Academic Honors

Dean’s List or Quarterly Honors

Quarterly honors are awarded to those undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students in good standing who have completed at least 12 credit hours of work at SPU in a given quarter and attained a 3.5 or higher quarterly grade-point average.

Students who have earned any of the following grades will not qualify for honors: E, NC, I, or N.

However, once the temporary grade of N or I has been replaced by the grade earned, honors will be awarded to qualified students.

President’s List

The President’s List recognition is awarded to those students who exclusively attended SPU full time during the academic year, maintained full-time status, and achieved a 4.0 GPA in all three quarters.

Latin Honors

GPA requirements for Latin honors are based solely on the SPU college-level grade point average, as follows: 

  • Cum Laude: 3.50–3.74 GPA
  • Magna Cum Laude: 3.75–3.89 GPA
  • Summa Cum Laude: 3.9–4.0 GPA

Bachelor’s degrees will be conferred with Latin honors to undergraduate students  who meet the following conditions:

  • The student must complete at least 75 quarter hours in residence at SPU if earning a first bachelor's degree; 45 credits if earning the degree as a post-baccalaureate student.
  • All courses taken at SPU (except ESL and other courses numbered below 1000) are included in the GPA for honors and must meet the minimum grade-point average required for the honor.
  • Honors for post-baccalaureate students require the minimum GPA in the entire work necessary for the degree including the 45 credits required in residence.
  • Students must meet the graduation application deadlines to have honors appear in the Commencement program. Graduation honors are computed for the Commencement program on the basis of work completed through Winter Quarter for Spring Quarter and Summer Quarter graduates.

Academic Awards

President’s Citation

The President’s Citation is awarded to one graduating Seattle Pacific University undergraduate student who exemplifies the mission and vision of the University and is among those with the highest academic standing in his/her class.

To be eligible for this award, the student must have taken all of his or her university work at SPU and must have adhered consistently to the ideals of the University. The University president makes the selection.

Honoraries

The Ivy Honorary, a chapter of National Mortarboard Inc., selects students for membership at the end of their junior year. These are students who have distinguished themselves through scholarship, leadership, and service. 

Other honoraries include:

  • Alpha Psi Omega (drama) 
  • Beta Gamma Sigma (business and accounting) 
  • Centurions (men’s service honorary) 
  • Falconettes (women’s service honorary) 
  • Lambda Pi Eta (communication and journalism) 
  • Mu Phi Epsilon (music) 
  • Omicron Delta Epsilon (economics)
  • Pi Sigma Alpha (political science)
  • Psi Chi (psychology) 
  • Servant Scholar of the Year (student life)
  • Sigma Theta Tau (nursing)