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Honors Program in American Studies

Professor R. Gordon Kelly is the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

The Office of Undergraduate Studies

University Honors

Honors Humanities

The American Studies Honors Program offers outstanding students an opportunity to add distinction to their academic records by undertaking an independent research project in an area of particular interest to them.

The program is intended to allow students preparing for graduate study or a professional career to apply and further develop their research, analytic, and writing skills in an independent project of their own design, in consultation with a faculty mentor. Students are encouraged to make use of the rich resources of the Washington-Baltimore area, including major research institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives.

Students fulfill the honors program requirements through a combination of honors-designated coursework (6 credit hours) and an honors thesis (6 credit hours). These courses and credits fall within both the American Studies major requirements and the University’s 120-credit undergraduate degree requirement. Students who undertake American Studies Honors are excused from the senior seminar, AMST 450. Students have the option of taking AMST 340 prior to enrolling in AMST 388, Honors Thesis.

Eligibility: Students must have at least a 3.0 overall GPA at the time of entry into the program, and must maintain a 3.0 GPA to remain in good standing. To graduate with Honors in American Studies, students must have a 3.0 cumulative GPA, at least a 3.2 GPA in their major coursework, and complete an honors thesis.

Application: Students who wish to pursue Honors work should submit a letter of intent to the Director of Undergraduate Studies. The letter should include your reasons for pursuing departmental honors and should indicate a faculty mentor with whom you have discussed your plans and who has agreed to work with you.

Requirements: The Honors Program gives students a substantial amount of flexibility in fulfilling the two basic requirements: 6 credit hours of honors-designated coursework and 6 credit hours of AMST 388, Honors Thesis.

To fulfill the coursework requirements (6 credit hours), students may:

• Take an upper-level Honors-section course in a department consonant with the student’s major focus areas.
• Take an upper-level University Honors course.
• Negotiate an Honors Option Contract with the instructor of an upper-division course in American Studies or in a department consonant with the student’s major focus areas.
• Take a graduate course in a department consonant with the student’s major focus areas.

All coursework not taken in an Honors section or in a university Honors course or in a graduate course should have an Honors Option Contract completed, in order to ensure that the student’s transcript reflects that the work carries Honors credit. To fulfill the thesis requirements, students will:

• Register for 6 credit hours of AMST 388, Honors Thesis and Research. Customarily this is spread across the student’s senior year, with 3 credit hours taken each term.
• Present the thesis to a committee composed of the faculty mentor and another department faculty member. At the satisfactory conclusion of the thesis presentation, the committee will notify the Director of Undergraduate Studies that the thesis has been read, evaluated and approved. The Director of Undergraduate Studies will then notify the University Honors Program Director of the successful completion of the individual Honors degree program.

A student should allow at least three semesters to complete the honors program; interested students should apply to the program no later than the end of their first semester, junior year. Students with less than one full year (12 months) remaining before graduation are not eligible to apply for the honors program

To apply, send a letter of interest and a copy of your unofficial transcript to:

Professor R. Gordon Kelly
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of American Studies
1102 Holzapfel Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742

If you have any questions about the program or your eligibility, please contact Professor Kelly (rgkelly@umd.edu).

Revised 8/14/09