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Isenberg School of Management Department of Marketing

Departmental Honors Contacts:

If you have questions about the Departmental Honors program, contact:

Professor Charles Schewe
(413) 545-5672
schewe@mktg.umass.edu
or
Professor Kathleen Debevec
(413) 545-5664
debevec@mktg.umass.edu

Marketing Honors Program

General Guidelines

Photo: SOM honors students at graduation

Students may graduate with Departmental Honors if they achieve a GPA of 3.5 or above. In order to graduate with a designation of magna (3.5-3.79) or summa cum laude (3.8-4.0), students must be in a Departmental or Interdisciplinary honors track and complete a research component (thesis or project) with a grade of AB or better. Students in the Marketing Honors Program with GPA's of 3.2-3.49 upon graduation are designated as Commonwealth Scholars.

Departmental Honors Requirements

To become a student in the Marketing Department Honors Program, you must:

  1. Become a member of the Commonwealth Scholar Honors Program/ Commonwealth College
  2. Change your major to Marketing DH, co-signed at Honors Office/ Commonwealth College
  3. Complete 48 graded credits in residence
  4. Interview with Departmental Honors Coordinator

In addition, students must complete 6 honors courses:

  • 4 MARKETNG Honors courses must be at least 300 level or higher
  • Marketing Departmental Honors students may substitute Marketing MBA courses for undergraduate Marketing courses with the permission of the Honors Coordinator and MBA instructor
  • 2 Honors courses may be taken from any department within the Isenberg School of Management or across the University
  • Students pursuing the thesis option may substitute a thesis for 2 of the MARKETNG Honors courses they are required to take

Two or three courses in Marketing are pre-designated each semester as Honors courses (either as fully enriched courses or 1 hour colloquia). Fully enriched Honors courses are taught throughout the semester with rigor appropriate for Honors students. One-hour colloquia involve additional project work over and above regular coursework. Students may register for the 1-hour colloquia if they are currently registered for the course or if they have taken the course in previous semesters.

Honors Thesis/Project/Case

An Honors thesis is typically a two-semester sequence undertaken in the junior or senior year. It counts as two of the six required honors courses for the Honors student. Students most often conduct research in the first semester and prepare a research manuscript in the second semester. The thesis is presented and defended at the conclusion of the project. The Honors thesis can include a research investigation related to a specific inquiry in Marketing or may be an applied case writing thesis.

As an alternative to the thesis, students may undertake a project in Marketing Intelligence (MARKETNG 491H) or write a case. This project/case option may substitute for one of the Marketing Honors courses.

The project option has two alternatives:

  1. Students may work with a Marketing faculty member to design and execute a mutually agreed upon project (by registering for a 3 credit Independent Study)
  2. Students may enroll in the Marketing Intelligence Honors course, and work collaboratively with a client company conducting research and preparing a final written report and presentation.

The case option involves working with a client company/organization (while supervised by a Marketing professor) to describe the nature and conduct of the business in sufficient detail to meet the standards of a professional business case.