IU Bloomington to bestow new undergraduate honors award
Beginning this spring, IU Bloomington will honor high-achieving undergraduate students with a new award that salutes sustained academic excellence.
Students who have earned a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or higher will be designated as Founders Scholars at IU Bloomington's Honors Convocation on Sunday, March 29. The Honors Convocation is among the activities that will take place during Founders Day, the annual celebration of IU's founding in 1820.
"IU's highest achieving students raise the caliber of performance here on the Bloomington campus, and they represent the enhanced intellectual environment that demands and ultimately leads to greater academic achievement," said IU President Michael McRobbie. "Such a culture of excellence will play a vital role in preparing all students for success in their efforts beyond Indiana University."
In addition to presenting the new award, IU will recognize those students who achieve a 3.5 GPA in a single semester with a dean's letter.
The new award will be introduced at a time when IU Bloomington has worked aggressively to strengthen its overall academic environment. Last fall, the campus welcomed its most academically successful freshman class ever; the group had the highest average SAT score (1,151) ever among first-year IU Bloomington students.
IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson said faculty welcomed the opportunity to applaud students who made the effort to maintain a 3.8 GPA over a number of semesters.
"We take pride in the achievements of all our students, but it is a special pleasure to honor those who have consistently excelled," she said. "We look forward to this opportunity to recognize and celebrate the exceptional academic performance of these IU Bloomington students."
To earn the Founders Scholar designation, an undergraduate degree-seeking student must have earned a cumulative grade point average of 3.8 or above by the end of the fall term immediately preceding the Honors Convocation.
Founders Scholars will receive a letter of commendation from the president and provost in the early spring, and they and their families will be invited to the IU Bloomington Honors Convocation, which will take place at 2 p.m. in the IU Auditorium.
Honors convocations are held on all IU campuses in the spring.
