Curriculum Updates

SOCI Conversion Opportunities

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Instructor: Phoebe Godfrey

While these are not Honors courses, Prof. Godfrey welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students. 

SOCI 2705: Sociology of Food (Conversion opportunity)

Prerequisite: Open to sophomores or higher. Recommended preparation: SOCI 1001.

This highly interactive and engaging student-centered course explores in creative ways the social factors shaping the industrial food system, as well as a social analysis of viable alternatives. Readings come from a variety of texts, including academic and activist works, as well as poetry and fiction. Students are evaluated on personal reflective journals, discussions (live or online) and group projects that involve experiential, timely and innovative research into all aspects of the food system.

SOCI 2701: Sustainable Societies (Conversion opportunity)

Prerequisite: Open to sophomores or higher. Recommended preparation: SOCI 1001, SOCI 2709.

This highly interactive and engaging student-centered course explores in creative ways the sociological perspectives on the concepts of sustainability. Taking an intersectional theoretical perspective, this course focuses on the cultural roots of climate change and environmental destruction and looks to non-Western cultures both past and present for models of sustainability and equity. Typical STEM solutions as emblematic of sustainability are critiqued in favor of those that promote social justice and cultural transformation. Readings come from a variety of texts, including academic and activist works, as well as poetry and art. Students are evaluated on personal reflective journals, discussions (live or online) and group projects that involve experiential, timely and innovative research into all aspects of what can create more just and sustainable societies.

SOCI 2709W: Society and Climate Change (Conversion opportunity)

Prerequisites: Open to sophomores or higher; ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011. Recommended Preparation: SOCI 1001.

This highly interactive and engaging student-centered course explores in creative ways the sociological perspectives on the social, economic, political, and environmental causes and consequences of anthropogenic global climate change. Taking an intersectional theoretical perspective, this course focuses on the cultural roots of climate change and environmental destruction and seeks to enable students to see them as inseparable from racism, sexism and other forms of social inequality. Readings come from a variety of texts, including academic and activist works, as well as poetry and art. Students are evaluated on personal reflective journals, discussions (live or online) and Service Learning (SL) based group projects that involve experiential, timely and innovative research into understanding and addressing global climate change. These SL projects form the basis of students individual or group W papers.

CLCS 1102: Classics of World Literature II (Conversion opportunity)

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Instructor: Fiona Somerset

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

In this course we will study the world through its literatures, focusing on the period from about 1600 to the present. Rather than trying to tell an overall story about cultural change in this period, we will compare five genres and think about who writes them and what they are used for across the world: we will study drama, persuasive prose, lyric poetry, excerpts from novels, and short stories.

CA 1. CA 4-INT.

CLCS 1101: Classics of World Literature I (Conversion opportunity)

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[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Fiona Somerset

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

In this course we will study the world through its literatures, starting from the earliest written sources and selecting a range of writings up to around 1600 CE. Rather than trying to tell an overall story about cultural change in this period, we will consider how a range of cultures across the world used writing, and how it was a means to convey the imaginary. We will focus especially on writings about travel, since this will help us to understand that the world has always been interconnected, and has always involved contact between people different from each other, even when movement from place to place was generally slower than it is now.  

CA 1. CA 4-INT.

PSYC 2201: Drugs and Behavior (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: John Salamone

In Spring 2021, there is a small in person section (002) and a larger distance learning section (001). Prof. Salamone encourages Honors students to register for section 002 if possible.

Prerequisite: PSYC 1100 or BIOL 1107

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

An overview of drug effects on chemical transmission in the nervous system, with an emphasis on the behavioral/psychological effects of drugs. This includes drugs used for psychiatric and neurological treatments, as well as drugs of abuse.

ENGL graduate courses, Spring 2021

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Graduate courses act as Honors credit, as long as you earn a grade of B- or higher

The instructors for the following graduate courses in English invite Honors students to enroll. For longer course descriptions, please see the listing of English graduate seminars.

ENGL 6500-001: Seminar in Literary Theory: Theory of Irony

Instructor: Charles Mahoney

This seminar takes as one of its central concerns the question (to paraphrase Kevin Newmark) of what it is about irony – as both an object of serious philosophical reflection and as a literary technique and trope – that makes it a seemingly inevitable topic for seemingly endless critical debate (beginning with Plato, and never ending…). This class may be of interest to students of rhetoric, of literature, of literary theory, and of the human condition (not least in the second decade of the twenty-first century). It takes seriously the enigmatic tropological power of irony and seeks to address both as fully and as insufficiently as possible Schlegel’s haunting question: “What gods will be able to save us from all of these ironies?”

ENGL 6550-001: Seminar in Rhetoric and Composition: Teaching Twenty-First Century Professional Writing

Instructor: Brenda Jo Brueggemann

Technical writing. Business writing. Workplace writing. Copy writing. Grant writing. Editing and publishing. These are some of the primary subgenres under the larger umbrella of professional writing that we will engage in the triangulated theory, practice, and pedagogy of this course.This course will introduce and engage participants in two braided strands:

  • the theories and practices of doing professional writing and
  • the theories and practices of teaching thoughtful approaches to professional writing

Seminar participants will learn about how the world of professional writing “works” (both historical and current) AND they will also learn how to teach professional writing courses to undergraduates. Upon completion of the course, participants will be ready to teach an undergraduate course in professional, technical, or business writing and they should also have some important skills that would make them viable candidates for positions in professional writing positions.

ENGL 6700-001: Seminar in Major Authors: Jane Austen and the Bröntes

Instructor: Jean Marsden

This course is designed to offer an in-depth study of some of the most important novelists of the nineteenth century: Jane Austen and the Brönte sisters. The bulk of the reading will consist of the major novels (Austen’s entire published corpus, Charlotte Brönte’s major novels, one of Anne Brönte’s works, and Emily Brönte’s only novel), supplemented by selected scholarly work and historical context. As all four writers explored issues specifically related to female experience, particular attention will be paid to issues related to the status of women in the nineteenth century.

ENGL 6750-001: Seminar in Language and Literature: Edges of Personhood

Instructor: Fiona Somerset

This course aims to engage with the interests of students in rhet/comp as well as a range of historical and contemporary fields by inviting them to critique Western post-Enlightenment understandings of the self. In conversation with queer theory, critical race studies, and ecocriticism, we will read literary works that interrogate the limits post-Enlightenment Western culture has placed on personhood in order to deny it to (for example) women, slaves and the underclass, people of color, non-Christians, and animals.We will begin with Erin Lynn’s extraordinary poem Grendel’s Mother to the Spear Danes, and go on to read other poetry, music, and a limited selection of longer works (because reading loads should be manageable in this difficult year). Readings will largely be selected by students.

DMD 3998/HRTS 3540: Visual Storytelling Through Human Rights Archives

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DMD 3998-008 (Variable Topics) & HRTS 3540-002 (Topics in Human Rights Practice)

Instructor: Catherine Masud

This practice-based course will introduce students to the use of human rights archival materials in documentary storytelling. In the first part of the course students will study the technique and aesthetics of documentary treatments utilizing archival materials, while also gaining exposure to archival best practices, specifically looking at the Thomas J. Dodd Nuremberg Trial collections held in the University of Connecticut Library Archives. Later in the course students will produce a collaborative documentary film project that integrates primary archival materials from the Nuremberg collections, filmed interviews, and their own student generated graphics, animations, and audio treatments. In addition, students will develop individual creative projects on a human rights-related theme using archival collections to enable them to reflect on the importance of history, witnessing, and memory in human rights film practice.

University Honors Laureate: This Variable Topics course will count toward the Arts & Humanities category.

DMD 3998-014: (Variable Topics) Museums and Activism (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: Clarissa Ceglio

Prerequisites: Open to sophomores or higher.

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Ceglio welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students. Experience with digital media tools welcome but not required.

Museums are sites of activism, protest, and struggle over such critical issues as representation, cultural ownership, public accountability, and national belonging. Through a series of case studies, we will explore the history of activists, museum practitioners, and others who, from the late 1800s to the present, have challenged museums to become more inclusive, equitable, and active in civic life. Equipped with that background, we’ll grapple with one of the most difficult questions facing the field today: Should be museums be a medium for social justice and activism on such urgent civic issues as climate change, voter’s rights, immigration, and anti-Black racism? What are the opportunities, limits, and issues for institutions that step beyond traditional notions of museum neutrality? Students will use this knowledge to help present the past, present, and future of museum activism in digital form, working with a team of scholars and practitioners on a Greenhouse Studios digital publication.

This course will be offered online (asynchronous). You will have access to class materials online using HuskyCT, and you will not be expected to be available at any particular time.

Contact clarissa.ceglio@uconn.edu for questions and permission number

For more information about Greenhouse Studios, for which Professor Ceglio is Associate Director of Research, see:

PSYC 2400: Developmental Psychology (Conversion Opportunity)

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SECTIONS 001, 002 

Instructor: Marie Coppola

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

This course will introduce you to the scientific study of children’s development, with a focus on development from conception through adolescence. In particular, you will become familiar with the major theoretical perspectives on child development and with the techniques and findings from research projects carried out from these different perspectives. We will cover several fundamental aspects of development, including the foundations of brain development; perceptual, cognitive, conceptual, language, and emotional development; cultural and social influences; and the implications of this research for social policy and decision-making.

MATH Courses Spring 2021

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The following MATH courses will be offered as Honors in Spring 2021, all via distance learning:

MATH 1132Q 077D Calculus II David McArdle
MATH 1132Q 078D Calculus II David McArdle
MATH 1132Q Z84 Calculus II [UConn Stamford] Richard Watnick
MATH 2110Q 106D Multivariable Calculus Katherine Hall
MATH 2142Q 001 Advanced Calculus II Myron Minn-Thu-Aye
MATH 2144Q 001 Advanced Calculus IV Iddo Ben Ari
MATH 2210Q 013 Applied Linear Algebra Matthew Badger
MATH 2410Q 003 Elem Differential Equations Michael Biro
MATH 3094 001 Undergraduate Seminar Jeremy Teitelbaum & Kyu-Hwan Lee

The topics for MATH 3094 (Undergraduate Seminar) change every semester. For Spring 2021, the topic is Machine Learning.

ENVE 1000E: Environmental Sustainability (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: Christine Kirchhoff

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

In this course, we examine anthropogenic impacts on the environment, resulting from the need for energy, food, water, and shelter, and discuss various strategies to improve economic, social, and environmental sustainability.  We ground what we learn in readings and from the scientific literature with case studies of UConn activities/programs targeting improvements in campus sustainability as well as case studies of examples of urban and corporate sustainability efforts here in the US and abroad.

CA 2, E.