Proposal to Create Honors Recognition for Top Associate Degree Recipients

Under UD policy, the top bachelor degree recipients in each graduating class earn academic honors at graduation. Such honors are determined by a combination of cumulative gpa and rank in class, as follows:

STRIVE FOR ACADEMIC HONORS AT GRADUATION

The top students in each graduating class receive special recognition in the form of academic honors. The following rules for honors apply:

  • Summa Cum Laude. The top 1 percent of the students of each undergraduate college’s graduating class will receive the degree Summa Cum Laude, providing that each student obtains a minimum overall index of 3.75 at the end of his or her course of study.
  • Magna Cum Laude. The next 4 percent of the students of each undergraduate college’s graduating class will receive the degree Magna Cum Laude, providing that each student obtains a minimum overall index of 3.5 at the end of his or her course of study.
  • Cum Laude. The next highest 8 percent of the students of each undergraduate college’s graduating class will receive the degree Cum Laude providing that each student obtains a minimum overall index of 3.25 at the end of his or her course of study.

(Source:  p. 68, 2008-2009 Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog)

We propose to create analogous academic honors for associate degree recipients, as follows:

  • With Extraordinary Merit. The top 1 percent of the students of each Associate in Arts or Associate in Science graduating class will receive the Associate degree With Extraordinary Merit, providing that each student obtains a minimum overall index of 3.75 at the time of Associate degree conferral.
  • With High Merit. The next 4 percent of the students of each Associate in Arts or Associate in Science graduating class will receive the Associate degree With High Merit, providing that each student obtains a minimum overall index of 3.5 at the time of Associate degree conferral.
  • With Merit. The next highest 8 percent of the students of each Associate in Arts or Associate in Science graduating class will receive the Associate degree With Merit, providing that each student obtains a minimum overall index of 3.25 at the time of Associate degree conferral.

To provide some perspective on the number of associate degree recipients who would have qualified for the proposed honors, the following table presents cumulative statistics of the top  students to date, with a total of 433 Associate in Arts degrees conferred:

Cumulative GPA

Number of Students

% of Total Conferred

 3.750 – 4.000

17

3.9%

3.500 – 3.749

24

5.5%

3.250 – 3.499

33

7.6%

Total

74

17.1%

Note that the percentage of Associate degree recipients who fall into each gpa category is greater than the percentage cap on those who would be awarded the honors designation.  In other words, with the proposed percentage criteria for each rank, not all of the Associate degree recipients who have earned the minimum gpa would qualify for the graduation honors designations.  Only the top 13% (1% + 4% + 8%) would qualify, as long as they had the minimum gpa.