Honors Program
The honors program in Latin American Studies involves a year-long independent research project that replaces the senior seminar requirement. Candidates need to apply to the Director with support of an adviser from the Board by the end of May of the junior year. The GPA requirement is 3.7 or more in the major, and 3.3 or more overall by the end of the fifth semester (including any course work done abroad). In the fall, about one week before Fall Break, the candidate will present her or his proposal (thesis, literature review, methodology, plan of study) to the Board for approval to continue, and obtain the approval of another member of the Board to act as the second reader. At the end of the fall the candidate will present her or his first chapter (or equivalent). Most honors candidates apply for a Walker Grant to do field work in Jan Plan. At the end of the academic year the candidate will present an overview of the thesis at the Undergraduate Research Symposium, and submit the final draft of the thesis for final approval by thesis adviser and second reader. Successful completion of the work of the honors thesis and of the major will enable the student to graduate “With Honors in Latin American Studies.”
A Sample of Past Honors Theses:
- Education, vocational skills, and active participation as vehicles to empowerment: the impact of non-governmental organizations on street children in La Paz, Bolivia
- Defining micro-credit success in Bolivia
- In the Absence of Family: How Ideas of the Substitute Family in Honduran Children’s Homes Shape Perception of the Needs of at-risk Youth