Dates to Know
Degree application deadline: February 23rd, 2024. Completing your degree application through MyUI will automatically prompt a review for completion of University Honors. You do not need to indicate in any way that you'd like to be evaluated for University Honors as all students who complete a degree application and are currently members of the University Honors program of study will be reviewed. The box that appears on the degree application refers to honors in a major and does not pertain to awarding of University Honors.
For University Honors to appear in the Commencement Program your degree audit needs to show complete by March 1st. Follow steps on this page to ensure completion can be reported accurately.
End of Semester Celebration
An end-of-semester celebration for all honors students will be held in 440 BHC (date to come).
Graduating seniors will receive information about the honors commendation ceremony. Seniors can pick up their honors medal at the 4th-floor desk once approved for graduation. The Honors Program does not provide graduation attire. Phi Eta Sigma students who qualify will receive a cord with their medal.
2024 Graduation Ceremony
This year's commendation ceremony will be on May 10th at 6:30 PM in MacBride Hall Auditorium (201). Many students choose to attend this ceremony instead of university graduation because it is typically much shorter. It is not required that you attend the honors ceremony to graduate with honors. The purpose of our ceremony is to recognize your achievements as an honors student during your time at Iowa, and offer an alternative graduation reception.
All graduating seniors have received a survey they must fill out to attend. If you have not received this survey, please contact veronica-sanchez@uiowa.edu.
*MacBride’s auditorium is on the second floor, but there is an elevator located on the east side of the building (left of the front steps) for accessibility.
graduation
To commend and recognize students who graduate from the University of Iowa with University Honors, we gather at the end of each spring semester for the University Honors Commendation Ceremony. Honors students should pick up medals at the front desk of the Honors Program prior to the ceremony.
Information will be shared with spring graduates after the preapproval process has been completed. December and August graduates are welcome to participate as well and should contact the program at least a month before spring commencement weekend if they would like to attend.
Graduating with Honors
There are two ways to graduate with honors at the University of Iowa: University Honors and honors in your major.
University Honors
By submitting your graduation degree application, you will automatically be considered for graduation with University Honors. No extra box needs to be checked at application submission to indicate you would like to be considered for University Honors.
After the degree application deadline, one of two things will happen:
- If you complete your degree application and your honors degree audit shows that you have fulfilled University Honors requirements*, you will receive pre-approval to graduate with University Honors after the degree application deadline.
- If your honors degree audit shows you have completed the required coursework but does not reflect 12 experiential learning credits*, you have until April 1st to submit your reflections in the Honors Program portal on ICON.
*Students completing honors in the major will not see this on their University Honors degree audits. However, your work toward honors in the major will be reported to us by your department at the time of graduation.