Commonwealth College Interdisciplinary Honors
(HN-CCINTD)
Commonwealth College Interdisciplinary Honors (HN-CCINTD) is an additional honors credential that Commonwealth College students may earn by successfully completing a concentration of undergraduate scholarly work that integrates more than one academic discipline. It should arise naturally out of a student’s desire both to acquire substantive knowledge and skills in two fields and to synthesize that learning in the honors capstone experience.
IMPORTANT:
Gaining the requisite knowledge in two fields requires careful planning and sustained effort beginning long before a student actually declares an intention to pursue the interdisciplinary honors credential.
Students should ideally propose interdisciplinary honors in April of their junior year when pre-registering their capstone experience and never later than September of the senior year. Both the interdisciplinary honors proposal and the capstone experience proposal must explicitly show integration between two fields. NOTE: Students who plan to be away from campus in the junior year are strongly encouraged to make connections with potential HN-CCINTD capstone experience Chairs during their sophomore year.
HN-CCINTD Requirements
- Acquisition of demonstrable knowledge in two fields of study: Students may accomplish this requirement by completing a major, minor, approved certificate program or other recognized concentration of course work that is approved by the appropriate Departmental Honors Coordinators and a Commonwealth College advisor. Additional course work may be required by either of these advisors to ensure that the student achieves an appropriate level of knowledge in each field.
- Completion of HN-CCINTD honors course work: HN-CCINTD candidates are required to take at least one upper-level honors course (300 or above) from each of the two areas of their HN-CCINTD concentration and to use their 6-or-more-credit capstone experience to synthesize their interdisciplinary studies.
- Submission and approval of the "HN-CCINTD Contract" form: HN-CCINTD students must prepare a clear, comprehensive proposal of their honors interdisciplinary program, including: (1) how they have obtained or intend to obtain the needed knowledge in both fields, (2) the 300-level honors courses completed or intended to be completed in each field, and (3) how they intend to integrate their work in a capstone experience. The Departmental Honors Coordinator from each field and a Commonwealth College advisor must endorse the declaration by signing the "HN-CCINTD Contract" form.
- When the intended capstone experience is an honors thesis, project or internship, the "Independent Capstone Contract" form must be included with the "HN-CCINTD Contract" form and the research committee must have a faculty member from each field.
Examples of HN-CCINTD approaches to research
- A Legal Studies major, fluent in Latin, who includes analysis of both ancient Roman laws and modern Massachusetts laws in her thesis.
- A student majoring in Biology and History who is conducting historical research on a disease or epidemic.
- A student majoring in Marketing, with a minor in Spanish, who plans to research Spanish fashion marketing while on international exchange in Spain.
NOTE: Some academic majors on campus—BDIC, STPEC, WOST, AFROAM—are by nature interdisciplinary. Commonwealth College students focusing their honors work in these majors should declare Departmental Honors (refer to the navigation bar link at left). Students in these majors should pursue HN-CCINTD only if they are combining their interdisciplinary major with a second major or a minor.
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