Departmental Honors is a distinction conferred at the student's graduation for the successful completion of an approved academic project in the major discipline. To be eligible, a student must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA and at least a 3.5 in the major, and the project proposal must be approved by the Departmental Honors (DHON) Committee before the student begins work on the project. After approval by the DHON Committee, the student works under the supervision of a favorite professor for two semesters. At completion, the project must be defended before an examining committee. For more details on the regulations and procedures, see the topics below:
Handbook for Departmental Thesis and Departmental Honors
Quick Links to Departmental Honors Forms:
Completed Departmental Honors Theses
All completed DHON theses are housed in UTC's Lupton Library. A sampling of recent theses are available in pdf format from the links below. (You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 or later to open these files.)
Art; Biology and Environmental Science; Business Administration;
Chemistry; Communication; Economics; Education,
Engineering & Computer Science; English; Foreign Language; History;
Humanities; Music; Nursing; Philosophy & Religion; Physical Therapy; Physics, Geology & Astronomy; Political Science; Psychology; Sociology, Anthropology & Geography; Theatre
- 2005, Tapp, Liz, Infused with Wearer
- 2003, Grigsby, Sarah, Socially Responsible Design: A Visual Health Campaign Promoting Awareness of the Type 2 Diabetes Epidemic Threatening Children and Adolescents in the United States
- 2003, Lamb, Amanda, Pop Will Eat Itself: Culture Jamming and the Battle Over Corporate Media Control
Biology and Environmental Science
- 2011, Bolus, Reid, The Function of Peripheral Myelin Protein 22 (PMP22) in the Context of Tissue Development and Cellular Differentiation
- 2011, Milleville, Lauren, Characterization of the "Dead Elvis" (del) Mutation in Zebrafish
- 2009, Dinkins, Jamie, A Morphological Analysis of a "Confounding" Population of Castanea in Northwest Georgia
- 2009, Norris, Leigh Ann, Phylogeography of Coelus pacificus Fall on the California Channel Islands
- 2008, Coffman, Catherine, Role of Serotonin 5HTC2c Receptors in Meidation of a Behavior that is a Potential Animal Model for OCD
- 2008, Kennedy, Sarah, Chloroplast DNA Analysis of Putative Chestnut Chinquapin Hybrids
- 2008, Weaver, Amanda, Mineralization of PAHs and Other Contaminants in Filtrexx Soxx
- 2011, Craw, Alex, Understanding Adult Immaturity: A Scale Development
- 2011, Murdoch, Erin, Accounting for Goodwill and Testing for Subsequent Impairment: A History, Comparison and Analysis
- 2010, Taylor, Susannah, Changes in America's Workforce: An Analysis of Employment Discrimination Law Regarding Gender Identity and the Implications for Employers
- 2009, Dickinson, Liz, An Examination of the Factors Affecting Organizational Citizenship Behavior
- 2008, Acree, Shannon, Exploring the Effects of Requests for Positive Service Evaluations on Customer Satisfaction
- 2005, Rawlston, Melissa, The Influence of Team Cohesiveness on new Product Performance
- 2004, Luckey, Elizabeth, Preliminary Assessment of Best Practices and Standardized Cost Accounting in Healthcare
- 2011, Brosius, Christina, Determination of a Broad Range of Selected Pharmaceuticals in the Southern Ocean by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromotography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry
- 2010, Bajic, Marko, Ru(II) Thioether Complexes in Self-Assembled Molecular Structures
- 2010, McCary, Sarah, Storage and Timed Release of Acetaminophen from Porous Carbonaceous Materials
- 2009, Naik, Rishi, Progress toward Self-Assembled Platinum Group Molecular Squares
- 2009, Moerman, Jessica, Not Just an Eyesore: Analysis of Metals Leached from Smoked Cigarette Litter
- 2006, Brooks, Timothy, Answers in Ashes: Elemental Analysis of Cremains by ICP-OES
- 2009, Adkins, Jenny, Young Adults and the Future of Newspapers: A Study of News Sources, Needs, and Approaches
- 2007, Broderick, Katie, Framing Femininty: Media Coverage of a Tennessee Mayoral Campaign
- 2007, Matthews, Tania, Digital Media and the Indigenization of Christianity in China
- 2005, Perryman, Zsavonne, "Sorry You're Not What We're Looking For": The Segmentation of African American Models in U.S. Television Commercials
- 2011, Moore, Bethany, The Economic Costs of Xenophobia: A Case Study of Johannesburg, South Africa
- 2003, Blake, Patrick, The Effectiveness of Gun Control Laws: A Statistical Analysis
- 2011, Sherrill, Jessica, The Effectiveness of Traditional Cookbook v. Inquiry-Based Laboratory Experiements in the Secondary Science Classroom
- 2004, Poff, Laura, Integrating Picture Story Books into the Algebra I and Geometry Classrooms
- 2003, Summey, Carmen, Examining the Effectiveness in Implementing Everyday Math
- 2002, Burris, Lindy, A
Correlational Study of Teacher Absences and Student Test Scores in
Urban and Suburban Enviroments
- 2002, Morgan, Rebecca, Censorship in American Public Schools;Two Examples: The Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn
Engineering & Computer Science
- 2011, Buecker, Jordan, A Cost Analysis of Heterogeneous Catalyst Choice on Biodiesel Production
- 2010, Lewis, Jennifer, Design Studies of Heterogenous Catalysis in Microchannels
- 2008, St. Charles, Whitney, Noun Phrase Extraction
- 2007, Kennedy, Benjamin, Finite Element Analysis of Electromagnetic Interference Supression Components
- 2006, Chilton, David, WingFind: A New Algorithm for Analyzing the Velocity Structure of Molecular Clouds
- 2006, Hixson, Jason, Application of Engineering Fundamentals in the Design and Testing of a Compressive Hip Construct
- 2006, Whitt, Justin, Computational Modeling of Steady, Compressible, Viscous Flow for the F-16XL Fighter Aircraft
- 2006, Wilson, Stephanie, A Study of the Effects of Various Flow Obstructions on Heterogeneous Micromixing in Biocatalytic Microchannels
- 2011, Fleenor, Benjamin, In Such Moments
- 2011, Hand, Amanda, "To Force Our Conscience that Christ Set Free": Milton, Charles I and the Tyranny of Conscience
- 2010, Corkern, James, Symphony and the Aesthetic in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake
- 2010, Veal, Sarah, Scars and Others
- 2009, Beise, Brian, Long Stories Short
- 2008, Baze, Thomas, Engaging the Text: The Moral Dilemmas of Relativism, A Dramatic Exposition
- 2007, Seay, Sara Beth, Invisible Empire: The Power of Language and Metaphor in Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities
- 2007, Williams, Alison, Jesus and Rama: Interpretations of the Incarnation
- 2006, Fulkerson, Kelly Jo, The Absent Voice: The Politics of Representation in the Canon and Responsive Texts
- 2006, Wheeler, Elizabeth, Dying to Be Remembered: The Autobiographer's Creative Response to Death Anxiety
- 2011, Bertolini, Anne, Speaking Between the Lines: History, Culture and Structure as Franco-American Communication Barrier
- 2010, Dale, Melody, Intertextuality in the Works of Joaquin Rodrigo and the Spanish Modernists: Reliving the Golden Age
- 2010, Gilliland, Michael, Representing Chaos: Spanish Anarchism in Literature
- 2006, Johnson, Jr., Donnie, In Other Words: On Translation and Translating Cicero's In Catilinam
- 2005, Griffin, Melanie, Translating the Language of Love in the Ex Epistolis Duorum Amantium
- 2009, O'Dea, Meghan, Edible Armaments: Food as a Weapon in the Cold War and Culture
- 2005, Dolan, Autumn, The True Patron of Ireland: Saint Brigit and the Rise of Celtic Christianity
- 2011, Cooper, Chelsea, Foray into Pain: What Becomes of the Self in Chronic Illness?
- 2011, Scholes, Heather, The Experiences of Guatemalans in Chattanooga, Tennessee
- 2010, Groppe, Monika, Female Self-Perception and the Concept of Body: Comparison of College-Aged Women in Accra, Ghana and Chattanooga, Tennessee
- 2010, Samarripas, Stefen, Towards and Activist Anthropology: Considering New Cultural Actors and Relationships in Contemporary Urban Contexts
- 2010, Smalley, Katherine, Guardians of Tradition, Agents of Change: Laywomen Shaping Faith, Family and Future in Dharmsala's Tibetan Refugee Community
- 2008, Barger, Amy, The Cost of Myth-Making: Racial Tension and School Desegregation in Memphis
- 2007, Wohlstein, Shana, Understanding the Problem with Poetry or The Understanding Has the Poetry the Question: Studying Chinese Poetry and Its Translation
- 2009, McClary, James, Spanish Zarzuela of the Golden Age: A History, Analysis and Production
- 2007, Haston, Gabrielle, Physiological Changes in the Adolescent Female Voice: Applications for Choral Instruction
- 2003, Craig, Heather, Belting and Bel Canto: An Aesthetic and Physiological Comparison and Their Use in Music Education
- 2003, Hamrick, Michael, James Houlick's Development of Classical Tenor Saxophone Repertoire
- 2002, Huff, Julie, The Legacy of Tradition: A Study of Historically Significant Violin Repertoire
- 2011, Russell, Abigail, Stethoscopes as a Source of Hospital-Acquired MRSA
- 2005, Frassrand, Sarah, A Comparative Analysis of Stress Levels in Undergraduate University Students
- 2001, Foster, Leah, The Effects of Aromatherapy on Anxiety in Nursing Students
- 2011, Dickson, Kent, Londonistan or the Mecca Tube Stop: The Formulation of a British Muslim Identity
- 2006, Saylors, Darris, The Virgin Mary: A Paradoxical Model of Christian Womanhood/Feminine Religiosity for Roman Catholic Immigrant Women of the Nineteenth Century
- 2005, Ley, Patrick, Everybody Loves a Parade: Indian Religious Processions
- 2003, Hamrick, Michael, Solipsistic Sin
- 2003, Loy, Taylor, Ineffability: The Significance of the Presence of an Absence
- 2002, Westmoreland, John Peter, A Treatment of Nihilism
- 2006, Thomas, Stefani, Modulation of Pain through Thermotherapy: An Appraisal of Current Theories
- 2005, Wightman, Shannon, Lumbrosacral Injuries in Classical Ballet Dancers: A Review of the Literature
- 2003, Gannaway, Johnathan, Treatment and Prevention of Overuse Hand Injuries Related to Rock Climbing in Chattanooga and its Surrounding Areas
- 2003, Taylor, Alden, Low Level
Laser Therapy and its Potential Wide Use in Sports Medicine
- 2002, Steinmann, Jennifer, The Relationship Between Personality Differences, Motivation and Behavior: A Study of Collegiate Varsity Rowers
Physics, Geology and Astronomy
- 2007, Axente, Marian, A New Look at Cosmology
- 2009, Hacker, Ashley Caprill, Islam and the West: The Crisis of Modernity
- 2009, Kimsey, Charlotte, The Sixth Amendment and Aggregate Crime: Individual Roles of the Judge and Jury in Criminal Sentencing
- 2006, Kiggans, Marcie, Resemblance to Capital Punishment and Beliefs
- 2004, Castronova, Paul, Nationalism: The Democratization of the Mystical Experience
- 2003, Smith, Tiffany, Japan's Liberal Democrats: Maintaining Political Dominance from 1955-1993
- 2011, McKinney, Jessica, Sleep, Depression, and Olfactory Function within the ESRD Population: A Review of the Current Literature
- 2008, Alexander, Amanda, Coaching Influences on Motivation, Stress and Personality as Perceived by Student-Athletes
- 2008, King, Jamie, "What's That Smell?" Brain Injury may Cause Alarming Problems for Your Nose
- 2008, Moore, Lauren, Work-Family Policy
- 2007, Brooks, Kimberly, Support for Reverse Developmental Trends: A Possible Correlation Between False Memory Errors
Sociology, Anthropology and Geography
- 2009, Glor, Audrey, Sustainability in Practice: A Study of the Sustainable Behavior of Students and The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
- 2007, Dinsmore, Rachel, Einstein's Dream and the Dreamtime: Finding Harmony between String Theory and Aboriginal Spirituality
- 2006, Williams, Rachel, Emic Perspectives of Bodily Pain
- 2005, Vitek, Corrine, A Comparison in Osteological Measurements of Two Populations from East Tennessee
- 2011, Moser, John, Social Change and Performance Art: A Critical Assessment of the Process of Writing and Producing Quagga
- 2010, Naylor, Britney, One Play, Two Centuries: The Proposal
- 2003, Williams, Ben, Hadivadlo in Chattanooga: A Critical Assessment of the Process of Producing School for Fools
Questions or comments to: Melissa-Burchfield@utc.edu
