Honors Course Archive

The course focuses on exploring SKIN as a subject in the cultural history of the Western world. Being the largest human organ, the SKIN is our interface with the world. Looking at various metaphors for this interface, we will consider both the rich history, as well as contemporary ideas through the lens of art. We will discuss prevailing concepts, representations, theories and implications in continental philosophy, psychology, and cultural theory, as well as historic and contemporary interpretations in visual art. The main focus is on experiential learning by in-depth research and studio practice. Course will consist of lectures, readings, discussions, presentations, and one art-making project.

Environmental issues have become a lightening rod for asking the question: how do we, as laypeople, know what to believe when we encounter information about science? Are we on a path to destruction of the planet as we know it or are our commonly encountered media pieces reporting hyperbolic claims dominated by collusion and hidden agenda?

We will begin by critically examining the disciplinary methods of science – how do scientists seek truth in the universe? How, then, are these “truths” communicated to the public? Most importantly, how can we, as laypeople, assess the validity of the claims we encounter? From this context, we will examine not only news reports, but also several media pieces that have shaped the public’s current perception of the state of the environment, including Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” We will read a historically important book, Silent Spring, and discuss the roots of the current environmental movement (and how this media piece is credited with igniting it). We will go on to read the contemporary book Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, using it as a vehicle to flesh out our understanding of the ecological concepts upon which environmental sustainability is based (biogeochemical cycling, trophic structure, bio magnification, food webs, greenhouse effect), and finish by reading a popular book relating to a subset of the environmental movement, Plenty: Eating Locally on the Hundred Mile Diet.

An important objective of this course is to deepen our learning about environmental sustainability by reaching out beyond the classroom to involve ourselves more viscerally in some of the issues related to sustainability that affect our day to day lives. The vehicle for this will be visits to locales of interest to the topic of sustainability, opportunities to volunteer on a “service learning” project, and/or guest lectures and tours. Likely experiences include: visits to a local organic farm that donates its food to a local food bank, a landfill, the wastewater treatment plant, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance water clean-up, urban sustainable living home. Students will also be given the possibility of opting out of the longer class period to spend an equivalent amount of time volunteering at a pre-approved local sustainability focused non-profit or similar experience for the duration of the quarter.

This 5 credit course is designed for people who are not majoring in science and have little to no experience with the ecology topics. We will meet twice/week. On Tuesdays, we will meet for an hour and a half to lay out the conceptual framework for the course, a longer timeslot (four hours on Thursday afternoon) will accommodate the “experiential” side of the course – either field trips or self-generated volunteer opportunity as described above.

Grading for the course will be largely class participation, with significant weight on a student-led activity/discussion and final portfolio of reflections on weekly readings and experiences as well as homework/problem sets to assess ability to apply scientific concepts covered.

Course Objectives: comprehension of ecology concepts relevant to normal living, skill at critiquing popular culture use of scientific concepts, deeper appreciation for the “why” of sustainable living, understanding of the role of media in propagating ideas, enhancement of lifelong learner skills, practice at being in a leadership role in a learning community, involvement in community through experiences.

Taking a long view of Western civilization, science, and philosophy, one may wonder how we came to our current state of modernity’s starkly materialist flavor in contrast with the mystical richness of pre-Renaissance conceptions of the natural world. In Science, Magic and the Passage to Modernity (SMPM), we trace a circuitous path to our current worldview by examining the historical/philosophical roots of the culture of scientific inquiry; that is, how human experience/perception of the physical world has been interpreted in four historical periods: Classical Antiquity, Hellenism, the late Renaissance, and the early Twentieth Century. In doing so, we discover not only the success and power of our modern way of knowing the world of matter and energy, but also its inherent limitations and self-imposed boundaries that become evident when attempting to extend it to accommodate the full range of human experience.

Through these four historical periods we pursue the philosophical response to two natural phenomena that were eventually seen as closely related: 1) terrestrial gravitation, and 2) the visible aspects of motion in the heavens. Studying the history of approaches to interpreting these basic observations of nature provides insight to how we have come to our current perception of the natural world, and offers hints to how that perception might be expressed in the future.

The wide-ranging topics covered in this history of ideas will borrow heavily on and directly inform concepts you have already met or will encounter in literature, history, and philosophy classes during your academic adventures at the UW. You may be surprised by the foundational connections between the intellectual structure of modern science and a number of seemingly peripheral issues: Pre-Socratic concerns regarding the distinction between belief and knowledge, the tension between thought and experience in classical philosophy, Hellenism’s retreat from reason, late medieval Scholasticism, Renaissance magic, Cartesian dualism, Newton’s towering but schizophrenic intellect, and Einstein’s surprisingly Pythagorean vision. These are but a few elements in an intriguing story of rationally
disciplined human creativity that recounts the emergence of modern science and the scientific underpinnings of modernity.

SMPM is intended for liberal arts students, not for science majors. Familiarity with only the most elementary aspects of high school algebra and geometry is presumed. Reasoning and critical thinking, on the other hand, will be fully exercised. Also, some background in the history and/or philosophy of the Western world is assumed. A mid-term hour exam will comprise 15% of the course grade, a final exam 25%, written assignments 35%, and a research paper 25%.

This course turns new ground on race and representation in advertising. Using a range of popular media, we apply specific theory from Plato’s Allegory of The Cave to Race/race-as-floating signifier and Capitalism/capital-in-search of itself. We hope to rethink race and capitalism as paradox – both are fluid and unstable systems of value production and reproduction. And while both are nested in cycles of historical crises and collapse, they are lived as totalizing, stable, political TRUTHS. Yet, difference matters more than ever and participation in our version of capitalism is more and more coercive and asymmetrical. In a strange irony, differentiation and de-differentiation coexist in the same formula. Difference-as-race becomes both open and closed class hierarchy. These strange bedfellows extend one another’s contradictions by transforming fiction/illusion into fact/reality. Using Smedley and Smedley’s Race in North America (2011), Williamson’s Decoding Advertisements (1994) and Luhmann’s Art as a Social System (2000) we initiate the gritty work of analyzing the mystification of Americana State making. Concepts jump out – The Irish Problem, The Citizen vs. so-called Indians and slaves, the frontier as free, property and ownership, linear lines of progress, and finally social utopia. Socratic discussion and dialogue have no right answer. Student work includes two brief concept papers, two rewrites, a final accumulation paper, and two precis and in-class presentations. The foundation of the course is word work, generating concepts, diagrams, and integration via a portfolio. All are welcome. Please email speed at landogo@u.washington.edu with questions or concerns.

We will consider the following five propositions:

1. Leadership always has a political context; leadership in a democracy is necessarily different than leadership in other political regimes.

2. Leadership involves at its base the creation of a persuaded audience, but, more than persuasion, involves creating and sustaining a more thoughtful public, a public capable of rising above itself.

3. A more thoughtful public must not only be created and sustained, but, given that things inevitably fall apart, must be recovered and reconstituted.

4. Distinctions must be made in the leadership functions of (a) initiating, (b) sustaining, and c) recovering and reconstituting. What it takes for leader to sustain isn’t quite the same as what it takes to initiate, and neither of these approach what it takes to recover and reconstitute when the organization or regime falls apart.

5. Good leadership involves ethical and effective information seeking. A leader must have knowledge of what must be done, knowledge of what it takes to persuade others of what must be done (and, in persuading, creating a more thoughtful public), and knowledge of how an audience/public will respond. Only with a thorough understanding of the principles, strategies, and costs of information seeking will one be able to engage in ethical and effective leadership.

Sources of texts will include, but not be limited to: Tocqueville, Sophocles, Machiavelli, Lincoln, Kautilya, Dostoevsky, the Tao-Te-Ching, the Huainanzi, as well as contemporary authors.

Method of instruction: close reading of texts, coupled with short papers on texts, plus a longer (5-8 page) synthesis paper; small and large group discussions with each other and visiting scholars/practitioners.

For freshmen only, this course is an introduction to college-level methods of inquiry. Throughout your academic life at the university, you will be called upon to write, read and converse in order to absorb knowledge and test out ideas. Since academic disciplines are bound by their respective ways of knowing, and because other ways of knowing are empirical and creative, this course will present different ways of coming to knowledge. We’ll engage in reading, lectures, dialogue, persuasive writing, journalistic writing, writing for academic papers as well as in creative writing-poems, short stories and vignettes. Expect a lively forum for testing out ideas and a venue to enhance your writing repertoire.

Expectations for students include: attending all classes with the (substantial) assigned readings completed; contributing to small group presentations; considering one’s own belief systems and the belief systems in a respectful and curious manner; being willing to experiment in writing styles and genres. In the end, students should be active questioning learners and show evidence of this engagement.

Goals for the course include: learning how to negotiate and navigate with different ways of knowing; developing empathic and creative imagination; enhancing student writing; creating models for civic dialogue; and articulating individual learning.

The course will connect often-separated worlds of research and practice, university and “real world” expertise, and writing and dialogic education.

This course is the introduction to a year-long sequence-in the winter quarter, the course topic will be “Teaching What We Know” and in the spring, the class will culminate in internships throughout the area. Enrollment in all three terms is not required.

Reading, writing and traveling are all acts of the imagination. This course will allow us to “see” the places we’ve already visited, and imagine the places we plan on visiting. Our workshop will offer the returning traveler a way to synthesize her experiences, transforming them into essays, articles, poems or stories. For the future traveler, our time together will help to set a practice for writing and exploring so that a traveler can have a method of documenting her upcoming journey. Our goals include: helping you to return from future trips with a fantastic notebook/record of the sights, sounds, smells and impressions of the places you’ve visited and transforming a travel notebook into a more formal piece of writing. By reading poems, stories, essays and articles that illuminate the art of travel, we’ll test out a range of styles and stances. These activities will surface our initial assumptions about what it means to travel as a method of inquiry and imagination, and of acceptance, through places we don’t yet know– or places we have already been.

The 10-week, 5-credit course/seminar is designed for all students but particularly those interested in health, race and society. The journalistic inquiry taken by author Rebecca Skloot of patient Henrietta Lacks, the impoverished African American woman whose cells were removed without permission by medical doctors, frames the historical context for exploring societal and institutional racism in this intense and interactive course/seminar. Starting with America’s Jim Crow Era, we trace societal and institutional attitudes and practices reflective of racial discrimination and the commodification of human tissues in the research establishment. The social versus biological construction of “race” is addressed. The purpose Institutional Review Boards charged with the protection of human subjects is questioned. Inadequate racial representation with in higher education and hence, within research studies institutions, is deemed as having nurtured the unethical research climate that exploited Henrietta Lacks and her family. Contemporary implications for public health and medical research are addressed.

Course Requirements: A complete and critical reading of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Crown, 2010), by Rebecca Skloot, is required. Each student must be fully prepared to engage in a thorough and informed discussion at every class meeting. Students, and less the instructor, are the voice of this course/seminar. We speak with and not at each other to enable a deeper understanding of those societal and institutional actors that framed the medical exploitation of Henrietta Lacks and her family. Having read the entire book before class begins is recommended though a guided week-by-week discussion supplemented by Powerpoint, selected handouts, and a guest-lecture on cell biology, is employed. Full attendance is required. There is no mid-term. A final 5-7 page paper with bibliography is required. This paper will draw from major themes and more than 100 questions stated in the syllabus. Full Participation is worth 40% and the paper is worth 60% of the final grade.

An exploration and critique of the dominant themes and paradigms which have shaped Western European thought, with special focus on concepts of “woman” and “man.” Theories of knowledge and reality will also be covered. Feminist perspectives will be studied along with more traditional viewpoints.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
– To provide an overview of the dominant philosophical paradigms in western thought To assess such paradigms critically, especially from feminist perspectives
– To become familiar with concepts of major thinkers regarding gender, “woman” and “man,”
– To analyze the social and metaphysical contexts for these definitions
– To develop the student’s ability to analyze and formulate theory
– To facilitate the thoughtful verbal and written expression of knowledge gained this term, including material suitable for your portfolios

REQUIRED READINGS
Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade
Plato, The Republic
The Bible (A version of your choice)
Woman in Western Thought (Reading Packet #1)
Reading Packet #2
(Both Reading Packets available at Professional Copy, 42nd & 15th Ave NE)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
– Class Participation (30%): Students are expected to be at all class sessions and to be prepared for class discussion. This means studying the readings for the unit scheduled and coming to class with ideas to share. *Acceptable participation includes both thoughtful comments and active, respectful listening, as well as an appropriate balance between them.* One absence is permitted without affecting your participation grade.
– Two Take-home essay assignments (20% each)
– Group Project (15%)
– Final Exam (15%): An in-class comprehensive exam given ONLY on Wed Dec 14, 4:30pm.
– Class Partner: Someone with whom you exchange contact information.

HONORS 394B is designed to serve students from all majors and backgrounds, as it emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to interpreting human difference. Students interested in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences may find it especially relevant to their specific areas of study.

COURSE INTRODUCTION
The influences of 18th and 19th century beliefs about human difference instilled power dynamics between cultures, races, genders, and classes of people still very present today. In the 18th century, coming to terms with racial identity was a complicated struggle, as its meaning was constantly shifting and becoming negotiated in the face of competing traditional and new beliefs and practices. The predominant view of race in the 19th century as determined by skin color was strikingly at odds with the much more fluid and conflicting interpretations of human variety in the 18th century, when scientific theories based on climate, the humoral or the anatomical body co-existed with older markers of difference, such as Christianity, civility, and rank, as outlined by Roxann Wheeler in her book The Complexion of Race. This becomes especially evident when comparing the widely publicized 18th and 19th century colonial travel texts, the highly acclaimed scientific theories of human variety, and the contentious abolitionist slave debates. Through the study of travel narratives and scientific texts, we will trace how the racialization of human variability gets recoded as human hierarchy and greatly affected the abolition of slavery. The slave trade reflected British uncertainties about how to interpret human difference, which manifested itself in a national identity crisis as it pervaded 18th century philosophical, religious, financial, and scientific discussions. This course will demonstrate that these anxieties permeated travel narratives and scientific theories of race, and had profound impacts on the abolition of slavery. As we will see, the emergence of racial ideology was not as straight-forward as some contemporary scholars might believe. Interpreting difference was uneven, unstable, and constantly shifting, the effects of which are still experienced today.

LEARNING GOALS, CLASS ASSIGNMENTS & GRADING:
This course provides a space to discuss many influential and widely-cited texts on human variety. When reading, writing, and speaking about these texts, we will: 1). locate the text within a historical and cultural context; 2). compare texts and identify the similarities and differences; 3). identify how the work questions, complicates, and advances previous belief and knowledge systems; and, 4). understand how these ideas developed and are part of larger conversations of power, oppression, and difference. This class is a very reading and writing intensive course. We will focus on the practice of close reading, particularly as it relates to the historical, political, and cultural contexts of the texts. Students will improve their writing skills with regard to writing about literature and culture, fulfilling the University of Washington’s W-requirement. Students will write two essays: a mid-term essay due week 5, and a final essay (and rough draft) due week 10. Students will also complete four 1-page response papers. As a Visual, Literary, and Performing Arts (VLPA) course, you will fulfill the University of Washington’s requirement by giving media-enhanced presentations in small groups, watching and discussing relevant movies, and communicating in large and small groups.

Your final grade (on a 4.0 scale) will consist of the following grades:
* 20% = Group-led presentation and discussion
* 20% = Response Papers
* 20% = Essay 1
* 40% = Essay 2 (including a rough draft)

Architectural history in the Western world from beginnings to AD 550.

Introduces a range of theories, ideas, techniques, and processes of still photography in a fine art context. Assignments emphasize photography’ s creative potential.

Biochemistry and molecular biology (with quiz sections) for undergraduate students in molecular and cellular biology, for biochemistry majors, and graduate students in other science departments.

Prerequisite: 2.5 BIOL 200; 2.5 in either CHEM 224, CHEM 239, or CHEM 337; 2.0 in either MATH 124, MATH 134, or MATH 144

Honors Chem 145 and 155 cover material in 142, 152, and 162. Includes laboratory. No more than the number of credits indicated can be counted toward graduation from the following course groups: 142, 145 (5 credits); 145, 155, 162 (10 credits).

For chemistry majors and otherwise qualified students planning three or more quarters of organic chemistry. Structure, nomenclature, reactions, and synthesis of organic compounds. Theory and mechanism of organic reactions. Studies of biomolecules. No organic laboratory accompanies this course. No more than 5 credits can be counted toward graduation from the following course groups: 221, 223, 237, 335.

Basic programming-in-the-small abilities and concepts including procedural programming (methods, parameters, return values) , basic control structures (sequence, if/else, for loop, while loop), file processing, arrays and an introduction to defining objects.

Continuation of CSE 142. Concepts of data abstraction and encapsulation including stacks, queues, linked lists, binary trees, recursion, instruction to complexity and use of predefined collection classes. Prerequisite: CSE 142.

Writing papers communicating information and opinion to develop accurate, competent, and effective expression.

Origins of the modern world system in the sixteenth century and its history until World War I. Interacting forces of politics and economics around the globe, with particular attention to key periods of expansion and crisis.

First quarter in calculus of functions of a single variable. Emphasizes differential calculus. Emphasizes applications and problem solving using the tools of calculus. Prerequisite: 2.5 in MATH 120, score of 68% on MATHPC placement test, score of 75% on MATHEC placement test, or score of 2 on AP test.

Covers the material of 124, 125, 126; 307, 308, 318. First year of a two-year accelerated sequence. May receive advanced placement (AP) credit for 124 after taking 134. For students with above average preparation, interest, and ability in mathematics.

Introduction to proofs and rigor; uniform convergence, Fourier series and partial differential equations, vector calculus, complex variables. Students who complete this sequence are not required to take MATH 309, 310, 324, 326, 327, 328, and 427. Second year of an accelerated two-year sequence; prepares students for senior-level mathematics courses.

Basic principles of mechanics and experiments in mechanics for physical science and engineering majors. Lecture tutorial and lab components must all be taken to receive credit. Credit is not given for both PHYS 114 and PHYS 121.

Philosophy and religion have a long and somewhat antagonistic history. Many philosophers are and have been deeply religious and these thinkers have done much to construct the language of religion and the apologetics of religion. A second group of philosophers have been highly skeptical of religion or opening atheistic. This class will use two books, one from each side. The first is a book edited by Thomas V. Morris, /God and the Philosophers, The reconciliation of Faith and Reason. /The second book is edited by Louise M. Antony and it is entitled: /Philosophers without Gods, Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life/. The essays in both books offer arguments that are often more personal than the usual philosophical essay. These same arguments offer the reader both an introduction to philosophy and a thoughtful look into the relationship between philosophy and religion.

Biotechnology will be a cornerstone of the 21st century. In the U.S., revenues from genetically modified systems now top $300 billion, or the equivalent of more than 2% of GDP. China may already derive 2.5% of its GDP from biotechnology. As biotechnology becomes more sophisticated, biological production will become ever more important for the global economy. This seminar will explore the societal, economic, and security consequences of this proliferation by asking multi-disciplinary questions about technological progress, policy, and economic drivers and impacts. Examples of the issues to be addressed can be found in the recent BBC Horizons episode “Playing God”, which is available here: http://youtu.be/Rvz27Dn137g. Links to additional articles and a weblog can be found at www.synthesis.cc.

About the Instructor:
Rob Carlson is a Principal at Biodesic, an engineering, consulting, and design firm in Seattle. He has worked to develop new biological technologies in both academic and commercial environments, focusing on molecular measurement and microfluidic systems. Dr. Carlson has also developed a number of new technical and economic metrics for measuring the progress of biological technologies. Carlson is the author of the book Biology is Technology: The Promise, Peril, and New Business of Engineering Life, published in 2010 by Harvard University Press; it received the PROSE award for the Best Science and Engineering Book of 2010 and was named to the Best Books of 2010 lists at both The Economist and Foreign Policy. He is a frequent international speaker and has served as an advisor to such diverse organizations as The Hastings Center, the PICNIC Design Festival, the UN, the OECD, the US Government, and companies ranging in size from startups to members of the Fortune 100. Carlson earned an honors BS in Physics from the UW in 1993 a doctorate in Physics from Princeton University in 1997.