Honors Course Archive

This Honors Interdisciplinary Study discussion course explores knowledges, philosophies and histories as told by contemporary indigenous people. “Story” is the central concept of this course with stories and storytelling used as both pedagogy and source information. Story is understood to be any narration on any topic about any event with any amount of veracity and/or claim to exclusiveness of accuracy.

We will be conversing with these ideas:
– performances of living
– methodologies for scholarship
– knowledge systems and their genealogies including creation stories
– negotiating and negotiated histories
– identity – including gender, phenotype, ability, history

Over the quarter, I would like to see us spend time with these tasks:
– develop and revise a syllabus for our next ten weeks learning together
– learn within Anishinaabe pedagogical concepts
– undertake cognitive and experiential explorations of knowledges and philosophies within stories told by indigenous [and other] peoples
– share our insights and knowledges with other learners in the class as we encounter new knowledges and come to more developed understandings
– learn as a group with an implied responsibility for each of us to optimize the learning of everyone
– explore Anishinaabe and Sto:lo concepts of storytelling as pedagogy and source material
– hone our critical thinking skills
– improve our ability to develop and ask good questions
– write and perform a story similar to those within Anishinaabe and Sto:lo practice

Are there feelings that all people share independent of language, culture, & gender? We will examine the meaning and form of “emotion” words, facial expressions, cultural attitudes towards emo-
tion and emotional behavior, as well as gender-specific emotional expressions in different languages.

The key questions that are addressed in the Ways of Feeling class are:
· Are there “emotional universals”, that is, feelings that all people share independent of language, culture, gender, and race? and
· Are there “culture-specific” emotions?
· Are there “gender-specific” emotions?

The class is suitable for all students who are interested in Language, languages, and meaning. Ways of Feeling is a comparative course, with enough Slavic content for it to be relevant for Slavic majors and graduate students, yet accessible to those interested in other languages. Students will be introduced to research methods in semantics, pragmatics and discourse. They will gain an appreciation of the social and cultural underpinnings of their own language and other languages. The requirements consist of 4 short papers, an image collection, and a final term paper.

Offered jointly with Latin 300. Additional section times TBD.

Students enrolling in the special offering will attend Latin 300: Intensive Elementary Latin. Additionally, students will meet in a small section for critical analysis of historical and cultural aspects of the Latin language in ancient Rome, with an emphasis on making productive and illuminating connections between the study of Latin and students’ other interests and goals.

Small section meetings will be held with Professor Catherine Connors, Chair of the UW Classics Department.

From czars to comrades and to new Russians, from Alexander Pushkin and Fyodor Dostoevsky to Boris Akunin and Alexandra Marinina, the course will cover more than two centuries of Russian crime writing. Other featured writers include Anton Chekhov and Vladimir Nabokov. It’s all about who is good, who is evil, who is up, who is down, and, of course, who dunnit. All readings, lectures, and discussions will be in English. No prior knowledge of Russian, Russian literature or history is required to take this course. No prerequisites.

Evolution and genetics are the cornerstones of modern biology. DNA & Evolution will explore these fields in the context of contemporary issues that are important to individuals and societies. Although examples will be drawn from a variety of organisms, the primary emphasis will be on humans. Among the questions we will consider are these: Where did modern humans come from? Why are women and men different? Why do children resemble their parents? Do genes influence variation in personality, intelligence, and sexual orientation? What can genetic analyses reveal about evolutionary history and the relationships among species? Can genetic analyses allow us to predict the evolutionary future? Given what our society knows about evolution and genetics, should we take responsibility for guiding the evolutionary future of human populations?

Throughout the course the goal will be to help students develop sufficient biological sophistication to understand new discoveries in genetics and evolution, talk to their doctors, and make rational personal and political choices about biological issues. Students will read secondary and primary literature, ask questions, design experiments, analyze and interpret data, and draw their own conclusions.

Assignments will include essays, problem sets, and computer labs.

Evolution and genetics are the cornerstones of modern biology. DNA & Evolution will explore these fields in the context of contemporary issues that are important to individuals and societies. Although examples will be drawn from a variety of organisms, the primary emphasis will be on humans. Among the questions we will consider are these: Where did modern humans come from? Why are women and men different? Why do children resemble their parents? Do genes influence variation in personality, intelligence, and sexual orientation? What can genetic analyses reveal about evolutionary history and the relationships among species? Can genetic analyses allow us to predict the evolutionary future? Given what our society knows about evolution and genetics, should we take responsibility for guiding the evolutionary future of human populations?

Throughout the course the goal will be to help students develop sufficient biological sophistication to understand new discoveries in genetics and evolution, talk to their doctors, and make rational personal and political choices about biological issues. Students will read secondary and primary literature, ask questions, design experiments, analyze and interpret data, and draw their own conclusions.

Assignments will include essays, problem sets, and computer labs.

Oil and its environmental consequences are at the center of the Climate Change debate. Could an oil spill fundamentally change U.S. domestic and international policy? These recent headlines provide some insight into how it might:

“Obama to confront oil pipeline, climate change.”
“Shell ship grounding fuels Arctic drilling debate.”
“With Arctic ice melting at record pace, the world’s superpowers are increasingly jockeying for political influence and economic position.”
“Oil-tanker traffic is expected to increase in Washington waters under an expansion by a Canadian pipeline company”
“Syria’s Assad accused of boosting Al-Qaeda with secret oil deals.”

This course explores marine oil spill science, policies, and practices. Students will gain knowledge of key marine science principles and apply them to contemporary issues such as Arctic oil development, fracked oils, and the BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Oil spills provide a lens for viewing the theme of knowledge across disciplines – applied to real-word problems of managing marine ecosystems. Students will examine major oil spills to understand both the scientific and human dimensions of preserving ocean resources.

Oil spills can also provide a window into how society uses science to mitigate the effects of technology. By studying the science of oil spills, students will develop skills for critically evaluating the popular portrayal of scientific concepts and their role in policy debates as a way to gain a deeper appreciation for the complexity of developing sustainable societies.

Over the past decade, there have been between 3,000 and 5,000 marine spill incidents annually. Marine oil spills are among the most visible and potentially damaging threats to fish and wildlife and their habitats, regional economies, and the people of the region. They can impact international relations, national energy policy, and even election outcomes, yet few people understand the scientific foundations of spills and response measures like dispersants.

We will begin the course with an introduction to oil spills that have had a major impact on science, technology, and policy in the United States. Each spill will illustrate key disciplines that provide the scientific foundation for mitigating spill impacts. Understanding oil spills requires an interdisciplinary approach that considers both natural and social sciences.

Learning Goals
At the end of this course, each student will be able to:
-Explain how oil spills behave in the marine environment, with an emphasis on effects to humans and ecosystems.
-Describe, and compare the advantages and disadvantages of the basic spill response strategies and their differing impacts to the environment and humans.
– Demonstrate how to apply oil spill tools to an oil spill scenario in order to critique alternative response strategies.
– Recognize the role of old and new media in communicating science and affecting policy.
– Display a leadership role in the classroom community through discussion, group learning, and class presentations.

Recommended preparation
We expect students to be new to this topic and many to be non-science majors. There are no prerequisite courses required to enroll in this class. Students can prepare by reading articles on the Arctic oil development, oil shipping by rail, and oil spills as they occur.

Class assignments and grading
The course will strongly encourage student participation, discussion, and peer collaboration. Differing points of view are encouraged when presented in a positive context. Student can expect a high level of success if they attend
lectures and complete the readings and course assignments.

-In-class participation – 10%
-Discussion briefs and short writing assignments – 20%
-Quizzes – 30%
-Group Project – 20% (10% individual grade, 10% group grade)
-Final Paper – 20%

How are living and dying understood in contemporary critical theory? In what ways are the lives and deaths of humans and nonhumans governed by economic logics? Whose lives are privileged over others and with what consequences? How are certain bodies made killable and others grievable? How do we understand and face the process of death and dying? How do we live and die well, and who has this privilege? This seminar interrogates these and other questions related to how we live and die with others in a multispecies world. With attention to race, gender, species, ability, and other sites of perceived difference, students will gain a nuanced understanding of core themes related to fundamental processes of living and dying. This course asks students to theorize real-world moments of living and dying – of ‘making live’ and ‘letting die’ – to understand the deeply political nature of life and death as differential moments on a continuum of being. We focus on key questions related to an affirmative politics of life – in other words, how we should live, how we care and for whom, and how we might foster nonviolent interpersonal life-affirming encounters. Students can expect to explore pressing contemporary issues such as mass incarceration and ‘social death;’ biotechnologies and ethics of patenting life; the intensive breeding, confinement and slaughter of nonhuman animals for food; ecological degradation and restoration; end-of-life care and euthanasia; and the role of marginalized bodies in biomedical research. Course expectations: active participation in seminar, journal/reflective writing entries, and a final project which will make a great possible artifact for the Honors Portfolio.

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 memoirist and the returning traveler a way to synthesize experiences, transforming them into essays, articles, poems or stories. Our time together will help to set a practice for writing and exploring so that writing becomes a multi-modal practice to document life as it goes along.

Our goals include: helping you to keep a fantastic notebook/record of the sights, sounds, smells and impressions of the places you’ve visited and creating methods to transform that notebook into a more formal piece of writing. By reading poems, stories, essays and articles that illuminate the art of travel and of recording memories, 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.

This 10 week seminar/discussion is an intense interactive discourse about college life. Emphasis is given to the 2004 Tom Wolfe novel, I am Charlotte Simmons which chronicles the college experiences of an 18 year old low-income undergraduate female, Charlotte Simmons, during her first semester at DuPont College. The second book is the 1965 (republished 2012) novel, Stoner by John Williams, about the college life of English professor William Stoner. The seminar will mainly explore the trials of Charlotte as she deals with issues such as sexuality, acceptance and rejection, narcissism, grade inflation and deflation, depression, disclosure, fraternity/sorority culture, glorification of student-athletes and elitism. Amazingly, Professor Stoner’s life in many ways are similar to Charlotte’s but from a generational and gender point of view.

The two novels, I am Charlotte Simmons and Stoner critically explore situations which have real-world implications for the well-being of any college student. Our discussions can and will become sensitive and intense. Students should not enroll unless they are prepared to take matters as acceptance and rejection, classism, sexism, acculturation, aspects about coming of age, also issues of self-esteem and the results of risk-taking.

TEACHING METHODS
This 5-credit seminar meets twice a week and all students are expected to be in attendance. Any absence must be excused. A complete reading of I am Charlotte Simmons and Stoner is required. Read the novels and not about the novels.

Teaching Approach: The Socratic Method is employed. This gives voice to the students which comes from Charlotte herself and from the students’ impression of Stoner (and speculation of what Stoner probably thinks of them.)

Final Paper: A 5-7 page, double-spaced, type-written paper in 12-font with title page and proper margins with APA style references as appropriate is due on the last day of the week of instruction. No late papers will be accepted!

Attendance: If absence cannot be helped, notify the instructor. However, too many absences can and will result in a failing grade.

No Lap-tops, Smart Phones or Use of Electronic Equipment while Seminar is in session! Please put these items away during the seminar. Connecting to the Internet while class is in session is strictly prohibited and this includes texting. The instructor is interested in what YOU think, not what some else has written in cyberspace. Note-taking can be done by pencil and paper and/or be audio-recorded.

Occasional Pop Quizzes: There will be unannounced quizzes. These will be one-two page in-class responses to a question taken from the Charlotte Simmons Discussion Guide. Individual feedback will be given but will not be graded, just remembered.

Occasional Group Exams: These are also unannounced administered in the style of the ancient TV quiz show, The GE College Bowl!

Individual Participation: This is informed participation. Students are expected to provide comments, insights and opinions based on the substance of the material, and not rhetoric.

This course will focus on case study examinations of how science operates within broad social, political, and ethical contexts. We will consider the growth of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, the societal impact of scientific results and developed technologies, the political environment surrounding scientific practice, the ethical responsibilities of scientists, the censorship of scientific findings, the complex mechanisms for funding scientific research, and the power inherent in claims to knowledge.

The case studies will emphasize intersections among science communication, science education, science policy, and science research. Potential topics include the regulation of genetically-­modified organisms, the study of global climate change, and the teaching of evolution. Examining these cases will ask us to analyze articles from a variety of scientific and popular sources and to engage, both independently and collaboratively, in assignments, discussions, and presentations.

Required Texts:
Creating Scientific Controversies: Uncertainty and Bias in Science and Society by David Harker
How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff

An exploration of the philosophies which have shaped the Black Liberation Movement, the Feminist Movement and the Gay Rights Movement in the United States. We will begin by looking at the ideological roots of these movements in earlier centuries then trace their development through their 20th century manifestations. Similarities and differences in these social theories will be analyzed along with the historical contexts in which they were and are invoked. We will also consider the political ramifications of utilizing particular paradigms to argue for social change.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
To provide an overview of the sociopolitical philosophies which underlie the Feminist, African/American, and Gay movements in the United States.
To situate these paradigms in their historical context.
To assess which theories, concepts and arguments transcend the particular features of the individual movements and apply across their differences and which do not.
To develop the students’ ability to analyze, formulate and defend theory.
To assist students in examining their own sociopolitical beliefs and goals.

REQUIRED TEXTS:
Black Power Ideologies, John McCartney
Readings Packets (available at Prof. Copy, 42nd & U. Way)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
– Class participation (30%): Be present and prepared for discussion. This means having each day’s readings completed by class time and coming with some ideas about them and about any assigned questions. Participation includes both thoughtful comments and active, respectful listening and an appropriate balance between them. One absence is permitted without affecting your participation grade.
– Weekly response papers (30%): Each week questions or topics related to the readings will be given on which you will write approximately 2 typewritten pages. Graded credit/no-credit.
– Group project (15%): Guidelines to be announced.
– Final exam (take-home essay) (25%)

This class provides a survey of Muslims living in non-Muslim contexts, but primarily in the US and Europe. This course explores the historical journey(s) of this religion/culture and its eventual settlement in the western world and North America. We will explore the diversity of Islam in the US and in Europe, and will explore and compare the experiences of Muslims in the US and other parts of the western world. Discussions over gender roles, transnational ties, radical versus moderate Islam will be examined and explored. The larger question posed by the class deals with the compatibility between Islam as a religion and a culture, and modernity and western democracies.

Music can be heard all over our planet. It finds its place in the chants of a shaman healing their patient, accompanies television commercials to help sell a product, helps create an atmosphere at social events, and accompanies societal rites of passage. Its inspiration can also be found in nature, for example, as a bird singing in our back yard or in the Amazon rainforest. Academically, music weaves its magic into many fields, making it an interdisciplinary powerhouse. It is present from the hard sciences through the most esoteric arts. Examples include recording technology in engineering; the use of music for healing in medicine and psychology; the study of sound production and building of musical instruments in physics; copyright and performance rights in law; and its use as a teaching aid in education.

In this experiential course we will examine some of the universal themes emerging from the use of music and its influence on humanity and our world. Our ten week journey will utilize various lenses through which we will explore the topic, including scientific and academic research, observation of collective human experience, and your own personal experience both in and outside of class. Our time together will be partially modeled on the goals and objectives of collaborative teaching/learning communities. Activities will include class visits from guest experts and group and individual research opportunities along with weekly musical explorations facilitated by the instructor. During this process we will also examine how it affects and empowers our own lives.

BIOC 441B will be launched in Winter Quarter 2016, and will function as an independent Honors section of BIOC 441. Approval to take BIOC 441B is by application only. We will cover the same basic concepts as the Biochemistry 441A lecture course, but in a seminar format meeting twice each week for 2 hours (a total of 4 hours weekly). BIOC 441B will be taught by Professors David Morris and Alan Weiner. Enrollment will be capped at 25 students with preference given to biochemistry majors if enrollment becomes oversubscribed.

BIOC 441B aims to provide a deeper and more scientifically adventurous exploration of molecular concepts than can be achieved in a large lecture format. Students will engage in group discussions that encourage independent thinking, critical analysis and peer-to-peer learning.

Students in the honors section must:

● Master the basic concepts of BIOC 441A on their own by whatever modalities best suit their learning
styles (reading the text, attending the live 441A lectures, listening to videos or podcasts). Although each 441B class meeting will begin with a brief group review of the textbook reading, thorough preparation before each class meeting is absolutely essential.

● Participate fully in an energetic, rigorous, and intellectually challenging exchange of ideas around the table. Analysis of the primary literature and peer-to-peer exploration of scientific concepts are the heart of this course, and each class meeting will be mainly devoted to a roundtable discussion of an assigned article (or articles) drawn from the recent experimental literature and/or popular press. Those who do not regularly and effectively engage in the discussions will be asked to transfer to BIOC 441A.

Grading: Proficiency with the 441B material will be determined by two “open book” exams consisting of short answer questions and short essays that stress understanding and application rather than recall. The final grade will be based on the exam scores, an individual project, and class participation throughout the quarter as evaluated by the instructors.

Continuation of CHEM 145. Includes laboratory. Together CHEM 145 and 155 cover material in CHEM 142, 152, and 162. No more than the number of credits indicated can be counted toward graduation from the following course groups: CHEM 152, 155 (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 more than 4 credits can be counted toward graduation from the following course groups: CHEM 238, CHEM 336.

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.

Explore and learn how professional designers strategize and problem solve. Learn how to apply these creative techniques in other disciplines and professions.

Course Description: Law and Science have been integrally related since the 17th Century, although there are references dating back to ancient times. Scientific advances have frequently spurred law and law has often modified the progress of science. This survey course will consider how this linkage has developed, persisted and become ever more pivotal as technology and innovation have advanced. First, the course will consider the role of science and technology in the Courtroom, particularly in the context of criminal law and investigation. Second will be an exploration of the way that science influences law making and regulation, including examples of how “bad science” may lead to enactment of laws that promote, rather than protect against injustice. This will include examination of science and law on individual rights, in the context of education, reproductive decision-making and determination of parenthood, and privacy. Finally, we will consider science form the global
perspective and consider the global justice issues arising from disparities in access to innovation.

Covers the material of MATH 124, 125, 126; 307, 308, 318. First year of a two-year accelerated sequence. May receive advanced placement (AP) credit for 125 after taking 135. 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, 324, 326, 327, 328, and 427. Second year of an accelerated two-year sequence; prepares students for senior-level mathematics courses. Prerequisite: 2.0 in MATH 334.

Basic principles of electromagnetism, the mechanics of oscillatory motion, and experiments in these topics 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 115 and PHYS 122.

In this one-credit seminar, you will learn and practice strategies for speaking effectively about you own skills, accomplishments, and experiences in a variety of academic or workplace contexts (e.g., poster sessions, final project reports, interviews). We will address content selection and organization, delivery techniques, design and use of visual aids, and Q&A sessions. You will have opportunities, in a relaxed, small-group environment, to practice strategies learned in class through the presentations you make to
your peers. You will also gain experience evaluating your own presentations and providing feedback to peers on theirs. You will also receive instructor feedback aimed at helping you improve your skills and prepare for future speaking opportunities.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

-Create and organize presentation content for a given audience and situation

-Design visual aids that complement and enhance the oral message

-Deliver presentations effectively, with and without visual aids, and within a specific time limit

-Manage-and leverage-anxiety that can accompany oral presentation

-Engage in question-and-answer sessions, as both speaker and audience member

-Listen attentively to peers’ presentations and provide meaningful feedback

This 2 credit seminar explores the root causes of impoverishment and homelessness in the U.S. We will unlearn poverty and homelessness as framed in popular discourse and the ‘poverty industry’. We will explore root causes of impoverishment including both material processes and representations that frame individual people and places as poor. We will think about the role of the non-poor and structural causes in the production of poverty/inequality. In the first part of the course we will ethically engage with non-homed people, homelessness activists and political movements that are addressing the immediate and root causes of homelessness. We will then work on understanding root causes of homelessness, considering the role of housing and employment markets, criminalization and social policy. Finally, we will consider what relational poverty politics can contribute to addressing impoverishment in new ways. Students will be assessed on participation and their leadership of our discussions. The seminar is open to all students, no prior classes are required.

This is a practical, hands-on seminar for a small, select group of students who have proposals or projects to help everyday Americans exercise more power in civic life. Working with Citizen University CEO Eric Liu, students will develop or expand civic and social ventures. The weekly seminar will work in part as a tutorial on power and civic action and in part as a venture incubator or accelerator. Interested students should submit a 1-2 page proposal describing the civic power project they’d like to launch or accelerate as well as their background and experience. A group of approximately 15 students will be selected to participate. Over the course of the quarter, students will launch or accelerate a project or civic venture. Course assignments will include regular updates and reflections on individual projects, as well as readings and reflections on power.

This is an introductory course to international business. International business differs from local business in many aspects. If a company wants to conduct business in foreign countries, it must confront the following situations that differ from its home country: language, currency, culture, policies, market size, economic growth, demographic changes, appropriate marketing technique, and so forth.

In the first half of the course I will provide short lectures and discuss some materials/ideas on international business. No previous knowledge about business or economics is necessary.

Further, there will be no exams or papers. However, participants will be expected to contribute to the class discussion. I will ask you to complete a group work presentation in the second half of the class. Here is an example of the presentation topic: “Suppose you start up your own business in a country outside of the US. What should you do in order to maximize the profits from your business in that country?” Class-participation (not just attendance) and the uniqueness of the group work presentation are important for the final evaluation.

How do we experience live music? What have writers, philosophers, and artists said about its power? This
experiential learning course will introduce students to the Winter 2016 season at the Seattle Symphony. Students will complete readings and short response assignments in a variety of genres over the quarter, based on their attendance at a series of pre-selected concerts. We will also engage with the artistic staff at Benaroya Hall for their insights into programming, performance, and other topics. All assignments will be appropriate for the Honors portfolio.

The planned concert schedule listed below. Students will purchase their tickets either through the Symphony’s Campus Club (a $30 pass allows you to go to concerts for the rest of the season if seating is available) or through the Teen Tix program ($5 per concert). The instructors will organize signups for the Campus Club and will handle all tickets for the quarter. Contact Claudia Jensen (cjensen@uw.edu) if you have questions or concerns about paying for the tickets.

The list of concerts we plan to attend is as follows:

Jan 15 ‒ the Baroque and Wine series

Jan. 21 ‒ Mozart and Haydn

Feb. 4 ‒ Strauss, Beethoven, Berio

Feb. 11 ‒ Beethoven and Bartók

March 10 ‒ Mozart, Haydn, Schoenberg