The Honors College at the University of Maine is a community of nearly 800 students who, along with nearly 100 faculty members, are committed to taking intellectual risks through exploring questions both within and outside their academic disciplines in the course of a four-year curriculum. The College is committed to both broadening and deepening the academic experience of its students, providing them with the resources and skills needed to critically engage important questions and issues.
For those students who graduate from the Honors College, their journey ends with the writing of their Honors thesis. Over the course of the senior year, they work with a faculty mentor completing independent research or a creative project in their discipline. At the end of the two-semester experience, they present the thesis to their thesis committee of five faculty members and professionals in their field. For these students, this is the culmination of their work at the University of Maine and a springboard to future opportunities and achievements.
“The intense supervision of my Honors thesis was the most important academic experience of my life. My advisor’s personal guidance and insistence that I couple precise research with creative and original thought has served as a benchmark for me for over thirty years.” – James E. Tierney ’69, Attorney General of Maine (1980-1990)
The first four theses were written in 1937, in recent years the number has approached 100. We plan to populate this digital archive with many of the over 1300 theses that have been written in those over seventy-five years.
For more information, contact the Honors College at honors@maine.edu or 207-581-3263.
Honors Theses from 2012
Unmasking Candidiasis: A Mechanistic Model for Innate Immune-Fungal Cell Wall Dynamics, Erica Hidu
‘Skins’: A Contemporary Moral Panic, Jenna L. Hoops
Environmental Factors Linked to Harmful Algal Bloom Induced Shellfish Toxicity in Cobscook Bay, Maine, Hannah M. Horecka
The Economics of Offshore Wind Energy, Caitlin M. Howland
How Does Context Shape Comedy as a Successful Social Criticism as Demonstrated by Eddie Murphy’s SNL Sketch “White Like Me?”, Abigail Jones
The Worst Angels of our Nature: Has Violence Declined?, Redyn Keller
Objecting to Objectivity, Elizabeth R. Kevit
Endoscopic Evaluation of the Response to Intrauterine Irrigation with 3.3% N-Acetylcysteine in Mares, Christine T. Kissinger
A Cultural Exploration Via the Mediums of Music and Poetry, Colin S. Kolmar
Nameless, Inscrutable, Unearthly: An Examination of Obsession in Moby Dick, Sarah K. Lingo
A Study of Corruption in the Bulgarian Legal System, Stephanie A. Littlehale
Concussion Management, Education and Diagnosis in Eastern Maine High School Football, Sarah K. Lockhart
The Role of Caveolin in the Toll-Like Receptor (TLR) Signaling Pathway, Richard H. Luc
Heterogeneous Deformation of Gabbroic Rocks, Calvin Mako
The Role of Traf2 in Zebrafish, Bradie N. Manion
Transformation of Realism: Narrator’s Function and the Blending of Dialogue and Stream of Consciousness in To the Lighthouse and Between the Acts, Alyssa M. McCluskey
Optimization of Microwave Accelerated Extraction of Resveratrol from Tree Bark, Dustin Niedt
Analysis Modeling and Optimization of a Smart Sulky, Nicholas C. Noble
The Role of Reactive Oxygen Species in Autophagy Activation During Candida albicans Infection, Ashley E. Norum
The Effects of Suggestion on Dream Recall Frequency, Jack Obery
Electioneering Across the Ages: Examining the Application and Implication of Media-Based Mobilization in American Presidential Campaigns Post-Radio, Cameron C. O'Brien
Prolific Playwrights: Clifford Odets and Lillian Hellman Expose the Thirties, Samantha L. Paradis
The Case for Instrumental Music Education: The Academic, Physical, and Social Benefits for Students, Kayla M. Peard
Characterization of Genes in the CFTR-Mediated Innate Immune Response, Eric Peterman
At What Cost?: A Study of the American Highway System and the Maine East-West Highway Proposal, Brian Philbrook
Business Meetings: A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Audio and Video Conferencing in Dispersed Teams, Rachel Porter
Occupy Horror: An Analysis of Gothic Motifs and Malefic Technological Prostheses in Contemporary American Horror Films, Alexis L. Priestley
Improving Assistive Technology Through Phenomenology: A Comparative Analysis of Research Methods, Rafael M. Ramos IV
Characteristics of Young Children's Longest Utterances, Alise R. Ranalli
Data Logging Radiation Detector, Joseph P. Record
Classroom Realities: Teaching Students with Disabilities as a Traditionally or Alternatively Certified Secondary Science Teacher in Maine, Haley A. Richardson
Between “Student” and “Athlete”: The Academic Institution’s Role in the Self Identification of Division I Student-Athletes, Helaina Sacco
Development of Oxidizer Flow Control for use in Hybrid Rocket Motors of the Scientific Sounding Rocket Scale, Luke Saindon
Resistance of Abomasal Parasites to Common Anthelmintics in Small Ruminants in the Northeast, Alexandra M. Settele
The Use of Mass Communication in Animal Rights Fundraising Campaigns, Jaime E.R. Shorter
Health Impacts at the Advent of Agriculture, Erin L. Snape
Modeling the Spread of Biologically-Inspired Internet Worms, Emma Strubell
Sentencing and Treatment of Juvenile Offenders: A Review and Critique, Jessica R. Talbot
Gender Differences and Cognitive Constructs in Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Olivia Anna Teer
A Growing Town: Developing a Local Food System in Orono, Maine, Gregory Viens
Hybrid Healing: Reiki and the Integration of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Into Biomedicine, Heather M. White
The Implications of Snyder v. Phelps, Meghan White
A Case Study of How Systems for Innovation can Impact Municipal Economic Development, Nathaniel Wildes
The Framing of Animal Cruelty by Animal Advocacy Organizations, Cary Williams
An Adaptive Reuse and Restoration of a Maine Barn, Sarah Elizabeth Williams
War of the Words: Political Talk Radio, the Fairness Doctrine, and Political Polarization in America, Jackson R. Witherill
Honors Theses from 2011
Comfort Levels When Presented with Interpersonal Stressors as a Function of Sibling Status, Emma R. Atherton
Characterization of the Microbial Associates of Nematodes Pathogenic to Myrmica rubra, Jonathan E. Dumont
The Grand Derangement in the Context of the Eighteenth - Century British Empire, Derek A. Jones
Honors Theses from 2010
“Well, He Just Lost Man Points In My Book:” The Absence of Volunteerism Among First-Year College Men, Joshua Bernstein
Divided Ownership, Wild Speculation: An Investigation of the Connections between Thomas Hutchinson and Land Speculation in Eighteenth Century Maine, Cory Michael Davis
An Assessment of the Egyptian Military and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Connection to the Emergence Theory, Pardis Delijani
Duchamp's Audience, Venice Lombardo
An Examination of the Factors Determining American Foreign Policy with Regards to Global Climate Change Treaties, James Lyons
Landscape Level Planning: Exploring and Evaluating Management Alternatives for the Dwight B. Demeritt Forest, Cassie L. Vaillancourt
Honors Theses from 2009
A Comparative Study of African American Representations in Film from Original to Remake as Influenced by the Civil Rights Movement, Erica F. Berry
Acetylcholine-Induced Membrane-Potential Oscillations in Xenopus laevis Oocytes, Corrine N. Grant
Honors Theses from 2007
Language in Utopian Societies: A Study of Works by Le Guin, Atwood, and Lowry, Laura Katherine Latinski
Peruvian Beach Ridges: Records of Human Activity and Climate Change, David A. Reid
Population Genetics of Black Bear (Ursus Americanus), Amanda K. Thibodeau
Of Certain Rivers, Stephanie Nola Walton
Story Medicine: The Power of Healing a Journey from Anger to Inner Peace, Tifanny Ann Warzecha
Honors Theses from 2006
Jedidiah Morse and the Crusade for the New Jerusalem: The Cultural Catalysts of the Bavarian Illuminati Conspiracy, Rachel A. Snell
Honors Theses from 2004
Of Fau?ty Logic and Point?ess Journeys a Collection of Short Stories, Jared Record
Self-Assembly of Inorganic Membranes: Attachment of Gold Nanoparticles to a Mesoporous Silica Membrane, Jennifer K. Saucier
Honors Theses from 2003
Discovering Properties of Complex Numbers by Starting with Known Properties of Real Numbers, Esther D. Hatch
Something to Talk About: Interactions as Descriptive Schema, Isaac Lawrence Record
From Vietnam to the Persian Gulf; The Decline of Objective Television Media in American War Reporting, Kathleen C. Sprague
Honors Theses from 2002
Technology & Middle School Philosophy: Applications in Music Education, Emily Ann Cain
Understanding the Relationship Between the Arts and Student Aspirations, Samantha Lott
Honors Theses from 1999
An Evaluation of an Avian Diversity Model, Tansy Lynn Wagner
Honors Theses from 1969
An Elementary Proof of the Prime Number Theorem, James G. Huard
Honors Theses from 1960
A Study of the Attitudes of Parents in Relation to the Behavior of their Children in Nursery School, Rose Marie Baron
Honors Theses from 1937
Mammals of Maine, Ralph S. Palmer