Spring 2004 Honors Courses

Spring 2004 Registration Information
Spring 2004 Seminars

CHE 119 General Chemistry/Honors & Majors
ECN 109 Introduction to Economics/Honors - FULL
ETS 121 Introduction to Shakespeare/Honors
ETS 151 Interpretation of Poetry/Honors
FIA 106 Arts and Ideas II/Honors
FIA 300 Impressionism/Postimpressionism/Honors
HNR 260/WSP 200 History of Women's Suffrage Movement
HNR 260/PSC 200 Constitutional Democracy in America
HNR 340/FIA 300 Impressionism/Postimpressionism/Honors
HNR 340/SPC 466 Ethics in Human Communication/Honors
HNR 340/SOL 300 Exploring Creativity in the Arts and Academia
HNR 340/HNR 360 Defining Progress: More or Less?
HNR 360/HST 382 Introduction to Law/Honors - FULL
HST 382 Introduction to Law/Honors - FULL
ITA 102 Italian II/Honors - FULL
LIT 227 Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn/Honors
MAX 123 Critical Issues for the U.S./Honors - FULL
MAX 132 Global Community/Honors - FULL
NEU 211 Introduction to Neuroscience/Honors
PAF 101 Introduction to Analysis of Public Policy/Honors
PHI 109 Introduction to Philosophy/Honors - FULL
PSC 129 American National Government and Politics/Honors
PSC 200 Constitutional Democracy in America
PSY 209 Foundations of Human Behavior/Honors - FULL
PSY 315 Drugs and Human Behavior/Honors
SOL 300 Exploring Creativity in the Arts and Academia
SPA 201 Spanish III/Honors
SPA 202 Spanish IV/Honors
SPC 466 Ethics in Human Communication/Honors
WRT 209 Writing Studio 2/Honors
WSP 200 History of Women's Suffrage Movement

HONORS COURSES:

CHE 119 General Chemistry/Honors & Majors
3 credits
Lec M001: MWF 10:40 11:35, #32090
Professor Karin Ruhlandt-Senge

Chemistry 119 is a general chemistry course intended for honors students or students who expect to major in chemistry or a related discipline and for students with a strong background in science. Topics included this semester are physical aspects of chemistry. We will discuss in detail the differences between the different states of matter, gases, liquids and solids, talk about various aspects of equilibria, understand the speed of a chemical reaction when we discuss chemical kinetics, and end the semester with a short insight into descriptive chemistry, when we discuss the chemistry of the s and p block elements and look at some aspects of transition metal chemistry. Many aspects of the material discussed in CHE106/109 will be the basis for this course.

This class should be taken together with a laboratory class, Chemistry 139, a one credit course. Please note that grading for CHE 119 and CHE 139 are completely independent.

CHE 139 General Chemistry Lab/Honors
1 credit
Lab M001: W 2:00-5:00 pm, #32091
Professor Karin Ruhlandt-Senge
Lab M002: T 3:00-6:00 pm, #38031
Professor Karin Ruhlandt-Senge

CHE 139, taught concurrently with CHE 422/622, is a laboratory course accompanying the lecture, CHE 119. This course is an introduction into chemical laboratory techniques. Groups consisting of CHE 139 and CHE 422/622 (Advanced Inorganic Chemistry) students will be conducting original research. Activities will include a literature search, writing a research proposal, conducting the proposed research, and summarizing the results in a paper and a research presentation. Techniques will encompass modern synthetic methods (inert gas techniques), and a variety of analytical and physical methods typically not available to General Chemistry students such as IR, NMR, UV-Vis, X-ray crystallography.

ECN 109 Introduction to Economics/Honors - FULL
3 credits
Section M001: TTh 8:30-9:50, #37944
Professor Timothy Smeeding

This course has as its goal the understanding of the rudiments of economic theory and its application to public policy problems. As an introduction to the economic way of thinking and the tools of applied economics, this course applies the scientific method to the analysis of the question: How do individuals, firms and society, via government, make choices in the face of scarcity? The course develops a model of production, distribution and consumption in a modern society based on exchange through markets. It moves to an investigation of the economic rationale for government and public policy. The course reveals the workings of a market-oriented economy and illuminates economic policy debates in such areas as health care, inequality, poverty, discrimination, trade policy and education. There are no course prerequisites.

ETS 121 Introduction to Shakespeare/Honors
3 credits
Section M001: MW 3:00-4:20, #35921
Professor Dympna Callaghan

This course offers an intensive introduction to the plays and poetry of arguably the world’s greatest writer, William Shakespeare. We will read his Sonnets, as well a play from every major genre in which he wrote: Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth. We will also pay particular attention to the historical and literary context of his writing.

No previous familiarity with Shakespeare is required, but students must be committed to extensive reading not only of the Shakespeare texts themselves but also to related critical and historical material and must be prepared for serious engagement with the issues raised. Assignments include a short paper on each literary text, an in-class mid-term exam, and a take-home final.

ETS 151 Interpretation of Poetry/Honors
3 credits
Section M002: MW 3:00-4:20, #40229
Professor Bruce Smith

It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
William Carlos Williams

The course will consist of discussion of poems from the various traditions of poetry. The text will direct students to examples, ancient and modern, of poems that form the range of poetries from oral poetries through Shakespeare to the blues and wired poems.

Students will be asked to write a short paper weekly and choose a contemporary poet to examine more extensively in a longer paper. Attendance at the readings on campus is encouraged. Emphasis is on style and substance, music and content, the on going struggle between form and expression, between haiku and hysteria. The different tribes of poetry will be examined as well as the range of poetic possibilities. Class will consist of presentations of poets in critical and appreciative readings.

FIA 106 Arts and Ideas II/Honors
3 credits
Honors Lec M018: MW 3:00 4:45, #32421
Professor Sandra Chai

FIA 106 is a survey of key concepts and works of painting, sculpture, and architecture in Europe from the Baroque period through the twentieth century, and in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Emphasis is on art as a reflection of its historical context as well as aesthetic object. Works of music and literature that parallel major developments in art may be briefly considered. Course requirements include three tests, a short paper, and occasional short homework/discussion assignments. There will be at least one excursion on or near campus. Students need not have taken FIA 105.

HNR 260/WSP 200 History of Women's Suffrage Movement
3 credits
Lecture M001: W 7:00-10:00pm, 306A Bowne, #41059
WSP 200, Sec M001: #37208
Instructor: Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner

In the area where the woman's rights movement had its origin, we'll trace the history of its development. Field trips, videos, primary source readings and research, historical performance and story-telling/lecture will be the vehicles for our pursuit. One focus will be on tracing friendship and work networks among Central New York women and men: Matilda Joslyn Gage, Samuel J. May, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Gerrit Smith, Elizabeth Smith Miller, James Caleb Jackson, Harriet Tubman (and others) with an attention to seeing how the interaction of these reformers shaped the movement. Another focus will be exploring the reality of the movement taking form in the land of the Haudenosaunee, the six nations of the Iroquois confederacy where women live with far greater status and authority. The legacy of radical reform in this region will provide context. Finally, we'll look for the passion of the movement. What inspired these women and their male allies to stand up to the dictates of church and state alike in their demand that the world be transformed; where did they get their courage? This course will include a visit to the Women's Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls.

The students in this course created a website for their projects, which can be found here

HNR 260/PSC 200 Constitutional Democracy in America
3 credits
Lec M002: TTh 1:00-2:20, 113 Euclid, Room 200, #41096
Meets with PSC 200, M001, #40729
Professor Keith Bybee

This writing-intensive course examines principles and practices fundamental to the American constitutional regime. Readings include primary documents from the American founding; debates from the Civil War era; landmark Supreme Court decisions; and the work of Locke, Tocqueville, and Mill. Special attention will be paid to the ways in which theories of politics have informed the concrete controversies of American politics.

HNR 340/FIA 300 Impressionism/Postimpressionism/Honors
4 credits total
Lecture M001 (3 credits): MW 11:45-1:05 in 418 Bowne and Hon disc T 4:00-5:50 in 105 Bowne #40735
Meets with FIA 300, M002, MW 11:45-1:05, 418 Bowne, #37042
HNR 200, M001 is 1 credit hour for travel component after semester: #39214
Professor Sandra Chai

Study the work of some of the world's best-loved artists-Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, and others-throughout the semester and in the museums of Provence, Paris and London in a post-semester trip. Not only are these artists well known, whose works have been selling for record- breaking prices, they are also critically important in the evolution of modern art.

The course will cover major Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists and styles from the Salon des Réfusés and the beginnings of modernism to Cézanne's death in 1906, with some reference to the late work of longer-lived artists. The roots of Impressionism will be briefly considered. Somewhat greater emphasis will be placed on the Post-Impressionists as the immediate precursors to every early twentieth-century movement and to subsequent developments in this century. Class discussion will consider some of the current issues, as Impressionism and Post-Impressionism are periods which in recent decades have undergone considerable reassessment in art historical criticism. Individuals and/or small student groups will further research selected topics in relation to specific artists and themes.

The high point of the semester will of course be the nine days spent after the end of the semester (immediately following commencement in May) traveling and studying the actual works in Provence, London and Paris.

HNR 340/SPC 466 Ethics in Human Communication/Honors
3 credits
Lecture M002: TTh 11:30-12:50, 304C Bowne, #41776
Meets with SPC 466, 304C Bowne, #37694
Professor Amardo Rodriguez

Over 25 years ago Lee Thayer (1973) made a poignant observation about the condition of communication inquiry and theory: “I am convinced that our failure to see communication for what it is—the source of our humanity and of everything else that is human—is not purely an intellectual shortcoming but a moral one” (p. 130). Arguably, any cursory look at the different literatures in communication studies finds that Thayer’s criticism remains compelling. To this end, this course looks critically at the neglect of ethics in communication inquiry and theory. We will try to identity the origins and reasons for this neglect. We will also look at how this neglect undermines the potentiality of communication inquiry and theory to speak compellingly about what being human means. Finally, we will try to identify mechanisms, frameworks, and practices that can possibly begin to address this neglect. Course readings will look at many different understandings of ethics. Readings will therefore span theological, theoretical, cultural, and political perspectives. We aim to identity the different worldview assumptions that inform different understandings of ethics. We will also look at the different implications that attend to such understandings. Our goal is to identify the communicative, performative, and rhetorical practices that attend to different understandings of ethics.

HNR 340/SOL 300 Exploring Creativity in the Arts and Academia
3 credits
Lec M003: F 10:00-1:00, 113 Euclid, #200, #41062
Meets with SOL 300, M001, #41024
Instructor: Teresita Paniagua

This class will involve a personal, intimate experiment in the creative processes. Our inner worlds as well as the classroom and other outside venues, serve as our lab. We ourselves are the creators of our world, interacting with the life that surrounds us and finding ways to artistically work with ideas, dreams, imaginations. Some will enter a profound state of relaxation, leave the mundane behind and enable the experience of alternate realities.

HNR 340/HNR 360 Defining Progress: More or Less?
3 credits
Lec M004: TTh 4:00-5:20, 306A Bowne, #41064
Meets with HNR 360, M001
Professors Gary Radke and Elet Callahan

[Note: Application deadline extended to Friday, October 31. After October 15, financial aid will be available on a first-come, first-served basis only.]

Start the spring semester early with a five-day study trip to Savannah, Georgia. Explore America's most intelligently planned city, get a behind-the scenes look at historic sites, explore vast marshlands and nature preserves, and speak with local preservationists and developers. Then spend time on campus grappling with the obvious tensions and conflicts that you will observe between economic development and preservation of the natural and built environments.

This course is team taught by a professor of law and public policy in the Whitman School of Management and a professor of art and architectural history in the College of Arts and Sciences. It seeks to bring together students and experts from widely divergent disciplines and backgrounds. Everything will be open to question and debate. In Syracuse, hear from both supporters and opponents of DestinyUSA; discuss the difficulties the School of Management faces in designing its new building to be as "green" as possible; learn how and why groups disagree about preserving old buildings and neighborhoods; and understand how law and economics condition our responses. In the end, develop your own plans for making the United States a more lively and attractive place to live.

Defining Progress will be limited to twenty students. Qualified students who are not enrolled in the honors program may be admitted at the discretion of the instructors. The course fee, which covers accommodations and most activities in Savannah, but does not include transportation to or from Savannah or Syracuse, is $750. A limited amount of need-based financial aid will be available for qualified students. Additional information and a tentative Savannah itinerary are available on the web.

HNR 360/HST 382 Introduction to Law/Honors - FULL
3 credits
Lecture M002: TTh 11:30-12:50, RTBA, #41097
Meets with HST 382, M001, #40726, RTBA room
Professor Christopher Kyle

This course will cover the history and traditions of English Common and Civil Law as well as elements of medieval and early modern jurisprudence. It will examine the development of the law in England, focusing upon such areas as the centralization of the legal system, the role of legal theorists (in particular, Bracton, Glanvile and Sir Edward Coke), the role of the jury in the legal process, and how common, civil and ecclesiastical law intersected with the political process. To this end we will also consider the importance of the legislature, the executive (in the form of the monarch), and the unwritten constitution of England. These aspects of legal history will allow us to explore not only significant legal cases and milestones in judicial thought, but how these events had an impact upon the thinking and institutions of American colonial society. This course is designed to be an introduction to the law from a liberal arts and historical perspective.

ITA 102 Italian II/Honors - FULL
4 credits
Lecture M005: TTh 11:30-12:50 pm in 210 Hinds and W 10:40-11:35, #39079
Instructor: Jacqueline Sorci

This is a continuing proficiency-based course which develops communicative abilities in speaking, listening, reading, and writiing in culturally authentic contexts. Activities are conducted in Italian. Prereq: ITA 101 or admission by placement testing.

LIT 227 Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn/Honors
3 credits
Lecture M002: TTh 7:00-8:20 pm, #41066, 310 Hinds
Instructor: Patricia Burak

Two renowned Nobel Prize winners, Boris Pasternak and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, have explored the meaning of life in their great novels, Dr. Zhivago and The First Circle, the two main texts of LIT 227. In addition, students read biographies of both authors, and Solzhenitsyn's first novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. We study the themes of revolution, war, communism, prison, love, family, and fidelity in the context of the life experiences of Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn and the characters of these novels. Pasternak's poetry, and Solzhenitsyn's own prison experience elevate these novels to the ranks of world famous literature. Students make oral presentations, write papers and do projects which thoroughly integrate the themes of these novels to the times in which they were written, and the reality of current times.

MAX 123 Critical Issues for the U.S./Honors - FULL
3 credits
Lec M001: M 9:35-10:30, #32953
Professor Grant Reeher
Sec M004: MW 11:45-12:40, #32955
Professor Grant Reeher

MAX 123 is an interdisciplinary, team-taught course concerned with fundamental questions in American democracy. What is fair in a society dedicated to the equality of citizens? How can we effectively achieve the greatest good for the greatest number? How do we understand the relations between equality, liberty, and freedom? How do we adjust traditional concerns to accommodate for changing imperatives? What does it mean to be a citizen, both in terms of rights and responsibilities, and the creation of good public policy? These questions rest on deep historical traditions that demand our attention.
The specific occasion for our consideration of these questions is the condition of social and economic inequality in the United States. Over the past 30 years, the U. S. has been marked by a rise in economic inequality, and in comparison with most other advanced Western nations, the U. S. is more unequal. Our recent experience with inequality invites reconsiderations of economic and educational opportunity, political opportunity, access to health care, race relations, and more generally, the relations between inequality, liberty, and power. The course presumes that these questions and issues do not have obvious answers, that they are open to sustained debate and necessarily involve trade-offs, and that crafting specific policies to address social problems is the most difficult task of all.

Our method of engagement will rely in part on specific case studies embedded in broader topics, a well-established tool for learning and policy exploration. Citizenship, education, and race are the topics we will explore; the specific subjects of our deliberations are campaign financing; school choice in public education; admission to institutions of higher learning, with SU as the example; and affirmative action. Our primary resources will consist of readings of three principal types: those that delineate the cases and their issues; more general explorations of the policy areas; and broader theoretical and philosophical reflections.

More information is available on the web. MAX 123 is a required course for the Policy Studies major. MAX 123 and MAX 132 may be counted toward the Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum divisional requirement in the Social Sciences. These courses may be taken in sequence, (either course may be taken first) or with other courses as listed in the Core Guidebook under Interdepartmental Sequences in the Social Sciences. Both courses also meet the Writing Intensive and Critical Reflections requirements.

MAX 132 Global Community/Honors - FULL
3 credits
Lec M001: W 9:35-10:30, Max Aud, 33165
Professor Tod Rutherford
Sec M008: MF 10:40-11:35, #32965
Professor Mark Rupert

MAX 132 is designed to help you become informed about globalization and its consequences. Four units make up the course. The first begins with a general look at globalization and how it seems to be reshaping our world. We then examine the free trade notion that is so much at the center of disputes surrounding globalization. The second unit is concerned with globalization's impacts on everyday life, as represented by the workplace, domestic arrangements, and consumption habits. In the third unit we'll look at three case studies to see how globalization has generated responses that favor both wider political unity and disunity. The final unit is devoted to globalization and protest movements -- why it's spawned them and how they in turn use it to their advantage.
MAX 132 is a required course for the International Relations major. MAX 123 and MAX 132 may be counted toward the Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum divisional requirement in the Social Sciences. These courses may be taken in sequence, (either course may be taken first) or with other courses as listed in the Core Guidebook under Interdepartmental Sequences in the Social Sciences. Both courses also meet the Writing Intensive and Critical Reflections requirements. Mo information is available on the web.

NEU 211 Introduction to Neuroscience/Honors
3 credits
Sec M002: TTh 11:30 12:50, and TTh 4:00 5:00, #31536
(Register for M002 only.) (cross-listed with BIO 211)
Professor Steven Chamberlain

This course will explore foundations of neurobiology beginning with cellular neurobiology, moving on to integrative systems and ending with higher brain functions. Emphasis will be on understanding of nervous system operation through lectures, discussion and demonstrations. We will explore such questions as: Can dogs see color? Is there a cure for jet lag? Can computers replace brains? What causes a migraine headache? Why are more men color blind than women? Can you view the inside of the human brain as it works? Do cats see better than you do? Why does a bird change its song? Is your eye like a camera? Prerequisite: high school biology and chemistry.

PAF 101 Introduction to Analysis of Public Policy/Honors
3 credits
Lec M002: MWF 12:50 1:45, Maxwell Auditorium, #32976
Honors discussion section M003: M 1:55 3:45, #35342
(Register for M002 only. M003 will auto-enroll.)
Professor William Coplin

This course requires the completion of the assignments required for all students in the course plus a one hour and fifty minute meeting on Monday, immediately following the class. This course is designed to help you develop the skills widely used in government, business, and public communications to formulate, implement and evaluate public policy. The Honors section will consist of the following:

• Application of the skills covered in 101 to undergraduate education problems at Syracuse University and elsewhere.
• Informal discussions of public policy topics with the instructor and outside speakers.
• Chance to develop and demonstrate leadership skills.

This course is an introduction to highly valuable community experiences on and off campus.

PHI 109 Introduction to Philosophy/Honors - FULL
3 credits
Lec M001: MWF 12:50-1:45 #40684, 304C Bowne
Professor Benjamin Bradley

This will be a topical introduction to philosophy: we will learn what a philosophical problem is, and what methods philosophers use to solve such problems, by attempting to answer several (three or four) philosophical questions. The approach will be analytical rather than historical: we'll be focused more on the truth of the matter than on what X, Y, or Z said about it. Possible topics include: personal identity over time, the mind-body problem, the existence of God, skepticism about the external world, and time-travel.

PSC 129 American National Government and Politics/Honors
3 credits
Lecture M001: TTh, 2:30-3:50, 304C Bowne, #35162
Professor Gavan Duffy

This course introduces students to American politics and governance by examining the foundational principles, institutional structures, political processes, and policymaking patterns of the American system. We will evaluate the extent to which American political institutions and contemporary political processes foster or impede the efficiency and justice of political outcomes. Students will individually review and discuss in class exemplary research works that examine American politics. This course is the honors equivalent of PSC 121.

Readings will include Thomas Dye, Politics in America, and two additional volumes selected by each student with the approval of the instructor.

PSY 209 Foundations of Human Behavior/Honors - FULL
3 credits
Lec M001: TTh 10:00-11:20, 304C Bowne, #36262
Professor Tibor Palfai
Lecture M002: MW 3:00-4:20, 304C Bowne, #38609
Professor Tibor Palfai

This course fulfills the introductory requirements for all additional coursework in psychology. It is designed to give the student a comprehensive overview of the field of psychology, and will cover some of the following topics: history of psychology, the human nervous system, learning and conditioning, emotion and motivation, developmental psychology, social psychology, perception, personality, and diagnosis and treatment of behavior disorders. Course will include discussion and field-based observation.

PSY 315 Drugs and Human Behavior/Honors
3 credits
Lec M003: TTh 11:30-12:50, #35512 (20:)
Honors discussion section M002: MW 12:50-1:45, #35343
(Register for M002 only; M003 will auto-enroll.)
Professor Tibor Palfai

This course is about drugs that affect behavior. Everything about those drugs--their history, mechanisms of action, their effects on the nervous system, their uses and abuses, their objective and subjective effects, their short- and long-term effects, and their side effects--is covered. These drugs include chemicals like alcohol, sedatives, minor and major tranquilizers, stimulants, narcotic analgesics, and hallucinogens. The honors discussion group participates in individualized topical research projects.

SPA 201 Spanish III/Honors
4 credits
Sec M008: MW 9:35-10:30 in 306A Bowne and TTh 10:00-11:20 in 306A Bowne, #35204
Instructor: Dennis Harrod

This is an intermediate level class which reinforces intermediate level skills in listening, reading, writing and speaking while moving students towards the Advanced level of proficiency. All essential language structures are reviewed and recycled. Authentic texts, both literary and informational, and sophisticated cultural materials serve as the context. Class activities are communicative and interactive and conducted in Spanish. Video and multi-media computer work are an integral part of this course.

SPA 202 Spanish IV/Honors
4 credits
Sec M001: TTh 10:00-11:20 and W 10:40-11:35, #33454
Instructor: Dennis Harrod

This course links the language-intensive lower division courses with the literature, culture and/or content-intensive upper-division courses of the Spanish curriculum. SPA 202 focuses on the systematic development of advanced level skills and prepares students for the increasingly diversified upper division courses. Students deal with authentic readings, both literary and informational, and with sophisticated cultural materials. SPA 202 is a pre-requisite for courses numbered 300 and above and is the first course that counts toward the major and minor.

WRT 209 WRITING STUDIO 2/HONORS
3 credits
Sec M060: MWF 11:45 12:40, 306A Bowne, #33588
Sec M080: MWF 12:50-1:45, 306A Bowne, #33589
Sec M240: TTh 11:30 12:50, 306A Bowne, #33590
Sec M260: TTh 1:00 2:20, 306A Bowne, #33591
Sec M300: TTh 4:00-5:20, AG 210, #36180 - FULL

This course looks at the ways in which writing is rhetorical, and teaches students to use rhetoric as a writing tool. Students consider writing contextually, for particular audiences and purposes. Because Studio 2 deepens and expands the focus on college writing to various disciplines -- and even professional or cultural discourse communities outside the university -- the writing practices and interpretive skills gained in this course extend into spheres beyond the writing classroom.