University of Washington Honors Program

Course for Spring 2024

* 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 (4)

Arts & Humanities courses may only count for your H-Arts & Humanities requirement or your Honors Electives requirement.

HONORS-prefix courses

HONORS 212 A: Self-Defense and (Auto)biography (A&H, DIV, W)

HONORS 212 A: Self-Defense and (Auto)biography (A&H, DIV, W)

SLN 15267 (View UW registration info »)

M. Aziz (American Ethnic Studies)
Email: draziz@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 22 students

Honors Credit Type

This course offers the chance to learn about histories and stories of unarmed self-defense while learning martial arts. In this course, we will engage texts and documentaries that detail the lives of activists and marginalized folks that became students of the martial arts or spontaneously defended themselves in unsafe situations or environments hostile to their identities. In order to understand how gender, race, and safety have impacted people’s lives across time, we will study works from the 1970s (Angela Davis: Autobiography, 1974) to the present (Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir, 2016). Each work will push students to critically think about concepts such as violence, discrimination, healing, and survival using theories from critical ethnic studies, gender studies, and trans studies. Through group discussion, students will be able to understand how marginalized activists and writers incorporated self-defense into their lives spiritually, mentally, and physically. In and outside class, students will begin their own accessible, safe martial arts journeys by practicing basic moves from Goju Karate. By the end of the course, students will be able to answer for themselves: Does defending oneself increase your safety? Does everyone have equal access to the right to practice self-defense legally or socially? What do people who are disproportionately affected by violence get out of daily self-defense and martial ats practice? What can you get out of a daily martial arts practice? And how can you use it to practice political and social solidarity with others?

HONORS 212 B: Okinawa in the Japanese Literary Imagination (A&H, DIV, W)

HONORS 212 B: Okinawa in the Japanese Literary Imagination (A&H, DIV, W)

SLN 15268 (View UW registration info »)

Davinder Bhowmik (Asian Languages and Literature)
Phone: 206-543-4699
Email: dbhowmik@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 35 students

Honors Credit Type

This course introduces students to modern prose fiction, poetry, drama, and film that depict Okinawa, Japan’s tropical playground on one hand, and its military colony on the other. While the focus of the class will be on representations of Okinawa in literature and the occasional film we will also pay close attention to the socio-historical context of the works in order to more fully understand them. In addition to introducing students to the variety of literature and film from and about Okinawa, the course will train students to read carefully and critically; to develop the ability to construct sound readings of literary works, and to argue these readings persuasively in English. All course material will be considered historically as well as analytically. No knowledge of Japanese is required; all works are in English translation and films are subtitled.

HONORS 212 C: Post-Soviet Literary and Cultural Scene (A&H, W)

HONORS 212 C: Post-Soviet Literary and Cultural Scene (A&H, W)

SLN 15269 (View UW registration info »)

Jose Alaniz (Slavic Languages and Literatures)
Office: M256 Smith Hall, Box 353580
Phone: 543-7580
Email: jos23@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 10 students

Honors Credit Type

Covers Russian literature of the post-Soviet period. In English.

HONORS 242 A: Russian Crime Fiction (A&H, W)

HONORS 242 A: Russian Crime Fiction (A&H, W)

SLN 15277 (View UW registration info »)

Galya Diment (Slavic Languages and Literatures)
Office: A219 Padelford Hall, Box 354335
Phone: 206-543-6848
Email: galya@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 15 students

Honors Credit Type

Must register for this section for Honors credit.

Honors students required to complete a longer mid-term, and either a longer final exam or a 10-12 page paper.

Introduces important trends and movements in Russian literary and cultural history.

Honors Science (4)

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

HONORS-prefix courses

HONORS 222 A: Evolution and Human Behavior (NSc, W)

HONORS 222 A: Evolution and Human Behavior (NSc, W)

SLN 15270 (View UW registration info »)

Jon Herron (Biology)
Office: 205D Burke Museum, Box 351800
Phone: (206) 547-6330
Email: herronjc@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 25 students

Honors Credit Type

The theory of evolution by natural selection is the underlying theme that unites all fields of biology. In this course we will cover the basic principles of evolution, explore ways in which evolutionary theory can be applied to human biology and behavior, and consider how evolutionary thinking might guide the development of social policy. We will consider questions such as these: Why are women and men different? Which is more egalitarian: monogamy or polygamy? Why do step-parents and step-children often have more conflicted relationships than biological parents and biological children? When do people cooperate, when are they selfish, and why? What can we do to reduce the rate of spousal abuse and homicide?

HONORS 222 B: Evolution and Human Behavior (NSc, W)

HONORS 222 B: Evolution and Human Behavior (NSc, W)

SLN 15271 (View UW registration info »)

Jon Herron (Biology)
Office: 205D Burke Museum, Box 351800
Phone: (206) 547-6330
Email: herronjc@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 25 students

Honors Credit Type

The theory of evolution by natural selection is the underlying theme that unites all fields of biology. In this course we will cover the basic principles of evolution, explore ways in which evolutionary theory can be applied to human biology and behavior, and consider how evolutionary thinking might guide the development of social policy. We will consider questions such as these: Why are women and men different? Which is more egalitarian: monogamy or polygamy? Why do step-parents and step-children often have more conflicted relationships than biological parents and biological children? When do people cooperate, when are they selfish, and why? What can we do to reduce the rate of spousal abuse and homicide?

HONORS 222 C: Pain (NSc, W)

HONORS 222 C: Pain (NSc, W)

SLN 15272 (View UW registration info »)

John Loeser (Neurological Surgery; Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine)
Phone: 206-499-1408
Email: jdloeser@uw.edu
Jonathan Mayer (Epidemiology; Geography)
Phone: 206-543-7110
Email: jmayer@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 25 students

Honors Credit Type

This seminar course will utilize a flipped classroom model to investigate all aspects of pain; from the anatomy and physiology and psychology that create this common complaint, to the sociology, history, ethics, legal and medical issues that are associated with pain. This course does not presuppose any educational background and is open to students in any major.

HONORS 222 D: Polar Places and Spaces: Exploring the Greenland Ice Sheet (NSc, W)

HONORS 222 D: Polar Places and Spaces: Exploring the Greenland Ice Sheet (NSc, W)

SLN 15273 (View UW registration info »)

Michelle Koutnik (Earth and Space Sciences)
Phone: 206-221-5041
Email: mkoutnik@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 35 students

Honors Credit Type

This course would be best suited to students in the physical and environmental sciences, but is suited to students in other majors who have an interest in learning and engaging with geospatial analysis, polar data sets, and virtual reality environments.

Learn about climate and ice-sheet change by traveling to the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet. We will investigate a glacier basin and distinct glacial landforms at the margin of the ice sheet that are shaped by to ice sheet advances and retreats over time. We will explore these places using a recently developed set of virtual reality environments, as well as explore real-world data in a Geographical Information System (GIS) developed for Greenland. Through numerous hands-on activities students will gain geospatial skills and build connections to polar places and spaces. Introductory material will cover basics of climate science, basics of continent-scale dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and how the Greenland Ice Sheet has changed over time; lectures would build from ‘climate literacy’ and ‘polar literacy’ principles.

Honors Social Sciences (3)

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

HONORS-prefix courses

HONORS 232 A: The Record of Us All (SSc, DIV, W)

HONORS 232 A: The Record of Us All (SSc, DIV, W)

SLN 15274 (View UW registration info »)

Joseph Janes (Information School)
Office: MGH 330 M, Box 352840
Phone: 206-616-0987
Email: jwj@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 35 students

Honors Credit Type

Every day – for that matter, potentially for every minute or second of every day – we interact with a widening variety of information objects, from the trivial to the profound. All of those form part of the human record, the record of who we are as individuals and who we are as a society. That record goes back thousands of years and is our only way of knowing, understanding and remembering days and people gone by, and in turn is the only way we and our world will be known and remembered. This course will explore that record in its various forms, how it got that way, what makes it work, what is and might be happening to it, and what that might mean going forward.

HONORS 232 B: Race and Medicine in U.S. History (SSc, DIV, W)

HONORS 232 B: Race and Medicine in U.S. History (SSc, DIV, W)

SLN 15275 (View UW registration info »)

Damarys Espinoza (Nursing and Health Studies)
Email: damarys@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 35 students

Honors Credit Type

Communities of color have long argued that there are inequities built into the American health care system. The data support this claim. In 2021, racism continues to be the number one driver of health inequities in the United States. This class grapples with the relationship between racism, health, and medicine. Our examination of the course topic is rooted in three fundamental questions: 1) What are the origins of how health and illness are defined today? 2) What various forms of power influence the unequal distribution of disease and unequal access to health care? 3) What role do social movements play in transforming health systems that support or generate health inequities? Our readings and audio and visual materials reach broadly across disciplines and elevate the voices and experiences of scholars and communities most impacted by health inequities. Live dialogues with community-based organizations at the frontlines of health equity research, practice, and organizing will enhance students learning.

HONORS 232 D: International Human Rights (SSc, DIV, W)

HONORS 232 D: International Human Rights (SSc, DIV, W)

SLN 15276 (View UW registration info »)

Elise Rainer (Scandinavian Studies)
Email: eacr@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 35 students

Honors Credit Type

This interdisciplinary course is a survey of current and historical international human rights. The course will cover a range of human rights topics from freedom of the press, religion, labor, gender and LGBTI rights. Drawing on knowledge from sociology, political science, and anthropology, the class will study different interpretations of rights through diverse cultures and religions. Students will gain an understanding of how the concept of ‘rights’ changes over time, in both progressive and regressive ways. For example, freedom of expression was first legislated in Sweden in 1766, and yet remains contested today, as seen in Russia’s 2022 proposed law for a 15-year prison sentence for journalists who criticize the state. Students will examine how issues such as LGBTI may improve in some regions of the world, such as Taiwan and Brazil, while at the same time digress in other parts of the globe such as Poland and Ghana. Through this class, students will gain an understanding of how human rights are created, accepted, or rejected by the international community. Participants will study both failed and successful human rights campaigns. Students will learn pragmatic skills of human rights advocacy and how to influence policy reform, with a goal to give students both knowledge and agency for human rights change.

Honors Interdisciplinary (3)

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 345 A: Interdisciplinary Writing Seminar (C)

HONORS 345 A: Interdisciplinary Writing Seminar (C)

SLN 15278 (View UW registration info »)

Jonathan Lee (Comparative History of Ideas)
Email: jreylee@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 23 students

Honors Credit Type

This course will satisfy both the UW English Composition requirement, and an Honors Interdisciplinary course requirement.

This workshop-based course will walk students from all disciplines through the methods and processes of interdisciplinary research writing and publication. To simulate a scholarly environment, students will work in small groups organized around subject specializations within the broader field of Popular Culture Studies. Students will collaborate to research these areas and support each other as they write scholarly journal articles.

HONORS 393 A: Music, Birdsong, and the Limits of the Human (A&H / NSc, W)

HONORS 393 A: Music, Birdsong, and the Limits of the Human (A&H / NSc, W)

SLN 15279 (View UW registration info »)

Mark Rodgers (School of Music)
Office: MUS 225
Email: markrodg@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 35 students

Honors Credit Type

Humans make music. The music we make assumes many forms, but species-wide we share certain basic musical capacities and these, in turn, are part of what make us human. Seen in evolutionary perspective, we also share some of these capacities with other species, including now-extinct hominids and scores of living mammals. But among the examples of musicality in the animal kingdom, none has occupied so potent a place in human imaginations as birdsong. Drawing together scholarly writings in musicology, ethnomusicology, anthropology, ornithology, and evolutionary studies, this course will explore some of the ways birdsong has served as the animal foil for human-making: as an object of aesthetic interest and academic study, as a source of metaphors for conceptualizing the world around us, and as a matrix for defining human and species-level differences. Assignments will include four written responses throughout the quarter, as well as midterm and final projects that may take a variety of forms, including papers, podcasts, documentary films, or creative work, depending on their interests and expertise. Students will also practice documenting their sonic environments by keeping regular “field notes” about their experiences of birdsong throughout the course.

HONORS 394 B: Ways of Meaning (A&H / SSc, DIV, W)

HONORS 394 B: Ways of Meaning (A&H / SSc, DIV, W)

SLN 15280 (View UW registration info »)

Katarzyna Dziwirek (Slavic Languages and Literatures)
Office: Padelford A217, Box 354335
Phone: 206-543-7691
Email: dziwirek@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 35 students

Honors Credit Type

The key questions this course addresses are How do people talk to each other in different languages? Does the language we speak determine who we are? What is the relationship between language and thought, culture, national identity? We consider crosslinguistic differences and similarities with respect to conceptualizations of Moral Concepts, Friendship and Love, Freedom, Homeland, Politeness and Rudeness and Gender. Students are required to write 2 commentaries and a final term paper. Honors students are expected to write a longer, more in-depth final paper and do one additional commentary in which they reflect on universal vs. culture-specific aspects of language and how their understanding has changed during the course.

HONORS 100/496 (2)

HONORS 100 must be taken the first autumn quarter you are admitted to Interdisciplinary Honors. Students may register for HONORS 496 after completing at least 6 of 9 Honors core courses and 1 of 2 Experiential Learning activities. See our requirements page for more details.

HONORS 496 A: Integration of the Honors Curriculum

HONORS 496 A: Integration of the Honors Curriculum

SLN 15283 (View UW registration info »)

Nicole Peters (English)
Email: petersnc@uw.edu

Credits: 1
Limit: 40 students

Honors Credit Type

For Interdisciplinary Honors students only. Students must have completed 6 of 9 Honors Core courses and 1 of 2 Experiential Learning projects.

Students must request an add code via this link: https://forms.gle/fahxhGcTR6r7P4my9

In this capstone course, a portfolio studio, students will complete the Interdisciplinary or College Honors Program by creating educational narratives within vibrant, creative, online portfolios. Each student will reflect upon the intersection of formal coursework and experiential learning by exploring, collaborating, articulating, testing out, refining, and showcasing the Honors portfolio to a community of peers and mentors. Using portfolio platforms introduced in Honors 100, students will be asked to creatively reflect on the connections between and across their UW courses and disciplines, as well as to consider in-classroom knowledge and its interface with academia and experiences outside of the classroom.

Students must request an add code via this link: https://forms.gle/fahxhGcTR6r7P4my9

HONORS 496 B: Integration of the Honors Curriculum

HONORS 496 B: Integration of the Honors Curriculum

SLN 15284 (View UW registration info »)

Nicole Peters (English)
Email: petersnc@uw.edu

Credits: 1
Limit: 40 students

Honors Credit Type

For Interdisciplinary Honors students only. Students must have completed 6 of 9 Honors Core courses and 1 of 2 Experiential Learning projects.

Students must request an add code via this link: https://forms.gle/fahxhGcTR6r7P4my9

In this capstone course, a portfolio studio, students will complete the Interdisciplinary or College Honors Program by creating educational narratives within vibrant, creative, online portfolios. Each student will reflect upon the intersection of formal coursework and experiential learning by exploring, collaborating, articulating, testing out, refining, and showcasing the Honors portfolio to a community of peers and mentors. Using portfolio platforms introduced in Honors 100, students will be asked to creatively reflect on the connections between and across their UW courses and disciplines, as well as to consider in-classroom knowledge and its interface with academia and experiences outside of the classroom.

Students must request an add code via this link: https://forms.gle/fahxhGcTR6r7P4my9

Honors Electives (9)

Any course without the “HONORS” prefix may only count for your Honors Electives requirement. You will earn Areas of Inquiry credit as indicated in the parentheses after each course title.

Other Honors courses (without HONORS-prefix)

CHEM 165: Honors General Chemistry (NSc)

CHEM 165: Honors General Chemistry (NSc)

SLN 12043 (View UW registration info »)

Credits: 5
Limit: 72 students

Honors Credit Type

Prerequisite: minimum grade of 2.2 in CHEM 155

Introduction to systematic inorganic chemistry: representative elements, metals, and nonmetals. Includes coordination complexes, geochemistry, and metallurgy. Additional material on environmental applications of basic chemistry presented. Includes laboratory. No more than the number of credits indicated can be counted toward graduation from the following course groups: CHEM 162, CHEM 165 (5 credits); CHEM 165, CHEM 312 (5 credits).

CHEM 337: Honors Organic Chemistry (NSc)

CHEM 337: Honors Organic Chemistry (NSc)

SLN 12153 (View UW registration info »)

Credits: 4
Limit: 50 students

Honors Credit Type

Prerequisite: minimum grade of 2.2 in CHEM 336.

Chemistry majors and other students planning three or more quarters of organic chemistry. Structure, nomenclature, reactions, and synthesis of organic compounds. Theory and mechanism of organic reactions. Biomolecules. Introduction to membranes, enzyme mechanisms, prosthetic groups, macromolecular conformations, and supramolecular architecture. No more than 4 credits can be counted toward graduation from the following courses: CHEM 239, CHEM 337.

CSE 122 / CSE 390 HA: Introduction to Computer Programming II (NSc)

CSE 122 / CSE 390 HA: Introduction to Computer Programming II (NSc)

SLN 12867 (View UW registration info »)

Credits: 4+1
Limit: 25 students

Honors Credit Type

CONTACT CSE (ugrad-adviser@cs.washington.edu.) with registration questions

To earn Honors credit, students must register for:
1. CSE 122 lecture A or B
2. corresponding CSE 122 section
3. CSE 390 H
AND
4. the corresponding CSE 390 HA section

NOTE: CSE 390 MUST be taken concurrently with CSE 122 to have it count toward an Honors core requirement. You cannot take the two courses in separate quarters.

Computer programming for students with some previous programming experience. Emphasizes program design, style, and decomposition. Uses data structures (e.g., lists, dictionaries, sets) to solve computational problems motivated by modern societal and scientific needs. Introduces data abstraction and interface versus implementation. Recommended: CSE 121 or completion of Paul G. Allen School’s Guided Self-Placement.

CSE 123 / CSE 390 HB: Introduction to Computer Programming III (NSc)

CSE 123 / CSE 390 HB: Introduction to Computer Programming III (NSc)

SLN 12868 (View UW registration info »)

Credits: 4+1
Limit: 25 students

Honors Credit Type

CONTACT CSE (ugrad-adviser@cs.washington.edu.) with registration questions

To earn Honors credit, students must register for:
1. CSE 123 lecture
2. corresponding CSE 123 section
3. CSE 390 H
AND
4. CSE 390 HB

Computer programming for students with significant previous programming experience. Emphasizes implementation and run-time analysis of data structures and algorithms using techniques including linked references, recursion, and object-oriented inheritance to solve computational problems motivated by modern societal and scientific needs. Recommended: CSE 122 or completion of Paul G. Allen School’s Guided Self-Placement.

ENGL 182 G: Composition: Multimodal (C)

ENGL 182 G: Composition: Multimodal (C)

SLN 14063 (View UW registration info »)

Ben Wirth (English)
Email: jbwirth@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 23 students

Honors Credit Type

Counts for Honors Electives and UW Composition Requirement. Student must be registered for Honors specific section.

Cannot be taken if student has already received a grade of 2.0 or higher in ENGL 109/110, 111, 121, 131, or 182

Priority I Registration for Freshmen and Sophomores only.

English 182 focuses on teaching strategies and skills for effective writing and argument that are required of traditional academic genres, such as the research essay, while also expanding the skills for composing in multimodal genres that our increasingly digital and media saturated world demands.

Section G is an Honors discussion driven class with minimal lecturing and grounded in a disability studies analytic.  Students will reflect on their own growth as scholars and their learning process as an evolving product. Honors students will write longer reflective papers with emphasis on metacognitive critical takeaways.

ENGL 282 B: Intermediate Multimodal Composition (C)

ENGL 282 B: Intermediate Multimodal Composition (C)

SLN 14106 (View UW registration info »)

Rasheena Fountain
Email: rfount@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 23 students

Honors Credit Type

Counts for Honors Electives and UW Composition Requirement. Student must be registered for Honors specific section.

Cannot be taken if student has already received a grade of 2.0 or higher in ENGL 109/110, 111, 121, 131, or 182

Priority I Registration for Freshmen and Sophomores only. Email uwhonors@uw.edu for add code

Strategies for composing effective multimodal texts for print, digital physical delivery, with focus on affordances of various modes–words, images, sound, design, and gesture–and genres to address specific rhetorical situations both within and beyond the academy. Although the course has no prerequisites, instructors assume knowledge of academic writing.

MATH 136 A: Accelerated Honors Calculus (NSc)

MATH 136 A: Accelerated Honors Calculus (NSc)

SLN 16871 (View UW registration info »)

Credits: 5
Limit: 40 students

Honors Credit Type

Add code available from Math Department only. Contact: advising@math.washington.edu

Students must have completed Honors MATH 135.

Sequence covers the material of 124, 125, 126; 307, 308, 318. Third quarter of the first year of a two-year accelerated sequence. May not receive credit for both 126 and 136. For students with above average preparation, interest, and ability in mathematics.

MATH 336: Honors Accelerated Advanced Calculus (NSc)

MATH 336: Honors Accelerated Advanced Calculus (NSc)

SLN 16953 (View UW registration info »)

Credits: 5
Limit: 45 students

Honors Credit Type

Add code available from Math department.

Prereq: Minimum grade of 2.0 in MATH 335

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 309, 324, 326, 327, 328, and 427. Third quarter of the second year of an accelerated two-year sequence; prepares students for senior-level mathematics courses.

PHYS 143: Honors Waves, Light and Heat (NSc)

PHYS 143: Honors Waves, Light and Heat (NSc)

SLN 19003 (View UW registration info »)

Credits: 5
Limit: 44 students

Honors Credit Type

If you have completed either PHYS 121 or PHYS 122 or have transfer credit (including AP credit) for those courses, and you think you are prepared and would like the challenge to take the next course in the sequence in the honors sequence, you should contact the instructor. Based on a discussion with the instructor of your preparedness, the instructor will help you determine what is required to ensure that you succeed in the honors sequence and will determine if the prerequisite should be waived.

HONORS STUDENTS MUST REGISTER FOR THE HONORS SECTION AND ASSOCIATED QUIZ SECTION TO RECEIVE INTERDISCIPLINARY HONORS CREDIT FOR THIS COURSE

See Physics department for more information and review their Honors Physics 142 and the Honors Physics overview pages:
https://phys.washington.edu/courses/2021/winter/phys/142a
https://phys.washington.edu/141-142-143-courses

Addresses same material as PHYS 123 in more depth and with additional topics such as current research and cross-disciplinary applications. For students with strong calculus preparation. Maximum 5 credits allowed for any combination of PHYS 116, PHYS 119, PHYS 123, and PHYS 143. 

 

Special Topics (1)

Special Topics courses are between one and three credits and do not fulfill Interdisciplinary Honors requirements. They will award non-Honors UW elective credit and a great experience.

HONORS-prefix courses

HONORS 397 B: The Power of the States: The People and Practices Behind the Programs and Policies that Impact People's Lives (SSc)

HONORS 397 B: The Power of the States: The People and Practices Behind the Programs and Policies that Impact People's Lives (SSc)

SLN 15282 (View UW registration info »)

Suzi LeVine
Email: sgl1969@uw.edu

Credits: 2
Limit: 25 students

Credit Type