Fall leaves on the UW Campus

Fall 2023 Courses

Registration Guidelines

Meeting times, locations, CRNs, specific section numbers, are all listed in WyoRecords under the “Look Up Classes” search function.

Pre-Requisites: All Honors Upper-Division Classes (3000 and 4000 level) require students to have completed their COM 1 and COM 2 requirements.

Main campus Honors College fall courses will open to non-Honors College after the early enrollment period. Non-Honors College students wishing to register for these courses need to have at least a 3.25 cumulative UW GPA and will need to request an override from the Honors College. Students should email Li Teng at to make this request. Online Honors classes are open to all students.

*Please note that Honors College FYS courses are open to all UW students with no override necessary.

Advising

Please reach out to the Honors Advising Team for more information and guidance when registering.

Course Modalities

 Traditional – This means that the class is scheduled to be in-person and students will meet face-to-face.

 Asynchronous Online – This means that the course will be completely online, without any scheduled meeting dates or times.

 Synchronous Online – This means that the course will be completely online, but there will be a synchronous requirement, meaning students will have specific day/times scheduled for Zoom sessions.

 

HP 1101: FYS: The Purpose of the University
Instructor: Martha McCaughey
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: none
USP attributes: (FYS) First-Year Seminar
A&S attributes: none

Vigorous debates about universities are taking place today, from concerns about cancel culture, indoctrination, (self-)censorship, and free expression to government, corporate, activist, and religious groups steering what we teach and learn. In this course we’ll examine and debate big questions such as: What is the relationship between the university and democracy? Should scholars be pursuing truth, social justice, or both? Are college students over-regulated or under-regulated? Should universities offer students career preparation, life preparation, or both? and Why are principles like free expression, academic freedom, and tenure important? Through a series of creative assignments and a library research project, you’ll have the opportunity to dive into some of these questions and, in the process, solidify your own plans for being at the university.

HP 3050: Natural History: Past, Present, and Future
Instructor: Scott Seville
Modality: 
Traditional 
Honors College attributes: 
Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: 
none
A&S attributes: none

The study of Natural History has played a fundamental role in the development of human understanding of the patterns and processes generating and maintaining biodiversity and ecological systems from the micro- to macroscopic levels. In this course we will cover the history of natural history study, how it shapes our understanding of the organic and inorganic world, how it contributed to the scientific revolution, and how an appreciation of natural history helps understand our cultural and biological evolution. Students will learn to think like a naturalist (including nature sketching, photographing, and journaling) and how to identify and appreciate organisms, ecological communities, and ecosystems in Wyoming and beyond. Driven by student interest, potential topics include contemporary understanding of climate change impacts, emerging infectious diseases (COVID, HIV-AIDs, etc.), and a variety of other environmental and public health issues. Finally, students will gain an appreciation of the many ways research and public collections impact science, art, and culture.

 

HP 3050: Environmental Justice in Lit. & Culture
Instructor: Matt Henry
Modality: 
Traditional 
Honors College attributes: 
Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: 
none
A&S attributes: none

Environmental justice can be defined as “the right of all people to share equally in the benefits bestowed by a healthy environment.” Yet it has been well documented that the impacts of environmental degradation are distributed unevenly along the lines of race, class, gender, and ethnicity. In this class, students will explore the intersection of environmental and social justice issues through an analysis of literary fiction, film, performance, music, and other media. The goal of the course is to better understand the generative potential of the arts and humanities for supporting environmental justice struggles.

 

HP 3050: Literature and Medicine
Instructor: Michelle Jarman
Modality: 
Traditional 
Honors College attributes: 
Upper-Division Elective (*cross-listed as WIND 3150)
USP attributes: 
none
A&S attributes: none

Course description TBA.

 

HP 3050: Future Southwest Studies
Instructor: Adrian Molina
Modality: 
Asynchronous Online
Honors College Attributes: 
Upper-division elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none

Cultural Studies is for everyone. With a wide lens on culture, arts, music, literature, film, food, social trends and political movements, this course opens a broad and inviting door to students interested in the future of the Southwest.  

The coursework naturally roots itself in Latina/o/x Studies themes. The writings of Gloria Anzaldúa will serve as foundational texts that explore race, gender, cultural identity, bilingualism, indigeneity, mestizaje (mixed identity) and spirituality from an integrated perspective, with a focus on radical imaginings of the future.  Building on this history, we will survey contemporary social, cultural, artistic and critical voices of the Southwest. What does their innovation, their work, and their movements tell us about what is now, what is new, and what is next for the Southwest? We will conclude with a look at grassroots creative and social movements that are taking on issues of immigrants’ rights, indigenous land rights, GLBTQ rights, water rights, climate change, and gentrification of Southwest cities and towns. 

 

HP 3151: Chinese Medicine and Models of Healthcare
Instructor: Chris Dewey
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: 
Honors Non-Western. Note: Students who have already completed their Honors Non-Western requirement may use this course as an Honors upper-division elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none
On offer here is a class that examines Traditional Chinese Medicine as an integral component of contemporary models of health care. Students will learn from a practicing Chinese Medicine clinician about evidence-based practice, the theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine, its modalities including acupuncture, how it is used to treat disease, and the diagnostic tools we use in a clinical setting. Students will also participate in a typical client intake and observe a full acupuncture treatment. Together we will examine what it means to use Chinese Medicine in service of the consumer’s journey to wellness. The nuanced and abstruse lexicon used by practitioners in any branch of health care, combined with the ways in which Eastern and Western care paradigms differ from each other, can be confusing and alienating to both practitioners and consumers alike. The course will help to dispel the confusion and division that can exist between seemingly different models of health care and demonstrate the value of integrated medicine to health, healing and wellness.

 

HP 3151: Cinema of the Middle East
Instructor: Ahmad Nadalizadeh
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: 
Honors Non-Western. Note: Students who have already completed their Honors Non-Western requirement may use this course as an Honors upper-division elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none

Although the term “Middle East” came into common parlance after World War II, its other iterations were already in circulation in the nineteenth century, designating an imaginary geography which consigned “the East” to the periphery and further solidified the privileged position of Europe. Since the term reflected such European self-universalizing assumptions, it cast its geographic referent as the object of patronizing systems of Eurocentric political representations. In this course, we will turn to various film cultures of the Middle East and will situate its national film traditions within regional and global perspectives. We will investigate how the filmmakers emerging from the region represent their cultures as deeply embedded within a globalized world too replete with unexpected combinations to be discretely divided into the civilizational hierarchies of the West and the East. Taking a critical approach to national cinema studies in a world of increasingly globalized film audiences, we will explore both the influence of world cinema on the film cultures of the Middle East and, in turn, the extent to which the aesthetics of the movies of this region proves integral to our conception of world cinema. Our discussions of films in class will be supplemented by pertinent scholarly analyses in order to complicate any facile understanding of the region, but also to further deepen our awareness of the cultural contexts through which cinema has emerged as an aesthetic form. Drawing on various national traditions, this course will include movies from Iran, Turkey, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt. 

 

HP 3151: The Politics of Film and Literature in Modern Iran 
Instructor: Ahmad Nadalizadeh
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: 
Honors Non-Western. Note: Students who have already completed their Honors Non-Western requirement may use this course as an Honors upper-division elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none

In this course, we will examine Iranian cinema and modern Persian literature in light of the politics they reflect and the politics they precipitate. On the one hand, from its early conception to its later globalization, Iranian cinema has emerged out of the confluence of a peculiar politics and aesthetics. In responding to the restrictions mandated by a state censorship apparatus, it has drawn inspiration from the imaginative possibilities of Persian poetry. Persian literature, on the other hand, has drawn upon the resources of the Pre-Islamic Zoroastrian religion as well as Iranian mysticism. We will explore the literature and cinema of modern Iran in terms of the visual poetics and the political subjectivities they consolidate. And, in addition, we will investigate how filmic and literary artifacts both express and reconfigure contemporary politics. With regards to Iranian cinema, we might wonder how the globalization of one of the world’s most eminent national film cultures has moved us to think differently. What relation does Iranian cinema set forth between our seeing, feeling and understanding? In what ways is it instructive in helping us to see anew? How does it negotiate differences between being national and global, local and universal? What memories and what geographies does it make thinkable? And how does it address a domestic audience while simultaneously speaking to the world? With respect to modern Persian literature, our focus will be on the ways in which literary texts have provided the space for negotiating alternative ideologies and for generating radical emancipatory politics. Above all, we will consider the nexus between Iranian cinema and Persian literature, and the ways in which they have informed and enriched each other. 

 

HP 4153: Outbreaks and Pandemics
Instructor: Joslyn Cassady
Modality: 
Synchronous Online 
Honors College Attributes: Upper Division Elective
USP attributes: 
PN (Physical and Natural World)
A&S attributes: none
Join Dr. Cassady in the timely interdisciplinary study of infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics. This course provides students with an introduction to domestic and international disease outbreaks, methodologies for public health investigation and response, and programs for pandemic preparedness. We will study the disease ecology and societal response to outbreaks such as Covid-19, Ebola, “Mad Cow” disease, and HIV/AIDS. The instructor was an Epidemic Intelligence Officer (a.k.a. “disease detective”) with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and will prioritize learning from case studies of real-world outbreak investigations.  In the end, students will gain an understanding of the staggering health challenges posed by human-animal interactions, social inequality, and environmental contamination, as well as the intervention strategies that have been developed to confront them.

HP 3157: Wyoming Walkabout
Instructor: Paul Taylor
Modality: 
Traditional
Honors College Attributes: 
Honors Non-Western, Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: G (Global Awareness)

A unique experiential exposure to the "world's oldest living culture." Students will explore Australia's 50,000-year-old Aboriginal culture lead by educator/artist Paul Taylor. www.paultaylor.ws  Mentored by elder Yidumduma Bill Harney, senior custodian of the Wardaman culture, students will be guided by video material collected over 15 years by Paul's Yubulyawan Dreaming Project. www.ydproject.com  Students will study the 10 video chapters on this site and be participants in this continuing research. We will explore what it is to be indigenous, participate in ritual, song, dance and painting. We will learn the Wardaman Creation Story, applying this wisdom to our landscape and personal lives. We will have field trips to the UW Planetarium, our local Casper Aquifer and an American Indian sacred site. We will apply storytelling in class; make, play and decorate a didgeridoo. We will work together on a class mural, teaching to “Care for Country”, celebrating our land, our personal "Walkabouts", our own life journeys.

HP 4152: Disney Discourse
Instructor: Susan Aronstein
Modality: 
Traditional (with study away trip to Disneyland)
Honors College Attributes: 
Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: (H) Human Culture
A&S attributes: none

A two-part course evaluating Disney film, television, merchandise, and theme parks as cultural phenomena. In the first part of the course, students view early Disney film, and television to determine how they help construct and re-tell American history and identity. The second part of the course is focused on Disneyland as a persuasive entity, culminating with a trip to the park during which students perform independent research that incorporates a reading of the park through the lens of material and cultural rhetoric. 

 

 HP 4152: Modes: Mass Media and Collective Consciousness
Instructor: Adrian Molina
Modality: 
Asynchronous Online
Honors College Attributes: 
Upper-division elective
USP attributes: (H) Human Culture
A&S attributes: none
This course explores the most central and critical issues of our times: Humanity, Technology, and Sustainability.  In this course, the student is the main "Text," meaning that each student will engage in contemplative education practices.  Students will examine their own lives in relationship to technology, mass media, social media, and how the cyborg-ification of our lives affects our physical, mental, and motional health, as well as our relationships with other humans.  

Additionally, this is a topics course that may explore any of the following: the development of collective consciousness; historical uses of propaganda; functions of mass media; the functions of corporate media vs independent media; how mass media affects public opinion; journalism and ethical considerations; pop culture's relationship to American values and standards; the nature of news coverage and news filters; access to media and social justice concerns; functions of art and entertainment; critiques of mass media and pop culture; alternative forms of media; futurist perspectives on human consciousness; ecological and environmental concerns; and real-time developments in technology. 

 

HP 4153: Neuroscience and Law 
Instructor: Karagh Brummond
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: 
Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: PN (Physical and Natural World)
A&S attributes: none

Lawyers and courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, are already integrating neuroscience research into their arguments and opinions on cases from criminal to civil litigation. This class will introduce the exciting field of "neurolaw" by covering issues such as neuroscience of criminal culpability, brain-based lie detection, brain death, emotions, decision making, and much more. Along the way we'll discuss how the legal system can and should respond to new insights on topics such as adolescent brain development, addiction, psychopathy, Alzheimer's, effects of combat on soldiers' brains, and concussions from sports injuries. Students will be pushed to determine and develop a sense of how, when, and where neuroscience can and cannot aid in the goals of law. Please note that this course will be approached from a heavy science side providing students with a deep understanding of neuroscience and the application of neuroscience literature in courtrooms. We will be looking closely at topics including the structure and function of the brain, brain monitoring and manipulation techniques, and how essential studies in neuroscience have been used by the legal system. Students will be reflecting on and drawing conclusions about the ethical and legal implications of using neuroscientific data in law through synthesis of neuroscience research.

 

HP 4155: Diplomacy and Negotiation
Instructor:
 Christopher Rothfuss
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: Upper-division elective
USP attributes: H (Human Culture)
A&S attributes: G (Global Awareness)

This course will focus on the development and practical application of diplomacy and negotiation skills, with extensive use of real-world role-playing scenarios. Students will learn negotiation theory and techniques, and will be able to apply them through simulated bilateral and multilateral negotiation exercises. Students will also learn how to operate in a diplomatic setting and as part of a delegation. This course is primarily experiential and should prove to be stimulating and exciting for the participants.

HP 4976: Independent Study
DOES NOT COUNT TOWARDS HONORS-COLLEGE UPPER-DIVISION ELECTIVES
Instructor: Student must identify faculty mentor and receive approval from faculty mentor and the Honors College
Modality: Various
Honors College Attributes: none
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none

Why might you take an Honors independent study? Register for one if you need the structure to help you complete your senior capstone project, if you need additional upper division elective hours to graduate, if you need additional hours to be a fulltime student in any given semester, or if you have been working with an instructor on a particularly interesting area for which there is no designated course. You can take up to 3 credit hours of an Honors independent study per semester for up to a total of 6 hours overall.

You don’t need to sign up for an independent study to complete the senior capstone project. Please note that these hours do not meet any specific requirements towards your degree or your Honors minor. They do not count towards the required Honors upper division electives.

 

 
 






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