Undergraduate Awards

Each year the Political Science Department holds an honors awards ceremony to recognize students who have successfully defended their honors thesis and to induct students into the political science honorary organization, Pi Sigma Alpha. Undergraduate students also are selected to receive the William Scott Bryant Award for Interns, the Shepard Jones Undergraduate Award in International Relations, the L. Richardson Preyer Award for Excellence in Political Science, and the Terry Sanford Award for Excellence.

Pi Sigma Alpha is the national political science honorary society. Membership is restricted to those political science majors who have completed 15 hours of political science with an overall grade average of 3.2 or better and a political science grade average of 3.5 or better.

The William Scott Bryant Award is given to an outstanding undergraduate major to enable him or her to attend internship programs in Washington, D.C.

The Shepard Jones Undergraduate Award in International Relations is given to an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the best essay in international relations (any field and broadly defined).

The L. Richardson Preyer Award for Excellence in Political Science is given to the undergraduate student with the best overall record in political science.

The Terry Sanford Award for Excellence is given to the undergraduate student judged to have written the best political science honors thesis.

The D'Amico Endowment Fund for Honors Students funds academic research and activities for honors students in the Department of Political Science.