Spring 2016 Honors Colloquia
Honors colloquia are available to honors sophomores, juniors, and seniors except where noted.
If a course is full, please contact the professor to inquire about force-add possibility!
Chinese Medicine ~ CRN 18625
Michael Denbow; Animal & Poultry Sciences
Tuesdays; 3:30pm – 5:20pm ~ Litton Reeves 1770
Chinese medicine is among the oldest health care systems, having been practiced for over 5000 years. Arising
out of Daoism, the goal of Chinese medicine is to restore balance, thus creating an environment in which illness
cannot take root. Classically, a Chinese doctor was only paid as long as the patient remained healthy. This
course will examine the principles guiding Chinese medicine. Other topics of discussion will include how tuina,
also known as Chinese massage, qi gong, Thai massage, and internal martial arts work to improve health.
The Art of Interviews ~ CRN 18629
Greg Justice; Theatre & Cinema
Tuesdays; 3:30pm – 5:15pm ~ Henderson 302
This class will examine the techniques used by professional theatre, film and television performers that can be
used in other disciplines during interviews for jobs, scholarships and life. The competition among actors for
jobs in the “business” is highly fierce and competitive. Over the years, performers have developed very
sophisticated interview techniques to help them land a job or win the role. Many of the techniques used by
actors can be adapted for interviews in other disciplines. This course will allow students to learn and practice
some of these skills and techniques.
Music & Media ~ CRN 19875
Michael Saffle; Religion & Culture
Tuesdays; 7:00pm – 9:00pm ~ McBryde 204
Music has always been "mediated" through printed scores, song sheets, sound recordings, radio, film, television,
and now the internet. Students who join this colloquium do not need to be able to play, sing, or even read music,
but they should be interested in learning more about how music itself is becoming increasingly "visualized"
through TV, movies, and YouTube, and how "our" music draws today upon a host of sources: Chinese and
Korean pop, European classical masterpieces, the musical comedy stage, and self-generated music videos. After
briefly examining music in print and on the radio, we'll spend most of the semester studying music in film, on
television, and online. We'll even look at the playlists and satirical songs already being created for the 2016
presidential election!
Food & Literature ~ CRN 19876
Sue Saffle; English
Wednesdays; 4:00pm – 5:15pm ~ McBryde 219
Since Homer's day and the birth of the Bible, food has figured significantly in literature. Petronius gave us
"Trimalchio's Banquet," the starting place for all those Hollywood films about Romans reclining and reaching
for peeled grapes. Chaucer gave us a variety of edibles and Shakespeare more. Zola introduced us to "The Belly
of Paris," about one of the world’s first urban food transport and purchasing systems, and George Orwell shared
the restaurant hardships he suffered in "Down and Out in Paris and London." Recently, a host of "foodie"
books, films, and TV shows have brought us into closer contact with literary (or filmic) eating around the
world. This course provides an opportunity for students to learn more about literature through the history of
food, with emphasis on recent developments in food knowledge and writing.
This Thing Called Me ~ CRN 19896
Daniel Schneck; Engineering Science & Mechanics Emeritus
Tuesdays & Thursdays; 9:30am – 10:45am ~ Hillcrest 132
If you subscribe to the Theory of Evolution, the human body, in its current state of development, is estimated to
be about two million years old. That has given it plenty of time to “work out the kinks” and, through “Natural
Selection,” come up with a pretty good anatomical/physiological design for effective survival – of
both itself, and thespecies. On the other hand, if you lean more toward Creationism, then it follows that ours is a
human body “Intelligently Designed” for perpetuity. Either way, this human body that we call “Me” is a marvel
of architectural excellence, precise anatomical design, and very effective optimization schemes that exemplify,
in the words of William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act II, Scene II), “The beauty of the world! The paragon of
animals!” In this colloquium, we shall explore this “paragon of animals” to answer such probing questions as:
 What, exactly, is “body language?” (Not what you might think!)
 How does my body optimize its performance?
 What motivates me to do the things I do? (is it related to “will,” or not?)
 How is my body organized to do what it does?
 What basic laws and constraints govern how my body works?
 How does my body work … and why must it work that way?
 Why do nerves “decussate?” (cross over one another)
 Why is my body “lateralized?” (into right-and-left halves)
 Why is my body “written in the key of C (Carbon),” i.e., why are humansorganic creatures?
 Why am I an isothermal engine, i.e., why must the human body maintain a relatively constant 37oC
core temperature?
 Why is my body’s chemistry so complex -- involving so many intricate pathways to get from raw
materials to final products?
 What basic design criteria enable huge geometric configurations to be “packed” into such small
volumetric regions?
 What is the philosophy of “metabolism?”
… and other questions … the answers to which one is curious about, yet often “afraid to ask” -- and not likely
to be addressed in “standard” textbooks of anatomy and physiology. In this Colloquium, we shall develop a
“countdown,” 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 paradigm to address these questions, and more. Come learn about and exchange
ideas about “this thing called ‘Me!’”