The Department of Spanish and Portuguese values our students’ excellence in research and scholarship. Advanced students may earn degrees in Spanish with an honors designation, if they satisfy the below requirements:
Requirements
- 3.6 GPA in Department 300-400 level courses, and 3.3 overall
- Intent to Write an Honors Thesis Form
- Approved Project Proposal
- SPAN 550: Independent Research to culminate in the thesis.
**We strongly recommend taking SPAN 401
STEPS TO ACHIEVE DEPARTMENTAL HONORS
Intent
Spanish majors wishing to graduate with honors should speak either with their academic advisor, proposed honors thesis director, and/or the Department Chair to discuss their intent to write an honors thesisby the end of October. Research completed foran advanced coursewill often be the starting point for the project.
Committee
Select three (3) departmental faculty, including the thesis director, to serve as the thesis committee. The honors thesis will be completed in close collaboration withthe honors thesis director. Additional committee members may participate if the student is completing interdisciplinary work.
Format
- May be written in Spanish or English in consultation with committee.
- Minimum of 30 pages and a maximum of 50 not including apparatus (works cited, acknowledgments, etc.), in 12-point Times New Roman typeface with 1” margins.
- MLA format, including works cited page.
Schedule
- Submit the Intent to Write an Honors Thesis Form by the first Monday in November: Committee members will be those the student requests; however, different faculty may be assigned based on area of expertise or workload. Students are expected to consult with their proposed honors thesis director or another faculty member when crafting the proposal.
- Submit a draft of the proposal to committee members by the Monday after Thanksgiving Break: Committee members will provide feedback to the student to assist with any necessary revisions.
- Submit the final proposal to the thesis advisor by the Monday of the last week of classes: The advisor will then send to the Chair, who will distribute it to the Department. At the final Department meeting of the semester, the Department will approve or reject the proposal and confirm the final list of committee members.
- January 31: Submit outline of thesis to committee members.
- May 01: Submit full draft to committee members.
- Final exam week: Oral defense
**Students interested in pursuing a different calendar should consult as soon as possible with a faculty member
Criteria
Students will graduate with honors if the theses:
- Articulate and advance a compelling research question/argument.
- Contextualize and engage germane scholarly fields.
- Exhibit remarkable methodological sophistication and creativity.
- Demonstrate judicious selection and focused analysis of texts.
- Use a clear expository style.
Past Recipients of Honors in Spanish
Payton Hull 2024: "The Formation of Historical Narratives at the Alhambra."
Amanda Bucknam 2023: "Migración, trauma y la voz comunitaria en María en la tierra de nadie de Marcela Zamora."
Charlotte Goodman 2023: "Artistic Activism in Vieques: An Exploration of Puerto Rican Resistance through the Lens of Allora and Calzadilla's Performance Art Series."
Alaina C Clemence 2022: "The Transformation of Text"
Huy Anh Nguyen 2022: "La negociación de la(s) identidade(s) nacional(es) en Nihonjin de Oscar Nakasato"
Shasita Paudel 2022: "Conocimiento filosófico en los cuentos de Borges"
Andreea C Rosu 2022: "La comunidad para los trabajadores migratorios mexicanos: La necesidad y las consecuencias de no tenerlo"
Maria Smith 2022: "La representación literaria de las mujeres minoritarias en España contemporánea"
Michael John Borsch 2019: "El Matrimonio Como Contrato Familiar: El Codigo Civil Chileno y Martin Rivas"
Caitlin Filiato 2019: "Jose de Acosta's Middle Ground: Negotiating the Religious and Economic Motives of the Spanish Conquest in the Sixteenth Century"
Keisy Germosen 2019: "Dictatorship and Trauma in the Dominican Republic"
Anya O. Aboud 2016: "La libertad de la ficción: la reconstrucción de la historia en la literatura escrita sobre la dictadura de Trujillo (1930-1961)"
Wendy L. Gomez 2015: "La 're-presentación' de la voz femenina en los textos testimoniales de la Guerra Civil Salvadoreña"
Kathryn Hughes, 2014: "Racismo y xenophobia: Representaciones de la comunidad asiática en la prensa española"
Julia Coggins, 2013: "El boom latinoamericano y la afirmación de la identidad latinoamericana"
Amanda Jo Wildley, 2013: "Atreverse a proponer: José María Arguedas y el idigenismo antropológico"
Sarah Young, 2013: "Entre el clavel y la espalda, un patriota sin patria: Como el exilio le convirtió a Rafael Alberti en un gran poeta de la Generación del 27 y del siglo XX"
Katherine Leibel, 2012: "Cura te ipsum: La mala ciencia del autodiagnóstico en dos textos del Siglo de Oro"
Vicki Morris, 2011: "Las poetas del siglo XIX: su propio tercer mundo"
Ruth Dicker, 2010: "Jorge Luis Borges: Language, Desdivinization, and Immortality"