Critical Thinking and Writing:

HONR 111
MWF 10:00-10:50 am (Lauren Hill-041)
MWF 11:00-11:50 am (Lauren Hill-042)
TR 12:30-1:45 pm (Nancy Mitchell-451 LLC1)
MWF 1:00-1:50 pm (James Buss-452 LLC2)

Arguments bind us, divide us, batter us. Vying for approval on paper, in quiet conversation, on millions of televisions, or the battlegrounds of the web, arguments define the boundaries of common sense, set personal and global agendas, and control minds. Masters of persuasion make laws, reshape traditions, and wage wars. To understand and create arguments we must analyze their structure, language, and logic. In this class you will learn to think critically about any kind of claim through debate, research, and writing. Library "labs" will help you to find and cite key resources including journal articles and databases, government documents, reference works, monographs, and web sources. You will also learn how to evaluate sources for particular research projects, including your own research paper. This is not so much a composition class as an arena for wrestling with ideas and words. By December you will be a keener critic and a better author of provocative texts and persuasive speeches. Practice is the only true teacher. This seminar class will require you to take an active role in your own learning. Debate and research are two foci of this class.
Satisfies a General Education Requirement (Group I-A)

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Issues in Social Sciences

Sports, Media, & Culture
HONR 112-151 M 6:00-8:45 pm
Haven Simmons

This course is taught on the premise that sports comprise a microcosm of the larger culture and society studied through the lens of race, gender, class, commerce, and ethical and competitive values, among other elements. Assessing media depictions of sports in America is central to our study of sports and culture. The topics covered in this class will include the Penn State scandal, the story African-American heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson, Title 9 and women's sports, and drug allegations against Lance Armstrong.
Satisfies a General Education Requirement (Group III-B)

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Issues in Humanities:

Feet of Clay: Building Masculinity in Literature and Culture
HONR 211-0421 MW 2:00-3:15 pm
Nick Melczarek

A study of the construction of masculinity in Western literature and culture, through the venues of literary studies, film and art critique, and feminist and queer/LGBT theory. We often take "masculinity" as a kind of self-defining quality, but how did it come to be so, in the way it exists today? How is masculinity actually a culturally-, socially-, economically-, politically-, and religiously constructed series of specific and arbitrary performances that actually undermine themselves? How do equally constructed notions of femininity necessarily create and maintain masculinity? How is masculinity tied to relatedly-constructed definitions of heterosexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality? How could the ancient world accuse a man of being "too masculine"? Why do the biblical letters of St. Paul tell us more about his and the early Christian world's manic anxiety over definitions of the masculine than anything else? Why did Victorian England and the U.S. need to make Christianity "muscular" - and how, ironically, has the modern cult of football resulted from it? (What - you thought Tebowing was new??) Why, literally, can't women be "virile" or men be "hysterical" - and what happens when they are? How does masculinity actually blur the distinctions of categories of biological sex, socialized gender, class position, and identification of sexual preference? How did a Calvin Klein advertising campaign not only redefine how we visually present masculinity, but also take us back to Nazi Germany to do it? How has the workforce honed and shaped "masculinity" through the global marketplace, even as that definition changes almost yearly? How does the corporate U.S. cash-in on such tweaks to the model as the bromance, the hipster, emo, and fanboys? Why do G4 and Spike- TV exist?? Why does the Syfy channel also show the WWE? We will study these issues through a selection of literature from the ancient world through to today, as well as artwork and film.
Satisfies a General Education Requirement (Group III-A)

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Interdisciplinary Seminar:

Utopia Meets Reality:
Russian Revolutions throughout Literature
HONR 311-041/POSC 399 TR 9:30-10:45 am
Greg Cashman

1917 is one of those bookmarks in history, a time of momentous upheaval that marked a critical turning point. In Russia, the February Revolution overthrew the tsarist government of Nicholas II; a second revolution, in October, placed Lenin's Bolshevik Party in power and began the world's first national experiment with socialism. "Stalin's Revolution" followed Lenin's-creating the monstrous "Great Terror" of the 1930s. At the end of the century, Gorbachev unwittingly set off another revolution, whose end has not yet been determined. Great events often lead to great literature. This course will attempt to explore the philosophical aspects of Marxist socialism, the attempt to "build socialism" in Russia, the "messiness" and brutality of revolution and its social, cultural, economic and political results by examining some of the great works of Russian fiction, poetry, biography and film. Readings include: Doctor Zhivago, The Master and Margarita, Heard of a Dog, We, and Journey into the Whirlwind.

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Interdisciplinary Seminar:

Black Music: Soundscapes of Diaspora, Race, & Resistance
HONR 311-042/HIST 215.002
MW 3:30-4:45 pm
Jason Boroughs

This course will explore African-oriented musical traditions through the past four centuries in the diasporic historical and cultural context of creation-exploring popular music from both sides of the Atlantic, the U.S., and the Caribbean, touching upon concepts such as race, enslavement, and resistance. This course will come right up to the present-through spirituals and the blues, music of the Civil Rights era and politically salient diasporic musicians such as Bob Marley and Fela Kuti, and through to Mambo, Samba, and Hip Hop.

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Interdisciplinary Seminar:

Contemporary China
HONR 311-043 TR 11:00-12:15 pm
E. Patrick McDermott

This course will provide an understanding of contemporary China and the many issues it faces in its development. We will compare the communist system of government in China with U.S. democracy. From such comparison you should better understand a wide range of issues including: the present effects of past colonialism; forms of government; corruption; totalitarianism; workers' rights; the environment and global warming; the rule of law; comparative legal systems; the interplay of culture and government; competitive educational systems; ways of thought and relationship to culture and political systems; capitalism in a global economy; globalization, human capital development and competitive advantage; nationalism, and a wide range of related issues. A premise of this course is that China is a microcosm for all that is positive and negative in the current world political and economic systems.

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Interdisciplinary Seminar:

Chaucer
HONR 311-044/ENGL 411-001
TR 2:00-3:15 pm
Ross Leasure

In this course, we will read a representative selection of works by the late medieval English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, identified by most scholars as the "Father" of English literature. Much of our work will focus on The Canterbury Tales, but we will also engage a few of his lesser known (though no less important) works. All of our primary reading will be in the original Middle English; our secondary reading will include important works of Chaucerian scholarship on pertinent topics. Naturally, this course will familiarize students with Middle English grammar and pronunciation; such familiarization will involve the practice of reading aloud in class and in a recording studio (in groups for credit). As necessary, our study will also include biographical material, the consideration of historical context, and an overview of English culture in the late fourteenth century.

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Honors Junior Research Project

HONR 312-041
James Burton

Honors students complete a research or creative project in a 300-400 level course of their choosing (this does not have to be an honors course) and will present their research or creative project at a public symposium or conference. One credit, pass/fail.

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Honors Thesis Preparation

HONR 490-041
James Buss

In Honor 490, before students begin work on their thesis, students select a thesis committee comprised of a thesis advisor and two readers. The mentor and one reader are chosen from the student's major department. The other reader is selected from faculty in one's school. Additionally, students do preliminary research on their topic and write a twopage prospectus (which must be approved by their committee) describing what they hope to accomplish in their thesis. In addition to meeting as necessary with their mentor, students will meet together regularly with the Honors program liaison to discuss progress and problems. One credit, pass/fail.

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Honors Thesis

HONR 495-041
James Buss

The Honors thesis is a three or four credit, focused, in-depth project in one's major field. What distinguishes an Honors thesis from a research paper in a regular classroom is the willingness of the student to go beyond the classroom and to assume the responsibilities associated with commitment to scholarship.

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