The Honors College
Guthrie House
1200 Ivinson St.
Laramie, WY 82070
Phone: 307-766-4110
Fax: 307-766-4298
Email: honors@uwyo.edu
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 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.
Please reach out to the Honors Advising Team for more information and guidance when registering.
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 3050: Transmedia Storytelling: From The Lord of the Rings to The Last of Us
Credits: 3
Instructors: Susan Aronstein, Taran Drummond
Modality: Synchronous Online
Honors College attributes: Upper-division elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
TBA
Course Description: In this class we will explore how artists, narratives, and genres achieve cultural
sustainability. In other words, how do stories attract new audiences to remain relevant
over time? And why have some of these texts been more successful at doing so than
others? To help us answer these questions, we will look at the ways in which popular
genres and narratives adapt and move across media—books, films, video and role-playing
games, interactive experiences--as well as at the marketing machinery and consumption
patterns that make such adaptation possible. Our case studies will include quests,
romance, monster tales and popular franchises such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Dark Souls, and The Last of Us. In addition, students will be able to choose and explore their favorite transmedia story.
HP 4152: Saffron, Silk, and Broadswords: A Trek Through Great Civilizations
Credits: 3
Instructor: Lori Howe
Modality: Asynchronous Online
Honors College attributes: Upper-division elective
USP attributes: H (Human Cultures)
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Creativity, Justice, and our World
Course Description: Through readings, research, films, documentaries, virtual tours of museums and sites,
popular sources, and research, students will explore the complex histories of several
great human civilizations via such disciplines and foci as food, art, music, architecture,
science, mathematics, engineering, medicine, literature, politics, religion, language,
gender, agriculture, and many more. In this exploration, students will examine these
threads in the ancient world and follow them forward, exploring ways in which the
historical intersections of culture, religion, politics, and other topics and phenomena
continue to impact our contemporary world. Students will work individually, in pairs,
or in groups of three to research and creatively respond to aspects of one civilization,
culminating in an artistic or literary project and presentation. Students will also
do a deep dive into a specific civilization, offering a presentation on some compelling
aspect of that civilization to the class as a course text. Finally, students will
work singly or in small groups on the two-part Capstone Assignment, researching a
particular civilization or empire and the culture and history of that place, culminating
in a multimodal presentation and research paper. The delivery method of this course
is asynchronous, with optional synchronous discussion sessions each week for those
who want to meet.
HP 4152: Art and the Natural World
Instructor: Breezy Taggart
Modality: Asynchronous Online
Honors College Attributes: Upper-division elective
USP attributes: H (Human Culture)
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Environment, Ethics, and Humankind
Creativity, Justice, and our World
Art and the Natural World investigates the ways in which Earth is represented and used in art as subject matter, sculptural medium, and vehicle for examining relationships between humans and nature.
When looking at landscape paintings or images that involve the earth we can explore the history of the person or community tied to that piece, but we can also explore our personal and contemporary connections to the land. Our memories and experiences layer our experiences viewing visual depictions of nature, and inform and shape the way we understand these representations. Additionally, we can explore our local communities within our state, or we can explore globally the ways depications of the natural world can shape understanding and knowledge. We can explore the past, swimming through memories and traditions, but we can also wade into the future. Relying on fields such as visual art, art history, history, ecology, law, public policy, sociology, and more, students will complete an interdisciplinary project that will allow them to choose a topic related to their major and intersect it with visual art as both subject matter and communicative medium.
HP 4152: Hunting
Credits: 3Instructor: Ann Stebner SteeleModality: Asynchronous OnlineHonors College Attributes: Upper-Division ElectiveUSP attributes: (H) Human Culture
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Environment, Ethics, and Humankind
Course Description:
Hunting plays a prominent role in the culture and traditions of many people in the American West and across the globe. However, nationally the number of hunters has declined in recent years, and many people believe hunting is unethical. How can we explain these two realities? What makes hunting such a powerful and defining tradition for some while others find it alien or even appalling? Is hunting a viable means for procuring food? Does it offer value, economically or culturally, to our communities? How does the practice of hunting play into questions of sustainability, conservation, and land use? Together in this class, we will create an open, supportive community that allows us to explore these questions through lenses of personal experiences and various academic disciplines (e.g., philosophy, economics, ecology, rangeland management, anthropology, and narrative writing and storytelling).
HP 4152: Modes: Mass Media and Collective ConsciousnessInstructor: Adrian MolinaModality: Asynchronous OnlineHonors College Attributes: Upper-division electiveUSP attributes: (H) Human CultureA&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Technology, Society, and the Future
Creativity, Justice, and our World
Course Description:
This course explores the most central and critical issues of our times: Humanity,
Technology, and Ecology. 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. We will explore
how the cyborg-ification of our lives affects our physical, mental, and emotional
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; 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; and real-time developments in technology including artificial intelligence.
HP 4154: Art and Culture of Hip HopCredits: 3Instructor: Adrian MolinaModality: Asynchronous OnlineHonors College attributes: Upper-Division ElectiveUSP attributes: H (Human Culture)A&S attributes: D (Diversity)
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Technology, Society, and the Future
Creativity, Justice, and our WorldCourse Description:
This course is an inter- and multi-disciplinary course inspired by human culture. This course explores a culture and form of music that hundreds of millions of people throughout
the world identify with. Hip-Hop was born in the South Bronx, NY in the early 1970s,
where African-American, Latino, and immigrant populations were essentially cast off
as a result of the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, white flight into the
suburbs, and the politics of abandonment. Hip-Hop music and culture has now spread
throughout the world, and regardless of whether the discussion is about mainstream
gangster rap or socially and political conscious Hip-Hop, this emerging field of study
has broad, cultural, social, political, and economic implications. Students will
research, explore, discuss and write about American historical music influences, the
history and development of hip-hop, the various artistic elements of hip-hop, hip-hop
as a culture, hip-hop journalism, and hip-hop’s influence on American society. Using
hip-hop as an academic tool, students will also explore the following issues: race
relations, racism, sexism and misogyny, class struggle, urbanization, pan-ethnicity
and ethnic/cultural diasporas, civil rights era activism, post-civil rights Black
and Latina/o community leadership, activism through art, globalization, the commodification
of art and culture in corporate America, the perpetuation of racism and sexism through
mass media, alternative forms of cultural media, the poetics of hip-hop, and communication
through musical form.
HP 4976: Independent StudyDOES NOT COUNT TOWARDS HONORS-COLLEGE UPPER-DIVISION ELECTIVESInstructor: Student must identify faculty mentor and receive approval from faculty mentor and the Honors CollegeModality: VariousHonors College Attributes: noneUSP attributes: noneA&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.
For a list of the study abroad courses offered in Summer 2025 please see our Study Away and Study Abroad course offerings.
The Honors College
Guthrie House
1200 Ivinson St.
Laramie, WY 82070
Phone: 307-766-4110
Fax: 307-766-4298
Email: honors@uwyo.edu