Spring 2011 Honors Program Course Offerings (5-Oct-2010)
HONR300L111
Honors Ethics
Snyder, J
Slot 7: TR 11:00-12:15
Core Distribution Area: Ethics
Description: In this course, students will reflect upon and critically evaluate a number of fundamental moral
questions as they are broached in some of the major ethical theories (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics,
rights-ethics, care-ethics, etc.).
Besides Honors, this seminar satisfies the CORE Ethics requirement.
HONR300L112
Honors Ethics
Campisi
Slot 14: TR 3:30-4:45
Core Distribution Area: Ethics
Description: In this course, students will reflect upon and critically evaluate a number of fundamental moral
questions as they are broached in some of the major ethical theories (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics,
rights-ethics, care-ethics, etc.).
Besides Honors, this seminar satisfies the CORE Ethics requirement.
HONR311L111
Versions of the Self: Personality Development
Dunlap, L
Slot 6: M 11:00-12:15, W 9:30-10:45
Core Distribution Area: Social Science
Description: This course, examines, at various age levels, the qualitative and quantitative psychological and
physiological aspects of personality development. The physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual
elements of human personality development will be traced through life from theoretical, cultural, historical, as
well as practical points of view. Students’ personal development and development of personal world view will
be explored, as well.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE Social Science requirement.
HONR310L111
Versions of the Self: Love and Marriage
DeAngelis, R and Anderson, D
Slot 13: MW 3:30-4:45
Core Distribution Area: Literature
Description: The course will focus on various conceptualizations of romantic love and the ways in which these
concepts affect expectations about and experiences within marriage in the decades following World War II as
people tried to renormalize life. Was this the “Wonder Bread” period depicted by television of the 1950s? Did
women happily return from wartime factories to the kitchen? Did “father know best”? And how did the 1960s
relationships grow out of this period of seeming normalcy? The cultural artifacts at the center of course
investigations and discussions will include fiction, drama, television, and film. Besides Honors, this course will
satisfy the Core literature requirement and may serve as an elective for the English major.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the Core requirement in Literature and elective credit for the English
major and minor.
HONR321L111
Art of Culture: Brazilian Culture & Cinema
Willoquet-Maricondi, P
Slot 4: TF 9:30-10:45 and F 11:00-12:15
Core Distribution Area: Fine Arts
Description: This course introduces students to Brazilian cinema and culture. Landmark films from the
Cinema Novo period to the present will be studied, focusing on the social, political, environmental, and
aesthetic dimensions. Students will gain an appreciation for the diversity of Brazilian culture - its cinema,
music, dance, religions, and rituals. Issues of class, race, and gender will also be explored.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE Fine Arts requirement.
HONR321L200
Art of Culture: Opera
White, J
Slot 23: W 6:30-9:15
Core Distribution Area: Fine Arts
Description: This course will have two objectives: to provide an introduction to opera, its form and its history,
and to expose students to opera through the study of selected operas and attendance at performances of those
operas at the Metropolitan Opera house in New York City. Honors will cover the costs of travel expenses and
opera tickets. Written assignments will consist of critiques of the performed operas as well as essays on various
aspects of the art form.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE Fine Arts requirement.
HONR331L111
Hudson River Valley Studies: Edith Wharton
Saunders, J
Slot 14: TR 3:30-4:45
Core Distribution Area: Literature
Description: Edith Wharton is one of the most illustrious writers associated with the Hudson River Valley.
She utilizes its landscapes and its architectures in many of her fictional works, integrating regional settings with
plot, theme, and character. In this seminar we will read a good sampling of Wharton’s novels, novellas, and
short stories. In addition to examining her fiction from a literary standpoint, we will try to place it in its
cultural-historical context, considering it in light of societal changes taking shape in the United States in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Special emphasis will fall on Wharton’s investigation of tensions
between society and the individual—tensions originating in cultural values, societal regulations, prescribed
roles, or gender issues. Tentative reading list: The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, Hudson River
Bracketed, New Year’s Day, The Old Maid, Ethan Frome, “Autres Temps,” “Roman Fever,” “The Coward,”
“Xingu.” If there is sufficient interest, we will take a field trip to Wharton’s home in Lennox, Massachusetts.
Besides Honors, this seminar satisfies the College's CORE Literature requirement. The course may also be
used to meet an upper-level requirement in the English major or the American Studies major; it will fulfill a
related-field requirement in the History major; it can be used as part of a cognate in the Communication major.
HONR341L111
Global Engagement: Environmental Economics
Davis, A
Slot 10: MR 2:00-3:15
Core Distribution Area: Social Science
OR*****
HONR353L111
Science, Technology, and Society: Environmental Economics
Davis, A
Slot 10: MR 2:00-3:15
Core Distribution Area: Social Science
Description: With a dual listing in environmental science and economics, the course will develop student
literacy in the basic concepts of environmental science, such as the carbon cycle, as well as basic concepts in
economics. Definitions of the market, private property, and externalities will have particular emphasis. Within
this framework, the major controversies regarding the evidence for climate change, and the various policy
alternatives, will be considered. Students will be asked to conduct research using library resources, to study the
evidence for both sides of various debates, and to develop written analyses and oral presentations for class
discussion.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE Social Science requirement.
HONR350L111
Science, Technology, and Society: Cryptography
Kirtland, J
Slot 8: MR 12:30-1:45
Core Distribution Area: Mathematics
Description: Cryptography is the study of coded messages. This course will examine a variety methods or
ciphers used from ancient societies up to those used today. A variety of famous ciphers, such as the Caesar,
Vigenère, Enigma, and RSA public-key ciphers, will be investigated. At a more general level, the mathematical
techniques used to create ciphers and the statistically methods used to break ciphers will also be investigated.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE Mathematics requirement.
HONR351L111
Science, Technology, and Society: Environmental Science and Policy
Feldman, R
Slot 7: TR 11:00-12:15
Core Distribution Area: Natural Science
Description: The course will look at the work being done to conserve natural resources and to prevent
ourselves from poisoning our fellow species and us. Science, politics, economics, history, and many other
disciplines all come together in this course as students consider provocative topics concerning local, national,
and global environmental affairs. Students will also be introduced to ways to observe and appreciate the natural
world, and will write a field journal throughout the semester.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE Natural Science requirement, the first required course for
Environmental Science or Environmental Policy majors, and the Related Field Elective for Biology majors.