Dan Butler, Professor of Political Science
I am grateful to my predecessor, Frank Lovett, for leaving the undergraduate program at Washington University to me in such great shape. His documentation and mentorship have made it much easier to move into this position than it would have been otherwise. I look forward to following in his footsteps to help our current and future undergraduate students succeed.
As the new Director of Undergraduate Studies, I am reminded of how great our honor thesis program is. This fall we have 17 students writing theses that cover topics including violence done by extremist movements, the use of artificial intelligence in the legal system, the impact of government policies on people’s lives, and much more. These students prepared for their deep dive into research by taking a series of classes including the Research Design and Methods course. They also have tremendous support from our faculty, with fifteen different faculty members serving as thesis advisors this year.
The department has also shown their support for this program by assigning teaching assistants specifically chosen to help with data and programming issues that arise when students do their own independent research. Our two TAs this year – Federico Acosta y Lara and Leona Zhao – are meeting with the students on a regular basis and holding office hours to provide further support for our honors thesis students.
Because writing an honors thesis is not a perfect fit for everyone, we also provide other ways that students can have a capstone experience where they can use what they have learned to engage in learning and research that is important to them. This includes students spending a semester doing directed research or working with a professor to do directed readings on a topic of their choosing. We are looking forward to seeing all the good work our seniors will produce this year. Best of luck to everyone embarking on their theses and senior projects.
As the new Director of Undergraduate Studies, I am reminded of how great our honor thesis program is. This fall we have 17 students writing theses that cover topics including violence done by extremist movements, the use of artificial intelligence in the legal system, the impact of government policies on people’s lives, and much more. These students prepared for their deep dive into research by taking a series of classes including the Research Design and Methods course. They also have tremendous support from our faculty, with fifteen different faculty members serving as thesis advisors this year.
The department has also shown their support for this program by assigning teaching assistants specifically chosen to help with data and programming issues that arise when students do their own independent research. Our two TAs this year – Federico Acosta y Lara and Leona Zhao – are meeting with the students on a regular basis and holding office hours to provide further support for our honors thesis students.
Because writing an honors thesis is not a perfect fit for everyone, we also provide other ways that students can have a capstone experience where they can use what they have learned to engage in learning and research that is important to them. This includes students spending a semester doing directed research or working with a professor to do directed readings on a topic of their choosing. We are looking forward to seeing all the good work our seniors will produce this year. Best of luck to everyone embarking on their theses and senior projects.