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 1997
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
"Screaming from the Top of Your Lungs" Voice Development in a High School Creative Writing Class, Michelle M. Bertolino
Bedtime Stories, Heather Brooks
A Mind of their Own: Empowerment and Enchanted Objects in Children's Literature, Nicole Birgit Cloeren
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
Gender Variations in Physician Stress in Managed Care Environments, Amanda Matlak
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
The Phillips-Van Heusen Union Drive in Guatemala: A Model for Future International Labor Solidarity Work, Brendan D. Sharkey
Antimutagenicity of the Aminothiols WR-1065 and Cysteamine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rose A. Shorter
The Nature of Religious Questing in Later Life, Genine C. Swanzey
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
The Development of Modern Physics and Architecture: Comparison of an Aesthetic, David Vimont
"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
A Body of Paradigms: A Textual Analysis of the Social and Societal Revolutions Emerging from Andreas Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica, Kate C. Dawson
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
Reciprocal Participation: A New Approach to Health Development through United States Non-Governmental Organizations, Marie E. McDonnell
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
Hippocratic Pharmacology: Investigations into the Theoretical Assumptions and Function of Drug Therapy in the Corpus Hippocraticum, Edward G. Soltesz
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
The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Carter: Miracles, Prophesy, Politics, and the 1977 Energy Policy, Paul C. Burke
Logos Kai Polemos: The Dramatization of Language's Corruption in War, J. Phillip Calabrese
"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
When the Party Throws a Party: The Social Life of the Communist Party of Massachusetts 1928-1938, Thomas R. Cincotta
An Examination of Strand-Specific DNA Repair on Bacteriophage Lambda, David J. Crowley
Blood and Money: Terrorism, the Mafia, and the Italian Political System, John C. Demers
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
In Pursuit of Ourselves: An Examination of the Scientific, Social, and Ethical Issues of the Human Genome Project, Christine Schaeffer
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
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
Reflections of Ovid in the Diana Paintings of Titian, Jennifer Ann Evans
The Davis-Beacon Act: Political Folly or Legitimate Safety Net?, David L. Ferrera
Today's Children, Tomorrow's Schools: The Future of the American Educational System in Response to our Changing Society, Kathryn Glavin
Ms.- Readings Hemingway: An Examination of the Women in his Three Major Novels, Christine C. Gowen
Islam and Saudi Arabia's Foreign Policy: (Position as Protector of Holy Sights), Matthew L. Hanley
Eating Disorders as a Manifestation of Codependence in Dysfunctional Families, Lauren Hickman
Great Expectations, Great Disappontment: The Nonvoter in the United States, Patrick R. Jones
The Ozone Layer: Its Function, its Depletion, and Consequences of its Depletion, Gerard Lambert
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
Shadows in the Sun: Working Women in Japan, Suzanne M. O'Connor
Do you hear us, compañeros? Empowerment and Resistence in the Testimonials of Latin American Peasant Women, Stephanie Philbin
Community and the Individual: A Vital Balance, David A. Pignato
Why the Gothic Revival Isn't, Patricia C. Pongracz
Investigating the Mysteries of Masculinity and Femininity Inside the World of Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction, Denise A. Rullo
Dimensions of Religiosity and Life Satisfaction: A Study of Worcester Elders, Marisa A. Scala
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
Struggling to Tell Her Whole Story: Clarissa and the Heroines of Interpretation, Betsy Ann Bodenrader
The Real MASH: Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals During the Korean War, Emily P. Braunstein
What Never Stays With Us: A Collection of Poetry, Amy Elizabeth Breau
Changing Self-Concept in Relation to the Cultural Transition from Orality to Literacy, Sara Cantonia Broaders
The Brechtian Politics of Art: The Councilist Question, Margaret A. Casey
"A Damned Mob of Scribbling Women?" The Other American Renaissance, George F. Grattan
Breaking Down the Walls: A Woman's Search for Identity in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", Jill Ann Hazel
Senegalese Women: A Comparative Analysis of Economic Development in Sine-Saloum and Dakar, Sarah-Joy Hunter
Non-Western Art in Western Museums: An Examination of the Reclassification of Non-Western Art As it Enters the Western Museum System. Expanding the Analysis to Include the Arts of Japan, Are They Problematic?, Patricia Margaret A. Lawrence
Horror Fiction and the Religious: A Synthesis of Extant Theories on the Attractions of Horror Fiction, Brad Lisak
The Reversion of Frameshift and Base Pair Substitution Mutations by Methylazoxymethanol (MAM) in Plasmid pBR322 in Escherichia coli, Michael J. Lyons
Dibucaine Analogues as Local Anesthetics, Mark W. Miller
David Dellinger: The Making of an American Radical, Patrick Nagle
Women in the Writings of Margaret Atwood: Love, Sex, and Change, Marie R. O'Brien
Synthesis and Characterization of d4 Transition in Metal Compounds, Marie L. Peters