Honors Program

The Visual and Media Arts Practice honors program recognizes the most distinguished majors, who complete an advanced course of study, culminating in honors thesis.

Eligibility and Admission

In order to be eligible, students must have completed 24 units overall and at least seven units toward the Visual and Media Arts Practice major. These classes will include both art history surveys (ART 121 and ART 122), studio foundation classes (ARTS 105 and 106) and advanced studio seminar by the end of the junior year, with the overall grade and major grade point average of at least 3.5 and be recommended by at least one full time faculty member in the department.

Applications for departmental honors will include:

  • A one-page letter of interest from the student, including details of how the program requirements will be met
  • A letter of nomination from a faculty member in the Department of Art and Art History
  • The student’s transcript
  • 10 examples of student artwork (JPEG or Quicktime files on a CD or DVD)
  • One-page statement about the work submitted

Applications will be evaluated by art and art history full time faculty. Students must submit an application to the chair of the department by March 1 of the junior year. The department will submit the application to the faculty committee on the honors program by March 15 of the junior year.

Program requirements:

  • Research project completed in the summer before senior year and equivalent or greater in scope of work to ARTS 360, Advanced Studio Seminar, taken in spring of the junior year.
  • ARTS 465 Thesis: Portfolio Development, completed with distinction.
  • A successful completion of ARTS 475 Honors Studio Project in the senior year.
  • ARTS 466 Senior Exhibition, completed with distinction.

Proposal for the honors studio project topic must be approved before the end of the spring semester of the junior year, at which time the candidate must identify a thesis advisor and two secondary faculty advisors (at least one of the secondary advisers must be from art history faculty).

Honors students are required to meet weekly with their thesis advisors in order to discuss the necessary library, web, museum and gallery research and to discuss their progress. Honors students must successfully present and defend their project before a committee of their advisors, present their research at the Arts and Sciences Research Symposium in April of the senior year and submit a digital portfolio of their work along with a five-page statement about the work.

Earning departmental honors requires students to complete four units of honors course work and 12 units of studio art major credit (two out of four honors units are counted in 11 units of studio art major credit) in the following manner:

  • Research project completed in the summer before senior year and equivalent or greater in scope of work to ARTS 360, Advanced Studio Seminar, taken in spring of the junior year.
  • ARTS 465 Thesis: Portfolio Development, completed with distinction;
  • A successful completion of ARTS 475 Honors Studio Project in the senior year.
  • ARTS 466 Senior Exhibition, completed with distinction.