ARTICLES OF GOVERNMENT
ARTICLE IV. Honors

Section 1

The Committee on Curriculum and Instruction oversees the conduct of programs leading to honors in the Major Field. It has final authority to admit students to candidacy, approve their plans of study, and recommend them to the Academic Council for the award of honors. Students may earn honors in one of three ways: by writing an honors thesis, by taking an honors examination, or by electing another option approved by their major department or program. Only the thesis option is offered by all departments and programs.

Section 2 Honors Programs

A. Thesis. A Thesis program includes an individually chosen project culminating in a final paper, series of papers, or other significant work which is held in the Wellesley College Archives and available in accordance with general college policies governing the use of the Archives. The subject of the student's investigation may be within the boundaries of one department, in which case her work will be directed by a member of that department. If the subject is one with close connection to related fields, the director will secure the cooperation of one or two members of other departments to assist in the direction of the work. Normally a student will apply to her major department in the spring of her junior year to write a thesis. To be admitted to the thesis program, a student should have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100-level and the recommendation of the departmental committee or of the advisors for an individual major program. Departments (or advisors of individual majors) may recommend to the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction students whose average is below 3.5 but above 3.0 if they have exceptional qualifications. (Courses not taken for a letter grade do not enter into the calculations.)

The thesis program shall carry the numbers 360 and 370 and the name of the appropriate major. The program will normally include the election of one unit of work per semester in the senior year. Exceptions must be approved by the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction. Units of 360 and 370 are counted as units in the major subject. All must be taken for a letter grade.

All students admitted to the thesis program will register for 360, Senior Thesis Research, normally in the fall of the senior year. At the end of the first semester, the student's work in 360 will be graded. If the student is proceeding with a second semester of thesis research, the instructor may issue a grade of t.b.g.--grade to be awarded for the first semester at the end of the second semester.

In the second semester (normally the spring of the senior year), all students continuing with a thesis register for course number 370, Senior Thesis. The Departmental Committee shall report to the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction by the end of the tenth week of classes which students registered for 370 are candidates for honors. In unusual cases, a departmental committee may ask prior to the last day of classes that a 370 student not previously a candidate for Honors be registered. A student registered for honors may decide at any point to continue 370 but not stand for honors in the Major Field. The thesis shall be due on or before the last day of classes in the second semester.

During reading period, each candidate for honors by thesis shall be examined orally on her work by a committee of at least three members of the relevant department(s), one of whom shall be the chair of the department or his or her deputy. In the case of the individual major, the chair of the department in which the majority of the work is taken shall attend the oral. There shall also be a visitor designated by the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction in cooperation with the director.

If the thesis is judged of honors quality, and the student passes the oral examination, she is awarded honors in her major field, and the 370 is noted on her record as Senior Thesis-Honors. After acceptance, a copy of the thesis is deposited in the Wellesley College Archives. It then becomes the property of the College and, as such, is made available to requestors in accordance with the policies governing the use of the Archives. Honors are not awarded if the completed thesis or the oral examination is not of honors quality, or the student has not accepted the requirement for subsequent archiving, or has not obtained an exception to this requirement as described below. If a thesis is not finished, the final transcript no longer carries a notation of 370, but instead a second semester of 360, Senior Thesis Research. In all three cases the student will receive a grade for 360 or 370.

Occasionally a student may feel that distribution of her thesis will jeopardize the privacy or safety of the author or other individuals or groups. In such a case the author, in consultation with her advisor, should submit to the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction, no later than the tenth week of the semester the thesis is due, a request for exception to the Archiving requirement. The Committee on Curriculum and Instruction will advise the student and her advisor, the College Archives and the student's department/ program if an exception has been granted.

B. Honors Examination.

Departments may at their choice offer a written or oral examination as another option for the awarding of Honors in the major field. Each department offering this option shall specify a minimum grade point average for eligibility; this average must be at least 3.5 for all courses in the major above the 100 level. A student requesting such an examination must do so in writing to the major department (or, in the case of an individual major, to the director) and to the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction, normally by the end of the third week of her eighth semester. The examination shall be given during the reading period. A student passing the examination will receive Honors in the Major Field on the permanent record. No course credit will be awarded.

C. Other Options.

Department plans for other honors programs in the Major Field must be approved by the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction. Programs involving only written and oral examination carry no units of credit. Students should consult their major department for information about these options. To be admitted to honors under this option, a student should have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level.