Thanks for theses. Really
The Traveler Editorial Board
Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Opinion
By the final few weeks of the year, students seem stressed and exhausted no matter what their major or classification. To tackle a thesis on top of ordinary end-of-the-year anxiety probably strikes most students as preposterous, if not impossible. But, for honors students, such research is nonnegotiable. The thesis defense is just a regular rite of passage.
That doesn't mean, of course, that students with a thesis to defend don't complain about it. For much of this year, a couple of our writers couldn't have a conversation without whining about their thesis responsibilities.
But do you know what? We smiled and listened politely (a) because we know we complain all too frequently about class obligations ourselves and (b) because we see the Honors College requirement of a thesis as something to tout. Truly.
Faculty attention to undergraduates and the opportunity to research as a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior set our school apart from those universities that focus exclusively on graduate research.
Such universities purchase prestige at the price of the professional development of the young minds that arrive on their campuses eager to explore the full scope of their academic interests.
(And that sentence should only further convince columnist Greg Karber that we value alliteration over well-researched editorials because it features four p's and no sources. But we still mean it.)
Our own university, on the other hand, clearly places a premium on undergraduate potential (here we go again!).
At the UA, engineering professors invite their students to come with them to conferences in Germany, students in economics accompany their research mentors to Spain and biochemistry majors present posters across the country. And every single Honors student completes a thesis.
That means students are churning out original research in anthropology, foreign languages, philosophy, political science, psychology, sociology, even - you guessed it - journalism. The opportunities for research before graduation are unparalleled here, and we applaud faculty for making them available and students for taking advantage of them.
So, to every senior who is shivering with nervousness or strutting with cockiness about their upcoming or now-over thesis defense, we say: congratulations. You make our school better and we're proud of you.
That doesn't mean, of course, that students with a thesis to defend don't complain about it. For much of this year, a couple of our writers couldn't have a conversation without whining about their thesis responsibilities.
But do you know what? We smiled and listened politely (a) because we know we complain all too frequently about class obligations ourselves and (b) because we see the Honors College requirement of a thesis as something to tout. Truly.
Faculty attention to undergraduates and the opportunity to research as a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior set our school apart from those universities that focus exclusively on graduate research.
Such universities purchase prestige at the price of the professional development of the young minds that arrive on their campuses eager to explore the full scope of their academic interests.
(And that sentence should only further convince columnist Greg Karber that we value alliteration over well-researched editorials because it features four p's and no sources. But we still mean it.)
Our own university, on the other hand, clearly places a premium on undergraduate potential (here we go again!).
At the UA, engineering professors invite their students to come with them to conferences in Germany, students in economics accompany their research mentors to Spain and biochemistry majors present posters across the country. And every single Honors student completes a thesis.
That means students are churning out original research in anthropology, foreign languages, philosophy, political science, psychology, sociology, even - you guessed it - journalism. The opportunities for research before graduation are unparalleled here, and we applaud faculty for making them available and students for taking advantage of them.
So, to every senior who is shivering with nervousness or strutting with cockiness about their upcoming or now-over thesis defense, we say: congratulations. You make our school better and we're proud of you.
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