Portrait of John C. Young
  1. Academics
  2. Curriculum
  3. Student Research
  4. John C. Young Scholars

John C. Young Scholars

The program is designed to encourage highly motivated seniors to engage in independent study, research, or artistic work in their major discipline or an interdisciplinary area of their choosing.

Every year approximately seven seniors are chosen as John C. Young Scholars. Guided by a Centre professor, these academically outstanding students choose any topic of interest, and present their work at a symposium. The program offers students a stipend to cover expenses related to his/her project, and their research results are subsequently published.

Examples of Recent Student Work

  • The Role of Fatherhood as It Relates to American Masculinity
  • Ten Perspectives on Strife: A Concept Album
  • Is Boyle County Ready for Universal Pre-Kindergarten?
  • Strengthening Elliptic Curve Cryptography and Preparing for Quantum Computing
  • Falling with Style: Determining the Gliding Ability of the Enigmatic Fossil Sharovipteryx mirabilis
  • Building Accountable Communities: Prison Abolition and Transformative Justice in the Age of Social Media Activism
  • The Lancaster Chronicle: Women as Revolutionary Writers and Publishers in Colonial Pennsylvania

Program Guidelines

Students will apply for the program in the spring of their junior year by submitting a thesis proposal to a faculty member who will serve as their project director and who will collaborate with them in designing the program.
  1. A John C. Young Scholars Committee, composed of no fewer than four members of the faculty with representation from each of the academic divisions, will serve as the body to approve admissions to the program and to make recommendations concerning its operation. The committee will be appointed by the Dean of the College.
  2. Scholars may select a project in their major field, in another discipline, or in more than one discipline.
  3. Each Scholar normally will have only one project director (thesis advisor), unless the field of study is interdisciplinary in which case as many as two major advisors may be involved.
  4. Each project director may only work with one scholar per academic year.
  5. A minimum grade point average of 3.3 is expected for admission to the Scholars program. Exceptions may be made in the case of outstanding proposals.
  6. The independent project normally will count as six credit hours of course work taken under the “400 Individual Study” rubric in the catalogue.
  7. Scholars’ work will be taken for a regular grade, and will not be offered on a pass/unsatisfactory basis.
  8. The usual regulations for dropping classes will apply during each term for which a student is enrolled in the program. If it becomes necessary for a student to drop out of the program at the end of a given term, the project director will recommend a grade to be determined in consultation with the chair of the John C. Young Scholars Committee.
  9. Scholars will present the findings of their research at a special Scholars’ Symposium on campus in the spring of their senior year. The Symposium will be announced and open to the public.
  10. The results of the Scholars’ projects will be considered for publication in a special “John C. Young Scholars Journal” underwritten and printed by the College.
  11. The College will provide funding for each scholar at a reasonable level to offset expenses for books, approved travel, photocopying, typing, clerical supplies, computer time, software, certain types of equipment, and other approved expenses related to the project. Each Scholar should present a budget together with his or her project proposal.
  12. As long as funding is available, the major project director will receive a stipend for preparation during the summer and for overseeing the project during the academic year.
  13. Students who successfully complete the program will have the notation “John C. Young Scholar” entered on their transcripts. An explanation of this notation will be contained on the transcript guide which accompanies the transcript.
  14. Admission to this program signifies only that a student will be considered being designated as a John C. Young Scholar. The actual award will be approved by the John C. Young Committee upon recommendation of the faculty sponsor. The student’s performance in the program must be judged outstanding in order to merit this award.

Application Submissions