Major Program. The core of the major consists of eight courses that will examine a significant portion of European civilization through a variety of disciplines. Two of these courses will be EUST 121 and 122. Two equivalent courses may be approved to fulfill these requirements when they have not been offered in at least two of the student's four years at the College. All majors must give evidence of proficiency in one European language besides English. Evidence of proficiency will consist of one of the following: a) two semesters of lower-level language coursework; b) one semester of upper-level language coursework; c) other evidence of proficiency as approved by the department chair. Note that language coursework does not count towards the eight-course core.
Majors must spend at least one semester of the junior year pursuing an approved course of study in Europe. In exceptional circumstances, the study-abroad requirement may be waived at the discretion of the department chair. For their senior year, European Studies majors will then opt into one of two possible paths: Thesis or Capstone.
Thesis Option. Students wishing to pursue an independent project as an honors thesis must propose their project in the spring of their junior year, following instructions from the chair. Senior thesis students will take one thesis research course in the first semester of the senior year, and another in the final semester. Students may designate the research course of the final semester as a double course (EUST 499D), in which case the total number of courses required to complete the major becomes nine.
Possible approaches for the senior thesis project include comparative literary studies, interdisciplinary work in history, sociology, philosophy, political science, performance studies, visual arts, architecture or music involving one or more European countries. Students are encouraged to take a relevant methods class fitting their research approach (such as HIST-301 or SOCI-315), which, with permission from the EUST chair may count toward the major’s eight courses.
Capstone Option. In the capstone option students will complete their eight European Studies courses without an independent project. A month into their final semester, capstone majors will submit a five-page retrospective essay on the entirety of the course of their studies in the major, which will be followed by a conversation with the European Studies faculty members.
Honors Program. Students may be recommended for Program honors only if they complete a thesis.