An Honors Enrichment Contract (HEC) is an opportunity to pursue focused and customized pre-thesis work in the form of a readings and research project with a faculty member. Students need not have a fully defined thesis topic, but they should have identified an area of interest that may lead to a thesis.
The goal of this HEC option is to provide students the opportunity to begin to delve deeply into the area of their thesis, thereby beginning to develop a thesis topic or undertaking further work if a topic has been identified. Students should carefully plan the semester of their HEC so that a faculty member with expertise in the area of intended research is available to work with them. Ideally, this faculty member will then serve as their thesis adviser.
Requirements and Criteria of the Readings and Research HEC
As with the other HEC options, this HEC will require the student to submit a contract request form to the College of Arts and Sciences outlining, following consultation with the faculty sponsor, the work the student will need to complete to receive the 3-credit of Honors Enrichment and the method of assessment.
HCOL 3883 will be assigned 3 credits and evaluated with a letter grade (A-F)
Choosing a faculty mentor for the Readings and Research HEC
The work pursued as part of this HEC should relate to the area and or topics the student potentially plans to explore as part of the senior-year honors thesis. Students should think about working with a faculty sponsor who has expertise in this general idea. Ideally, this faculty member should be someone who will become the thesis advisor.
Students are urged to remember that the guidelines for the Honors Thesis in the College of Arts and Sciences specify that “Only Professors, Associate Professors, or Assistant Professors in the College of Arts and Sciences can be thesis supervisors. Lecturers, instructors, or faculty from other UVM colleges do not qualify.” Information about a faculty member’s status can be found by looking the faculty member up in the UVM Directory.
Just as with the other HEC Options, students seeking to pursue the Readings and Research HEC should approach faculty in a timely, respectful manner and with the recognition that faculty members are not obligated to supervise an HEC.
Approval of the HEC
In the semester prior to pursuing the HEC (and at the very latest, before the end of Add/Drop of the semester in which the HEC is being pursued), students and their faculty mentors will submit the electronic HEC request (online MS Form in right side-bar) to the College of Arts and Sciences.
Please read the requirements carefully.
Any and all questions pertaining to these requirements should be directed to ashonors@uvm.edu or 656-3344