Spring 2011 Honors Courses
Honors
201, Perennial Questions: What is the Good Life? (3 Hours Credit)
HON 201 HA Perennial Questions
MW 3:30 – 4:45
Dr. Michael Cooley
|
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:
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.
HON 203 H, Democracy and Its
Friendly Critics (Required for all Honors Students; 3 Hours Credit)
HON 203 HB Democracy and Its Friendly
Critics MWF 10:00-10:50 Dr. M. Bailey
HON 203 HC Democracy and Its Friendly
Critics MWF 1:00 – 1:50 Dr. Eric Sands
|
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 (Required for all Honors Students; 3 Hours Credit)
HON 203 HD
|
Democracy and Its
Friendly Critics MWF
12:00-12:50
Dr. David McKenzie
|
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.
English 102, The Rhetoric of Analysis and
Argumentation, Honors (3 Hours Credit)
ENG 102 HB
|
Inquiry and
Writing TH 8:00 - 9:15
Dr. Tina Bucher
|
ENG 102 HM
|
Inquiry and Writing
MWF 10:00-10:50
Dr. Lara Whelan
|
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 hrs credit)
Course
description:
The course focuses on developing analytical and critical thinking and writing
skills in argumentative and persuasive prose for academic and professional
audiences. Four essays and a revision essay are required; all final drafts
require several rough drafts. Class is a combination of lecture and workshop
activities. Current event issues are used as the basis for readings and
discussions which then become topics for writing.
COM 203, Rhetoric and Public Address, Honors (3
Hours Credit)
COM 203 HF
|
Rhetoric and Public
Address
TH 12:30 – 1:45
Dr. Randy Richardson
|
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:
This class surveys pivotal rhetorical documents of American movements for
social change including abolitionist, women's rights, civil rights, and
environmentalism. Through written rhetorical analysis and oral presentations on
social justice issues, students will understand rhetorical strategies that best
promote social justice.
ECO 110, Principles of Economics I, Honors (3
Hours Credit)
ECO 110 H Section F
|
Principles of
Economics I TH 9:30 - 10:45
Dr. Frank Stephenson
|
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 (3 of 9 hours required)
Course
description:
Analysis of markets, consumers, business firms and government agencies; the
market mechanism for determining resource use and income distribution.
Introduction of the factors that determine macroeconomic activity and growth.
Discussion of the American banking system and the basis for foreign trade.
Honors 250HA/PSY 385IA Psychology of Women (3
Hours Credit)
HON250 HA
|
Psychology of Women MWF 9:00-9:50 Dr. Susan Conradsen
|
Course
meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9 elective
required hours for all Honors students)
- General Education core
requirement in Behavioral & Social Sciences -- 100 level for
Psychology (3 hrs credit)
- May count as one of the two
free electives, outside of major/minor, required for graduation.
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.
Honors 250HB/COM 416IA Media Law (3 Hours Credit)
HON250 HB
|
Media Law MWF
1:00-1:50
Dr. Brian Carroll
|
Course
meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- COM major elective
- COM major, journalism
concentration course
- May count as one of the two
free electives, outside of major/minor, required for graduation.
Course description:
Constitutional and legislative foundations of
freedom of speech and press, with special emphasis on the law of privacy,
libel, censorship, access and broadcast regulation.
We examine the delicate balance that exists
between freedom and control of the media in the United States. The First
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is, of course, the major guarantee of
freedom of expression. Our study focuses on judicial decisions and reasoning,
examining how tensions in the law are resolved. Other very significant sources
of press freedoms and controls exist, as well, including those produced and enforced
by the marketplace, government regulation and even popular opinion or
sentiment. The course is organized into three major sections: Freedom of
Expression & the First Amendment; Media Malpractice (privacy invasion and
libel); and Special Areas of Media Law (telecom, commercial speech, the
Internet, copyright and intellectual property, trial coverage).
Honors 250HC/REL 359/PHI 359 Environmental Ethics
(3 Hours Credit)
HON250 HC
|
Environmental
Ethics MWF
9:00-9:50 Dean Thomas
Kennedy
|
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 250HD/REL 372A Scripture, Culture &
Experience (3 Hours Credit)
HON250 HD
|
Scripture, Culture & Experience TH 2:00-3:15 Dr. Jeffrey
Lidke
|
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 (3 hrs credit)
- May count toward the major
with departmental approval
- May count as one of the two
free electives, outside of major/minor, required for graduation; OR, as
the fifth humanities elective
Course description:
What is culture? What
is experience? What is scripture?
The attempts to answer each of these questions have filled volumes of
publications and taken up countless hours of reflection and dialogue. In this interdisciplinary course, we
utilize methods and theories from religious studies, anthropology, history, and
neurological studies in exploring the intersections of culture, experience, and
scriptural expression as the nexus of religious traditions around the world. Our aim is to reflect on,
challenge, and expand our preconceived understandings of religion, switching
emphasis from the static to the dynamic, from the dogmatic to the inspired, from
the intellectual to the embodied. The course begins with a study of
hermeneutics in the discipline of religious studies. Our aim is to reflect critically on how we study religion
and culture before embarking on an intellectual journey of three complex religious
cultures.
Honors 250HE/HIS 333A, Twentieth-Century Europe
(3 hours credit)
HON250 HE Twentieth-Century
Europe TH 9:30-10:45
Dr. Matthew Stanard
|
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 250HF, The Social Construction
of Reality (3
hours credit)
HON250 HF Social
Construction of Reality
MWF 12:00-12:50 Dr. Basil Englis
|
Course
meets these requirements:
An HON 250 course
(3 of 9 elective required hours for all Honors students)
- General Education core
requirement in Behavioral Science (Sociology) (3 hrs credit)
- May count as one of the
two free electives, outside of major/minor, required for graduation.
Course
description:
A central theme of the course is that people interact as part of a social
system that involves the progressive institutionalization of social roles. In
the process, meaning also becomes institutionalized in a process that results
in the production of human cultures. Peoples’ knowledge and conception of
reality becomes embedded in this institutional fabric and is thereby socially
constructed. The course also examines the roles of mass media, marketing and
advertising as agents that amplify the process of constructing social reality.
To understand these phenomena, our journey will take us into such issues as the
sociology of knowledge, media studies, aesthetics, stratification,
signification, and consumption symbolism. Students will be expected to read,
critique, and participate in discussion of selected works, and to develop one
or more of these perspectives into a research project where they will explore
some aspect of popular culture (e.g., Elvis, Thanksgiving, body decoration, etc.)
in terms of its deep socio-cultural meanings and embedded assumptions about
social reality.
Class is conducted
as a seminar; there will be little or no lecturing. Instead students will
discuss assigned readings during class. Students will also critique assigned
readings in verbal and written forms and complete a term project that explores
an aspect of popular culture in terms of its social meaning(s) and the role
that mass media, marketing and advertising play in "constructing"
meaning(s).
Honors 250HG/SOC 387A, Gender, Law, and Society
(3 Hours Credit)
HON250HG
|
Gender, Law and Society TH 9:30-10:45
Dr. Carrie Baker
|
Course meets these requirements:
- An
HON 250 course (3 of 9 elective required hours for all Honors students)
- Women’s
Studies or Sociology elective requirement (3 hours)
- General
Education core requirement in Behavioral Science (Sociology) (3 hrs
credit)
- May
count as one of the two free electives, outside of major/minor, required
for graduation.
Course description:
This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of the legal status of women
and men in the United States historically and today, particularly focusing in
the areas of employment, reproduction, education, the family, sexuality, and
violence. We will examine how the law has reflected, reinforced and shaped
ideas about appropriate gender roles and how race, class and other aspects of
identity intersect with gender to shape legal rights. In the class, we will
discuss and debate the meaning of concepts such as equality, human rights, and
the role of the state in regulating the family.
The class will be conducted in a lecture and discussion format.
Students will take three tests and write an essay.
Honors 251 HA Oxbridge Lecture Series Course (3
hours credit)
We, the Mediated: Communication, Media & Culture
HON251 HA
|
We, the Mediated TH 3:30 – 4:45
Dr. Kathy Richardson
|
Course meets these
requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9
elective required hours for all Honors students)
- May count toward the COM major
as COM 429 (elective)
Course description:
We live in a mediated world. This course will explore the "big question" of the interactions and effects of media, audiences and culture. Do media mirror societal needs and wants or create them? Does exposure to media content or to media forms cause negative or positive change in users, communities and cultures, or does exposure to media merely correlate with pre-existing attitudes and behaviors? If exposure creates effects, what kinds of changes occur; if so, are these positive or negative effects? Is the 21st century constant of "mediation" a positive or a negative? How would a critical thinker make such a judgment?
Through discussions, readings, public lectures, tutorials and writing, students in this course will heighten their understanding of the interactions of media, culture and society by asking questions and seeking answers to this very contemporary arena of study.
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 Courses
“HONORIZING ” a course or a course within a
major.
As
you know, 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.
Honorizing
any course is NOT Permitted after the first week of classes.
Complete
your part of the form and return the form to Dr. Cooley.