Honors Program
The Department of Romance Languages & Literatures offers both its eligible majors and minors the possibility of pursuing an honors program in the final year of their studies.
Students in the Honors Program will conduct research under the guidance of a faculty member on a topic related to their work in a single Romance Languages & Literatures undergraduate / graduate seminar (or an undergraduate-only seminar for Hispanic Studies minors). Students may continue research begun in a seminar taken before the senior year or they may begin their research in a seminar taken in the Fall of the senior year. In either case, the student will need to obtain the support of the relevant faculty member on an agreed topic. All projects, a 20-page paper for RLL majors or a 15-paper for RLL minors, must be completed and submitted by February 15 of the Spring semester of the senior year. RLL minors must also take a seventh course to receive Honors.
In order to qualify for Honors, students must have a GPA of 3.6 in French, Italian and Hispanic Studies. Students interested in participating in the RLL Honors program should contact the RLL Honors Program Director (rll@bc.edu) and the faculty member with whom they want to work. Students can apply to the program in the Spring semester of their junior year or the Fall semester of their senior year. Applications are available in the Department of Romance Languages office in Lyons 304 and they must be completed by September 20 in the student’s senior year.
A meeting for all RLL Honors Students will be scheduled in October of the senior year for an informal discussion of the early stages of research. Another meeting, to be scheduled in late February, will allow students to share the results of their projects.
Pi Delta Phi, the National French Honor Society
The Lambda Psi chapter of Pi Delta Phi was established at Boston College in 1997. The activities of the Lambda Psi chapter have as their goal to promote a greater awareness of French and Francophone culture at Boston College. Over the past decade, the Lambda Psi chapter has grown to include many of the University's most promising undergraduate and graduate students. Faculty, librarians, administrators and alumni who have distinguished themselves through their scholarship and their love of French culture have also been accorded honorary membership.
Gamma Kappa Alpha, the National Italian Honor Society
Gamma Kappa Alpha seeks to recognize outstanding scholastic performance in the fields of Italian language, culture and literature, to encourage students to acquire a greater interest in and understanding of the Italian language, culture, and society, and to help others appreciate and enjoy the culture of Italy and the Italian language. The Boston College chapter was established in Fall 2009. Majors and Minors in Italian Studies in good academic standing can apply for active membership in the society.
Sigma Delta Pi, the National Hispanic Honor Society
A BC Chapter is currently in the process of being created.
2016
Jennifer Marie Heine: "'You've got the key of the street': Dickens as a Picaresque Writer" Thesis Directors: Prof. Elisa Rhodes and Professor James Najarian (English Dept).
Andrew S. Lizon: "Visioni dell’uomo moderno in relazione alla società moderna: Un’esplorazione ecocritica della letteratura e del cinema italiano." Thesis Director: Prof. Mattia Acetoso.
Andrew Marchesani: "Paris: une modernité déterminée." Thesis Director: Prof. Joseph Breines.
2015
Daniel Joseph Cattolica: "Alla ricerca dell’impegno: un’indagine sui gialli camilleriani e il mondo del Commissario Montalbano." Thesis Director: Prof. Mattia Acetoso.
Thomas Monaghan: "Alive and Well: Contextualizing Medical Pluralism in Guatemala." Thesis Director: Prof. David Stuart (Univ. of Texas/Austin).
Michelle Principi: “Eh, via, sì, sono pazzo!”: Rappresentazioni teatrali e cinematografiche della follia in Enrico IV." Thesis Director: Prof. Laurie Shepard.
Michelle Tomassi: "From Alter Ego to Alter Locus: The Foundations of Italian and American Auteur Cinema." Thesis Director: Prof. Mattia Acetoso.
2014
Kaitlyn Quaranta: “La femme qui s’efface chez André Gide." Thesis Director: Professor Kevin Newmark.
2013
Mary Goetz: "Translating Cultural Memory: French and English D-Day Narratives at the Memorial Museum of Caen." Thesis Director: Prof. Joseph Breines.
Sydney West: "Representaciones de la Malinche en las narrativas de la conquista: une nueva perspectiva en el siglo XXI." Thesis Director: Prof. Sarah Beckjord.
2012
Ryan Crane: "Ser un gringo en México: El significado de la frontera en El gringo viejo de Carlos Fuentes y Todos los hermosos caballos de Cormac McCarthy." Thesis Director: Prof. Ernesto Livon-Grossman.
Courtney Finkel: "A Dictator’s Downfall: Consequences of Legitimizing Absolute Power." Thesis Director: Prof. Irene Mizrahi.
Michael Phelan: "La huella de un tirano: un análisis literario de la dictatura de Augosto Pinochet y el reino de terror in Chile" Thesis Director: Porf. Harry Rosser.
2011
Rosemary Bailey: “Baudelaire's Modernity." Thesis Director: Prof. Kevin Newmark.
Danielle Castelli: “Comment peut-on être français?: Lessons from Paris." Thesis Director: Prof. Ourida Mostefai.
Victoria Farell: "Jean Giono's Pan Trilogy: Spirituality Inspired by Nature in Rural Provence." Thesis Director: Prof. Matilda Bruckner.
Jill Forgash: "Une révolte cinématique: An Existential Look at the French New Wave Cinema of Godard and Truffaut"
Thesis Director: Prof. Kevin Newmark.
Kathryn Goettl: "Mythologies alimentaires: Assortiment d'amuse-gueules sur la gastronomie française." Thesis Director: Prof. Ourida Mostefai.
Laura Zapata: “Análisis comparativo de la Historia Oficial, “El Reportaje” y “La Siesta del Martes.” Thesis Director: Prof. Irene Mizrahi.
2010
Claire Duggan: “Immigration from Senegal to France: The Experience of Senegalese Women.” Thesis Director: Prof. Régine Jean-Charles.
Katharine C. Moore: “The Heroine’s Misfortunes: Seduction, Desire and Fate in a Comparison of ‘Claire d’Albe’ by Sophie Cottin and ‘Julie, ou la Nouvelle Héloïse’ by Jean Jacques Rousseau." Thesis Director: Prof. Ourida Mostefai.
Stephen Rice: “New Age Dictatorship in Latin America: The Dominion of Daniel Ortega." Thesis Director: Prof. Irene Mizrahi.
2009
Samantha Steverman: “Happiness Revisited: What the Enlightenment Novel Can Teach Us About Happiness Today.” ("Perspectives" Program Honors). Thesis Director: Prof. Ourida Mostefai.
Hannah Donoghue: “Modelos de representación en las películas de inmigración." Thesis Director: Prof. Elizabeth Rhodes.
Alexander Ramos: “The Children's Stories of Horacio Quiroga." Thesis Director: Prof. Harry Rosser.
Anastasia Semel: "Fathers and Sons: An Analysis of the Paternal-Filial Relationship from Calderon's 17th Century La vida es sueno to Barroso's 20th Century film Extasis." Thesis Director: Prof. Irene Mizrahi.
2008
Stacy Brown: “Curanderismo: Teresa Urrea and the Legacy of Dissent.” Thesis Director: Prof. Dwayne Carpenter.
Jessica Fuller: “Estamos en este país: Motivations for English Acquisition among Adult Latino ESOL Students.” Thesis Director: Prof. Beckjord.
Julie Bulman: “L’habit en révolution: Mode et vêtements dans la France d’ancien régime.” Thesis Director: Prof. Ourida Mostefai.
2007
Kaelin Grant: “Les Planches Courbes by Yves Bonnefoy.” Thesis Director: Prof. Kevin Newmark.
Katie Jarvis: “Allez, Marchez, Braves Citoyennes: A Study of the Popular Origins of, and the Political and Judicial Reactions to, the October Days of the French Revolution.” Thesis Directors: Prof. Paul Spagnoli (History Dept.) and Prof. Ourida Mostefai. Winner of the McCarthy Prize for Best "Scholar of the College" Project, April 2007.
2006
Sarah Carmody: “Called to Unity: Language Perfection, Propagation, and Practice in France, from Louis XIII to the Third Republic.” Thesis Directors: Prof. Virginia Reinburg (History Dept) and Prof. Ourida Mostefai. Winner of the McCarthy Prize for Best "Scholar of the College" Project, April 2006.
Julianne Marley: “Democracy in Algeria? ‘Secular’ Authoritarianism and the Rise of the Islamic Movement.” (International Studies Major). Thesis Director: Prof. Ourida Mostefai.
Christian Coleman: “La España posmoderna hecha esperpéntica: El cine de Pedro Almodóvar.” Thesis Director: Prof. Catherine Wood-Lange.
Laura Donovan: “Punishment and Social Contract in El Burlador de Sevilla and La vida es sueño.” Thesis Director: Prof. Dwayne Carpenter.
Anthony Gutiérrez: “El placer en la cultura posmoderna española: Quim Monzó’s El por qué de las cosas and Pedro Almodóvar’s Hable con ella.” Thesis Director: Prof. Irene Mizrahi.
Sarah Hebl: “La representación de la voz marginada en Alambrista and María Full of Grace.” Thesis Director: Prof. Elizabeth Rhodes.
Zina Varelas: “La homosexualidad en el cine posfranquista de Eloy de la Iglesia.” Thesis Director: Prof. Christopher Wood.
2005
Mary Christy Slavik: “Les caricatures dans la représentation de la femme sous la commune de Paris.” Thesis Director: Prof. Ourida Mostefai.
Elizabeth Fox: “Maurice Blanchot and the Murmur at the Heart of Literature.” (Winner of the McCarthy Prize in the Humanities for Best "Scholar of the College" Project, April 2005.) Thesis Director: Prof. Kevin Newmark.
Sarah Mailander: “The Virgin in the Drug Market: Maria Full of Grace.” Thesis Director: Prof. Elizabeth Rhodes.
Emily Meador: “Immigration, Reality and Fiction: The Texas Border and Álvarez, Escandón, Nova y Tomás" Thesis Director: Prof. Harry Rosser.
2004
Kate Bryan: “Integrating Immigrant Muslim Women in Western Democratic Societies.” (International Studies Independent Project). Thesis Director: Prof. Ourida Mostefai.
Travor Wolfe: “Cuentos en extranjero.” (Creative Writing University Honors Program). Thesis Director: Prof. Elizabeth Rhodes.
2003
Claire A. Julian: “La Leçon de l’antiaméricanisme français: une exploration de l'identité américaine à l'égard de la France.” Thesis Director: Prof. James Flagg.
Caitlin Sullivan: “Le Métissage en Haïti: Un discours culturel et littéraire.” Thesis Director: Prof. Kevin Newmark.
2002
Charlotte Haygood: “L'Écriture de l'Holocauste.” Thesis Director: Prof. Kevin Newmark.
Melissa Calvo: “La vie quotidienne des femmes des Lumières: Progrès et préjugés dans les idées sur la famille et l'éducation des femmes.” Thesis Director: Prof. Ourida Mostefai.
Siobhán McGarry: “Le Français restera-t-il français?.” Thesis Director: Prof. James Flagg.
Jane M. Kalista: “Dangerous Demoniacs: Possession, Ritual, and Politics in Sixteenth-Century France.” Thesis Directors: Professor Virginia Reinburg (History Dept.) and Prof. Ourida Mostefai. Winner of the McCarthy Prize for Best "Scholar of the College" Project, April 2002.
Amy J. Harrelson: “Le Vol: Une Etude de La Vagabonde de Colette." Thesis director: Prof. Kevin Newmark.
Please note that we are still in the process of compiling complete data for the years 1986-2000; not all theses for these years are listed below.
2001
Yamil Jaskille: “Miguel de Unamuno y el Destino Final de la Vida: Muerte o Salvacion Eterna”
Thesis Director: Professor Mizrahi
Katherine Anderson: “Femmes violées et prisons violentes: les voix silencieuses de la guerre d’Algérie dans les écrits de Benjamin Stora et d’Assia Djebar”
Thesis Director: Professor Mostefai
Diana Bolling: “Remaking a Culture: Analyzing Cultural Differences through Film”
Thesis Director: Professors Valette and Michalczyk
Kristin Brandt: “El exilio: dos pasos en la búsqueda de la identidad”
Thesis Director: Professor Rhodes
Michel Fernández Pérez: “La estética del doble sentido: análisis de la dualidad lírico-política del discurso del 'yo' poético en la obra de Silvio Rodríguez y Domínguez”
Thesis Director: Professor Rosser
2000
Daniell Buchholz: “‘Entremos más adentro en la espesura’: Un estudio comparativo de la poesía de Juan de la Cruz, Teresa de Ávila, y Luis de León”
Thesis Director: Professor Rhodes
Kelly Moudy: “Chateaubriand et René”
Thesis Director: Professor Norman Araujo
1999
Karen Blanton: “El tratamiento de los indios bolivianos en las obras de Alcides Arguedas”
Thesis Director: TBD
Rebecca Foy: “El tema de la ilusión en Las historias de la Artámila"
Thesis Director: Professor Mizrahi
Beatriz Kim: “La discriminación justa en las "Siete Partidas" de Alfonso X, el Sabio”
Thesis Director: TBD
Lori Leonovicz: “El personaje de San Manuel a la luz de otras obras de Miguel de Unamuno”
Thesis Director: TBD
Cathryn Simard: “Tocqueville's Individualism in Modern American Democracy”
Thesis Director: Professor Mostefai
1998
Cristina Arespacochaga: “El Hombre y sus circunstancias en cuatro obras de Antonio Buero Vallejo”
Thesis Director: Professor Mizrahi
Annette Fay: “La condition humaine dans une ancienne colonie française: le Mali”
Thesis Director: Professor Nelly Rosenberg
Matthew Russell Hand: “El surrealismo en Piedra de Sol de Octavio Paz”
Thesis Director: Professor Mizrahi
Warren Schmidt: “Los gitanos en Cervantes y Lorca”
Thesis Director: Professors Mizrahi and Ojeda
1997
Eva Castaing: “Stratégie rhétorique dans les Pensées de Pascal et La Chute de Camus”
Thesis Director: TBD
1996
Gabriel Barreneche: “El problema del indígena visto por tres pensadores ecuatorianos: Julio Moreno, Pio Jaramillo Alvarado, y Jorge Icaza”
Thesis Director: TBD
Siobhan Virginia Hammer: “La voz del pueblo, Jorge Icaza: Cómo el autor presenta la comunidad indígena por sus obras literarias”
Thesis Director: TBD
Boris Jaskille: “¿Quién soy? And where do I belong? ... La experiencia newyorrican reflejada en la literatura puertorriqueña”
Thesis Director: Professor Rosser
Nancy MacElhiney: “La societé en crise dans le Maghreb: Le regard que les romanciers français et maghrebins ont porté envers la guerre de libération en Algérie”
Thesis Director: Professors Nelly Rosenberg and Jeff Flagg
Kristen Odlum: “Los personajes femeninos en el cine de Almodóvar”
Thesis Director: Professor Mizrahi
Stéphanie Perrotti: “La renaissance de la féminite vers le Bonheur”
Thesis Director: Professor Bold
1995
Manisha H. Bhatt: “From Criticism to Ideology: José Martí's Eleven Years in the United States”
Thesis Director: Professor Ojeda
Joshua Clement: “The Art of Conversation in Mme de Sévigné’s Correspondence”
Thesis Director: Professor Mostefai
Mario DiMonaco: “Il riso e l'autorità della Chiesa ne Il nome della rosa di Umberto Eco”
Thesis Director: Professor Mostefai
Brooke Johnson: “Una exmaninación de los cambios paradigmáticos de interpretación sobre la Revolución Mexicana, a través de la historiografía y la literatura”
Thesis Director: Professor Purnell
Susan Marietta: “La transposition musicale chez Claude Debussy, musicien révolutionnaire: Le respect des formes poétiques et des idées traditionnelles”
Thesis Director: Professor Rahv
Monika Pronczuk: “La metamorfosis de don Juan en el teatro esapañol”
Thesis Director: Professor Mizrahi
Valerie Zolezzi: “Rôle et présence de la femme dans la formation totale de l'enfant: Réponse à "l'Émile ou de l'Éducation" de Jean-Jacques Rousseau”
Thesis Director: Professor Mostefai
1994
Angela L. Atkinson: “Fatalism: Stagnation or Evolution a Key to Undertanding Gabriel García Márquez's La hojarasca and Isabel Allende's La casa de los espíritus”
Thesis Director: Profs. Mizrahi and Carpenter
Colleen Marie Breen: “Le rôle du mariage en France au XVIIe siècle et chez Molière: une étude de "L'école des femmes," "George Dandin," "Le bourgeois gentilhomme" et "Les précieuses ridicules"
Thesis Director: Professor Bold
Tracy Hinchliffe: “Expression In A World of Oppression: The Lives And Works of Gabriela Mistral, Delmira Agustini, and Alfonsina Storni as the Precursors to the Feminist Movement in Early Twentieth Century Latin American Society”
Thesis Director: Professor Ojeda
Brenna O'Leary: “La femme et l'enfant au siècle des Lumières: L'apothéose de la mere”
Thesis Director: Professor Mostefai
Bozena Putanec: “El ‘hombre masa’, teoría y práctica: un estudio de las obras El balneario y El pasajero de la noche a la luz del ensayo La rebelión de las masas”
Thesis Director: Professor Mizrahi
José E. Ríos: “Doce cuentos peregrinos Trayectoria de la obra cuentística de Gabriel García Márquez”
Thesis Director: Professor Rosser
Michelle Sergent: “L'amiguïté du ‘je’ dans La place, Une femme et Passion simple d'Annie Ernaux: Autobiographie ou Autofiction?”
Thesis Director: Professor Mostefai
1993
Renee M. Hahn: "El carnaval" of Spain: From Origin to Present-Day Manifestation in Laza, (Galicia)
Thesis Director: Professor Ojeda
Sara Harrington: “Paul Cézanne et Emile Zola: Rapports, Relations, Répercutions. Une étude de l'amitié à travers une étude de L'Oeuvre.”
Thesis Director: Professor Araujo
Stephanie McMenimen: “Women in Montesquieu's Persian Letters: A Query into Prerevolutionary Views on ‘Enlightened’ Monarchy”
Thesis Director: Professor Rahv
Michelle Naples: “The Eclogues of Garcilaso de la Vega Portraits of Melancholy Shepherds”
Thesis Director: Professor Carpenter
Kathleen Rooney: “Los personajes femeninos en obras de postguerra escritas por autoras españolas”
Thesis Director: Professor Mizrahi
1992
Mary Hughes Baldwin: “La Leyenda Negra and the Quincentennial: A Retrospect from Las Casas to the Present”
Thesis Director: Professor Sheehan
Rebecca McNamara: “Michelangelo's Campidoglio: Political Propaganda of the 16th Century”
Thesis Director: Professor Shepard
Kristen Mulvoy: “Madame Deshoulieres: Une étude sur la vie et les travaux d'une femme”
Thesis Director: TBD
1991
Claudia M. Balzer: “Ritraendo la realtà tramite la tenica narrativa: Una tesi comparativa dell'Orlando furioso di Ludovico Ariosto e l'Orlando di Virginia Woolf”
Thesis Director: Professor Shepard
Douglass B. Clark: “De l'inconstance dans ses rapports avec la liberté et le jugement public: Nature et morale dan trois contes de Diderot”
Thesis Director: Professor Mostefai
Patricia L. Hale: “The Development of Arthurian Romance: Chrétien de Troyes and his Influence upon Hartmann von Aue Demonstrated Through a Comparison of Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide and Hartmann von Aue's Erec”
Thesis Director: Professor Resler
Brian R. Sullivan: “L'économie politique de Montesquieu, une philosophie pragmatique pour son époque et la nôtre”
Thesis Director: Professor Bold
Julie Zissimopoulos: “Alfonso Sastre His Life, ideology, and distinguished drama: La sangre y la ceniza”
Thesis Director: Professor Carpenter
1990
Michelle L. Latulippe: “The evolution of Don Juan Centuries of Damnation Leading to Salvation”
Thesis Director: TBD
Kara A. Corso: “Avignon: La défense et Illustration de son patrimoine”
Thesis Director: Professor Betty Rahv
Jennifer Anne Trudeau: “The Experience of Colonialism: France and Algeria”
Thesis Director: Professor Shepard
1989
Jamie Moore: “L'image et L'idée de l'amour et de la femme à travers l'oeuvre de Louis Aragon”
Thesis Director: Professor Monique Fol
1988
Sonja A. Krusic: “Balzac and Dostoyevsky”
Thesis Director: TBD
Christine Kilduff: “Desarrollo del cuento puertorriqueño durante la Generación del Cuarenta”
Thesis Director: Professor Rosser
1986
Gina N. De Iulis: “A Literary and Theatrical Interpretation of the Commedia of Machiavelli”
Thesis Director: Professor Lamparsk