Instructor: Johann Peter Gogarten
Recommended preparation: At least one 2000 level course in MCB.
Featured Courses
MATH 3094: Mathematics & Politics: Voting, Fair Division, and Conflict
Instructor: Myron Minn-Thu-Aye
Prerequisites: MATH 2710 and instructor consent.
This course applies mathematics to shed light on problems in the realm of politics, both domestic and international. We begin with a study of voting systems, including both electoral and legislative processes. By formalizing notions of fairness, we will work towards theorems that will inform just how fair we expect elections to be. Our discussion of fair division will revolve around the problem of distributing seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the fifty states. We will explore various apportionment paradoxes (e.g. how could an increase in the total number of seats lead to a reduction in the number of seats assigned to a particular state?) through history anddetermine whether these are avoidable in the future. The development of methods to measure the political power of voting blocs and coalitions will inform our analysis of the apportionment problem and lead us to investigate political conflict via game theory.
ANTH 3098-002: Anthropology of Jews and Jewishness (Conversion Option)
Instructor: Sarah Willen
While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Willen welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students.
What does it mean to be Jewish …
… in Cuba? … in Ethiopia? … in Turkey?
… if you’re an atheist? … LGBTQ? … a convert?
These are some of the questions we will explore in this course, which will tap into the rich anthropological scholarship on Jewish life and Jewish communities around the world.
No prior knowledge of Judaism is required. Prior coursework in anthropology or sociology is helpful but not required. Question? sarah.willen@uconn.edu
Pending approval, this course may count toward the major or minor in Judaic Studies and/or as an ethnographic course toward the major in Anthropology.
ANTH 3098-50: Anthropology and the Writer’s Craft (Conversion Option)
Instructor: Sarah Willen
While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Willen welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students.
In this seminar, we will dive deeply into classic and cutting-‐edge anthropological writing – and try our own hand at various genres of writing, in workshop format. Together we will engage critically with the texts we read and reflect on the following questions:
• How, why, and for whom do anthropologists and other social scientists write?
• What genres and writing styles are available to anthropologists, and how do they differ?
• What distinguishes strong – and weak – writing?
• How can deep engagement as readers, and a serious commitment to the revision process, help us become better writers?
The seminar is geared primarily toward advanced undergraduates who want to explore the range of contemporary forms of writing – and become better and more effective writers themselves. Prior coursework in Anthropology is helpful but not necessary. Writing activities will include ethnographic sketches, book reviews, peer review of colleagues’ writing, and blog posts / op-‐eds for public audiences.
Questions? sarah.willen@uconn.edu.
HIST 3559: History of Childhood in the United States, 1620-Present
Recommended preparation: HIST 1501 or 1502 or 2100.
This course will examine the history of childhood in the United States from the colonial era to the present. It will consider both the actual experience of children and the changing ways in which adults have understood this phase of life. Readings will include eyewitness accounts, memoirs, and fiction, in addition to scholarly studies. Students will be expected to produce a research paper on a subject of their choosing, focusing on childhood before 1970.
SOCI graduate classes Spring 2020
Graduate courses act as Honors courses, with Honors credit awarded for a grade of B- or higher.
The Sociology department invites Honors students to consider the following graduate courses. For a permission number to enroll in any of them, email the instructor.
SOCI 5203: Quantitative Research I
Instructor: Jeremy Pais
This is an introductory social statistics course for graduate students. The topics covered in this course form the foundation of modern quantitative social research. The primary goal of the course is to introduce students to the fundamentals of statistical reasoning and to the role of statistical methods in social research. Topics include linear regression, hypothesis testing and model selection; regression diagnostics; non-linearity and functional form; mediation and moderation effects; path analysis; and factor analysis.
University Honors Laureate: STEM
SOCI 5231: Qualitative Research I
Instructor: Nancy Naples
This course will emphasize the relationship between epistemology, methodology and method begun in the fall semester. We will also discuss contemporary debates in qualitative methodology and critical perspectives on qualitative methodology including feminist, queer, Third World, indigenous, and postcolonial approaches to social research. We will also explore the design and application of different methods including interviewing, the case method, institutional ethnography, narrative analysis, discourse analysis, content analysis, policy analysis, mixed methods. The readings for the course are designed to assist you in locating your own work within the larger sociological tradition.
The class will include an intensive workshop in use of NVivo for data analysis and conducting research using various media including online and newspaper sources led by Kate Ragon (UConn ABD).
University Honors Laureate: SS
SOCI 5515: Sociology of Immigration
Instructor: Bandana Purkayastha
Do you want to learn about immigration as a terrain of struggle, shaped by forces of inclusion and exclusion? We will use a decolonized approach to the sociological study of immigration by focusing on scholarship from the global South and North. We will focus on internal and international migration, examine migration “by choice” and forced migration (including human trafficking), and examine the racialized/gendered/class/sexualized structures that shape policies and practices towards migrants. We will examine 20th century concepts such as assimilation but we will emphasize 21st century discussions such as changing governance of migrants (including detention) migrant and refugee activism and resistance amidst questions of their human security within national and transnational contexts. The cases will be drawn from the US, selected Asian, European, South and Central American, and African countries.
University Honors Laureate: SS, D&M
SOCI 5601: Gender and Sexualities
Instructor: Mary Bernstein
This course explores the social organization, construction, and politics of sexualities with a particular focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (lgbtq) experiences and the intersection of sexualities, gender, race, age, and class. We look at how institutions, identities, and discourses interact with, are regulated by, and produce sexual meanings. We examine the ways in which sexuality and desire are constituted through the state and the political economy as well as the ways in which sexuality serves as an axis of domination. Other topics include sexuality and immigration, sex work, transnational sexuality, sexuality and masculinity, and adolescent sexuality.
University Honors Laureate: SS, D&M
SOCI 5895-002: (Special Topics) Genders and Globalizations
Instructor: Manisha Desai
“Women’s Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women’s Rights,” entered the global human rights discourse at the Second UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993 as a critique of the gendered nature of Human Rights discourse and practice. In this seminar we will study the history of women’s mobilizing around the world that led to this articulation; how it has or has not influenced human rights theories and practices; how the gendered critique might perpetuate other inequalities even as it challenges gendered ones; and what it has meant for global gender justice specifically and social justice more generally.
University Honors Laureate: SS, D&M
HRTS 3298-003/DMD 3998-003: Social Documentary in Theory and Practice
Instructor: Catherine Masud
This is a special opportunity to learn from an internationally award-winning filmmaker.
This course aims to open students’ eyes to the tremendous power and possibility of the documentary form as a vehicle of social discourse and change. The first half of this course will examine the documentary from a historical, ethical, and aesthetic perspective, providing a theoretical grounding for students with a special interest in documentaries that address social and political themes. Some of the topics to be addressed include the evolution of the documentary genre, the modes and models of documentary, the rhetorical, narrative, and poetic documentary ‘voice’, and the question of ‘social impact’. Major milestones of the non-fiction genre will be studied along with lesser-known short form documentaries that illustrate specific aspects of technique, style, and content. The second half of the course will provide students with a practical framework for discovering their own documentary voice. Students will be guided through the process of pre-production, shooting and editing as they create their own short form documentaries on a social issue of their choice.
University Honors Laureate: This Variable Topics course will count toward the Arts & Humanities category.
MATH Honors classes Spring 2020
As of 10/18/19, Honors MATH courses were not correctly listed in Student Admin. These are the courses you can expect for Spring 2020:
| Campus | Course number | Title | Section | Times |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storrs | 1132Q | Calculus II | 059D | MoWe 3:35PM – 4:25PM; TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM |
| 1132Q | Calculus II | 060D | MoWe 4:40PM – 5:30PM; TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM |
|
| 2110Q | Multivariable Calculus | 149D | TuTh 9:30AM – 10:20AM; MoWeFr 1:25PM – 2:15PM |
|
| 2142Q | Advanced Calculus II | 001 | MoWeFr 2:30PM – 3:40PM | |
| 2144Q | Advanced Calculus IV | 001 | MoWeFr 10:10AM – 11:20AM | |
| 2210Q | Applied Linear Algebra | 013 | TuTh 11:00AM – 12:15PM | |
| 2410Q | Elem Differential Equations | 020 | TuTh 12:30PM – 1:45PM | |
| 3094 | Undergraduate Seminar: Fourier Analysis and Applications |
001 | TuTh 11:00AM – 12:15PM | |
| 3160 | Probability | 008 | TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM | |
| Stamford | 1132Q | Calculus II | Z84 | MoWe 9:20AM – 11:00AM |
ENGL 2405-002: Drama
Instructor: Jean Marsden
Prerequisite: ENGL 1010 or 1011 or 2011
The course will begin with a quick grounding in Greek drama (Oedipus Rex, Lysistrata) and from there focus on English and American drama from the Renaissance to the present, sampling a variety of authors and genres, from comedies such as Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Behn’s The Rover to tragedies such as Webster’s Duchess of Malfi and Miller’s Death of a Salesman to contemporary dramas such as Kushner’s Angels in America and Stoppard’s Arcadia. Assignments will include two short papers and a longer paper on a drama-related topic of the
student’s choice.
CA 1.
CAMS/HEJS 3300: Palestine under the Greeks and Romans
Instructor: Stuart Miller
This course addresses the major political, historical and religious currents in Graeco-Roman Palestine, or what the Jews have called since antiquity “The Land of Israel”. Among the central concerns will be the relationship of the Jews to the ruling powers (Ptolemies, Seleucids, Romans, Herodians etc.) and the emergence of sects and other groups such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Dead Sea Sect, Samaritans, and early (Jewish) Christians. Relations between the Jews, Christians and Romans will also be examined. Special emphasis will be placed on life within the major urban centers, for example, Jerusalem, Caesarea, Sepphoris, Tiberias, and Bet Shean. The literary legacy of the rabbis and the emergence of Christian schools will be given special attention. Relevant archeological evidence will be introduced via slide presentations.