The program provides history majors with a record of high achievement with the opportunity to carry out historical research and write an original piece of scholarship.
To be in the program, students must commit to a three-course sequence that is designed to help them complete an honors thesis. Students will be evaluated after each semester to determine if they should continue in the program. Upon successful completion of an honors thesis, students will be awarded departmental honors.
Students are invited to apply to the program in the first semester of their junior year based, in part, on the number of history courses taken to that point, grade point average, and the nomination of History Department faculty.
Students must remain in good standing and make adequate progress in their projects in order to continue in the program. The Honors Director and advisor must approve each student's progression to the next stage. On completion of the junior colloquium, students must show that they have made adequate progress on a viable topic as evident in a fully approved research prospectus. On completion of the senior capstone, students must have completed a full first draft of the thesis. In spring of the senior year, students must make significant changes to their first draft and incorporate the comments and suggestions of their advisors and second readers. The Honors designation will only be awarded if the Honors Director, advisor, and second reader approve the completed thesis.
Students can decide not to continue at any one stage of the process and still keep the credit hours they have completed. To do so, students must complete comparable work as their classmates, such as writing a comprehensive bibliographic essay for the Junior Colloquium and a research paper based on primary sources for the Senior Capstone.
The History Honors experience culminates with an annual showcase, which provides students with the opportunity to share their research findings and participate in a scholarly dialogue. The showcase is held at a public venue to encourage wide attendance.
The History Department encourages study abroad, but students who go abroad during the spring semester of their junior year and therefore miss taking the colloquium must agree to carry out the work of completing a comparable research prospectus over the summer before their senior year. Without an approved prospectus, students will not be enrolled in the Honors Senior Capstone.
The History Honors Program overlaps with the Honors College in that the colloquium and capstone are approved courses for University Honors, and the final thesis can count as the final project.
Questions may be directed to the Honors Director, Dr. Amanda McVety
501 E. High Street
Oxford, OH 45056
1601 University Blvd.
Hamilton, OH 45011
4200 N. University Blvd.
Middletown, OH 45042
7847 VOA Park Dr.
(Corner of VOA Park Dr. and Cox Rd.)
West Chester, OH 45069
Chateau de Differdange
1, Impasse du Chateau, L-4524 Differdange
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
217-222 MacMillan Hall
501 E. Spring St.
Oxford, OH 45056, USA