The capstone experience that all HTC students complete is a senior thesis. Completing a thesis allows our students to make their own contribution to the process of explaining or enriching the physical, mental, social, and cultural elements that surround us. It also provides them with opportunities for pragmatic personal development. A thesis:

Provides an opportunity to consolidate, expand, and refine the skills that are essential to a student’s discipline.
Helps students understand how to communicate to a professional audience.
Plays a role in determining the initial direction of a student’s career after leaving Ohio University.

Because our seniors’ theses uniformly make important contributions to art, literature, performance, and knowledge, the Honors Tutorial College now archives them in the college office.

The Adopt a Thesis program allows us to accomplish this goal without requiring the student to purchase extra paper and a binder: a donation of $30 allows us to archive one bound copy of the student’s thesis in 35 Park Place at no expense to the student.

Last year’s Adopt a Thesis was a great success—all of our seniors’ theses were adopted by alumni and friends. Because of that success, the college would also like to give our alumni and friends the opportunity to read one of the theses.

Here’s how the program works:

Step 1: Send a check for $30 made out to the Ohio University Foundation with the memo line reading “HTC Adopt a Thesis” to 35 Park Place, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701. We will use this donation to buy cotton paper and binders, which will be distributed to our seniors.

Step 2: Choose a thesis title from the list below and email your selection to Dean Webster at webstej1@ohio.edu.

Step 3: When the thesis of your choice is completed, we will send you a direct link to an electronic version of your adopted thesis.

Any questions you have about the program can be directed to Dean Webster at webstej1@ohio.edu.

Here are the theses that are available for adoption:

Program of Study	Thesis Title
Anthropology	Wedding Belles: An Explorative Study of Lesbian Commitment
Biological Sciences	Characterization of SraB, a novel regulatory small RNA molecule, in the pathogenic bacterium Shigella dysenteriae
Biological Sciences	The Mechanism of Action of Pyrodach-2: Effects on Acid Sphingomyelinase and Phosphatidylinositol-3 Kinase
Biological Sciences	Effects of Passive Heat Stress on Intracortical and Muscular Properties of the wrist flexors
Biological Sciences	Using Near Infared Spectroscopy to Examine Dorsolateral Prefrontral Activation Patterns During Working Memory tasks in individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Biological Sciences	The effect of growth hormone on the macrophage content and activity of different adipose tissue depots
Biological Sciences	Analysis of Growth Hormone Receptor Protein Levels in Tissue Specific Knockout Mice
Business	Student Athletic Fees: An Ohio University Perspective
Business	Examining Music's Impact on Explicit and Implicit Attitudes towards products
Business	Growing Impact Through Investing: Investigating the most effective legal status for creating and funding social change ventures
Chemistry	The Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Breast Cancer Cell Adhesion
Computer Science
Dance	Documenting Dance in Academia: Information and Promotional Videos about the Ohio University School of Dance
Engineering Physics	Using Grand Penetrating Radar in Bridge Deck Analysis
Engineering Physics & Mechanical Engineering	Investigation of Temporative-Dependent Surface phase transitions on Wurtzite Gallium Nitride
English	Why Don't You Come Home Now: Stories
English	Nova Civitas: A Novel of Ancient Rome
English	The planet that leads men straight on every road: The sun, salvation, and Allegoresis in the Divina Commedia
English	Notes from the Garden
English	Gendered Spheres and their Transgressors: Dickens' Feminine Ideal
English	The blood and the heat of the blood that ran them: Violence, Masculinity and the death of stoicism in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy
English	Withdrawn from Curriculum
Environmental & Plant Biology	Macrofungal Survey of Baker Property, Athens, OH
Hearing, Speech & Language Sciences	Using Eye Tracking to Examine the Relationship between working memory and auditory comprehension in persons with aphasia
History	For British Eyes Only: Great Britain, Germany, and the Search for a Settlement in Upper Silesia
Journalism	The Quest for Blue Skies: Examining the language and framing used by American media in the coverage of Beijing's air pollution clean up efforts leading up to the 2008 Olympic games
Journalism	The Lower Levels of Minor League Baseball: Changes and Challenges for Players and Journalists
Journalism	Inspiring Volunteerism in Appalachia through Social Marketing: A Case Study on A Call to Action
Journalism	Subtle or Blatant? Media Objectification of Televised Women in Sports
Journalism	City/Ruins: An Analysis of Industrial Music Culture
Journalism	Community Journalism and Civic Engagement: An Evaluation of Hyper-Local Publications' Capacity and Responsibility to Impact the Development of Communities
Math	Automatic Assertion Extraction from Natural Language Text
Media Arts & Studies (Video Production)	Finding Camelittle
Media Arts & Studies (Video Production)	Deconstructing Nashville
Neuroscience	Planar Relations within the Vestibular System of the Red-eared Slider Turtle
Philosophy	Pleasure and Virtue in Stoicism
Political Science	Sexual Assault & Deliverative Democracy: Potential for Change
Political Science	Public Art, Public Space, and the Public Sphere
Political Science	European Security: From Maastricht to Bosnia
Social Work	Orphans of India: History and Development of Care
Social Work	Food Security status and related characteristics among a sample of rural Appalachian women
Sociology	Wearing Your Life as a Sleeve: An examination of tattooing as a form of postmodern identity expression
Studio Art	Morbid Curiosity Shop
Theater	Performity and Prostitutes in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh
Theater	Masculine Gender & Sexuality in Romeo & Juliet
Theater	Deconstructin g theatre for a 21st century audience