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HCOL185 A - D2: Rad, Femme & PGM – Prof. Zeina Salame - CAS; Theater & Dance

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  Fine Arts
GSB:  Consult with academic advisor
CALS:  Consult with academic advisor
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor

May count towards the following mahors or minors: Theater; GSWS

In this course students will read, discuss, analyze, and reflect on contemporary plays and performance art pieces by women and femme artists who also identify as PGM (People of the Global Majority) and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). Each artist/piece allows the group to explore a variety of topics and themes such as intersectional feminisms, cultural (mis)appropriation, racial and/or cultural (mis)representation, identity and body politics, sex and sexuality, pop culture, ecology and climate justice, violence(s), conflict and war, among others. This course invites students to engage with the central questions of these pieces and encourages an understanding of the radical narratives and aesthetics artists deploy in these works. 

 

HCOL 185 B - D2: Multicultural Competence: Toward Reducing Health Disparities - Prof. Lauren Dewey - CAS, PSYS

Honors College Distribution
 
CAS:  Social Science
GSB:  Social Science Core 
CALS:  Social Science 
CEMS:ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students check with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with Academic Advisor
CNHS: Consult with Academic Advisor
CESS: Consult CESS advisor 
 
This is an experiential and didactic course that guides students through the beginning stages of developing multicultural competence and asks students to consider the role that multicultural competence can play in reducing health disparities. Multicultural competence includes: awareness and understanding of oneself as a racial and cultural being, and of the attitudes, assumptions, biases and beliefs one holds that influence perceptions of and interactions with others; knowledge about worldviews of culturally diverse individuals and groups; and skills and strategies for effective communication, and individual- and institutional-level intervention. This is a writing intensive course with an emphasis on research that examines ethnocentrism, racism, classism, sexism, and other forms of marginalization and oppression in the U.S. The course provides opportunities for in-depth self-reflection on the socialization of one’s identities and supports students in generating and evaluating research on issues of cultural diversity and health disparities. Students will be exposed to traditional and non-traditional research, including interdisciplinary methods used in multicultural research such as critical, community and activist oriented approaches.

HCOL185 C - (D2): Visualizing History: India – Prof. Abby McGowan, - CAS, History

CAS:  Humanities 
GSB:  Humanities Core  
CALS:  Social Science 
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult with academic advisor  
 
In this course we will explore India through its nineteenth and twentieth century visual culture, arguing that visual materials provide a compelling set of materials with which to investigate a culture, offering up different perspectives on the past than what is available from other sources. Whether integrating the global imagery of the 1920s Modern Girl (known for her flapper dresses and bobbed hair) in the Bollywood cinema of the era, or re-imaging the god Rama in more masculine poses in the late twentieth century to suit new, aggressive definitions of Hinduism, the visual world has provided critical tools with which to make political claims and articulate cultural identities. In this course we will explore how various visual materials have generated meanings in different historical contexts, and also how those materials are used for particular social, cultural or political ends.

HCOL 185 D – D1: Economics of discrimination – Prof. Emily Beam; CAS, Department of Economics

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  social science
GSB:  Consult with academic advisor
CALS:  Consult with academic advisor
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor

May count towards the following majors/minors: CRES, Economics elective

This course explores the economics of discrimination through theory and empirics. We will focus
on discrimination in the United States based on race and ethnicity, and we will also consider
discrimination along lines of gender identity, sexual orientation, citizenship status, and nation
of birth. We will examine discrimination in domains, including labor markets, lending, housing,
and criminal justice.
 
In the first half of the course, we will read about and discuss basic economic models of discrimination
and delve into the existing empirical evidence, with extensive discussion of how
economists test these models using observational and experimental data. In the second half of
the course, we will work in two to three groups to design and implement field experiments that
measure discrimination using an audit study-style methodology. For example, students might
measure employer call-back rates on fictional resumes that are broadly identical except on one
dimension such as race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or national origin (often
signaled through name or extracurricular participation). Through this process, students will conduct
literature reviews, develop and refine research ideas, develop study protocols, collect and
analyze data, and use this analysis to create a short paper and presentation that deliver the
study findings.

HCOL 185 E – Community Organizing and Civic Engagement – Prof. Edward McMahon - CALS, CDAE

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  Social Sciences
GSB:  Gen. Ed. Social Sciences
CALS:  Social Sciences
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor
 
This prospective course is designed to provide you with an understanding of the key elements of civic engagement.  It emphasizes both the U.S. experience and civic engagement in other countries.  This underscores the universal human desire to organize and advocate for shared interests.  The course will explore the following overarching questions: How is the civic engagement concept defined?  Why is it important?  What is the need that it addresses?  How is it manifested?  To what extent does it represent universal values?  What are challenges associated with it?  To address these questions the course will draw from a multi-disciplinary range of academic perspectives.  These include, inter alia, sociology, history, economics, and political science and public administration.  
 
 

HCOL 185 F - Dante for a New Millennium – Prof. Antonello Borra - CAS, Department of Romance Languages & Cultures

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  Literature
GSB:  Consult with academic advisor
CALS:  Consult with academic advisor
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor

May counttowards the following major/minor requirements: European Studies (Culture & Thought), Italian Studies (Category B)


This course is essentially devoted to the study of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, which we will read in its entirety in light of recent scholarship and taking into account different commentaries and critical approaches. We will also read Dante’s Vita nuova and short excerpts from his unfinished treatise on language (De vulgari eloquentia), his book on political theory (Monarchia), and his philosophical compendium (Convivio), works that are essential for a fuller understanding of the poet’s masterpiece. In addition, we will read relevant excerpts from the Bible and from works by Virgil, Ovid, and the Troubadours. Basics of prosody and rhetoric will also be introduced, and reference will be made to a variety of literary theories of interpretation that are of relevance to Biblical, Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, but great emphasis will be laid on close textual reading. Students will be responsible for reading all assigned texts before coming to class and be ready to comment on them or lead the discussion. Issues concerning translation will also be addressed throughout the semester.
A special emphasis will also be laid on individual as well as pair/small group research projects that will be carried out throughout the semester relying on high quality Dante resources available online.

HCOL 185 G – D1: War, Race & Identity in America - Prof. Andy Buchanan – CAS, History

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  Humanities
GSB:  Humanities Core
CALS: Humanities  
CEMS: ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students check with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult with academic advisor
 
This seminar will examine the intersection of war, race, and identity in America focused around two critical sites.  Firstly, the racialized othering of Native America from the wars of colonial conquest to the defeat of the Plains Indians; and secondly the Civil War, viewed as war for the overthrow of slavery and as it was transformed in memory into a valorous war between brothers in which questions of race were marginalized.  These sites are critical to race and race relations in America, working to define who is, and who is not included with its racialized boundaries.
 
Based in the discipline of History, the seminar will embrace approaches drawn from gender studies, critical race theory, anthropology and film studies. Seminar discussions will be based on academic monographs and on cultural products, particularly in film.  I also plan to organize a visit to the “Dreaming of Timbuctoo” exhibit at the John Brown Farm in Lake Placid as part of a discussion on Civil-War era Black settlement in the Adirondacks. 
 

HCOL185 H – Animal Products and Human Nutrition - Prof. Jana Kraft – CALS, Animal Science

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  No CAS Distribution – CAS Elective Credit
GSB:  Elective Credit Only  
CALS:  Natural Science 
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor  
 
Animal agriculture is a significant portion of our national agricultural economy and foods of animal origin play a significant role in our global food system. A striking but lesser known fact is that animal-derived food products have been an important factor in human evolution (e.g., eating meat has led to increases in the size of both the human body and brain). Current dietary patterns derive from the changes in food production that started with the industrial revolution and from the more recent construction of a global food economy. With increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, obesity, and food-borne diseases, animal products are coming under increasing scrutiny. Broad areas of focus reflect global patterns of consumption of meat, dairy, eggs, fish, and their products. 
 
We will explore the connection between animal products, their nutritional attributes, and human and public perception. Particular emphasis will be placed on functional and value-added foods, biotechnology in animal agriculture, as well as animal product quality and safety issues. The course utilizes an interactive approach, involving a broad spectrum of methods including lectures to build fundamental knowledge, student forums to stimulate debate and understanding, individual and group assignments to develop key skills in writing and presenting, and the use of computer-aided learning.
 

HCOL 185 I – How We learn: Brain, Mind, Education – Prof. Sean Hurley - CESS, Department of Education

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  Elective credit only
GSB:  Social Science Core
CALS:  Consult academic advisor
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor


This course will explore what it means to think, learn, know, and understand, and the cognitive structures and processes involved with those activities. Much of the content will pertain to learning as it occurs in formal learning environments (i.e., classrooms) because much of the research has taken place in those contexts with the goal of improving classroom instruction, but this course will extend what has been learned in classroom settings to learning in other contexts. We will also learn about the techniques used to study thinking and learning, both traditional and novel, and consider the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches.

HCOL 185 J – How to think about Animals – Prof. Mark Usher - CAS, Geography

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  Humanities
GSB:  Consult with academic advisor
CALS:  Consult with academic advisor
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor

May count towards the following majors/minors: ENVS

This course considers species interaction from various angles—sociological, philosophical, scientific, and artistic. Topics include: Do animals have agency independent from that which we extend to them? Are they rational? Do they possess emotions? Should we eat them? To what extent is the animal kingdom hierarchical, or egalitarian? What is the evolutionary origin and function of aggression and display? How did humans domesticate animals and why? Why do animals play such a large role in religion and feature so prominently in literature and art?

By the end of this course, you will have gained new factual knowledge about animals, a new vocabulary to discuss them, and new abilities to write cogently and think critically about relationships amongst species.

HCOL 185 K – SU: Geographies of Life and Death – Prof. Harlan Morehouse - CAS, Department of Geography

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  Social Sciences
GSB:  Social Sciences Core
CALS:  Social Sciences
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor

This course takes a critical geographical approach to examine relations between life and death. The course centers on two key questions: Why is it so hard to organize for better social and environmental futures? And, what can be done about this? This course begins with a thorough examination of how death is routinely politicized and operationalized. Following this, the course sets out to examine its counterpart: Life. It explores strategies that pivot from cruelty toward affirmative and effective enactments of collective care –– ones that recognize kinship and commonality as crucial foundations for the future of life.

HCOL 185 L - SU: Climate Change, Complexity & Society - Prof. Brian Beckage - CALS, Plant Biology

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  No CAS distribution
GSB:  SU, Social Sciences Core, Natural sciences Core
CALS:  Social Sciences, Physicial & Life Sciences
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor

The Earth is a complex coupled human-natural system that is increasingly dominated by human activities. We will examine anthropogenic climate change as part of an integrated earth system that includes impacts on and feedbacks with human systems. We will consider the challenges and interactions between climate change and human societies by considering responses of current and past societies to climate change and environmental degradation. We will place anthropogenic climate change in the broader context of limits to growth, sustainability, and societal development. The class will emphasize readings, discussions, and construction of simple simulation models to understand the scientific and social basis of contemporary climate and sustainability. Students will use the graphical computer programming language Stella to develop a simplified model of the Earth system.

HCOL 185 M - D1 (In)equality in P-16 American Education – Prof. Tracy Ballysingh, Leadership & Dev. Science

Honors College Distribution
CAS: CAS elective credit
GSB:  Social Science
CALS: Social Science
CEMS:  Engineering Students - Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/CSIS/DS students check with your advisor and department chair
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS:  Consult with your academic advisor
CESS: Consult with academic advisor
 
This class will focus on the extensive empirical research which suggests a child’s racial profile and economic status are significant predictors of educational success, matriculation to higher education, and participation in alternative pathways, such as the school-to-prison pipeline. Performance gaps rooted in these identifiers begin to manifest in the earliest years of a child’s life and are rarely mitigated through time. Consequently, disparate access to higher education for children who experience systemic inequalities remains persistent. Through a “P-16” examination of American educational inequality and the myth of meritocracy, this course will explore the legal, educational, and public policy challenges that promote or preclude access to higher education for low-income, first-generation, and/or racially minoritized students. Readings draw from a range of disciplines, including political science, social welfare, public policy, housing policy, law, and sociology.
 

HCOL 185 N - Perspectives on Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Prof. Erik Monsen, Grossman School of Business

Honors College Distribution
CAS: No CAS credit
GSB:  BSAD Entrepreneurship Theme Only
CALS: Social Science
CEMS:  Engineering Students - Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/CSIS/DS students check with your advisor and department chair
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS:  Consult with your academic advisor
CESS: Consult with academic advisor

The purpose of the course is to develop your critical thinking and inquiry skills, in particular in the areas of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. In order to better understand both the positive and the negative sides of these areas in a more nuanced way, we shall explore these areas from a variety of perspectives, including
Management & Economics
Politics & Public Policy
Ethics & Philosophy
Gender & Diversity
Culture & Sociology
History & Futurism
Our explorations will be guided by select academic research articles, and inspired by books, films and other media from a variety times and places around the world. Through a mixture of classroom lectures, student-led discussions, and lively debates, we will develop both a broader and a deeper understanding of how technology, innovation and entrepreneurship can both hinder and help our economy, society, and planet towards a potentially brighter future.

HCOL 185 O - SU: Honey Bee Culture – Prof. Zachary Ipsa-Landa, RSENR

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  No CAS credit
GSB:  Gen Ed Social Science
CALS:  Life Science, Humanities & Fine Arts
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor

This course explores the entanglement between humans and honey bees across a range of perspectives and ways of knowing. Drawing on the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and spirituality, we will immerse ourselves in the life of honey bees to explore the animating questions of this class: What are honey bees asking of us? How might we listen? What can we learn alongside them about living sustainably on earth? These lines of inquiry will take us on a transdisciplinary journey through the tapestry of human/honey bee culture. We will traverse epistemological and ontological boundaries and engage with a diverse landscape of disciplines, perspectives, and worldviews. In the process, you may discover your own guiding questions to carry you forward.

 

HCOL 185 P – Exploring and Implementing Participatory Action Research – Prof. Laura Edling; RSENR

Honors College Distribution
CAS:  CAS elective credit
GSB:  Consult with academic advisor
CALS:  Consult with academic advisor
CEMS:  ENGR: Gen Ed Elective; Math/Stat/CS/DS students consult with your advisor
RSENR: Consult with academic advisor
CNHS: Consult with academic advisor
CESS: Consult academic advisor

May count towards the following majors/minors (HSCO (towrad the 9 additional credits); ENVS

This community-engaged service-learning course will offer students the opportunity to engage in the philosophy and practice of Participatory Action Research (PAR). PAR is a method of research rooted in human rights activism and community development. It is distinguished from conventional research in that the community of research defines the research question, the research itself is conducted with people as opposed to on people, and the goal of the research is to co-generate knowledge that informs action towards social change. Students will engage with the theory behind this method of research, investigate case studies and, in the spirit of action, be able to apply their knowledge with local communities interested in engaging with student researchers on issues that they have identified. Students will be evaluated on their ability to demonstrate critical reflection throughout the service-learning process vis-à-vis journal and essay writing as well as peer dialogue. There will be opportunities to present research results as a deliverable used for future community action. This class will be ideal for students who strive to take ownership of their own learning and who are passionate about engaging in social and/or environmental change.