The Department of Theatre and Dance provides the opportunity for highly qualified theatre majors to graduate with Honors in Theatre Arts.
Criteria
In order to graduate with honors in Theatre Arts, a student must maintain an overall GPA and a GPA in Theatre Arts courses of 3.5 or higher. Additionally, a student must make a grade of no less than B in any of their selected 9 hours of departmental honors-designated courses to graduate with honors in Theatre Arts. To graduate with Honors in Theatre Arts, the student must satisfactorily complete:
Two honors contracts (made between the student and the professor teaching the course) in THR courses at the 3000 or 4000 level
THR 4509 Senior Honors Thesis/Project Proposal (1 s.h.)
THR 4510 Senior Honors Thesis/Project (2 s.h.)
Applying for the program
Applicants for the departmental honors program must have completed 30 semester hours including 6 semester hours in Theatre Arts with an overall GPA of 3.45 or higher. Admission to the Theatre Arts honors program is by application to, and recommendation of, the departmental theatre honors committee. Space in the program is limited, and not all students meeting the application criteria may be accepted into the program. The annual application deadline is November 1 of each year. It is recommended that students apply their sophomore year to allow more time to complete honors requirements before graduation, but applications will also be accepted during the junior year providing the student has at least three semesters remaining before graduation. To apply, fill out the online application form and ask two Theatre Arts faculty to write recommendations in support of your application and submit them on this recommendation form.
Honors contracts
Once a student has been accepted into the program, they must satisfactorily complete an honors contract in two THR courses at the 3000 or 4000 level. It is the responsibility of the Honors student to approach the instructor of a 3000 or 4000 level THR course the semester before the course is taught and ask if they may complete an honors contract for that course. If the instructor agrees, the student and instructor must fill out the contract (PDF, 240 KB) and submit a signed copy to the Theatre departmental honors director (currently Dr. Paulette Marty) by the end of the second week of the semester in which the student is enrolled in the course.
Honors Thesis/Project
Once a student has satisfactorily completed two honors contracts, they may register for THR 4509 Senior Honors Thesis/Project Proposal (1 s.h.). It is the student’s responsibility to identify an advisor for the thesis/project and work with that advisor to craft their proposal. The student must enroll in THR 4509 the semester prior to the semester in which the student plans to complete the thesis/project.
Once the student’s Senior Honors Thesis/Project Proposal has been approved by the Theatre faculty, they may register for THR 4510 Senior Honors Thesis/Project. The student may complete a research-based thesis, an independent creative project, or a creative project as part of a departmental theatre production. The honors thesis/project must include a theatre professor as an advisor and another professor from any department as a secondary advisor. Each student will craft the details of their project in consultation with their faculty thesis/project advisor and the director of the Theatre Honors Program.
Contact
For more information, contact Dr. Paulette Marty, director of the Theatre Honors Program, at martypjw@appstate.edu.