First-Year Students, Spring Semester

Remember that each Chancellor’s Honors first-year student must take one of the following courses.

UH 257, Section 1
Taught by Dr. M. Lofaro (Dept. of English)
TR: 9:40-10:55 am

James Agee’s America: This course invites students to examine the United States through the diverse works and disciplines of James Agee. It brings together literature, history, cinema, sociology, and journalism to range over the varied aspects of his career and to present materials and ideas that will stimulate further interpretation.

UH 257, Section 2
Taught by Ms. C. Brown (Dept. of History)
TR: 8:10-9:25 am

Scandalous Women: The course will provide a chronological view of women in American history from the colonial era to the present day. The class will discuss “scandalous” women of each major time period, looking at their actions, ideas, and their influence on later generations. Yet to truly understand these women as a product of their time, the class will explore the political, social, religious, racial and sexual landscape of that time to determine how these women earned the label of “scandalous”.

UH 257, Section 3
Taught by Mr. C. Stivers (Dept. of English)
MWF: 12:20-1:10 pm

The New Hollywood: This course will focus on the Hollywood film industry from 1970 to the present. The course is geared toward first-year students and will encourage them in a broad discussion of society, public images and the theories that can be used to interpret the relationship between them.

UH 257, Section 4
Taught by Dr. B. Wheeler (Dept. of History)
TR: 8:10-9:25 am

Thought and Values in Modern America, 1870-1970: 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 267, Section 1
Taught by Dr. S. Twardosz (Dept. of Child and Family Studies)
TR: 12:40-1:55 pm

Brain Science and Social Science: Applications to Critical Human Issues: A vast amount of knowledge about the brain and its relationship to behavior and mind has been generated in the relatively recent past by both neuroscientists and social scientists. This information has crucial implications for the way in which we think about ourselves and the problems we face as a society, but it can easily be misinterpreted and misused. In this course, essential facts and concepts about the structure, function, and development of the brain will be presented, followed by discussions of how that knowledge is being used to deepen our understanding of how people learn, interact, and function in society. Methodologies used to study the brain and their limitations also will be addressed. Students will be challenged to integrate material from natural and social science disciplines and to think critically about the implications and applications of that knowledge.

UH 267, Section 2
Taught by Dr. L. Presser (Dept. of Sociology)
TR: 2:10-3:25 pm

Restorative Justice: This course explores an international perspective on crime known as restorative justice. Restorative justice focuses attention on the harms surrounding crimes and other injustices.

UH 267, Section 3
Taught by Dr. R. S. Frey (Dept. of Sociology)
TR: 11:10 am-12:25 pm

Film Noir and American Society: The course examines the social origins, distinguishing elements, underlying values, and major auteurs of the American film noir genre. Film noir (meaning literally “black film” and defined by a distinct low-key, black and white visual style, narrative and thematic conventions, character types, and mood) is a type of film that first made its appearance in the United States in the early 1940s and thrived during the 1950s. It is typically described as a film with a gritty and bleak, urban setting that deals with the dark underside of American society. Its themes of tragedy and terror, alienation, pessimism, despair, loneliness, helplessness, doom, tragic fatalism, cynicism, and paranoia and entrapment have been linked to the trauma of WWII and postwar malaise and cold War/atom bomb anxiety. Although the classic period of film noir is usually dated as the period from 1941 to 1959, film noir has continued to appear in various guises in the United States and elsewhere.

UH 267, section 4
Taught by Dr. O. Stephens (College of Law)
TR: 2:10-3:25 pm

The Supreme Court in the American Political System: The United States Supreme Court ultimately considers and in various decisions attempts to resolve most of the major public issues that divide the American people. In its recently completed Term, for instance, the Court handed down rulings on free speech, "partial birth” abortion, the death penalty, and affirmative action, to identify only the most visible subjects. The Court’s work has significant impact on the lives of all citizens and residents of this country. The process of Supreme Court decision-making as well as the Court’s major contributions to public debate and the formulation of public policy on current issues should be made more accessible to informed people outside law schools and the legal profession. This will be the subject matter of this course.

UH 267, Section 5
Taught by Dr. J. Bohstedt (Department of History)
TR: 2:10-3:25 pm

Riots and Revolution in Britain, United States, and France, 1730-1990s: This course will focus on the social and historical contexts of various revolutionary movements in Britain, the United States, and France. Literature and other sources will be used to analyze these developments.

UH 267, Section 7
Taught by Dr. S. Dandaneau (Department of Sociology)
MWF 11:15 am-12:05 pm

The Decline of the Public Sphere: The decline of the public sphere has concerned social scientists at least since the early years of the 20th century. At stake was the viability of democracy in modern times, a concern arguably no less pressing under conditions of post-modernity. This course presents the classical dimensions of the analysis of the decline of the public sphere and sets students the collective task of creating a video documentary that explores its contemporary meaning through empirical study of everyday student life on UT’s Knoxville campus.