Winter Term 2016/17 Honors Course Descriptions Important notes to consider when registering for courses: 1. Honors Colloquia = Only HNRS 300 level courses satisfies the colloquium/colloquia graduation requirement. 2. HNRS 201 and 480 courses do not satisfy the colloquium/colloquia graduation requirement but do count toward Honors credit. 3. UNIV 241 = automatic Honors credit with minimum course grade of a “B”, but also does not satisfy colloquium/colloquia graduation requirement. Honors Colloquia HNRS 301-001, Classic American Cinema: Art and Artifact CRN 21796 Instructor: DB Jones Time: Tuesday 12:00-2:50 3 Credits Location: Honors Seminar room, 5051A MacAlister Hall Description: This colloquium will explore how, at its best, American film from the 1930s to the 1950s both (a) created and refined cinematic language and (b) reflected and commented upon American culture. The colloquium will do this primarily by critical examination of 10 classic American films, each by a first-rank director and each representing a different genre. Films will be screened and discussed in class and students will be given outside viewing assignments. HNRS 301-002, Writing History: or Digging up the Dirt CRN 21805 Instructor: Cordelia Frances Biddle Time: Monday 1:00-3:50 3 Credits Location: Honors Seminar room, 5051A MacAlister Hall- Description: How did it feel to live in Washington, DC when the British burned the city to the ground in 1814? What enabled the first Suffragists to cope with misogyny and prison? What was it like to stand beside Martin Luther King, Jr in Selma, Alabama in March 1965? Who were the family members and/or colleagues supporting and encouraging global heroes, and what were their motives? In this writing class, you’ll discover how best to use research materials in order to drill deeply into the historical context of your subjects and time periods. You’ll also learn to include contemporaneous culture and commerce. Advertising, and tastes in art and literature speak volumes about societal desires, as do seemingly incidental events that bring narratives to life. Writing History encourages exploration and interpretation as students seek to understand and give meaning to life events. HNRS 301-004, Comic Masterpieces, Seriously CRN 22333 Instructor: William diCanzio Thursday 12:00-2:50 3 credits Location: Honors Seminar Room - 5051A MacAlister Hall Description: In this interdisciplinary survey of comedy, we'll primarily consider theatrical traditions, both old and new. We'll also make side trips into literature and film. HNRS 301, 005 - Apocalypse/Post-Apocalypse: Images of Nuclear War in Film and Fiction CRN 22334 Instructor: Ian Abrams Time: Monday 6:00PM – 8:50PM 3 credits Location: UCross 028 Description: In the class, students look at movies and stories (and newsreels and propaganda films and, weirdly, music) about nuclear holocaust, dating from the 1940's up to today-- the class is about how various treatments of this fictional idea have changed according to what was going on in the world. Because the subject matter is so unnerving, Prof. Abrams likes to briefly meet with all prospective students before they join the class-- for this reason, this course is by permission of instructor only. Please contact Prof. Ian Abrams directly ([email protected]) to discuss enrolling in the course. HNRS 301-006, Mars and Venus at the Movies CRN 22349 Instructor: Carrie Rickey Time: Tuesday 6:00-8:50 3 Credits Location: Honors Seminar room, 5051A MacAlister Hall Description: In the 1970s art historians such as John Berger and Linda Nochlin looked hard at paintings and saw that male painters such as Goya frame women as sexual objects while female painters such as Mary Cassatt frame them as social subjects. In the 1990s sociolinguists such as Deborah Tannen listened hard to spouses and business colleagues in conversation. She heard men speak a language of status and independence and women speak and hear a language of connection and intimacy. Before many of these efforts exploring whether modes of communication and perception are perhaps gender-linked, film theorist Laura Mulvey proposed that classical Hollywood movies presumed that the spectator of the film was male and the spectacle female. She called this “The Male Gaze.” This course will test, and update, Mulvey’s theory by comparing and contrasting similarly- themed films by male and female directors. Students will parse different elements of moviemaking from editing and average-shot duration to framing and point-of-view to explore whether the filmmaking is gender-linked. HNRS 301-940, Shakespeare’s Villains ONLINE CRN 21797 Instructor: Craig Laird 3 Credits Description: This on-line seminar will focus on the villains in five of Shakespeare’s plays, Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Macbeth, and The Tempest. Courses in Shakespeare typically focus on plot, character, and theme, as seen from the perspective of a member of the audience; this course will focus on character development and events as seen from the perspective of the villains. It will explore the motivations of the characters as well as the nature of evil--both from the perspective of a person living in the Early Modern Period, and from that of a person living today. HNRS 302-001, The University: An Institution in Crisis? A Course for Intellectual Entrepreneurs. CRN 21028 Instructor: Mark Greenberg Time: Tuesday and Thursday 3:00-4:20 3 Credits Location: Honors Seminar room, 5051A MacAlister Hall Description: Universities have been operating since the eleventh century, based on a model of teaching developed during classical times. This makes universities the second oldest institution in human history, following only religion. Higher education is central to a nation’s development in the 21st-Century, and a college degree is often seen as the ticket to meaningful employment and successful careers. Is there an institution more important—or more in the news? What are some ideas of the university that have shaped this enduring institution? What are its uses? What are the challenges—the crises, some say—that currently beset it? And what might its future look like in light of global social change, evolving learning styles, and technological progress? These are the principal ideas our seminar will discuss. We’ll read several classic essays on the university’s mission. Students will explore briefly the university’s history and discuss how its various stakeholders help shape the institution. Small study groups will report on an important aspect of the university. And we’ll be joined by experts on higher education, university leadership, and the future of technologically- enhanced learning. Finally, each student will choose an area of the university ripe for improvement and, in presentations shared by the class, present her or his recommendations for making the experience of higher education better. HNRS 302-002, Exotic Landscapes: Exploring Ecological Frontiers, 1800-Today CRN 24329 Instructor: Lloyd Ackert Time: Monday 6:00-8:50 3 Credits Location: Honors Seminar room, 5051A MacAlister Hall Description: From Humboldt’s 18th century expeditions to today’s interplanetary missions, exotic landscapes have and continue to play a central role in ecological research. Rare, remote and dangerous places inspire have inspired a wide range of scientists working in every discipline to reimagine the nature of life. Their expeditions to remote mountain tops, rainforests, caves, volcanoes, and to sulphur springs, underground rivers, and deep sea vents provided them novel experiences about Earth’s ecology and the biosphere. The most recent instances of these efforts are extending the search for life to Martian landscapes, Saturn's moons, and distant solar systems. HNRS 302-003, War CRN 24355 Instructors: Daniel Dougherty & Melinda Lewis Time: Wednesday 6:00-8:50 3 Credits Location: Honors Seminar room, 5051A MacAlister Hall Description: The topic of war is embedded into our everyday lives be it experiencing or learning through news events, political discourse, our education, memories (our own or others’), music, film, and literature. This course aims to unpack what war “means” within these various areas and how we can understand war’s representation in popular culture, and across time and place. Segmented into three parts: “Homefront”, “Warfare”, and “Return”, discussions will focus on how war is waged, the experiences of soldiers and civilians, and national identities. HNRS 302-004, A Social-Ecological Systems Approach to Resource Governance CRN 26269 Instructor: Julia Colwell Time: Thursday 6:00-8:50 3 Credits Location: Honors Seminar room, 5051A MacAlister Hall Description: The problems facing our world are complex and multi- dimensional. This course introduces students to the socio-ecological systems framework, a marriage of both social and natural science approaches to understanding problems. Using this framework, we will dive into complex natural systems, such as Indian marine fisheries and Madagascar's tropical rainforests (among others) to understand driving factors that inhibit (or enable) their successful management. These factors may include the culture and history of resource users alongside the relevant ecosystem interactions. Students should expect to conduct their own research through the application of learned research methods on systems of their interest. HNRS 302-005, Probability and Decisions CRN 26270 Instructor: Bruce McCullough Time: Wednesday 2:00-4:50 3 Credits Location: Honors Seminar room, 5051A MacAlister Hall This course takes a standard approach to decision making under uncertainty, including the expected value of a decision, decision trees, elementary game theory, and Bayesian decision-making. Hold-em poker is an excellent laboratory in which to apply the principles of decision making. Pot odds, bluffing percentages, the role of game theory in poker and much more will be explored analytically. Note: Calculus is not required, but there will be much algebra. Great Works Courses Great Works courses are designed for an in-depth reading, discussion, or analysis of great books, great art, great films, etc., over the course of a term in a small group setting (capped at 12 students).