College Honors Program
The College Honors Program brings together academically accomplished and highly motivated students to pursue multidisciplinary studies in the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. This highly selective and challenging program is composed of sophomores, juniors, and seniors from any major, and incorporates special seminars, an honors colloquium and a thesis.
The College Honors Program, established in 1962, is one of the oldest programs providing distinctive educational opportunities at Holy Cross culminating in the senior honors thesis, and the intellectual excitement of a multidisciplinary classroom, where students from all majors address significant matters with faculty who are experts in integrative teaching and scholarship.
Theses from 1999
An Analysis of Black-Scholes Options Pricing Theory, Douglas J. Ormond
War and the Childhood Self: Woundedness, Disintegration, Resilience, and Hope, Emily Susan Rauer
An Economic Analysis of the National Football League, Paul Sullivan
Theses from 1998
The Sleep and Mood of First-Time Mothers: The last trimester through four months postpartum, Jennifer L. Bassett
Beethoven's Essay on Transcendence: A Study of Op. 111, Yves C. E. Calderone
Towards a New Paradigm: Female Revisions of the Readitional Love Story, Melissa J. Carrick
Articulating Joyce..., Gavin P. Clancy
Potential Pharmacological Treatment for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: Prenatal Clucocorticoids and Vitamin E in the Nitrofen-Rat Model, Gregory M. Coté
From Crisis to Crisis: The Gaullist Challenge to the Viability of the European Economic Community, 1963-1965, Joseph-Allodin L. Cruz
Op. 21 "Thank You", Elizabeth Dunn
A Synthesis of 7-norbornadienol and Anti-7-norbornenol for a 13C-13C Coupling Constant Study, Peter Furmonavicius
The Decline of Democratic Statesmanship: Polling and Policy Making in Modern America, Kathleen M. Grammatico
Building the Federal Branch: An Instututional History of the Federal Judiciary, 1789-1842, Robert J. Hume
How Were Her Sentiments to Be Read?: Examining Subjectivity and Questioning Narrative Authority in Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion, Tricia E. Hurley
Out of Mozart's Shadow: Re-Envisioning Beethoven's Fidelio, Vanessa Lynn Kabash
Revolutionaries in Conspiracy with History: Leaders of the Easter Rising, 1916, Nicholas A. Kenney
The Presence of A Cultural Agenda in the Writings of Louisa May Alcott and Judy Blume, Elizabeth McCusker-Concannon
Modulation of the Chromosome Damaging Effects of Bleomycin in Human Lymphocytes, Miriam S. Merz
Creating the Female Self through Diary-Keeping, Andrea Nicolay
Imperfect Justice: An Analysis of the American Jury System, Aimee J. O'Rourke
Power to the People: Economic Reform in Post-Soviet Russia, Damian S. Schaible
"My labor will sustain me": Radical Christian-Heroism in John Milton's Paradise Lost, Brian Lucas Spadora
The Forest or The Trees? Public Management of our National Forest Lands, Stacy Strongarone
Using Control to Explain a Loss of Control: A Look Into the Class Differences in Child Abuse, Heather Grace Zierak
Theses from 1997
Muscle Bound: The Weight of Cultural Fictions of Maculinity On America's Young Men, Darrin R. Berard
Part Time Work Options: Are They Mutually Beneficial to Both Large Public Accounting Firms and Professionals?, Erin Carberry
"Equal" Education for All? The Influence of School Environment on Children's School-Related Beliefs and Academic Performance, Rebecca C. Fauth
Amide Acylolysis: Steric Effects, Michael Charles Hewitt
The Ascent of a Poet: Place, Poet, and State in the Works of Joseph Bradsky, Catherine M. Hobbs
Study of Electron Attatchment to C6F8Cl2 and C6F8Cl2 in the Gas Phase Using the FALP Technique, Donna M. Kerr
Morality, Politics, and History: Coming to Terms with the Past in West Germany and Austria during the 1980s, Sarah A. Maney
Behind the Group Facade: A Study of Friendship and Gender at Holy Cross, Laurel Molloy
Hyacinth Girl, Catherine A. Mulligan
Consuming the Body: Female Literary Representations of dis-Empowerment, Angela Marie Quaranta
The Differentiation of C2C12 Myoblasts and the Expression of the Gap Junction Protein, Connexin-43, at the Level of the mRNA, Jennifer J. Schneider
The Effects of Ouabain and Gap Junctional Communication in Mouse BALB/3T3 Fibroblasts, Stacey L. Valentine
John F. Kennedy and the Rhetoric of Optimism, Thomas L. Weber
Defending the Status Quo: The Second Massacre of Wounded Knee. 1973-1976, Benjamin E. Zawacki
Theses from 1996
The Effects of Stimulation of the A2 Adenosine Receptor on Myocardial Contractility Perfused Rat Heart, Thomas Stacey Monahan
Theses from 1995
The Disappearance of Song Culture in Ancient Greece, Kristin K. Barkett
Bedtime Stories, Heather Brooks
Through the Eye of a Needle: Using Scripture to Determine the Proper Use of Wealth in Today's World, Andrew Contreras
The Problem of Liberalism, Christopher Green
Elizabeth Bishop: "The Art of Losing", Margaret Hermes
Eighteenth Century Feminist Literature of Seduction, Keaghan K. Kay
Visual Form and Narrative Encounter: Concerning the Experience of Art in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and To The Lighthouse, Nathaniel Kilcer
Alcoholics Anonymous's History, Ideology and Practice: What Research Reveals, James P. Mullins
The Effects of Ethanol Consumption on Monocyte and Lymphatic Cell's Apoptosis Rates, David Andrew O'Donnell
Antimutagenicity of the Aminothiols WR-1065 and Cysteamine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rose A. Shorter
The Roots, Realities and Repurcussions of Journalistic Sensationalism During the Spanish-American War, Elizabeth Taylor
Communities and Power: Congregation-Based Community Organizing as a Means to Local Empowerment, Paula Marie Tusiani
"Breaking Down the Barriers": David I. Walsh and the Irish-American Community of Worcester County, Sheila York
Theses from 1994
Isis Multinominis: Allusions to Isis in Augustan Poetry, Michelle M. Bien
Constructing History: Literary Historians, Culture and Gener in Late Nineteenth Century America., Christine E. Doyle
Is Speech "Special"?: What Deaf Populations and Animals Tell Us, Theoretically Speaking, Stephanie S. Frommer
Some Results in the Global Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces, Meghan A. Gillin
The Role of Prenatal Testasterone in the Development of Sexually Differentiated Vasopressin Dependent Behaviors in Adult Rats, Richard David Hollister
Problematics and Possibilities: The Questions of Community for African-American Women in the Novels of Gloria Naylor., Sharon Kasok
The Revolt Against the Absurdity of Our Experience, Michael Lenahan
Thyroidectomy and Brain Gabaa Receptor Sensitivity Predict Behavior in Animal Models of Depression and Anxiety, Jennifer A. Lindwall
The Role of Prenatal Testasterone in the Development of Sexually Differentiated Vasopressin Dependent Behaviors in Adult Rats, Barbara M. O'Brien
The Importance of Metaphor in Philosophy., Erin K. O'Brien
Wavelet Analysis and the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe, Jon Pilon
A Radical Indictment of Imperialism in Africa: A New Look at Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"., Amy Polacko
Life as a Work of Art, Joel P. Poudrier
Effect of Aminothiols on the Induction of Mitotic Recombination by Bleomycin in Yeast, Joseph L. Quaranta
Rhetoric and Politics of Marriage in Three Eighteenth Century Poems, Amanda M. Roberts
The American Indian Movement (AIM): A Study of the Continuing Struggle for Self-Determination, Miriam K. Smyth
Biosensors: An Investigation into their Physical Chemical Properties, Steven Joseph Stack
William Faulkner and the Confessions of Quentin Compson, Stacy Treuber
Intrinsic Motivation within the Classroom: A Comparative Study in Cooperative Learning and Traditional Schools, Donna M. Whitehouse
Religion as a Coping Strategy: Do Children Find God Helpful in Dealing with Stress?, Janie A. Whitehouse
Speak the Language: The Problem of Academic Discourse and the Basic Writer., Susannah L. Wince
Theses from 1993
"Listen tuh me": The Emerging Voice of the African American Woman in the Texts of Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, Judith A. Cannistraro
An Examination of Strand-Specific DNA Repair on Bacteriophage Lambda, David J. Crowley
Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Normal and Abnormal Gait Patterns, Sarah Fallon
Living in a Disenchanted World, John Margiotta
Whom Catullus Loved, Matthew M. Mcgowan
"The Acid Test of their Good Will": Woodrow Wilson and the Quagmire of the Russian Revolution, Daniel A. McLaughlin
Uniting Sexuality and Textuality: Virginia Woolf's Radical Feminist Politics, Lisa M. Mucciarone
Determination of Germany's European Policy: From the Single European Act to Maastricht, Jason M. Pashko
The Reproductive Biology of Silene latifolia, Paul R. Schmidt
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: Research and Implications, Sarah L. Toomey
Theses from 1992
Regulation of Neuronal Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor Expression by Insulin, Thomas E. Clancy
Today's Children, Tomorrow's Schools: The Future of the American Educational System in Response to our Changing Society, Kathryn Clavin
Preparation and Characterization of Tungsten (II) and Molybdenum (II) Alkyne Dithiocarbamate Compounds, Xinzhong Dong
Coleridge's "bloodless fight": Science, Freedom, and Truth in Christ, Deidre E. Egan
Islam and Saudi Arabia's Foreign Policy: (Position as Protector of Holy Sights), Matthew L. Hanley
Eating Disorders asa Manifestation of Codependence in Dysfunctional Families, Lauren Hickman
Great Expectations, Great Disappontment: The Nonvoter in the United States, Patrick R. Jones
The Treatment of the Electra Myth from the Classical Period to the Twentieth Century, Braden Mechley
The Structure of the Chloronium Ion, Steven J. Metallo
What is Between Them, Phillip J. Metres, III
The Evolution of Uncertainty in the Work of Emily Jane Brontё, Katherine Montwieler
Community and the Individual: A Vital Balance, David A. Pignato
How to Save the World: The Ethics of Renewal in Prometheus Unbound, Christopher Serb
"To Seek a Newer World": The Influence of Top Aides on Senator Robert Kennedy 1964-1986, Richard O. Swanson
A View From the Shore: Past and Present Consequences of the Discovery of the Americas, Gonzalo Zeballos
Theses from 1991
Athletics and Academics: Finding a Balance in Higher Education, William F. Blaufuss, III