Honors Program Courses

Spring 2018

Non-Honors students with a 3.0 GPA are invited to email honors@weber.edu for a departmental override to register for an Honors course.

Click on the Course Title to access a course syllabus.
Click on the Course Number to see posters designed to promote these classes.
Visit the WSU Course Catalog for a list of Honors classes. Content will be added as it becomes available.

 

Course Number  

Course Title

CRN

Description

Time

Day

Room

Instructor(s)

CHEM 1220  Principles of Chemistry II 30051 Chemistry is the science of understanding how atoms and molecules rearrange themselves to transform one substance into another. In this class we will discover some of the magic of why reactions take place, how fast they occur, and how they reach equilibrium. We’ll discuss how metallurgy and explosives enabled the Industrial Revolution, and how electrochemistry underlies the current Information Revolution. 9:00 - 10:15 TR TY 240 Chuck Wight
ENGL 2010 Becoming Rhetorical: Analyzing and Composing in a Multimedia World
-Intermediate College Writing-
31285 TBA 9:30 - 10:20 MWF EH 218 Sylvia Newman
HNRS PS 1500 To Frack or Not to Frack? 30423 Beginning in the late 1990s, and accelerating to today, hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracking”) of oil and gas wells has fundamentally changed the amount, and price, of oil and natural gas available to meet our energy demands. The consequences of this technological advance are typically described as either “revolutionary” or “environmentally disastrous.” In To Frack, or Not to Frack?, we will examine the fundamental scientific concepts that underlie these divergent perspectives. Along the way, we will explore the basics of petroleum geology, groundwater resources, earthquake seismology, and climate change. Readings and discussion will provide both a historical perspective and insights into possible energy futures. Geoscience is for everyone, and this course will model ways that non-scientists can come to grips with the science behind energy and environmental issues. 10:30 - 11:45 TR TY 211 Rick Ford
HNRS SS 1520 The Rich and the Rest of Us: Causes and Consequences of Inequality and Poverty 30424 The rise in income inequality and wealth inequality in the United States over the last three decades is a critically important phenomenon. It would be difficult to find a major newspaper that isn’t printing several stories about inequality every week. Many of the 2016 presidential candidates are speaking about the issue of economic inequality. Honors SS 1520, The Rich and the Rest of Us. will explore the causes and the consequences of inequality and poverty. 5:30 - 8:10 M LI 325 Mike Vaughan
HNRS CA 1530 ArtsBridge: Murals 30426 "Engaging Community through Moveable Murals" ArtsBridge: Murals is a course that provides students with an experiential learning opportunity to create and implement a service-learning project—designed through the lens of an art form—with community organizations. Students in ArtsBridge: Murals will learn about murals and public art in your community, collaborate with Nurture the Creative Mind youth artists, work with professional mural artists in hands-on workshops, design and create an original moveable mural in Ogden, and earn Community Engaged Learning hours. 4:30 - 7:15 W LI 325 Tamara Goldbogen and K Stevenson
HNRS HU 1540 Prescriptions for Empathy: Medicine and Literature 30428 The relationship between scientific and literary discourse, the importance of storytelling for clinicians and patients, how empathy can be valued and increased, how to read texts from a verity of literary genres. 9:00 - 10:15 TR EH 219 Sally Shigley
HNRS CA 2020 Why Creativity Matters 30429 What does it mean to be creative, and how might it help us all flourish in the twenty-first century? We will study and discuss creativity from several angles and, of course, dabble in some hands-on creative activities ourselves (no experience necessary). Join me, and unlock your Inner Creative! 10:30 - 11:45 TR BC 317 Catherine Zublin
HNRS PS 2030 Physics in the Plays of Tom Stoppard 30430 In several of his plays, Tom Stoppard examines the paradox of free will in a deterministic Newtonian world. To what extent can individuals control their lives in a clockwork universe? We will examine the rise and fall of the Newtonian worldview in this course, and see how this provides the philosophical themes of three of Tom Stoppard's plays, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Arcadia, and Hapgood. Classroom activities will include discussions of the ideas of the plays, performing selected readings from the plays, and investigations that explore the physics content of the plays 1:30 - 2:45 TR LI 325 Brad Carroll
HNRS SS 2050 1968: The Year that Changed Everything: Culture, Politics, America 30431 We will explore how the world exploded in 1968 and how music reflected the cultural angst that was happening. We will make comparisons with today's politics to see what we can learn about how music reflects the angst we feel today. 1:30 - 4:10 M LI 325 Carey Campbell and Leah Murray
HNRS HU 2110A The Meaning of Life 31125 Why am I here? Is life a test, an illusion, a battle, a game, a giant cosmic mistake? Explore with us the wonderful variety of answers given by the greatest minds of ancient and medieval western history. We'll spend the semester reading the some of the most influential religious and philosophical texts of all time (The Book of the Dead, The Bible, Plato, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Aquinas, etc.), charting their answers to humanity's biggest question. We'll put the great ideas in their historical context to see the amazing confluence of personalities, events, and ideas that came together to form the intellectual tradition we’ve inherited. 12:30 - 1:20 MWF LI 325 Katie Nelson and Marc Nelson
HNRS HU/DV 2130A Aesthetic Development of Chinese Film: Past and Present 30435 Director Tiange Wu will explore with students outstanding examples of art in Chinese cinema 5:30 - 8:10 R LI 325 Tiange Wu
HNRS 2920 Making Sense of the News: Reading and Discussing The New York Times 33914 It’s always been important to follow the news, but perhaps more so now than ever, as momentous events play out across the world and in the nation’s capital. This Tuesday course, aligned with The New York Times' Science Tuesday, will be led by the College of Science dean, Dave Matty. This informal, conversation-based class meets once a week to read and discuss the contents of the New York Times, currently available for free to all WSU students, faculty and staff. One credit for students who attend all meetings; no grades, credit/no credit only. Discussions are open to any and all, regardless of whether you’re taking the class for credit or not. Drop in whenever your schedule allows (but attend all class meetings if you want to get credit). This class will not fulfill the Aletheia Honors class requirement. 12:00 - 1:15 T LI 325 Dave Matty and
Dan Bedford
HNRS 2920 Making Sense of the News: Reading and Discussing The New York Times 32614 It’s always been important to follow the news, but perhaps more so now than ever, as momentous events play out across the world and in the nation’s capital. This informal, conversation-based class meets once a week to read and discuss the contents of the New York Times, currently available for free to all WSU students, faculty and staff. One credit for students who attend all meetings; no grades, credit/no credit only. Discussions are open to any and all, regardless of whether you’re taking the class for credit or not. Drop in whenever your schedule allows (but attend all class meetings if you want to get credit). This class will not fulfill the Aletheia Honors class requirement. 12:00 - 1:15 R LI 325 Eric Swedin and Dave Ferro
HNRS 3900 Selling Emotion, Buying Feeling: Emotions, Work, and Consumption in America 30425 What do amusement parks, shopping malls, and Las Vegas have in common? They are all spaces where emotions are bought and sold. The course explores connections between emotions and consumerism in America. During Spring Break, we take a study away trip to Las Vegas to observe these “cathedrals of consumption” and how individuals are participating in them as both workers and consumers. 10:30 - 11:45 TR LI 325 Susan Matt and Marjukka Ollilainen
HNRS 4920 The First World War 30433 A century ago a global cataclysm, the First World War, erupted and permanently transformed the world. Why did it explode? What did its conduct reveal? What are the echoes of this war that resonate today? Honors 4920 endeavors to answer these questions. It illuminates the war’s global dimensions, the statecraft and strategy of warring and neutral powers, battlespace operations and technologies, and humanitarian responses to industrialized killing, mass casualties, imprisonment, and population displacement. It considers the dynamics of homefront participation in war, including the cultivation of war cultures, the mobilization of children, the demobilization of wounded soldiers, and rituals of commemoration. The course also investigates the improbable resolution of such a vast conflict that shattered empires, inspired the ascent of new ones, and awakened powerful forces across the world. Join us for an exploration of one of the most pivotal events in the history of the world. 9:00 - 10:15 TR LI 325 Branden Little
HNRS 4990 Honors Senior Project 30434 Instructor approval required for registration TBA TBA TBA Dan Bedford

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