UNIV 3784-890: Interdisciplinary Honors Seminar

[UConn Stamford]

Instructor: Annamaria Csizmadia, Ph.D. 

Honors students are able to enroll without a permission number. Non-Honors students who are interested should email Dr. Csizmadia for more information. 

Mondays, 3:35-6:05pm, UConn Stamford, in-person

This course invites mid-career Honors students to explore their personal intellectual interests, to expand their knowledge of research approaches within various fields of study, and to examine topics with a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. As an interdisciplinary seminar serving Honors students of many majors and led by scholars from a variety of disciplines, an important goal of the course is to cultivate comparative conversations across fields of specialization.  The successful student will present sophisticated and developed ideas in a manner sufficiently generalist to promote learning and innovation across subject areas. Students will also create a plan of action to expand their learning and build their skills and knowledge beyond this course. This plan will include individualized goals for completing the Honors thesis and learning goals for beyond graduation. This course will help support students within a community of scholars as they pursue Honors undergraduate research at UConn Stamford.  

Sample course schedule and Assignments (tentative for fall 2024): 

Week 1 – Welcome & Getting to Know You
Week 2 – Guest Speaker  – Identifying reliable sources, Mind-mapping areas of interest
Week 3 – Faculty Speaker Panel #1 (A panel of faculty members/experts will describe research in their field, including how DEI informs current research)
Week 4 – Faculty Speaker Panel #2
Week 5 – Guest Speaker from the Writing Center, Writing within your discipline
Week 6 – Guest Speaker from Enrichment Programs/Advising, Developing a Learning Plan
Week 7 – Honors Alums Guest Speakers Discussion of their Honors theses and careers
Week 8 – Discussion on Research with potential field trip
Week 9 – Guest Speaker on the Important of Life-Long Learning
Week 10 – Who Has a Seat at the Table? The importance of representation in all fields
Week 11 – Minority Voices in Literature
Week 12 – Student TED Talks
Week 13 – Student TED Talks

Grading will be based on Participation/Engagement and Assignments. Assignments are likely to include: Attending a Getting Started in Undergraduate Research workshop, Identifying reliable sources assignment, creating a Quick Guide for writing within your own discipline, writing Reflections, presenting a “Ted-Talk” style presentation, and crafting a future Learning Plan.