Information for Academic Advisors

Each CLAS department or program tracks a student's status in Honors in the Major using MAUI reports and two tools in MAUI. Professional academic advisors for the major and departmental faculty coordinators for Honors in the Major as well as the student's faculty mentor overseeing the thesis or project all must work closely together on this verification process. 

MAUI Reports

These MAUI reports are especially useful to help keep faculty and professional advisors updated about students interested in or pursuing Honors in the Major.

My Advisees Report
This MAUI report allows professional academic advisors and faculty who act as academic advisors to view a list of students who are currently flagged in MAUI as interested in Honors in the Major or pursuing Honors in the Major. In other words, students in this report have not yet applied for graduation and are not in initial or final approval status for Honors in the Major.

The report will allow faculty and professional advisors to communicate with this group of students and to be aware of the number of students interested in and actually pursuing Honors in the Major. This information is crucial for tracking students who will need to be moved to Initial Approval and to Final Approval if they continue with their Honors in the Major work.

This report may be found under the MAUI Home tab>My Advisees. Be sure to set the session to the needed semester.

Using the drop down list, select Advisees with Honors in the Major. Set the field to Honors Interest or to  Pursuing Honors. Select Enrolled Only, if so desired.

More information with tips and screen shots provided by the Registrar may be found here.

Student—Degree Applications by Advisor Report
Once in MAUI, go to the Registrar's tab. On the Welcome page, scroll down on the right-hand side of the page and click on View all Registrar reports.  You may then want to select Registrar/Degrees from the two related fields at the top of the report list . Find the report Student--Degree Applications by Advisor by scrolling down the list of reports. Once the report is open, select the session wanted and add the needed information about your name or your UI ID or your legacy advisor code.

This report shows the status of students who have applied for graduation and will show where the student is within the final Registrar process related to graduation. Sort the report to see which students have the final degree audit completed. 

Degrees conferred or canceled will also appear on the report. For more information and for tips on how to use this report provided by the Registrar, visit this page.

Degree Applicants Report
This is a third useful report to help advisors track students. Go to the MAUI Home tab and scroll down. On the right-hand side of the page under Populations select Degree Applicants. In this report, you cannot query by advisor but you can look up degree applicants by session, college, program, award, and award status. Under award status you may select any of the statuses associated application for the degree: Applied, Processing, Pending, Completed, Conferred, or Canceled.  For more information and tips from the Registrar, see this page.

MAUI Tools

There are two MAUI tools used to change a student's Honors in the Major status. These tools allow advisors to track students' progress in Honors in the Major from Interest to Final Approval and to verify the completion of Honors in the Major status for the degree.

  1. The first tool is located on the individual's student record page in MAUI and is used to note a student's interest in Honors in the Major or the student's active pursuit of Honors in the Major. 
  2. The second tool can be found in MAUI under the Registrar's tab and is used to add Initial Approval and Final Approval to the student record after these have been verified. 

Tracking Students through Honors in the Major: From Interest to Final Approval

Some students will be tracked through all four steps as listed below; at other times, tracking will begin at a different step.

Step One: Add Interest Status
When meeting with a professional advisor, a student might express an interest in Honors in the Major. The Honors in the Major faculty advisor will also have these conversations with students seeking more information about Honors in the Major.

  1. An Interest in Honors in the Major can be noted by the advisor in the student’s record page in MAUI by using the pull down menu in the upper-right hand corner of that record and by selecting Program of Study Honors in the Major.
  2. On the page that then appears, the appropriate major (which must already be declared by the student) is chosen and the Interest designation for Honors in that major is added and saved.

This Interest flag will help track the student along the pathway for Honors in the Major and will remind advisors that the student is interested in Honors, helping to foster and to continue conversations on Honors in the Major. The Interest in Honors in the Major may be dropped at any time; additionally, if the student changes major, the Interest will automatically be removed.

The student does not need to meet Honors in the Major standards to have this interest noted in MAUI, and an Interest designation is not required to graduate with Honors in the Major. An Interest designation is simply a tool to help to create a better understanding of and interest in Honors in the Major.

Step Two: Add Pursuing Status
The Interest designation is changed to Pursuing once the student is actively engaged in pursuing Honors in the Major, meeting the following benchmarks:

  • The student is now taking Honors in the Major courses or is working on or is completing other Honors in the Major requirements.
  • The student appears to be on track to earn Honors in the Major and is earning the required GPAs.

The student may be in “Pursuing status” for a number of years, with the designation helping advisors to know who is actively involved with Honors in the Major. The “Pursuing status” can be removed by advisors as needed and is dropped automatically if the major is dropped.

For more information, see this handout from the Registrar.

Step Three: Double-Check Pursuing Status
Before the student's final semester begins (the semester or session of graduation), a student must be in Pursuing status for Honors in the Major. This status is very important for the following reasons:

  1. When a student in pursuing status applies for graduation, the application will prompt the student to give more information about Honors in the Major plans, asking if the student is still earning Honors in the Major.
  2. The student will then verify on the application that Honors in the Major is still being pursued in the related major. 
  3. This means that a student must be in pursuing status before the student applies for graduation. 

The deadline for the application for the degree is the Friday of the sixth week of the semester, but students do apply after this date (and are charged a late fee). For more information on application for the degree and timelines, visit the Registrar's page.

Step Four: Verify Initial Approval
During the semester that the student will graduate, the student’s Honors in the Major status must be changed from its current Pursuing status to Initial Approval.

This change may only be made once it has been verified by the faculty and professional advisor that the student is likely to graduate with Honors in the Major during that semester.

Verification will be done by checking the student's GPAs, progress on requirements, and through conversations with related faculty and advisors. 

Moving the student’s designation to Initial Approval means the Honors in the Major notation will be included under the student’s name in the Commencement Program. Only make the change to Initial Approval if the student is on track to graduate with Honors in the Major.

This change in status is made using the Degree Application and Awards list tool, available through MAUI:

  1. Login to MAUI and click on the Registrar's tab.
  2. Find the Degree Applications and Awards link on the lower third of the page. Choose the correct session date that you need before clicking the link.
  3. Find the tool Graduate with Honors in Major List, and click on it.
  4. Select the filters for the specific major that you wish to view. This will bring up all students in Pursuing status  for that particular major who have applied for graduation. (If filter fields are left blank, all information for all majors will appear for those in Pursuing status who have applied for graduation.)
  5. Change the student's Honors in the Major status from Pursuing to Initial Approval 1) by using the check box next to the student's name; 2) then by choosing Initial Approval; 3) and by clicking save.
  6. For more information and for screen shots, visit this page.

Step Five: Verify Final Approval
As soon as final grades are known, the student’s status must be moved to Final Approval from Initial Approval if all Honors in the Major requirements are met, including the required GPAs. 

This change from Initial Approval to Final Approval status is made using Degree Application and Awards list, discussed above.

  1. Login to MAUI and click on the Registrar's tab
  2. Find the Degree Applications and Awards link on the lower third of the Registrar's page. Choose the correct session date before clicking the link.
  3. Click on the list.
  4. Find the Graduate with Honors in Major List. 
  5. Select the filters for the specific major you wish to view. This will bring up all students in Pursuing status for that particular major. (If filter fields are left blank, all information will occur for all majors and/or degree types.)
  6. Change the student's Honors in the Major status from Initial Approval to Final Approval 1) by using the check box next to the student's name on the Graduate with Honors Major List; 2) then choose Final Approval (or the correct status for the student); 3) and save.
  7. For more information and screen shots, visit this page.

Moving the student’s designation to Final Approval means that the student will be awarded Honors in the Major.  All final grades should be known and all requirements completed before this status is changed to Final Approval.

The thesis or research project must be completed and graded for a student to be moved to Final Approval. A thesis should also be submitted by the student to the thesis archive and this should be done before graduation (see below). 

Submission of the Thesis

Please see this page for more information on the optional thesis publication through the Iowa Research Online, hosted by the UI Library online site. Please note that University Honors no longer needs notification of a thesis submissions since if a student earns Honors in the Major, completing the thesis or project, then University Honors receives this information by seeing the Final Approval verification in MAUI; likewise, CLAS does not require the submission of a thesis in a centralized CLAS location. Often departments and programs keep copies of theses but they are not required to do so. Students and faculty mentors should consider publishing the thesis at Iowa Research Online, hosted by UI Libraries.

Cords Signifying Honors

Students who have earned Honors in the Major have this achievement signified by a white cord worn at the commencement ceremony. CLAS students will be notified to pick up the cord in 120 Schaeffer Hall. Students also earning UI Honors should visit the Honors Program Office to receive the UI Honors medallion.