LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Each cluster, or Learning Community, has an honors forum attached as the integrating course.

Following are clusters offered in Fall 2009:

HON 222: The Big Questions
Justin McBrayer
Intellectual Foundations
Wednesdays 12:20 – 2:20

  • Limited to 25 students, 9 credits
  • Qualifications: Composition placement of Comp 150 or above; math placement of Math 110 or above; CCHE Index of 100 or above

You came to college to learn to think for yourself and one of life’s biggest questions concerns how we ought to live. In particular, human kind has struggled with questions about how one ought to order a society from an ethical point of view and what kinds of alterations are physically, philosophically, and psychologically feasible. Some of the preliminary questions we will need to examine about the formation of a community are: is science our best source of knowledge? Do our genes determine everything we do? Is there such a thing as right and wrong? Is religion the way to go? Is there a God? From these we will examine the concept of a perfectly ordered society, known more commonly as utopia. In this course, we will examine three of the classic western texts on utopias including Utopia (Thomas More), Looking Backward (Edward Bellamy), and Walden Two (B. F. Skinner). Class discussions will then focus on the crucial philosophical and psychological issues that arise in each of the texts, pulling them into interaction with one another, as well as the texts from the two classes part of this learning community. Some of the final questions we will consider then are: Is it possible to build a utopia? If so, what would it look like?

Courses

  • PHIL 141: Introduction to Philosophy (4 credits)
    9:36—10:45 MWF (Justin McBrayer)
  • PSYC 157: Introduction to Psychology (3 credits)
    11:15—12:10 MWF (Michael Uhes)

HON 223: Human History and the Liberal Arts
Andrea Birkby
Multidisciplinary Perspectives
Tues/Thur 4:40 – 5:35
HUMAN HISTORY AND THE LIBERAL ARTS Honors Learning Community

  • Limited to 25 students, 9 credits total
  • Qualifications: Composition placement of Comp 150 or above; math placement of Math 110 or above; CCHE Index of 100 or above

Human history is far more than names and dates. It is anthropology as well as the history of complex social and political processes. If you have ever wondered – Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are things the way they are? – then this learning community is for you. Come study the art and science of what it means to be human!

Courses

  • Hist 160 – Survey of Western Civilization I (3 credits)
    11:15—12:10 MWF (Michael Martin)
  • Anth 151 – Introduction to Anthropology (3 credits)
    8:15-9:25 MWF (Kathleen Fine-Dare)