Graduation with Distinction

We encourage all majors to pursue graduation with distinction by writing a thesis. You can earn one of three levels of recognition for your work: Distinction, High Distinction, and Highest Distinction. A departmental committee will determine the level of distinction on the basis of the oral examination, the conduct of the research, and the quality of the written thesis. This committee will include your supervising professor and two other faculty members from the department.

Eligibility

  • French Majors: minimum 3.3 GPA overall, 3.3 in the major
  • Italian Major: minimum 3.3 GPA overall, 3.3 in the major
  • Portuguese Major: 3.3 GPA overall, 3.3 in the major
  • Romance Studies Major: 3.3 GPA overall, 3.3 in the major
  • Spanish Major: minimum 3.3 GPA overall, 3.5 in the major

Your grade point average must be sustained until graduation.

How to Apply

Students interested in pursuing graduation with distinction should obtain more information and submit an application to the Program Coordinator in Room 219A in the Languages Building. You need to complete the application no later than the end of registration for the fall semester of your senior year. You must also approach the professor who will supervise your thesis work to discuss your project and obtain approval from the director of undergraduate studies.

Application Form

 

During the spring of your junior year, you will choose your topic and register for a research independent study course, conducted in the target language, for the fall semester of your senior year. Complete the research independent study form in consultation with your supervising professor. The application for graduation with distinction requires the signatures of faculty members who will be serving on your thesis committee and is due during this registration period. In your senior year, you will register for the Honors Thesis for the spring semester and write your thesis under the direction of your supervising professor.

Courses:

Major
Fall Semester
Senior Year
Spring Semester
Senior Year
French FRENCH 493 - Research Independent Study FRENCH 495 - Honors Thesis
Italian ITALIAN 493 - Research Independent Study ITALIAN 495 - Honors Thesis
Portuguese PORTUGUE 493 - Research Independent Study PORTUGUE 495 - Honors Thesis
Romance Studies ROMST 393 - Research Independent Study ROMST 495 - Honors Thesis
Spanish SPANISH 493 - Research Independent Study SPANISH 496 - Honors Thesis

Thesis Product

Your thesis, offered in support of candidacy for graduation with distinction, will be a written document of approximately 40 pages in length.

Evaluation Process

You will defend your thesis (in the foreign language of your major) before the committee no later than the last day of classes. The defense will be conducted orally and usually lasts approximately 45 minutes to an hour.

Thesis Projects

All departmental honors theses that have been digitally submitted to Duke University Libraries may be found here.

Previous Thesis Projects

Graduation with Highest Distinction:

Stephen Atkinson, French Studies
Advisor: Anne-Gaëlle Saliot
Honors Thesis: Discipline décadente et stylistique de l’existence dans la littérature française, 1884-1922

Audrey Costley, French Studies
Advisor: Deb Reisinger
Honors Thesis: Cajun, Créole, et CODOFIL : La politique et la planification linguistique en Louisiane

Daniel Sutton, Linguistics, Italian & European Studies
Advisor: Luciana Fellin
Honors Thesis: Language and the Gendered Self: Unraveling the Framework of Gender in the Italian Language

Graduation with Distinction:

Gwyneth Bernier, Graduation with Distinction Outside the Major
Advisor: Anne-Gaëlle Saliot
Honors Thesis: « L’œuvre de ma vie » : Une exploration neuro-génétique de l’évolution de l’épilepsie non traitée dans La Tentation de Saint Antoine de Gustave Flaubert

Graduation with Distinction:

Joshua Coopersmith, French Studies
Advisor: Anne-Gaëlle Saliot, Stephen Smith
Honors Thesis: Au Revoir Paris, Bonjour Pékin en Afrique Francophone?

Graduation with High Distinction:

Alexander Kelly, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Liliana Paredes
Honors Thesis: Vulnerabilidad de lenguas en Durham, NC: un análisis geolingüístico y socioeconómico

Anna Lytchakov, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Joan Clifford
Honors Thesis: Las actitudes e interacciones entre los médicos y la comunidad hispana: Un estudio de caso de Durham, NC

Graduation with Highest Distinction:

Azana Green, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Rukmini Balu, Rosa Solorzano
Double Honors Thesis: Equity in Healthcare Access: Using Cultural Competency Training to Bridge the Gap between Providers and Latino Patients in Durham, NC

Brian Linder, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Joan Clifford
Honors Thesis: La Promoción de la Salud en Intibucá, Honduras: Empoderamiento, Conexión Comunitaria, Confianza en Atención Hondureña

Graduation with Distinction:

Maire-Line Lochard, French Studies
Advisor: Deborah Jenson
Honors Thesis: L’Expérience Royale d’Henry Christophe en Haïti: The Royal Ideology and Aesthetics of Monarchy under Haitian King Henry Christophe

Graduation with Highest Distinction:

Jachike Ndubuisi, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Liliana Paredes
Honors Thesis: Usos de SER/ESTAR en los foros de discusión lingüística: la pragmática de la interacción entre aspecto verbal y clases semánticas

Alex Raghunandan, French Studies
Advisor: Deborah Jenson
Double Honors Thesis: An Analysis of French and English Indo-Caribbean Literary Depictions of Indentured Servitude and Its Associated Neurological Implications

Graduation with Distinction:

Savannah Norman, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Gustavo Furtado
Double Honors Thesis: Assessing the Evaluation Methods of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Latin American Compact Projects

Graduation with High Distinction:

Carter Lovvorn, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Joan Clifford
Thesis: Diferencias y disparidades de salud para la comunidad hispana en Durham

Graduation with Distinction:

Elayne Wang, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Joan Clifford
Thesis: El acceso a la atención dental: Las experiencias de la comunidad hispana en el Triángulo de Carolina del Norte

Graduation with Highest Distinction:

Tyler Goldberger, Spanish Studies
Advisor: José María Rodríguez García
Double Honors Thesis: Making Memory Matter: The Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica and Spain’s Efforts to Reclaim the Past

Michael Steven Gulcicek, French Studies
Advisors: Anne-Gaëlle Saliot, Supervisor; Deborah Jenson, Co-Director
Honors Thesis: Le Butō et le choix de la chair : les influences françaises sur la quête ontologique de la "danse des ténèbres"

Ivana Premasinghe, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Liliana Paredes
Honors Thesis: Patient-Physician Interactions with Minority Communities

Julie Uchitel, French Studies
Advisors: Deborah Jenson, Anne-Gaëlle Saliot
Honors Thesis:  L'Épilepsie comme "crise" de la conscience: Perspectives narratives, philosophiques, et neuroscientifiques 

Graduation with High Distinction:

Joshua Neuhaus, Romance Studies
Advisor: Gustavo Furtado
Thesis: A Música Tropicália: Três Histórias, Um Movimento (Tropicalia Music: Three Stories, One Movement)

Graduation with Highest Distinction:

Madeline Thornton, French Studies
Advisor: Deb Reisinger
Double Honors Thesis: Maternal and Reproductive Health Experiences of Francophone Refugee Women Living in Durham, North Carolina

Graduation with Distinction:

Victoria Johnson, French Studies
Advisor: Helen Solterer
Thesis: L'art et la terreur dans l'après-attentats, Paris 2015 – Fred Le Chevalier et Renald Luzier

Jailene Vazquez, Romance Studies (Graduation with Distinction in a Field Outside the Student's Major)
Advisor: Michele Longino
Thesis: Fictionalized Italian Gender Relations Through Ferrante and Ammaniti

Graduation with Highest Distinction:

Emily Aarons, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Joan Clifford
Thesis: Comunicación y confianza: La influencia cultural en la comunicación entre doctores y pacientes latinos en Durham

Lydia Bradford, Romance Studies
Advisor: Deborah Jenson
Thesis: Lavi pwezi kreyòl ayisyen soti nan lane 1975 rive 2000: yon vitrin idantite ak rezistans lengwistik

Benjamin Brissette, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Elvira Vilches
Thesis: La República de las Letras: De escribanos y letrados a escribientes y lectores 

Daniel Lam, French Studies
Advisor: Julie Tetel
Thesis: Une perspective non-créoliste de la complexité des créoles: Une analyse comparative de la complexité cachée en créole haïtien et en vietnamien

Vania Ma, Spanish Studies
Advisor: Richard Rosa
Thesis: Come be my guest (or not): National Identity, Hospitality, and Construction of a Literary Genealogy of Haitian-Dominican Bordering Ideologies in Three Dominican Foundational Fictions

Hannah Morris, French Studies
Advisor: Helen Solterer
Thesis: Une Biographie Critique de Marie-Thérèse Eyquem : Pionnière du Sport, du Féminisme, et de la Politique

Graduation with High Distinction:

Benjamin Scharf, French Studies
Advisor: Laurent Dubois
Thesis: La marchandisation de vin Bordelais: Comment l'histoire a changé l'industrie de vin en Bordeaux

Graduation with Highest Distinction:

Quinn Holmquist, Romance Studies
Advisor: Laurent Dubois
Thesis: Strange Chains: How Language Keeps non-English Speakers Out of the Justice System - Or Locks Them In

Laurie Hwang, French Studies
Advisor: Deborah Jenson
Double Honors Thesis: Ceci n’est pas une pipe: A Comparison of French and U.S. Health Research on the Neurodevelopmental and Epigenetic Effects of Tobacco Exposure on Vulnerable Populations

Graduation with Distinction:

Liliana Fiorenti, French Studies
Advisor: 
Michele Longino
Thesis: L'ouverture sociale pour les minorites visibles en France et aux Etats Unis

Leasly Salazar, Spanish Studies
Advisor: 
Richard Rosa
Thesis: Modernidad/Tradicion Mexicana

Graduation with High Distinction:

Victor Chen, French Studies
Advisor: 
Michele Longino
Thesis: Le luxe du declin: Perspectives hierarchiques et historiques

Daniel Stublen, French Studies
Advisor: 
Helen Solterer
Thesis: La mecanique et contexte historique de l'affaire Dieudonne

Graduation with Highest Distinction:

Giulia Caterni, French Studies
Advisor: 
Michele Longino
Thesis: Berenice: Racine, Corneille, et l'evolution d'une oeuvre

Alexis Pearce, Spanish Studies
Advisor: 
José María RodrÍguez García
Thesis: La novela del Cono Sur frente a las crisis de los derechos humanos: forma y responsabilidad narrativa (1973-2000)

Alexis Stanley, French Studies
Advisor: 
Anne-Gaëlle Saliot
Thesis: Du corps eclaire au corps enseveli: metamorphoses du corps fictif dans la danse classique entre le siecle des Lumieres et l'epoque romantique

Graduation with High Distinction:

Nicholas Dernbach Ashur, Spanish Studies
Advisor: 
Joan Clifford
Thesis: Nuevas maneras de compartir: La voz latina en narrativas de pacientes del VIH/SIDA

Christina Amber Smith, Romance Studies
Advisor: 
Deborah Jenson
Thesis: Nursing Education in Haiti

Graduation with Distinction:

Brittany Nicole Coleman, French Studies
Advisor: Deborah Jenson
Thesis: Séduction, Politique et Vie Privée: L’Affaire DSK, un Catalyseur Social dans La France Contemporaine

High Distinction:

Joseph S. Kim; French Studies
Advisor: Laurent Dubois
Thesis: L’élève a donné la leçon au maître: Senegal vs. France in the 2002 World Cup

Anna Lynn Gravier; Spanish Studies
Advisor: Liliana Paredes
Thesis: Empowerment, Ethics and Intercultural Competence in Short-Term Medical Missions in the Dominican Republic

Highest Distinction:

Lauren Alicia Dixon; French Studies
Advisor: Anne-Gaëlle Saliot and Anne Garréta
Thesis: Hervé Guibert: Prophète, Saint et Martyr

Lauren Williams Niculescu; Italian Studies
Advisor: Martin Eisner
Thesis: Rifeo: Un’Immagine della Giustizia, Roma, e Dante

Nelly-Ange Tchouatang Kontchou; Italian & Spanish Studies
Advisors: Luciana Fellin and Richard Rosa
Thesis: A Comparative Sociological Investigation of the Conceptions and Perceptions of Mental Health and Illness in Arica, Chile and Rome, Italy

Jennifer Rose Denike; Romance Studies
Advisor: Deborah Jenson
Thesis: A History of the Early Haitian Medical Establishment: Slaves to Doctors in Haiti

Anne Oliver McDonough, Romance Studies
Advisor: Deborah Jenson
Thesis: Pèdisyon and Indispozisyon: Reproductive Illness and Embodied Experience in Haiti

Evan Michael Leon; Spanish Studies
Advisor: Richard Rosa
Thesis: Límites y Linderos: Una interpretación decolonial de los conflictos territoriales en la Región Norte de Esmeraldas durante los finales del siglo XIX