Senior Thesis
The senior thesis gives Croft students the opportunity to pursue a question they have come to care about through their coursework, language study, and time abroad.
Answer the Research Questions that Matter
By senior year, Croft students have spent years building the foundation for serious inquiry. The senior thesis asks them to take the next step: choose a question, examine it closely, and develop original analysis with the guidance and depth that the Croft experience makes possible.
Shape Your Own Research Path
The senior thesis grows out of everything students study and experience at Croft. Language study, regional concentration, thematic focus, study abroad, and interdisciplinary coursework all help students shape a research question with depth, context, and direction.
Guided By Faculty Mentors
Croft faculty work closely with students throughout the thesis process, helping them turn broad interests into focused research questions. With that guidance, students learn how to organize evidence, sharpen their analysis, and develop work they can stand behind.
Leave Croft With Work That Carries Forward
South Korea’s Diplomacy in African Development
After a full year at Korea University, one of Croft’s direct exchange partners, Binta Fadiga used her Korean language skills to study South Korea’s diplomacy in Africa. She analyzed Korean government sources to examine the diplomatic relationship between South Korea and West Africa, with a focus on Senegal, work that helped position her for a 2024 Boren Scholarship.
China and Lawfare in the Arctic
Sophia Toner examined China’s engagement with international legal frameworks in the Arctic, focusing on submarine cable infrastructure and shipping through the Northern Sea Route.Her thesis showed how questions of law, shipping, and infrastructure are reshaping global competition in the Arctic, and preceded her selection as a Marshall Scholar.
Secularization and the Camino de Santiago
While studying abroad in Spain, Hannah Dear hiked part of the Camino de Santiago, visited historic sites, and interviewed fellow pilgrims. She later gathered more than 1,500 survey responses from international travelers to study secularization and religious experience in contemporary Spain.
Corporate-Community Relations in Ecuador’s Mining Industry
While studying abroad in Ecuador, Hayden Pierce traveled to the Amazon to interview local residents about their response to Chinese mining. His thesis connected field research, environmental policy, local resistance, and economic globalization.
Stories of Syrian Refugees in Germany
Kumali Schoen studied Syrian refugee experiences in Germany through the Archive of Flight, a digital oral history platform. Her thesis examined themes of belonging, dignity, and trust, showing how personal stories can deepen understanding of refugee integration and public policy.
Criminal Law Reform in Uruguay
Harrison Stewart studied Uruguay’s shift from an inquisitorial criminal procedure system to an adversarial one, drawing on interviews with law professors, judges, prosecutors, and public defenders. His thesis examined how legal reforms are understood by the people working within them and helped prepare him for law school at the University of Virginia.
Three-Minute Thesis
The event is planned and led by Croft students.
Underclassmen get a closer look at the research process.
Students have the chance to ask questions and learn more about each senior’s research.
The Croft community gathers to celebrate senior work.
