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Fall 2024��Honors Program Courses

����We provide course descriptions written by our instructors whenever possible.�� Click on linked course titles, scroll down, or click here to see the course descriptions.�� . Right-click on the link and choose "Open link in a new tab" if you'd like to keep this window open and also look at the University Catalog.

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Instructor Course Descriptions

����Anthropology

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ANTH 4580-880:�� The Holocaust: An Anthropological Perspective
Paul Shankman
This course focuses on the Holocaust during World War II, which involved the murder of millions of people, including six million Jews. The course begins with genocides leading up to the Holocaust, and then covers the Holocaust's history, dynamics and consequences. It also includes discussions of Holocaust denial and the relevance of the Holocaust today.�� Cross-listed with JWST 4580-880.

����Asian Studies

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ASIA 2000-880: Gateway to Modern Asia
Lauren Collins
This course explores Asia as more than a place on a map—it's an idea, a vision that has evolved over time, influencing and being influenced by the world's major events.�� From the rise and fall of empires, the marks left by colonialism, to the challenges of building nations, responding to a changing climate, and the universal quest for a better life, this course uncovers the stories and connections that have shaped Asia and its role on the global stage.���� We will present Asia as a concept, a powerful imaginary geography, and a historically dynamic construct.

����Classics
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CLAS 1140-880:�� Bread and Circuses:�� Society and Culture in the Roman World (large class with Honors recitation)*
Isabel Koster
Roman civilization began humbly, as a village around the banks of the Tiber River in central Italy in the mid-8th century BCE. Before its political collapse in the 5th century CE—over 1,200 years after its founding—it had grown into one of the most powerful and technologically advanced civilizations in history. At its height, it covered almost two million square miles and included up to 90 million inhabitants, or about one-fifth of the world’s population at the time. To this day, Rome’s rich legacy lives on and influences many aspects of western culture and society, including art, architecture, language, literature, technology, politics, law, and even board games. As promised by the title “Bread and Circuses,” this course will explore the Romans through the lens of mass entertainment including the most iconic form of Roman spectacle, gladiatorial combat. We will think about how spectacles change throughout history, how social values and leisure activities interact, and why violent entertainment was such a vital part of keeping the inhabitants of the vast empire happy. We will also consider the legacy of the Roman games by exploring mass entertainment and the marketing of ancient sites today. *Please note:�� Our CLAS offerings are in a larger lecture setting for the main course (CLAS 1140-880), and the recitation is taught by the professor instead of a Teaching Assistant (CLAS 1140-881).�� The recitations are limited to 17 students in the traditional discussion-based Honors class style.

CLAS 2029-880:�� Art & Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (large class with Honors recitation)*
Travis Rupp
The art and archaeology of Ancient Egypt is a topic that has fascinated most of us since we were children. However, TV networks often oversimplify or provide a false pretense that Egyptian history and culture is well understood, and discoveries simply fill in minor gaps in a comprehensive portfolio of truths. This course will provide an eclectic survey of ancient Egyptian art, architecture, culture, religion, politics, and history starting in the Predynastic era (c. 4600 BCE) and progressing through to the end of the Roman period (c. 500 CE). We will focus on great monuments and works of art and place them within their religious, social, and historical contexts by studying major themes and concepts, such as the role of the pharaoh, the power of officials and priests, afterlife beliefs, and trade and international relations. We will discover that there are still just as many mysteries and unknowns as there are truths about ancient Egyptians. In the Honors section of this course, we will do deep dives into Egyptian war, female kings, mummification, the mystery of King Tutankhamun’s Tomb (which was opened 100 years ago this year), the Sea Peoples, and many other enriching topics. We will also rigorously discuss current events in Egyptological study (e.g., the recently unearthed Saqqara mummies, the oldest and largest Egyptian brewery at Abydos, and the newly discovered chamber in Khufu’s Pyramid).����*Please note:�� Our CLAS offerings are in a larger lecture setting for the main course (CLAS 2029-880), and the recitation is taught by the professor instead of a Teaching Assistant (CLAS 2029-881).�� The recitations are limited to 17 students in the traditional discussion-based Honors class style.

����Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
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EBIO 1210-880 & 881: General Biology 1
Robert Buchwald
EBIO 1210 and EBIO 1220 together serve as an introduction to Biology in the 21st Century. These courses are prerequisites for nearly every subsequent EBIO course. In the first semester (1210), our focus is on processes at the cellular level. We will learn what types of molecules all living things are made of, the structure and organization of cells, how DNA is read and translated into proteins, the magic of mitochondria and the fundamentals of photosynthesis. To complement class lectures, we will have group work and class discussions relating course content to your everyday life. EBIO 1210 and EBIO 1220 (offered in spring) are recommended for science majors. Non-science majors should consider EBIO 1030, 1040 & 1050.

���� English
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ENGL 3078-880:�� Contemporary Literature: 1945 to the Present
Jeremy Green
Stay tuned for the professor's description.�� In the meantime, visit the university catalog for details.

����Geography
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GEOG 1972-880 & 881: Sustainable Futures, Environment and Society
Abby Hickcox
The goals of this class are to introduce students to the ways in which the field of geography has approached the interaction between the environment and society and to increase students’ skills in analyzing contemporary environmental issues.�� In pursuit of these goals, the class will introduce several perspectives from which to view our relationship with the environment, with an emphasis on the social and political-economic dimensions of environment-society relations.�� Topics covered include:�� population and consumption, environmental hazards, environmental ethics, environmental conservation, anthropogenic climate change, and others.�� We will examine several environmental objects (e.g. carbon dioxide, electronic waste, French Fries, and lawns) using nine analytical perspectives, including economic, institutional, ethical, social construction, feminist, and environmental justice analyses.�� Looking at these objects from multiple analytical perspectives will provide an opportunity to develop and advance students’ critical thinking skills.��Formerly GEOG 2412.

����History
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HIST 2166-880: The Vietnam Wars
Steven Dike
We will study a series of conflicts that occurred in Vietnam from about 1930 to 1975. These struggles involved Vietnamese nationalists, Vietnamese communists, French colonialists, Japanese occupiers, and Americans, along with others. You will leave this class with a deep knowledge of the issues, people, and conflicts that shaped Vietnam and the other nations that fought there. We will examine the American experience in their war, as well as the American home front. ����Check out the HIST 2166 class flyer here

HIST 2437-880:�� African American History
Steven Dike
This will be a seminar class in an important and interesting historical story. What does a college Honors seminar in history look like? It means that our class will be focused on readings, discussions, papers, and student-directed learning. The purpose here is both to learn history and to engage you in critical thought, to build oral presentation skills, teamwork, and academic writing. I may give occasional brief lectures, but they are not the main focus of the class. Please come to class having read the day’s assignments and ready to engage in a thoughtful discussion.

Our course readings are a mixture of primary and secondary sources. Only one of our books, Henry Louis Gates’s Stony the Road, which covers Reconstruction, “Redemption,” and the rise of a new black consciousness in the early 20th century is a traditional academic history. Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave chronicles the story of a man kidnapped into slavery and regaining his freedom. We will begin the course, however, in the present, with Ta-Nehisi Coates’s recent Between the World and Me, and we will finish with another recent work, Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. There will also be selected shorter readings, posted to the course’s Canvas website.��

HIST 4638-880:�� Contemporary China: Radicalism and Reform, 1949 to Present
William Wei
Join Professor Wei to learn about contemporary China by answering the following questions in a lively discussion-style course:

• Why do some historians call the liberation of China from imperialism a tragedy?
• What motivated Mao Zedong to launch the Great Leap Forward, a mass campaign that led to an estimated 40 million deaths?
• Was the Cultural Revolution an example of political self-immolation?
• How could an ardent communist like Deng Xiaoping say, "To get rich is glorious"?
• Why is China reneging on its promises to allow Hong Kong?
• Will the contentious issue of Taiwan lead to war between China and America?

����Honors
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HONR 1810-880:�� Honors Diversity
Kate Fischer
This introductory course examines diversity, broadly construed, in the contemporary U.S. context. This course applies an interdisciplinary perspective to identify how history, politics, culture, economics, and social life converge with and shape the way diverse experiences in terms of gender, race, class, sexuality, neurodiversity, and the physical body, among others, are lived and understood. The goals of this course are to encourage and develop curiosity, openness, and empathy alongside a critical academic understanding of the broad range of experiences and inequities in the current moment. By the end of the course you will develop a critical understanding of how forms of privilege and exclusion are written about, comprehended, and contended with.

HONR 3220‐880: Advanced Honors Writing Workshop: Honors Thesis/Research Writing
Stephanie Couey
Section 880 introduces honors students to an analysis and argumentation as they are rendered in longer prose forms. As such, the course provides excellent preparation for writing an honors thesis. With the collaboration and thoughtful feedback of your colleagues in class, you will have the opportunity to engage in independent scholarship in your area of expertise. Our informal theme for the semester will be cultural rhetoric. In responding to texts that represent cultural diversity, students will evaluate issues and relate them to their own experiences. Through these readings as well as class discussion of written assignments, students will learn to make reasoned arguments in defense of their own opinions. By examining diverse voices, this course helps students meet the challenges of academic writing. This course will extend your ability to adapt rhetorical strategies and arguments on cultural issues and diversity to address the needs of a range of different audiences and stakeholders.

Writing Process and the Workshop Format: The course offers an opportunity to understand writing from the audience or reader perspective by focusing on the peer review of work in progress. Through this approach, you will discover how revision is central to the writing process. Your own writing will be the principal text; we will all work together as a team to improve each paper. We will adopt the attitude that any paper can be improved, and give constructive criticism to everyone. Your job will be to provide oral and written commentary on other students' papers when assigned to do so. Restricted to students with 57-180 credits (Juniors or Seniors).�� Must be taken for credit. No P/F.

HONR 3900-880: Honors Internship Course
Ali Hatch
Engage in hands-on work in the community and gain practical knowledge and real-world experience. The course is designed to help students combine professional experiences with an academic component that involves critical thinking and interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving.�� Benefits of the course include acquiring professional skills and knowledge, building a network of connections, developing insights on possible career options, and applying classroom material to real-world experiences.�� Final letter grades are based on the evaluation of the student’s internship supervisor and on class performance. Class assignments will include journal reflections on internship experience and the completion of a career portfolio.�� We will meet every other Monday on the following dates:

• Monday, August 26, 1:25-2:15
• Monday, September 9, 1:25-2:15
• Monday, September 23, 1:25-2:15
• Monday, October 9, 1:25-2:15
• Monday, October 21, 1:25-2:15
• Monday, November 4, 1:25-2:15
• Monday, November 18, 1:25-2:15
• Monday, December 9, 1:25-2:15

To take the course, you must be Honors eligible (cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher) and be of sophomore, junior, or senior standing at the time of the internship. Enrollment preference will be given to students enrolled in the Honors Certificate Program. However, it is not a requirement to be a certificate student to take the internship course. You must submit an application before you can be enrolled.�� It's a pretty simple application; it's just a way for us to understand what your goals are and what you are thinking about doing.�� It will take you about 3-5 minutes to fill out.�� May 15th is the deadline to apply for Fall 2024 enrollment.��

• Click here to read more about the internship
• Email Dr. Hatch wtih any questions about the internship

HONR 4075-880: Environmental Justice
Abby Hickcox
This course examines the experiences of people who have been historically marginalized because of their race, class, and gender, and who have faced environmental injustices because of that inequality.�� Often, poor and racial minority communities bear a disproportionately large burden of toxic contamination and suffer health problems associated with pollution, while the elite and powerful tend to control the environmental resources.�� Environmental justice is a social movement in opposition to these inequalities.�� In this course, we will learn about the history, principles, values, and strengths of the environmental justice movement in its quest to oppose environmental racism.

����Integrative Physiology
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IPHY 2420-880: Introduction to Nutrition
Sewan Kim
Please stay tuned for the professor's description.�� In the meantime, visit the University Catalog for details.

����Mathematics
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MATH 2510-880:�� Introduction to Statistics
Braden Balentine
This is an introductory course in statistics. We will cover some of the fundamental ideas and tools used in statistics. Topics that we will cover include elementary statistical measures, statistical distributions, statistical inference, hypothesis testing and linear regression. We will also go over some of the basics of probability as they are necessary for our understanding of statistics. ��The Honors version of this course covers the same material as the standard Introduction to Statistics class, but in a smaller, discussion-based environment.�� Check out the MATH 2510 class flyer here

����Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
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MCDB 1150-880:�� Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology
Maureen Bjerke
This course is the first in the required sequence for Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology majors and is also applicable for other majors related to the biological sciences. We will begin with atomic structure before building up into the molecules that form the monomers and polymers that constitute life. We continue building up in scale throughout the semester as we explore cellular structures, gene expression, intracellular trafficking, bacteria and viruses, evolution, and cell-cell communication. Along the way, we will discuss the experiments that established DNA as the genetic material and other fundamental findings in cell and molecular biology. We will also highlight the contributions and experiences of current and historical scientists working on the topics about which we are learning.

This class uses a partially “flipped” structure, meaning that students are expected to acquire knowledge from readings and videos before coming to class. Class time is focused on problem solving, practice, and discussion with minimized lecture. Because of the fast pace of this course, a strong high school chemistry and biology background is recommended.

����Philosophy
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PHIL 1200-880:����Contemporary Social Problems
Alastair Norcross
Everyone, at some point or other in life, will have to face questions of right and wrong, fairness and injustice, and challenges to one's sense of purpose and meaning. Sometimes these questions are general and abstract: When should the power of the state be used to restrict an individual's voluntary decisions? Are there any reasons to restrict actions and relationships, such as drug use or polyamory, that might appear to be victimless or consensual? At other times, those questions are deeply personal and concrete: Is there any good reason for me to be honest if there's little chance of my getting caught? Is there any reason not to use ChatGPT to write my essay? How should I counsel a friend or family member with an unplanned pregnancy or a terminal disease? While people often rely on religious traditions or secular norms to guide their conduct when such questions arise, it can be helpful to approach such issues in a more systematic way. In this class, we will approach these and other controversial issues through the lens of philosophy, which seeks to answer these questions by critically examining different possible positions on those issues. We will focus on competing positions in debates over these and similar inescapable controversial issues that keep on hovering over your head including the fundamental questions of right, wrong and the meaning of life.

PHIL 2380-880: Philosophy and Psychiatry
Iskra Fileva
This course introduces students to problems at the intersection of psychiatry and philosophy. Some problems are theoretical: What is mental disorder? Is there a boundary between normality and psychopathology? Is Narcissistic Personality Disorder, for instance, really a disorder or are narcissists simply morally bad? Or take the experiences of a religious person who reports auditory or visual experiences that involve god or divine agents. Are these religious experiences or hallucinations? How can we tell?

Another group of questions are ethical: Is it permissible to administer psychiatric treatment against a patient’s will, and if so, when? Is it permissible to amputate the limb of a patient with Body Integrity Dysphoria who strongly desires amputation?

One of the goals of this course is to give students a good sense of some of the complexities in this area. A secondary aim is to show how we may combine the critical thinking tools of philosophy with psychiatry’s firm empirical grounding.

����Political Science

PSCI 4002: Western European Politics
Jennifer Fitzgerald
Stay tuned for professor's description.�� In the meantime, visit the University Catalog for details.

����Psychology
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PSYC 1001-880:�� General Psychology
Jennifer Schwartz
How are we able to perceive the world around us? Why do we dream? How does alcohol impact the brain? What makes each individual’s personality unique? Do young children think differently than adults? How do we learn? Are people with psychological disorders dangerous? How do psychologists help people lead richer more fulfilling lives?���� This course is designed to address these and other questions by giving you an introduction to the content and methodology of the field of psychology.�� It will give you an overview of some of the major sub-disciplines within psychology. It will also expose you to both seminal and cutting-edge research studies within these domains, as well as encourage critical interpretation of research findings. To guide and integrate our exploration, we will focus on several theoretical frameworks and ongoing debates that cut across specific sub-fields and define the study of psychology as a whole. You will be connecting these ideas to your own life by applying class content to the reading, listening, watching, interacting, and experiencing you do every day.�� The goals of this course are to stimulate you to further explore the field of psychology and to provide a foundation of knowledge and critical thinking skills that will benefit your academic, career, and personal paths, whatever they may be.

PSYC 3684-880:�� Developmental Psychology
Jennifer Schwartz
In this class, we will uncover the story of human development from the point when life begins (conception) to the point when it ends (death).�� You will have a chance to think about yourself as an infant, child, and adolescent and take stock of how these years influenced the person you are today. You can also envision who you will be as a young adult, a middle-aged adult, and an adult in old age and consider how your experiences today will influence your development through the remainder of your adult years. This course is an introduction to the science of human development and how it simultaneously captures both the ways that your journey is similar to, and different from, that of others.�� We will use theory and research in developmental psychology to help organize our exploration and provide methods to help us in our discoveries.�� In particular, we will investigate human development in several domains such as biological, cognitive, and social/emotional, and from several different perspectives, including ecological, psychodynamic, and constructivist.�� The goal is to provide you with a basic framework and mode of inquiry that will serve you in your future roles as parent, friend, colleague, health care provider, educator, and/or public policy maker.�� Check out the class flyer here.

����Sociology
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SOCY 1006-880 & 881:�� Social Construction of Sexuality
Ali Hatch
This is an introductory course on the sociology of sexuality. As opposed to thinking of human sexuality as the inevitable expression of biological instincts or drives, we will use a social constructionist framework to explore the ways in which we as a society create our sexual reality. Throughout the course we will explore the construction of sexual orientation and gender as they impact our cultural and individual understandings of sexuality. Additionally, we will examine the roles institutions and individuals play in creating and maintaining sexual hierarchies and policing sexual choices.����

SOCY 3016-880: Marriage and the Family in the United States
Ali Hatch
This course is designed to examine marriage and the family in the U.S. from a sociological perspective. We will look at how marriage and family are fluid constructs, transforming and evolving over time. As the majority of families currently do not fit the “nuclear” model, special emphasis will be placed on the various realities of people’s lives and how they differ from cultural ideals.

WGST 3670-880: Gender, Race, Sexuality and Global Migration
Kate Fischer
This course engages in an interdisciplinary study of the intersections of gender, race, and sexuality that have created a multicultural, multiethnic, and multiracial world, looking particularly at migrants and migrant communities. We will examine how constructions of gender, race, and sexuality are structurally determined and lived in the context of global migration, both contemporary and historical. While the course primarily focuses on women, it is impossible to ignore how race, sexuality, and class articulate with ideas about gender and how these socially determined characteristics intersect in identity construction and subjectivities. The goal of this class is to develop a critical understanding of how forms of privilege, inequality, and exclusion based on gender, race, sexuality, and national/ethnic origin are written about, comprehended, and contended with. In addition to reading a number of scholarly books and articles from across the social sciences and humanities, we will also use news articles, blogs, current events, and social media. Recommended prerequisites: WMST 2000 or WMST 2600. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: global perspective.