Honors Course Archive

Course Archive for Summer 2020

* Add codes are placed on all courses one week after the first day of the quarter. If you need an add code, please email the course instructor for permission, and once approved, forward the confirmation from your instructor to uwhonors@uw.edu. We will be in touch with registration details as soon as possible.

Honors Arts & Humanities (0)

Honors Science (1)

Science courses may only count for your H-Science requirement or your Honors Electives requirement.

HONORS-prefix courses

HONORS 220 A: Landscape Change in the Pacific Northwest (NSc)

HONORS 220 A: Landscape Change in the Pacific Northwest (NSc)

SLN 11778 (View UW registration info »)

Timothy Billo (Program on the Environment)
Phone: 206-407-4056
Email: timbillo@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 5 students

Honors Credit Type

COURSE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Summer B-Term

Field Wilderness backpacking trip to Olympic National Park August 8-16, 2020 (tentative)

Course fee: In addition to regular UW tuition, students will pay a $220 course fee, which includes food on trip.

Students who are interested in this course should contact Professor Billo via email to find a time to meet and discuss their interest in the subject material and physical challenges of the course as well as confirm their availability for the dates of the backpacking trip. This course is entry code restricted, and entry codes will be given by Professor Billo.

This course is jointly offered with ENVIR 495C for a total of 10 students.

Between 1895 and 2015, the Seattle area grew from 40,000 people to over 4.2 million. In the next 25 years, Seattle will grow by another 1.5 million. While it is debatable exactly how “wild” the landscape was prior to European settlement of the region, it is undeniable that now virtually every piece of accessible habitat in the lowlands of the Puget Trough has been severely impacted by humans at one time or another, in some cases irrevocably. It was by stroke of luck (due in part to the inaccessibility of the terrain in the early days), and a big dash of courage from some forward-thinking leaders around the turn of the 19th Century, that Olympic National Park and other areas like it were saved from the ax and/or development. In only 25 miles as the crow (or eagle) flies from Seattle, an international hub of high tech industry, one can begin a walk into the Olympic Mountains, a roadless area of over 1 million acres (approximately 1600 sq miles), not to mention similar areas in the Cascade Range. It is this short gradient from ultra-urban to “wilderness”, that makes the region such an appealing place to live, as well as a unique place to reflect on landscape change (past, present, and future), and ramifications of this change (namely, the loss of “wild” spaces) for society in the Anthropocene. Course format is a 9-day wilderness backpacking trip in Olympic National Park. Activities on the trip include: 1) student-led discussion of student-chosen readings and themes of the course, 2) contemplation and journal writing on the value and management of “wilderness”, and 3) direct observation of the effects of climate change and fragmentation on species and ecosystems. Prior to the trip, there will be online reading and discussion assignments. After the trip, an essay on a topic of each students’ choosing and general written reflection in the form of a blog post, will be required. Readings will draw from some classic American nature writers, as well as other sources including psychology, ecology, history, philosophy, local writers, and perspectives on “wilderness” and outdoor recreation from native Americans and other marginalized groups. Course fee (in addition to regular UW tuition) is $220. UW will supply group camping gear and transportation. Students should supply sleeping bag, ground pad, backpack, and clothing-UW has some equipment to loan if needed. Course is limited to 10 students. No prior camping/backpacking experience is required or expected, but students should expect the trip to be physically challenging and should prepare for that challenge accordingly.

The 9 day trip runs from a Saturday through to a Sunday, such that students working a summer job should only need to miss one 5-day work week. Contact Tim Billo: timbillo@uw.edu for more information about this course. 

Honors Social Sciences (0)

Honors Interdisciplinary (1)

Interdisciplinary courses may only count for your Interdisciplinary Honors requirement or your Honors Electives requirement. These courses cannot count for your Honors Science, Honors Humanities/Arts or Honors Social Science requirements, even if they bear the corresponding Areas of Inquiry designation.

HONORS-prefix courses

HONORS 394 A: Public Activism: Animals, Climate and Environmental Justice (A&H / SSc)

HONORS 394 A: Public Activism: Animals, Climate and Environmental Justice (A&H / SSc)

SLN 14370 (View UW registration info »)

Jessica Holmes (English)
Email: holmes07@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 35 students

Honors Credit Type

Summer A-Term

In this course, students will explore contemporary public activism in the areas of animal rights, climate crisis, and environmental justice. Through a variety of models, students will consider the history of modern activism, the relationship of different activist movements to each other, the numerous “genres” or “forms” of activism, and the deployment of social media in the present era. Students will have ample opportunity to explore a specific area of activism of their own choice–engaging in creative, critical and collaborative reflection. Additionally, students will be asked to consider how an understanding of and participation in public activism might deepen the impact and stakes of academic scholarship and/or how academic scholarship might enrich public activism. The course will culminate in a group project in which students imagine and map out their own (hypothetical or actual) action, applying knowledge gained in the course and thinking about the evolving context for activism in the era of COVID-19. Throughout the term, students should expect to engage in frequent reading, writing, discussion, and reflection in a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary online environment.

Please note: This course does not serve as a tutorial on “how to be a good activist.” Neither direct experience in activism nor ambitions to become an activist is required (though student-activists and aspiring student-activists are most welcome).

HONORS 100/496 (0)

(No Course records found)

Honors Electives (0)

Special Topics (0)