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George Washington fellows received a happy piece of news this semester — no more thesis requirement to graduate.
“The thesis component of the George Washington Fellowship Program has been eliminated,” Provost David Whalen said.
Whalen said the thesis was a complication and a hindrance to good academic work.
Several George Washington fellows are already writing theses for other graduation requirements. Senior Brittany Baldwin, for instance, is writing a thesis for her American studies major.
Whalen said quality of work goes down when too much is demanded, and the George Washington Fellowship thesis proved superfluous.
“It was not an organic outgrowth of studies and work,” Whalen said.
College President Larry Arnn, Whalen, and [the] politics faculty met with George Washington fellows for lunch last Wednesday to discuss other possible changes to the program.
Some ideas under consideration are changing the supervision of the program to someone on campus instead of in Washington, D.C., hosting more distinguished visitors on campus, and building an intellectual community among the fellows.
“It is not unusual for young academic programs to need this kind of housekeeping,” Whalen said. “Nothing will be changed so as to present an impossible task for students.”
George Washington Fellow senior Katharine Mancuso said the revamp is necessary, but that she thinks the mandatory classes should stay in the program.
One problem she identified is a growing lack of community within the program. When she began, the fellows read “All the King’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren and then met to discuss the novel. She said it was a bonding experience that she has not had with younger members of the program.
Mancuso said when she found out the thesis was cancelled she jumped out of bed in excitement. She said she thinks it will lead to a better second semester with less stress.
“I won’t be doing a bad job on my thesis like I probably would have done,” she said.
Mancuso said she was not sure of the thesis expectations, had no on-campus guidance, and no guidelines. Now she only has to focus on passing her Spanish comprehensive exam.
The class of 2012 is only the second to graduate from the program.
“They are still trying to figure out how to best run the program,” senior Grace Kessler said. “Dr. Arnn decided the thesis was not the best way to utilize the program. Personally, I was relieved because I hadn’t started. But I expected to write one and would have.”
Final revisions to the program will be implemented next academic year, Whalen said.
Kessler said the program has been a positive experience overall, especially its scholarship and her experience in the Washington-Hillsdale Internship Program last spring.
“I have a hard time critiquing the program because even though it’s in its infancy, it was such a blessing to me,” Kessler said. “I would gladly have written a thesis. I wish I could stay on campus to see some of the changes.”
