One of the outstanding benefits of the Honors Program is the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty mentor to develop an honors thesis or research project.

Here's what some of our Honors Program students have studied:

• Jessica Toner: A Look at the Responsive Classroom Approach 
• Molly Dower: Carbon Accounting: The New Frontier 
• Samantha Matthair: Legal Implications of Animal Testing, Abuse and Cruelty 
• Jessica Priestly: Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System 
• Amanda Paiva: Reading Recovery in Elementary Schools 
• Wintica Phataralaoha: Zara: IT for Fast Fashion
• Tiffany Barnes: The Death of the Southern Confederacy: The Battle of Chancellorsville as Turning Point of the Civil War 
• Lauren Bottiggi: The Maroon Ribbon (Documentary Video on the Impact of 9-11 and the Iraq War on the Bay Path Community 
• Lauren DelFavero: English Language Learning: The Best of Both Worlds: Combining the Communication Language Approach and the Silent Way 
• Danielle Dion-Rodgers: Tlingit Macbeth: The Endangerment and Persecution of Tlingit Language 
• *Jessica LaPointe: Habeas Corpus: Its Current Relevance to the War on Terrorism and the Guantánamo Bay Detainees 
• Aubrey Malanowski: Defining Customer Service in Today's Technological Age 
• Krista Spencer: Are Religion and Spirituality Beneficial in the Clinical Setting? 
• Ashley Theisen: The Responsive Classroom: Building a Unified Community in the Elementary School Setting 
• *Abagail Swan: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans 
• Courtney Connor: Is SWAT Team training Equivalent to their “Above and Beyond” Motto? 
• Rachel M. Connor: How Disaster-Ready are Massachusetts Management Professionals? 

*Abstracts from two theses:
Habeas Corpus: Its Current Relevance to the War on Terrorism and the Guantánamo Bay Detainees

"The right of a person detained to seek a judicial determination about the legality of his or her detention is guaranteed by the United States Constitution (Art. I, Sec. 9, Clause 2.) On several occasions in U.S. history, the Congress and Executive have sought to limit prisoners’ right to seek redress in Federal Courts during times of insurrection, ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2, and war, Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), and ex parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1 (1942). Since the events of September 11, 2001, several attempts have been made to limit the ability of persons detained during the “war on terror” to challenge either their classification as “unlawful enemy combatants” or their detention in extra-territorial facilities maintained by the United States Government or by foreign entities acting under the aegis of the United States. In this paper I consider who is detained by the government at Guantanamo Bay under the extraordinary powers assumed by the Executive as part of the “war on terror.” I also consider the impact that the Military Commissions Act [MCA] and Executive Orders have had on the detainees, particularly as these official acts affect the detainees’ ability to have access to the courts for consideration or review of the bases for their detention, their classification as unlawful enemy combatants, or the conditions of their detention. The paper also examines other actions by the courts and Congress that affect judicial review of the actions of the executive and the military, with emphasis on developments affecting the detainees’ ability to seek recourse through writs of habeas corpus." 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans.

"Although more troops are returning home on a near daily basis, little research has examined to what degree Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms are present in the Iraq and Afghanistan War veteran population. Additionally, research is even more limited as to what aspects of reintegration for the veteran are most helpful for decreasing PTSD symptomatology. This thesis reviews existing research on the two main factors contributing to reintegration: relationships and mental health care service provision. It was hypothesized that mental health care provision would be more important than relationships in reintegration. As predicted, the findings support that the availability and utilization of appropriate mental health care better alleviates PTSD symptoms within the military population, even more so than reintegration in the form of positive relationships with family, friends, and the community."