Honors

(College Offerings)

HON 1101 Honors Colloquium: The Literature of Social Change (I, IDS)
4 cr.
The Honors Colloquium will introduce students to a variety of perspectives and attitudes toward social change. Students will read classic and contemporary works and hear fromlocal activists,peoplewho devote a significant amount of their time working for change. Studentswill read several genres - fiction,autobiography, political philosophy and propaganda. They will be encouraged to adopt a critical and skeptical attitude toward what they read and hear.

HON 1111 The Responsible Self
2 cr.
Honors section of Dignitas, fall semester, taught at the level and using the active learning techniques of the Honors Program. Prerequisite: Acceptance into the Honors Program by interview with Honors Director.

HON 1112 And Dignity for All
2 cr.
Honors section of Dignitas, spring semester, taught at the level and using the active learning techniques of the Honors Program. Prerequisite: Acceptance into the Honors Program by interview with Honors Director.

HON 1914 WorldWar I (IDS)
4 cr.
WorldWar Iwas called "The GreatWar" and "TheWar to End AllWars" by contemporaries. In reality, it was neither, and in fact is considered themajor cause of World War II. This class examines the following questions. How did a war happen when no one really wanted it? What is meant by military historians when they claim that WWI changed the nature of warfare by introducing the technology ofmass destruction? How did WWI cause WWII? If thiswar really did change the entire psychology of Europe, the center of our civilization,how is that reflected in the arts and sciences of the betweenwar period? Approximately one-third of the class will center on the facts of thewar;one-third on theTreaty of Versailles and one-third on the cultural impact.

HON 2100 Great Ideas of Science (VI) (WI)
4 cr.
Popular science texts covering The Big Bang Theory, relativity, quantum mechanics, particle physics, evolution, genetics, and Chaos Theory will be read and discussed. Discussions will focus on investigating the scientificmethod;distinguishing between fact, theory, speculation, and belief; critiquing and judging the accuracy of different explanations for the same events/observations; and considering the implications of scientific theory on philosophical thought,e.g.,What does science have to say about determinism vs. free will?

HON 2125 Global Sociology (I, II)
4 cr.
This course addresses a wide range of sociological issues as questions to be answered,using the solutions already provided by sociologists and students' own hands-on lab and real-world observational experiences. Examples and exercises use U.S.andworld data throughout, highlighting the way humans structure their lives around differences of culture and ethnicity, gender, race, social class, age, sexual orientation and other significant groupings. Using art, literature,music and film,aswell as traditional ethnographic and quantitative sociological data, students will encounter the diverseways inwhich people structure their social lives to meet common human needs, gaining experience and mastery of some basic tools of quantitative and qualitative analysis.

HON 2280 Russian Literature in Translation (I, IV)
4 cr.
Study of literature written in Russian and translated into English. Selected works of prose and poetry from a particular period with emphasis on careful reading and reader response as well as on the cultural, historical, political, religious and economic developments that provide content.

HON 2405 TheWorld (IDS)
2 cr.
This course aims to give students, largely from the Upper Midwest, exposure to and an opportunity to analyze current issues from around the globe. Since the text is a British publication, itwill give the students exposure to foreign perceptions of the United States. Studentswill gain the research skills needed to quickly get additional information on events around the world.

HON 2777 Topics
2-4 cr.
Many Honors courses are unique offerings. These topics courses are designed for first-year students and sophomores. Previous topics courses have included cultures and healing, the arts, service learning and other interdisciplinary courses.

HON 2850 Irish and Italian Film (IDS)
4 cr.
Italian film since WWII has depicted Italy's complete wartime devastation, its economic recovery in the 1960s,and theways inwhichmen andwomen see one another. The Irish film industry, slower in developing, has depicted Ireland's turbulent past, its political troubles, its joyful sense of being human, and the ways in which men and women see one another. Students in this coursewillwatch films produced in both countries to gain a full sense of how film makers have transformed national culture into artistic vision.

HON 3010 Be The Change: Seminar
0-2 cr.
The student-led seminar seeks to connect civically minded students interested in reflecting on issues of community activism and social changes in a small group format. The seminar is a survey course on a variety of social justice issues including women's rights, HIV/AIDS, service-learning effectiveness/ineffectiveness, optimism/pessimism, globalization, social and economic inequities and spirituality. Theoretical essays and articles will challenge commonly accepted notions in these areas andwill represent amultitude of viewpoints, ethnicities, and social circumstances. Studentswill take a collaborative role in the success of the class. This will include trusting themselves and each other to learn skills of facilitation through leading a class session in the format of the seminar and developing relationships so that they can learn from each others' experiences.

HON 3020 Be the Change: Practicum
0-2 cr.
Students,having participated in the Fall Be the Change: Seminar, will have built a strong community with which to challenge personal biases and prejudices in the Spring Practicum. Course content includes the study of Catholic social teaching and builds upon established theories of social justice and community service. In-depth focus on individual components of the Social Change Wheel will allow students to analyze and critique particular ways of creating social change. The corresponding Be the Change service-learning project requires analyzing and addressing social problems on the micro-campus level through a specific method of change-making. The project encompasses service planning, project implementation,and evaluation of the effort. Students also will studymethodologies of current non-profit and governmental organizations committed to social change work in order to facilitate their professional development.Prerequisite: HON 3010 or consent of instructor.

HON 3348 The Black Death and Other Plagues
4 cr. (IDS)
The Black Death arrived in Europe in 1348 and stayed for over 200 years. Society's response to the repeated onslaught of amysterious killer disease heavily shaped Western Civilization. This course looks at howthe Black Death and other plagues shape our life. A theme throughout the course will be how today's society would react to a plague similar to the Black Death.

HON 3350 Psychology of Human Sexuality
2 cr. (II)
This course will involve reading and discussing psychology literature on selected,often controversial, topics in human sexuality. Subjects include evolutionary psychology and mate selection, love styles and classifications, unlovely feelings such as jealousy, correlates of sexual orientation, the church and sexuality, contraceptives, resolving unplanned pregnancies, impact of pornography on sexual aggression, atypical sexual behavior, realities and politics of child sexual abuse and sex therapy. The course will emphasize interactions between psychological factors and other influences- biological, social, cultural, religious-on sexual attitudes and behavior, and the study of sexuality as a scientific discipline.

HON 3390 Irish Literature (IV)
4 cr.
The incredibly rich fiction, drama and poetry of a tiny island have produced four Nobel Prizewinners in literature. Whilewewill read some textswritten before the 20th century, the emphasis will be onmodern and contemporary literature, in part because it was written in English rather than in Irish, but more importantly because Irish writers are among the giants of modern literature and some of the most brilliant writers working today. Students will read, discuss and write about important literary texts, with a few forays into Irish myth,music, art, and history.

HON 3666 Psychology of Religion and Belief (IDS)
4 cr.
The classical and modern psychological theories of belief, focusing on religious belief and on the evolutionary/ cognitive basis of belief. Exploration of issues such as: howwe believe,why people believe in god(s), the psychological needs that faith satisfies, the reasons why people differ in the ways they express and satisfy those needs,andwhat it is about the certainty of belief that leads to proselytizing, persecution or feeling threatened by the beliefs of others. Seminar format and application of empirically supported theory and concepts thorough projects. Prerequisites: (a) General Psychology; or (b) Lifespan Developmental Psychology; or (c) junior/senior status having completed one other upper-division Honors course, or Benedictine Liberal Arts Education Area II,or two TRS/PHL courses.

HON 4500 Gods andMonsters: Religion, the Supernatural, and Youth Culture (IDS)
4 cr.
This course explores the turn to religion, the supernatural, and youth concerns in American popular culture since the early 1990s. Whether one examines the hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel or enormously popular films such as The Matrix trilogy and Dogma, there has been a virtual explosion of angels,monsters,vampires,and aliens in American film, TV, and literature. Beginning with a critical and historical look at some of the precursors to the recent aesthetic and cultural articulations of religion and the supernatural - from Mary Shelley's 19th century "gothic"novel Frankenstein to the horror films of James Whales in the 1930s and 1940s - we will raise questions about the contemporary fascination with the supernatural alongside path-breakingwork in the history of religions,media studies, and cultural studies.

HON 4600 Global Issues After 9/11 (IDS)
4 cr.
This course offers students the opportunity to engage in historical reflection on 9/11 and its aftermath. Toward this end,wewill trace recent debates in the history of religions, cultural anthropology and political philosophy on the nature of religious and cultural differences, the scope and impact of American imperialism, war, and transnational peace and justice movements. As the tragedy of 9/11 and the "war against terror"shouldmake crystal clear, the challenge of living humanely and justly in the world today demands a different kind of political ethic-one that persistently values the place of difference and otherness in understanding (and perhaps transforming) the utter violence of themodern and postmodern worlds. The course's objective is to come to a clearer understanding of the radical implication of modern Western forms of power,knowledge and history-making in this very violence.

HON 4640 The Pre-Raphaelites (IDS)
4 cr.
In 1848, John EverettMillais,WilliamHolman Hunt,and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, students at London's Royal Academy of Art, agreed that art had taken a wrong turn three centuries earlier. Calling themselves the PRB - Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood - they set to work reclaiming the spirit of the early Italianmaster painters, using biblical,mythological andmedieval subject matter to create passionate, visionary art. Although the original threemembers stayed together as the PRB for only five years, they attracted awide range of disciples - poets,painters,and social reformers -who expanded their influencewell into the 20th century. This classwill examine the literature and visual art of the PRB and allied writers and painters. We will attempt to understand the Pre-Raphaelites'works in a variety of interrelated ways: as art and literature, as spiritual expression, as cultural product, as personal/biographical expression and as agent of social reform.

HON 4777 Topics
2 - 4 cr.
The upper-level topics courses are similar to those of the lower division, except that the latter are intended for junior- and senior-level students. Modern War on Film and The Person and Work of Jesus are examples of previous upper-level topics courses offered in the Honors Program.

HON 4885 The Holocaust (IDS)
4 cr.
An examination of the Holocaust and its meaning for subsequent generations through an analysis of key sourcematerials,memoirs and interpretations. Critical for an understanding of the Holocaust is the experience of victims, perpetrators and bystanders.

HON 4888 Thesis
0 - 4 cr.
Individual research projects will result in a thesis. Students will work under the supervision of a faculty member. Approval of a faculty member and the Honors Program Director required.

HON 4999 Independent Study
4 cr.
Students complete an independent study on a specific topic with the approval of a faculty member and the Honors Program Director. These independent study courses are individual offerings based on a student's particular area of interest.