Overview

The departmental honors designation is reserved for those accepted into the Art History Honors Program. Students apply (via the departmental Director of Undergraduate Studies) no earlier than spring of the sophomore year and no later than spring of the junior year, and once accepted, they will be assigned to a faculty mentor. Financial assistance is available for honors students to conduct research between their junior and senior years. Students pursuing this opportunity will have a stronger engagement with art historical research to better prepare for a graduate degree in art history.

To remain in the Honors Program, students must maintain an overall grade point average of 3.30 or higher and receive an A (4.00 grade points) or A- (3.67 grade points) in both semesters of the Honors Thesis (HART 402 and HART 403) taken in their senior year. Students who maintain a grade point average of 3.70 or higher and who receive an A (4.00 grade points) in both semesters of the Honors Thesis (HART 402 and HART 403) may be awarded high honors by vote of the department. If students are not able to maintain the requirements of the Departmental Honors Program, they can still graduate with the Art History major.

As a final product, students will produce a substantial research paper of 25-40 pages, double spaced. It should include significant secondary and primary sources as appropriate to the topic, engage with individual works of art and have an original thesis. The thesis will be graded by the faculty thesis advisor. The student will present this work to the whole faculty of the Department of Art History in an illustrated talk during the last month of the final semester. The talk should be from 20-25 minutes and will be followed by a question-and-answer period.