[UConn Storrs]

This 4-credit interdisciplinary Honors course examines the life and work experiences of migrant workers. Weekly sessions will combine short lectures and discussions of assigned readings; the course will offer guest lectures by university faculty and by practitioners in the field, and will visit 2 farms. The emphasis is on migrant workers—mostly Spanish-speaking from the Caribbean and Latin America—in the United States, with a significant focus on migrant workers in Connecticut. This seminar is introductory. We assume that most, if not all, of you are generally unfamiliar with much of the basic literature pertaining to migrant life and labor. The course is thus intended to provide a very broad and eclectic perspective on the world of migrant labor and experiences.

This seminar combines classroom and service learning as fundamental and equally valued elements of each student’s experience. Service learning involves the student in on-site study and work with a variety of organizations in Connecticut that assist the state’s migrant community. Students’ SL placement will depend on transportation: They may choose any placement if they have their own car; if not, they may choose a CO volunteer experience or a placement along the Hartford busline 913. Either way, students will travel on a weekly basis to organizations and to farms throughout the area; consequently, you will need to arrange your schedule to accommodate approximately 3 hours of work per week, plus travel time. The organizations may include: Hispanic Health Council (migrant health research); Hartford Public Library (ESOL and citizenship instruction); CT Students for a Dream (undocumented student advocacy); Collegiate Health Service Corps; CO tutoring programs for migrant children; Windham Hospital; and Immigration Advocacy and Support Center (legal advocacy).

Permission number A permission number is required. Please email honors@uconn.edu and include (1) your name; (2) your 7-digit Student Admin number; (3) your registration “pick time”; (4) the course number and section; (5) the class number from Student Admin; (6) confirmation that there are seats available in the class you selected; (7) why you are interested in taking the class and (8) your commitment to approximately 3 hours of service work, plus travel time, per week.

Ask your Orientation advisor for a permission number for this class.

[UConn Storrs]

Not open to students who have passed ERTH 1010, 1050, 1051, or 1070.

Welcome to the Honors Core version of introductory geoscience! The main goal is for you to learn how Earth works, what its history has been, and how you can put this knowledge to good use to reframe environmental thinking, mitigate natural hazards, and obtain the resources we need. Climate change, ecological collapse, human inequality, and planetary futures look very different when seen through an earthly lens.

The main pedagogy emphasizes hybrid learning via pre-class readings & explorations followed by in-class demonstrations, student presentations, and breakout sessions. Each week you will link beautiful specimens from UConn’s Stone Pavilion to a unique campus place and to an American region. Your final creative project will be shared during a student symposium. There are no exams.

By the end of this course, you will: Comprehend the Earth as a grand holistic system; Realize that your world occupies a thin membrane created from above and below; Appreciate the emergence of America’s scenic and cultural diversity in deep time, and; Realize that geoscience is a rigorous, environmental STEM career with excellent job prospects.

General Education information ERTH 1055 is a CA 3 (TOI-6) non-laboratory course. Adding the geoscience laboratory (ERTH 1052) to it fulfills your CA 3-Laboratory requirement.