Honors in English

The English Department offers a full range of honors courses and other opportunities for honors students. Currently, some 45 students are majoring in English as Honors Scholars, approximately 10% of all English majors.

Honors students may declare their major as first semester honors freshmen and as late as the fifth semester. Students admitted as freshmen are selected on the basis of SAT scores, high-school grades, and class rank; those admitted after the first semester are invited on the basis of their grade-point average and faculty recommendation.

Honors students enjoy the advantages of unusually small seminar courses, of fellowship with other talented students, and of participation in special programs organized through the University Honors Office. They also receive special recognition at graduation and in a special diploma acknowledging their participation in the University Honors Program.

Honors English majors are expected to meet the requirements set for all English majors but do so through special opportunities: enrollment in 200's English courses converted to honors credit through special assignments; enrollment in specially designed honors seminars covering all periods of English and American literature; and the possibility of enrollment in graduate courses.

Each honors student must complete a senior thesis, a two-semester project involving extensive reading and the preparation of a substantial essay under the supervision of a faculty member. Copies of the thesis are kept on permanent file in the Honors Program in the Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE) in Room 419.

Each honors English major is advised throughout his or her career by the Honors Director, Jonathan Hufstader. He is assisted in all phases of administering the department’s honors program by the Honors Advisory Committee. Current members include Martha Cutter, Ross Miller and Lisa Sanchez.