Academic
Catalog August 2008 - August 2009 Undergraduate
and Graduate
NAU recognizes students with outstanding academic records in the following ways.
We grant this academic recognition to entering first-year students if you ranked in the upper five percent of your secondary school graduating class.
To be eligible, you must have earned a grade point average of 3.50 or higher in at least 12 graded units and no incompletes during the previous term.
NAU recognizes students who have earned a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 and those with 3.9 or better at an annual Honors Convocation held each spring.
If you are working toward a bachelor’s degree and earn a grade point average of 3.5 or better during your first year at NAU, you are eligible for this national honor society. Alpha Lambda Delta’s purpose is to encourage excellence in scholarship by recognizing academic achievement among first-year students.
You may be considered for Phi Kappa Phi if you have completed at least 30 units at NAU and are either a senior in the upper 5 percent or a second-term junior in the upper 2.5 percent of your class.
Being elected to Phi Kappa Phi is one of the highest recognitions you can earn. This multidisciplinary national honor society has the primary objective of recognizing and encouraging scholarly excellence, and membership in the society is by invitation. The society was founded in 1897 and now has more than 235 sections. NAU’s section was founded in 1959.
This prize is awarded each year by Lowell Observatory to the graduate earning a bachelor’s degree who has maintained the highest average in scholarship during four years of residence at any NAU campus. It was established by Mrs. Constance Lowell as a memorial to her husband, Dr. Percival Lowell, founder of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff.
Baccalaureate honors designation on commencement programs, diplomas, and transcripts, is meant to recognize outstanding academic achievement by graduating students relative to their peers.
Baccalaureate honors are granted to undergraduate candidates who successfully complete 45 or more semester hours of resident work at Northern Arizona University and having an exemplary grade point average with no more than six semester units of failing grades for the entire Northern Arizona University undergraduate record, regardless of whether the failing grades were unrepeated, repeated, replaced or averaged. Although failing grades may be repeated for grade replacement or grade averaging, the original “F” grades are still included for purposes of the policy. (Repeating a course in which an “F” grade was earned does not eliminate the “F” grade from inclusion in determining Baccalaureate Honors.)
Appropriate grade point average thresholds will be specific to each individual college as determined on a percentage basis (top 5%, 10% and 20%). These grade point average thresholds will be calculated for each academic year using data from the preceding academic year. As an example, for students graduating in the Fall and Winter 2006 and Spring and Summer 2007 semesters, the thresholds will be calculated using data from the Fall and Winter 2005 and Spring and Summer 2006 semesters. In subsequent years, the same procedure will be used with the data advanced one year.
For each graduation period (i.e., Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter), Summa Cum Laude will be awarded to candidates whose cumulative grade point average meets or exceeds the 5% threshold for their college. Magna Cum Laude will be awarded to candidates whose cumulative grade point average meets or exceeds the 10% threshold for their college (but not the 5% threshold), and Cum Laude to candidates whose cumulative grade point average meets or exceeds the 20% threshold for their college (but not the 10% threshold).
Baccalaureate honors designations by student names in commencement programs are tentative until all final grades are reported.
At the time of graduation, if you have earned a cumulative grade point average of 3.90 or higher for all courses taken at NAU on your plan of study, we recognize you with the notation "with distinction" on your transcript.