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 1991
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
The Relationship Between Science and Christian Faith in the Modern World, Maria Liesi Ruckwardt
Understanding the Power of the Ocean Experience, Tracy A. Tews
Self-Portrait: An Original Screen Play, Don W. Whitehead, Jr.
Theses from 1990
The Disinvestment Debate: U.S. Multinational Corporations in South Africa, Kathleen S. Beecher
The Clean-Playing, Pretty-Note-Looking Bebop Revolution of Charlie Parker, Paul Daniel Bernard
Mikhail Sholokhov's The Quiet Don and Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago and the Nobel Prize, Christine A. Caputo
The Role of Education in Pursuing National Objectives in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, V. Paul Chattergy
The Reversion of Frameshift Mutations by Acridines in Plasmid pBR322 in Escherichia coli, Suzanne M. Deschenes
Reflection Holography, Todd Clinton Dextradeur
Reappraising The Psychology of Death: Children and Adolescents Facing Imminent Death, James J. Dillon
Contemporary Northern Irish Women Writers, Maryann Donahue
The Concept of Spasmos in Hippocratic Medicine, J. Thomas Dooley
Seasons of Consciousness: Original Poetry, Timothy M. Fagan
Latin American Authors' View of History, Siobhan Handley
Effects of Aldosterone on Cultured Kidney Cells, Karen Heveron
Language: Master or Mediator of Human Experience, Betsy Ann LeBlanc
Psychological Factors as Mediators of Social Support and Recovery from Cardiovascular Disorders, Jo Ann Maroto
If You Can't Stand the Heat -- Get Off the Planet, Anne T. Murphy
Irish Nationalism Between 1780 and 1850, Matthew J. O'Brien
The Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan: The Role of Geopolitical Factors, Paul O'Brien
Environmental Ethics: Opening Our Minds to Sense Nature's Dignity, Christopher Picone
To Die and Lie Mangled: Heroes, Citizens, and the Beutiful Death, Edward C. Puchalla
Space Station Freedom and the Future of U.S. Manned Space Exploration, Joseph P. Reck
The Spectrum of Protest: The Different Voices and Tones of the Literary Response to Apartheid, Elizabeth Thompson
p-Adic Groups: The Unification of Analysis, Algebra, and Topology, Tamara Trombetta
Music, Order, and Shakespeare, Pamela A. Vasile
Chaotic Dynamics and Fractal Geometry, Roy C. Vella
Theses from 1989
The Production of a Hologram, Stefan Abbruzzese
The Synthesis of Tertiary Amide Derivatives of Dibucaine for Use as Local Anesthetics, Eric R. Benson
Phaedra and Medea: The Outsiders Within, Mary M. Boehm
A Fura-Z Fluorescence Study of Calcium Concentration in MDCK and HAK Cell Cultures, Anne Marie Comi
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: A Woman's Response, Nancy M. Connolly
Changes in Southern and Northern Politics: The Creation of a Republican Presidential Majority, Brian Mark Culnan
Dance as Religious Experience, Christine S. Freemer
Industrial Restructuring: Capital Versus Community, Helen E. Holden
Shakespeare and the Female Hero: Juliet and Cleopatra, Vivian Alycia Howard
The Lie Geometry of Spheres, Michele Intermont
Are Economists Different, and If So Why?, Michael D. Irons
Grear Britain and the Spanish Civil War: The Path To Non-Intervention, Patrick G. Knight
Solzhenitzyn and Rybakov: Two Faces of Stalin, Susan MacIntyre
Reducing Shirking Through Commitment: Lessons from Labor Market Case Studies, Michael C. Matteo
Room Temperature Phosphorescence as a Method of Analysis, Luis H. Melendez
Development of an Efficient System for Quantitative Determination of Aluminun Using Immobilized Spectroscopic Reagents, Karen Ann Mills
A Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of the Cyclopentenebromonium Ion, Mishelle R. Noble
Face-to-Face: the House of Ethics, Patrick D. O'Callahan
The Things We Said Today: Protest Music of the 1960's, Michael J. Ostroskey
Selections from Rainer Maria Rikle's: "Sonnets to Orpheus": A New Translation, Douglas H. Ross
Chaos at the Convention: An Analysis of the Disorders at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Kevin S. Simon
Bootstrapping in Principal Component Analysis, Anne M. Sutherby
Beyond Adventure: The Course and Potential of Interactive Fiction, Steve Thompson
Horace: Musarum Sacerdos and the New Authority of Lyric Poetry, James A. Whelton, Jr.
The Victorian Feminine Ideal: Tension and Resolution in Dickens and Eliot, Carolyn B. White
Theses from 1988
Spectoscopic Analysis of the Oxidation and Reoxidation of the Type 1 Copper Site in Type 2 Depleted Rhus Vernicefera Laccase, Roberto Antonacci
Decision Making in the United States Government and the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb in 1945, Gregg M. Audet
The Evolution of Binary Star Systems, Brian Barnsley
Narrative Form In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, Thomas Butler
The isolation of the bicyclo[3.1.1]heptenyl cation., Timothy P. Byrne
Physicians in Nineteenth-Century American Literature: A Lens for the Past, Present, and Future, Mary Elizabeth Callie
William Graham Sumner: Social|Political Philosophy, Historical Rehabilitation, Enduring Legacy, Sean Michael Cosgrove
The Role of Religiosity in Male Role Attitudes: Assessing Strain and Stress, Rita Marie Desnoyers
Perceptions and Realities of United States Policy in the Republic of South Africa - Constructive Engagement to Constructive Confrontation-, Michele Grace Dorsey
A Place Like Cuttyhunk, Kate A. Frame
The U.S. Trade Deficit: Theory, Causes And Policy, Steven M. Gandt
The Relationship Between Society, Aging and the Elderly: Modern America's Approach, Daniel O. Gilligan
Caribbean Tourism: The Keys to Success, Joseph Issa
AsSOrTed iMaGEs: The Socio-Psychology of Being Punk, Carla Iudica
The Synthesis of 2,6-Dimethyl Phenyl, 2-Amino-3-[4-Hydroxyphenyl] Propanoate, Daniel P. Judge
Refiguring Tradition in Wordswoth's Prelude by Reading in a Certain Way, Neal Keye
The Gift of Gab: Epideictic Oratory and the Boston Irish (1844-1853), Rosemary E. Mahoney
Norman Mailer and the Novel-as-History: The Prophetic Ego of the Sixties, Thomas F. McCurrie
French Literary Humanism: 1900-1950, Robert J. Meledandri, Jr.
Laser Induced Fluorescence of Uranyl Solutions, Donna M. Russell
1969-1970: The Year that Was, Maureen M. Schouman
Modeling of Acoustic Communication in Animals, Eric Joseph Schuck
Escalation in Medical Care Costs -- A Demand and Supply Model, Michael E. Vermette
The Conflict Between Different Models of The Catholic Church in Latin America, Thomas Timothy Vogel, Jr.
Escalation in Medical Care Costs -- A Demand and Supply Model, Jennifer Zaiser
Theses from 1987
The Big Apple: An Exploration of Gender Roles in Creation/Fall Mythology, Robert Bowen
Group Influence on the Urban Renewal Policies of Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, Kenneth Brodzinski
Conversion and Faith: The Experiece of God in Daily Life, Frederick G. Bunsa
The Intramolecular Effects on the Fluorescence Properties of the Sl Excited State of Substituted Acridines, Mary A. Callery
Great White Shark Tank Design, Nicholas B. Carter
Can a Written Bill of Rights Be an Integral Part of a Solution for Northern Ireland?, Maura Donlan
Pulling Yourself Up By The Bootstrap: An Innovative Statistical Procedure, Ruth M. Eberle
The Classical Tradition at the Federal Convention of 1787: Spotlight on James Wilson of Pennsylvania and George Mason of Virginia, Catherine B. Flanagan
Northern Ireland: A Cycle of Economic Disparity and Political Conflict, Thomas J. Flynn
Frequency Modulation Synthesis on the Yamaha DX-7 Synthesizer, Robert R. Geier
Moral and Character Development at the College of the Holy Cross, George Giuliani
The Search for Godot: An Understanding of Identity in the Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett, David M. Goodman
A Placement of Scientific Meaning, Christopher J. Kelly
Finite Element Solution of the Schrödinger Equation for the Hydrogen Atom, J. Mathieu Massicotte
Adolescent Suicide: An Analysis of Adolescent Visits to an Emergency Mental Health Setting, Lori Ann Nicoletti
How Sex Role Orientations are a Factor in Ideal Target Persons' Ratings, Patricia A. Oliver