Honors Program Curriculum

Honors seminar is designed to challenge you academically and to foster a culture of intellectual inquiry. Students are required to register for the Zero credit seminar each semester and the course is taught by the same instructor all year. The Fall seminar topic is usually selected by the instructor and the Spring seminar topic is selected by the students and the instructor.

Seminar is meant to be a unique experience/topic that is only offered to the honors students. Ranging from Deep reads (where we delve into one great book), Social Justice Issues, and special topics.

Check out past seminar topics

Deep Read- Madd Addam Trilogy (HRNS 194)

Margaret Atwood’s post-apocalyptic Madd Addam Trilogy (comprised of Oryx and Crake, Year of the Flood, and Madd Addam) examines a near-future in which the impact of corporate profiteering, climate change, continual surveillance, and genetic manipulation result in a hostile environment for humans. Atwood demonstrates that technological advancement can create positive and negative opportunities that are augmented by existing social inequity, including sexual, monetary, and natural resource exploitation.

Social Justice Issues- Using Narrative Feature length films (HRNS 194)

Each student will select one film that highlights one or more socially significant issues like civil rights, poverty, gender equality, climate change, mental health, gender identity, education, alcohol/drug abuse, domestic violence, etc. The class which watch the film independently or in small groups. The day of class the student that selected the film will lead the class discussion.

Special Topic- Using Sci-Fi from 1950’s to reflect on Today (HRNS 194)

Groff Conklin edited an anthology of science fiction 13 Great Stories of Science Fiction that was first published in 1960. The book collects thirteen novelettes and short stories by various science fiction authors, together with an introduction by the editor. The stories were previously published from 1946-1957 in various science fiction and other magazines. Students will reflect on the historical context of when the stories were written and how that compares to the world today.

Social Justice Issues- Using Documentary films (HRNS 194)

Nonfiction, research-based films, radio programs, hypermedia presentations, photographs, and long-form analytical narratives shed light on our world. They portray real people, events, and situations--but with an aesthetic sensibility that transforms these depictions into compelling statements about all aspects of our social, cultural, political, and economic lives. As John Grierson, a pioneer of the documentary form, noted, “Documentary is the creative treatment of actuality.” It is that special combination of fealty to the real and authentic and attention to artistry and personal vision that defines this distinctive genre and that invites such a broad variety of humanists and technophiles into its fold.

Each student will select one film that highlights one or more socially significant issues like civil rights, poverty, gender equality, climate change, mental health, gender identity, education, alcohol/drug abuse, domestic violence, etc. The class will watch the film independently or in small groups before the seminar. The day of class the student that selected the film will lead the class discussion.

Special Topic- Exploring 8 kinds of Love through literary short stories and science-based articles (HRNS 294)

In this course we will read literary short stories as well as science-based articles regarding the 8 kinds of love and the chemical neurology of love. Using colloquium, we will widely consider and discuss the implications of love sociologically, philosophically, psychologically, politically, individually, etc.