Oscar W. Carlson Memorial Award recognizes a senior who demonstrates excellent academic achievement through his or her junior year in three or more courses in the department, including two courses above the 100-level. It is given each fall semester.
Nicholas Prize in Religious Studies Created by The Rev. Dr. J. C. Nicholas (1894), it recognizes the senior who has done the best work in advanced courses in religion. It is given each spring semester.
Departmental honors are conferred at graduation. Normally, students must have a 3.5 grade-point average in religion in order to be considered.
Theta Alpha Kappa, the national honor society for Religious Studies that was founded in 1976, chartered the Alpha Kappa Beta (AKB) chapter at Gettysburg College in the spring of 2010. Gettysburg College now joins more than 250 institutions of higher education in the nation that have active chapters of Theta Alpha Kappa, which is committed to academic excellence in Religious Studies and is recognized by the American Academy of Religion as the honor society in our field. The national standards for membership in Theta Alpha Kappa, which the Gettysburg chapter has adopted, are as follows:
- Completion of at least four courses in Religious Studies;
- A Grade Point Average of at least 3.5 in Religious Studies courses;
- An overall Grade Point Average of at least 3.0;Ranked in at least the upper 35% of their class in general scholarship at the time of induction.