Honors Courses
Honors Seminars
Honors Capstone Project Seminars
Registration Information for Honors Students (reprinted from the Messenger)

Note: You may complete three one-credit 200-level seminars for a grade in lieu of one HNR course to count toward your "Breadth" requirement. (However, the seminar you use to complete the Orientation requirement cannot be one of the three.)

Courses with a HNR prefix are as follows: Humanities (x40), Natural Sciences (x50) and Social Sciences (x60). Foreign language courses require permission from the Language Department in 340 HBC before registering.

Check start dates for seminars - many start in the second or third week of classes.


If you have other problems with registration for Honors Courses, please call our office at 443-2759 or stop by the Honors Program at 306 Bowne Hall.

Honors Courses:

ANT 300/HNR340/HNR 360 Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts
CHE 109 General Chemistry/Honors
CHE 129 General Chemistry Lab/Honors
EEE 400 Exploring the Entrepreneurial Journey/Honors
ETS 235 Classics of World Literature I/Honors
FIA 105 Arts and Ideas/Honors CANCELLED
GEO 219 American Diversity and Unity/Honors 
HNR 240 Arts Without Borders FULL
HNR 250 Linked Lenses: Science, Philosophy, and the Pursuit of Knowledge

HNR 260 Ethics in the 21st Century: Personal and Social Responsibility
HNR 340 Vasily Kandinsky & Expressionism
HNR 340 Inside the Words and Music FULL
HNR 340 Introductory Workshop in Creative Writing, Fiction

HNR 340/HNR 360/ANT 300: Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts
HNR 340 American Parsifal
HNR 350 Water for Gotham FULL
HNR 350/FSC 406 Advanced Forensic Science FULL
HNR 360/SOL 360/ANT 300 Quilts and Community
HNR 360/HNR 340/ANT 300 Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts
HNR 360/HST 347 Politics Through Fiction FULL
ITA 101 Italian I/Honors
LIT 226 Dostoevsky and Tolstoy/Honors
MAX 123 Critical Issues for the United States/Honors
MAX 132 Global Community/Honors
PAF 101 Introduction to Analysis of Public Policy/Honors
PHI 109 Introduction to Philosophy/Honors CANCELLED
PSC 202 Introduction to Political Analysis/Honors
PSC 300 Climate Change Solutions: Crafting a Local Response/Honors CANCELLED
PSY 209 Foundations of Human Behavior/Honors
PSY 393 Personality/Honors
REL 101 Religions of the World/Honors
SPA 101 Intensive Spanish I/Honors
SPA 102 Intensive Spanish II/Honors
SPA 201 Intensive Spanish III/Honors
SPA 202 Intensive Spanish IV/Honors

STA 300  The Lake Project: Art and the Urban Landscape/Honors CANCELLED
WRT 109 Writing Studio I/Honors

..............................................................................................

ANT 300/HNR 340/HNR 360 Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts
3 Credits
ANT 300 Section M001: MW 12:45-2:05 p.m., #31491
Professor Felicia McMahon

Can also be taken as HNR 340 or HNR 360; see below.

In this course students will learn about our city's immigrant folk artists; that is, community members who are enriching the cultural landscape of Syracuse. The focus of the course will be on the planning and mechanics of research, including formulating questions that link interviews to larger research projects, and on communications issues (culture, class, language, and gender differences, interview dynamics, etc.). We will not neglect the "forced immigration" of Africans, and we will also consider early encounters between Native Americans and immigrants as critical to understanding American narratives about immigration to the New World. Each student will be expected to immerse in a community and to complete an in-depth ethnographic project with a focus on one cultural group. Special consideration will be given to the project's impact on resettlement or integration processes and how projects might facilitate cultural and social cohesion, thus "giving back" to the communities with whom we work.
ANT 300/HNR 340/HNR 360 Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Civic Engagement
  • Global Awareness (non-Eurocentric)

CHE 109 General Chemistry/Honors
3 Credits
Honors Section M001: MWF 9:30-10:25 a.m., #14661
Professor Karin Ruhlandt-Senge

This is the first half of a general chemistry course for students with strong science interests. The emphasis is on quantitative, physical and inorganic chemistry, with reference to application in current research. Students should register for this Honors course and an Honors lab (see below). The course is worth four credits including lab. High-school courses in chemistry and introductory calculus recommended, but not required.
CHE 109 General Chemistry/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)

CHE 129 General Chemistry Lab/Honors
1 credit
Honors Section M001: W 12:45-3:30 p.m., #14663
Honors Section M002: Th 12:30-3:15 p.m., #14665
Honors Section M003: W 3:45-6:30 p.m., #19573
Instructor: Tewodros Asefa

An introduction to chemical laboratory techniques. Experiments are designed to provide an understanding of physical measurements of chemical systems. Topics include surface tension and viscosity, molecular weight determination, polymer synthesis, thermodynamics of gases and solutions, chemical equilibrium, biochemical isolation and molecular absorption spectroscopy. General principles underlying the experiments are emphasized.

EEE 400 Exploring the Entrepreneurial Journey/Honors
3 credits
Honors Section M001:  MW 2:15 – 3:35 p.m., #31658
Professor Minette Schindehutte

Entrepreneurship is not about starting a business. Rather, it is a way of thinking and acting that transcends career, social and business dimensions. Arguably, there is no area of academic pursuit that is more interdisciplinary and cross-functional than entrepreneurship. The real quest of the course is to explore the nexus of multiple disciplines in order to construct an integrative perspective on the question: "What is entrepreneurship?" Towards this end, the theory of entrepreneurship is investigated through discussion of perspectives from thought leaders, research articles and the popular business press. The practice of entrepreneurship is explored in a simulation challenge that enables students to assess their personal entrepreneurial abilities and potential. Students develop an appreciation of the world views and life worlds of entrepreneurs by doing a research project on the various competencies associated with an entrepreneurial mindset, using the logic and methodologies from other disciplines. These skills are important preconditions to developing one's own original ideas.
EEE 400 Exploring the Entrepreneurial Journey (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Interdisciplinarity
  • Collaborative Capacity 

ETS 235 Classics of World Literature I/Honors
3 credits
Honors Section M001: T Th 3:30-4:50 p.m., #31066
Professor Harvey Teres

This course will introduce you to some of the most valued and enduring literary works from cultures around the world.  We will begin with some of the earliest surviving texts from Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures (Gilgamesh and Egyptian love poems), and go on to read sections from the Hebrew Bible (the “Old” Testament), Sanskrit and Greek epics (The Ramayana and The Iliad), classical Chinese philosophy (Confucius and Chuang Tze), Greek and Roman lyric poetry (Sappho, Catullus, Horace, and others), The New Testament, Saint Augustine’s Confessions, Tang and Song dynasty Chinese poetry (Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, and others), and Japanese (women’s) lyric (Murasaki Shikibu and Ono No Komachi).  

This is an interdisciplinary course that will feature a number of guest lecturers who are faculty members from other departments and who are distinguished scholars of the books and cultures they will talk about. Each week will feature one lecture period, followed by one discussion period.  You may choose to write traditional interpretive essays or more personal (though probing) responses to the readings.  There will be a midterm and a final exam.

We will consider these remarkable works with several questions in mind: What is a classic and why have these books attained this status?  What are the historical, cultural contexts of these works and their reception over centuries?  What moral and religious values do these works impart and are these values relevant to our own?  What are the achievements of form and craft that have contributed to these works’ enduring value?  This course is an approved Writing Intensive course in the Arts & Sciences Liberal Arts Core.
ETS 235 Classics of World Literature/Honors (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Global Awareness (non-Eurocentric)
  • Interdisciplinarity

FIA 105 Arts and Ideas/Honors CANCELLED
3 credits
Honors Section M018: T Th 3:30-4:50 p.m., #14893
Professor Sandra Chai

This course is primarily a survey of the visual arts from the Prehistoric period through the High Renaissance and Mannerist periods. Emphasis is on art as a reflection of its historical context. Art as aesthetic object will also be considered. Parallel phenomena in music and literature may be briefly discussed. The course requirements include three equally weighted exams, occasional short writing assignments, and one paper that may be revised for additional credit. There may be one or more excursions on or near campus.
FIA 105 Arts and Ideas/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Global Awareness 

GEO 219 American Diversity and Unity/Honors
3 credits
Section M001:  MWF 11:40 – 12:35, #31938
Professor John Western

How do you get a country to tick along, if everyone -- apart from those whose land this was before you came uninvited and dispossessed them -- is from somewhere else? In what were dubbed the "New Worlds" of the Americas and Australia/Oceania, no country has a more diverse set of peoples from various "somewhere elses" than the U.S.A. So what can hold us together, especially in these times when academic fashion embraces "diversity" and "multiculturalism"? With a perspective of three and a half centuries or more, we shall delve into the cultural making of the U.S.A. Various broad-sweep (and flawed) theories such as "Anglo-conformity," "Environmental Determinism," "Social Darwinism," the "Melting Pot," and "Cultural Pluralism" will be encountered. We shall also meet, at the scale of the individual migrant, what it means to have come to America and to have left a mother country behind: this is something in the experience of all your families (and about which I may directly ask), perhaps in some of your own experience, and certainly that of your instructor. Indeed, my European-ness has been somewhat re-energized by having spent the six months from January through June 2004 in Strasbourg, on the border of France and Germany. Expect some impressions from a different perspective!

As this is a geography course, we shall look at the places America has created here, and how our past and present culture(s) are to be read in the very landscape of those places. As well as an overview of various patterns of the U.S.A. as a whole, we shall look at certain regions of strong characteristics, particularly meaningful in any apprehension of American culture: The Frontier/The West; Southern California; and the South. Finally, Syracuse itself has much to tell us that is typical of America. You will write a considerable term-paper based on your own fieldwork observations of a tract of this city chosen by yourself.
GEO 219 American Diversity and Unity/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)


HNR 240 Arts Without Borders
FULL
3 credits
Section M002: T Th 5:00-6:20 p.m., #19637
Professor William West
Course fee: $43

Syracuse can be deceptive to students whose immediate world is that of the university campus. What actually goes on in the cultural life of the community beyond? Students will answer that question by attending concerts, going to the theater, and visiting museums. This course not only opens the door to Syracuse's rich cultural life, but also suggests fresh possibilities for students who want to broaden their cultural horizons. In addition to the performances, there will be opportunities to attend rehearsals, go behind the scenes of a show or concert, and have visiting actors, directors and musicians address the class. The course is also designed to help students think and write critically about what they observe, and so become informed members of an audience and of the community in which they will eventually live. Some may aspire to become professional critics or see performance and art criticism as an avocation to be pursued alongside their professional careers.

Students will attend the Symphony, Syracuse Stage, one Musical Theatre event, and the Everson Museum, and there will be various options with regard to other cultural activities both on and off campus, including Dance, Drama, Vocal and Instrumental Concerts (Classical, Jazz, Blues, Rock), Exhibitions (Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Photography, etc.), Ethnic Cultural Presentations (such as the Korean Dance and Drum Ensemble), and special Schine Center events. Course counts as Writing Intensive for Arts & Sciences Liberal Arts Core.
HNR 240 Arts Without Borders (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Public Presentation

HNR 250 Linked Lenses: Science, Philosophy, and the Pursuit of Knowledge
3 credits
Section M001: MW 12:45-2:05 p.m., #21523
Professors Cathryn Newton & Samuel Gorovitz

Science and philosophy each pursues knowledge, by apparently different approaches. But each influences and is influenced by the other. What are the philosophical underpinnings of scientific thought? What are the scientific contributions to philosophical thought? We will consider what we can know, how we can know it, and how different perspectives can interact to sharpen our capacity to increase our knowledge. Readings will be by both contemporary and historically important philosophers (e.g., Peirce, Hume, Popper) and scientists (e.g., Darwin, Gould, Margulis). This year there will be special emphasis on ocean sciences, including the scientific study of shipwrecks. Course counts as Critical Reflections for Arts & Sciences Liberal Arts Core.
HNR 250 Linked Lenses: Science, Philosophy, and the Pursuit of Knowledge (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Interdisciplinarity 


HNR 260 Ethics in the 21st Century: Personal and Social Responsibility

3 credits
Section M001: T Th 2:00 – 3:20 p.m., #19247
Professor Sandra Hurd

What does it mean to be ethical? Why be ethical? Do some individuals or groups have particular kinds of ethical responsibilities? Students? Celebrities? Sports figures? Business people? Politicians? Others? In this course, we will explore ethical theories, examine the role of social values in developing ethical stances, and seek to improve our understanding of how we make ethical decisions. We will also explore our roles and responsibilities in creating ethical organizations and communities. This course has been approved to fulfill both the Writing Intensive and Critical Reflections requirements for Arts & Sciences students.
HNR 260 Ethics in the 21st Century: Personal and Social Responsibility (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Public Presentation


HNR 340 Vasily Kandinsky and Expressionism

Section M001, MW 2:15 – 3:35 p.m., #19823
3 Credits
Prof. Edward A. Aiken

This Autumn, the Guggenheim Museum of Art will present an exhibition of over 100 works by Vasily Kandinsky, one of the leading artists in the development of early 20th Century Modernism.  The exhibition draws upon the holdings of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; as well as other public and private collections.

While this seminar will focus on Kandinsky’s career, we will also examine the broader context of his achievement by surveying the work of his contemporaries associated with Expressionism and the Bauhaus.  

Students enrolled in the course must be available to take an extended fieldtrip to New York City to visit the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art.  The potential travel dates will either be September 25 – 27 or October 2 – 4.  There will be no exceptions to this requirement.

The course will require group presentations and a research paper. Can be used by VPA art/design students as an art history elective.
HNR 340 Vasily Kandinsky & Expressionism (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)

HNR 340 Inside the Words and Music FULL
3 credits
Section M002:  T TH 12:30 – 1:50 p.m., #21493
Instructor:  Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

This course peers inside the creative process of some of the world’s best songwriters to explore larger questions about creativity in any medium. Where do ideas come from? How does personal experience translate into great stories that anyone can relate to? How do artists find an original style? These kinds of questions have been my preoccupation for 20 years—as a songwriter (a recent grand prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest), music journalist (Acoustic Guitar magazine, NPR’s All Things Considered), and author (Rock Troubadours, which includes my conversations with Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Ani DiFranco, Dave Matthews, and more).

In this class we will read about writing and music, listen to and discuss songs (your favorites as well as mine), hear clips from my interview archive, and discover some top-notch live local music. We will also collaborate on organizing a campus musical event, such as a songwriter showcase featuring SU students. Active musicians are welcome in the class, but all that is really required is a love of music and a curiosity about the mix of inspiration and perspiration (to steal a phrase from Thomas Edison) that makes great art possible. Ultimately, I hope our time together will stoke your own creativity—whatever form it takes.
HNR 340 Inside the Words and Music (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Collaboration
  • Public Presentation 

HNR 340 Introductory Workshop in Creative Writing, Fiction
3 credits
Honors Section M004: TH 11:00 a.m. – 1:45 p.m., #21743
Prof. Phil LaMarche

“I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.”
                        --Flannery O’Connor

In this course we will analyze the multiple ways a short story can be written. Although it is impossible to teach you to be a great writer, it is possible to teach you the ways in which published writers have organized their thoughts and ideas onto the page. I will challenge you to value the sentences in a story, not just the characters and plot. Fine writers take the time to sharpen every word.
 
We will read and study the elements of style that have become canonized and seek to understand particular values inherent in important writing. In addition to composing your own texts, you will also read and respond to other stories from The Art of The Short Story, edited by Dana Gioia and R.S. Gwynn, available at the S.U. Bookstore. You will write several short exercises and one longer story which will be turned in and discussed by the class as a whole.  This longer story will be revised and worked on throughout the course and at the end of the semester each student will resubmit a final draft of the piece.

You will also analyze and critique your peers’ work and published stories.  You will be required to write at least 350 meaningful/helpful/important words of feedback for each story we discuss. Remember that your writing will be shared and scrutinized—don’t turn in anything that you’re not prepared to discuss, change, or reconsider. Course counts as Writing Intensive for Arts & Sciences Liberal Arts Core.
HNR 340 Introductory Workshop in Creative Writing, Fiction (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)


HNR 340/HNR 360/ANT 300: Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts

3 credits
HNR 340 Section M003: MW 12:45-2:05 p.m., #21731
Professor Felicia McMahon
Can also be taken as ANT 300; see above, or HNR 360; see below.

In this course students will learn about our city’s immigrant folk artists; that is, community members who are enriching the cultural landscape of Syracuse. The focus of the course will be on the planning and mechanics of research, including formulating questions that link interviews to larger research projects, and on communications issues (culture, class, language, and gender differences, interview dynamics, etc.). We will not neglect the "forced immigration" of Africans, and we will also consider early encounters between Native Americans and immigrants as critical to understanding American narratives about immigration to the New World. Each student will be expected to immerse in a community and to complete an in-depth ethnographic project with a focus on one cultural group. Special consideration will be given to the project’s impact on resettlement or integration processes and how projects might facilitate cultural and social cohesion, thus "giving back" to the communities with whom we work.
HNR 340/HNR 360/ANT 300 Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Civic Engagement
  • Global Awareness (non-Eurocentric)  
HNR 340 American Parsifal (Why the U.S. Wants to be the World's "Wise Fool")
3 credits
Section M005, TTH 11:00 – 12:20 p.m., #21849
Professor Andrew Waggoner

The United States has both a great and longstanding intellectual and artistic tradition, and a deep-seated mistrust of and hostility toward artists and intellectuals. We'll examine this strange dichotomy, one that has been both invigorating and debilitating, crippling even, for our cultural development, and our standing on the world stage, through American music, literature and popular culture. We'll want to know which aspects of their own culture Americans have invested in, which ones have been successfully exported, and which currently serve as icons of a recognizably American sensibility. Over the course of the semester we'll encounter a broad range of works by William James, W.E.B. DuBois, Walt Whitman, Jack Kerouac, Louis Menand, William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy, Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashberry, Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Charles Ives, John Cage, Elliott Carter, John Adams, Charles Mingus, Brad Mehldau and Miles Davis, among others. Through it all we'll consider America's desire to be a kind of cultural Parsifal, the "wise fool" who rescues the world from impotence and shame, and the implications of that role for us as contemporary citizens.
HNR 340 American Parsifal (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:
  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Interdisciplinarity


HNR 350 Water for Gotham FULL
3 credits
Section M001: T Th 9:30-10:50 a.m., #19251
Professor Chris Johnson
No prerequisites.

Each day, more than one billion gallons of water flow from watersheds in the Catskills and Taconic Mountains to quench the thirst of New York City. The story of the development of a safe water supply for America's largest city is a tale of engineering marvel and political intrigue involving some surprising figures from US history. In this course, we will discuss the major historical, political, and engineering issues in the development of water resources for New York City in particular, and learn how engineers plan and develop major water resources projects in general. The course includes a weekend field trip to the Catskills region.
HNR 350 Water for Gotham (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Interdisciplinarity


HNR 350/FSC 406 Advanced Forensic Science
FULL
3 credits
HNR 350 Section M002: MW 12:45-2:05 p.m., #21511
Professor TBA
Prerequisites: CHE 106 or 109; CHE 113 or 335; BIO 326; or permission of instructor.
Can also be taken as FSC 406, #21755

This course will deal with selected topics of current interest in Forensic Science. Our focus will be to explore selected areas in forensics in relatively greater depth, rather than to give general introductions to all areas of forensic science. Emphasis will be placed upon the application of scientific methods and techniques to crime and law. Recent advances in basic scientific research have had a rapid and dramatic impact upon law enforcement and the criminal justice system. The material presented in this course will include both background material on the topics and case studies contributed by class members. Topics typically included are DNA, drug chemistry and toxicology, forensic psychology, entomology and ecology, among others.
HNR 350/FSC 406 (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Collaboration
  • Public Presentation
  • Interdisciplinarity


HNR 360/SOL 360/ANT 300 Quilts and Community

3 credits
HNR 360 Section M002: M 5:30-8:30 p.m., #19281
Professor Susan Wadley
Can also be taken as ANT 300, #20141 or SOL 360, #19681 (these will also count as an HNR-prefix course)

This interactive course explores the role of quilts and quilting communities in the US and elsewhere. Each class begins with one and a half hours of discussion, films, and exploration of quilts and their makers—and the communities that result. Then class shifts to Hendricks Chapel where we will join the Hendricks Chapel Quilters and learn the process of quilt making through making our own “community” quilts. No sewing experience needed!
HNR 360/SOL 360 Quilts and Community (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Collaboration
  • Civic Engagement


HNR 360/HNR 340/ANT 300 Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts

3 credits
HNR 360 Section M004: MW 12:45-2:05 p.m., #21733
Professor Felicia McMahon

Also offered as HNR 340 and ANT 300; see above.

In this course students will learn about our city’s immigrant folk artists; that is, community members who are enriching the cultural landscape of Syracuse. The focus of the course will be on the planning and mechanics of research, including formulating questions that link interviews to larger research projects, and on communications issues (culture, class, language, and gender differences, interview dynamics, etc.). We will not neglect the "forced immigration" of Africans, and we will also consider early encounters between Native Americans and immigrants as critical to understanding American narratives about immigration to the New World. Each student will be expected to immerse in a community and to complete an in-depth ethnographic project with a focus on one cultural group. Special consideration will be given to the project’s impact on resettlement or integration processes and how projects might facilitate cultural and social cohesion, thus "giving back" to the communities with whom we work.
HNR 360/HNR 340/ANT 300 Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Civic Engagement
  • Global Awareness (non-Eurocentric)  

HNR 360/HST 347 Politics Through Fiction FULL
3 credits
HNR 360 Section M005: T TH 3:30 – 4:50 p.m., #31108
Professor Margaret Thompson

Also offered as HST 347/Honors, Section M001, #31045

In this course we will examine major themes in the political consciousness of twentieth-century American society, as those themes are reflected in contemporary fiction. The focus will be on both particular events and movements (Progressive reform, the Cold War, women's liberation, civil rights, terrorism) and on more generalized and persistent concerns (alienation and depersonalization, discrimination, authoritarianism, violence, sexuality, bureaucratization, conformity, resistance, corruption).  During the term, each student will read eleven novels (from the classic to the trashy), will write four papers, and will lead a class discussion. Class sessions will be divided between lecture and discussion, but with the emphasis decidedly on discussion.
HNR 360/HST 347 Politics Through Fiction (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)

ITA 101 Italian I/Honors
4 credits
Honors Section M008: T Th 11:00-12:20 a.m. and W 10:35-11:30 a.m., #17329
Instructor: Agata Pavone

This is an introductory course for students with no functional ability in Italian, recommended for students who have previously studied a foreign language other than Italian. In this proficiency-based course, there will be ample opportunity to accelerate the acquisition of listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills. Class activities are communicative and interactive and conducted in Italian. Video and multi-media computer work are integral parts of this course.

The course is highly structured. Class attendance is obligatory, and there is a two-hour per week lab requirement. Testing consists of unannounced quizzes, chapter tests, a written and oral midterm, and a final.
ITA 101/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)


LIT 226 Dostoevsky and Tolstoy/Honors

3 credits
Honors Section M002: T Th 7:00-8:20 p.m., #18945
Professor Patricia Burak

"The truth. I care a great deal." Tolstoy's last words set the tone for the depth and breadth of study in this honors course. Two of the greatest writers in the world provide material for critical thinking, analysis and increased understanding of life's greatest questions. Dostoevsky states the universal dilemma: “God and the devil are struggling, and the battlefield is the heart of man.” Class discussions; written, oral and dramatic presentations; and final class projects allow students to explore the meaning of life, the essence of truth in life and the significance of suffering as a means of salvation. Readings include The Death of Ivan Ilych, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov , and Notes from Underground, plus a biography of one author and a second work by the other. Film viewings will further supplement discussion and inspire term paper themes. This course challenges students of all disciplines who are interested in the philosophical, sociological, spiritual, historical and psychological dimensions of man's existence as portrayed in great works of literature.
LIT 226 Dostoevsky and Tolstoy/Honors (with a grade of “B” or better) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Public Presentation (Fall 2006 and later) (Honors section only)

MAX 123 Critical Issues for the United States/Honors
3 credits
Lecture: M001: M 9:30-10:25 p.m., #17755
Professor Robert McClure
Honors Discussion M011: MW 10:35 – 11:30 a.m., #20153
Professor Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn
Register for Discussion M011: Lecture M001 will auto-enroll.

This is an interdisciplinary, team-taught course that focuses on 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? How do we preserve the inheritance of the future while enjoying the present? In other words, what does it mean to be a citizen, both in terms of rights and responsibilities, and the creation of good public policy? These questions press upon us today, but they also rest on deep historical traditions that demand our attention.

Our method of engagement will rely in part on case studies, a well-established tool for learning and policy exploration. Civic participation, education, and the economy are the central topics we will explore. Our primary resources will consist of readings of three major types: those that delineate the cases and their issues; more general explorations of the policy areas; and broader theoretical and philosophical reflections.

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 123 Critical Issues for the United States/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Interdisciplinarity


MAX 132 Global Community/Honors

3 credits
Lecture M001: W 9:30-10:25 a.m., #13980
Prof. Alfonso Castro
Honors Discussion M008: MW 12:45 – 1:40, #15995
Register for Discussion M008: Lecture M001 will auto-enroll
Professor Alfonso Castro

This course is designed to help students become informed about globalization and its consequences. The first unit begins with a general look at globalization and how it seems to be reshaping our world, then continues with an examination of the free trade notion that is so much at the center of disputes surrounding globalization. The other three units vary each year. They may include globalization's impacts on everyday life, as represented by the workplace, domestic arrangements, and consumption habits; how globalization has generated responses that favor both wider political unity and disunity; and why globalization has spawned protest movements and how they in turn use it to their advantage.

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 (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Interdisciplinarity
  • Global Awareness (Non-Eurocentric)


PAF 101 Introduction to Analysis of Public Policy/Honors

3 credits
Lecture M002: MWF 12:45-1:40 p.m., #18211
Honors Discussion section M003: M 1:50-2:45 p.m., #18213
Register for Lecture M002: Discussion M003 will auto-enroll.
Professor William Coplin

Honors students attend the PAF 101 course lectures and complete required assignments for the course. They also meet once a week for one period to apply the concepts in to a variety of topics through discussion, take part in conversations with outside speakers and develop oral communications and presentation skills. Students choose which social and economic problems facing the United States they will study. This is the gateway course to the Policy Studies major. Many Policy Studies students win scholarships, get into the best graduate, law and medical schools, attain a position with Teach for America and learn how to do good and do well simultaneously.
PAF 101 Introduction to Analysis of Public Policy/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Collaboration
  • Public Presentation (honors section only)


PHI 109 Introduction to Philosophy/Honors CANCELLED

3 credits
Honors Section M001: T Th 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m., #16171
Professor Melissa Frankel

This course introduces students to philosophy by considering a selection of the most fundamental problems in metaphysics and epistemology including: the mind-body problem, the existence of God, the nature of knowledge, skepticism, free will vs. determinism. Our approach will be topical: we will learn what a philosophical problem is, and what methods philosophers use to solve such problems, by attempting to answer philosophical questions.
PHI 109 Introduction to Philosophy/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)


PSC 202 Introduction to Political Analysis/Honors

3 credits
Honors Section M200: T Th 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m., #21553
Professor Stuart Thorson

This course, required for political science majors, builds skills for conducting, interpreting, and presenting political science research. This includes basic research and data collection practices, techniques for measuring political science concepts quantitatively, hypothesis testing, interpretation of statistical evidence, and the presentation of findings in a clear and compelling manner. Tying these components together is a thematic focus on important political science concepts including rationality, democracy, power, and representation.
PSC 202 Introduction to Political Analysis/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Collaboration
  • Public Presentation


PSC 300 Climate Change Solutions: Crafting a Local Response/Honors CANCELLED
3 credits
Honors Section M103:  T TH 2:00 – 3:20 p.m., #21581
Instructors:  Professor Sarah Pralle and Rachael May

The debate over climate change is shifting from whether the problem exists to what we should do about it.  Concerned citizens are already asking themselves what they can do to help combat global warming; it is reasonable to assume that many people will feel overwhelmed by the scope of the issue and the scale of the solutions being proposed.  This course will present the problem and the solutions at a scale that is more manageable for students to understand and to act upon.  We will examine what local communities are doing around the U.S. and the world to lower their carbon footprints, with an eye toward creating proposals for the SU community and/or the city of Syracuse.  Specifically, we will focus on “carbon offset” projects, which are designed to offset carbon emissions that are necessary or very difficult to reduce.  The goal is for students to design a project for the SU campus or the Syracuse community which would offset some of the carbon emissions produced on campus and/or by the students (e.g. travel for spring break).
PSC 300 Climate Change Solutions: Crafting a Local Response/Honors (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (HNR course)
  • Collaboration
  • Public Presentation
  • Interdisciplinarity 


PSY 209 Foundations of Human Behavior/Honors

3 credits
Honors Section M001: MW 8:00-9:20 a.m., #16443
Instructor:   Max Malikow
Honors section M002: T Th 9:30 – 10:50 a.m., #18941
Instructor:   Anne Fontana

This course is the Honors equivalent of PSY 205. It 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 209 Foundations of Human Behavior/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Public Presentation (Professor Fontana section only)


PSY 393 Personality/Honors

3 credits
Honors Section M003: T Th 12:30 – 1:50 p.m., #20437
Instructor:   Max Malikow
Prerequisite: PSY 205 or PSY 209

According to one expert, an unabridged English dictionary contains 17,953 words that describe various human characteristics. For each of us, the combination of our numerous characteristics comprises our personality. Personality is an individual's characteristic pattern of acting, feeling, relating, and thinking. This course offers an opportunity for a careful study of the various theories of personality and how each of us came to be who we uniquely are.
PSY 393 Personality/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)


REL 101 Religions of the World/Honors

3 credits
Lecture M100:  MW 10:35 – 11:30 a.m., #21239
Honors discussion M105:  W 3:45 – 4:40 p.m., #31105
Professor Gareth Fisher

Register for Honors Discussion M105; Lecture M100 will auto-enroll

 This course will invite students to explore the lived religions of the world and their impact on culture, society, economics, and politics both historically and in the world today.  We will survey the large-scale institutionalized religions of Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism and also explore common spiritual practices such as shamanism and divination.  Emphasis will be placed on critical and personal reflection in encounters with the religious other.  Through the honors section, students will engage in a semester-long field project on lived religions in Syracuse culminating in an individual term paper and group presentation.
REL 101 Religions of the World (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Global Awareness (non-Eurocentric)  


SPA 101 Intensive Spanish I/Honors

4 credits
Honors Section M004: MW 10:35-11:30 a.m., and T Th 9:30-10:50 a.m., #16579
Instructor: TBA

This is an introductory course for students with no functional ability in Spanish, recommended for students who have previously studied a foreign language, other than Spanish. In this proficiency based course, there will be ample opportunity to accelerate the acquisition of listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. Class activities are communicative and interactive and conducted in Spanish. Video and multi-media computer work are integral parts of this course.
SPA 101 Intensive Spanish I/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)


SPA 102 Intensive Spanish II/Honors

4 credits
Honors Section M001: MW 10:35-11:30 a.m. and T Th 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m., #16597
Instructor: TBA

This is a continuing course for students who have successfully completed SPA 101 or students with several years of high school study of Spanish. Small class size provides for ample opportunity to develop and reinforce listening, reading, writing and speaking skills at the Intermediate level. Class activities are communicative and interactive and conducted in Spanish. Video and multi-media computer work are integral parts of this course.
SPA 102 Intensive Spanish II/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)


SPA 201 Intensive Spanish III/Honors
4 credits
Honors Section M001: W 10:35-11:30 a.m. and T Th 9:30-10:50 a.m., #16621
Instructor: TBA

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 201 Intensive Spanish III/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Global Awareness (non-Eurocentric)

SPA 202 Intensive Spanish IV/Honors
4 credits
Honors Section M004: T Th 9:30-10:50 a.m. and W 10:35-11:40 a.m., #20165
Instructor: TBA

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.
SPA 202 Intensive Spanish IV/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Global Awareness (non-Eurocentric)

STA 300  The Lake Project: Art and the Urban Landscape/Honors CANCELLED
3 credits
Honors Section M001: Th 8:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., #32028
Professor Sarah McCoubrey

This course explores an interest in place through an investigation of landscape, the environment, contemporary art, and the city.  The subject of the course is Onondaga Lake and its complex history and status. The lake has been called a “mirror of the economic and social changes in America’s relationship to the environment,” and we will examine the lake from a variety of perspectives including social, economic, religious and cultural, taking it as the source for the creation of interdisciplinary work. There are no pre-requisites for this course; you don’t need artistic experience to participate and contribute: we seek students from a variety of backgrounds.

Much has been written about why engagement with place is so powerful in making the world a better place and re-imagining the future of cities. In her introduction to Urban Place: Reconnecting With the Natural World, Peggy Barlett writes, "new relationships to place are integral to collective efforts to shift political and economic institutions". The objective of this course will be to connect to the city of Syracuse, through its heart, Onondaga Lake. With the Lake as subject, art making and writing in various media and forms will incorporate aspects of observation and exploration and including traditional modes of creation like drawing, painting, on-site casting, photography and video.  Class participants will be asked to find ways to connect, create dialog and collaborate with some aspect of the Lake and /or its community by using different models such as: artist as scientist, artist as journalist, artist as archeologist, artist as performer, artist as gardener, artist as community activist, artist as environmentalist, etc. The objective will be for the class participants to produce some kind of work that offers a new lens through which to view our city and its past.
STA 300 The Lake Project: Art and the Urban Landscape/Honors (with a grade of “B” or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Interdisciplinarity
  • Collaboration
  • Public Presentation


WRT 109 Writing Studio I/Honors

3 credits
Section M060: MWF 11:40 a.m.-12:35 p.m., #16981
Section M080: MW 12:45-2:05 p.m., #16983 Service Learning Section
Section M240: T Th 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m., #16985

Student writers investigate and design writing processes and practice an array of informal writing strategies that strengthen learning and composing. They sharpen their critical edges as readers, writers, and thinkers. The studio classroom forms an active intellectual community collaboratively pursuing a common topic of inquiry by unraveling complex texts, arguing relevant issues, and researching key problems. Born out of this work is students' keen sense of themselves as developing writers within the University, writers who are skilled at assessing and revising their writing both in and outside the studio classroom.

One section, M080, will include service learning opportunities. Service learning sections require 20-25 hours of community work at local not-for-profit agencies, many of which are located on or near campus (a car is not a requirement for community service). The Writing Program works with the University's Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service to provide placements that are both interesting to the students and meaningful to the work of the writing course. The community work students do is part of the course work, not "extra work," and is fully integrated into reading assignments and class discussions, as well as the writing that students do for the course.
WRT 109 Writing Studio I/Honors (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be used toward the following Honors requirements:

  • Breadth (other honors course)
  • Civic Engagement (if you take a Service Learning Section)

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Honors Seminars:

HNR 100 Honors Orientation Seminar
HNR 210 Arts in Society
HNR 220 Introduction to Political Culture and Practice
HNR 230 Scientific Issues and Practices
Honors Capstone Project Seminars

HNR 100 Honors Orientation Seminar
Each section is 1 credit, graded.
The aims of the Honors Orientation Seminar are: (1) to build a sense of community among a small group of honors freshmen; (2) to aid them in the transition from high school to college; and 3) to introduce them to the world of ideas and the life of the mind.

As the Renée Crown University Honors Program is an all-University program, the students are drawn from all of the schools and colleges within Syracuse University. Students will be assigned to various sections of the Honors Orientation Seminar, based to the extent possible upon their housing assignments.
Each seminar section is led by a member of the Syracuse University faculty, aided by a "junior assistant" who is usually a third-year student in the Honors Program. The seminar runs for approximately the first 10-12 weeks of the semester, ending no later than the week following Thanksgiving, in order to avoid interfering with students' study time in preparation for final exams.

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Honors 200-Level Seminars:

Each section is 1 credit, graded.

HNR 210 Arts in Society
HNR 220 Introduction to Political Culture and Practice
HNR 230 Scientific Issues and Practices

The 200-level seminars are intended to expose you to the cultural and civic life in the wider Syracuse community, using a hands-on approach so you will have a more informed basis for participation later in life. They consist of HNR 210, HNR 220 and HNR 230.
These seminars are optional for students who started in the Honors Program Fall 2004 or later. However, you may combine three 1-credit HNR sophomore seminars (in which you received a "B" or higher) to count as one required HNR course toward the Breadth requirement. For those of you with tight schedules, this may be an efficient way to fulfill a three-credit requirement over multiple semesters.

HNR 210

Theatre in Syracuse
Section M002: W 3:45-5:05 p.m., #19699
Start Dates: Second week of classes (Wednesday, September 9, 2009)
Instructor: William D. West
Course fee: $43 to cover cost of tickets.

This seminar is an experience-based introduction to theatre in the City of Syracuse. Students will attend productions at Syracuse Stage (an Equity theatre), the SU Drama Department, and several local theatre companies. Background information is presented in class prior to each event. Students write reviews of each event afterwards and discuss the performances in class.

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Reading the World
Section M003: T 5:00 – 6:20 p.m., #19705
Start Date: Second week of classes (Tuesday, September 8, 2009)
Instructor: Georgia Popoff
Creativity and the art of life are evident in each person’s existence.  This seminar will be a facilitated ongoing discussion as we investigate the balance among our creative identities and career choices, personal goals, awareness of the role of art in our lives, and conscious awareness.  In the midst of a hectic schedule, with unreasonable demands coming both from ourselves and from others, this course will present opportunities to slow down and connect with the everyday world while investigating the grander themes and patterns of our lives.  Additionally, individual connection to creativity will be examined along with opportunities to explore the Central New York creative community.  Note:  it is not necessary to be in an arts-based major to participate; all disciplines are welcome.

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HNR 220

Culture of Violence
Section M004: Th 3:30-4:50 p.m., #18349
Start Date: Second week of classes (Thursday, September 10, 2009)
Instructor: Mark Muhammad

This seminar will provide an overview of the issue of gangs and juvenile gun violence. We will discuss the problem in Syracuse and examine some of the efforts to curb violence in our community. The seminar is designed to increase students' knowledge about, and reduce the fear of, organized youth groups (gangs) in urban areas, particularly Syracuse.

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Refugee Communities in Syracuse FULL
Section M005: W 5:15-6:35 p.m., #15195
Start Date: Second week of classes (Wednesday, September 9, 2009)
Instructor: Hope Wallis, Program Director, Refugee Resettlement Program

Over the last 20 years refugees from many countries, including Viet Nam, Somalia, Sudan, Cuba, Bosnia, and Iraq, have resettled in Syracuse. This course enables participating students to develop a basic understanding of U.S. immigration and refugee policies and their effect on the men, women, and children who resettle in the Central New York area, and in Syracuse in particular. Why do they come to Syracuse? What is their new life in Syracuse like? How do these newcomers contribute to the larger community? How do they become part of the larger community? Students will answer these questions through experiential exercises, group discussion, reading, and talking with refugees and immigrants. The seminar will explore the impact of public policy, physical and mental health, economics, school and children's education, and citizenship training on the lives of refugees and immigrants. This seminar (with a grade of "B" or higher) can be counted as a non-Eurocentric experience toward the global awareness requirement.

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HNR 230

Natural History of Onondaga County
Section M002: TH 5:00 – 6:20 p.m., #17289
Start Date: Second week of classes (Thursday, September 10, 2009)
Instructor: Jack Gramlich

Onondaga County has a number of natural areas that are truly special. Many of these areas have been protected and preserved by government (both county and state). Some possible field trips include the Jamesville Quarry, Clark Reservation, Beaver Lake, Baltimore Woods, Green Lakes, and Old Fly Marsh.

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The Challenges of Zoo Management FULL
Section M003: W 5:30-6:50 p.m., #20547
Start Date: Second week of classes (Wednesday, September 9, 2009)
Instructors: Ted Fox & Adrienne Whiteley, Burnett Park Zoo

This seminar course will provide students with an overview of all the elements required to manage exotic animals in a zoo. The course will culminate in a trip to the zoo where students will have an opportunity to test behavioral enrichment projects they have designed. Occasionally, zoo animals will visit the seminar. Possible seminar topics include: Animal Behavior; Collection Planning; Exhibit Design; Record Keeping; Veterinary Care; Nutrition; Population Management; Animal Training; Safety; Animal Enrichment.

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Wonders of Weather FULL
Section M001: Mondays 3:45 – 5:05 p.m., #32024
Start Date: Fifth week of classes (Monday, October 5, 2009)
Instructor: Tom Hauf

We will explore all things weather this semester-from a fast-paced run through all the basics of Meteorology to more advanced discussions on wild weather events both here in the United States and around the world. Special emphasis will be placed on our shared environment and how our changing world of weather may affect us and our environment in the future. Information will be presented in ways that will be challenging, entertaining, and above all else, unforgettable. For more information, please see the course website: http://www.tomhauf.com.

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Honors Capstone Project Seminars:

BIO 419 Junior and Senior Thesis Seminar
1 credit, pass/fail grading.
Section M001: Junior & Senior Thesis Seminar, T 5:00-6:00 p.m., #14545
Section M001 is for Biology and Biochemistry Majors only
Professors Larry Wolf and John Belote

Section M002: Junior & Senior Thesis Seminar, T 5:00-6:00 p.m., #14547
Professors Larry Wolf and John Belote

Juniors and seniors majoring in biology meet together weekly in this seminar. Honors students from other majors such as chemistry and psychology, who are doing biological research, are accepted into this seminar with permission of instructor only.

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HNR 309 Capstone Project Planning Seminar
1 credit, pass/fail grading.
Section M002: Th 5:00-6:20 p.m., #15197
Instructor:  Eric Holzwarth
Start Date: Second week of classes (Thursday, September 10, 2009)

The purpose of HNR 309, the Capstone Project Planning Seminar, is to help you understand what a Capstone Project is, to understand what personal resources are necessary for successful completion of the project, to identify a topic for your project and a faculty member who will advise you, and to develop a timeline to complete it. During the first half of the semester, there will be a series of seminar meetings, assignments, and exercises designed to meet these goals. During the second half of the semester, you will meet with your instructor to discuss the progress you have made on your project.

HNR 309 is not required, and there are other ways to get started on your capstone project. See http://honors.syr.edu/CapstoneProject/GettingStarted.htm for a full overview of your options.

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Contact Us  • 306 Bowne Hall • Syracuse University • Syracuse, New York 13244 • Phone:  315.443.2759  Fax: 315.443.3235