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.
* * *
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.
* * *
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.
* * *
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.
* * *
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.
* * *
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.
* * *
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.
* * *