Honors Projects
One of the most rewarding faculty-mentored undergraduate research experiences in our program is the yearlong Departmental Honors Program. Rising seniors who are eligible (3.0 GPA) may apply for two-semester Senior Honors Thesis courses (HISP 495 & 496, 6 credits, total, that count towards your 33 credits for the major). See Guidelines and Planning.
During the spring semester of your junior year, you should discuss your ideas for a thesis with the Hispanic Studies faculty member who has expertise in your chosen area of research. Throughout your senior year, you will work with your faculty thesis advisor to develop your thesis. At the end of the year, you will complete and defend a significant piece of academic work.
Summer funding for research is available through the Charles Center. If you are interested in applying for funding, work with your Honors advisor to prepare and submit a research proposal by the late February deadline.
For recent examples of Hispanic Studies Honors Thesis projects, see:
- Barham Nardo '21, "Andalucía en capas: Reconciling Andalusian Identity with Spanish and European Influence" (2021)
- Alexandra Wingate '18, " 'A qué manera de libros y letras es inclinado': las bibliotecas privadas de Navarra en los siglos XVI y XVII" (2018)
- Catherine Freund '17, "Pragmatic Creative Interventions in Latin America" (2017)
- Morgan Sehdev '17, “En busca de la alfabetización: Three 20th c. Literacy Movements in Spanish Speaking Countries: Impacts and Implications.” (2017)
- Chantal Houglan '16, “Salvador Dalí, Surrealism, and the Luxury Fashion Industry” (2016)
- Ethan Pearlstein '15, “Antonio Vallejo Nágera and the Discourse of Eugenics in Francoist Spain” (2015)
- Crosby Enright '14, “‘Quién amuralla una voz?’ Poetry, Resistance, and Memory within Franco’s Prisons” (2014)
- Katherine Brown '13, “Imaginando el derecho ‘natural’ en el imperio español: Apropriaciones del discurso científico y la posesión de los Andes en la historiografía colonial” (2013)
- Eleanora Figliuoli '12, “Representaciones de la opresión social y la degradación medioambiental en la poética de Pablo Neruda y César Vallejo que trata la Guerra Civil Española (1936-1939)” (2012)
- Casey Lesser '11, “The Guernica Effect: The Power and Legacy of Picasso’s Guernica” (2011)