Fall 2026 Honors Courses
Upcoming Team-Taught Courses
- Fall 2027
- Summer 2027 in London
- Spring 2027
- Intersession 2027 in London
- Fall 2026
China: From a Confucian Empire to World Power
Kacie Miura, Yi Sun
This class will introduce students to the complex historical and contemporary experiences of China by tackling a range of topics essential for the understanding of a country that is assuming global significance. Among the main foci are the Confucian tradition and its lasting legacy, China’s encounters with both Western imperialism and Japanese militarism as well as their impact on a unique brand of nationalism; Beijing’s domestic and foreign policies in the Cold War contexts and beyond; and China’s economic and social changes during the last forty years and its new geopolitical position in the world.
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HNRS 320 |
Kacie Miura |
POLS/IREL/ASIA |
This section has plans to satisfy upper-division elective credit in the Political Science/International Relations major/mins or Asian Studies minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Social and Behavioral Inquiry (ESBI). |
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HNRS 321 |
HIST/ASIA |
This section has plans to satisfy upper-division elective credit in the History major/minor or Asian Studies minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Social and Behavioral Inquiry (ESBI) and Historical Inquiry (ESHI). |
East Asian Cinema: A Transnational Perspective
Mei Yang, Koonyong Kim
This course examines representative films from East Asia--Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, and South Korea in particular--in their national, regional, and global contexts. While studying these films within the specific contexts of their historical, social, and economic conditions, we will place special emphasis on how various filmic texts respond both aesthetically and politically to a broad range of issues pertaining to nation, globalization, identity formations (race, gender, sexuality, and class), authorship, new media, and (post)humanism, among others.
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HNRS 366 |
Mei Yang |
CHIN/LANG |
This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Chinese major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Literary Inquiry (ELTI). |
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HNRS 367 |
Koonyong Kim |
ENGL |
This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the English major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Literary Inquiry (ELTI). |
The Other Spanish Empire*
Martin Repinecz, TJ Tallie
This advanced integration course draws from the fields of Literary Studies and History to help understand the broader story of Spain’s often overlooked imperial ventures in Africa. It is commonly believed that Spanish imperialism ended in 1898, when Spain, having already lost the vast majority of its Latin American territories in the early 19th century, ceded its remaining colonies in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States in the wake of the Spanish-American War. In reality, however, the loss of the American empire motivated Spain to build a new empire in Africa. This course will provide an overview of Spanish colonialism in Africa while maintaining a special focus on the history, literature and culture of Equatorial Guinea/Guinea Ecuatorial, the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa today. It will also explore the relationship between metropolitan Spain in Europe and the colonial project in Africa.
What did it mean for Spain to attempt another imperial story during the Scramble for Africa? How did indigenous Africans respond to these moves? Why is the story of Guinea Ecuatorial so rarely discussed in a broader Spanish historical narrative? This course invites students to learn in depth about this topic while also crafting a research project related to questions of colonialism, belonging, and indigeneity that will engage both History and Literary Studies.
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Course |
Instructor |
Dept |
Description/Credit |
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HNRS 392 |
Martin Repinecz |
SPAN |
This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the SPAN major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Literary Inquiry (ELTI), and Global Diveristy Level 2 (FDG2). *Pre-requisite in order to receive Spanish credit: SPAN 301 or SPAN 311 at the Undergraduate level with a minimum grade of D-. Students taking this course for Spanish credit at the 300 level will read one full novel and write one short paper in Spanish. Students taking this course for Spanish credit at the 400 level will read all assigned texts and write all assignments in Spanish. |
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HNRS 393 |
TJ Tallie |
HIST |
This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the HIST major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), and Global Diveristy Level 2 (FDG2). |
Leadership, Law and Ethics in a Global Environment*
Linda Barkacs, Craig Barkacs
This course covers the analysis, explanation and evaluation of power and politics in organizations. It offers frameworks for assessing the sources of power in organizations, the conditions that lead to its attainment and its effective use from both a practical and an ethical perspective. Discussions will cover how people in organizations try to get what they want by influencing others, how their ability to do so is affected by power distributions and how people try to change power distributions in their favor.
| Course | Instructor | Dept | Description/Core Attributes |
|---|---|---|---|
| HNRS 3XX | Linda Barkacs | ETLW | This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Business Admin. major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT). |
| HNRS 3XX | Craig Barkacs | MGMT | This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Business Admin. major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT). |
*Pending curricular approval
Linked Courses: COMM 330 or MUSC 333
Brad Bond, Charissa Noble
Linked theme: Music, Media, & Meaning
The study of music, culture, and society will link the courses. MUSC 333 engages students with the academic study of music (as opposed to musical performance)—the history, theory, and sociology of music. MUSC 333, a topics course, will focus on be Opera on Screen. COMM 330 engages students with the academic study of media, which includes music as one channel through which to deliver mass communication messages. Linking these courses will give students a more comprehensive understanding of music as both a cultural artifact and a psychological tool. Moreover, approach to the study of music from a humanistic perspective, while the communication aspect employs empirical methods to examine music from a social psychological approach. Therefore, students will be exposed to an interdisciplinary approach to the study of music, both the how of music itself and the why behind audience responses.
| Course | Title | Instructor | Core Attributes |
|---|---|---|---|
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COMM 330 |
Media Processes and Effects |
Provides upper-division elective credit for the COMM major. | |
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MUSC 333
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Pro-Seminar in Musicology: Opera on Screen |
Provides upper-division elective credit for the MUSC major. |
Past Courses
Recently offered Honors courses are listed below. Future offerings of these courses are not guaranteed.
ANTH 310, Jennifer Parkinson, Human Evolution; satisfies Core Social and Behaviroal Inquiry (ESBI).
BIOL 320, Nicole Danos, Comparative Evolution of Vertebrates; prerequisites: BIOL 305 or EOSC 301 at the Undergraduate level with a minimum grade of D-.
Description of the common theme:
Join two faculty researchers and explore the evolutionary history of all vertebrates (BIOL) including our own species (ANTH). Enjoy lectures from both professors and apply scientific methods to a question of your choice in an interdisciplinary project based at the San Diego Zoo.
Offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2026
CHNG 101, Jonathan Bowman, Introduction to Changemaking; satisfies Core Level 1 Domestic Diversity (FDD1).
THRS 294, Kyle Brooks, Religion and Hip-Hop; satisfies Core Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI).
Description of the common theme: Social Movements in American Culture
The linkage would allow for different perspectives on social movements, social change, religion/religiosity, and cultures of community (included but not limited to music more generally, hip-hop more specifically, Black Americans, religiously-affiliated Americans). Guest lectures and a shared culminating experience will contribute to the individual course lectures and shared framing lectures associated with each. The Changemaking 101 course focuses on both facilitating social change and also engaging diverse audiences to participate in that changemaking; and the Religion and Hip-Hop 294 course focuses on the popular culture movements characterized by not only religious themes but also historical roots within the black American experience.
Offered: Fall 2025
COMM 101, Diane Keeling, Introduction to Human Communication; satisfies core Oral Communication (CORL) and Social and Behavioral Inquiry (ESBI).
SOCI 210, Angela Nurse, Social Justice; satisfies core Social and Behavioral Inquiry (ESBI) and Level 1 Domestic Diversity (FDD1).
Description of the common theme: Walking San Diego
Embark on an captivating exploration of human communication and social justice while walking around a variety of San Diego neighborhoods. Together, these classes will dive into critical social issues like power, difference, and inequality using the city as our case study.
Offered: Fall 2024
ENGL 222, Malachi Black, Introduction to Poetry; satisfies Core Literary Inquiry (ELTI).
PHIL 110, Michael Kelly, Introduction to Philosophy; satisfies Core Philosophical Inquiry (FPHI).
Description of the common theme:
Poetry and philosophy are both disciplines deeply concerned with generating, clarifying, and interrogating what Kenneth Burke described as “equipment for living”—namely, strategies for contending with the fact of being human. This overlap in disciplinary emphasis has been borne out by poets and philosophers themselves, often through explicitly reciprocal curiosity, engagement, and hostility, beginning with texts as early and foundational as Plato’s Republic. Linking “Introduction to Poetry” with “Introduction to Philosophy” will allow students to deepen their understanding of humanistic inquiry as such while multiplying their understanding of the boundaries and utility of each disciplinary approach: by reading poetry both philosophically and as philosophy, by reading philosophy both poetically and as poetry, students will be able to trace for themselves the intersections and distinctions that have animated some of world’s richest ongoing conversations about what it means to perceive, act, think, and engage as human beings.
Offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2022
Past Courses
Abroad Team-Taughts
Christopher Carter (THRS), Andrew Tirrell (POLS)
This course will consider human responses to the environment and the natural world through the intersecting lenses of race/ethnicity, religion, culture, and politics. Using case studies, both real and fictional, from various human cultural, historical, and religious contexts, we will examine human relationships with their environment, focusing on issues such as the sacredness of nature in faith traditions; the influence of ethno-cultural norms on resource use, degradation, and scarcity; the intersection of food, culture, and the environment; and how popular culture and the arts depict and influence the socio-ecological nexus.
HNRS 318 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the THRS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI) and Domestic Diversity Level 2 (FDD2).
HNRS 319 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the POLS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Domestic Diversity Level 2 (FDD2).
* This course can also satisfy upper-division non-science elective in EOSC major.
Offered: Intersession 2022 in London
Rico Monge (THRS), Michael Kelly (PHIL)
What is the meaning of my life and what does the meaning of my life mean for the society in which I live? How does one discern such meaning and what are the obstacles (personal and social) to coming to grasp that meaning for oneself? How do the answers to such questions change assuming either a theistic or atheistic premise? To what does an atheistic or theistic premise committee me, actually? In an intense dialogue with some of the most important philosophical, literary, and theist texts in existentialism, we will explore these questions in Theistic and Atheistic Existentialism.
HNRS 324 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Theology and Religious Studies major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI).
HNRS 325 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Philosophy major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Philosophical Inquiry (FPHI).
Offered: Intersession 2023 in London, Intersession 2025 in London.
Andrew Tirrell (POLS/IREL), Ryan Abrecht (HIST)
This course examines the history and politics of Rome, paying special attention to the ways that immigrants have shaped Roman culture, politics, and identity since the city’s founding some 2,500 years ago. Rome has worn many faces over those years, transforming from the monumental capital of one of the ancient world’s most potent empires, to a holy city and pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages, to a vast canvas for Renaissance artists and architects, to a modern metropolis shaped by the legacy of fascism and the forces of global tourism. Even as the city’s face has changed dramatically over time, Rome continued to be visited and called home by many different human faces. Ancient Greeks, Syrians, and Jews; medieval Franks and Saxons; and modern Afghans and Africans have all helped shape Rome into a center of global diversity. Then as now, “the eternal city” is a place where great privilege and terrible deprivation exist side by side, where catholic universalism vies with racist xenophobia, and where competing narratives about the past remain very relevant to the concerns of the present. In this class, we’ll try to understand how Rome has always been a different city for different people, and how those many Romes can continue to coexist.
HNRS 374 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the POLS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Global Diversity level 2 (FDG2).
HNRS 375 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Classical Studies minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Global Diversity level 2 (FDG2) and Historical Inquiry (ESHI).
Offered: Intersession 2024 in Rome, Intersession 2026 in Rome
Mary Doak (THRS), Russell Fuller (THRS)
The Christian religion is based on Judaism; Jesus and his early followers were all Jews. How then did Christianity develop the deeply rooted anti-Semitic ideas and attitudes that have become embedded not only in Christian belief and practice but also in much of the culture of the West? How did the Western habits of rejecting racial, ethnic, and religious minorities as undesirable and threatening “others” develop from Christian rejection of the faith and people from which Christianity itself originated? This course will employ methods of biblical criticism and historical inquiry to study the development of anti-Judaism and antisemitism in the New Testament, in the early church, and in key moments of medieval, reformation, and modern history.We will also engage theological methods to examine the impact of this history on Christian beliefs and practices, and to evaluate recent Christian efforts (often in dialogue with Jews) to imagine and construct a Christianity that overcomes this deeply rooted antiJudaism, replacing the historic teaching of contempt for the Jews with a consistent attitude of respect and even appreciation for Judaism and other religions.
HNRS 300 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the THRS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI).
HNRS 301 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the THRS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI).
Offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2026
Kathryn Statler (HIST), Vidya Nadkarni (POLS)
With the Cold War’s end in 1989 and the Soviet collapse in late 1991, President Clinton’s CIA nominee in 1993 warned against emerging security threats to the United States saying, “yes, we have slain a large dragon, but we now live in a jungle filled with a bewildering variety of poisonous snakes.” Indeed, President George H.W. Bush’s expectation of a new world order underpinned by cooperation among the major powers has proven to be chimerical. Military interventions during the Cold War occurred in contested areas all over the world as the United States and the Soviet Union jockeyed for power and influence. These interventions saw the interplay of both ideology and interests with complex geopolitical and strategic goals that often overlooked the national aspirations and needs of the target states, many of which were far more concerned with the process of decolonization than Cold War imperatives. Such interventions have continued during the post-Cold War period for humanitarian and economic reasons, to preserve geo-political dominance, and in order to combat what is increasingly viewed as the new menace—terrorism.
HNRS 336 -This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the HIST major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Historical Inquiry (ESHI).
HNRS 337 -This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the POLS/IREL major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Social and Behavioral Inquiry (ESBI).
Offered: Spring 2026
Daniel Sheehan (PHYS), Mary Doak (THRS)
The various issues of presumed conflict today between religion and science are evidence of widespread confusion about truth, method, and the development of ideas in both science and religion. Through an exploration of the processes by which new ideas come to be accepted in theology and in science, this course will enable students to navigate our current societal confusion with better understandings of the arguments and claims to truth of each field. We will also look at case studies of historical conflicts between science and religion as well as some contemporary topics (such as cosmic origins and climate change) as examples of how the contributions of both science and theology together might result in more adequate understandings of our place in and responsibility for the world.
HNRS 354 - This section satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
HNRS 355 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the THRS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Upper-Division Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI).
Offered: Fall 2022
Jamall Calloway (THRS/AFST), Channon Miller (HIST/AFST)
Black nationalism, the belief that Black peoples across the globe are unified through the singular claim that Black people are as human as everyone else, has been given new attention in these particular times. As a class, together we will take up the challenge of the moment to analyze the religious theories and historical Black feminist interventions of some of the most historical Black nationalist figures and movements the world has seen. For example, not only will we study slave abolition, the Civil Rights Movement and the Nation of Islam, we will prioritize figures like Sojourner Truth, Fannie Lou Hamer and Clara Muhammad, and we will interrogate their religious beliefs and their particular theologies that helped make their feminist interventions within the Black freedom struggles possible. Through readings, class-wide discussion, in-class activities, writing assignments, and presentations, we will study Black history theologically and Black theology historically.
HNRS 378 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the THRS major/minor or Africana Studies minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI) and Domestic Diversity Level 2 (FDD2).
HNRS 379 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the HIST major/minor or Africana Studies minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Domestic Diversity Level 2 (FDD2).
Offered: Fall 2022
Satyan Devadoss (MATH),Derrick Cartwright (ARTH)
The 21st century has brought about a phenomenal resurgence in mathematics, with its power to help a rover to land on Mars, a computer to outthink chess masters, and a phone to navigate us around the world. Unfortunately, mathematics has been relegated to the world of utility and purpose. On the other end of the spectrum, with the tremendous growth of STEM, the visual arts have been stripped of power and influence, cornered into philosophical notions of beauty and aesthetics. The rise of AI-aided content further complicates this scenario. This course considers and dismantles these incorrect and dangerous tensions between beauty and utility, curation and creation, theory and application, and thinking and making, offering a possible way forward to set things right and help realign our STEM obsessed world.
HNRS 394 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the MATH major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
HNRS 395 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the ARTH major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Artistic Inquiry (EARI).
Offered: Fall 2024
Kathryn Statler (HIST), Daniel Sheehan (PHYS)
Nuclear weapons are one of the great scientific and technological achievements of the 20th century; however, they also pose a grave existential risk to humanity. This team-taught, upper-division honors class will explore nuclear weapons -- their discovery, design, destructiveness, deployment and disarmament -- from the perspectives of history and physics. It will trace their development from early 20th-century scientific visionaries, through the Manhattan Project, from the Cold War nuclear arms race, up to the present-day specter of nuclear terrorism. The course will also explore the potential for nuclear disarmament and peaceful uses for nuclear technology.
HNRS 344 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the HIST major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Historical Inquiry (EHSI).
HNRS 345 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the PHYS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
Offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2023
Yi Sun (HIST/ASIA), Vidya Nadkarni (POLS)
Using an interdisciplinary approach, this course examines the national experiences of China and India, two emerging global powers, from the perspectives of History and Political Sciences. With a focus on the intertwined themes of colonialism and nationalism, the course analyzes the two countries' policies during the Cold War, their current economic development and their positions on regional and international security. Concurrently, the course dissects the bilateral relations between China and India as well as their complex relations with the United States and the rest of the world.
HNRS 352 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the History major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Historical Inquiry (EHSI).
HNRS 353 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the POLS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Social/Behavioral Inquiry (ESBI).
Offered: Spring 2021
Kacie Miura (POLS/IREL/ASIA), Yi Sun (HIST/ASIA)
This class will introduce students to the complex historical and contemporary experiences of China by tackling a range of topics essential for the understanding of a country that is assuming global significance. Among the main foci are the Confucian tradition and its lasting legacy, China’s encounters with both Western imperialism and Japanese militarism as well as their impact on a unique brand of nationalism; Beijing’s domestic and foreign policies in the Cold War contexts and beyond; and China’s economic and social changes during the last forty years and its new geopolitical position in the world.
HNRS 320 - This section has plans to satisfy upper-division elective credit in the Political Science/International Relations major/mins or Asian Studies minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Social and Behavioral Inquiry (ESBI).
HNRS 321 - This section has plans to satisfy upper-division elective credit in the History major/minor or Asian Studies minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Social and Behavioral Inquiry (ESBI) and Historical Inquiry (ESHI).
Offered: Spring 2024
Truc Ngo (ISYE), Alyson Ma (ECON)
This team-taught honors course introduces students to the engineering, science, and economic aspects of coffee from growing to brewing processes, including international trade and retail sales. Students will apply fundamental principles of engineering analysis and design, and will be guided through a series of laboratory experiments testing the effect of design choices on the sensory quality and measured properties of brewed coffee. Students will also study the economics of coffee production and its impact on local communities and the environment.
- Pre-requisites: Completion of the following courses is required: MATH 130 or MATH 150 or MATH 151; and ISYE 220 or ECON 101.
- This course is not designed for students with previous credits in ENGR 110 or ENGR 315.
- This course includes 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of lab weekly (earning students 4 total Honors units).
HNRS 356 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Industrial & Systems Engineering major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Global Diversity Level 2 (FDG2) and Scientific and Technology Inquiry (ESTI).
HNRS 357 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Economics major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Global Diversity Level 2 (FDG2) and Scientific and Technology Inquiry (ESTI).
Offered: Spring 2022
Linda Barkacs (ETLW), Craig Barkacs (MGMT)
People throughout the world experience conflict in both their interpersonal and business relationships. Ever wonder how to handle it? Honors Conflict Diagnosis and Dispute Resolution in a Global Environment is a course intended to help you develop the skills and knowledge needed to diagnosis, manage, and resolve conflict in a global environment. This interdisciplinary course (international relations/law/management/ethics) utilizes in-class role playing and simulations to help the student experience conflict in a cross-cultural context, as well as learn how to manage conflict in a global environment.
HNRS 368 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Business Admin. major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
HNRS 369 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Business Admin. major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
Offered: Spring 2021, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
David Shirk (POLS/IREL), Zhi-Yong Yin (EOSC)
This course examines the problem of “disasters” from the lenses of the natural and social sciences, drawing insights specifically from earth science and political science. By taking this course, students will gain a better appreciation of the scientific causes of different types of hazards, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, and famines, as well as the social and political factors that increase human vulnerability to catastrophic outcomes. While most of the course will emphasize “natural disasters,” the course will also take into consideration the human and environmental consequences of other types of “technological” and human-caused disasters, such as nuclear accidents, chemical spills, and crashes. Students will draw on both scientific and policy analysis to consider the best strategies and practices available to mitigate hazards and their effects, as well as the ethical dilemmas and moral hazards involved in disaster relief efforts. Finally, and most important, students will have the opportunity to consider the human, environmental, and economic toll of catastrophic events, and the political and policy responses to them.
HNRS 330 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the POLS/IREL major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT). There are no prerequisites for this course.
HNRS 331 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the EOSC major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT). There are no prerequisites for this course.
Offered: Fall 2022
Lisa Nunn (SOCI), Susannah Stern (COMM)
This team-taught honors class is designed to engage students in deep exploration of how digital experiences and technologies play a role in our sense of self and community membership. Rooted in the theory and literature of two distinct but overlapping disciplines, sociology and communication studies, the course will examine the deep complexities and contradictions that lie at the intersection of digital media and our social selves. We will take up such questions as: How are we treated based on how we are perceived by others, and in turn, how does that shape how we behave and present ourselves? Who are we when we engage in digital spaces? How is our digital self different from our non-digital self? How does the social world, online and off, shape this engagement? What are the affordances and limitations of digital technologies and platforms that impact our selfhood and behavior? And finally, how are relationships with others enhanced, impeded, or otherwise impacted by the digital environment and our own behaviors? Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to reflect on their own digital experiences, behaviors and decisions, while also considering the larger societal constraints that shape and reflect individual selves.
HNRS 306 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the SOCI major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
HNRS 307 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the COMM major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
Offered: Spring 2026
Odilka Santiago (SOCI), Jennifer Wenzel (NEUR)
This course examines drug use in modern US society and will span the fields of neuroscience, biology, psychology, criminology, history and sociology. This course will teach an evidence-based historical and scientific approach to understanding drugs and drug use from neuromechanistic to societal levels. The emphasis will be on psychoactive drugs, including psychotherapeutic drugs (e.g., antipsychotics, antidepressants, anxiolytics etc.); and drugs of abuse (e.g., stimulants, depressants); while considering that many drugs cross both categories (e.g., cannabis, opiates, psychedelics). Different aspects of drug use will be explored, including drug effects on the brain and behavior, psychological and biological factors responsible for their use, as well as the sociopolitical, cultural, economic, and legal impacts of drug use. Students will explore topics such as the “War on Drugs” and changing attitudes towards psychedelic use in psychiatric treatment (“psychoplastigens”) in order to identify and make connections between moral, legal, biological, economic, and practical reasons for our societal attitudes and treatment of drugs.
HNRS 388 -This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the SOCI major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT). Prerequisite: passing grade in SOCI 101.
HNRS 389 -This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the PSYC or NEUR major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT). Prerequisite: passing grade in PSYC 101.
Offered: Spring 2025
Jillian Tullis (COMM), Karma Lekshe Tsomo (THRS)
Dying, death, and grief are universal human experiences. However, the dying process is not equal, and who and how we are allowed to grieve is influenced by religious, political, and social realities. This course challenges students to think about how we die and raises questions about social justice. We will explore issues such as, the AIDS crisis in the 80s, crack and opioid addiction, high rates of incarceration in the black community, police brutality, disability rights and death with dignity laws, and indigenous practices. We will consider multiple modes of communicating, including rituals, music, poetry, and film. Students will use theories, concepts, and research methods from Theology & Religious Studies and Communication Studies to interrogate these issues, and apply and integrate what they have learned.
HNRS 380 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Communication Studies major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Global Diversity Level 2 (FDG2).
HNRS 381 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Theology and Religious Studies major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Global Diversity Level 2 (FDG2) and Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI).
Offered: Spring 2021
Mei Yang (CHIN), Koonyong Kim (ENGL)
This course examines representative films from East Asia--Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, and South Korea in particular--in their national, regional, and global contexts. While studying these films within the specific contexts of their historical, social, and economic conditions, we will place special emphasis on how various filmic texts respond both aesthetically and politically to a broad range of issues pertaining to nation, globalization, identity formations (race, gender, sexuality, and class), authorship, new media, and (post)humanism, among others.
HNRS 366 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Chinese major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Literary Inquiry (ELTI).
HNRS 367 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the English major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Literary Inquiry (ELTI).
Offered: Spring 2021, Fall 2024
Alberto Pulido (ETHN), Julia Medina (SPAN)
This course will focus on reading, understanding and memoirs that relate to the power of place and its role in shaping identities. Autobiographical in scope, memoirs are self-reflexive manifestations/ expressions that come in many forms (literary, musical, cinematic, visual and in material culture). Focusing on texts produced in North America and the United States we will look at examples from transnational perspectives that include African American, Caribbean, Chicano, Indigenous, Gay/ Queer, Central American, Mexican voices to consider the complexities of belonging in multiple places that bring forth complex identities and intersectionalities that are contradictory and fragmented at times. We consider memoirs situated in place and experience. They are tied to: 1) physical movement: 2 ) hybridity in terms of personal and collective identity, and of genres. 3) Periphery as manifested via the power of place in the role of the nation-states defining the legality or illegality of such movements; 4) and an exploration into the longing of home within a context of contested spaces.
From the perspective of ethnic studies and literary/ cultural analysis we’ll be challenging the epistemological assumptions of memoirs as a way to bridge these disciplines and engage in a multi-pronged approach to understanding and developing narratives that connect belonging to place. As part of this effort we will also honor community epistemologies that will be framed via literature, art, cinema, theater and automobile and oral histories. It is highly recommended that students who enroll in this course are conversant in more than one language, preferably English and Spanish.
HNRS 384 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the ETHN major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Global Diversity level 2 (FDG2).
HNRS 385 -This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the SPAN major/minor*. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Global Diversity level 2 (FDG2).
*Pre-requisite in order to receive Spanish credit: SPAN 304 or SPAN 303 or SPAN 301 or SPAN 311 at the Undergraduate level with a minimum grade of D-.
Offered: Spring 2025
Brian Clack (PHIL), Derrick Cartwright (ARTH)
This interdisciplinary seminar will investigate the life, works, critical interpretations, and legacies of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Lucian Freud (1922-2011). Sigmund was Lucian’s grandfather. Our goal is to tease out obvious and unspoken relationships between these two influential, and highly contentious, cultural figures. Integrating tools derived from both Philosophy and Art History, students in the seminar will become familiar with key texts by and about both Freuds, as well as the visual representations that are customarily identified with them. We will trace their professional impacts from fin-de-siècle Vienna, where Sigmund first articulated his theories of the unconscious and psychoanalytic practice, through shared displacement by the Second World War, to his grandson’s rise to a pre-eminent place in the British art world, up until their deaths--separated by 70 years--in London. Together, we will assess the dimensions of, and significance behind, the family bonds that existed between them, as well as the implications of their more public personas for an understanding of their contributions to the world of ideas.
HNRS 372 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Philosophy major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Philosophical Inquiry (FPHI).
HNRS 373 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Art History major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Artistic Inquiry (EARI).
Offered: Spring 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2025
Harriet Baber (PHIL), Sarah Esfahani (ECON)
Discrimination in employment, the persistence of sex segregation in the labor force, the feminization of poverty, and the implementation of policies designed to minimize gender-based career and economic differences, and to improve the economic status of women — such as affirmative action — raise a number of ethical as well as economic questions. This course surveys ethical theory and considers the application of ethical principles to issues concerning the economic status of women and related gender-based issues, including the position of women in business and the professions in the US and in a global context.
HNRS 310 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the PHIL major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Ethical Inquiry (FETI) and Global Diversity Level 2 (FDG2).
HNRS 311 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the ECON major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Ethical Inquiry (FETI) and Global Diversity Level 2 (FDG2).
Offered: Spring 2023
Jillian Tullis (COMM), Suzanne Stolz (EDUC)
Disability Studies is a broad, interdisciplinary field that approaches disability from historical, cultural, and social perspectives. In this course we will work to better understand disability experiences and issues impacting people with disabilities. We will explore the interpersonal, social, cultural, and mediated conceptions of disability, and consider various models with which disability is commonly understood. We will begin with the origins of disability studies, interrogate current issues and discourses, and finally imagine future possibilities. Some questions that guide the course include:How have our conceptions of disability been shaped? And by whom? What institutional and social structures disable people? What efforts have been made to integrate people with disabilities? What role do they play in change? How might we envision a more just future for those whose bodies are viewed as outside the norm? Assignments will ask students to integrate their knowledge to expand access and create social change.
HNRS 350 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the COMM major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Domestic Diversity Level 2 (FDD2).
HNRS 351 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the EDUC major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Domestic Diversity Level 2 (FDD2).
Offered: Spring 2023
Adina Batnitzky (SOCI), Avi Spiegel (POLS)
What are human rights? Are certain types of rights more important than others? This course will investigate debates surrounding the development of diverse and under-examined types of human rights: international social, cultural and economic rights. How are human rights experienced around the world and how are such rights best implemented? Grounded in the study of both public sociology and international relations, this course will take a unique interdisciplinary and global approach to these pathbreaking and pressing questions. Together, we will unearth the social conditions of human rights norms alongside their political and policy ramifications.
HNRS 312 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the SOCI major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
HNRS 313 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the POLS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
Offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2025
Farrah Karapetian (ARTV), Alejandro Meter (SPAN)
A boundary is a question. What is it? Who put it there? How does it influence those who exist on either side of it? Is one side privileged over the other because of the origin story of the boundary? Is that privilege visible or neutralized? Is oppression a necessary condition of boundaries? Where does the boundary end in real space or in imagined identities? How does it change over time? Importantly for this class, how do photographic and literary depictions reflect and influence stasis and change, privilege and oppression, and the very capacity to describe one’s own condition? This class will use literature and lens-based mediums to trace depictions of boundaries and borders, and will provide students the opportunity to both analyze existing representations and create their own. We will initially focus on the U.S./Mexico border on which we live and work, but we will also complicate the notion of the “boundary” by examining borders present in situations that go beyond notions of the nation-state. Students will work on an integrated project that describes the border most relevant to their own identities and imaginations, drawing on resources from the disciplines of literature and photography.
HNRS 328 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the ARTV major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Artistic Inquiry (EARI) and Global Diversity Level 2 (FDG2).
HNRS 329 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the SPAN major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Literary Inquiry (ELTI) and Global Diversity Level 2 (FDG2).
Offered: Fall 2022
Andrew Tirrell (POLS/IREL), Ryan Abrecht (HIST)
Humanity’s fraught relationship with its natural environment is arguably the most important issue of our time. Many scientists agree that we are living at the beginning of a new era – the Anthropocene – in which human activities have an unprecedented impact on Earth’s ecosystems. Debate continues, however, about precisely when this “new” era began. While some scholars link the beginning of the Anthropocene to the later half of the twentieth century or the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, others assert that we should look further back. This course will examine the beginning of humanity’s efforts to mold the natural world to suit its needs, tracing a direct line from the environmental issues of our own time to the invention of agriculture and urbanism in the Neolithic Revolution. We will seek the beginnings of the Anthropocene, in other words, in the very foundations of human civilization as we know it. Using case studies from ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, we will examine ancient peoples’ changing relationship with the natural world, focusing on issues such as the sacredness of nature; resource use, degradation, and scarcity; disease and other environmental health factors; and early conceptions of conservation and preservation.
HNRS 338 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the POLS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
HNRS 339 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the HIST major/minor and/or Classical Studies minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Historical Inquiry (EHSI).
Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2025
Linda Barkacs (ETLW), Craig Barkacs (MGMT)
This course covers the analysis, explanation and evaluation of power and politics in organizations. It offers frameworks for assessing the sources of power in organizations, the conditions that lead to its attainment and its effective use from both a practical and an ethical perspective. Discussions will cover how people in organizations try to get what they want by influencing others, how their ability to do so is affected by power distributions and how people try to change power distributions in their favor. We will evaluate these behaviors and discuss how (if at all) we should participate in these behaviors.
HNRS 308 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Business Administration major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
HNRS 309 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Business Administration major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
Offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2024
Michael Gonzalez (HIST), Mark Woods (PHIL)
“‘Stop Worrying about Doomsday and Learn to Love the Bomb’: Nuclear Terror, Ethics, and the Future, Past, and Present Realities of the Cold War, 1844-2023” combines methodologies used by historians and philosophers to study multiple dimensions of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The focus of this course is the Cold War that started at the end of World War II in 1945 and ended with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, but this course extends backward to the writings of Marx and Engels in the middle of the 19th century and the Russian Revolution that took Russia out of World War I, and extends forward to the current relationship between Russia and the US. Although both the Soviet Union and the US used proxies to fight each other during the Cold War, they never actually fought each other, and much of the world aligned with either the US-led First World or the Soviet-led Second World, making the Cold War the center of global geopolitics for forty-six years. Competing economic and political ideologies were linked to different forms of military-industrial complexes. The war dimension of the Cold War was focused on the development of nuclear weapons, the nuclear arms race, nuclear deterrence, and ultimately the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD) between the Soviet Union and the US. This team-taught honors course will focus on the ethical, historical, military, political, and social dimensions of the Cold War. This new course brings together Dr. Michael Gonzalez’s expertise teaching Power and Politics of the Cold War (HIST 375) and Dr. Mark Woods’ expertise teaching Ethics of War and Peace (PHIL 340). A team-taught approach is appropriate because we can bring our expertise together into one classroom and simultaneously weave together ethics and politics to examine the most important historical event since the middle of the 20th century.
HNRS 376 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the HIST major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Historical Inquiry (EHSI).
HNRS 377 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the PHIL major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Ethical Inquiry (FETI).
Offered: Spring 2023
The Other Spanish Empire*
Martin Repinecz (SPAN),TJ Tallie (HIST)
This advanced integration course draws from the fields of Literary Studies and History to help understand the broader story of Spain’s often overlooked imperial ventures in Africa. It is commonly believed that Spanish imperialism ended in 1898, when Spain, having already lost the vast majority of its Latin American territories in the early 19th century, ceded its remaining colonies in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States in the wake of the Spanish-American War. In reality, however, the loss of the American empire motivated Spain to build a new empire in Africa. This course will provide an overview of Spanish colonialism in Africa while maintaining a special focus on the history, literature and culture of Equatorial Guinea/Guinea Ecuatorial, the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa today. It will also explore the relationship between metropolitan Spain in Europe and the colonial project in Africa.
What did it mean for Spain to attempt another imperial story during the Scramble for Africa? How did indigenous Africans respond to these moves? Why is the story of Guinea Ecuatorial so rarely discussed in a broader Spanish historical narrative? This course invites students to learn in depth about this topic while also crafting a research project related to questions of colonialism, belonging, and indigeneity that will engage both History and Literary Studies.
HNRS 392 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the SPAN major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Literary Inquiry (ELTI), and Global Diveristy Level 2 (FDG2). *Pre-requisite in order to receive Spanish credit: SPAN 301 or SPAN 311 at the Undergraduate level with a minimum grade of D-. Students taking this course for Spanish credit at the 300 level will read one full novel and write one short paper in Spanish. Students taking this course for Spanish credit at the 400 level will read all assigned texts and write all assignments in Spanish.
HNRS 393 -This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the HIST major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), and Global Diveristy Level 2 (FDG2).
Offered: Spring 2026
Rico Monge (THRS), Michael Kelly (PHIL)
What is the meaning of my life and what does the meaning of my life mean for the society in which I live? How does one discern such meaning and what are the obstacles (personal and social) to coming to grasp that meaning for oneself? How do the answers to such questions change assuming either a theistic or atheistic premise? To what does an atheistic or theistic premise committee me, actually? In an intense dialogue with some of the most important philosophical, literary, and theist texts in existentialism, we will explore these questions in Theistic and Atheistic Existentialism.
HNRS 324 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Theology and Religious Studies major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI).
HNRS 325 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Philosophy major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Philosophical Inquiry (FPHI).
Offered: Spring 2021, Spring 2024
A topical variation of this course is also offered abroad in London. See course description.
Bradley Bond (COMM), Justine Rapp Farrell (MKTG)
Although the academic study of social media is still in its infancy, communication scholars have begun examining the multifaceted nature and influence of social media as they relate to our psyche, our relationships, and the way our society functions. Marketing researchers have also focused attention on the pivotal role social media play in consumer behavior and business practices. This course attempts to merge two disciplines with great interest in social media – communication studies and marketing – and, in turn, seeks to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of what it means to exist as citizens and consumers in the age of social media.
HNRS 304 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the COMM major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
HNRS 305 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the MKTG major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
Offered: Fall 2021
Can Bilsel (ARCH), Molly McClain (HIST)
What role has utopia played in the formation of the modern city? The architectural and urban projects that have shaped the great cities often embody a radical social vision: they imagine the society in a perfected state. Bringing together the disciplines of history and architecture, this course will trace the utopian ideals from the Renaissance through the modern era. We will examine the development of social utopias in Europe and America and the birth of modernist city planning. Our goal is to better understand the relation between social and physical space in the formation of modern cities and to enhance our understanding of the city as a historical and symbolic form.
HNRS 358 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the Architecture major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT) and Artistic Inquiry (EARI).
HNRS 359 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the History major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
Offered: Spring 2022, Fall 2025
Yi Sun (HIST), Bahar Davary (THRS)
Using an interdisciplinary approach, this course examines the historical and contemporary experiences of women in Islam and Confucianism from the perspectives of History and Religious Studies. With a focus on the lives of Iranian women and Chinese women while also providing much broader coverage, the course is designed to dissect the intricate connections between the two pervasive religions and women’s experiences in Islamic and Confucian societies. Students will be expected to develop critical appreciation of women’s dynamic role in shaping the historical contours of Islam and Confucianism as well as in changing their own lives.
HNRS 364 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the HIST major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Global Diversity Level 1 (FDG1), Historical Inquiry (EHSI) and Critical Thinking and Information Literacy (CTIL).
HNRS 365 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the THRS major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT), Global Diversity Level 1 (FDG1) and Theological and Religious Inquiry (FTRI).
Offered: Spring 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2025
Laura Getz (PSYC), Eliza Smith (FREN)
Language comprehension is one of the most complex human behaviors, and the use of language distinguishes humans from other animals. Human speech uses a wide variety of sounds to convey information linguistically, and these sounds vary across individual talkers, dialects and languages. Furthermore, across cultures and societies, these sounds take on collective meanings and social interpretations that mutate and vary accordingly, and reveal the impact of society on language. This course takes a dual psychological and sociocultural approach in its study and analysis of speech that we produce and process. Beginning with the cognitive exploration of the sounds used in human language, this course provides an overview of speech science and phonetics and the study of how humans communicate using spoken language. Understanding the sounds used in spoken language has practical significance: it can help us improve computer systems designed to recognize speech, it can help us develop better treatments for language disorders, and it can help us improve assistive devices like hearing aids and cochlear implants.
Additionally, this course will lend itself to the study of language as a social phenomenon. How does language function as a sociocultural system that organizes meaning? Through an overview of technical concepts in sociocultural linguistics, a field that draws on sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, socially oriented discourse analysis, pragmatics, language and social psychology, applied linguistics and other fields, students will engage with both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the ways in which language production occurs through the body and generates collective constructions of age, gender, race and sexuality.
HNRS 326 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit in the PSYC or NEUR major/minor. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
HNRS 327 - This section satisfies upper-division elective credit for any major/minor in the Languages, Cultures and Literatures department. It also satisfies Core Advanced Integration (CINT).
Offered: Spring 2024
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Our doors are open to assist you with any questions you may have as you navigate the Honors Program! Current USD students can make a virtual appointment or stop by in-person in Learning Commons 201 (walk-ins are welcome).