Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts

This baccalaureate degree program provides the opportunity for students to develop a broad-based and flexible interdisciplinary liberal arts education similar to that offered by many small liberal arts colleges and provides the opportunity to integrate ideas and methods from different disciplines. Each senior has the opportunity to conduct research, develop a creative project, perform service learning in the community, or co-teach an honors course with a faculty member.

To be considered for spring admission, you need to complete the HILA application by October 15. For fall admission, you need to complete this application by March 15. Apply now!  

Explore what some of our HILA Majors have created.

Thesis Archives

The Art of Stand-up Comedy
Spenser Willden
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts
2023

Making Space: The Importance of Including Chican@ Studies in College Curriculums
Aida Revilla
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Major
Senior Teaching
2021

Decay: An Experiment in Mycoremediation
Rowan Willow Roberts
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts
Creative Thesis Project 2020 Website
Creative Thesis Project 2020 Video

Whose Future? New Models for American Higher Education
Aline Noel Webb
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Major
Creative Thesis Project 2020 Website
Creative Thesis Project 2020 Video

Breaking Bad Stereotypes

Phoebe Cummins
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Creative Thesis Project
2018

Breaking Gender Norms through Fashion: Lessons from Georgia O’Keeffe
Rana Chan
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Creative Thesis Project
2018

Approaching the Promethean Idea
Samuel Shoemaker-Trejo
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Creative Thesis Project
2018

Naming the Nameless: An Exploration of Queer Poetry and Empowerment
Cedar Yelvington
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Major
Creative Thesis Project 2018 Website

Sports History and Civil Rights in America

Austin Miller
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Thesis 
2015 
This project investigates the potential benefits of teaching civil rights history at the secondary level using sports history as a lens. Emphasis is placed upon Muhammad Ali, the civil rights activism and movements of the 1950s-1970s, and assessing the civic contributions of modern athletes. Drawing from methodologies in the emerging and expanding field of sports history and incorporating aspects of selected pedagogical theory, this week-long module was designed and then taught at Carlsbad High School in Carlsbad, NM from March 9-13, 2015. Six classes of 11th grade U.S. history students comprised the sample of 107 total students, whose work, commentary, and evaluation data is sampled in this compendium. The hypothesis that sports history may potentially provide high school students with a valuable, interesting, and unconventional educational experience, with specific focus on the history of civil rights in 20th century America, was tested throughout the week as the students explored the civil rights era, using sports to examine cultural and societal events and their impact on today’s world.

We Are Who We Are: Building Self-Esteem through Visual Art - A Curriculum for High School Girls
Claire Stasiewicz
Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Creative Thesis Project
2014