Fall 2008

1000 Level Course Offerings
2000 Level Course Offerings
3000 Level Course Offerings
4000 Level Course Offerings

(Past course offerings can be found here.  Mitte Honors courses are different each semester.)
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HON 1390E, Origins of Civilization

Instructor: Wilson, N.                  Days/time: MW 11:00-12:15                     Location: Lamp 502B

A study of literary, mythic and philosophical works selected with special attention to narratives about the origins of humanity and civilization. The course assumes that study of a variety of explanations of human existence will broaden students' perspectives and provide insight into the background of contemporary world cultures. Students will respond to readings in short papers designed to stimulate class discussion, class presentations, a documented paper and a final examination. Students in this course will be treated to guest lectures from a rabbi and representatives from the Islamic center in Austin. In addition, students will take a field trip to visit Buddhist  and Hindu places of worship.

Substitution(s): ENG 1310, 1320, 2330, 3341 or counts toward the US Ethnic Studies Minor

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HON 1390H, Understanding Communication and Technology

Instructor: Salem, P.                  Days/time: 2:00-3:15                     Location: Lamp 502B

Topics include the following: the nature of telecommunications, the nature of computers, the adoption of innovations, media gratification, point-to-point telecommunications, teleconferencing, office technology, public media, media businesses, technology in education, teleworking, technology and organizations, technology and social development, and technology and culture. Lectures, discussions, structured experiences and various technologies will be used in class. There will be four major units: A) Fundamentals of Communication. B) Interpersonal Communication, Telephony and Telecommunications. C) Computer-Mediated Communication. D) Public and Broadcast Fundamentals of Human Communication. Will use a technological deprivation assignment in which students will avoid using specific technologies for one week three times during the semester.

Substitution(s): COMM 1310 or Advanced Communication Studies

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HON 2390K, An Intro to Arab Culture

Instructor: Abunseir, A.                  Days/time: TH 11:00-12:15                     Location: Lamp 407A

What is the difference between Arab culture and Islam?  What is the relationship between the Arabic language and the Arabic culture?  How does Arabic culture differ from that of the United States? This introductory course will explore the Arab world.

Substitution(s):GEO 3328 or International Studies: Middle East/Africa

 

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HON 2391F, Baseball and the American Experience

Instructor: Renick, O.                  Days/time: MW 9:30-10:45                     Location: Lamp 501

This course is about baseball as culture and will introduce students to baseball’s place in American history and its role in contemporary society. Using baseball as a lens, students will gain insight into American life. The course will tie “The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture.” Students will submit a detailed abstract of their proposed course paper for review by a panel of three faculty members. The top two abstracts selected will be submitted when the symposium’s call for papers is issued late in the year. Should either abstract submitted to the symposium peer reviewers be accepted, the students’ course paper will serve as a draft manuscript in collaborating with the faculty members on the symposium presentation. In addition to the course paper, students will have a midterm and final examinations.

Substitution(s): HIST 1320

 

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HON 3392V, Elementary Number Theory

Instructor: Warshauer, M.                  Days/time: MWF 9:30-10:20                     Location: Lamp 502B

Elementary Number Theory allows students at different levels of mathematical maturity to all participate and work together. Students will study simple ideas about the integers, where they already have well-developed intuition. To paraphrase David Gries (Science of Programming), one should never take basic principles for granted, for it is only through careful application of simple fundamental ideas that progress is made. The division algorithm is studied in detail, and is seen to have far-reaching consequences throughout the course. It yields Euclid’s algorithm and the solution to linear Diophantine equations. Properties of divisibility also lead naturally to modular arithmetic and related questions about quadratic forms. Students explore quadratic residues, culminating w/ Legendre Symbols and a development of the Law of Quadratic Reciprocity.

Substitution(s): MATH 1315 or 3330

 

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HON 3393J, Sex, Drugs and Cabaret

Instructor: Menninger, M.                  Days/time: MW 3:30-4:45                     Location: Lamp 502B

Why does the turn of the 19th century seem an awful lot like the turn of the 20th century?  Why do recurrent themes emerge at the end of centuries?  This writing-intensive seminar considers European life in the years around 1900 with particular emphasis on Vienna and Paris.

Substitution(s): Advanced History Group A

 

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HON 3394D, The Media, Latinos and the 2008 Election

Instructor: Subveri, F.                  Days/time: TH 2:00-3:15                     Location: Lamp 502B

What are the relationships between mass media and politics?  How are Latinos affected? What is the role of media, and what are the communications strategies of the Democrats and Republicans in the 2008 elections?

Substitution(s): Advanced Mass Communication, Advanced Political Science or counts towards the US Ethnic Studies Minor

 

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HON 3394N, Intro to Humanities I

Instructor: Morrison, S. and Makowski, E.                 Days/time: T 2:00-4:45                     Location: Lamp 501

This interdisciplinary course examines the dilemmas that arise when individual desires conflict with the needs of society. Students analyze exemplary, original texts from the humanities tradition from the Classical period through the early modern era using the perspectives of literature, political theory, history, and philosophy.

Substitution(s):  Sophomore Literature or Advanced English

 

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HON 3394S, Perspectives on the Coming Presidential Election

Instructor: Ward, K.                  Days/time: MW 12:30-1:45                    Location: Lamp 501

How do we elect a president in 2008?  What is the perspective of citizens who seek to participate responsibly in the process that selects the next leader of our government?  What is the perspective of people who enjoy election as spectacle, or otherwise seek to define their character through participation/engagement with politics?  Or the media who seek to shape perspectives?

Substitution(s): POSI 2320 or Upper Level Political Science

 

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HON 3394T, Social Class Collision: The Post WWII Brit Novel of Manners

Instructor: Monroe, D.                  Days/time: TH 12:30-1:45                     Location: Lamp 502B

How did evacuations, air raid shelters, the rationing of food, clothes and gas, leveled material prospects and conditions force people who previously had limited interaction into unprecedented contact?  Study six novels that depict both the fluidity and eerie persistence of class distinctions in the post World War II the social landscape.

Substitution(s): Sophomore Literature or Advanced English

 

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HON 3395B, Integral Ecology

Instructor: Lopes, V.                  Days/time: TH 11:00-12:15                     Location: Lamp 502B

What is the future of humanity on earth?  How do the intuitive awareness of the oneness of life and the interdependence of its multiple manifestations and its cycles of change affect that future?  How does science affect our attitude toward the natural world?

Substitution(s): Advanced Biology or Advanced Philosophy

 

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HON3395E, Families and the Workplace

Instructor: Canabal, M.                  Days/time: TH 2:00-3:15                     Location: FCS 1004

How do the demands of family and work challenge families and individuals in contemporary society?  What is the interaction of work, family, gender, race/ethnicity and class?  Students will apply their area of interest to the study of the family-work interaction.

Substitution(s): FCC 4347, SOC 3337, SOC 3338 or counts toward the minor in Social Gerontology

 

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HON 3395F, Museum Representations

Instructor: Hadder, N.                  Days/time: F 9:30-12:15                     Location: Lamp 501

How are cultural and aesthetic values, identity, difference, history, progress, and the scientific record constructed in a museum exhibit?  Using art criticism and interpretation, students will construct a class exhibition project.

Substitution(s): Social and Behavior Science component or

Advanced Anthropology

 

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HON 3395J, The Meaning of Death

Instructor: Gordon, J.                  Days/time: MW 2:00-3:15                     Location: Lamp 501

How does the fact that we will die affect the possibility of our living a meaningful life?  In this course we will examine answers to this question provided by philosophers, psychologists, literary writers, and film-makers.

Substitution(s): Advanced Philosophy

 

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HON 3395K,The World's a Stage: Dramatic Glimpses of the Human Condition and Contemporary Issues

Instructor: Hood, J.                  Days/time: MW 3:30-4:45                     Location: Lamp 501

This course examines the human condition through dramatic literature from the classical era through the present day.  An understanding of the individual human being in the modern/contemporary eras—when science, wars, the arts, religion, education, and philosophy increasingly impact and change the human condition—enhances our understanding of the human experience and helps us define the range of needs, goals, and behaviors in today’s world.

Substitution(s): AdvancedTheatre, Sophomore Literature or Advanced English

 

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BLaw 2361, Business Law (Dept'l Honors)

Instructor: Hale. J.                  Days/time: TBD                     Location: McCoy TBD

Business Law.

HON 4390A, Thesis Development

Instructor: McCabe, D.                  Days/time: MW 12:30-1:45                     Location: Lamp 502B

This course provides the opportunity to focus on research and learn research techniques appropriate for an honors thesis while providing the foundation to develop a realistic project, find a supportive thesis supervisor, build a bibliography and outline, and complete the review of literature.

Substitution(s): Advanced Elective

 

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HON 4390B, Honors Thesis

Instructor: Galloway, H.                  Days/time: Arranged                     Location: Arranged

Students enrolled in HON 4390B work with their supervising professor on their Honors undergraduate thesis.

Substitution(s): Advanced Elective or Arranged Substitutions

 

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HON 4391, Honors Independent Study

Instructor: Arranged                  Days/time: Arranged                     Location: Arranged

Individual study under direct supervision of a professor for honors credit.

Substitution(s): Arranged

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ARR, Honors Contract Course

Instructor: Arranged                  Days/time: Arranged                     Location: Arranged

Individual study under direct supervision of a professor for Honors credit.

Substitution(s): Arranged