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- College Honors will be awarded to any student graduating with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.4.
- Latin Honors—cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude—will be awarded based on cumulative GPA ranking and on the successful completion of a Senior Honors Thesis. GPA ranking is determined on a 4.0 scale and is designated as follows: cum laude 3.3-3.5, magna cum laude 3.5-3.75, summa cum laude 3.75-4.0. This document addresses the Senior Honors Thesis within the Performing Arts Department.
A Senior Honors Thesis is a 6-credit project available to seniors who are eligible for Latin Honors. Eligibility is determined by GPA, as described below. A student will not graduate with Latin Honors without successfully completing a Senior Honors Thesis by the third week of March in the senior year.
As an honors project taken for 6 credits, the thesis is designed to be an extensive, integrative, culminating endeavor for the senior student. It must be a project worthy of an honors thesis. It is meant to be a challenging project. That it requires a great deal of effort is a given and the student will not be rewarded for effort alone. This is a project that demands excellence in its execution and content.
GPA Requirement
For students graduating in 2002, 2003, 2004:
At the end of the 6th semester the student must have at least a 3.3 cumulative GPA and a 3.5 major GPA to be eligible to undertake an honors thesis during the senior year within the Performing Arts Department. If, at the end of the 7th semester, the student has not maintained a 3.3 cumulative GPA, the student will not be eligible to receive Latin Honors.
For students graduating in 2005 and beyond:
At the end of the 6th semester the student must have cumulative and major GPA’s of at least 3.5 to be eligible to undertake an honors thesis during the senior year within the PAD. If, at the end of the 7th semester, the student has not maintained a 3.5 GPA, the student will not be eligible to receive Latin Honors.
Advisors
The PAD honors student is required to select three faculty members to serve on the thesis committee: one primary advisor (selected at the end of the student’s junior year) and two additional committee members.
The primary advisor is the key mentor for the project and will work closely with the student throughout the project period. The primary advisor must be a faculty member in the PAD. The primary advisor should be familiar with the student’s work. This advisor should be selected with an eye towards suitability to the project. As the thesis is an independent project managed and developed by the student, the primary advisor’s function is to support, not lead the project.
The remaining two committee members may be selected from within or outside the PAD. If the thesis project contains a production component, the student is required to ask a PAD design/tech faculty member to serve on the committee. The 2nd and 3rd readers are not expected to provide frequent guidance to the student, but may be intermittently approached with questions and ideas. An attempt should be made to establish a well-rounded committee of appropriate but not necessarily similar advisors.
Honors Project Proposals
Within the PAD, there are two types of Senior Honors Thesis projects:
The extensive paper project. A paper project involves the research and analysis of a historical, critical, and/or
literary idea related to the performing arts. There is no production or performance component in the paper project.
If a PAD major is interested in proposing a paper project as their Senior Honors Thesis, the process is simple.
Upon meeting GPA eligibility requirements, they should seek a primary thesis advisor within the PAD at the end of the
junior year. The advisor should be someone appropriate to the nature of the project and willing to take on the significant
responsibility of an honors thesis advisee. After the advisor has accepted the proposal, the team will work out details
of the project. See calendar below for proposal deadlines.
The production project. A production project focuses on the development and execution of a performance-related enterprise, be it dance, acting, directing or design. A written component is required of the student undertaking a production project.
Production projects may take three forms:
a. A project within an existing PAD production. If the project is contained within a PAD production (as in acting in or d esigning for one of the departmental productions) the proposal process has occurred during the second semester of the junior year after GPA eligibility has been confirmed. The primary thesis advisor would be either the director of the production or the faculty designer appropriate to the student’s area.
b. An independent performance project without design/tech support. The student wishing to create an independent performance project should first secure a primary thesis advisor during the second semester of the junior year. If the student, after consultation with the advisor, wishes to produce the thesis without design/tech support in any space but the Hotchner Studio Theatre or the Dance Studio, the proposal procedure is as stated above. A no-tech thesis in the Hotchner Studio Theatre or Dance Studio will require a September appearance before the Planning and Special Projects (PSP) Committee to discuss scheduling.
c. An independent performance project with design/tech support. If the student wishes to incorporate design/tech elements in the production and wants to produce the thesis in either the Hotchner Studio Theatre or the Dance Studio, the student will be asked to follow specific proposal procedures. By May of the junior year, the student must have obtained a primary advisor and must informally present the thesis proposal to the PSP Committee. In early September of the senior year, the student will present a revised, formal proposal, in written and oral form, to the PSP Committee. The written documents include the “Classification B Proposal Form” contained in the PAD Handbook and a detailed narrative outlining the student’s qualifications for said project and the goals of the project. Oral remarks will augment the written proposal. The PSP Committee will interview the student and evaluate the project as proposed, based on space, design and technical needs. The Committee may accept the project as is or ask the student to revise the proposal. If subsequent revisions are deemed inappropriate, the Committee may reject the student’s proposal for a production-oriented Senior Honors Thesis requiring design/tech elements.
Credits
The official course is called “Study for Honors” and is listed as L15 499 for Drama majors, and L29 499 for Dance majors. The section number is a two-digit figure specifically assigned to your PAD primary advisor. This number can be found in the University Course Listings. The student may enroll in the Study for Honors in both the fall and spring semesters (3 credits each), or sign up for all 6 credits in the fall semester. Any credit hours taken in the fall semester will be graded as “N” at the end of the semester, to be changed to a full grade through a special grade report at the end of the second semester.
Thesis Projects: Area Prerequisites and Requirements
Within the PAD there are four areas in which one may execute a production thesis project.
- The Acting Honors Thesis Project
The performance component is to be completed no later than March 9, with accompanying thesis document to be completed by March 16, with oral defense to follow shortly thereafter. The acting student is encouraged to perform as a part of this project. If the student wishes also to include playwriting, directing and/or designing as part of the project, and these skills are outside the student's area of experience and training, the student must exhibit demonstrable abilities in said areas. In addition to the performance component, the student will be expected to complete a written document as part of the honors thesis. This document will include pertinent research material including a bibliography, textual analysis if appropriate, the actual text, a journal tracking the project’s development and an analytical response to the process and performance. The primary advisor, in consultation with the honors student, may establish other guidelines for the written document.
- The Dance Honors Thesis Project
A dance major that meets the GPA eligibility requirement and wishes to undertake an honors project may propose a paper project or a production project. The written project entails research and analysis of a historical, critical or anthropological topic related to dance. The process is the same as that outlined above for a paper project.
Dance majors who propose performance (production) projects must also meet the following requirements:
a. Must be placed in 400 level technique courses.
b. Must have completed Dance 303 and Drama 300.
c. Must have completed Drama 212 (Theatre Production).
d. Must have demonstrated responsibility, leadership and discipline in previous rehearsal and performance experiences.
In addition to the performance component, the production project student will be expected to complete a written document as part of the honors thesis. The length and content of the document will vary with the specific honors project. For example, the written component for a dance concert thesis should at least expand on the original proposal in detailing the objectives and choreography, including any supporting technical elements, and any related changes in concept and methods; and post-performance, evaluate the success of the concert (all aspects of the production). The student should keep a journal as a source for this document.
Should a student propose an honors project in a format more typical of a lecture-demonstration, the performance component will be more informal, but the written document will be longer, reflecting the research and analysis related to the lecture aspect of the project. The document will be in standard research paper format, including citations and bibliography.
All dance production honors projects must be completed by March 9, with accompanying thesis document to be completed by March 16. A written thesis in dance will conform to the same calendar as other PAD written theses.
- The Design Honors Thesis Project
A student designer who meets GPA eligibility requirements and wishes to undertake a Senior Honors Thesis may use a departmental or a student’s senior honors thesis design assignment as the focus of the project. (If designing for a student project, the student designer must have an advisor’s approval that it qualifies as a senior honors project.) The design assignment must be for a production scheduled during the student’s senior year. The production must open no later than the end of February in the graduating year. The accompanying thesis document is to be completed by March 16, with oral defense to follow shortly thereafter. The appropriate design/tech faculty member will serve as primary advisor and the production’s director should serve as a committee member. The primary advisor and the student will determine the nature of the research and writing component of the thesis. The production’s director may wish to assist in focusing the student-designer’s research efforts.
- The Directing Honors Thesis Project
A drama major who meets the GPA eligibility requirements and wishes to undertake a directing thesis project must also meet the following requirements:
a. Must have successfully completed Directing I by the end of the junior year and have demonstrated exceptional abilities within the course. It is recommended that the student also complete Directing II by the end of the junior year.
b. Must meet acceptable levels of design/tech knowledge as evidenced by enrollment in design/tech courses beyond L15 212, participation in design/tech positions within departmental productions and/or evaluation and consent of design/tech faculty.
c. Must meet acceptable levels of discipline, leadership, responsibility and organization as determined by the acting/directing faculty.
If the directing student wishes to incorporate design/tech elements into the production, they need to submit a proposal to the PSP Committee as outlined above and two copies of the script.
The project is to be completed no later than March 9, with accompanying thesis document to be completed by March 16, with oral defense to follow shortly thereafter. The thesis document for a director will contain an extensive script analysis (format to be provided by advisor), all research material, a production journal beginning with early analysis work and continuing through opening night, and a thoughtful, analytical response to the entire process and production.
Grading
The thesis committee determines a grade for the honors thesis based on the following criteria:
- the merits of the project
- the quality of the writing
- the quality of the production or performance work
- the discipline evidenced in the work
- the quality of the thesis document
- the quality of the oral defense.
The honors thesis is supposed to be a demanding, time-consuming, challenging project. Students should not expect to be rewarded simply for hard work. This is an endeavor evaluated primarily on its content and the student’s ability to analyze and assess the work. While Latin Honors designations are due by March 15, 2003, grades for honors projects are to be recorded by the end-of-semester due date for graduating seniors.