Honors in Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies

FIGS Majors may apply for honors in the fall semester of senior year. At this point, they must have a minimum GPA of 3.3 overall and 3.5 in the FIGS Major to qualify for honors.

To apply for honors, qualified majors must meet with the Undergraduate Chair to discuss their plans and identify faculty members whose area of expertise would be relevant for the honors research project. Once a faculty member has agreed to serve as advisor and the Undergraduate Chair has approved the candidate, the candidate must register for the honors course in their concentration for the spring semester of senior year:

  • French and Francophone: FREN 4000
  • Italian: ITAL 4000
  • German: GRMN 4000

The honors research project must be in the target language.

  • Research papers must be approximately 30-40 pages in length. 
  • Other formats (performances, creative writing, digital projects, public-facing projects, translation/edition) will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

FIGS Majors with a dual concentration may elect to complete an honors research project in either of their two languages. On an exceptional basis, a FIGS Major with a dual concentration may complete an honors research project in multiple languages.

FREN/ITAL/GRMN 4000 counts as 1 c.u. toward the concentration electives.

To be granted honors, students must receive a grade of A- or higher in FREN/ITAL/GRMN 4000. Students who receive a grade lower than A- will receive credit for the course, but will not be granted honors.