Honors Program

Departmental Honors are offered for both concentrations. Departmental Honors offers students an opportunity to pursue advanced independent research in a carefully defined project supervised by a member of the Art History faculty. Honors candidates must have a GPA of 3.5 in the major and must obtain the agreement of a member of the faculty to serve as advisor.

Fifty percent (50%) of the required coursework for the major must be advanced (300 level and above). Not more than 4 credit hours, equivalent to one of the required advanced-level courses, may be an independent study (ARTH 397).

Majors in Art History may elect the Pass/Fail grade option in only two ARTH courses (or a total of 8 credits). These courses may not include ARTH 496: Theories and Methods or ARTH 498-499: Honors Thesis. Courses passed with a grade of D do not fulfill requirements for the major.

Transfer credits toward the Art History major must be reviewed by the department. A maximum of 16 credits at the 100- and 200-levels may be accepted. All 300- and 400- level courses must be completed in residence.

All art history majors are advised to take at least two courses in other departments that relate specifically to their art historical work. Such courses might include the history, politics and/or literature of a temporal period or geographical region, or courses in philosophy, sociology, and/or anthropology. In addition, the department strongly advises majors to acquire a reading knowledge of French, German, or a research language appropriate to their field of interest. Courses should be selected with the advice of the Director of Undergraduate Studies. The department also encourages the pursuit of study abroad opportunities related to research interests, when feasible.

Some of our recent Honors students:

Erin Livingston (2019). Advisor: Pam Smart.
Thesis Title: “The Contemporary Curator: Pushed from the Museum into the Catalogue”

Matt Brady (2018). Advisor: Kevin Hatch.
Thesis Title: "You will only make matters worse": Intention and Non-intention in John Cage's Late Visual Work"

Robbie Oakes (2017). Advisor: Julia Walker.
Thesis Title: "Adolf Loos's House, His Modern Man"

Colin Roth (2017). Advisor: Julia Walker.
Thesis Title: "The Architect and the Imagined Community: The Power of Social Agents in Contemporary National Stadiums"

Aidan Quigley (2016). Advisor: Julia Walker.
Thesis Title: "Vegetating Modernism: Understanding the Green Roof"

Colleen Stapleton (2016). Advisor: Kevin Hatch.
Thesis Title: "Indifferent Objects: Rachel Harrison's Sculpture"

Dan Bontempi (2015). Advisor: Kevin Hatch.
Thesis Title: "Duane Hanson: Art as Object"

Kara Nandin (2015). Advisor: Andrew Walkling.
Thesis Title: "Defining Culture: The Appropriation of the Ojibwa into an American Identity"

Katerina Acuna (2013). Advisor: Nancy Um
Thesis Title: "Osman Hamdi Bey and the Green Mosque: Architectural Imagery in the Construction of an Ottoman Historical Narrative"

Serena Jang (2013). Advisor: Pam Smart
Thesis Title: "Explaining Abstract Expressionism: Meaning and Experience in the Museum"

Eric Wuu (2013). Advisor: Kevin Hatch
Thesis Title: "Openings and Closures, Doorways to Discourse: Zhang Dali's Dialogue"

Amanda Grannis (2012). Advisor: Barbara Abou-el-Haj
Thesis Title: "Convivencia: History, Myth, and Modern Memory"

Maureen Larimore (2012). Advisor: Barbara Abou-el-Haj
Thesis Title: "The Life and Formation of the Cult of Saint Geneviève"

Hunter Claypatch (2011). Advisor: Kathleen Sterling
Thesis Title: "Obsidian Trade and the Formation of Figurine Continuity between Crete and the Cyclades during the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age"

Thomas Campbell (2008). Advisor: Aruna D'Souza
Thesis Title: "Juggling with the Syntax of Structure: The Physical and Metaphorical Interventions of Gordon Matta-Clark"

Siobhan Phillips (2007). Advisor: Aruna D'Souza
Thesis Title: "Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism in Diego Rivera's Murals for the National Palace in Mexico City"

Stephanie Eisenberg (2006). Advisor: Aruna D'Souza
Thesis Title: "Jasper Johns: Between Modernism and Postmodernism"

Jennifer Conta (2006). Advisor: Andrew Walkling
Thesis Title: "Vernacular Domestic Architecture and Interior Space in Early Modern London"

Louise Bertini (2005). Advisor: Gerald Kadish
Thesis Title: "Images of Nefertini"

Emily Colasacco (2005). Advisor: John Tagg
Thesis Title: "THE DECODED SEINE: The Meaning of Water in Monet's Highway Bridge and Boat Basin in 1874"

Yong Dae Kim (2005). Advisor: Aruna D'Souza
Thesis Title: "Takashi Murakami and the Mass Production of Arts: Originality and Re-presentation"

Nancy Schindler (2005). Advisor: Pamela Smart
Thesis Title: "Blood and the Erotics of Violence"

Kristina Seekamp (2004). Advisor: John Tagg
Thesis Title: "Unmaking the Museum: Marcel Duchamp's Readymades in Context"

Mary Gustaitis (2001). Advisor: John Tagg
Thesis Title: "Ben Shahn: The Biography of a Mural"