Accy 420 Section 3, Independent Study (Accountancy Practicum)
ACCY 420 is a two-course sequence which serves as an alternative to the traditional honors thesis for accountancy majors. The class will be an evening class meeting one day per week (3 credit hours for each semester) that will meet throughout the fall and spring semesters of the junior year. Case Studies: Every other week, the students will work through a research case that utilizes the professional literature. The topics will begin with what students are concurrently learning in the Intermediate Accounting series, but will expand beyond the mechanics and disclosure requirements to cover the gray areas that require professional judgment. They will alternatively play the roles of management and the auditor/tax professional to utilize either the Codification or the IRS Code to solve and prepare a written brief on each week’s case. The cases studies will take place throughout the year. Professional Speakers: In the alternative weeks throughout the year, representatives from the accounting profession will speak to the class. The topics will be regarding current topics in the profession. We encourage the professionals to engage the students in active discussion. Case Competitions: This part of the course will be focused on developing presentation and communication skills through preparation and participation in case competitions. Each fall, Patterson School of Accountancy hosts two professional case competitions, in which the student will participate: 1) PwC Challenge and 2) KPMG International Case Competition. Final Thesis Document: The final thesis work will include the many case briefs worked on over the course of the year in addition to the case competition materials.
AH 201 Section 2, History of Art I
In this class students will interpret representative examples of prehistoric, ancient, and medieval art of Western and selected world cultures using the specific vocabulary of art. They will investigate various art styles within their historical, political, and religious contexts. In addition, they will examine the roles of artists, patrons, and audiences, and will identify the processes by which artists produce their work. The large-enrollment regular section of this course with an enrollment of up to 120 students consists entirely of lecture-focused classes. This Honors College section differs from the large sections with classes consisting of a blend of illustrated lectures, discussion, and group and individual presentations. In addition, students will read key primary documents to assist interpretation of art works within chronological and geographical contexts, and they will examine the “outstanding universal value” of UNESCO Heritage Sites. Assessment in the regular section of AH 201 is primarily by multiple-choice tests. However, in this low-enrollment Honors section, students will demonstrate critical thinking while evaluating various perspectives on art in several brief oral and written assignments. Rote memorization of works of art is not the goal of this course, yet potential art or art history majors must be prepared for departmental assessment tests on fundamentals of art history, so students are required to identify primary monuments of the history of art.
Anth 101 Section 6, Introduction to Anthropology
This course is an introduction to the traditional four fields of anthropology (ethnology, linguistics, archaeology, and bioanthropology), which work together to explore the physical and cultural aspects of people across time and space. Although the course is an undergraduate introduction to the discipline, it emphasizes critical thinking and writing. There are no exams. Students build their final grades through engagement with fundamental themes, reading, discussion, reflection, and rhetorical writing. In this Honors section, students have more opportunity to engage with course themes and issues in class. They engage with more challenging literature and they are expected to prepare longer and more rhetorically effective papers.
Bisc 164 Section 2, Honors Recitation
In this reading and discussion course, we will read the book ‘I Contain Multitudes’ by Ed Yong, which focuses on the biology and consequences of the microbiome — the vast community of micro-organisms that live in and on all of us and other organisms. The course is designed to expose students to new topics in biology, that may not be covered in the lecture and lab sections of the course. Moreover, the course will allow students to develop critical thinking and oral communication skills through student-led discussions of the readings. While the course is not primarily intended to serve as a review or preparation for Bisc 164, overlapping themes from the reading may allow occasional reviews to happen. By actively leading and participating in discussions of chapter readings, students will be able to engage with the material more deeply than in other sections of the course. Upon completion of the course, students will have an enriched view of biology, including how various fields of biological science connect, including microbiology, ecology, genetics, and evolution.
Bisc 164 Section 4, Honors Recitation
This is a reading and discussion course, focused on the book, Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake, which deals with the fascinating biology of fungi. The course is not meant to comprehensively aid students in preparation or review for Bisc 160-163 (although occasional reviews of portions of that material may occur). Rather, it is designed to provide inspiration about how fascinating biology can be, to provide a broader perspective on biological science not provided by the lecture and lab portions of the course, and especially to help students develop communication and critical thinking skills related to biological science. The participatory nature of this course is intended to provide for a deeper level of intellectual engagement and growth beyond what is possible with lecture and lab. Upon completion of this course, students will have a deeper understanding of the ecology, evolution, edibility, and medicinal benefits of fungi, as well as how to discuss and critically think about biological science.
Bisc 164 Section 6, Honors Recitation
This is a discussion-based course that is intended to provide a broad overview of major research topics in the biological sciences. The goal of the course is to familiarize students with historically important findings and current research trends in order to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for major biological principles. Students will summarize, present, and discuss selected readings from the popular literature. Readings will include papers on the origin of life, genetics, inheritance, the cell cycle, sexual selection, natural selection and evolution. We will attempt to select specific articles related to topics covered in lecture for BISC 160 but the topic to be covered for any particular week is open and can change upon the request of the students enrolled in the course.
Chem 221 Section 4, Honors Organic Chemistry
In the extra recitation hour, we will discuss especially intriguing problems that go beyond the standard class material. Grade expectations will stay the same as for a non-Honors class. I think you’ll find that although organic may demand some time, the concepts aren’t that hard, and this class should be very satisfying.
Econ 202 Section 6, Principles of Microeconomics
Microeconomics is the study of how individuals and firms make choices, and how these choices affect society. The distinguishing features of the economic approach are 1) the emphasis on decision making under the unavoidable condition of scarcity, and 2) a more rigorous analytical framework using models that simplify the complicated structure of reality. Throughout the class, we will concentrate on applying the concepts and models that we learn to evaluate real-life situations and the effects of public policies. Some examples that we will answer in class are: Why do minimum wages create unemployment primarily for younger and minority workers? Why can’t a monopoly firm charge any price it wants? Why are most taxes levied on firms ultimately paid for by consumers? Why would free college tuition likely reduce the quality of college instruction? Why are lower-income and minority apartment hunters the most harmed by rent-control policies? Why does financial aid contribute to the increase in college tuitions? Why would a policy of zero pollution emissions likely make consumers worse off? In this Honors section, students will be given some additional readings and are also encouraged to read the economics sections of newspapers and magazines to suggest articles or ideas which they would like to discuss. The smaller size of the Honors section makes it more suitable than regular sections of Econ 202 for such discussions. In addition, students in the honors section are expected to answer essay test questions rather than multiple-choice questions, thus requiring a deeper understanding of the material.
Eng 221 Section 19, Survey of World Literature to 1650
The Honors section of ENG 221 invites students to analyze texts and other created artifacts using the theories and methods of the humanities. By placing these works of art in their historical, intellectual, and cultural contexts, we will use literature to get a glimpse into time periods and cultures far distant from our own. Through careful study, close reading, and guided attention to the values coded within the texts, we should ultimately see how closely connected these cultures are, both to each other and to us. Together, we will examine the ancient worlds of Greece and Rome through their mythology and tales of heroism. Following a chronological path, we will shift from the classical world to the Germanic tribes of northern Europe, examining the ethos of the Viking Age. Moving forward, we will follow the evolution of Western literary culture to the heroic literature of France and witness the evolution of the romance hero. The course will conclude with selections from Don Quixote, which provides valuable commentary on all that came before and helps to usher in a new era of literary expression. Within each text, we will seek a piece of ourselves, something that helps us to better understand how modern Western culture (and humanity more broadly) conceives of itself the way that it does. Honors students will enjoy a more intimate, small-class environment that allows for deeper discussion and more focused attention from the professor, a specialist in classical and early medieval culture. While the materials of the course are literary, the emphasis of the approach is on developing strong critical thinking skills that are transferable across majors. This will be accomplished through reading, discussion, reflections, and writing projects. There are no formal exams in this honors section.
Eng 222 Section 10, Survey of World Literature Since 1650
This course introduces students to the major writers, themes, and literary forms that may be captured under the broad rubric of modern “world literature.” The course is informed by a healthy suspicion of the “world” category, asking students to think critically about the kinds of works that the category may bring together—or exclude—and why. With an eye towards continuities and discontinuities, we will study how celebrated works of literature written from the mid-eighteenth century to the present have expressed concerns relating to national upheaval and revolution, colonialism and empire, oppression relating to gender and race, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to a midterm and final exam, Honors students will craft short essays and undertake a creative project that explores the different ways of approaching world literature as a scholarly field. In contrast to the typical large lecture format, this course will allow for a more in-depth examination of the literature through sustained discussion and engagement both inside and outside the classroom. Together we will work to uncover not only the meaning and significance of a given text at the time that it was composed, but also its enduring relevance in 2021.
Eng 349 Section 1, Contemporary Genres
“The Neo-Slave Narrative”
In 1967, William Styron – a white Virginian and literary darling – won the Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner, which purported to tell the story of the enslaved rebel Nat Turner, who was hanged for leading a rebellion against slavery in Southampton, Virginia in 1831. Turner continues to generate immense interest among literary scholars and filmmakers – note that the film Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, 2016) also tells his life story – but Styron’s novel was met with controversy for its representation of Turner as a wrathful fanatic fixated on interracial sex. In response, the book William Styron’s Nat Turner: Ten Black Writers Respond sought to articulate new paradigms for representing slavery in literature. This furor, which emerged during the renaissance of scholarship on slavery in the late 1960s, effectively gave birth to a new genre: the neo-slave narrative. The genre has attracted writers as various as Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison and science fiction writer Ben H. Winters. Our class explores the genre with hopes of understanding the contemporary legacies of slavery in America and beyond. Reading for the class includes Styron and the writers who followed and critiqued. We read fictional representations of slavery in different literary genres (including science fiction) and end by considering the international resonance of the neo-slave narrative. Writing for the class includes a collaboratively-written paper as well as a formal analytical essay, based in scholarly research, of one of the four novels we read over the course of the semester.
Hon 391 Section 3, Honors Conversations
Games People Play
As we examine the world around us, it is not hard to find examples of favorite childhood games manifesting themselves in important adult interactions. Not just the games themselves, but the strategies required by the games inform the way that people think, act, interact, relate, create conflict, and solve problems. This conversations class examines these games through a metaphorical lens, pinpointing examples in the world around us and asking how understanding the games and their strategies can help the citizen-scholar navigate the important questions of the day. Drawing on a number of disciplines—law, psychology, economics, history, political science, biology, and others—this exploration of games and gamesmanship contemplates strategies for engaging with societal obstacles and challenges. Games explored include: chicken, hide-and-seek, charades, monopoly, operation, capture the flag, catch, rock-paper-scissors, keep away, and others.
Hon 391 Section 5, Honors Conversations
Topics in Medicine and Health Care
Topics in medicine and health care will be presented as documentaries which students view outside of class. Weekly classroom sessions will discuss and analyze the issues. Topics will include human genomics and personalized medicine, obesity and chronic diseases, antibiotic and vaccine controversies, aging and death, and U.S. and global health care policies.
Hon 399 Section 3, Honors Special Topics
“The Constitutional Convention of 1787”
Join Professor John Winkle for a journey back in time to the formative moments of our national Constitution. This course relies exclusively on primary documents (such as James Madison’s notes) and creates an opportunity for students to witness the day-to-day discussions and jarring disagreements in which delegates engaged to fashion a new constitutional order that has lasted for more than 200 years. The unique feature of this course is that each student will play the role of one delegate throughout our time together. If you enjoy American history and politics, you will find this course informative, engaging and enjoyable.
Hon 420 Section 2, Honors Experiential Learning
“The Southern Environment: A Survey of Place and Space”
This course will look at the ways the Southern Environment has been discussed in scholarship, literature, film, music, art, and other ways that we uncover together. As part of a broader environmental history survey we will spend a good bit of time discussing place and space in the South along with conflicts surrounding those spaces. I expect you to reflect on your personal sense of place in classroom discussion, written assignments, and your class project. Finally, this semester I have added an emphasis on activists and activism that will culminate in an oral history project for honors students who want to continue working on a practicum course in the spring semester. Our broad course list includes fiction, non-fiction, historical documents, poetry, film, and song.
Hon 445 Section 1, Art and the Republic
This class is an adventurous exploration into the interactions of art and society. The objective of the class is to examine various forms of art in dance, film, literature (including novels and poetry), music (all genres), sculpture, animation, humor and theater, and to explore and analyze how these forms of human expression are affected and influenced by our society and culture; we then analyze how, in turn, these artistic genres influence and affect society and its citizens. This course also engages students on current issues relating to various forms of art. Be prepared to read and explore a wide variety of newspapers and news sources from the past and present involving complex social, societal and political issues and relate them to artistic expression. The course requires maturity and respect for multiple points of view. There are short written assignments and projects, and students will be expected to discuss and share their work and ideas in class.
Hon 550 Section 2, Honors Advanced Study in Law I (Intellectual Property)
In our shrinking world full of new technologies, intellectual property (“IP”) has become an important field of law for all businesses, big and small—and most individuals as well—to understand. This is a survey course that will provide an overview of the four topics that comprise the heart of IP law: trade secret, trademark, patent, and copyright. This course will provide you with the foundation to recognize situations where IP is involved and to properly analyze the implications of such situations. This course will focus both on established legal precedent as well as the practical impact of this precedent on economy, society, and culture, both at home and abroad. Course assignments will be composed of a mixture of cases, law review articles, and readings drawn from current events. In addition, written exercises will occasionally be given to illustrate how the knowledge learned from the readings, lectures, and class discussions might be applied in legal practice.
ISS 135 Section TBD, Introduction to Global and National Security Studies
This course provides an overview of key issues and ideas associated with global and national security. This course focuses on the nexus formed by the intersection of U.S. national and broader international security concerns. National security policy is defined in terms of interests, instruments, and processes. Diplomatic, military, and intelligence capabilities, the three facets of national security policy, are presented within a context of domestic and international concerns. Each week presents a set of readings related to particular themes including: a broad overview of national security institutions, institutional players, and the national security decision-making process; the role of media and public opinion in national security; collective security and international security organizations; ethics in war; and finally, global and regional security issues vital to U.S. national security interests. The goal of the class is to review a set of core theories, concepts, and considerations to provide students who may have little background in the area of national security. This course is required for admittance into the global security studies minor within the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies. The honors section of this course will have a deeper dive in selected reasonings and more in-class exercises for experiential learning.
NHM 311 Section 3, Nutrition
Fundamental principles of human nutrition; application to needs of individuals and families at all stages of the life cycle. The honors college section will explore these areas by incorporating research article discussion, case studies, current events and on campus field trips. In addition, students will complete a service-learning project that bring together human nutrition concepts with the student’s planned area of professional study.
PPL 385 Section 1, Food Policy and Agriculture Systems
Why is it that everyday US schools battle with both childhood obesity and childhood hunger? How have government policies shaped the growing, distribution and processing of food in this country and how does that affect our health, wealth and local communities? This course will delve into these and other questions surrounding issues of hunger, the health implications of farming, and community and nonprofit activism. From the global to the national to the local level, food policy will be examined along with the important social problems stemming from our policies and potential solutions developed to deal with these problems.
PPL 390 Section 1, Health Policy
This course will explore the debates regarding the problems facing health care in the U.S., their causes, and possible solutions. It will focus on the interaction of policy and practice, especially regarding a wide range of reform ideas. We will analyze a number of reforms, including their justification and intended outcomes, how they have been developed and implemented, how well they work and how they could work better, and alternatives to these reforms. In the process, we will discuss how key institutions (Congress, state governments, interest groups, the free market, et al.) and actors (elected officials, health professionals, researchers, insurers, patients, et al.) shape the American health care system, for better or worse.
Psy 327 Section 1, Psychology and Law
The course systematically presents material relating to the interface between the fields of psychology and law, including forensic, police, and correctional psychology. Major emphasis is also placed on psychology’s role in the courts and criminal behavior prevention and intervention. This course contains material that some may find disturbing. Coverage of topics is necessary given the nature of the course. We will approach sensitive material in a professionally appropriate manner.
Rel 101 Section 6, Intro to Judaism, Christianity and Islam
This course, REL 101, is founded on the assumption that a critical, yet sympathetic, knowledge of the major religions of the world will better equip you to understand the world in which you live—whether you pursue a career in the military, business, the arts, politics, or nursing. Thus, this course introduces the student to the academic study of religion and surveys some of the world’s major religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese Religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Our purpose is to gain basic familiarity with the rituals, beliefs, figures, sacred texts, and holy days that most generally characterize each of these distinctive traditions. In addition to the introductory textbook, we will examine primary sources such as sacred scriptures and theological writings. We will also be reading a few excerpts from scholarly essays on the theory of religion. This honors course will differ from the non-honors sections of the course in the following ways: significantly more in-class discussion of the course material; an additional small research paper; several additional readings; and a slightly more challenging exam format.
Soc 101 Section 3, Introduction to Sociology
This is an introduction to basic concepts in sociology. We will use several major theories plus a discussion of research methods to study culture, socialization, deviance, and other sociological concepts. Then we will study four major axes of stratification in America: social class, race and ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. Along the way, we will discuss whether nature or nurture better explains topics ranging from gender roles and sexual orientation to racial differences in IQ test scores. This class differs from other SOC 101 sections by requiring students to write a term paper exploring the social theoretical implications of a topic of importance to them.
Span 111 Section 11, Intensive Elementary Spanish
Spanish 111 Elementary Spanish is an introduction to the language and culture of the Spanish-speaking world. Spanish 111 is designed for students to learn the skills to communicate effectively in Spanish and to develop a knowledge and appreciation for Hispanic cultures. By the end of this class, students should be able to complete basic communicative tasks in Spanish using newly-acquired communication strategies, grammar and vocabulary, and to be able to understand and speak about the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world. Students in this Spanish 111 Honors section will be exposed to authentic material (news articles, literature, movie clips, etc.), and they will engage reading and writing strategies learnt in other classes for producing meaningful speech and quality writing in the Spanish language. Because the Honors College and Croft also offer a Spanish 211 section, we will prepare all students to excel in that class.