Fall 2006 Honors Courses
Honors 201, Perennial Questions: What is the Good Life?
| HON 201HA (3 Hours Credit) | Perennial Questions MW 3:30-4:45 p.m. Dr. Michael Cooley |
| HON 201HB (3 Hours Credit) | Perennial Questions TH 2:00-3:15 p.m. Dr. Michael Cooley |
Course meets these requirements: Required course for all honors students that will count as a general education 200 level literature requirement; or the fifth free elective course in the Humanities general education core.
Course description:
The course investigates the “perennial question” of what makes a life “good” and how best one might understand and pursue that “good life.” Readings from classical and contemporary philosophy, literature, psychology, sociology, pop- culture, religion and education each provide perspectives on the question of “What is a Good Life?” Four films provide further perspectives on the basic issue of the good life.
Class is conducted as a seminar; discussion of assigned readings rather than lecture is the general format for class. Reading journals and a term essay are required.
Honors 201, Perennial Questions: Philosophers on the Human Condition
| HON 201HC (3 Hours Credit) | Perennial Questions TH 3:30-4:45 Dr. Michael Papazian |
Course meets these requirements: Required course for all honors students that will count as a general education 200 level philosophy requirement; or the fifth free elective in the general education core.
Course description:
This course is an honors introduction to the main questions and problems of philosophy. The best way to approach these questions is to read, discuss, and write about how some of the best philosophers have answered them. So we will read and discuss how philosophers such as Plato, Augustine, Descartes, Nietzsche and others have dealt with such questions as the following: Is there any good reason to believe in God? Or is it OK to believe things without good reasons? Is the mind a machine like a computer or is it not physical at all? Are moral positions just subjective opinions? What is the relationship of religion and morality? How should human societies be organized? What is the purpose of education? Why should we care about any of this?
Students will write three short papers, a longer term paper, and take two tests.
History 450/ Honors 250, The Era of Al Capone
| HIS 450/HON 250HA (3 Hours Credit) | The Era of Al Capone TH 9:30-10:45 Dr. Christy Snider |
Course meets these requirements: This course may used to satisfy the general education requirement in history for non-history majors ; or the fifth elective course in the Humanities general education core; and the Honors Program requirement for one Honors 250 seminar course. History majors may receive upper division history credit at the discretion of the history department.
Course description:
This course will use the life of Al Capone, one of the world’s most notorious criminals, to study American urban society from 1899 to 1948. Capone came of age during a time in history when old laws, old customs, and old values were no longer able to deal with the changes occurring throughout the country. He was able to use this upheaval to leave his mark on city politics, organized crime, and prohibition. An examination of Capone touches on issues that include immigrant communities, working class culture, urban life, jazz, the Florida real-estate boom, and the Great Depression. The class will also discuss why Capone’s fame, which should have been fleeting, instead lodged permanently in the consciousness of Americans.
The course will be conducted as a reading seminar, meaning there will be little to no lecturing. Instead, students are required to read a variety of secondary sources, including historical monographs, journal articles, literature written during the time period, and then discuss this material in class.
Honors 250, Science Fiction and Politics
| HON 250HB (3 Hours Credit) | Science Fiction and Politics W4:00-6:30 Dr. Dr. John Hickman |
Course meets these requirements: This course may used to satisfy the general education core requirement in government; and the Honors Program requirement for one Honors 250 seminar course. May count toward upper-division requirements at the discretion of the department of Government
Course description:
HON 250 Science Fiction and Politics is an opportunity for students to explore the explicitly and implicitly political in science fiction novels and films. Although science fiction resists precise definition as a genre its best stories are typically set in the future either in dystopias or on worlds other than the Earth. Stories set in dystopias usually describe the negative effects of technological, social or political change while stories set in worlds other than the Earth usually describe encounters with the Other in the form of extraterrestrial, machine or post-human intelligences. These settings permit explorations of assumptions about individual identity and thus the legal rights associated with that identity and assumptions about human nature and thus political ideology.
Typical of the assignments would be writing an essay on the possible scope of the legal rights that might be extended to the short lived artificial humans in the 1982 film Blade Runner and David Brin’s 2002 novel Kiln People.
“HONORIZING ” a general education core required course or a course within a major.
As you know, an honors student may request to change a “regular” general education course or a course within a major into an honors course. Follow the procedure below.
Discuss with the appropriate faculty member your interest in receiving “honors” credit for a particular course. Give your instructor the “Honors Contract Form.” He or she will define the nature of the honors work to be completed.
Complete your part of the form and return the form to Dr. Cooley.
Honors Sections of General Education Courses
These courses are open to all honors students.
Honors Thesis
Register for HON 450H if you are starting your thesis.Register for HON 451H if you completed HON 450H last semester.
You will need an authorization form signed by your thesis director, department chair, and the honors director.
Honorization of General Education Courses
Beginning with the 2003-5 catalog, students may elect, with the approval of the instructor, to honorize one general education course. The honorization must be approved during the pre-registration period. For details on the procedure, contact the honors director.