Students who successfully complete the program, which includes a final oral defense of the thesis, are awarded degrees with honors or highest honors in Political Science. Those interested in the Honors Program in Political Science should attend the informational meeting, which is usually scheduled in mid-October at the time of preregistration. The co-directors of the department's honors program are David Lowery and Stuart Macdonald, and they can provide further information about the program. The University of North Carolina's Alpha Chi chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha was founded in 1949, and is one of the oldest and most venerated undergraduate honor societies on the Chapel Hill campus. Membership in Pi Sigma Alpha is restricted to those Political Science majors who have completed fifteen 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.
Induction takes place yearly at a spring ceremony.