Honors Curriculum & Faculty
Fall 2009 | Spring 2010

HONR 100: “Moctezuma and the ‘Conquest' of Mexico”
The Spanish invasion of Mexico, often called the conquest, brought significant change to both Spain and central Mexico . Spaniards, during and after the invasion, wrote extensively about their own actions in letters to the crown, petitions for rewards, and even in tracts which condemned the methods employed by other Spaniards. In addition to the stories generated by those who called themselves conquistadors, native peoples also wrote about themselves and their experiences before and after the invasion. None of these accounts, native or Spanish, produced objective, disinterested reconstructions of the invasion. This course will ask students to analyze primary accounts, beginning with Hernán Cortés and his second letter in which he describes the first attempts to conquer Mexico Tenochtitlan, to discover the limitations of what they can explain. Students will also read native accounts critically, some mediated through Spanish editors like the Florentine Codex and those authentically written by natives, like the work of Chimalpahin.
Instructor:  Dr. William Connell, Asst. Prof. of History

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HONR 100: From the Evolution of Computing to the Quest for a Thinking Machine
The course pivots on a central essay and support, 'Who are we in the digital age?' and explores the social reflections on life in the information age. With insights from literature, philosophy, and history, student will undertake an exploration journey through the fascinating development of the digital era and information age, from the invention of the first alphabetic language to the printing press to the World Wide Web. With the construction of the telecommunications infrastructure of cables, optic fibers, and radio waves, technology dominated the first level of the communication-processing-thinking hierarchy. Technology established the second hierarchal level with the introduction of high-speed digital computers. Now the challenge remains to create a machine that can imitate the human power of thought. Students will be asked to critically analyze papers and short videos related to machine intelligence/robotics, controversies surrounding radio frequency identification (RFID), ethical and social implications of nanotechnology, perspectives for growth of information technology in Africa, and cyber-warfare/terrorism. Students in their critical assignment writings will provide justification for their opinion and position, including evidence to back up claims and assertions.
Instructor:  Dr. Costa Gerousis, Assoc. Prof., Computer Science

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HONR 100: Time, Space and Society
This course examines the ways artists shape time and space to create master narratives, or dominant ways of seeing and understanding the world. What we consider “adventure,” what we consider “decorum,” what we consider good or bad art depends upon our expectations of the duration and shape of certain textual objects. This class will examine classic novels and films to determine these time-space configurations, named “chronotopes,” and we will undertake our own creative constructions of chronotopes as well.
Instructor:  Dr. John Nichols, Assoc. Prof., English

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HONR 100: The Bible and the Qur’an
This course will focus on the Bible, the Qur’an, and their commentaries - texts of major cultural significance and central to the idea of the liberal arts. Students will study and analyze selected verses and passages on a variety of biblical and qur’anic themes / topics, provide interpretations of themes using various intellectual approaches and perspectives, and make presentations utilizing the thinking and perspectives of various majors.
Instructor:  Dr. Hussam Timani, Asst. Prof., Philosophy and Religious Studies

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HONR 100: The Quest for Camelot
In this course, students will undertake an in-depth study of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. Our primary focus will be an analysis of the historical and philosophical genesis of the ideas of chivalry, romantic love and gender roles as embodied in Mallory’s work. Students will be asked to critique and develop theories concerning the social and political movements that gave rise to this work, as well as the legacy it has had in our own conceptions of love, masculinity and femininity.
Instructor:  Dr. Lori Underwood, Assoc. Prof., Philosophy and Religious Studies

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Spring 2010
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HONR 300: The Evolution of Physics
This seminar traces the development of physics from Aristotelian models of motion and the solar system, to the latest theories of black holes, dark matter, and particle physics. This will be done by look at a number of physicists, each of whom is responsible for a major change in our way of looking at some aspect of the physical world, and investigating the problem they were trying to solve, their solution, its application, and its consequences. We will also investigage the relationship between each physicists and the culture or political climate in which they lived.
Instructor:  Dr. David Doughty, Prof., Physics

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HONR 310: War and Peace
The goal of this course is to provide students with a broad understanding of the causes, concepts, and consequences of war and the ways of establishing peace. Upon completing the requirements of the course, students will be able to explain the fundamental principles, generalizations and theories of conflict and peace, to identify the relevant political, economic, cultural, and social instruments to prevent and react to war, and analyze issues relating to peace and conflict within the broader context of individual interaction, societal discussions, and the global order. Critical thinking, interpretation and analytical skills will be vital to fulfill the requirements of this course.
Instructor:  Dr. Tina Kempin Reuter, Asst. Prof., Government

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HONR 320: Language and Power
In this seminar we will examine the role of language in articulating, maintaining, and subverting relations of power in societies around the world. We will investigate the interrelationship of language and power from linguistic, anthropological, sociological, and philosophical perspectives. We will utilize the notion of language ideologies to consider how speakers productively employ language and other communicative resources to create various social and cultural identities in an effort to maintain or overturn existing power structures across nation-states, ethnic groups, genders, and professions. Students will conduct independent ethnographic research and critically analyze examples of discourse from a range of ideological sites to better understand the power relations that underpin social interactions.
Instructor:  Dr. Peter Snow, Asst. Prof., English

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HONR 340: Writing Central Asia - Fiction and History
The central threads of this interdisciplinary seminar will be fiction and history, but our study of the long-contested region that comprises India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan will be enriched by your curiosity and research into any number of other threads - e. g. the geography that has both facilitated and complicated invasion and conquest; the social features of the many people moving back and forth on the Eurasian landmass; the ecological issues facing the rapidly growing, often impoverished populations; the various theories and structure of government; the great leaders and their qualities; the interaction among several of the world’s great religions; and jewelry and other artistic traditions, reaching from Greece to China.
Instructor:  Dr. Jay Paul, Prof., English

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HONR 350: Legal Voice
The course commences an exploration of the meaning and existence of law via reading, discussion and debate of great books by great minds about the source and power of Law. Thoughtful inquiry of classic views of law and judicial principles leads to divergence and conflict; and thus will require development of skilled analysis of elements of universal legal principles and succinct written and verbal expression of those principles. Legal Voice employs unique research and presentation methods to develop an intellectual, rationally-based, modern understanding of complex legal principles. Legal Voice encourages understanding, analysis and clarity of expression and culminates in an opportunity for research and/or civic engagement project.
Instructor:  Dr. Stephanie Bardwell, Prof., Management and Marketing

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