Spring 2013 Honors Courses
Honors 201, Perennial Questions (3 Hours Credit)
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HON 201 H Section A
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What is a Good
Life? TH 3:30–4:45 Dr. Brian Carroll
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Course meets these requirements:
- Required course for all Honors
students
- Counts as the 200-level
literature requirement or the fifth free elective course in the Humanities
general education core (3 of 15 hours required)
Course
description:
What is a Good Life?: 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?” A selection of films
will provide further perspective on the basic issue of the good life.
HON 203 H, Democracy and
Its Friendly Critics (3 Hours Credit)
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HON 203 HA Democracy and Its Friendly Critics MWF
10:00 – 10:50 Dr. Peter Lawler
HON 203 HB Democracy and Its Friendly Critics MWF
11:00 – 11:50 Dr. Michael Bailey
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Course meets these requirements:
- Required course for all honors
students
- General Education core
requirement in Behavioral & Social Sciences -- 200 level for Government
and International Studies.
Course description:
America's leading statesmen such as James Madison, Alexander
Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt
understood that popular government is extremely difficult to sustain. They
understood what we largely have forgotten: Democracy, like all forms of
government, comes with its own set of challenges and
pathologies. These lessons about democracy are best expressed by Alexis de
Tocqueville, a critic, albeit a friendly one, of American democracy who thoughtfully
and forcefully articulated the dangers facing the emerging democratic
world. This course will use Tocqueville's Democracy in America to illustrate the perpetual
issues and problems of democracy—many of which are still very real despite our
being blind to them—and we will also draw on works of literature, philosophy,
film, and theology to give concrete meaning to these problems as they are
manifested in American political and social life.
HON 203 H, Democracy and
Its Friendly Critics (3 Hours Credit)
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HON 203 HD Democracy and Its Friendly Critics MWF
12:00-12:50 Dr. David McKenzie
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Course meets these requirements:
- Required course for all honors
students
- General Education core
requirement in Humanities--100 level for Philosophy.
- May also count as the fifth
humanities elective, if religion or philosophy course requirement has been
met by other means (e.g. AP credit).
Course description:
The motto “e pluribus unum” was inscribed on the United States National Seal,
created by the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War Period. The
motto referred originally to the one nation arising from the many nations whose
settlers came to America and from the thirteen states which constituted the
original union. The idea that it would be possible to create a nation that
really is “one, from many” is a seminal idea of American history. As the phrase
comes to us, it stands more broadly for the dialectic of the one and the many
in American experience, reflected in a wide array of issues. This course
focuses on certain moments in this rich dialectic in which the tensions
inherent in the interplay of unity and diversity have come to full expression.
It explores early arguments related to state and nation from the discipline of
politics, cultural conflicts between Native-Americans and European settlers
from the disciplines of history and literature, persistent issues of race
relation from the disciplines of philosophy and Black studies, treatment of
immigrant populations from the disciplines of literature and sociology, the
long struggle for gender equality from the disciplines of history and women’s
studies, and arguments pertaining to religious identity and separation of
church and state from the disciplines of religious studies and politics.
ECO 110, Principles of Economics I, Honors (3
Hours Credit)
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ECO 110 H Section C
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Principles of Economics
I TH 9:30 – 10:45 Dr. Lauren Heller
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Course
meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- General Education core
requirement in Behavioral and Social Sciences—Economics (3 of 9 hours required)
Course
description: Analysis
of how markets determine prices and the role of the price system in society.
Introduction of the factors that determine macroeconomic activity and growth.
Discussion of the American financial system and international trade. Consistent
with the placement in the College's general education curriculum, this course
emphasizes economic literacy for understanding historical and current events.
ENG 102, The Rhetoric of
Analysis & Argumentation, Honors (3
Hours Credit)
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ENG 102 H section N
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Inquiry and Writing TH
8:00 – 9:15 Dr. Lara Whelan
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Course meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- General Education core
requirement in Communication (3 of 9 hours required)
Course
description:
The purpose of the course is to prepare students to become knowing and
productive participants in academic, cultural, or civic discourse. Students
will learn to use multiple and sustained modes of critical inquiry to build
arguable perspectives within particular cultural contexts and conversations.
These modes might include writing to learn, report, review, criticize, clarify,
convince, persuade, or negotiate. In addition, students will be coached in the
rhetorical concepts of persona, ethos & pathos, argument structure,
counterargument, and logical fallacy. By the end of the course, students will
be able to summarize, evaluate, and synthesize multiple sources in order
develop a critical perspective and advance a thesis of their own. Students will
also receive guidance in the evaluation and appropriate documentation of print
and non-print sources (e.g., online databases, world wide web, film,
photography, television, etc.).
COM 203, Rhetoric and Public Address, Honors (3
Hours Credit)
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COM 203 H section C
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Political
Communication TH 12:30 – 1:45 Dr. Randy
Richardson
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Course
meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- General Education core
requirement in Communication (3 of 9 hours required)
Course description: Political Communication--COM 203 H with an emphasis on political
communication engages students in the creation, development, analysis and
evaluation of public address in the political context. The course
challenges students with readings in communication theory and pragmatic
political discourse from across the US political spectrum. Rhetorical
analysis of contemporary and current political campaigns provides insight into
everything from a rhetoric of polarization to a rhetoric of apologia.
Honors 250HB/COM 416IA, Media Law (3 Hours
Credit)
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HON 250H Section B
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Media Law
MWF 1:00 - 1:50 Dr. Brian Carroll
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Course meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- May count toward the major
with departmental approval
Course
description: Constitutional
and legislative foundations of freedom of speech and press, with special
emphasis on the law of libel, privacy, censorship, access and broadcast
regulation. Topics include discussion of the ways in which the interests of the
state, society and individuals have been balanced in such arenas as political
speech, commercial speech, sexual expression, student speech and technological
change. For example, examining the changes in the freedoms or restrictions
governing student speech require an examination of the purposes served by public
and private K-12 educational systems; the changes in both prompted by social
movements from the integration of the 1950s to the social conservative movement
of the 1980s, and the changes in technologies available to students inside and
outside the school environments. Honors students will be required to complete
an annotated bibliography as they prepare for the major research-based essay
required of all students. They will also complete a more detailed writer’s
workshop report and will respond to a different writing prompt on the final
exam.
Honors 250HC/PSY 385IA, Psychology of Women (3 Hours Credit)
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HON 250H Section C
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Psychology of Women
MWF 12:00 - 12:50
Dr. Susan Conradsen
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Course meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- Counts as the psychology
course requirement in the Behavioral and Social Sciences general education
core (3 of 9 hours required)
- May count toward the major
with departmental approval
Course
description: This
course is an interdisciplinary investigation of the psychological, social,
emotional, and cognitive aspects of gender in our society. In particular,
the unique issues and challenges to women’s psychological well-being created by
the impact of society (both direct and indirect) and culture will be addressed.
Some of the specific topics we will cover include how gender identity is
formed, the preponderance of sexist stereotypes, how the media influences our
ideas of masculinity and femininity, the occupational and domestic challenges
women face, the culture of violence against women across their lives, the
experience of birth and mothering, love relationships, and other developmental
events unique to women’s development such as menstruation and menopause.
Throughout the course the existence of sexism within American culture and
beyond will be covered such as inequity in political representation and
salaries, sex trafficking, female genital mutilation, and role
expectations. This class is a discussion oriented class. Students
take weekly quizzes, complete a group presentation on a topic of their choice,
and complete five writing assignments.
Honors 250HD/HIS 333A, Twentieth-Century Europe
(3 hours credit)
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HON250
HD Twentieth-Century Europe TH
12:30-1:45 Dr. Matthew Stanard
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Course meets these
requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- Counts as the history course
requirement or the fifth free elective course in the Humanities general
education core (3 of 15 hours required)
- May count toward the major
with departmental approval
Course description:
This
course examines the history of Europe since 1914. The course does not aim for encyclopedic
coverage of every single event and development in Europe since 1914, rather it
seeks to explore major political, social, and cultural developments that shaped
European history in the 20th century. As
such, the course is designed around six main themes: the causes and outcome of World War I;
fascism and Nazism; the Holocaust; the end of European overseas empire; the
Cold War; and the role of memory in European history.
Honors 250HE/HIS 450A, History of Sport (3 hours
credit)
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HON250
HE History of Sport MWF 12:00 – 12:50 Dr. David LaFevor
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Course meets these
requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- Counts as the history course
requirement or the fifth free elective course in the Humanities general
education core (3 of 15 hours required)
- May count toward the major
with departmental approval
Course description: This
course uses a popular lens to view larger issues of race, nation,
and gender. Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, the
institutionalization of sport became an increasingly important avenue of
civic-social participation that both illustrated and altered discourses on
ideas of cross-cultural importance. Sport followed the expansion of
American and European influence on a global. Athletics became a site for
contested constructions of identity across the regions and states. While
providing a basic narrative history that parallels historiographical treatments
of urbanization, industrialization, and related topics, we will also explore
the unique social and cultural spaces provided by competitive practices with
universal rules.
Honors 250HF/REL 359/PHI 359 Environmental Ethics (3 Hours Credit)
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HON250HF
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Environmental
Ethics MWF 9:00-9:50 Dean Thomas Kennedy
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Course meets these
requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- General Education core
requirement in Humanities -- 100 level for Religion or Philosophy (3 hrs
credit)
- May count as one of the two
free electives, outside of major/minor, required for graduation; OR, as
the fifth humanities elective
Course description: Seminar on
the relationship between humanity and nonhuman nature. Discussion includes
current biological, political and economic conditions, the role of technology
and major philosophical perspectives. PR:
one introductory course in REL or PHI.
Honors Thesis
Register
for HON 450H if you are starting your thesis.
Register for HON 451H if you completed HON 450H last semester.
To register for a thesis course, you will need an authorization form (available:
http://www.berry.edu/provost/honors/page.aspx?id=7879)
signed by your thesis director. Be
certain to have the other committee members’ names indicated on the form. Also
obtain a reasonably detailed description of the work to be completed during the
semester provided by your thesis director. Bring both the description and the
signed authorization form to Dr. Brian Carroll for his signature. Take the
signed authorization form to the Registrar’s window to have the course
added. (This process should be done during pre-registration.) After the
course is added to Viking Web, your thesis director will need to authorize you
to take the course before you can finally register for it on Viking Web.
Honorization of Courses
An
honors student may request to change a “regular” course within a major into an
honors course. Follow the procedure below. BEFORE you begin attending the
course, during registration, meet with the instructor. Print and take the form
with you (see Forms on the Honors web page); this form has guidelines for you
and your instructor. Discuss with the faculty member your interest in receiving
“honors” credit for a particular course. 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. Carroll.
Honorizing
any course is NOT permitted after the first week of classes.