Overview

The Honors Program in Art History offers talented majors the opportunity to take an active role in their own learning and to pursue their interests in-depth. It is excellent preparation for any student who wants to go on to study art history at the graduate level, but honors and independent study courses also help students develop important skills of life-long learning, especially those involving critical thinking, writing, and research that will be useful in other fields of graduate study and many other careers. Students apply (via the undergraduate art history advisor) no earlier than Spring of the sophomore year and no later than the last day of the Spring semester of the junior year. The application should include a half-page proposal of the mentored research project that is required for completion of the BA with honors. Once accepted, students will be assigned to a faculty mentor. Financial assistance is also available for honors students to conduct research between their junior and senior years.

To remain in the Honors Program students must maintain a grade point average of 3.3 or higher and receive an A or A- in both semesters of the Honors Thesis. Students who maintain a grade point average of 3.7 or higher and who receive an A in both semesters of the Honors Thesis may be awarded high honors by vote of the department. If students are not able to maintain the requirements of the honors program, or if they do not receive 3.3 or higher each semester, they can still graduate with the regular art history major or the specialization in architectural history.