Wichita State University
1845 Fairmount
Wichita, KS 67260
316-978-3456
webmaster@wichita.edu

Course Descriptions

Please note that classes are offered any particular semester. Please see schedule of courses, or the semester schedules to determine if a class is to be offered at any particular time.

Aerospace Engineering

AE 373

Dynamics

3 credit hours

Everything moves in some time scale, from electrons to galaxies, making the study of dynamics a useful endeavor. Items of particular interest in engineering subjects include the motion of mechanisms, vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft.

We will investigate the ideas of coordinate systems, reference frames, and various mathematical models of physical entities in order to obtain equations of motion that permit understanding, prediction , stability, and optimization of the examples studied.

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Communications

COMM 111H

Public Speaking and the American Tradition of Public Rhetoric

Basic Skills
4 credit hours

"I f truth were self-evident, eloquence would not be necessary." Cicero's words still ring true today. This course teaches students that oral communication competence is necessary for functioning effectively in academic and vocational pursuits and in participation in society as an enlightened, articulate citizen.

In keeping with the Honors Program's high expectations for student achievement, this section of public speaking places a much stronger emphasis on in-class speech performance, critique, and participation than regular sections of the course. It also exposes students to a wider range of extemporaneous speaking situations, and introduces a major unit on speech analysis that encourages students to explore intersections between speech principles, historical context, and political exigencies. Because of these additional elements, it earns four credits.

Course expectations: Original speeches will be prepared and delivered extemporaneously (with notes) by each student. The definitional and informative speeches require that students adopt the role of instructor and learn how to define, analyze and explain a subject in an unbiased way. The sales speech requires that students adopt the role of promoter and learn how to persuade an audience to accept a program, place, or product, or support a candidate. The policy speech requires that students adopt the role of advocate and learn how to present a social problem and propose a workable solution in such a way that motivates belief change and action. The story telling and special occasion speeches require that students adopt the role of entertainer and learn how to maximize the resources of language and delivery to inspire an audience to pay tribute or contemplate a person, institution or idea. Impromptu speeches, which are daily, require that the student adopt the role of critical debater and learn to speak cogently "off the cuff" on current events, famous sayings, and resolutions.

Students will also conduct a speech critical analysis project (10-12 pages) on a key rhetorical figure in American Public Address.

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Criminal Justice

CJ 191H

Intro to Criminal Justice

Social and Behavioral Science
3 credit hours

This course is designed to familiarize students with the working structures of the US criminal justice system, and stimulate analysis of some of the system?s more critical issues. Study will proceed in much the same manner as the functioning of the criminal justice system, beginning with the police, looking at interventions and prosecution, the courts, and correction, with a detour into juvenile justice. The class is offered in 8 weeks, and features a self-directed teaching model, with much of the learning activity provided by means of online delivery. Face-to-face meetings will occur three or four time, with a clear agenda that makes maximum use of that time for discussion and sharing media materials. The class will move rapidly, but will provide much food for thought.

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HISTORY

HIST 399

Nationalism and Ethnic Identity: Case Study - Russia

Humanities
3 credit hours

In the early 21st Century, national and ethnic identity are arguably among the most crucial elements in studying both geo-politics and the relations between different communities within nation states. Nonetheless, the basic concepts of nationality and identity remain ambiguous. There simply is no consensus on the ingredients that combine to create a sense of nationality, or the components necessary to ethnic identity. Groups long submerged in larger groupings have emerged to claim separateness, never for entirely the same reasons as other groups, and people with well-established identities have sometimes sought membership in a wider grouping.

These processes, and their complex historical, economic, and cultural elements, are well illustrated in the history of modern Russia, where the development of national and ethnic identity has seemed to play a decisive role. There are officially one hundred "nationalities" in Russia. We will focus on a representative few, including the Russians, Uzbeks, Jews, and Sakha (Yakuts). Our aim will be to use Russia as a case study for the whole issue of nationality and ethnic identity.

We will take course readings from a growing literature on nationalities in contemporary Russia, as well as from general studies of the topic. Students will research a specific nationality and present their findings to the seminar. Several short papers will be assigned.

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HONORS

HNRS 104A

Listening to Jazz

Fine Arts
3 credit hours

The course is designed to acquaint the student with the history, "sounds of", and literature of jazz and jazz improvisation. Presentations will include many examples of audio and video jazz performances.

Topics include: What is Jazz; elements of music and how they apply to jazz; listening to and appreciating jazz improvisation; early jazz; swing; Bebop; cool jazz; 50's & 60s; fusion; avant garde and free styles. Individual Artists we will study include: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ornette Colman.

Text: Jazz Styles, History and Analysis, Mark C. Gridley (Prentice Hall)

Introduction & Part 1: Basics of Jazz
Part 2: Premodern jazz
Part 3: Modern jazz 1940s to 1960s
Part 4: Modern jazz 1960s and 70s to 2000s

Written assignments: Attend at least 2 live jazz concerts and/or jazz night club engagements. One can be by a local ensemble, but at least one must be by a touring nationally recognized ensemble. Each attendance must be accompanied by a two-page typewritten, proofread review that is handed in prior to the end of the semester. Ticket stub or program must be stapled to the review. In addition to whatever you feel is significant to say about the event, you must also include:

Instrumentation
Form of at least one of the pieces you heard
Performers names
Time, date, venue, ticket price or cover charge
Detailed account of your personal impressions of the music, that is what you liked and disliked, what you recognized and why.

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HONORS

HNRS 104B

The Art of Theater

Fine Arts
3 credit hours

What is art? Is it a valued part of our world? Does it matter in today's world? This seminar examines Theatre as an art form, and explores its value in our lives. It approaches these topics through readings, discussions and attendances at performances. Actors, designers, directors in the Wichita area bring their expertise to class through presentations and talk backs.

Besides readings and discussions, the course includes several experiential opportunities including a mime class, a dance class and a field-trip to a museum. Creative projects for the class and community are also a strong component.

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HONORS

HNRS 105A

Kabbalah: Man's unquenchable need to know

Humanities
3 credit hours

Into the mysterious universe we are born without any apparent instructions, no maps, or equations, no signs or guideposts, nothing by our equally unfathomable instincts, intuitions, and reasoning abilities to tell us where we came from, and why we are here and what we are supposed to do. What we do possess---perhaps the key to our survival as a species-- is an almost unquenchable need to know. This course brings to the student the answers to these questions through the eyes of Jewish Mysticism. The attempt is made to make the student aware that although man has established deep and penetrating channels into the how of things --we have become masters of material existence, nevertheless, man is still scantily aware of the why of things. What are we here? How does Jewish Mysticism relate to the modern world and how does the modern world relate to it. To this end Jewish Mysticism dedicates itself.

This introductory course attempts to bring the student a preliminary understanding of the Jewish Mystic's message to the modern world. It deals with the basic concepts of Kabbalah as they relate to our day to day life experiences.

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HONORS

HNRS 105F

Friendship

Humanities
3 credit hours

What is a friend?

At first thought, most of us would have an answer to this question. We know what a friend is because we have friends. But on second thought , most of us would not be so sure of the "friends" we have. Companions and acquaintances, comrades and sometimes lovers too, are not exactly friends. Soon, we want to make distinctions between different kinds of "friendly" relationships, and only a few of those we know and love, on reflection, count as true friends.

Relationships generate most of life's poignancy. How often are the moments of deepest joy or wrenching bitterness lived in solitude? Our connections with other people indelibly mark our lives. Of all these relationships, two sorts most deeply affect us: lovers and friends.

The mysteries of genuine friendship have puzzled and inspired philosophers, poets, and novelists from the beginning. For some, friendship is a uniquely personal experience that gives individual life unexpected dimensions; for others it is the paradigm for all human relationships, an ideal that every connection we make with others should strive to emulate. Many have argued that no one has truly lived unless they have had at least one true friend, while others believe that friendship is the key to genuine community. The subject of friendship is, then at one personal, ethical, religious, and political.

This seminar will explore many facets of friendship through a variety of readings and discussion. Readings will include selections from Plato and Aristotle to Emerson and Kiekegaard, and several novels, memoirs, etc.

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HONORS

HNRS 105L

Science Fiction: Speculations about Humanity's Destiny

Humanities
3 credit hours

Bug-eyed monsters battling space cowboys! Time-warps, wormholes, and gateways to alternate universes! Alien civilizations, fabulous new technologies, far futures! Science fiction is a genre rich in Big Ideas. In the early pulp magazines, most science fiction barely rose above the level of comic books. Today, some of the most sophisticated ideas in literature are found in the genre.

There are several uniting threads. At some level, all science fiction is speculative, although the speculations range from the silly to the deeply informed. As the name itself implies, it all involves some special use of scientific ideas, although this too takes many forms. Early science fiction relied heavily on imagined technologies, often only vaguely plausible in scientific terms. In more recent decades, many of the best writers are scientists whose speculations take off from the genuine frontiers of contemporary science. And some of the best work in the genre is based on speculative ideas in the social sciences: richly imagined alien psychologies or futuristic human societies.

This seminar will look at science fiction as a vehicle for thinking about the nature and destiny of humanity. Is good science fiction genuinely inventive, or are its ideas only extrapolations from the present? What does the popularity of the genre tell us about ourselves? Where, in the imagination, do aliens (E.T. or bug-eyed monsters) come from? Is science fiction ultimately just entertaining escapism, or has it a deeper significance?

Readings will be selected from the classics of the genre, like Arthur Clarke's Childhood's End, Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, and William Gibson's Necromancer. We will also read Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction. Most readings will be chosen by the class.

Students will write several short papers on the readings. The major project for the semester is development of an imaginary world as a setting for science fiction story scenarios.

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HONORS

HNRS 105P

The Pursuit of Happiness

Humanities
3 credit hours

In the Declaration of Independence, "the pursuit of happiness" is one of the three "inalienable rights" of human beings. And although rarely seen as a right until modern times, happiness has always been a basic goal. Ancient philosophers said that happiness was the ultimate aim of human life, the one thing sought simply for it's own sake. But early Christianity cautioned that true happiness was only attainable in the next life, discounting even the idea of "worldly" happiness.

The means to happiness have long been debated. For many, it requires simply the satisfaction of one's desires: I'm happy when I get what I want. But religious traditions almost always argue that the road to happiness lies in conforming one's life to divine purposes. while ancient philosophers like Socrates and Confucius argued that only by living in accordance with virtue can one truly become happy. More recently, discussion of happiness have become more prosaic. According to many contemporary researchers, happiness is an emotion or state with specific neurochemical bases: get the chemistry and brain function right and you'll be happy.

This seminar will examine both the problem of happiness, as it arises in classic philosophic and religious thought, and the practice of happiness, as outlined by the contemporary "positive psychology" movement. This movement has backed up may of the classic teachings with modern research, and translated them into practical techniques for making yourself more happy.

Texts will include selections from classical thinkers including Aristotle and Martin Seligman's Authentic Happiness., the key work in the "positive psychology" movement.

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HONORS

HNRS 105S

Autobiography: Representations of the Self

Humanities
3 credit hours

This course will be an examination of the various ways in which authors have represented the self. We will discuss such questions as: "How free is the author to reveal the self?" "What social constraints impede the full exposure of the self?" "How important is the author's psychology in the autobiography?" "Are there types of autobiography?" "How does a critic look at autobiography?"

The reading will be comprised of autobiographies ranging from very early to contemporary authors. There will also be a recommended reading list of autobiographies and critical commentary by those who have studied this genre.

Participants in the seminar will be expected to read and discuss the material, make presentations, write short papers, and compose the beginning of an autobiography. Students will be expected to make use of Blackboard and to have familiarity with basic computer literacy.

Required Texts:

St. Augustine: The Confessions
George Fox: An Autobiography (downloadable pdf)
Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
John Stuart Mill: The Autobiography of John Stuart Mill
Zora Neale Hurston: Dust Tracks on the Road
Mahatama Ghandi: Autobiography (downloadable pdf)
Malcolm X: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
John Paul Sartre: The Words
Isaak Dinesen: Out of Africa

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HONORS

HNRS 106B

War: Strategic Studies

Social and Behavioral Sciences
3 credit hours

Warfare is one of the oldest and most durable human institutions. It is both destructive and cruel, and yet calls forth courage, resourcefulness and nobility.perhaps more than any other human endeavor. War is a paradox, at once the most human and the most inhuman of things.

There are many ways to study war. Historical narrative captures the drama of conflict. The biographies of warriors and their victims personalize the experience. Political science and the study of international relations examine the causes of war and methods of war-making. Sociology and economics examine the wider impact of armed conflict, the way societies mobilize themselves for it and the ways that the enterprise of war alters human life on a large scale. Anthropology looks at armed conflict as a modality of human cultures. Ethics ponders the morality of conflict and whether war can ever be justified.

This seminar will examine the concept of strategy in war. While professional soldiers usually define strategy as the business of organizing and planning battles, from a political perspective strategy means setting national goals and choosing the means appropriate to achieving them. But in even broader terms, strategy is ultimately about what Mao Zedong called "the correlation of forces," the ways that different elements in a complex situation interact to create developmental tendencies, and how these elements can be manipulated or influenced to bring about desired results. At this level of generality, the study of strategy merges with game theory in one direction, and the arts of persuasion in another. It is not entirely metaphorical that generals study strategy in "war games," and that people speak of "going to war" when they enter into various arguments and competitions.

We will be studying war strategy for both its intrinsic interest, and as a means of understanding the complex dynamics of human conflict and the ways that people resolve conflicts.both real and metaphorical .wars.. We will examine three wars in some detail, including the American Civil War (the others to be selected by the class), and we will also look into the merits of strategy games, from chess to computer simulation games.

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HONORS

HNRS 106C

Great Trial on Film

Social and Behavioral Sciences
3 credit hours
Cross-listed as Pol S 390V.

This course will analyze award-winning films that deal with the judicial system. For each film we will distinguish between myth and/or reality.

We will also read and discuss relevant critiques and articles about the films studied. In lieu of an extensive term paper, students will write two to three page analytical papers on the assigned films and readings. A total of seven brief papers will be assigned.

Students will earn final grades based on the following:

Analytical papers (30%); Class contribution (20%); Midterm (25%); and Final Exam (25%).

We will study the following films: Twelve Angry Men; To Kill a Mockingbird; Inherit the Wind; The Caine Mutiny; Witness for the Prosecution; The Life of Emile Zola; The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell; Judgment at Nuremberg; Conspiracy; The Trial of the Chicago Eight; Anatomy of a Murder; Compulsion; and Separate But Equal.

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HONORS

HNRS 106E
Political Films

Social and Behavioral Sciences
3 credit hours
Cross-listed as Pol S 390E

This course will analyze award-winning films that deal with critical issues in politics and government. For each file we will all distinguish between myth and/or reality. Films tentatively selected include: Mississippi Burning; Tweleve Agry Men; The Candidate; Mr Smith Goes to Washington; The Great Dictator; Z; High Noon; Norma Rae; On the Waterfront; The Trial of the Chicago Eightl; and Triumph of the Will (a classic Nazi propaganda film.)

We will also read and discuss one book and several critiques and articles about the films. In lieu of an extensive term paper, students will write analytical papers of about two to three pages in length on the assigned films and readings. A total of seven brief papers will be assigned.

Students will earn final grades based on the following: Analytical papers (30%), Class contribution (20%), Midterm (25%), and Final Exam (25%)

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HONORS

HNRS 106X
Political Biography

Social and Behavioral Sciences
3 credit hours
Cross-listed as Pol S 390X

This seminar will focus on great and near-great presidents of the United States; presidents from FDR though Clinton, and some of the outstanding Congressional leaders. We will also view some relevant films involving critical challenges these leaders coped with. Reading material consists of books by eminent scholars Gordon Wood, Richard Hofstadter, and Fred Greenstein as well as some selected articles distributed in class.

Students will write two research papers approximately eight to ten papers each and the seminar will emphasize thoroughly prepared and analyzed student discussion rather than the instructor.s lectures. You will earn your grade on this basis: One-third for well-informed contributions to the seminar dialogues; one-third for Research Paper 1; and one-third for Research Paper II.

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HONORS

HNRS 107I
Time

How did your ideas about time evolve over the centuries? How do different cultures look at time? What is time, anyway? Is it true that "time is relative"? Relative to what, exactly? Does time flow only one way? Is time travel possible?

Texts: R. Newton, Galileo's Pendulum, S. Hawking, A Brief History of Time, S. Toulmin and J. Goodfield, The Discovery of Time. Selections From: Einstein and Infeld, The Evolution of Physics, S.J. Gould, Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle, Additional readings will be assigned from time to time from other sources.

Basis for grading: Homework papers, 40%l class participation, 30%; final paper, 30%.

Homework will consist of writing short essays (1-2pp), on the reading assignments. Students will read their papers to the class, and be expected to discuss the readings, and each others' papers, intelligently. In addition, there will be one final paper, on some aspect of time (scientific, literary, or philosophical), which intrigues you. A (shorter) first draft of this paper will be due at midterm. There will be no exams.

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HONORS

HNRS 150Z
Models and Simulations in the Arts

3 credit hours

Seminar Description: This is an experimental seminar. The goal is to explore human ingenuity and its limitations through the medium of a historical simulation: the partial recreation of key aspects of a past human society.

From earliest recorded history, thinkers have used models to represent real things in ways that simplified and thereby clarified their key features. More recently, we have learned how to substitute dynamic simulations for static models. Well-conceived simulations can model complex processes and interactions, even a functioning human society. Several popular computer games are based on simulated social, economic, and political processes (e.g., Sim City). Our seminar is partly inspired by them.

Another source for our experiment are courses at other universities that challenge students to solve a complex practical problem with limited means. On one campus, students imagine themselves stranded on an island with limited resources. They have to find a way to survive, and they have to build a small working airplane from the few raw materials available so that someone can go for help. These courses beautifully integrate "theoretical" learning and practicality, while also teaching students about teamwork.

Then too, many courses employ role-playing, a simple form of simulation. Recreating a famous oration in a speech class, or playing roles in a class skit are other ways to learn through models. Our seminar involves a creative challenge: rather than facing a pre-determined time, place, and set of circumstances, seminar participants themselves will choose a historical template to work on. What historical situation would it be interesting and feasible to recreate? The Pyramid Age in ancient Egypt? The Polynesian colonization of the Pacific islands? The Viking discovery of North America? The only requirement is that the setting chosen pose a variety of challenges: technological, nutritional, social, etc. Participants in this seminar will function primarily as game designers not merely as players.

After selecting a historical template, participants will divide into separate teams to concentrate on re-creating or simulating one aspect of our chosen "original" society. The technology group will explore how to recreate a complex technological project with limited means: how did Polynesians navigate the Pacific without compasses, or the Egyptians design massive structures like the pyramids without modern surveying and building equipment? The food group will explore how edible plants and animals became a cuisine, and what was necessary to make that cuisine both palatable and nutritious. Other groups might look at social customs and values, economic arrangements, political processes, religious belief and practice, artistic expression, etc. Which groups we will have depends on the interests of participants. If a group wants to recreate the arts or music of our template society, great! If another group wants to build pyramids, or ocean-going canoes, more power to them!

For each group, the first task will be to learn about the real history. How did the technology work? How did social institutions express the society's values? How did the "natives" understand themselves and their world? What outlets for creative expression did the society develop? The next step will be to figure out how to simulate or model the ideas, institutions, and practices we have learned about. We cannot hunt jungle snakes to recreate the protein diet of Amazonia, but maybe we can think of something that would resemble this task. Computer simulations model reality in bits of digital information; our goal is something more hands-on. The ideal outcome of our work is a set of simulated experiences that could be incorporated into a full-scale simulation game recreating key aspects of our historical template society.

Outcomes:

Each team will produce the following:

A Simulation Design, outlining the aspect of life they decided to simulate and how their simulation of it relates to historical reality
A Knowledge Book, summarizing and reporting on their research
A Demonstration Project, showing the results of working through their simulation

Teams will be encouraged to call on the expertise of anyone who can help them. Guest experts and speakers are welcome. There is also a modest budget for purchase of materials, but scavenger hunting is strongly encouraged. Team captains are responsible for scheduling regular team meetings, using either regularly scheduled class time or other times convenient for team members. The seminar coordinators will meet with each team on a regular and continuing basis. Both individual teams and the entire group will communicate regularly through Blackboard. General Meetings will be scheduled periodically so that each team can report on their progress.

The Project will conclude with a final General Meeting at which the teams will present their demonstration projects.

Students can earn General Education credit in the fine arts, humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences, depending on the topic or topics their group works on. Students should register initially for the section they expect to work in; any necessary transfers will be made after teams have been organized.

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HONORS

Honors 151A
Makers of the Modern World

Humanities
3 credit hours

We are all "moderns," even if we have a taste for old things and anachronisms like Renaissance Fairs or "sword and sorcery" stories. But what does it mean to be modern?

A typical feature of modernity is a kind of obliviousness about the past. Modern people want things to be "up to date" or, better, "new and improved." We worship youth and almost revere innovation and creativity. These attitudes are profoundly contrary to the sensibilities of other times. Traditional, pre-modern societies revered their elders, worshiped ancestors, and took their bearings from legendary "golden ages" long ago. To call something an innovation was a devastating criticism.

The Modern World and Modern Society are not just "today's world," distinguished from the past mainly by their date. They are profoundly different places than ever existed before. The advent of the Modern was a shattering revolution in human perceptions and ways of life. To become modern was not simply to take another step along an old path, but to embark on a strange, new journey. That journey made us what we are: people as alien to our distant ancestors as beings from another planet would be to us.

This seminar is an introductory study of the modern revolutions through the work of four seminal thinkers who contributed greatly to shaping it: Niccolo Machiavelli, Adam Smith, Charles Darwin, and Sigmund Freud. Machiavelli rewrote the book on political and ethical values; Smith was the intellectual father of a market-centered society built around the persuit of personal satisfaction; Darwin revolutionized our understanding of mankind's place in nature; Freud discovered the "dark side" of the soul and gave a new sense to personal identity.

The seminar will sample the original writings of these highly original and influential thinkers, but the focus will be on how their thought shaped the world we live in and the way we see ourselves. Students will write several short papers and a somewhat longer semester essay. No previous acquaintance with any of these thinkers is required.

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HONORS

HNRS 151B
In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: Romance and Reality

Humanities
3 credit hours

Alexander the Great was one of the most influential historical figures of the ancient world, whose epic journey of conquest from Greece to India became legendary. In a few short years, Alexander's army marched Greece to the Indus valley, conquering the Great Power of the era, the Persian Empire. In the wake of military conquest, Alexander founded Greek-style cities, many named after himself ("Alexandria").

The course will follow a documentary by Michael Wood that retraces Alexander's expedition with a companion book, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. We will read contemporary sources on his life (Arrian and Curtius), as well as fiction accounts such as Late Antique Alexander Romance and modern historical fiction (e.g. Many Renault, Fire from the Heaven, Funeral Games, Persian Boy). The Alexander legend has had a powerful hold on people's imaginations, surviving in India, for example, long after any genuine historical information had been lost.

The course will acquaint students with the use of historical sources (how to decide what happened when they contradict each other), the pleasures of historical fiction, and the history and culture of the Middle East, Central, and South Asia.

There will be a midterm and final exam, and a short research paper related to the midterm.

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HONORS

HNRS 151C
Western Literature

Humanities
3 credit hours

There is nothing more important in the act of reading than enjoyment -- all else comes second. Few books have offered more enjoyment than what we call "great" or "classical" literature. But what makes certain literature great? How can something written 150 years ago, or even 3000 years ago, hold our attention and make us feel more alive than before? Does it survive so long because of the quirks of history, because of expert opinion, or because it really speaks to us? And if it still speaks to us, what does it say? We will start with the early classics of Western Literature of both a secular and religious nature, reading longer works (some in their entirety and some in excerpts), shorter works, drama, and poetry. Students will have the opportunity to nominate works to our reading list as the semester progresses.

A partial list of candidates for our reading list: the Fagles and Roche translations of Homer and Greek drama, selected dialogs of Plato, Fitzgerald's translation of "The Aeneid" (Virgil), Slavitt's translation of "The Metamorphoses" (Ovid), "The Consolation of Philosophy" (Boethius), Heaney's translation of "Beowulf", Ciardi's translation of Dante, "Prologue to the Canterbury Tales" (Chaucer), Shakespeare (either BBC Video or live WSU production), the King James Bible (and earlier English translations), Grossman's translation of "Don Quixote" (Cervantes), "Paradise Lost" (Milton), "Tom Jones" (Fielding), "Pride & Prejudice" (Austen), "Jane Eyre" (C. Bronte:), "Wuthering Heights" (E. Bronte:), "The Scarlet Letter" (Hawthorne), the Friberg translation of "The Kalevala", and "A Tale of Two Cities" (Dickens). Note that we will probably not read anything from the 20th-21st centuries.

Course prerequisites: You must love reading. You are not required to enjoy everything we read this semester, but you are expected to finish the assigned reading nonetheless.

Grading:

Class discussion and attendance will comprise a significant portion of your final grade.
Every reading assignment will be followed by an open-book, open-note quiz.
Students will be asked to take on short research projects throughout the semester. Example: Find three translations of "Don Quixote" in the library, photocopy equivalent excerpts from each (three to five paragraphs in length), and make handouts for the class. Be prepared to offer a three to five minute oral summary on their differences. Note that the translations need not be in English. Students who are proficient in Spanish may elect to present the original as well.
Every student will make a major presentation on at least one featured author of the semester. (PowerPoint optional but encouraged.)
The final exam will be an imaginative project of the student's devising based

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HONORS

HNRS 151F
Rome in Film

Humanities
3 credit hours

Ancient Rome has fired the imagination of film-makers in both Hollywood and Britain. They have responded by creating an alternate version of Roman history. This seminar will examine several classic feature films, television series, and a documentary film and compare them to ancient historical sources and modern scholarly histories of the period.

Feature films studied will include Spartacus, Cleopatra, Gladiator, and The Last Days of Pompeii. The television series will be the recent HBO production Rome and the award winning BBC/WGBH production of I,Claudius based on the Robert Graves novels. The companion texts will include selections from Suetonius on Julius Caesar and Augustus, Vergil's Aeneid on Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Tacitus on the Emperor Claudius, and Gibbon on Commodus (Gladiator). We will also use Zanker's book on Pompeii and Shaw's on Spartacus, as well as Jon Solomon's The Ancient World in Cinema.

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HONORS

HNRS 151M
Heroes, Gods, and Lovers: The Litereature of Rome

Humanities
3 credit hours

The Roman Empire continues to live in our collective imagination. Its literature still stands as a powerful expression of our fundamental ideas about what a hero is, what qualities identify a good citizen and a worthwhile life, and how society should be organized and ordered. Roman lyric poetry teaches us the meaning of love, along with both the bliss and torture that can accompany it, and gives powerful and beautiful expression to ideas such as "Carpe diem" and the golden mean. Classical literature is the model on which all later European literature is based, and its influence is felt even in popular culture--films such as "Gladiator" and "Troy" are obvious examples. In recent years, new translations have made the great classics even more meaningful and accessible to curious readers who do not read Latin.

In this seminar, we will read and discuss selections from the great literature of Rome in the best modern translations. Virgil's stirring epic, the Aeneid, is the focus of the first half of the semester; we will then read and discuss selections from Cicero's political writings, the lyric poetry of Catalos and Horace, Ovid's tales of the gods and their antics, and Juvenal's satires. There will be opportunities to compare translations and to look at brief passages in the original Latin in order to shed light on the art of translation. Students will write two papers-a short paper on the Aeneid early in the semester and a longer paper on a topic of their choice, such as a comparative study, reflections on Latin literature not read in class, or studies of later literature influenced by the Latin classics.

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HONORS

HNRS 151P
Asian Literature

Humanities
3 credit hours

The course, "Asian Literature" will help students develop an awareness of the issues and concerns of novelists from an important part of the world. Among the novelists will be Nobel Laureates Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) and Kenzaburo Oe (Japan), as well as the controversial author Pram Toer (Indonesia). In addition to reading and discussing the novels, students will work in teams and individually to place the authors in their cultures through an examination of their language, religion, geography, and history. Students will use the internet, informants, and other sources of information in developing their understanding of selected literary works. Their will be an oral final examination.

Required Reading:

Kenzaburo Oe, Help Us To Outgrow Our Madness (Japan)
Pramoedya Toer, This Earth of Manking (Indonesia)
Naguib Mahfouz, Sugar Street (Egypt)
Baharati Mukherjee, The Holder of the World (India)
Michael Ondatje, Anil's Ghost (Sri Lanka)
Nora Okja Keller, The Comfort Woman (Korea)
Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children (India )

Assignments:

Students will read the assigned novels and come to class prepared to discuss them.
Students will work independently or in team(s) for various projects that will include oral and written reports and presentations.
Students will be graded based upon the semester assignments and upon an individual oral final examination to be taken during finals week.
Students and the Professor will use Blackboard during the course.

Suggested Video Tapes or CDs:

Farewell My Concubine (China)
The Scent of Green Papaya (Vietnam)
Beyond Rangoon (Mynamar [Burma])
The Joy Luck Club (China)
Salaam Bombay (India)
The Killing Fields (Cambodia)
A Year of Living Dangerously (Indonesia)
The Seven Samurai (Japan)
The Sand Pebble (China)
The Last Emperor (China)
Lawrence of Arabia (Middle East)
Monsoon Wedding (India)
The English Patient (Egypt and the desert)
A Passage to India (India)
L'Indochine (French Indochina?Vietnam)

Related Works:

E.M. Forster, A Passage to India (Novel)
George Orwell, Burmese Days (Novel)
Lawrence Durrell, Alexandria Quarter (4 novels)
Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim & Victory (Novels & Movies)
Leonard Woolf, A Village in the Jungle (Novel)
Andre Malraux, Man's Fate (Novel)
T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Autobiography)
Hermann Hesse, Siddartha (Novel)
Owsald Wynd, The Ginger Tree (Novel & PBS series)
David Kidd, Peking Story (Autobiography)

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HONORS

HNRS 151R
Science, Religion, and Philosophy

Humanities
3 credit hours

In 1633, the astronomer and physicist Galileo was put on trial by the Holy Office of the Inquisition, convicted, and condemned to house arrest for life. In 1859, the biologist Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species, establishing what came to be called "the theory of evolution." These events symbolize the two most dramatic conflicts between science and religion in the western tradition. While these conflicts are real, the emphasis placed on them often obscures the deep linkages between religious thought and scientific inquiry.

This seminar seeks to examine the relationship between science and religion, from the ways religion inspired and aided the rise of science to the controversies that pitted them against one another. The story raises many basicphilosophic questions about the nature of reality, the limits of knowledge, and the sources of belief. We will approach these issues through case studies of the Galileo trial and the advent of Darwinism. Although Galileo was tried for disobedience to a Church directive that he refrain from publicizing his views about the Copernican theory, his trial was also about the relevance of sacred scripture for scientific research, the authority of the church in intellectual life, the role of tradition, and the validity of natural inquiry. Galileo advocated not only the Copernican theory but also the independence of "natural philosophy" (I.e., science), and his opponets fought for the unity of knowledge and the value of both intellectual tradition and "common sense."

Darwin's Origin of Species did not mention human beings, but after its publication debates about human nature changed decisively. The "naturalistic" view was henceforth ascendant. And while Darwin's challenge to the literal truth of Genesis is often treated as the key issue, most students of the controversy see the decisive challenge in Darwin's implied denial that natural events were "purposive." Darwin's "philosophic" revolution is perhaps even bolder than his scientific one. There is no merit in anti-Darwinian arguments asserting a "scientific" basis for Genesis, but challenges to the philosophical interpretation of Darwinian science are another matter.

The goal of the semester is to get past the popular controversies surrounding these two cases, and examine some of the basic questions they pose about the nature of religion and of science, and more generally, about the human search for answers to the "big" questions.

Students will research various topics related directly or indirectly to the two case studies. Their research reports will be the primary basis for course grades.

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HONORS

HNRS 151V
Theories of Human Nature

Humanities
3 credit hours

Striving for self-understanding is one of the common pre-occupations of thoughtful people. The focus is often personal. We examine our own behavior, search out our motives, try to find our strengths. But anyone who has seriously tried to understand themselves knows that one of the perennial difficulties is the lack of perspective. We are sometimes too critical of ourselves, sometimes too willing to give ourselves a break. Worse, we often find it hard to see ourselves in context, to compare our personal traits and qualities with what is typical of people in general.

The question of what people are like, in general, has interested philosophers, religious thinkers, political leaders and many others as far back as our records go. From the proposition in Genesis that humankind is formed in "God's image" to Aristotle's famous claim that man is "a rational animal," to Darwin's conception of human beings as evolved primates, theories of human nature have often been the foundation stones of ways of thinking, and the intellectual underpinnings of many forms of life. Behind every distinctive human society is a view of human nature.

This seminar will survey the most enduring and influential views of human nature put forward by thinkers over the past several thousand years. The basis of our study will be the classic book Ten Theories of Human Nature by Leslie Steven- son. The book includes chapters on Confucianism, Hinduism, the Bible tradition Plato and Aristotle, Kant, Marx, Freud Sartre, and several schools of modern' psychology. Each approach is examined in terms of four enduring issues: the nature of the universe, the nature of hu- manity, a diagnosis of the central problems of human life and existence, and the proposed "cures" for these difficullties.

The seminar will provide a broad introduction to many of the core ideas in both Eastern and Western thought, with short reading selections from more than two dozen authors stretching from ancient times to the present.

Students will write several short papers and participate in class debates as spokesmen for one of major viewpoints represented.

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HONORS

HNRS 151Z
Models and Simulations in the Humanties

3 credit hours

Outcomes:

Each team will produce the following:

A Knowledge Book, summarizing and reporting on their research
A Simulation Design, outlining the aspect of life they decided to simulate and how their simulation of it relates to historical reality
A Demonstration Project, showing the results of working through their simulation

The Project will conclude with a final General Meeting at which the teams will present their demonstration projects.

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HONORS

HNRS 152C

Sausages, Salamanders and Soy Beans: Understanding American Politics

Social and Behavioral Sciences
3 credit hours

How does politics really work? Who decides what "the issues" are? How can people get involved and actually make a difference?

Explore the answers to these fundamental questions about our political system and the formation of public policy. In a time of great challenges facing our nation and the region, understanding modern politics is perhaps more important than ever yet the political system remains a mystery to most of the citizenry.

This seminar will examine how government functions (and how it doesn't), how interest groups influence the political process, and the role of the media in shaping public understanding of legislative and policy debates.

The emphasis in the seminar is on gaining hands-on, practical knowledge of the political system. We will study a diverse array of material-op-eds, essays, film, television-as well as occasional guest lectures from political and community leaders.

Students will also have the opportunity to engage a real political issue outgoing during the course of the seminar.

*By the end of the course, students should not only feel armed to work on issues important to them, but also able to explain the title of the course.

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HONORS

HNRS 152F
Leadership: Personal and Organizational Challenges to Change

Social and Behavioral Sciences
3 credit hours

Considering the pace of change in society, leadership may be our most significant challenge in the 21st century. What exactly do we mean by leadership? How can leadership be promoted on a personal and organizational level? In this course, we will explore the characteristics of leaders and how effective leaders serve as catalysts for change. We will consider perspectives of leaders in different settings. As important as what we learn from the perspectives of leaders will be our own investigations of leadership. Students will reflect on what is leadership, their own leadership development, and work in teams on a leadership project.
In the spirit of the Honors Program, this course takes an active, participatory approach to learning. Class sessions will consist of a variety of learning formats - presentations and discussions, mini-workshops, and collaborative group work. This course uses Blackboard.

Course Objectives:

Students will be able to:

Demonstrate leadership skills.
Demonstrate effective communication skills
Demonstrate the ability to communicate knowledge verbally and in writing.
Regularly assess one's knowledge base and skills, and seek additional information to build leadership capability.
Recognize and value the role of life-long learning, self-assessment, and critical thinking in leadership development.

Readings:

Lencioni, P. (1998). The five temptations of a CEO. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass.
Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B.Z. (2001). The leadership challenge, 3rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey - Bass.
Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Bolman, L.G., & Deal, T.E.. (2001) Leading with soul. San Francisco: Jossey Bass

Evaluation:

Leader Interview (10%)
Team project/presentation (30%)
Leadership philosophy paper/case study (25%)
Personal Leadership Portfolio (25%)
Participation (25%)
Peer/self evaluation (10%)

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HONORS

HNRS 152M
Technology and Society

Social and Behavioral Science
3 credit hours

Nowhere is the process of evolution more pervasive than in the influence of technology on a culture. The ever-present cell-phone, email and the WWW, mass transportation, the Global Positioning System, high-volume manufacturing, energy devices - all these things shape our civilization. Technology makes possible things we wish for and that eventually becomes our reality.

How has this come to pass? What is fundamentally different about this technology from previous methods? Why has its use grown so rapidly? What portends for the future? Is this the vehicle to bring about the "Global Village" Marshall McLuhan wrote about decades ago?

We will consider many aspects of these questions. Issues such as the idea of a Universal Language common to all peoples, the eradication of national boundaries and governments, and the very real connection of anyone to anyone-these will be thrashed about via class participation. Topics like Virtual Reality, "Star Trek" hardware, and the elimination of hunger will be investigated.

This topic was first given 35 years ago in an undergraduate course of the same name, and much has changed in the interval - as then, there will be no exams in the course. Participation, learning and evidence of thinking will be demonstrated in papers written at regular intervals throughout the semester.

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HONORS

HNRS 152P
"An American Empire?"

Social and Behavioral Science
3 credit hours

This seminar is about the change in international relations due to emergence of the United States as the dominant world power.

The international system has undergone considerable change in the past 15 years, producing new relationships among the system's major actors. Prior to 1990, the principal concern was what the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, might do, and fears that their actions might bring about a nuclear war. However, despite a number of crises, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, Soviet invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan, World War III never happened. The so-called Cold War between the superpowers followed a number of unwritten rules that allowed them to avoid direct military conflict. The seminar will examine the Cold War years as a background to the present.

The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, to be divided into 15 states, the largest of which is Russia. The end of the Soviet Union seemed like a complete victory for the United States and its allies, but what ensued was not an era of good feelings but the rise of new problems within the nation-state system. While there was no major war, there were many smaller conflicts, and economic competition took on a new form. The seminar will also examine the post-Cold War world.

With the threat posed by the Soviet Union, the Western Alliance (NATO) lost its solidity. The European Union emerged as the world's second largest economic force. Globalization became a contentious issue. The breakup of Yugoslavia brought warfare back to the European continent. As the United States twice went to war with Iraq, major states in Western Europe split from U.S. leadership.

The nature of war also changed. Armed forces developed to fight a war with the Soviet Union with heavy tanks and artillery, backed up by strategic air forces and navies, had to be reorganized to deal with conflicts of a much more limited nature.

In place of the bipolarity of rival blocs led by the superpowers, the post-Cold War world has emerged as a unipolar international system dominated by the United States. The seminar will examine the shape of this new world order.

There will be two in-class exams and a final. Students will also prepare a seminar paper for presentation to the class.

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HONORS

HNRS 152R
Spy Games

Social and Behavioral Science
3 credit hours

Sun Tzu's The Art of War nearly 2500 years ago pointed out, "The reason the enlightened prince and wise general conquer the is foreknowledge." Further, Sun Tzu continues, this knowledge "must be obtained from men who know the enemy situation." Finally it is observed, "An army without secret agents is exactly like a man without eyes or ears."
From its earliest beginnings, espionage has evolved into multi-faceted intelligence structures which employ tens of thousands of individuals and cost billions of dollars. The expansion of intelligence agencies has raised a number of questions which this claess will attempt to answer.

What is the intelligence cycle?
Why is intelligence important?
What is the variety of the intelligence activites?
What is the interrelationship of intelligence and policy?
What should be the role of intelligence in a democratic society?
How do intelligence agencies compare? Interact?
What is the evolution of secret intelligence in the United States?
What is the future of U.S. intelligence?

The instructor will primarily rely on a seminar-discussion technique, but will also use films and outside speakers. Each student will be asked to write a biography of a notable or not so notable figure in the field of foreign intelligence. Two tests will be given, a midterm and a final. The test will constitute two-thirds of the course grade and the biography one-third.

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HONORS

HNRS 152Z
Models and Simulations in the Social Science

3 credit hours

Seminar Description: This is an experimental seminar. The goal is to explore human ingenuity andStudents in this seminar will work on a team researching and developing simulations in one or another aspect of human affairs (e.g., the arts; ideas and values; culture and social institutions; technology, etc.). They should enroll in the course section corresponding to the area they expect to work in. Students who eventually choose to work in an area other than the one they enrolled in will be transferred to the appropriate section.

Seminar Description: This is an experimental seminar. The goal is to explore human
its limitations through the medium of a historical simulation: the partial recreation of key aspects of a past human society.

Outcomes:

Each team will produce the following:

A Knowledge Book, summarizing and reporting on their research.
A Simulation Design, outlining the aspect of life they decided to simulate and how their simulation of it relates to historical reality.
A Demonstration Project, showing the results of working through their simulation.

The Project will conclude with a final General Meeting at which the teams will present their demonstration projects.

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HONORS

HNRS 153B
The Dynamic Universe

Natural Sciences and Mathematics
3 credit hours

New discoveries in astronomy occur nearly every day. NASA.s Great Observatories, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, are revolutionizing our view of the universe and our place in it. Discoveries of new planets, massive black holes, gamma ray bursts . the most energetic explosions in the universe . occur every week. Dramatic new images of the center of our galaxy, or of other galaxies, continue to pour in from the world.s best telescopes. New clues about how planetary systems like our own are formed give a deeper understanding of Earth.s place in the cosmos.

This course will review each new finding as they come in during the semester. The fun part of the course will be that we will never know what the next news story will be. One week may be the newest images from the Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn. Or the Mars rovers latest treks across the Martian landscape. Each week will be filled with news of a new discovery. The course will explain how these new discoveries fit into our understanding of the universe.

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HONORS

HNRS 153T
The Big Bang, Black Holes, and the Fate of the Universe

Natural Sciences and Mathematics
3 credit hours

The Big Bang, Black Holes, Dark Matter and Dark Energy are just some of the startling ideas put forward in recent cosmology. Cosmological speculation is as old of recorded human history, but for millennia, in the absence of much empirical information, our conceptions were dominated by religious ideas. Meaningful scientific hypotheses came only with the invention of telescopes barely 400 years ago. Only 100 years ago, we did not yet know that there were multiple galaxies, and the idea of an expanding universe was not even science fiction.

Today, thanks to advances in physics, and many observations, including those with the Hubble telescope and Cosmic Microwave Background Explorer (COBE), we know a great deal more. That the physical universe as we know it had a hot explosive origin ("the Big Bang") has been confirmed by a number of observations. The recent discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating has produced a host of new ideas, including the concept of Dark Energy.

This seminar will survey contemporary cosmology. We will have access to dramatic images of galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the new large-scale surveys that are measuring the structure of the universe in three dimensions. Generally, the course will not include advanced mathematics, but the option is open to students who want to use it in individual projects. Course work will include individual presentations, projects, in-class activities and papers. Seminar resources will include access to excellent cosmology websites.

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HONORS

HNRS 153Z
Models and Simulations in the Natural Science

3 credit hours

Students in this seminar will work on a team researching and developing simulations in one or another aspect of human affairs (e.g., the arts; ideas and values; culture and social institutions; technology, etc.). They should enroll in the course section corresponding to the area they expect to work in. Students who eventually choose to work in an area other than the one they enrolled in will be transferred to the appropriate section.
Seminar Description: This is an experimental seminar. The goal is to explore human ingenuity and its limitations through the medium of a historical simulation: the partial recreation of key aspects of a past human society.
From earliest recorded history, thinkers have used models to represent real things in ways that simplified and thereby clarified their key features. More recently, we have learned how to substitute dynamic simulations for static models. Well-conceived simulations can model complex processes and interactions, even a functioning human society. Several popular computer games are based on simulated social, economic, and political processes (e.g., Sim City). Our seminar is partly inspired by them.

Outcomes:

Each team will produce the following:

A Knowledge Book, summarizing and reporting on their research
A Simulation Design, outlining the aspect of life they decided to simulate and how their simulation of it relates to historical reality
A Demonstration Project, showing the results of working through their simulation

The Project will conclude with a final General Meeting at which the teams will present their demonstration projects.
Students can earn General Education credit in the fine arts, humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences, depending on the topic or topics their group works on. Students should register initially for the section they expect to work in; any necessary transfers will be made after teams have been organized.

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MATH 242

Honors Calculus I

Natural Sciences and Mathematics

5 credit hours

This is the first course in a calculus sequence for students with a strong interest in mathematics and above-average ability. The honors calculus sequence provides a strong background for students planning to take more advanced math courses or courses in other fields requiring substantial mathematics background.

The couse material will be divided into several subject areas. For each subject area "A", "B" and "C" exams will be created. In order to recieve a course grade of "A", a student must pass an "A", "B" and "C" exam from each subject area. To recieve a course grade of "B", a student must pass a "B" and "C" exam from each subject area. To recieve a course grade of "C", a student must pass a "C" exam from each subject area. Exams may be repeated if a student does not pass on the first attempt. Exams will be taken in the Math lab (Room 371 JB) at each student's convenience. Those students who are willing to accept the challenge of new ideas and related problems, those with a keen interest in Math, and students who have completed a prerequisite course with a "B" minimum are encouraged to enroll.

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PHILOSOPHY

PHIL 100
The Meaning of Philosophy, Honors

Humanities
3 credit hours

This course aims to provide a general introduction to philosophy. Topics in ancient, modern, and contemporary philosophy will be studied. We will be primarily focused on the philosophical theories of the Western tradition, but in order to introduce a different cultural perspective we will also study some important thought from the Chinese history.

Course Objectives: Upon successfully completing this course, the student should have a basic understanding of the classical problems of philosophy and of the various philosophical positions that have been advocated as solutions to these problems. By examining the issues concerning these problems and by critically assessing the relevant arguments, the student should gain enriched analytical skills and a keener awareness philosophical problems and questions.

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PHILOSOPHY

PHIL 125H
Introductory Logic With Companion Recitation Section

Humanities
4 credit hours (Combined)

Students must enroll in both a section of Phil. 125H (which meets concurrently with certain sections of Phil.125) and the section of Phil. 199H to receive honors credit for the course.

This is really a 4 hour course in introductory logic and some of its applications. The basic idea behind a class in logic is that very frequently you can figure out whether someone's reasoning is good independently of whether the reasoning starts from good information. During the three times a week part of the course, listed as Phil. 125H, we will look at a variety of ways which philosophers have developed for evaluating pieces of reasoning. We will be talking about assessing both deductive and inductive reasoning, with examples drawn from a range of sources.

In the recitation section (the Phil. 199H portion), we will be talking about a variety of topics related to this material. We'll spend some time talking about some of the ramifications and assumptions of the standard ways of evaluating reasoning, including questions like "Is there only one right logic?" and discuss philosophical controversies about the adequacy of standard techniques for evaluation, such as the problem known as "ifficulties" [no, that's not a typo].

We'll be spending the bulk of the time in the recitation section talking about how to apply the material in a logic course to other academic settings and ordinary life. We will discuss ways of using the material on standardized exams for law school (the LSAT) and graduate school (the GRE), for example. We will also talk about how and why statistics lie; why psychologists have (somewhat mistakenly) thought that people are generally illogical, how to deal with the prevalence of "false positive" and "false negative" results in medical testing, and what is really going on, from the standpoint of logic, in some contemporary debates in society.

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PHILOSOPHY

PHIL 199H
Introductory Logic With Companion Recitation Section

Humanities
4 credit hours (Combined)

Students must enroll in both a section of Phil. 125H (which meets concurrently with certain sections of Phil.125) and the section of Phil. 199H to receive honors credit for the course.

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Economics

ECON 201

Macro-Economics

Macroeconomics looks at the big picture. It concentrates on the analysis of economic aggregates, total values that describe the economy as a whole. What factors influence recessions and economic booms? How did the current financial crisis happen? What should the federal government do about inflation? Are trade restrictions against Japan a good idea? Is now the time to lock in a mortgage interest rate on my house? What is the best way to discourage pollution?

The course will be taught mainly by group and individual hands-on activities by Jan Wolcutt, winner of the Regent's Award
for Excellence in Teaching.

Short writing assignments that debrief a classroom experience (1-2 pages)
Guided analysis of the economy and prediction of the Fed¹s probable actions at the next FOMC meeting
Analysis of a historical event. Students can choose from topics provided by the instructor or suggest a topic tbe approved by the instructor
The four hour exams, comprehensive final exam and unannounced quizzes will be mixed multiple-choice, short answer, and short essay questions.
During most class periods, there will be short problems or quizzes that you will do in class.

Students earn General Education credit in the social sciences

Grading: Exams 70%, Assignments 20%, Class participation 10%

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PHYS 213

College Physics INatural Sciences and Mathematics

5 credit hours

Physics 213 is the introductory required physics course for most students planning careers in teaching, medicine, dentistry, and related fields. Physics 213H is offered here as a "break-out" session course: that is, 213H students will attend the same lectures and take the same tests as regular 213 students, but in addition will have the opportunity to do special projects under the direction of the professor.

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PHYSICS

PHYS 313H
University Physics I

Physics 313 is the introductory required physics course for all engineering majors, B.S. chemistry majors, and physics majors. We are offering Honors calculus physics, Physics 313H according to a format that blends Honors and non-Honors students. Both groups of students have one class session each week without the other. During this separate session, the Honors and Honors-eligible students will receive individual attention and they will be taken to a level that is appropriate to the well-prepared and the academically motivated student.

In addition to solving challenging problems interactively, students will work on interesting projects on the applications of physics studied in this course only. A significant amount of time will be spent ensuring a qualitative, as well as a computational, comprehension of the physics, in order to achieve a more thorough understanding. A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

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PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCH 111H
General Psychology, Honors

Social and Behavioral
3 credit hours

For centuries, people relied on explanations of human behavior offered by philosophers and poets or appealed to "common sense" to understand themselves and one another. Since 1879, psychologists have developed an alternative approach to understanding why we think, feel, and act as we do through the application of the scientific method. Throughout its development, the science of psychology has continued to tackle a number of thorny questions. How should psychology define its subject matter? Is a science of behavior even possible, and if so, what should its goals be? Can the same basic principles of behavior that account for the actions of other animals be extended to understanding our own behavior, or does human behavior require unique explanations, referring to how our minds or our more highly-developed brains operate?

This course will address these and other fundamental questions about the science of behavior while also reviewing the current state of knowledge about an array of both basic (such as learning, remembering, thinking, sensing and perceiving) and applied (such as preventing and modifying "abnormal behavior") areas within contemporary psychology. We will use two textbooks - one that deals with the thorny issues within psychology and another which summarizes the findings of psychological research on a number of topics.

Class assignments will include responding to weekly take-home essay-type quizzes, the successful completion of relevant exercises outside of class designed to provide direct experience with key psychological principles, and participation in "psychology-as-a-science" related activities. This course requirement to participate in such activities can be met through either by volunteering to serve as a participant in psychological research and/or reading and responding to a series of questions about selected articles published in psychological journals.

This site is maintained by EMORY LINDQUIST HONORS PROGRAM. This page last modified on Thursday, November 05, 2009 3:11:41 PM Central US Time. If you find errors please bring them to the attention of Patrice at the Honors Department (honors@wichita.edu).

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Course Descriptions

Aerospace Engineering

AE 373

Dynamics

Communications

COMM 111H

Public Speaking and the American Tradition of Public Rhetoric

Criminal Justice

CJ 191H

Intro to Criminal Justice

HISTORY

HIST 399

Nationalism and Ethnic Identity: Case Study - Russia

HONORS

HNRS 104A

Listening to Jazz

HONORS

HNRS 104B

The Art of Theater

HONORS

HNRS 105A

Kabbalah: Man's unquenchable need to know

HONORS

HNRS 105F

Friendship

HONORS

HNRS 105L

Science Fiction: Speculations about Humanity's Destiny

HONORS

HNRS 105P

The Pursuit of Happiness

HONORS

HNRS 105S

Autobiography: Representations of the Self

HONORS

HNRS 106B

War: Strategic Studies

HONORS

HNRS 106C

Great Trial on Film

HONORS

HNRS 106E Political Films

HONORS

HNRS 106XPolitical Biography

HONORS

HNRS 107I Time

HONORS

HNRS 150Z Models and Simulations in the Arts

HONORS

Honors 151AMakers of the Modern World

HONORS

HNRS 151BIn the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: Romance and Reality

HONORS

HNRS 151CWestern Literature

HONORS

HNRS 151FRome in Film

HONORS

HNRS 151MHeroes, Gods, and Lovers: The Litereature of Rome

HONORS

HNRS 151PAsian Literature

HONORS

HNRS 151RScience, Religion, and Philosophy

HONORS

HNRS 151VTheories of Human Nature

HONORS

HNRS 151ZModels and Simulations in the Humanties

HONORS

HNRS 152C

Sausages, Salamanders and Soy Beans: Understanding American Politics

HONORS

HNRS 152F Leadership: Personal and Organizational Challenges to Change

HONORS

HNRS 152MTechnology and Society

HONORS

HNRS 152P"An American Empire?"

HONORS

HNRS 152RSpy Games

HONORS

HNRS 152ZModels and Simulations in the Social Science

HONORS

HNRS 106E
Political Films

HNRS 106X
Political Biography

HNRS 107I
Time

HNRS 150Z
Models and Simulations in the Arts

Honors 151A
Makers of the Modern World

HNRS 151B
In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: Romance and Reality

HNRS 151C
Western Literature

HNRS 151F
Rome in Film

HNRS 151M
Heroes, Gods, and Lovers: The Litereature of Rome

HNRS 151P
Asian Literature

HNRS 151R
Science, Religion, and Philosophy

HNRS 151V
Theories of Human Nature

HNRS 151Z
Models and Simulations in the Humanties

HNRS 152F
Leadership: Personal and Organizational Challenges to Change

HNRS 152M
Technology and Society

HNRS 152P
"An American Empire?"

HNRS 152R
Spy Games

HNRS 152Z
Models and Simulations in the Social Science

HNRS 153B
The Dynamic Universe

HNRS 153T
The Big Bang, Black Holes, and the Fate of the Universe

HNRS 153Z
Models and Simulations in the Natural Science

PHIL 100
The Meaning of Philosophy, Honors

PHIL 125H
Introductory Logic With Companion Recitation Section

PHIL 199H
Introductory Logic With Companion Recitation Section

PHYS 313H
University Physics I

PSYCH 111H
General Psychology, Honors