For this winter semester, some Oakland University students in the Honors College have begun to work on their Honors Thesis topics, with the help of the class Intro to Thesis, or HC 390.

The mandatory course gives students the opportunity to pick a topic and thoroughly research it, with the help of up to $1,500 and a mentor.

The project and course are both graduation requirements for any student in the HC program.

According to Dawn Deitsch, the administrative secretary for the HC, its goal is to give students a first-hand account of how new information is processed and developed.

“It’s a growing process,” Deitsch said. “It teaches students how to focus on topics and prepares them for their senior thesis project required for a graduate school graduation.”

The student and mentor-selected projects are funded through the Provost’s Undergraduate Student Research Award, which allots the HC a specific amount each year.

According to Deitsch, students write down three to five page thesis proposals with their mentors and present it to the HC Council, which is made up of faculty from all over the university, staff and two student liaisons.

Once presented to the council, the topic is either approved or other topics are suggested. The student also has the choice to come up with something else on their own.

Projects from years past are stored in the HC wing of Vandenberg Hall and can be viewed by people who want to see them.

“I’d love to publish some of the projects online, but that’s something we’re still working on,” Deitsch said. “We do have all of them filed though.”

According to Deitsch, students in the past have completed projects on all sorts of different subjects, ranging from different art forms to studies of white noise.

For students graduating in May, the entire project has to be completed by Feb. 15 and the mentor must write a paragraph.

Once each semester, students are given the opportunity to present their projects to the student body in an event called “Research and Scholarship Day.”

This semester, it will take place on April 18.

For more information on the HC or the thesis projects, please visit

www.oakland.edu/hc