Honors Program

Students with a cumulative average of 3.50 at the end of their first three years of study are eligible to participate in the Honors Program. In keeping with the spirit of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, the honors work should be grounded in expertise on the region of Latin America and the Caribbean as well as display interdisciplinary scholarship.

Students will select an advisor from among the LACS faculty. In consultation with the advisor, students will choose two additional faculty members to serve on their Honors committee. The selection of the Honors committee members must observe the following guidelines: both the advisor and one additional committee member will be affiliated with LACS; a third committee member will not be associated with the program; and all committee members cannot be from the same home department. The committee will guide the student's independent research on a topic of the student's choosing and will judge the quality of the completed Honors Thesis and the student's defense of the thesis in an oral examination.

To complete the Honors program through LACS, the student must fulfill all of the College Honors requirements: a graduate seminar either on a Latin American topic in any department or in the Honors thesis advisor's home department, complete an honors thesis while enrolled in the LACS Honors Thesis courses, LACS 495A (generally in the fall semester) and 495B (generally in the spring semester). When enrolled in 495B, students will present and defend the completed thesis in an oral examination.

Successful Honors candidates are awarded the degree with honors, high honors, or highest honors. The degree of Honors is awarded for satisfactory completion of the Honors Program while High Honors are given for an outstanding achievement and Highest Honors for an exceptional performance of a quality suitable for publication. Fourrageres signifying honors are presented to qualifying graduating seniors to be worn at Commencement.