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Honors Course Offerings Honors First Year Seminar – Animals in Translation
HON 1200/GEN 1200
TR 12:00-1:15pm
3 sh of First Year Seminar
Dr. Janice Fuller
"I like pondering our relationships with animals because they tell a lot about who we are." These words from Marc Bekoff, a leading ethologist, suggest the thrust of this FYS course. In it, we will ponder the often contradictory relationships we experience with the creatures around us as they serve as pets, food sources, entertainment, and test subjects. We will consider religious, socio-political, psychological, and scientific theories about these relationships and reflect on the way animals are presented in art and literature. Most importantly, we will address the tangled ethical questions about what we owe other species as well as our own.
Students enrolled in this First-Year Seminar will take several trips throughout the semester, including one to the NC Zoo, the Rowan County Animal Shelter, and the Faithful Friends Shelter. Students will also have the opportunity to meet service animals (dogs and maybe horses). Pre-requisite: Invitation-only to entering first-year students and permission of CHP Director (limit TBD).
Honors First Year Seminar – Heroes and Villains
HON 1200/GEN 1200
TR 12:00-1:15pm
3 sh of First Year Seminar
Dr. Lyn Boulter
Does violence have biological roots? Are we born to be good people, evil or both? Why do the young kill? Are TV, movies and video games to blame? Is it possible to be both a "villain" and a "hero"? Is it possible to eliminate violence in a society?
This seminar will develop two interrelated themes. One theme will explore violence and courage. We will examine psychological, social, and cultural forces related to violence in an attempt to understand a range of violent behavior, including shooting rampages in schools, the massacre of ethnic groups, serial murders, terrorism and bullying. The second theme will explore the social and cultural forces that develop and sustain courage and idealism, and why these qualities are so important to the individual and to society. In order to identify these forces, we will analyze the life, personality and values of notorious people who have committed violent acts, and people who have demonstrated extraordinary courage and integrity. Finally, we will apply our knowledge of the qualities underlying courage and idealism to develop a program in which professionals from different disciplinary perspectives such as the humanities, education, the natural and social sciences and the arts could work together to reduce violence and build a more caring society. Pre-requisite: Invitation-only to entering first-year students and permission of CHP Director (limit TBD).
Real vs. Reel Biology
HON 2510/BIOL 2110
M 3:00-6:00pm
3 sh of Biology/Natural Science Distribution
Dr. Constance Rogers Lowery
This course provides an introduction to the science, theory, and practice of biology, using movies as a learning and discussion tool. In this course, students will watch several movies, discuss relevant biological concepts, and determine the accuracy of the movie from a scientific standpoint. Additionally, sci-fi movies will be examined from a "history of scientific development" perspective. Pre-requisite: Permission of the CHP Director (limit 18).
Delta Blues
HON 2501/MUS 2601
TR 12:00-1:15pm
3 sh of Music/Fine Arts Distribution
Dr. David Fish
The seminar course will lead students on a multidisciplinary, ethnomusicological examination of the blues from the Yazoo Delta of Mississippi, "the land where the blues began." It will look beyond stereotyped notions of the music to arrive at a more authentic understanding of its cultural meanings as well as an informed appreciation of its artistry. Assignments will be ethnomusicological in nature for the most part, considering the blues from musical, historical, and cultural perspectives. Students will also have an opportunity to compose and perform their own blues lyrics. (No musical experience is required.) Pre-requisite: Permission of the CHP Director (limit 18).
Happily Ever After?
HON 2501/ENGL 3360/SOC 3104
TR 1:30-2:45pm
3 sh of English/Sociology/Humanities OR Social and Behavior Science Distribution
Dr. Margaret Stahr and Dr. Maria Vandergriff-Avery,
Are literary texts, particularly fictional ones, a mirror of societal standards of marriage or do they offer a vision of what "couplehood"/marriage could or should be? This course will offer an historical analysis of marriage/couplehood studied from sociological and literary perspectives, with a specific emphasis [focus] on how marriage has changed over time and themes of love, power, division of labor, and maintenance of self within a partnered relationship. Pre-requisite: Permission of the CHP Director (limit 18).
spring 2013
Race, Class, and Gender in Contemporary Sport
HON 2501/PER 3000/SOC 2104
TR 1:30-2:45pm
3 sh of Physical Education/Sociology/Social and Behavioral Science Distribution
Dr. Tom Appenzeller and Dr. Edith Bolick
The course will examine curiosity-arousing issues such as race, class, and gender in sports in America today. Students will be encouraged to ask questions and to think critically about organized sport as part of the social and cultural fabric of American life. The emphasis will be on the sociology of sport and the sports related behavior as they occur in social and cultural contexts. Pre-requisite: Permission of the CHP Director (limit 18).
Eating in the Arts and Sciences
HON 2901/CHEM 1110
MWF 8:00-8:50, R 1:30-5:30pm
4 sh of Chemistry/Natural Science Distribution
Dr. Mark Sabo
Students in this course will be immersed in a rigorous, multidisciplinary, liberal arts study of food. The course will not only focus on food science, but will provide students with the opportunity to examine the importance and connections of the industrial, historical, cultural, religious, philosophical, geological, archaeological, psychological, political, economic, and environmental aspects of food. Students will travel to Italy over spring break. Pre-requisite: Permission of the CHP Director (limit 18).
Jefferson's House: A Seminar on Monticello
HON 2901/HIST 3101
MW 2:00-3:15pm
3 sh of History/Humanities Distribution
Dr. Gary Freeze
This seminar focuses on the motives, desires, efforts, and fulfillments exhibited by Thomas Jefferson in constructing a comprehensive home environment for himself and his extended family. While the focus in on the house, the underlying theme is Jefferson and how he interacted with the European Enlightenment and American Republicanism to craft what is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The point of the seminar is to engage students in the intersection of their prospective values and those of a major American Founder. Students will travel to Virginia early in the spring semester. Pre-requisite: Permission of the CHP Director (limit 18).
