Fall 2008 Honors Courses
ENG 102, Rhetoric and Writing, Honors (3 Hours Credit)
ENG 102 H section D |
Critical Inquiry and Writing TH 9:30 – 10:45 |
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)
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)
COM 203 H section B |
Rhetoric and Public Address MWF 1:00 - 1:50 Dr. Bob Frank |
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.
Honors 201, Perennial Questions: What is the Good Life?
(3 Hours Credit)
HON 201 HA |
Perennial Questions TH 12:30-1:45 Dr. Michael Cooley |
HON 201 HB |
Perennial Questions TH 2:00-3:15 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.
Honors 201, Perennial Questions (3 Hours Credit)
HON 201 HC |
Perennial Questions MW 2:00 – 3:15 Dr. Michael Papazian |
Course meets these requirements:
- Required course for all Honors students
- Counts as the 100-level philosophy course requirement or the fifth free elective course in the Humanities general education core (3 of 15 hours required)
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?
Honors 250A/PSY 385, Psychology of Women (3 Hours Credit)
HON 250H Section A |
Psychology of Women MWF 11:00 - 11:50 |
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 250B/COM 416IA, Media Law (3 Hours Credit)
HON 250H Section B |
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)
- 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 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.
Honors 250C/PSY 370A, History and Systems of Psychology
(3 Hours Credit)
HON250 H |
History and Systems of Psychology TH 9:30-10:45 |
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 as one of the two free electives, outside of major/minor, required for graduation.
Course description:
Modern Psychology is a diverse, multi-perspective discipline that seeks to describe, to predict, and to explain human mental and behavioral processes. The major objective of this course is to introduce the student to the many theoretical perspectives-both past and present-that psychologists use to understand human and animal behavior. Throughout its short history, psychology has been through many important ‘revolutions’ in terms of how the discipline views the causes of why we think and behave as we do. At any point in its past, what academic psychology believed to be the appropriate subject matter was greatly influenced by older, more established traditions such as philosophy, the physical and natural sciences, theology, and anthropology; today, though modern psychology continues to be affected by these traditions, conceptual analogies from computer science and research on genes and behavior also permeate contemporary psychological science.
HON 250D/BIO 107A, The Great Neglected Diseases
(4 Hours Credit)
HON 250 H, Section D |
Great Neglected Diseases TH 8:00-9:15 Dr. Bruce Conn |
Course meets these requirements:
- An HON 250 course (4 of 9 elective required hours for all Honors students)
- General Education core requirement in Math and Natural Sciences (4 of 11 hours required)
Course description:
For humanitarian reasons, an initiative known as “The Great Neglected Diseases” campaign was begun by the Rockefeller Foundation and other groups around the world that were seeking to increase an awareness among residents of North America and western Europe of the plight of tropical Third-World countries in dealing with health problems unique to or vastly more devastating in the tropics. A major focus of this program was to generate funding for and increase research activity related to tropical parasitic diseases. Many public health experts now warn that global warming, which so often grabs today’s environmental headlines, will allow the spread of some tropical diseases into what have been temperate latitudes.
We can only hope that as we continue to learn about parasites, the diseases they cause will become less “neglected,” and in turn will ultimately come to be problems that are not as “great” as they now are. Otherwise, as our planet continues to shrink, our problem with parasitic diseases will loom larger than ever. This course, taught by an internationally recognized authority in parasitology, draws the student into a deep interdisciplinary exploration of the biological, economic, political, and cultural aspects of these diseases and the peoples and societies that they affect.
Honors 251A, Oxbridge Lecture Series: Got Freedom of Expression®? (3 Hours Credit)
HON 251H Section A |
Oxbridge Lecture Series MW 3:30-4:45 Dr. Brian Carroll |
Course meets these requirements:
- An HON 250/251 course (3 of 9 elective required hours for all Honors students)
- May count as one of the two free electives, outside of major/minor, required for graduation.
- May count toward the major with departmental approval
Course description:
Got Freedom of Expression®? examines the origins and historically unique character of the First Amendment, the evolution in interpretations of its freedoms over time, and the contemporary challenges to one of the United States’ most basic laws. These challenges include technological change, a seemingly endless war, religiosity in politics, and, as Neil Postman persuasively argued, the ignorance that results from a society’s members “amusing ourselves to death.”
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.