2010-2011 - Sweet Briar College

2010-2011 Catalog honors programtaught. All Honors seminars require the permissionof the instructor to enroll.a) First-year Honors Seminar: all first-yearHonors students enroll in the 100-levelfirst-year seminar in the spring semester.This three-credit course provides first-yearHonors students with a shared academicexperience designed to foster intellectualcuriosity and to develop analytical skills,The course will take a topical approach thatlooks beyond the approaches of a singlediscipline, and will further develop criticaland creative thinking, and the researchand writing skills necessary for upper-levelHonors course work.3) Honors Sections: departments with multiplesections of regularly offered introductorycourses may offer one of the sections asan Honors section.4) Honors Variants: individual or smallgroup tutorials attached to regularly offeredcourses. Students may request that a coursebe offered as an Honors variant.At the conclusion of an Honors course ofstudy, Honors student at Sweet Briar Collegehave two options for programmatic recognition:I.) Departmental Honors and II.) HonorsDegreeI. Departmental HonorsIn order to receive Departmental Honors atgraduation, a student must successfully completethe Senior Honors Thesis project. TheSenior Honors Thesis project is the culminationof an Honors course of study at Sweet BriarCollege. The student will work closely with herfaculty thesis advisor in developing her topicand executing her Senior Honors Thesis project.Departmental Honors at one of three levels(Honors, High Honors, Highest Honors) willbe indicated on the transcript of those studentswho have successfully completed the SeniorHonors Thesis project and these honors willbe announced at Commencement. A studentwho is interested in completing DepartmentalHonors should consult with the departmentchair in her major, her faculty thesis advisor,and the director of the Honors Program earlyin her college career, particularly if she plans tospend a semester or more abroad. To be eligibleto initiate a Senior Honors Thesis project, astudent must meet the following requirementsby the start of the fall term of her senior year:1) Completion of at least three courses thatcount toward the major2) Completion of three credit hours of JuniorHonors research, or an approved equivalent3) A minimum cumulative grade point averageof 3.0The Honors Program strongly recommendsthat students who initiate Senior HonorsThesis project should be among the best intheir department, and have a cumulative and/or major department grade point average of atleast 3.3.Senior Honors Thesis ProjectThe Senior Honors Thesis project providesthe Honors student with the opportunity todesign and complete a long-term project inher major department. At the beginning ofthe fall semester of her senior year, the studentsubmits a thesis proposal based on preliminarywork done during her junior year. If the thesisproposal is approved, the year-long researchproject of creative endeavor moves forwardunder the direction of a faculty memberfrom, or approved by, her major department.Periodically, she may meet with other studentsdoing thesis work and with the director of theHonors Program. The Senior Honors Thesisproject must be completed in a form specifiedby the major department no later than twoweeks before the end of classes in a student’sfinal semester. The thesis project is evaluatedby a committee made up of the candidate’s thesisadvisor, a second reader from the College,and a third reader from outside the College,most often faculty from another college. Thecommittee also conducts an oral examination133­