Spring 2010 Honors Courses
Honors 201, Perennial Questions: What is the Good Life? (3 Hours Credit)
| HON 102 HA | Perennial Questions Dr,Michael Cooley |
TH 2:00-3:15 |
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.
HON 203 H, Democracy and Its Friendly Critics (Required for all Honors Students; 3 Hours Credit)
| HON 203 HA | Democracy & Its Friendly Critics Dr. Peter Lawler |
MWF 9:00-9:50 |
| HON 203 HB | Democracy & Its Friendly Critics Dr. Eric Sands |
TH 3:30-4:45 |
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.
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 HC | Democracy & Its Friendly Critics Dr. David McKenzie |
MWF 12:00-12:50 |
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).
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 Dr. Tina Bucher |
TH 9:30-10:45 |
| ENG 102 HL | Inquiry and Writing Dr. Lara Whelan |
MWF 10:00-10:50 |
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)
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 HG | Rhetoric and Public Address Dr. Randy Richardson |
TH 12:30-1:45 |
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)
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.
Honors 250/PSY 385IA Psychology of Women (3 Hours Credit)
| HON 250 HA | Psychology of Women Dr. Susan Conradsen |
MWF 12:00-12:50 |
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.
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 250/COM 416IA, Media Law (3 Hours Credit)
| HON 250 HB | Media Law Dr. Brian Carroll |
MWF 12:00-12:50 |
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. Since the courts, especially the U.S. Supreme Court, are ultimately responsible for interpreting the First Amendment and maintaining the balance between freedom and control, 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. Therefore, we consider other factors that influence the balance between freedom and control of mass communication, including statutory law, executive and administrative actions, and ethical concerns. The course also examines how the nature of a medium affects or even dictates how it is controlled or not controlled.
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). Because law is largely derived from precedent, there is a significant historical thread that runs throughout the course, providing a timeline on which landmark Supreme Court cases mark the eras of jurisprudential change.
Honors 250/REL 359/PHI 359 Environmental Ethics (3 Hours Credit)
| HON 250 HC | Environmental Ethics Dean Thomas Kennedy |
MWF 9:00-9:50 |
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 250/ENG 428 Gay and Lesbian Studies and Literature (3 Hours Credit)
| HON 250 HE | Gay & Lesbian Studies & Literature Dr. Bucher |
MWF 11:00-11:50 |
Course meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9 elective required hours for all Honors students)
- A required "Studies" course or an upper-division elective for English majors
- An elective requirement for the Women’s Studies minor with a substitution form
- As a 200 literature requirement for general education courses
- May count as one of the two free electives, outside of major/minor, required for graduation.
Course description:
While “homosexuality” as a word did not enter the English language until the late 19th century, same-sex love, desire, and relationships have existed and been written about since the beginnings of recorded human history. The formal study of same-sex love in literature found its beginnings in conjunction with the development of women’s studies courses and programs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This course will explore gay and lesbian literary studies by focusing on three areas: (1) a basic introduction to gay and lesbian (and queer) literary theory as well as a history of their development (2) gay/lesbian readings of traditional canonical texts and (3) a historical survey of gay and lesbian writers, primarily in the Anglo-American tradition. Students should expect to read and discuss literary texts, as well as examine and discuss the historical, sociological, psychological, and political contexts which have helped to create this thriving field of literary studies.
**Note: this course will not debate the morality of gay and lesbian identity nor search for “causes” of homosexuality; it will offer an interdisciplinary introduction to the field of gay and lesbian literary studies.
Honors 251 HA Oxbridge Lecture Series Course (3 hours credit)
The Messiah and the Awakened One
| HON 251 HA | The Messiah & the Awakened One Dr. Jeffrey Lidke |
TH 2:00-3:15 |
Course meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (3 of 9 elective required hours for all Honors students)
- Counts as the religion 100-level 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:
In this course, we will take an in-depth interdisciplinary, historical and cross-cultural look at the origins, development, and consequences of acting with compassion. The idea that humans find their deepest purpose in cultivating the depths of their moral character through acts of love and service towards others is one of the seminal products of religious thought. This idea was arguably given most potent expression in the teachings and example of the Buddha in the East and Jesus in the West. In both cases, they were echoing an understanding already in currency in their homelands. From the teachings and hagiographic memories of both would arise major missionary world movements that would transform the inner and outer worlds of billions of individuals in the centuries after their deaths. The religions that linked themselves to these historical figures would both give rise to monastic traditions for the purpose of self-cultivation, universities of higher education, systems of governance that sought to ground politics in spirituality (with profoundly mixed results), a rich tradition of artistic expression, and a humanist vision that would spawn the politics of non-violence as the only logical and effective way to truly do onto others as you would have them do unto you.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.