An honors thesis is an opportunity for Bowdoin students to undertake advanced independent research on a topic of their choosing during their senior year while working closely with a faculty advisor. My colleagues in History and Environmental Studies advise honors theses in a variety of fields. Below is a list of the honors projects that I've supervised, along with the names of my colleagues who served on each reading committee.
If you are interested in undertaking an honors project in either History or Environmental Studies, be sure to contact your prospective faculty advisor well in advance of the fall semester of your senior year. Look on the departmental webpages (or contact Eileen Johnson in ES or Josie Johnson in History) for specific honors requirements.
Bernstein, Jennifer I-Ling. "Outpost of Idealism: The Amalgamated Housing Cooperative and the Pursuit of a Just Society" (Honors thesis, Department of History, 2006). **Recipient of the Class of 1875 Prize in American History**
Committee members: Jill Pearlman (Co-advisor, Environmental Studies), Daniel Levine (History), and David Hecht (History)
Clark, Gordon Clement. "Against the Current: The Yakima Struggle for Native Fishing Rights in Washington State, 1850-1950" (Honors thesis, Department of History, 2003). **Recipient of the Class of 1875 Prize in American History**
Committee members: Daniel Levine (History), Allen Wells (History/Latin American Studies), and Connie Chiang (History/Environmental Studies)
Davis, Ryan Ann Moloney. "No Common Ground: Management, Politics, and Compromise in the Gulf of Maine — A Documentary Video" (Honors thesis, Environmental Studies Program, 2004).
Committee members: DeWitt John (Government/Environmental Studies) and Anne Hayden (Environmental Studies)
Hon, Jimei Louise. "Becoming Cosmopolitan: Women, Alcohol, and Class Politics in New York City, 1880-1930 (Honors thesis, Department of History, 2009).
Committee members: Jennifer Scanlon (Gender and Women's Studies), David Hecht (History), and Karen Teoh (History)
Katzen, Jeremy Binder. "'Political Smog': Edmund Muskie and the Emergence of Modern Environmental Politics" (Honors thesis, Department of History, 2004). **Co-recipient of the Class of 1875 Prize in American History**
Committee members: DeWitt John (Government/Environmental Studies), Connie Chiang (History/Environmental Studies), and Daniel Levine (History)
Lipinoga, Sarah Beth. "Managing Oil and Nature in Eden: Transculturation and Resistance among the Huaorani of Eastern Ecuador" (Honors thesis, Environmental Studies Program, 2003).
Committee members: Allen Wells (History/Latin American Studies) and Enrique Yepes (Romance Languages/Latin American Studies)
McFarlane, Wallace Scot. "The Limits of Progress: Walter Lawrance and the Shifting Terrain of Science, Pollution, and Environmental Politics on Maine's Androscoggin River, 1941-1977" (Honors thesis, Department of History, 2009). **Co-recipient of the Class of 1875 Prize in American History**
Committee members: William Taylor (Muriel McKevitt Sonne Professor Emeritus, Department of History, UC Berkeley), Sarah McMahon (History), and Aaron Windel (History)
** Published as Wallace Scot McFarlane, “Defining a Nuisance: Pollution, Science, and Environmental Politics on Maine’s Androscoggin River,” Environmental History 17, no. 2 (April 2012): 307-335.
For more about Scot's journey from honors project to peer-reviewed publication, read this article from the Bowdoin Daily Sun, "Honors Thesis by Scot McFarlane '09 Published in Top Academic Journal," posted March 30, 2012; and this blog post by Scott on the Oxford University Press website in honor of 2012 Earth Day, "Cool, Clear Waters? On Cleaning Up US Rivers," posted April 20, 2012.
McKay, Luke Joseph. “‘No Man’s Garden’: The Changing Nature of the Wilderness Idea in Maine” (Honors thesis, Environmental Studies Program, 2007).
Committee members: David Vail (Economics) and John Lichter (Biology/Environmental Studies)
Thomson, Matthew William. "'A Personal Share in This Great Contest': The Civil War and Maine’s Fessenden Family" (Honors thesis, Department of History, 2006).
Committee members: Daniel Levine (History), Rachel Sturman (History), and Connie Chiang (History/Environmental Studies)