Spring 2010 Course Offerings

• Honors 1110 Introduction to Honors:  "Construction of Knowledge"-   - Course ID#31871
• 3 credit hours
• 9:00-10:15am
• Carl Porter & Adam Johnston
• How do we "know" anything?  Why does your English teacher look at the world one way, and your Physics teacher a different way?  Who's right?  This course introduces you to how we come to understand things from different perspectives, and how different disciplines are actually practiced - a good preparation for other courses you take in Honors and beyond.
• Honors PS1500 Perspectives in Physical Science:  "Misconceptions in Acience & Astronomy"-   - Course ID#31881
• 3 credit hours
• 11:30am-12:20pm
• John Sohl
• This course will explore topics from the phases of the moon and behavior to the supposed apollo Moon Landing Hoax to the arguments over Global Warning.  In the process we will learn alot about our universe, our place in the universe and how science works.  Essentially, this is a course in critical thinking and how the scientific method works.
• Honors LS1510 Perspectives in Life Sciences: "Bugs in the System: The Importance of Insects in Human Affairs" - Course ID#31885
• 3 credit hours
• 9:00-10: 15am T/R
• John Mull
• Insects are the source of great beauty and bounty.  The colors, shapes, and smells of flowers are a product of their long history of coevolution with insects.  The same is true for the many plant compounds that we enjoy in spices or use in prescription drugs.  Without the pollination services that insects provide, the fruits and vegetables found at your local market would not exist.  On the other hand, insects are serious pests of agriculture and deadly vectors of disease.  These activities are the source of much human suffering.  Malaria, sleeping sickness, and dozens of other diseases are transmitted by blood-feeding insects.  Each year, they kill several million people worldwide and weaken hundreds of millions more.  This section of LS 1510 will examine insect biology and the many ways it affects the human condition. 
• Honors SS1520 Perspectives in the Social Sciences:  "Traveling Around the World:  What's Happening to the Global Environment?" -Course ID#31918 
• 3 credit hour
• 9:30-11:20am MWF
• Bryan Dorsey
• Have you ever dreamed of traveling to faraway lands in search of pristine natural places?  This interdisciplinary Honors course involves a virtual field trip around the world during which we ask ourselves how the global environment is changing.  The course is designed to expand course participants' views of the realtionships between nature and society by exploring various forces driving environmental change.  As such, topics in this seminar formatted course will include study of air and water quality issues, climate change and threatened regional food security.  Class discussions will be based on readings, students' experiences, and the instructor's observations from a dozen different countries visited during a "Semester at Sea" voyage in the spring of 2008.
• Honors CA1530  Perspectives in Creative Arts: "Music & Health in Global Perspectives" Course ID#31920
• 3 credit hours
• 12:30-3:10pm M
• David Akombo
• Using music for healing is a practice that has persisted through time.  Since ancient times, musichas been used to evoke potent healing forces, as well as for the compassionate treatment of individuals with physical, mental, and emotional illness.  The Music and Healing course will explore the health benefits of music to both healthy and unhealthy individuals.  The course will expand collaborative understanding of music as both an art form and as a science by exploring both practical and theoretical applications of music as a means of healing and as an intervention modality.
• Honors HU1540 Perspectives in Humanities:  "South America:  The Literature, Film and Arts" - Course ID# 31923
• 3 credit hour
• 10:30-11:45amT/R
• Isabel Asensio
• This course is an interdisciplinary approach to the literary "Boom" that took place in the  cultural scene of Spanish America during the second half of the twentieth century.  The course will focus on the analysis of film, painting, and narrative workds from a historical and cultural studies perspective.
• Honors 2130 (A & B) Intellectual Traditions:  Great Ideas of the East:  "The Modern Islamist Movement:  Religiosity or Extremism?"- Course ID# HU31924 & SS31925
• 3 credit hours
• 9:30-10:20am MWF
• Ryan Thomas
• This course will focus on understanding the political, religious and social policy conflicts between Islamic countries and the West.  The first section of this course wil explore the Qur'an, Sunnah, and Hadith of historical Islam to clarify the framework for contemporary interpretation of Islamic law and social policy.  The balance of the course will involve discussions of applications of Islamic law and policy in the Iranian Revolution, the Iraq War, the Islamist movement, Islamic gender issues, and religious jihad.
• Honors 3900 Colloquium:   "Text & Textiles"  (This course will be listed under English 3750 in the English courses)- Course ID# 33082
• 3 credit hours
• 5:30-8:20pm
• Judy Elsley
• What's the connection between dyeing fabric and writing?  Whether you dye fabric or write, you're engaged in a creative process.  In this class you'll learn the basics of fabric dyeing as a way to look at your own creative process.  We'll also do a lot of writing about that process.  For a final project, we'll bring cloth and writing togethr in a creative project of your choosing.
• English 1010: "Rhetoric for the Real World" - Course ID#
• 3 credit hours 
• 10:30-11:20am MWF
• Sylvia Newman
• "Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men." -- Plato  Come and learn to rule the world with us!  Learn to write intelligently, logically and persuasively; learn to write for real-world situations, not just our English class.
• Honors 4830:  "Weber Reads Huckleberry Finn" - Course ID#31939
• 3 credit hours
• 12:30 T
• Kathryn MacKay
• Description forth coming
• Honors 4830:  Directed Readings (This course is connected to Honors Senior Thesis/Project)
• 1 credit hour
• TBA
• Judy Elsley
• Honors 4920 "Global Issues in Religion & Ethics" - Course ID#31940
• 1 credit hour
• 12:30pm M
• Brian Davis
• "Hindus and Muslims and Buddhists, Oh My!" Join us as we discuss current issues relating to world religions and human morality.  In addition to weekly class meetings during the last half of the semester, we will visit local temples, mosques, synagogues and churches.  Members of the class will help select the congregations we visit. Join us as we explore our changing religious landscape in a safe and friendly class setting.
• Honors 4990 Senior Thesis/Project  -  Course ID# 31949
• 3 credit hours 
• LI 225 
•  Judy Elsley
• YOU MUST HAVE INSTRUCTOR'S APPROVAL TO REGISTER FOR THIS CLASS