Join us in congratulating the first crop of Core Honors awardees, in this the first year eligible students applied to take advantage of the Honors opportunity.
Work for Honors allows students who are willing to commit extra time and effort to achieving a higher level of command of the material and techniques addressed in Core to conduct in-depth research in an area that interests them. Completion of the Core Curriculum with Honors requires achieving a grade of B+ or better in all eight Core courses (or, for STEM majors who do not take CC 111/212, all six Core humanities and social science courses) plus one of the following:
- A course taken outside of (but relevant to) the Core program and a substantial paper or project that relates material in that course to the Core program. The paper/project must be defended in front of a committee of at least three faculty from Core and the other course; OR
- The composition and defense of a substantial paper or project on a subject that bridges at least two particular Core courses. The paper/project must be defended in front of at least three relevant faculty from Core.
Over the summer we’ll be posting specific shout-outs to each of this spring’s three Honors awardees. First up, Ameen Khdair, shown in the photo above with the three faculty members on his defense committee: Erin Murphy of the Department of English, and professors Nelson and Sims from Core. The certificate prepared for Ameen reads as follows:
In acknowledgement and celebration of his noteworthy interdisciplinary achievement, linking the foundational texts of the Core canon to methods & subject matter of the various academic disciplines, the faculty of the Core Curriculum present this award to their student AMEEN KHDAIR.
Through the creation and successful defense of his thesis project, “Paradigmatic Heroism: The Archetypal ‘Hero’s Journeys’ of Dante and Milton’s Satan,” he has demonstrated command over his chosen research area. In recognition thereof, let the following annotation be added to his University transcript: “Completed the Interdisciplinary Core Curriculum in Arts & Sciences, with Honors.”
Does that thesis project sound interesting to you? Core will be making it available in print form as an academic pamphlet; send us an email if you’d like to request a copy.
