The senior thesis is emblematic of the kind of intellectual freedom Bard College at Simon’s Rock’s Upper College students are given. It is a year-long, self-designed scholarly project that is the capstone of a student’s work. It’s required of everyone. The thesis is not just an academic requirement for a Simon’s Rock Bachelor of Arts degree, it is work that adds to the world’s storehouse of knowledge.
At the beginning of the thesis project, a formal proposal must be submitted and approved. This collection includes senior thesis proposals beginning in academic year 1998-1999 as well as theses beginning in 2011.
2012
Senior Thesis Proposal, Marne Garretson
"You Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Make You Odd": Christian Concerns in the Works of Emily Dickinson and Flannery O'Connor, Kathryn Giles
Theatre Contra Theatre: Essays and Plays Toward the Revival of Politics, Elizabeth Glass
A NEAT Training Algorithm for Artificial Neural Networks, Eitan Goldshtrom
Clothing and Power in Late Nineteenth Century Spanish and French Literature and Art, Febianna Gonzalez
The Record Was Always Broken: Rethinking Queerness, Knowledge, and Academia, Michelle Gonzalez
Senior Thesis Proposal, Molly Greene
Literary Revisions: Analysis and Art, Jillian Hanley
Agent-Based Financial Modeling with Stock-Flow-Consistent Microfoundations, Will Hayworth
The Importance of Brownfield Remediation for the Environment, Economy and Community Illustrated by the New England Log Homes Site, in Great Barrington, MA, Nicholas B. Hernandez
Senior Thesis Proposal, Mallory Hogan
Senior Thesis Proposal, Taylor Horn
Creature Comforts, Teegan Jansen
Self Perception of Aging And How It Informs Later Life, Mariah Jeremiah
Senior Thesis Proposal, Taylor Kang
Senior Thesis Proposal, Leander Kobolakis
The Dreamed-For Place: An Artistic Exploration of Aboriginal Australian Songlines and Life Trajectories, Johanna Koons
Senior Thesis Proposal, Savannah Lamb
Home and the World: A Critique of Unschooling's Ideology, Jeffrey Landale
Do You Hear the Bodies? An Exploration of Dance, Fiona Lazar
Fabricating Illness: Reflections on Hypochondria, Jake Levy
Senior Thesis Proposal, Elijah MacCullagh
"What a vision of lonliness and riot...": Byronic Relationships and the Female Self, Lizzie Meier
Senior Thesis Proposal, Miriam Melnick
Machinations in C++ Major: An Automated Algorithmic Approach to Cooperative Musical Improvisation, William Meltsner
Senior Thesis Proposal, Thomas Meyer
Senior Thesis Proposal, Caitlin Murphy
The Conflict of Western Modernity and Japanese Traditionalism in the Fiction of Natsume Sōseki, Ian Myers
Evidence, Nicole Myles
Senior Thesis Proposal, Piangpat Namtip
The Way You Did Once: An Intuitive Approach to Directing Collaboration, Kristen Nash
Senior Thesis Proposal, Enana Nduku
Stranger in Your Own Land: An ethnography of rural schools and Western-educated Asomi in Kenya, Abigail Nehring
Senior Thesis Proposal, Dat Nguyen
Senior Thesis Proposal, Emily Paruolo
Senior Thesis Proposal, Lauren Payne-Riley
Senior Thesis Proposal, Abigail Peña
Senior Thesis Proposal, Kirsten Peterson
Word Vomit: Arab-Jewish Family Thanksgivings in Brooklyn, Israel, Chloe Li Piazza
Ways of Seeing, Natasha Rajaratnam
Senior Thesis Proposal, Sierra Randall
Senior Thesis Proposal, Craig Rathgeber
The People Zindabad (Long Live the People): Political Theatre as a Means for Social Change, Hector Rivera
On the Interpretation of Physical Probability, Sarita Rosenstock
Senior Thesis Proposal, Amanda Rowe-Van Allen
Senior Thesis Proposal, Skyler Ruderman
Pipe Dreams - Global Politics and the Political Economy of Energy in Afghanistan, Abdul Samad Sadri
See Self Split: A Cognitive Mapping of Third Generation Mexican American Consciousness, Zooey Salazar
Implications of Faith in Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 'Un-doing' the Radical Educator, Mirah Sand
Senior Thesis Proposal, Hillary Saviello
Senior Thesis Proposal, Lauren Scanlon
Kiezdeutsch: An Emerging Multiethnolect of German, Barbara Helene Schmehl
Senior Thesis Proposal, Emily Schwab
Senior Thesis Proposal, Ramiz Shaikh
Trumpets of God: The Visionary Writings of Hildegard of Bingen and Elisabeth of Schonau, Alexandra Smith
Like is Not Like That: A Linguistic and Social Analysis, Rebecca Solomon
Nevergreen: The nature image commodity in green advertising, Eva Thornton
Senior Thesis Proposal, Gabrielle Tillman
Senior Thesis Proposal, Luiza Trabka
Making Sense of Scents in Memory, Victor K. Vazquez
Senior Thesis Proposal, Ian Wallach
Pathway: An Exploration of Bhutanese Film Practices, Kinley Wangmo
In the Desert: Reflections on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Letter on Poland, Milo Ward
Senior Thesis Proposal, Hillary Weinberger
Sweet Beats Are Made of This: An Exploration of Dalcroze Eurhythmics with Students at Simon's Rock, Miles Douglas Wilcox
Senior Thesis Proposal, Julynn Wilderson
Senior Thesis Proposal, Alexis Wint
Making a Stand for Co-Existence: The Makings and Preservation of Cantonese Identity, Michael Xu
candy for candy coated tongues, Lucy Zipple
2011
Senior Thesis Proposal, Katie Ansel
From the Few to the Many: Education and the Creation of Three Nations In India, Jamila Benkhoud
Senior Thesis Proposal, Claudia Berger
Senior Thesis Proposal, Juliana Biro
Senior Thesis Proposal, Paige Breisacher
The Roving Jewel "What Are Your Songs About?", Philip Breslow
Senior Thesis Proposal, Alannah Buford
A Garden Enclosed: A Character Study and Performance of Clare from Tennessee Williams’s The Two Character Play, Sinead Byrne
Senior Thesis Proposal, Starling Carter
An Overview of 20th and 21st Century Display Technologies: CRT, LCD, OLED, Kyle Chao
Senior Thesis Proposal, Holly Chayes
Senior Thesis Proposal, Cheryl Chen
Senior Thesis Proposal, Joelle Chevrier
Senior Thesis Proposal, Tshering Choki
OneForm: A Synthesis of the Digital Age, Adrian Cushman
Senior Thesis Proposal, Lauren Dahlin
Senior Thesis Proposal, William Deng
Out West, Off to War: The Frontier in American History and Contemporary Military Culture, Jeff Dietrich
Senior Thesis Proposal, Noel Dominguez
Stories of Three Generations of African Women: Exploring the Past, Healing the Present, Strengthening the Future, Pauline Dongala
Rituals and Remedies: The Supernatural in Medieval Great Britain, Faye Donnelley
Senior Thesis Proposal, Emma Ehrlich
Senior Thesis Proposal, Max Ehrman-Shapiro
Senior Thesis Proposal, Elisabeth Ellis
Senior Thesis Proposal, Rachel Feltman
Senior Thesis Proposal, Ari Fogelson
Senior Thesis Proposal, Jordan Frye
Senior Thesis Proposal, Kathryn Giles