1 Spring 2023 Honors Courses 1. HNRS 1112 “Seminar in

Spring 2023 Honors Courses

1. HNRS 1112 “Seminar in Academic Inquiry and Writing”

− 01H (CRN 10482): TR 12:30-1:45pm; Instructor TBD

− 02H (CRN 11108): MW 12:30-1:45pm; Instructor: Corey Sloat

CC 1.1

Course Description: This course introduces students to the conventions of academic writing and the

habits of critical inquiry they will need in university courses and beyond. Students read and annotate

texts on a topic (or topics) selected by the instructor, develop original avenues of inquiry through

classroom discussion, and transform their questions into well-supported academic arguments.

Assignment sequences incorporate opportunities for research, drafting, revision, editing, and

reflection to help students find writing processes that can be replicated in future courses and

workplace projects that require only polished work. Because different disciplines and career paths

present different scenarios for critical thinking and writing, this course also teaches students how to

adapt the conventions of academic inquiry to a variety of contexts. Students will be introduced to

the honors thesis process and begin to develop the skills necessary for success in the Honors

Program. 3 credits.

NOTE: This course is required for all honors students who entered in the Honors Program

in Fall 2019 or later. This requirement is waived for those who had AP credit for ENGL 1112

or took ENGL 1112 prior to joining the Honors Program.

2. BIOL 2254 10H “Biology II: Organisms and Evolution”

CRN 11476

Instructor: James Ayers

TR 2:00-3:15pm

CC: None

Prerequisite: BIOL 2253

Course description: A discussion of the principles of biological organization from the molecular

level through the ecological. The basic course for biology and environmental studies majors. Note

that you must enroll in a section of BIOL 2256 as well, but there is no honors version of BIOL

2256. 3 credits. [Note this course requires a lab, but students may take any lab section]

3. CHEM 1116 01H/CHEM 1118 11H “General Chemistry II w/lab”

CRN 10859/10878

TR 11:00am-12:15pm and R 8:00-10:45am

Instructor: TBD and Michael Jaffe

CC: None

Prerequisite: CHEM 1115

Special Note: Students should sign up for BOTH the honors lecture and the honors lab sections.

Course description: This course includes a very brief review of fundamentals of chemistry including

stoichiometry, atomic structure, and chemical bonding. Other key topics include thermochemistry,

gas laws and an introduction to organic chemistry. The course is intended primarily for

science/engineering majors. Due to the honors level of curriculum it is intended that the students

will be expected to critically analyze current chemistry topics and be involved in classroom / online

discussion(s) covering current chemical issues and events. 4 credits.

4. ECON 1134 01H “Introduction to Microeconomics”

CRN 10780

TR 9:30-10:45am

Instructor: TBD

CC 5.2

Course Description: Microeconomics including markets and market structure and the allocation of

resources. The distribution of income, the public economy, the international economy, and selected

economic problems. 3 credits.

5. HLTH 2200 02H “Introduction to US Healthcare System”

CRN 10028

M 3:30-6:15pm

Instructor: Ashish Upadhyaya

CC 7.2

Course description: An overview of the healthcare delivery system in the United States including

exploration of the purpose and functions of the health care system, the institutions that comprise

the US healthcare system, the roles that healthcare institutions and professionals play in society, and

the impacts of institutions, professionals, and law and policy on healthcare delivery in the United

States. 3 credits.

6. EASC 1125 02H “Societal Issues in the Cyberworld”

CRN 12737

MWF at 9:05-9:55am

Instructor: Chris Martinez

CC 5.1

Course Description: As we live in a cyberworld, we see new technologies change daily life. New

technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robots bring new societal issues

dealing with cybersecurity, privacy, social media manipulation, and challenges concerning diversity,

equity, and inclusion. This course will introduce students to evidence and applied reasoning in

effective critical thinking as applied to societal issues in the cyberworld. 3 credits.

7. ILLU 2276 01H “World Building”

CRN 11885

MW 9:30am-12:15pm

CC 9.2

Instructor: Jon Sideriadis.

Course description: CC 9.2

Course description: World-Building exposes students to the devices, characters, and settings

essential to the creation, in words and pictures, of mythological stories. Students learn such "world-

building blocks" and concepts as archetypes, allegories, the monomyth, environment design, and

character design through weekly lectures, demos, and by studying interpretations of myths and their

psychological basis as posited by Joseph Campbell. Structured assignments enable students by the

semester's end to complete their own written and illustrated short mythological story. 3 credits.

8. MUSC 4451 01H “The Music of Texas”

CRN 12887

MW 2:00-3:15pm

Instructor: Eddie Davis

CC 9.1

Course description: They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and this includes the state’s outsized

musical reputation. Many genres — including blues, country, rock and roll, latin pop, R&B, and hip

hop — were revolutionized by musical pioneers from the Lone Star State. Students in this course

examine the roots of Texan music from Lead Belly to Willie Nelson, from Buddy Holly to Selena,

and from The Chicks to Travis Scott. Through cross-genre listening, reading, discussion, and

analysis, students will explore the ways that immigration, history, and geography contribute to

Texas’s rich cultural heritage. Coursework will include the creation of a jointly-created informational

website about the music of Texas. 3 credits.

9. COMM 4458 01H “Private Screenings: Movies that Change Lives”

CRN 13086

Instructors: Wes Davis and Natalie Chavoya

T 6:30-9:15pm

CC TBD, likely 9.1

Course description: This course focuses on films that have changed lives. Students will first review

film grammar, vocabulary, and the basics of film analysis. Each film will be presented by the

instructor who picked it, screened in class, and discussed/analyzed by both instructors and students

for its themes, cinema techniques, historical and artistic significance, and why it’s a personal favorite.

In addition, there is a unifying motif—characters who, for one reason or another, are viewed as

“outsiders.” In addition, students will have the opportunity for their own “private screenings” by

selecting a personal film (subject to instructor approval) which they will each present and discuss in

class. 3 credits.

10. INVS 4461 01H “The Code”

CRN 13108

Instructor: Declan Hill

MW 3:30-4:45pm

CC 8.1

Course description: If you wish to fight organized crime and terrorism, you have to understand it.

Almost every organized crime and terrorist group in the world has faced a similar

challenge: how to unify a group of disparate, violent men into a single, sometimes secret, fighting

force. These men must show supreme loyalty to their group despite a myriad of outside challenges

and temptations. From the pirates of the Caribbean in the 1700s to the Sicilian Mafia to the modern-

day Taliban or MS13, these groups have responded in, roughly, the same way. The purpose of the

course is for the students to understand these informal legal systems so they can more effectively

combat or research them in their future careers. Each student will review these codes of the major

organized crime and terrorist groups - domestic and international. Students will be examining

primary documents (the extant copies of these codes) as well finding their own primary source

material and will present the results of their research to the campus community. 3 credits.

11. HNRS 3000 01H “Book Club”

CRN 11836

Meeting times TBD by reading groups.

CC: 5.2 or 9.1

Course description: “The first rule about Book Club is that you do talk about Book Club.” Book

Club is a new concept for an honors course designed to allow small groups of faculty and students

to read and discuss specially selected books. Participating faculty members will each choose one

book to discuss with students during four weekly meetings. Each student will select three of these

four-week sessions to take part in over the course of the semester, thus each reading group will

consist of only 3-5 students. Since the groups will be so small, faculty and students will work out

meeting times amongst themselves. In the final weeks of the term, students will produce a paper,

podcast, or video that synthesizes their readings and discussions over the course of the semester.

This year the theme of the course will be climate change and humanity’s relationship to the

environment. 3 credits.

The list of participating faculty and their chosen books are as follows (remember you would get to

choose three of these). After registration students will be contacted and given instructions for how

to select which books they would like to read.

• Nancy Savage: Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood

• Doug Ficek: William MacAskill, What We Owe the Future

• Patrick Gourley: Richard Powers, Overstory

• Marty O’Connor: Pope Francis, Laudato Si

• Dan May: Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future

• Cameron Oden: Harriet Washington, A Terrible Thing to Waste

• Nathan Seifert: Benjamin Labatut, When We Cease to Understand the World

• Kirsten Jensen: Christopher Abram, Evergreen Ash: Ecology and Catastrophe in Old Norse Myth

and Literature

• Beth Rawson: Denis Taylor, We are Legion (We are Bob)

• Declan Hill: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring or Erin Brockovitch, Superman is Not Coming

• Marie Paulis: Michael Mann, The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back our Planet

• Susan Campbell: Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower

• Larry Davis: Peter Brannan The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our

Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions.

• Gwen Grosso: Hope Jahren, The Story of More

• Susan Murphy: Peter Wohlleben, The Secret Life of Trees

• Pete Van Ness: Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl

• Joe Levert: TBD

12. HNRS 4459 “Developing an Honors Thesis Proposal”

− 01H: CRN 11109 - Register for this section if you are in the social sciences (i.e. Criminal

Justice, Psychology, etc.)

− 02H: CRN 11886 - Register for this section if you are in a lab science

− 03H: CRN 11887 - Register for this section if you are in the Arts and Humanities (English,

Music, etc.)

− 04H: CRN 12901 - Register for this section if you are in Engineering, the College of

Business, Computer Science, or Health Sciences)

Format: Online Asynchronous

Instructor: Judy Randi

Special Note: This course is required and should be taken when a student will have two

semesters remaining AFTER completion of the course. So, a student graduating in Spring

24 should take the course in Spring 23.

Course description: In this course, honors students will choose a topic for their honors thesis and

develop a thesis proposal. Students will interview potential advisors, learn how to develop research

questions, conduct literature searches, and plan research projects. 1 credit.

13. XXXX 4593 "Honors Thesis"

This is the course that seniors in the Honors Program should register for in order to complete their

honors thesis. Students should register for the course in the discipline in which they are completing

their thesis. The instructor of record for the course should be the student’s thesis advisor. In terms

of structure, this course functions exactly like an Independent Study. 3 credits.

Special Note: This course does NOT count as one of the four required honors courses. Most

seniors place these credits in their final semester. The Psychology department, however,

prefers that students place the credits in the next-to-last semester and take an INC until the

thesis is completed in the following semester. If you are unsure consult with your

department and thesis advisor.