College Distinction provides exceptional current Arkansas Tech students an opportunity to challenge themselves academically and gain recognition for their outstanding work in the college classroom. Students with at least sixty hours of college credit and thirty hours of course work at Arkansas Tech with a minimum 3.5 GPA are invited to participate in the program. Students who accept the invitation to pursue College Distinction will have the opportunity to take two courses designated as distinction courses. The first is an enrichment course. This course provides an extra educational experience related to the student’s field of study and could include, among other experiences, study abroad, internship, service learning, or mentor-guided research. The second is an enhanced capstone course. This course demonstrates a student’s ability to work at an exceptional level in a given field and is enhanced by an advanced or accelerated curriculum.

Students’ successful completion of the course requirements and a graduating GPA of 3.5 or better will allow for graduation “with distinction.” This will be noted on student transcripts and diplomas.

Each department will identify distinction courses for each major.

Once a student has completed a College Distinction Letter of Intention in History, Political Science, Social Studies Education, International Studies or Anthropology and Geography, the student, his or her advisor, and the HPS department head will designate two classes to fulfill College Distinction course requirements: an enrichment course and an enhanced capstone course.

Any course offering study abroad, internship, service learning or advanced research may be used for the three hour enrichment course requirement. Courses typically designated for enrichment credit include HIST/POLS 4973 Internship, SEED 4909 Teaching in the Secondary School, SPAN/JPN/GER/FR 3143 Study Abroad, HIST/POLS/GEOG 4983 Seminar, HIST/POLS/GEOG/PHIL 4953 Undergraduate Research, and HIST/POLS/GEOG/PHIL 4993 Special Problems.

Regular capstone courses that are modified by the professor to contain special assignments for college distinction can be used to fulfill the enhanced capstone requirement (for example: to meet college distinction requirements, students taking the capstone course in History may have the additional assignment of presenting their research at a student or professional conference).

HIST 4963 serves as the capstone for History majors and POLS 4963 serves as the capstone for Political Science majors. HIST 4963 and POLS 4963 also serve as the capstone courses for Social Studies Education majors. Any upper level course with a significant research/writing component may serve as the capstone for Anthropology and Geography. Other courses may fulfill the enrichment and capstone requirements with the permission of the department head. Courses meeting college distinction requirements will be designated on the student’s degree audit.