Past Honors Theses

Below is the most current list of past honors theses. A list of honors theses dating back to 2021 is available here.

2026 Research

AuthorTitleFaculty AdvisorHonorsPrize Winner
Angulo, IsabellaBurning Down the Room: Shame and Guilt in James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s RoomNersessian, Anahidhonors
Armstrong, DanielThe Monsters and the Wizards: Influences of The Tempest upon the Works of J.R.R. TolkienLittle, Arthurhighest honors
Bretado, VickyThe Preacher’s Daughter Who Drinks Lemonade: Absorption and Conclusions in Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s DaughterBradley, Adamhonors
Colburn, IsabelPrimed Intimacy: The Inherent Violence of Hospitality Dynamics under an Affective Analytical LensHuehls, Mitchumhonors
Cooper, MalloryCruel and Casual Punishment: The Situationship in Normal People by Sally RooneyHuehls, Mitchumhighest honors
Cruz, ShirleyStill in the Casket: Reception and Queer Gendered Bias in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Sheridan Le Fanu’s CarmillaLooby, Christopherhonors
Do, MeghanIreland’s Imperfect Hero: Yeats as Love Poet and Official NationalistStefans, Brian Kimhonors
Foster, GiavannaThe ‘Gode’ of Robin Hood: Performed Courtesy, Yeomanry, Social Banditry, and Disney’s Cultural TransmissionChism, Christine; Thomas, Arvindhonors
Harris, HopeSeeing Turned Witnessing: The Use of Silent and Affective Dialogue to Evoke Transsubjective Encounters in Cut Piece and The Artist is PresentKim Lee, Summerhonors
Maturo, AugustTwo American Afterlives of Kantian Aesthetics: Dubois and PoeNersessian, Anahidhonors
Meyers, EleanorThe Bell Jar and Whiplash as Fugue States: Tortured Artists’ Pain and the Language of their StoriesDeutsch, Helenhonors
Mirzayan, TatevMedium as Meaning: The Significance of Watercolor in the Works of William BlakeMakdisi, Sareehighest honors
Murata, Robert A.The Fact of Fiction: Imagining Interiority in Petrarch, Chaucer, and SidneyWeaver, Ericahighest honors
Nassar, MaryPersonhood, the Severances, and the Possibilities of the HumanHuehls, Mitchumhonors
Nieto, AyanaThe Usylessly Unreadable Blue Book of Eccles: From Music to Language Through James Joyce’s UlyssesHornby, Louisehighest honors
Park, EllieYouth and Temptation: BTS’s 2016 Wings as a Retelling of Hermann Hesse’s 1919 DemianBradley, Adamhighest honors
Ruane, FionaGeocriticism in Depictions of the American West: An Analysis of Claire Vaye Watkin’s BattlebornFoote, Rebeccahonors
Schoenberg, ScottTo See and Be Seen: Sight, Surveillance, and Witness in Wanda Coleman’s Poetics of Los AngelesStefans, Brian Kimhighest honors Thompson Prize
Souza, Mariana De OliveiraBeasts in Circuses: Environmental Weaponization in The Hunger GamesTurner, Casshonors
Stafford, BenjaminEverything, Everywhere, All at Once: The Unraveling of Narrative from Chaucer’s World to the Digital FeedPerez-Torres, Rafaelhighest honors
Stapp, Owen“Overlooking” the American Dream: The “Gothic Child” and Trauma Theory in Stephen King’s The Shining and Doctor SleepAllmendinger, Blakehonors
Tisherman, Olivia VioletMurakami’s Mischief: Has Japanese Collectivism Gone Too Far?Lopez, Marissahonors
Vertigan, Jacob ArthurConditioned Perception: Language, Environment, and Moral Agency in Anthony Burgess and J.G. BallardRussel, Davidhonors
Yoon, HyerimI Miss You Mother: The Korean Diasporic Experience and Colonial Silencing in Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s DicteeStefans, Brian Kimhighest honors

2026 Creative

AuthorTitleFaculty AdvisorGenreHonorsPrize Winner
Ford, JordanWater.Agua.Ilik’Kim Lee, Summerresearch/creative hybrid: multi-genrehighest honors
Limeta Jimenez, BereniceA Blue StatelessnessFoote, Rebeccapoetry: poemshonors
Lin, AshleyLove StoryD’Aguiar, Fredfiction: short story collectionhighest honors
McKellar, IssyPaper DollsDeutsch, Helenfiction and poetry: collection of short stories and poemshonors
Meeker, JessicaThe ApprenticeD’Aguiar, Fredfiction: chapters from novelhighest honors
Walsh, ChristinaWhen Wrong Turns Turn WriteWilson, Reedfiction: short story collectionhonors
Wajid, FatimaDukhtarWilson, Reedhybrid: lyric narrativehighest honorsThompson Prize