The Honors Program in History offers students additional intellectual challenges, based on participation in an honors seminar and the production of a substantial thesis based on primary source research. Students enjoy the reward of finishing a prolonged, independent project mentored by a faculty member.
Majors who have completed at least four history courses with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.33 (B+) or who have a letter of support from a faculty member willing to supervise their project are eligible to apply for admission to the Department of History Honors Program.
To complete this program, students fulfill the standard requirements for the major, and a two-semester sequence of research seminars. These are Honors Thesis 497 I (seminar) and Honors Thesis 497 II (tutorial), in which students prepare a thesis of approximately thirty to forty pages.
Upon admission to the program, honors students are responsible for arranging with a faculty mentor to guide their thesis research and writing, normally completed in their senior year. Honors students may, at the discretion of their mentors and upon approval of the Directors of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies, participate in a relevant graduate seminar or seminars. Honors students who complete the thesis and attain a minimum GPA of 3.33 in the major will graduate with Honors in History.