecology Honors Symposium
- Submit a bound/ signed copy of the thesis to the School as well as a digital copy to archive in the UT Digital Repository.
How To Apply: Incoming Freshman
How to Apply: Incoming Freshman
Incoming freshmen should complete the College of Natural Sciences Honors application when applying to UT. The recommended deadline for incoming freshmen is October 15. The regular deadline for incoming freshmen is December 1.
If you are, or soon will be, a High School Graduate and have not enrolled in college after high school:
Human Development and Family Sciences:
- Complete the online application for Freshman Admission and select Human Development and Family Sciences (E 56000) as your first or second major preference.
- At the end of the application, check the box that states that you are interested in applying for an honors program.
- Note: You will not be able to begin the honors program application until you have submitted your admission application. (It can take up to 24 hours for you ApplyTexas application to be received by UT Austin once you submit it on the ApplyTexas site. Please submit early to avoid complications and delays.)
- Complete and submit the honors program application by the DECEMBER 1 deadline. All students who select Human Development and Family Sciences as a major preference and apply to the College of Natural Sciences Honors will also be considered for HAHDFS regardless of which honors program you indicate as your preference.
**If you are an incoming freshman student interested HAHDFS, but you did not list Human Development and Family Sciences as your major preference and/or you did not complete the CNS Honors application, please contact Diana Orozco-Lapray, PhD, SoHE Honors Coordinator.
How to Apply: Continuing or Transfer Student
If you are a Continuing or Transfer student:
- Human Development and Family Sciences - Complete the HAHDFS Continuing and Transfer Student Application and submit the form to Dr. Diana Orozco-Lapray, Research Advisor - SoHE Honors Program. Have a faculty member complete and submit the HAHDFS Reference Form.
- It is important that your reference knows about you as a person in addition to your academic abilities. If you do not have a professor who knows you well enough, we will also accept references from a high school teacher or advisor. Your application will not be considered complete until the reference is received. Give your reference plenty of time to submit the form before the deadline.
**Continuing and transfer students are admitted to the HAHDFS programs on a rolling basis. Please submit your application as soon as possible.
Special Departmental Honors
The School of Human Ecology offers Special Departmental Honors for majors including Human Development and Family Sciences, Nutrition, Public Health and Textiles and Apparel.
What: Work closely with faculty, complete independent research, write a thesis and present your work over a multiple-semester commitment. See Honors Thesis Guidelines for more information.
Benefits: Receive a certificate and a line on your transcript stating “Special Honors in [department]”
Eligibility:
- Must have 3.3 GPA overall and 3.5 GPA in Human Ecology courses
- Approval of Honors Faculty Advisor
- Must apply Spring semester of Junior year or 2+ long semesters before graduating
- Completed at least 60 hours of coursework before beginning thesis
- Some faculty members require additional lab or field experience, so inquire early if interested in pursuing special honors.
Receiving Honors:
- Maintain the GPA requirements listed above
- Submit a Special Departmental Honors Thesis Application Form/Thesis Proposal and receive approval before registering for the 379H thesis course.
- Earn a letter grade of at least a B on the 379H thesis course
- Public Health students pursuing Special Departmental Honors are expected to complete two semesters of 379H.
- Most students should plan to take two semesters 379H to provide sufficient time to complete the thesis.
- Present at the School of Human Ecology Honors Symposium
- Submit a signed and approved PDF of the thesis to the School
- Optional: submit a digital copy to archive in the UT Digital Repository.
How to Apply
Students should apply no later than the spring semester of their Junior year or 2+ long semesters before graduating.
- Set up a meeting with Dr. Diana Orozco-Lapray (sohehonors@austin.utexas.edu). At the meeting, you will review and discuss the guidelines for Special Departmental Honors.
- Set up a meeting with the faculty member you want to be your Honors Thesis Supervisor (must be a SoHE faculty member in your major).
At the meeting, you will discuss possible thesis projects. You may be asked to spend a semester in the faculty member’s lab before beginning your thesis project. If the faculty member agrees to supervise your thesis project, you will need to complete the Special Departmental Honors Thesis Application Form/Thesis Proposal. See Honors Thesis Guidelines for details. Discuss a choice for a second reader with your supervisor before you approach your second reader (details in step 4). - Write a Thesis Project Proposal.
You will need to provide a Thesis Project Proposal when you submit your SoHe Honors Thesis Application. Once you have completed the proposal and the faculty member has approved the proposal, obtain the faculty member's signature of approval on the application form. - Set up a meeting with the faculty member you want to be your Honors Thesis Second Reader (any UT faculty member).
Provide the final version of your Thesis Project Proposal to the faculty member in advance of the meeting. Bring a copy of Thesis Project Proposal and the SoHE Honors Thesis Application (with all portions complete except the Second Reader signature section) to this meeting. - Turn in your completed SoHE Honors Thesis Application and the most recent version of your Thesis Project Proposal to Dr. Diana Orozco-Lapray by December 1 to start in the spring semester and May 1 for fall semester.
**Do not be discouraged by this deadline. If you are interested in earning Special Departmental Honors, but have missed this deadline, contact Dr. Diana Orozco-Lapray to discuss your options. - Your application and proposal will be given to the Honors Faculty Adviser in your department for final approval.
You will be contacted if any changes need to be made to your project before beginning your work. If everything is approved, you will be allowed to register for the appropriate Honors Tutorial Course.
Honors Course Registration
Honors Research & Thesis courses are restricted to students who have permission to enroll. These courses do not have specific class meeting times listed on the Course Schedule, however the expectation is average ~9 hours/week for research activities and lab meetings. Your specific schedule will be discussed directly between you and your supervising professor. Instructions for gaining registration access are provided below.
- Honors Research: HDF 355H, NTR 355H
- Honors Tutorial Course (Thesis): HDF 379H, NTR 379H, PBH 379H, TXA 379H
Honors in Advanced HDFS (HAHDFS)
Students pursuing the BS HDF honors degree program are required to complete at least two semesters of 355H and two semesters of 379H.
- Students typically begin 355H credit during the spring of Sophomore year or fall of Junior year at the latest. It is encouraged to begin looking into research lab options as soon as possible before registering for 355H credit. Some labs may require that you volunteer before approval to register for 355H.
Special Departmental Honors (available for BS degrees):
Students pursuing Special Departmental Honors typically complete at least one semester each of 355H and 379H depending on the requirements for your major. Public Health requires two semesters of 379H. See the Special Departmental Honors section above for more details about eligibility. Most students should plan for two semesters of 379H to complete the thesis regardless of the major, so plan accordingly.
Honors Course Registration Instructions:
355H Honors Research Registration & Checklist
355H Registration Instructions (NTR, HDF only):
1. Download the 355H Checklist for details on communicating with your supervising faculty member before and after registering for the 355H course.
2. A confirmation email from the supervising faculty member must be sent to the SoHE Advising Center by the supervisor or forwarded from the student. It is ideal that we receive this before the 4th class day of the semester the student hopes to enroll in the course. Note that you will not be able to register for the course until confirmation is provided, therefore plan to add a placeholder class and change it later as needed.
- Email to Jill Lawler (copy or forward): jill.lawler@austin.utexas.edu
- Subject Line: Class (ex. NTR 355H) - Name & EID - Supervisor Name
- Semester: Must include semester (ex. fall 2026) somewhere in the email to confirm approval.
3. The Advising Center gives student registration access to add themselves to the course. Allow 24-48 business hours to process.
4. The Advising Center emails student notifying they can register themselves for the course. Expect this reply from our Administrative Associate or Human Ecology Advising email address.
- If confirmation is provided before registration, you can typically register during your first time slot. If confirmation is provided after registration, you can add it later during the add/drop times before school starts.
- Between the 4th - 12th class day: the advising center can manually add a student as needed.
*It is the student's responsbility to check their schedule online before the 12th class day of the semester to verify they are in the right classes. The student must notify their assigned academic advisor if they have any concerns.
379H Thesis Course Registration & Checklist
First semester of 379H (thesis):
1. Download the 379H Checklist for details on registering for 379H and completing your thesis project.
2. The student must submit the Honor Thesis Application Form including a signed and approved thesis proposal to the SoHE Honors Coordinator. Note you will not be able to register for the course until this step is complete. Therefore, plan to add a placeholder class and add/drop later as needed.
- See Honors Thesis Guidelines for more information about the thesis and thesis proposal expectations.
- The application and proposal should be submitted by the end of the semester before the student plans to be enrolled in 379H. If needed, it can still be submitted by the beginning of the semester.
3. SoHE Honors Coordinator reviews the application and notifies Advising Center of student's approval to register for 379H.
4. The Advising Center emails student notifying they can register themselves for the course. Expect this reply from our Administrative Associate or the Human Ecology Advising email.
Second semester of 379H:
- For students proceeding into a second semester of 379H credit, a confirmation email from the supervising professor is required.
- Please forward a confirmation email to academic advisor, Jill Lawler:
- Email to Jill Lawler (copy or forward): jill.lawler@austin.utexas.edu
- Subject Line: Class (ex. HDF 379H or NTR 379H) - Name & EID - Supervisor Name
- Semester: Must include semester (ex. fall 2026) somewhere in the email to confirm you are approved for that semester.
- Please allow 24-48 business hours to process, and expect a reply from our Administrative Associate or the Human Ecology Advising email notifying that the student has access to add themselves to the course.
- If confirmation is provided before registration, you can typically register during your first time slot. If confirmation is provided after registration, you can add it later during the add/drop times before school starts.
- Between the 4th - 12th class day: the advising center can manually add a student as needed.
**It is the student's responsibility to check their schedule online before the 12th class day of the semester to verify that they are in the right classes. The student must notify their assigned academic advisor if they have any concerns.**
Contact
Dr. Diana Orozco-Lapray
SoHE Honors Coordinator
Sohehonors@austin.utexas.edu