University Honors 200-Level Courses
Read below to see descriptions for the University Honors courses offered for Fall 2008.
UH 257, section 1: TR 9:40-10:55
Special Topics in the Arts and Humanities:Interdisciplinary Approaches to Human Mortality in Western Culture
Dr. Mark Luprecht (English)
Gen. Ed.: Arts and Humanities
This honors seminar is intended to acquaint you with the ways in which human beings have represented and responded to their mortality. Works by health professionals, philosophers, novelists, poets, playwrights, visual artists, composers, and filmmakers will be explored and interpreted. If the "unexamined life is not worth living," then certainly an in-depth consideration of life's inevitable end is worthwhile. The goal of this seminar is to show you the wide range of approaches to death; to encourage you to think critically about how others have encountered death; and to lead you to begin to formulate your own attitude and response.
UH 257, section 2: TR 8:10-9:25 am
Special Topics in the Arts and Humanities:Thought and Values in Modern America, 1870-1970
Dr. Bruce Wheeler (History)
Gen. Ed.: Arts and Humanities
This seminar will examine and analyze the historical background of the current debate in the United States between “liberals” and “conservatives” (placed in quotation marks because these titles gradually have been stripped of almost all worthwhile meanings) over the foundations that underlie modern thought, “truth,” and values. Particular attention will be paid to the emergence of relativism and subjectivity in such diverse fields as law, politics, economics, sociology, religion, history, architecture, art, etc.
UH 257, section 3: TR 8:10-9:25 am
Special Topics in the Arts and Humanities: Civil War in Modern Memory
Dr. Paul Ashdown (Journalism/Electronic Media)
Gen. Ed.: Arts and Humanities
An estimated 50,000 books and pamphlets about the Civil War were published between 1865 and 1995, and the last decade has seen an even more astonishing production of Civil War literature. Few conflicts in world history have been so thoroughly vetted by journalists, historians, novelists and filmmakers. This course examines the meaning and legacy of the war as a cultural phenomenon. We will explore ways the war has been shaped and remembered and why it continues to trouble our conscience.
UH 267, section 1: TR 9:40-10:55
Special Topics in the Social Sciences: Can Markets Save the Environment?
Dr. William Park (Agricultural Economics)
Gen. Ed.: Social Sciences
Market-oriented or incentive-based policy approaches can often achieve environmental goals more cost effectively than inflexible regulatory policy approaches. This seminar will explore the basic logic of these innovative approaches and their practical application in addressing a variety of resource conservation and environmental quality problems. Emphasis will be placed upon our experience with the Acid Rain Allowance Trading Program in the U.S. since 1990 and the potential for using a market trading approach to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions. However, application of these approaches to water pollution, water resource scarcity, ocean fisheries depletion, endangered species protection and waste management/recycling will also be addressed. The resource and environmental issues addressed will range from local to global in terms of scale and communities affected.
