Featured Courses

ENGL 2405-002: Drama

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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

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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.

ANTH 3098-007 (Variable Topics): Flourishing and Well-being (Conversion Opportunity)

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Flourishing and Well-being in Interdisciplinary Perspective

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 draw on anthropology and related fields of scholarship and practice – e.g., philosophy, psychology, public health, sociology, critical theory, and human rights – to ask:

  • What does it mean – and what does it take – for human beings to flourish, or thrive? How are flourishing and health related, and how might they diverge?
  • What resources, capabilities, opportunities, and protections are needed to flourish …
    … as individuals ?
      … as communities and collectives?
  • How and why are certain people, and certain groups, ensured access to the elements of a flourishing life, while others are impeded or outright denied? What is the lived impact – and what are the embodied effects – of such obstructions and denials?
  • How can human rights violations impede the ability to flourish – and what role can human rights play in the promotion of human flourishing?
  • How can human rights be mobilized to advance human flourishing?
  • What would a policy agenda designed to promote human flourishing look like?

In addition to research literature, we will engage these questions through other media, including fiction, poetry, journaling, visual arts, and music.

POLS 3472: South Asia in World Politics (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: Betty Hanson

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Hanson welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students. 

This is a course in international relations, and as such, its orientation is toward broader issues of world politics, using South Asia as a case. These issues include nation-building, “enduring rivalries,” ethnic conflict, nuclear proliferation, militant extremism, and development strategies.   An important purpose of the course is to provide the historical and political background for understanding the current developments in South Asia that threaten international stability and security.

(CA 4-Int)

POLS/HRTS 3042: Theories of Human Rights (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: Zehra Arat

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Arat welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students. 

Various theories of human rights, both historical and contemporary. Conceptual arguments both in favor and critical of the theory and practice of human rights will be considered, with literature taken primarily from philosophy and political theory.

MUSI 1003: Popular Music and Diversity in American Society (Conversion opportunity)

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Instructor: Alain Frogley

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Frogley welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students.

An introduction to popular music and diversity in America: jazz, blues, Top-40 pop, rock, hip-hop and other genres. Musicians and their music studied in the context of twentieth-century and contemporary American society, emphasizing issues of race, gender, class, and resistance. No prior musical training or knowledge required.

(CA 1, CA 4)

STAT 1100Q: Elementary Concepts of Statistics

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Online (asynchronous) during Summer 2

Instructor: Suman Majumdar

It is quite likely that your Honors thesis will require you to use a basket of tools that is often described as “research methods.” An overarching goal of this course is to prepare you to learn these tools and successfully use them.

Topics include: Standard and nonparametric approaches to statistical analysis; exploratory data analysis, elementary probability, sampling distributions, estimation and hypothesis testing, one- and two-sample procedures, regression and correlation. Learning to do statistical analysis on a personal computer is an integral part of the course.

EVST 1000: Introduction to Environmental Studies (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: Mark Boyer

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Boyer welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students.

EVST 1000 is the gateway course for the Environmental Studies major as well as a CA2 and Environmental Literacy GenEd course.  Students will be exposed to a broad range of environmental approaches and topics across the humanities, social sciences, and biophysical sciences with guest lecturers invited to address their areas of expertise.

(CA 2)