Baccalaureate Honors (BHP) 1

BHP 212 Children and the Media 3 Credits BACCALAUREATE HONORS (BHP) This course examines how children and adolescents use and understand media and analyzes the role of media in their social and cognitive BHP 100 Honors Seminar: Great Ideas I 3 Credits development. After studying the socializing presence of the media, Traces the impact of great ideas on society, politics, economics, science, students will analyze how exposure to television programs, movies, and the arts. This writing-intensive course substitutes for CMP 120 magazines and the Internet shapes children’s socio-emotional Expository Writing. Freshmen only. development and their understanding of cultural norms. This course BHP 150 Honors Seminar: Great Ideas II 3 Credits will also explore the effects that media use has on children’s health, A continuation of Great Ideas I, the introductory Freshman Baccalaureate aggressiveness, and academic performance.This course counts towards Honors Seminar. Great ideas are studied in their cultural and historical the fulfillment of the Disciplinary Perspectives element of the CLAS contexts and from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students are guided general education curriculum. in writing an effective research paper. This writing-intensive course BHP 213 Honors Seminar: Text and Context 3 Credits substitutes for CMP 125 Research Writing. Freshmen only. Studies the major themes of a period of cultural change as they are BHP 201 Honor Seminar: Age of Shakespeare - A Study in Cultural expressed in important social, scientific, literary, and artistic works. History 3 Credits Students will immerse themselves in a single major literary work and will Studies the cultural history of Elizabethan and Jacobean England and of interpret it in light of a number of coordinate texts and works from the its visual and literary arts. More specifically, the course will investigate social sciences, from contemporary comment, and from the arts. the peculiarly English synthesis of the old and new, Medieval and BHP 215 Honors Seminar: Universe & Origin 3 Credits Renaissance, Continental and English in the arts and ideas of the Age of This course examines both the historical and ongoing scientific research Shakespeare. that contributes to our understanding of how life arose on Earth. The BHP 203 Nineteen Eighty-Four in Context: George Orwell’s Enduring evolution of primitive life to the present-day diversity of living organisms Legacy 3 Credits will also be explored. Over the course of the class, we will trace the “Big Brother is watching you.” “Some animals are more equal than others.” development of theories concerning the evolution of life, with particular Contemporary discussions of politics, journalism, and social issues emphasis on biologic, geologic, and cosmic time scales. regularly reflect the influence of George Orwell’s classic novels, Animal BHP 222 Honors Seminar: Existentialism in Literature 3 Credits Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The term “Orwellian” routinely appears Introduces students to Existentialism as a 20th-century movement in modern speech and writings. Published in the aftermath of World with roots going back to the 19th century and as a philosophy that has War II, Orwell’s dystopian projections, along with other provocative special relevance and importance for understanding today’s world. writing by this courageous thinker and writer, reflect the turbulent world Reading and discussion are based on topics of special concern to experienced by Orwell from the waning of British colonialism to the rise Existentialist philosophers: lying and the nature of reality, faith and of the Cold War. To contextualize the composition and importance of his reason, revaluation of values, and the meaninglessness of life. Readings most influential works, this course will explore a wide range of Orwell’s will comprise a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres. Authors may writings; the historical and cultural contexts that shaped him; and the use include Dostoevsky, Unamuno, Camus, Sartre, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, of his work and ideas by his contemporaries and by subsequent artists, Brecht, Kafka, Pirandello, Weil, and Beckett. critics, and social analysts. BHP 224 Worlds Apart: Global Perspectives on Development and Prerequisite(s): BHP 150. Inequality 3 Credits BHP 206 Honors Seminar:Politics/Literacy 3 Credits This course will examine the causes and patterns of uneven societal Students will analyze literary texts in the context of selected political development in the world today, including consideration of historical periods and ideologies, going beyond literary content to understand how and contemporary factors such as colonialism and globalization. language, genre, and structure mirror, otherwise represent, or criticize the Consequences of increasing inequality for the well-being of populations political order within which the author writes. across the globe will also be discussed. BHP 209 Honor Seminars:Law and Arts 3 Credits BHP 227 Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Age of Empire 3 Credits Fosters analysis of controversial art images from a range of genres (e.g., This course examines the history and literature of British and American films, paintings, photographs, music, literature, and sculpture) and asks imperialism from 1890 to the present, focusing on the intersections students to consider connections between the art and political/social/ of race, gender, class, and sexuality. The course wil cover themes of legal issues. Topics will include censorship, propaganda, and intellectual national identity, representations of colonized peoples, and imperialism property. as a cultural project. The history of imperialism as understood through literary and cultural analyses will focus on the functioning of gender, BHP 211 Seminar: Theories of Justice and the American Common Law 3 sexuality, and race in the ideologies and strategies of imperialism and Credits anti-imperialism and in the psychological impact of colonial rule. Overall, Examines some of the ‘perennial’ theories of justice, both classical and we will consider how such analyses can inform a(re)defining of the modern, that have left their mark on the evolution of Western concepts colonial project. of justice. The practical implications of such theories and the two-way traffic between them and social realities will be explored through their application by the American courts. In addition to studying actual cases, students will participate in the adjudication of theoretical cases, both fictional and taken from contemporary realities. 2 Baccalaureate Honors (BHP)

BHP 230 Honors Seminar: Political Culture 3 Credits BHP 251 Idea to Innovation 3 Credits Explores social, political, and cultural transformations associated with The pharmaceutical industry comprises an incredibly diverse team of the radical extension of cybernetic and reproductive technologies in thinkers, including accountants and biochemists, who are all on a quest modern society. In particular the course will focus on the impact of new to improve human health. The development of medical treatments relies so-called high technologies such as computer-based communications, on pivotal insights from the scientific laboratory, but turning these ideas robotics, and biotechnology on such areas as the structure of the world into practical medical innovations requires the solving of many problems economy, the organization of work, patterns of consumption, styles of outside of the scientific field. Through the examination of historical and popular culture, the design of private and public space, and the liberal- contemporary case studies, this course will investigate the nature of democratic political process. science as it is practiced in the real world. How are problems identified BHP 231 Honors Seminar: Natural Adventures 3 Credits and ideas generated and refined? What political and sociological Examines connections among environmental history, biology, and challenges does the industry encounter? Who pays for all of this? By ecology. Human attitudes toward the natural environment are complex exploring growth in the pharmaceutical industry from the inside, students and have changed overtime, ranging from terror to exaltation from in this class will gain a deeper understanding of both science and exploitation to preservation. Focus will be on the impact of changes business and how these disciplines interact in order to enhance and in human land use and technology on natural ecosystems, exploring extend human life. feedbacks between the two. Hands-on experiences will supplement BHP 252 Creativity and Design Thinking 3 Credits readings from the primary literature both in science and history as well as Creative, interdisciplinary, and collaborative work is being recognized literary explorations of nature. as increasingly important for innovation and solving global problems of BHP 232 Honors Seminar: Science and Politics of the Jersey Shoreline 3 the 21st century. This course will introduce students to a much-needed Credits framework for dealing with unstructured problems for creative problem Designed to acquaint the student with the scientific basis for evaluation solving, and a process for innovation. The course consists of two related of coastal problems and the political realities of funding and policy, parts: the psychology of creativity provides a foundational basis of focusing on the New Jersey Shoreline. Course topics will include knowledge and discussion, and the design thinking framework serves as consideration of waste disposal in ocean systems, depletion of ocean an example of a powerful creative thinking strategy that an increasing resources, physical and biological ramifications of human activities on number of individuals and organizations have used successfully over the the environment, and the political problems in dealing with mitigation of past decade. environmental stresses. Prerequisite(s): BHP 100; non-BHP students POI only. BHP 240 Chemistry and Conflict 3 Credits BHP 253 A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Play 3 Credits Chemistry and other sciences have radically changed the conduct of This course examines how children from two different countries – the war and mechanisms of human conflict. Using case studies from the United States and Japan – play, and analyzes the influences of factors Chemical Revolution to present day, this course examines how knowledge such as parents, environment, school, and culture. If travel is permitted, of matter altered warfare – in terms of its scale, its boundaries, and its students will directly observe children at play in several different meaning. To this end, we study Antoine Lavoisier’s work with gunpowder locations in each country – including (but not limited to) playgrounds, in the 18 th century alongside a more famous case of wartime chemistry: schools, play therapist’s offices, museums, indoor play places, zoos, and Fritz Haber’s development of chemical weapons during World War I. theme parks. Interviews with parents, teachers, therapists, and potentially We also study the Manhattan Project, which produced the world’s first children themselves will help to clarify how play is viewed and practiced atomic bomb in the final days of World War II. Secondly, this course in each culture. Readings on the evolution of play, the benefits of play, investigates the many legacies of these new weapons. We follow the the practical applications of play (e.g., in education and in therapy), and development of the military-industrial complex, the use of war chemicals cultural differences in play will be used to support and help to inform the as pesticides, and the deployment of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Finally, data students will collect through the interviews and observations. we examine more recent uses of chemical weapons, including in Japan, Prerequisite(s): BHP 100. Iraq, and Syria. Throughout the course, students will bring knowledge of chemistry to bear on these historical episodes. They will demonstrate BHP 259 Honors Seminar: The Environment: a Conflict of Interest 3 how knowledge of key chemical principles – such as atomic structure, Credits bonding, and reactivity – help to contextualize the development of Examines critical environmental issues such as global warming; modern war. food, water and energy resources; population trends; and global industrialization. Topics for context will include the origin of the elements, the origin of solar systems, and the origin of life as well as the basic principles of the current biotechnical revolution. Scientific understanding will be combined with knowledge about strategies for raising community awareness in order to (re)formulate public policy. In teams, students will be asked to define the problems; research available and prospective solutions; identify the technical, social, political, and economic constraints; and finally propose a workable strategy for making progress toward solutions. Baccalaureate Honors (BHP) 3

BHP 260 Honors Seminar: Education and the Arts 3 Credits BHP 281 The Rhetoric of Science 3 Credits Through the study of classic and contemporary artistic works as well as This course will examine the rhetoric of science in an effort to see how influential philosophies and theories of education, this course explores science has used language and various text types to answer questions, representations of education in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, film, and music resolve disputes, and legitimize the knowledge contained within its and the relationship between theory and practice. Society’s shifting and disciplinary borders, and conversely how language and communication ambivalent attitudes toward teachers and the educational process will have guided scientific discovery throughout history. Reading texts from be studied from multiple perspectives, including those of artists who are ancient and contemporary scientists, philosophers, historians, and important educators themselves. literary authors, we will identify the key linguistic and rhetorical traits BHP 261 The Online Explosion: Radical Changes in Business and employed within the discourse communities of modern science, and Communication 3 Credits consider consequences of—and the scientific developments enabled by— Compared to a world just one generation ago when business people such language and textual practices. These concepts will be emphasized composed memos on typewriters and communicated with fax machines, and elucidated vis-à-vis some of the most significant scientific and the online explosion has brought forward a flood of new communication medical discoveries impacting the modern world. tools and social media platforms. It has created new types of businesses BHP 290 Shakespeare: Page, Stage & Screen 3 Credits that would have been unimaginable just a short time ago and has This course aims to explore, in depth, the translation of Shakespeare’s revolutionized the way people communicate, socialize, and shop. texts into performance by combining theatre history, cinematic The explosion of the web has also led to work environments in which adaptation, and textual analysis with a strong emphasis on practical, employees are always “connected,” and has raised concerns about creative, and collaborative work. We will study 5 plays over the personal privacy. We will guide students through a critical evaluation of course of the semester and consider each as a performance piece as these radical changes, with an eye on their benefits as well as potential well as a literary artifact. Each play will be examined from multiple negative consequences. perspectives that are theatrical/performative/cinematic (staging, BHP 268 Honors Seminar: Love and Chivalry in the Arthurian Tradition 3 costume, sets, dramaturgy, camera, editing) as well as literary (historicist, Credits psychoanalytic, gender and sexuality focused, Marxist, eco-critical, post- The legends attached to King Arthur of Britain and the Knights of the colonial), thereby bridging the artificial divide between Shakespeare as Roundtable have fascinated audiences for the past 1500 years. This literature and Shakespeare as performance. course will examine the origins, development and meanings of love BHP 300 Honors Seminar: Cultural Politics 3 Credits and chivalry, two essential themes in the Arthurian legends. Through With attention to genres such as literature, music, film, and the visual study of the two major love triangles in the tradition---Arthur- Guinevere- arts, this course explores the role of artistic expression as it reflects Lancelot, and Tristan-Isolde-Mark---and the chivalrous quests of Lancelot, and/or subverts the structural elements and distribution of power in a Tristan, Gawain, Parzival, and other Knights of the Roundtable, students selected culture and time period. will discover how Arthurian ideals regarding love, chivalry, kingship, BHP 301 The Law and Racial Progress 3 Credits and heroism were established and why they still resonate in popular This course is designed to enhance knowledge of the ways in which culture. This course counts towards the fulfillment of the Disciplinary racial progress intersects with the law. Different areas of the law are Perspectives element of the CLAS general education curriculum. emphasized, as well as the criminal justice system, with an emphasis BHP 270 Interdisciplinary Studies 3 Credits on understanding the role and behavior of different stakeholders and Exploration of interdisciplinary topics and themes in honors courses participants in these areas. Ethical issues are discussed throughout the team-taught by instructors representing different disciplinary specialities. semester in order to sensitize students to the ethical considerations BHP 271 Special Topics in Interdisciplinary Studies 3 Credits integral to bringing legal disputes to closure. The course will focus on Exploration of interdisciplinary topics and themes in honors courses three primary fields to illustrate the complicated relationship between the team-taught by instructors representing different disciplinary specialities. law and racial progress: 1) The Workplace, 2) The Police, and 3) Higher Education. BHP 280 Honors Seminar: The World as a Social Construct 3 Credits Prerequisite(s): BHP 150. Challenges students to view the world as a product of historical and philosophical traditions as reflected in global communication BHP 302 Mirrors of the Mind: The Interplay of Literature and Psychology dynamics. Forms of both ancient and modern political governance 3 Credits and their influence on international socio-political alliances will be In exploring the longstanding and evolving partnership between literature examined, especially as reflected in cosmopolitanism, urbanization, and and psychology, this course addresses the following questions: How migration. Topics include the impact of the revolution in modern means does understanding of psychological theory enhance our reading of of communication and obstacles to communication among peoples of literature? How does reading of literature affect our judgements and diverse nations. our responses to real-world situations? How can literary texts aid psychologists in refining theories explaining human behavior? Readings include classics, as well selections by recent writers and theorists representing both disciplines. Among the themes typically discussed are struggles in achieving stage-salient goals in life (separation from parents during adolescence and beginning the assumption of adult roles, etc.); complexities in social interactions (familial, romantic, etc.); the development of empathy; perceptions of self and other; loss and grief, morality; and the influence of culture on personality and behavior. Prerequisite(s): Completion of BHP 150 and minimum GPA 3.3; or POI. 4 Baccalaureate Honors (BHP)

BHP 303 Honors Seminar: Politics & Philosophy of the 60's 3 Credits BHP 315 Honors Seminar: 20th Century European Ideologies 3 Credits Examines three major American political movements of the 1960s--the Covers the origins and development of 20th-century European ideologies black movement, the student movement, and the feminist movement-- in a comparative perspective. Topics include the condition of European with an emphasis on the interactions among philosophy, politics, and political culture at the turn of both centuries (i.e., 1900 and 2000), culture. These themes are studied using original sources including methods of spreading Nationalism and national culture, the First World theoretical writings by the movements’ main proponents and texts War and the emergence of Fascism and Communism, the origins and describing particular events and developments in political and social consequences of the Cold War, the development and fate of the Socialist history. Source materials may also include documentary films and and Capitalist systems, and the ideology of Conservatism/Liberalism. recordings which represent the cultural assumptions of the period. We will also reflect upon the condition of European political culture in our BHP 304 Honors Seminar: Europe Armageddon 3 Credits day. Investigates the history and literature of World War I in order to BHP 318 Honors Seminar: The Bible as Literature and Philosophy 3 understand how it shaped the civilization of the 20th century and how it Credits affected the lives of those who experienced it. Discusses selections from the three major divisions of The Bible: the BHP 307 Honors Seminar: Presence of Mind - Artificial intelligence and Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Apocrypha. Stories such Human Creativity 3 Credits as Joseph and his brothers, Exodus, Samson and Delilah, Jonah and What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)? In what ways can computers “think”? the Whale, Susannah and the Elders, the raising of Lazarus, and the trial How is their “thinking” similar to and different from that of humans? and execution of Jesus will be read. Students will study many genres, Through readings, lectures, discussions, and creative projects, students including the short story (The Book of Ruth), poetry (Psalms), history (I will investigate evidence of intelligence and creativity in various and II Samuel), apocalypse (Revelations), letters (I and II Corinthians), and disciplines including music composition, art, and human and non-human philosophical tales (The Book of Job). systems. We will examine predictions for AI that date back to the 1930s BHP 319 Honors Seminar: Arts of Memory 3 Credits and ponder likely developments in this area in the 21st century. No prior Collective memory, cultural memory, computer memory, crises of memory: experience with computers or music is required. explores different ideas about memory through a variety of disciplinary BHP 309 Honors Seminar: Genetic Engineering and the Philosophy of lenses within the humanities, including film, music, rhetoric, literature, Science 3 Credits history, and fine art. Topics will include the nature of group and cultural Highlights the different perspectives held by scientists and philosophers memory, mnemotechnica (the structures and techniques of memory), regarding current bioethical issues. Topics include classical ethical the representation of memory, memory anomalies and problems, and theory, applied ethics, and basic biology as it relates to topics such as historical and national memory. stem cells, cloning, and assisted reproduction. Students will learn how BHP 320 Honors Seminar: Gender and Music 3 Credits to construct and present rational, objective arguments during class Through listening and reading assignments, introduces students to the discussions and presentations. At the end of this course, students role of gender in shaping the creation, performance, and reception of will have gained a strong perspective both the ethical and biological Western music. Topics include canon formation and the reception history foundations behind modern “hot- button” topics in genetics. of works by male and female composers; the historical conditions in BHP 310 Honors Seminar: European History 3 Credits which women became composers, performers, listeners, and patrons; the Involves reading major European historical novels of the 19th century. musical representations of gender difference and sexuality; definitions of Students will discuss why the vogue for historical fiction began and why feminine and masculine musical style; ideologies of genius; and gender the novels of Sir Walter Scott had such a tremendous impact on the issues in music aesthetics, music historiography, and in the biographies genre. Examined will be such questions as the definition of historical of composers. fiction, the importance of historical accuracy, the relationship of literature BHP 321 Gender and Sexuality in Hip Hop and R & B 3 Credits and history, and the influence of historical differences in the development This course explores the formation of femininity, masculinity, and of historical fiction in different countries. sexuality in Hip-Hop and R&B, focusing on the music, images, and BHP 312 Honors Seminar: Musical Expression 3 Credits politics of the genres. Because Hip-Hop and R&B also exist in dynamic Examines the relationships between political culture (e.g., enlightened relationship with a variety of other genres, including funk, soul, rock, reform, revolution, or reaction) and musical discourse in periods selected disco, jazz, and electronic dance music (EDM), some of these other from Viennese classicism, Biedermeier/romanticism, post-romanticism genres will be included in readings and discussions along the way. and expressionism. Major emphasis will be placed upon how composers Related topics include racial identity theory, religion, and a variety of such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler, and Schoenberg exploited other social constructions as mediated through rhetoric and discourse and developed musical forms, and chose and set texts to respond to the conventions that shape who we are and how we understand ourselves. imperatives of their political and cultural environments. BHP 322 Honors Seminar: Guilty and Innocent 3 Credits BHP 314 Honors Seminar: Symbolism/Impressionism 3 Credits Through the study of social theory and research, legal cases, fiction, Examines Symbolist literature and Impressionist music. Students will non-fiction, film and poetry, this course examines theories of criminal come to understand some interrelationships between literary and musical motivation and behavior, determination of blame, and assignment of creativity in the late 19th and 20th centuries by studying Symbolist appropriate punishment. Topics include changes in legal and cultural literature and Impressionism in music history--two movements that understandings of individual and social responsibility for criminality; the had significant impact on Modernism and that continue to influence nature, purpose, and effects of punishment; and the impact of race, class contemporary creative work. and gender on defining crime and determining guilt or innocence. This course counts towards the fulfillment of the Disciplinary Perspectives element of the CLAS general education curriculum. Baccalaureate Honors (BHP) 5

BHP 323 Capitalism: On Trial 3 Credits BHP 490 Independent Study: Research and Creative Expression 1-4 Capitalism as a socio-economic system is put on trial! Readings for Credits and against capitalism, drawn from a range of influential classic and Independent Research and Study allows juniors and seniors in good contemporary texts, are examined and discussed in class. The competing academic standing to investigate topics of interest under faculty theories are applied to current social, economic, and political issues. The supervision no later than the third week of the semester in which the role of government in the economy is also debated. project is to be conducted. Only one project can be scheduled in a BHP 325 Literature and Political Realities: Dictatorship to Democracy in semester, and for no more than four semester hours. Latin America 3 Credits BHP 499 Baccalaureate Honors Thesis 3 Credits Explores Latin American politics and government in the 20th century and Students completing the Baccalaureate Honors Program undertake of the role of artists, primarily writers of fiction and poetry, as a corps a capstone project, which may be research-based and/or creative. of truth-tellers and resisters in the face of government propaganda, Minimum 3 credits in total, which may be completed in fall or spring of censorship, and cultural/political repression. The course will center senior year or distributed across both semesters. For details, see BHP upon themes and theories that help us explain the current state of Web site: http://www.rider.edu/15478_6437.htm. Latin American politics and culture, and the dynamics of their mutual influence. We will emphasize the vacillation between authoritarianism and democracy as well as the role of revolutionary change in the region. Analysis of economic, social, cultural, and historical influences on contemporary Latin American politics will be complemented and enriched by a study of representative works from important cultural and artistic movements. BHP 330 Campaign Persuasion 3 Credits This course will explore both political campaign communication history and practice, with a particular focus on current campaigns in New Jersey. The interface between communication theory and politics and the way in which messages are framed by the media will be explored. Guest speakers will share their perspectives on selected campaign issues. To move from the classroom and theory to real situations, students will be encouraged to volunteer for a campaign in New Jersey, and assignments will be focused on creating practical examples of political campaign communication materials. BHP 340 Nature and Nurture 3 Credits Nature and Nurture explores questions of innate and environmental influences on who we are. The history of the false Nature v Nurture debate as well as our current understanding of how innate and environmental factors influence human characteristics are explored via discussion of current scholarly articles from the social and life sciences. BHP 350 Genocide and Human Rights 3 Credits Explores one of the main paradoxes of the modern era: the development of human rights standards and, at the same time, the expansion and intensification of genocide, ethnic cleansing, systematic torture, and other crimes against humanity. A central question runs through the course: How are these two polar opposites, human rights and genocide, related? Concentrating on the period from the eighteenth century to the present, and encompassing virtually every area of the globe, we will discuss and debate the meaning of contested key terms, investigate particular historical cases of mass atrocities, and examine critically some of the recent efforts at redress, justice, and memory. BHP 360 Moral Psychology 3 Credits This course will cover moral philosophy and moral psychology and where they intersect. What are moral development and moral injury? What does our taste in aesthetics say about our morality? Topics covered will include character, responsibility, naturalism and psychological science, ethics, and aesthetics are covered.