HONORS WORK
DEPARTMENT OF DANCE
NAME: ________________________________BOX:___________________
PHONE: ____________________________
YEAR AT OBERLIN: _______
MAJOR (S): _______________________________
ADVISOR(s): _______________________
_________________________
1.
Make sure you are thoroughly familiar with the two-page description of
the Department of Dance Honors that accompanies this application.
2.
Please include a one-page typewritten statement briefly outlining the
honors project you would like to pursue. Include a short bibliography as
well. In addition, submit a second short essay explaining why you feel
qualified to undertake this project. (Before deciding upon a topic, it is
advisable to discuss your interest in the Honors program with Ann
Cooper Albright, director of Honors for Dance).
3.
Please contact two faculty members (one from the Department of
Dance, one from outside the Department) who are familiar with your work and
ask them to write a recommendation for you evaluating your ability to do
honors level work.
4.
Include a 10-12 page graded essay as a sample of your writing.
5.
Print a copy of your transcript from Presto and include with your
proposal.
6.
Please return this application and all supporting documents to the
Department of Dance Administrative Assistant, Janice Sanborn, Warner
Center 100. If you do use the Warner Center Drop box for weekend
submissions, please email Janice Sanborn.
Honors Program
Department of Dance
The honors program is designed to afford outstanding senior majors in Dance an opportunity to
undertake complex and sophisticated independent creative and scholarly projects under the
sponsorship of a dance faculty. These can include either: 1) an advanced-level choreography, or
2) a research thesis in dance studies, criticism and/or theory resulting in a substantial written
thesis, or a combination of the two. Advanced level and creative projects in dance performance,
choreography, directing, and design must also include a significant written reflection.
Admission to the Honors Program
During the second semester of their junior year, all Dance majors are invited to consider
application for honors with the deadlines for application circulated well in advance. Admission
to the program is based on the following requirements: 1) that the student have a minimum 3.0
average in the major; 2) that the student has found a Department faculty advisor qualified and
willing to sponsor the project (assuming the student is ultimately given permission to undertake
the project); and 3) that the proposal submitted by the student is deemed to be of honors quality
and, in the case of a creative project; that there is sufficient budget, rehearsal and performance
space and technical support to effectively complete the project. Decisions to admit students to
the honors program are made by a joint committee of Dance faculty. Students are advised of
these decisions before the end of the semester in which they apply.
Requirements for the Completion of Honors
1. During the senior year, the student will enroll in Honors for up to a total of six academic credit
hours (over the two semester—to be divided in any way the student chooses).
2. Early in the first semester of the senior year, the student and the faculty advisor will arrive at
clear understandings about goals and expectations for the project and a timetable for completion.
3. Students engaged in critical scholarship must complete a substantial written thesis of
approximately 60 to 90 pages in length. Students involved in a creative project must also
complete a written essay related to the project of approximately 20 to 25 pages.
4. Honors work will be evaluated by an examining committee consisting of the student’s Honors
advisor and two other faculty members, including a faculty member from outside the dance
department. At least two of the three members of the examining committee must be selected
from the Dance faculty. The faculty Honors advisor will select the other two members of the
examining committee in consultation with the student. In addition to reading and evaluating the
written work and viewing the performance (in the case of creative projects) the examining
committee will conduct an oral examination of the honors candidate. The oral examination will
be confined to questions regarding the written thesis and/or creative project and will not be a
comprehensive oral examination over the student’s major field of study. The examination will
be chaired by the student’s honors advisor and should last no more than one hour. At the
conclusion of the oral examination, the examining committee will decide upon whether or not to
recommend the student for “honors” and if so the degree of honors to be received (Honors, High
Honors, Highest Honors). Such designations will follow the general guidelines set forth by the
College’s Committee on Honors as described in the Course Catalog. The Honors faculty advisor
has sole discretion in assigning the letter grade to the six hours earned in the Honors course.
5. The recommendation(s) of the honors examining committee(s) will be conveyed immediately
to the Chair of Dance for submission in appropriate form to the College Honors Committee.
These formal recommendations must be in the hands of the College Honors committee by the
beginning of the last week of classes (approximately May 9 or 10). In order to meet that
deadline, it is necessary for all written work (with three clean copies for members of the
examining committee) and all creative project performances to be completed at least one week
before the oral examination takes place and in time to submit the results to the College Honors
Committee. Typically, that means that all honors work must be completed a full three weeks
before the end of the semester.
6. The College Committee on Honors makes the final determination of degrees of honors
awarded (almost always in agreement with program and departmental recommendations and
these decisions are not revealed to the student until Commencement where they are printed in the
Commencement Program.