SAMPLER OF HONORS COURSES

Politics and Civil Rights
This course examines the politics of the African-American civil rights struggle with an emphasis on the years 1960 through 1965. The latter is often thought of as the high point of success for the Second Reconstruction. The course is divided into three major sections: 1.) an overview of the politics of civil rights from the end of the Civil War through the Eisenhower administration; 2.) the Kennedy-Johnson presidencies; and 3.) a brief overview of the post-Johnson years, with an emphasis on the changes that have occurred in political party strategies and public opinion as they effect and are effected by African-American civil rights. Professor: Dr. Mark Stern  [back]

Appalachian Culture
Appalachian Culture gives students a greater appreciation and deeper understanding of the cultural expression of the southern mountains. Through participatory activities and unique assignments, student experience the oral tradition of storytelling; read poems, stories, and novels; listen to old-time ballads, early commercial music, bluegrass, gospel, and popular country music; explore the central role that coal mining has played in the development of the region; and study other forms of cultural expression, such as crafts and religion. The highlight of the course is a four-day field trip through southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia. This trip allows students to meet musicians, artists, and writers firsthand and to immerse themselves in the culture through hiking, dancing, attending a traditional church service, and touring areas related to coal mining. Professor: Dr. Linda Tate  [back]

Survey of American Literature: Borders and Frontiers
The American dream of freedom and independence was founded and developed through the expansion of explorers and colonists. In this course, students examine the metaphysics of borders and frontiers. What happens when men and women envision a new world beyond borders of oppression, whether that oppression arises from religious persecution, gender or racial discrimination, or issues of ethnicity? Each week students explore an American ideal based on this spirit of expansion. At the same time, the class problematizes that issue through exploring alternative voices that critique that ideal. Some questions students will raise in this study of American literature: What does expansion represent? What frontiers are available to some and not others? What borders are created because of race, religious belief, or gender? What is the nature of borderland dwelling? What creative alternatives can borders produce? Professor: Dr. Patricia Dwyer  [back]

General Biology - Honors 101 and 102
The Honors version of General Biology focuses the philosophy of science and the creative endeavor of doing science in addition to providing a solid introduction to current knowledge of life processes. New experiments and analytical studies will be devised for this course, with the end being to permit the student to work with a greater range of techniques and have greater participation in scientific decisions than is ordinarily achieved in an introductory science course. The course will also be designed for greater opportunities for discussion and exploration of special topics by students. An extended field trip is planned for the first semester, either ecological analysis of a Maryland shore community (this trip would include an overnight stay) or a trip to the Washington Zoo, depending on which will serve the student better. The second semester will include a similar suitable field experience, possibly a visit to a modern research facility in government or industry.

This course will also have a stronger literary emphasis than regular sections of General Biology, and will include the production of at least one formal scientific paper based on the student's own data and analysis from an extended experiment. Students will also read and analyze biographies of important figures in science, and fictional or nonfictional works that look at the nature of science, the environment, and society. Students will also gain an acquaintance with the most recent and avant-garde work in science by reading and providing written analysis concerning newly published essays and commentary in scientific journals. Professor: Dr. Deborah Rochefort  [back]

Women, Public Policy, and Research
This course exposes students to qualitative research tools which will afford them a deeper insight into the lives of women and how public policy effects them. The use of oral history, ethnography, and narratives will bring a richer, more complex, complicated, and in the final analysis, more valid sense of the interrelationship between public policy and the everyday existence of women. This course is unusual in a few ways: The course will be taught from a feminist perspective and it will also attempt to demystify the process of research, making it more relevant and useful to students in both their professional and academic careers. The purpose of this course is to broaden students' understanding of women's lives which are often in the hands of public policy makers who may have little or no personal experience with problems that they are responsible for addressing. Field trips include trips to the Department of Human Services, Shenandoah Community Health Center, a women's shelter, and a women's policy center. Professors: Dr. Jennifer Hipp, Ms. Hannah Geffert  [back]

Survey of World Literature II
This course presents a particularly rich choice of writers with unique connections (Yeats and Baudelaire, symbolists; Sartre and Campus, existentialists; Ibsen, Woolf, and Allende, feminists). This Honors course is designed to have more interaction between professor and students and more discussion than a regular survey course. There will be Washington field trips which will tie in with the periods studied (Neoclassical and Romantic music at the Kennedy Center and an Arena Stage Production when realism and modern drama are studied). Most importantly, however, will be the interdisciplinary approach taken, as a parallel between visual arts and music will be studied. Emphasis in this Honors course will be placed on discovering how works of literature fit into a broader social, philosophic, and aesthetic framework and how the writings of past and present reflect and shape life for us today. By the end of the course, students will see the interconnections between all of the arts, philosophy, and social/historical events-rather than studying literature as an isolated field. Professor: Dr. Sylvia Shurbutt  [back]

Freshman Interdisciplinary Written English and History of Civilizaion Seminar
This two-semester, team-taught seminar introduces freshman Honors students to major types of expository and critical writing in conjunction with the study of Western civilization. Topics focus on philosophical thought throughout history with emphasis on changes in government, economics, arts, science, and literature. Field trips include trips to Washington, New York, and Baltimore museums and theaters. Trips focus on the literary and historical connections of political thought and literary development.  [back]

Music Appreciation
In this two-credit introduction to music theory and movements, students participate in a highly interactive seminar that includes both discussion and listening exercises. Attendance at performances is also encouraged. Professor: Dr. Lynn Hizer  [back]

Scientific Ideas that Changed the World
This three-credit, one semester, team-taught course introduces those ideas in science and technology that so profoundly changed the world in which we live that it would never be the same. Each week students will examine a different aspect of science and/or technology throughout the ages, focusing on the individuals from whom these ideas came to life. From Democritus and Aristotle to Darwin and Gould to Galileo and Hawking, students will examine their works and, through reading and discussion, come to a better understanding of the impact of changing scientific understanding and philosophy on our world and daily lives. Students will be required to research assigned topics prior to discussion and to develop papers on three of the topic areas. A final exam will be required, integrating concepts developed throughout the semester. Field trips include the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, NASA, and the radio telescope facility at Greenbank, West Virginia. Professors: Dr. Ed Snyder, Dr. Donald Henry, Dr. Burt Lidgerding, Dr. Robert Warburton, and Dr. Jack Schmidt  [back]

History of Economics Thought
This weekly seminar course studies the evolution of economic ideas from the time of ancient Greece to the present day, with special emphasis on the rise and fall of classical political economy between the early eighteenth century and the late nineteenth century. Particular attention is paid to the social and intellectual milieu which influenced the more significant contributions. The interaction between economic events and economic ideas is also a central concern of this course. Students are exposed to the original works of many of the seminal thinkers in the history of economic analysis. Professor: Dr. John Schultz  [back]

Hamlet in Context
In rereading the text of Hamlet, students consider it in terms of the Elizabethan revenge-play, the historical and political background of Shakespeare's tragic vision, apparent source materials of the Hamlet story, and its influence on the later Jacobean stage. Professor: Dr. James Lewin  [back]

Ethics
This course centers on the study of human values and deals with the problems of choice in the area of moral conduct. It will present positions drawn from major philosophical traditions and confront students with contemporary ethical problems. The course is integrative in the sense that it brings together or develops some of the major intellectual strands that weave together modern democracies and their knowledge base in politics, economics, and social and personal relationships. The approach will be historical and critical.   [back]

African Studies
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the study of Africa. This interdisciplinary course is team taught, and, although it is impossible to give students a comprehensive course on Africa in one semester, it serves as a good introduction to the continent. A theme throughout the semester is replacing the myths that students may have about Africa with reality based information and to introduce students to the complexity and diversity of Africa and its people. Topics covered include history, politics, economics, geography, geology, art, music, and religion. Professors: Ms. Hannah Geffert, Dr. Ed Snyder, Dr. Roland Bergman, Dr. Momodou Darboe, Mr. James Fisher, Dr. James Watson, Dr. Kevin Williams, Dr. Linda Kinney, Ms. Rhonda Smith, Mr. Calvin Masilela  [back]

Service Learning
This course provides students an opportunity to actively participate in both the classroom and the community to foster an awareness of social issues and citizenship development. Service learning can redefine the perception of youth in tz= community from a course of problems to a source of solutions. This course emphasizes interactive, experiential education by placing curricular concepts in the context of real life situations. Students are empowered to use critical thinking skills as they evaluate and synthesize these concepts through actual problem solving. The course is constructed in a way that students can see connections between service and learning through opportunities to reflect upon, discuss, and write about their experiences. Through this process, students analyze concepts, evaluate experiences, and form opinions. Students will perform service in an agency and meet in seminars to process their experience. Professor: Dr. Jennifer Hipp  [back]

Thesis / Project
During the junior year, Honors students begin research toward a major thesis to be completed as a graduation requirement. Each student chooses a mentor from the faculty, usually in the student's academic major or minor, and begins to formulate a reading list that would contribute to a thesis proposal. In collaboration with his/her thesis mentor, the student develops an original idea about the chosen topic and then analyzes the information using research to substantiate this idea. The final requirement is that the student present the project during an Honors Senior Thesis Presentation session scheduled toward the end of each semester. Staff  [back]