Fall 2024 Courses

 

HP 1020: Honors Colloquium I: Dreams and Reality
REQUIRED FOR ALL FIRST-YEAR HONORS STUDENTS*
*A first-year student is any student who begins at UW with fewer than 30 post high school college credit hours. Students who earned an associate’s degree while completing their high school degree are still considered first-year students.
Credits: 3
Instructor: Various
Modality: Various
Honors College Attributes: Colloquium 1
USP attributes: (COM1) Communication 1
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s): Major Core (HP 1020 is the first course in the Colloquium sequence)

Course Description: The first-year Colloquium is a required two-semester sequence of courses that takes the complex topic of Dreams and Reality and explores it with readings based in the humanities, arts, sciences, and social sciences. The courses builds community in the Honors College while promoting high levels of academic achievement. In the Colloquium, students push themselves to become stronger critical thinkers. They weigh and consider multiple points of view; they develop thoughtful, well-supported perspectives on important issues of our times; and they defend their ideas in public presentations.

Colloquium is enriched with visits to UW’s Theatre and Dance department, Art Museum, Archives, and Library, and with service projects carried out around Laramie. Expert faculty from various departments give specialized lectures on relevant topics. Distinguished visiting scholars and writers meet with students to discuss their work. In all these ways, Colloquium teaches students to take advantage of the rich resources we are privileged to have at UW.

HP 2150: Producing Knowledge: Analysis, Creativity, and Expression
Credits: 1
Instructors:  Breezy Taggart/Peter Parolin
Modality:  Traditional
Honors College Attributes: Concurrent Major Core
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s): Major Core (HP 2150 is part of a series which also includes HP 2250)

Producing Knowledge: Analysis, Creativity, and Expression is an activity-based course introducing approaches to producing, refining, analyzing, and evaluating knowledge. Course topics are investigated through a combination of readings, lectures, research, and individual and collaborative activities. This course is part of the Producing Knowledge series, along with Interviews, Surveys, and Experiments (ISE); the two courses can be taken in any order.

Through this course you will gain exposure to the terminology, theory, and practice necessary for generating knowledge and insight that impacts academic, professional, and wider public audiences. You will have opportunity to practice the skills necessary for clear communication. You will be encouraged to develop your own personal awareness of and appreciation for different imaginative approaches to research and knowledge production. A culminating application challenge will be undertaken through exploration, experimentation, and refinement.

 

HP 3050: Religion and Unbelief and the Human Condition
Credits: 3
Instructor: Tyler Fall
Modality: Traditional 
Honors College Attributes: Upper-division elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Environment, Ethics, and Humankind
Creativity, Justice, and our World

Course Description: This course ranges across academic disciplines and examines and questions some of the dominant ideas western civilization has produced about religion, skepticism, unbelief, morality, society, and the ideal human life.  We will read authors from antiquity to the present.  They have divergent perspectives:  some are militant atheists; others are deeply religious.  Some are optimistic about human potential and progress; others are starkly pessimistic.  The course readings are drawn from a variety of literary genres -- philosophical treatises, poetry, memoirs, drama, and fiction -- but they all circle back to one fundamental question:  what should we humans do?"


HP 3050: Money
Credits: 3
Instructor:  Brad Rettler
Modality:  Traditional
Honors College Attributes: Upper-division elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Environment, Ethics, and Humankind
Technology, Society, and the Future
Creativity, Justice, and our World

Course Description: If you have money, you probably think about it quite a bit. And if you don’t have money, you probably think about it even more. In this course, we’ll think and talk a lot about money. We’ll ask metaphysical questions: what makes something money? Is gold money? Is Bitcoin? But mostly we’ll ask ethical questions: what is money’s role in our lives, and what should it be? How much money is enough? Are there certain things we shouldn’t use money for? Is it a problem that some people have a lot of money and some people don’t have enough? If so, what should we do about it? The hope is that you will leave this course with a better understanding of money and what its role in your life should be.

This topic lies at the intersection of philosophy, politics, and economics. We will engage with both theoretical and empirical concepts, analysis, and arguments. Reading assignments will come from recent philosophical articles, research articles in the social science, and some short stories.

 

HP 3151: Cinema of the Middle East 
Credits: 3
Instructor: Ahmad Nadalizadeh
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: Honors Global Perspectives (*Nonwestern), Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Technology, Society, and the Future
Creativity, Justice, and our World

Course Description: 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: Chinese Medicine and Models of Healthcare
Credits: 3
Instructor: Chris Dewey
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: Honors Global Perspectives (*Nonwestern), Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Health, Policy and the Body

Course Description: 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: Islamic Law
Credits: 3
Instructor:  Hamid Khan
Modality: Asynchronous Online
Honors College Attributes: Honors Global Perspectives (*Nonwestern), Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Health, Policy, and the Body
Creativity, Justice, and our World

Course Description: Though often maligned and misunderstood, Islamic law is one of the world's longest-enduring and most widely subscribed law systems. This course will give students a firm grounding in Islamic law's sources, principles, concepts, and terminology and an in-depth review of its history and role in the contemporary era. Students will gain practical insights into the sources and constructs of this religious-based legal system, including the substantive difference between the Shari’a and Islamic jurisprudence, as well as an in-depth analysis of the Qur'an, the Tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, as well as the various legal constructs devised by jurists and eminent scholars, the Islamic schools of law, differences between Shi'i and Sunni Islamic law. The seminar will delve into Islamic law's historical demise and modern resurgence. Finally, students will gain an in-depth understanding of selected aspects of Islamic constitutionalism, Islamic criminal law, and how classical and contemporary Islamic law comports with international human rights law and other contemporary issues

 

HP 3156: Inuit Environmental Dilemmas
Credits: 3
Instructor: Joslyn Cassady
Modality: Synchronous Online 
Honors College Attributes: Honors Global Perspectives (*Nonwestern), Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: (D) Diversity in the United States
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Environment, Ethics, and Humankind
Health, Policy and the Body
Creativity, Justice, and our World

Course Description: The Arctic is experiencing rapid environmental change due largely to human activities in the south. Three of the processes that are creating the most dramatic changes in Arctic ecosystems are climate change, the northern flow of industrial toxins and intensified resource exploration and extraction. This course focuses on how these three processes are affecting the livelihood of roughly 160,000 Inuit living in Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. By focusing on Inuit strategies and engagements, this course will dispel enduring misconceptions of northern peoples as passive victims of outside forces while simultaneously examining the considerable challenges that they face in maintaining control of their lives and land. Ultimately, I hope this course raises awareness about how our own lifestyles are exacerbating environmental injustices and culture change in the Far North.

 

HP 3157: Wyoming Walkabout
Credits: 3
Instructor: Paul Taylor
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: Honors Global Perspectives (*Nonwestern), Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: G (Global Awareness)
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Environment, Ethics, and Humankind
Creativity, Justice, and our World

Course Description: 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: Mass Media and Collective Consciousness
Credits: 3
Instructor: Adrian Molina
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):
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 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 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; 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 
Credits: 3
Instructor: Karagh Brummond
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: PN (Physical and Natural World)
A&S attributes: none
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Health, Policy and the Body
Technology Society and the Future

Course Description: 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 4154: Art and Culture of Hip Hop
Credits: 3
Instructor: Adrian Molina
Modality: Asynchronous Online
Honors College attributes: Upper-Division Elective
USP 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 World

Course 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 4154: Race and Racism
Credits: 3
Instructor: Steven Bialostok
Modality: Traditional
Honors College attributes: Upper-Division Elective
USP attributes: (H) Human Culture
A&S attributes: (D) Diversity
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Creativity, Justice, and our World 

Course Description: This course is framed by a simple contradiction. Race is a myth, yet it is quite real. Racial categories are rooted in history and culturally constructed through laws, the media, and various institutions. Yet, what makes race real? What animates it with so much power, and fosters its tenacious hold on much of the Western world’s collective psyche? In this course, we explore race and racism in both its historical construction and its contemporary manifestation as a crucial aspect of American culture and an integral component of people’s identity. 

HP 4155: Diplomacy and Negotiation
Credits: 3
Instructor: Christopher Rothfuss
Modality: Traditional
Honors College Attributes: Upper-division elective
USP attributes: H (Human Culture)
A&S attributes: G (Global Awareness)
Concurrent Major Honors Interdisciplinary Inquiry Concentration Designations(s):
Environment, Ethics, and Humankind
Health, Policy, and the Body
Technology, Society, and the Future
Creativity, Justice, and our World

Course Description: 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.

 

HP 4350: Internship
Instructor: Please reach out to Dr. Chris Rothfuss to inquire about internship credit
Modality: Various
Honors College Attributes: Concurrent Major Core
USP attributes: none
A&S attributes: none

This for-credit internship experience within your Honors College major or minor provides hands-on learning and experience in a field of interest to you. You will integrate knowledge, skills, and abilities from your courses into the professional experience.

You may earn between one and three core credits for completing the internship and co-curriculum. By the end of your internship and this course, you should have new insights related to your own aptitudes and goals—namely, who you are because of this growing process, what you can bring to a professional experience, and how you can contribute to an organization or community.

The learning goals and outcomes that follow represent two of the concentric circles that comprise your Honors experience, including those associated with this course and with the Honors College curriculum in general.