Inside the Studio Series
The Inside the Honors Studio series is a set of learning experiences that facilitate Honors students’ exploration of topics that are outside the traditional curriculum. Created by faculty to include a high-level of student participation and engagement, the Studio is a no-tuition-no-credit learning experience. However, all students who successfully complete a Studio earn one Honors course credit. Studio themes include innovation in rural health and direct legal action in immigrant justice.
Spring 2025 Series
1. AI Tools for Creative Research and Creativity
Professor Beau Kenyon, Theatre/Music, CAMD
Meetings: Thursdays, 6pm-8pm. Dates: February 13th, 20th, 27th, March 13th, 20th, 27th, April 3rd (No meeting on March 6th). This is an In-Person Studio.
Creative research utilizes creative methods and techniques, often drawing from the arts and design disciplines, to explore complex questions and generate new knowledge by making-through problems rather than just thinking-through them, allowing for richer data and insights that might be missed with traditional research methods.
This creative research-based Honors Studio, intentionally designed to welcome students of all academic interests, has two complementary parts, on the one hand, participants will examine significant creative and mass-produced artworks (across genres and disciplines) in a post 1960 landscape—including motifs, aesthetic and production elements, cultural influences, appropriations, audiences, and vehicles for consumption. We will also examine the role of consumerism, capitalism, artist intent, and technology across periods, disciplines, and industries, using notable artists as case studies.
Simultaneously, students will determine their own creative research project and methodology. It is expected that projects will span disciplines, research questions, and methods for inquiry. For example, projects could take the form of a new artwork, a performance demonstration, a critical analysis, or new creative technology. This Studio is for any Honors student who is curious about how AI can support creativity in your field of study and how the arts and creativity can fortify those connections.
2. Cognition in Context: Applying Psychological Science to Contemporary Social Issues
Ms Emma Pitt & Ms. Joan Kim – CORE (Conceptual Organization, Reasoning & Education) Lab (COS), Advanced PhD candidates.
Meetings: Tuesdays, 6pm-9pm. Dates: February 4th, 11th, 25th, March 11th, 18th, 25th, April 1st & 8th. (No meeting on March 4th). This is an In-Person Studio.
Description
Since all social issues are essentially human issues, involving how people understand and interact with the world around them, the perspectives offered by psychological science are critically important for understanding our most pressing issues. This is an experiential Studio in which students will critically engage with contemporary social issues through the lens of social and cognitive psychology. Students will learn to apply social-cognitive frameworks to social issues, such as environmental justice, racial inequalities, and nationalism, taking psychology outside the classroom and beyond the traditional academic setting. This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to research, teaching students about the ways that psychology interacts with various disciplines–ranging from history to environmental science–to shape the way people understand the world around them. Students will have the opportunity to hone their research skills and focus on social issues that are important to them. Class sessions will feature discussions, guest speakers, and field trips that emphasize the role of psychological science in a real-world context. This Studio is designed for and welcomes students from all majors and colleges.
3. Immigrant Justice: Fighting for Immigrant Rights By Drafting A Report for An Asylum Seeker
Professor Hemanth C. Gundavaram — School of Law, Co-founder & Director, Immigrant Justice Clinic; Associate Dean, Academic Affairs
Meetings: Wednesdays, 6pm-9pm. Dates: January 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, February 5th, February 12th, February 19th, February 26th. This is a Hybrid (In-Person/Virtual) Studio.
Description
Under both international and domestic law, the U.S. has a legal obligation to protect those who arrive on our soil and claim asylum. Yet harsh statutes, policies, and regulations have put the asylum system in jeopardy. In many cases, the last line of defense against these attacks are the immigration attorneys representing asylum seekers throughout the country and at the border. Amid this unrelenting attack on immigrants, the Northeastern University School of Law Immigrant Justice Clinic (IJC) was founded in 2017 as an on-campus pro bono (free) legal clinic.
This Inside the Honors Studio series will allow students to help the IJC in the fight for immigrants’ rights. Every asylum seeker who claims asylum must submit various documents to the U.S. government to prove that they have been persecuted in their home country and should be granted asylum here. Students will assist in creating one of the many documents that must be submitted to demonstrate that the asylum seeker is unsafe in their home country. This series is designed for students from all majors and does not require any previous knowledge of – or experience in – immigration law.
4. Photography and Engineering: An Interdisciplinary Studio for All Majors
Professor Andrew Gillen, First Year Engineering, COE.
Meetings: Mondays, 6pm-9pm. January 6th, 13th and 27th, February 3rd, 10th and 24th.
Description
Do you enjoy taking photos, casually or more seriously? Are you curious about what actually happens after you press that button? Do you think photography is more art than science or vice-versa? If you have answered “yes” to any of these questions, then this is a Studio for you. Designed to be highly experiential and specifically for students from all majors, and requiring no STEM background, in this Studio, we pull back the curtain on the hidden engineering behind cameras and photography. Beyond the basics of how cameras function, we will explore bespoke, fascinating and unusually engineered photographic technology as well as applications of photography such as forensic engineering. The Studio will include a guided photo walk. Each week students will be asked to submit one photograph. Studio participants will be requested to bring to each meeting a laptop computer and a digital camera, e.g. on their phone. (Note: this Studio is designed to be fully accessible. Students unable to provide these items will be accommodated.)
5. Knowledge, Belief, & Critical Thinking
Ms. Shannon Carnahan, M.S. Candidate, Counseling Psychology, Bouve
Meetings: Wednesdays, 6:00pm-7:30pm. January 22nd, February 5th, 19th, and 26th, March 19th, and April 2nd
Description
Epistemology, in simple terms, is the study of how we know what we know. This concept is interested in the nature of knowledge, and the limits to our understanding. Through examining case studies from diverse sectors and academic disciplines like technology, policy, and
healthcare, we will critically analyze how knowledge is shaped by dominant culture and societal norms, and how it aligns or confÏlicts with our individual beliefs and goals. Students will explore the intersection between the construction of knowledge and their own backgrounds and
experiences. By the end of this studio, students will have a stronger understanding of how to become active, ethical practitioners, rather than passive consumers.
This highly participatory studio will combine discussions, self-reflection, and critical inquiry to help students develop the skills to evaluate knowledge more thoughtfully, and apply these insights to their professional practices. By engaging with foundational epistemological frameworks, analyzing relevant case studies, engaging in self-reflective activities, students will develop critical thinking tools that serve them in becoming more intentional, ethical, and
informed professionals. The studio will culminate in a final project that integrates course material to further inform the practitioner you want to be.
Fall 2024 Series
Ms Emma Pitt & Ms. Joan Kim – CORE (Conceptual Organization, Reasoning & Education) Lab (COS), Advanced PhD candidates.
Meetings: Tuesdays, 6pm-8pm. October 8, 15, 22, 29, November 5, 12, 19 & optional field trip, date TBD. This is an In-Person Studio.
Description
Since all social issues are essentially human issues, involving how people understand and interact with the world around them, the perspectives offered by psychological science are critically important for understanding our most pressing issues. This is an experiential Studio in which students will critically engage with contemporary social issues through the lens of social and cognitive psychology. Students will learn to apply social-cognitive frameworks to social issues, such as environmental justice, racial inequalities, and nationalism, taking psychology outside the classroom and beyond the traditional academic setting. This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to research, teaching students about the ways that psychology interacts with various disciplines–ranging from history to environmental science–to shape the way people understand the world around them. Students will have the opportunity to hone their research skills and focus on social issues that are important to them. Class sessions will feature discussions, guest speakers, and field trips that emphasize the role of psychological science in a real-world context. This Studio is designed for and welcomes students from all majors and colleges.
2. Immigrant Justice: Fighting for Immigrant Rights By Drafting A Report for An Asylum Seeker
Professor Hemanth C. Gundavaram — School of Law, Co-founder & Director, Immigrant Justice Clinic; Associate Dean, Academic Affairs
Meetings: Wednesdays: 6pm-8pm. September 18-November 6. This is an In-Person Studio.
Description
Under both international and domestic law, the U.S. has a legal obligation to protect those who arrive on our soil and claim asylum. Yet harsh statutes, policies, and regulations have put the asylum system in jeopardy. In many cases, the last line of defense against these attacks are the immigration attorneys representing asylum seekers throughout the country and at the border. Amid this unrelenting attack on immigrants, the Northeastern University School of Law Immigrant Justice Clinic (IJC) was founded in 2017 as an on-campus pro bono (free) legal clinic.
This Inside the Honors Studio series will allow students to help the IJC in the fight for immigrants’ rights. Every asylum seeker who claims asylum must submit various documents to the U.S. government to prove that they have been persecuted in their home country and should be granted asylum here. Students will assist in creating one of the many documents that must be submitted to demonstrate that the asylum seeker is unsafe in their home country. This series is designed for students from all majors and does not require any previous knowledge of – or experience in – immigration law.
3. The Rest of the Story: Storytelling at the Intersection of Justice and Healing
Professor Michael Patrick MacDonald, Professor of the Practice, The John Martinson Honors Program.
Meetings: Tuesdays, 6pm-8:30pm. September 17th, October 8th, Nov 12th, Dec 3rd. This is a Hybrid Studio (Virtual/In-Person).
Description
By learning and applying The Rest of the Story Curriculum, participants in this Studio will assist with a diverse coalition of survivor organizers and activists who are working through lived experience to bring about personal and community justice and healing.
The Rest of the Story is a trauma-informed community-based storytelling curriculum developed by Professor MacDonald. Working with a Restorative and Transformative Justice framework, the curriculum is designed to help participants transform trauma to voice, agency and leadership through story sharing. In addition, the curriculum has been utilized for community-building efforts aimed at bridging differences or simply to break down the silos within community organizing efforts. The curriculum has been used with Boston survivors of homicide victims, survivors of loss to painkilling epidemics, parents of incarcerated young people, as well as post-conflict survivors of the Troubles in the North of Ireland. And now The Rest of the Story is being used with people who experienced the traumas of historic segregation, real estate redlining, and busing in Boston.
Summer 2024 Series
Ms. Anne “Dunni” Sodipo, Associate Director, Center for Intercultural Engagement (CIE) (Ms. Sodipo is a long-time international humanitarian professional, trained in law and human rights, who has worked on the ground internationally, including assisting refugees, and advises leading international NGO’s.)
Meetings: Wednesdays; 5/8, 5/15, 5/22, 5/29, 6/5 & 6/12; (Studio will meet in the evening, exact times forthcoming). This is an in-person studio.
Description:
Given the number of news stories that are on covered by news agencies as well as social media, the use of words such as “genocide” and “war crimes” are often used but rarely defined. From contemporary armed conflicts raging in countries such as Ukraine, Syria, and Ethiopia to the wars that impacted and dictated the course of the ancient world, laws and norms have shaped how the world has defined what is acceptable behavior during armed conflicts.
We will explore the questions including: What is international humanitarian law (also known as the laws of armed conflict or the laws of war)? What explains the ways that this body of laws have evolved? Why do some combatants adhere to the laws of war, whereas others victimize civilians and captured combatants, including by direct targeting; torturing detainees; recruiting child soldiers; and perpetrating gender and sexual-based violence? What challenges do international lawyers and policy actors face in this field? In this course, students will probe these questions from different angles including as political scientists, historians, international legal scholars, and policy practitioners. Students of all majors encouraged to apply.
In an engaged participatory manner, students will develop an understanding in the content of the contemporary laws of war, explore the politics of how the laws of war operate (or fail to operate) during wartime, analyze how and why these laws came to be, and engage with the current landscape of legal and political issues inherent in armed conflicts today. We will engage directly with current and former humanitarian workers from the United Nations, Doctors Without Borders, the International Red Cross as well as several other organizations and institutions.
Bonus Benefit of the Studio – As part of the Studio, students will earn a certificate for completing “Introduction to International Humanitarian Law”, a free on-line course designed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) usually taken by humanitarian workers and policy makers.
2. Creating Personal Narrative in Video and Sound for Public Consumption [Summer 2]
Professor Julia Hechtman, Art & Design, CAMD; Visual Artist.
Meetings: Mondays; 7/8, 7/15, 7/22, 7/29, 8/5, 8/12; 6pm-8pm. This is an in-person Studio. (No previous experience with video or sound editing is expected)
Description
Do you have a story you want to tell? How does one express themselves through media? Are there ways to communicate complex ideas simply? How can you reach your audience and provoke meaningful conversations? In this course students will gain insights into video editing, sound editing, the use of abstraction for communication, and the formal properties of narrative structure. Bring a topic, narrative, or experience that you’d like to share and then watch as it unfolds into a completely different format.
We will work with Adobe software and phones to create these projects. If students have cameras that they wish to use (gopro, dslr, mirrorless) these are also fair game. There will be no expectation of experience with sound or video editing. This will be a hands-on, participatory course. In this Studio we will watch films and videos, discuss their formal and narrative properties, have hands-on workshops, and create videos.
Spring 2024 Series
Professor Kimberly D. Lucas, Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Economic Justice, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs
Meetings: Thursdays, 2/8, 2/15, 2/22, 2/29, 3/14, 3/21, 3/28, 4/4 (no meeting 3/7); 5:30pm-7:30pm. This is an in-person studio.
Description:
Technology has always shaped the way our societies work. From our ability to do work differently, to changing our range of mobility, to changing how we communicate with one another, technology has always shaped the way human groups interact, develop, and change–for better and for worse.
Similarly, societies have always found ways to ensure that their own cultural values and norms are preserved, and many societies have developed ways not just to govern themselves, but to evolve their governance to reflect changing values, norms, and ethics.
So what happens when the parallel tracks of technology development and governance development intersect? In the past, societies have sometimes placed restrictions on new technologies to ensure safety in the name of the public good. Other times, societies have placed no restrictions on new technologies to encourage innovation through competition. But how do societies grapple with emergent technologies? And, more importantly, how will we grapple with emergent technologies in our world today?
This Inside the Honors Studio course will expose students to emergent technologies and their implications for public administration and communities. In the first half of the course, we’ll explore concepts of society, technology, governance, and the intersections across each of these. During the latter weeks, we’ll deep dive into one particular emergent technology–AI–to understand the ways in which different types of societal actors consider this technology, ultimately contributing toward a set of recommendations for cities as they consider the uses and misuses of AI.
This course is designed for students from all backgrounds; no technical skills are required. Students should be okay with exploring Boston beyond campus, including outdoor explorations and field trips/site visits during class time.
Dr. Jalene Tamerat – Associate Director of Community-Engaged Teaching & Research (CETR)
Meetings: Tuesdays, 1/16, 1/30, 2/13, 2/27, 3/12, 3/26, 4/9 & 4/16; 1:35pm-3:15pm. This is an in-person Studio.
Note: This Studio targets Honors students who have completed an official Northeastern-sponsored global experience (i.e. N.U.in, N.U. Bound (London), Dialogue of Civilization, Global Co-Op, Alternative Spring Break, study abroad, etc.), and are looking for opportunities to reflect, engage, and integrate what they have learned abroad within a localized context.
Description
A globally competent individual possesses the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to act creatively and collaboratively on important issues that impact the globe (Boix-Mansilla & Jackson, 2011). A major benefit of the university-sponsored global experience is the opportunity to witness–both first-hand and from a scholarly perspective–how these important issues impact the lives and futures of people abroad, and ideally, provide a starting point and impetus for local activism.
Global challenges such as food scarcity, human trafficking, and climate change are not limited to foreign contexts—they also impact the lives of people here, within our local (Boston) community. This studio series will bridge the global and the local through an integration of skills and insights acquired abroad and leverage those toward local action.
Through the application of a social justice lens, students in this series will collaborate in small groups to conduct research, reflect on global experiences, and present information to their peers on a chosen issue of global significance. The culminating assignment will be a presentation addressing a global/local issue that displays nuanced understanding of the challenge and presents a detailed plan for addressing it locally. An important component of the presentation will be a demonstration of one’s personal capacity to self-reflect and provide an assessment of skills acquired abroad to aid in carrying out the project plan. These final student presentations will be showcased at an end-of-series event with community partners and others from the Northeastern community in attendance.
3. Three Meanings of Argument: Disputation Training for Curious Minds
Professor Michael Hoppmann – Communication Studies & Associate Dean, CAMD
Meetings: Mondays, 1/22, 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, 2/26, 3/11 (no class 2/19 & 3/4); 6pm-8pm. This is an in-person Studio.
Description
Do you enjoy arguing or debate? Are you looking to improve your ability to explore and evaluate others’ reasoning and your own? Do you want to learn by doing? Then this studio is for you.
This highly participatory studio will engage in a mix of the first two meanings of argument – exploring what counts as a good reason (and why) and testing one’s reasons against another’s. We will do this through disputation, the oldest communication exercise in European History. Disputations, also known as dialectical training, feature in Plato’s writings (4th century BCE). Aristotle wrote a textbook on how to succeed in them. And centuries of university instruction have depended upon it.
What is a disputation? It is a game of argumentative chess, played by two participants: A defendant who picks a thesis (e.g., “Eating meat is murder!” or “To love is better than to be loved!”) and tries to uphold it, and an opponent, who tries to overthrow that thesis by showing inconsistencies or absurdities. The main twist: The opponent may only ask closed questions, and the defendant is limited to replying only “yes” or “no” (with a few exceptions).
In this studio, we will briefly explore argumentative principles, before diving deep into the modern disputation. Students will learn how to engage in disputations, develop their own theses, train with partners, and explore strategies of arguing. The studio will culminate in a final argument day where each student either defends or opposes a personal thesis.
4. Vision and Re-Vision: ‘Rite of Spring’, the Ballet and Music, 100 Years and Beyond
Shaelyn Casey, MFA – Program Manager for Honors Student Life, Coordinator for Creative Collective Honors Living Learning Community
Meetings: Tuesdays, January 23, 30, February 6, 13, 20, 27 & March 12 (No class March 5); 6pm-8pm . This is an in-person Studio.
Description:
When Vaslav Nijinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” premiered in 1913, it rocked the world of classical ballet. Set to the invigorating and unique score of the same name by Igor Stravinsky, this work by the Ballet Russes challenged the notion of what ballet could be and sparked over a century of future artistic creations.
“Le Sacre du Printemps”, or “The Rite of Spring”, is one of the most iconic pieces of music of the 20th century and has inspired countless choreographic iterations. This Inside the Honors Studio course will focus not only on the history and context of Nijinsky’s original choreographic work, but on the elements of the piece that have inspired countless reimaginations and re-stagings over the last century. We will learn about Pina Bausch’s seminal 1984 version, the efforts of the Joffrey Ballet to reconstruct the original piece in 1987, and many other artistic interpretations in dance and music.
This is not a movement technique course but will involve in-class movement-based activities. No prior knowledge of dance or dance history is required for this course, only a desire to learn, move (as you are able), and express your creativity. All bodies are welcome. For the final project, students will create and design their own work of art, be it a piece of choreography, painting, musical remix, etc. that incorporates elements of the original “Le Sacre du Printemps” from the score to the costumes to the thematic narrative elements. Final projects will be presented during the last class session.
Previous Offerings
2023 – 2024
Social Innovation in Rural Health | Prof. Kathy Simmonds (Bouvé) and Prof. Linda Trvdy (Bouvé)
Russian Culture & National Identity | Prof. Harlow Robinson, Matthews Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, CSSH
How do Large Language Models (ChatGPT & family) Work?: A non-programming class targeting students outside of math and tech fields | Prof. Felix Muzny, Khoury
Embodied Ethics | Prof. Ilya Vidrin, CAMD, COE, Experiential Artificial Intelligence Institute.
Restorative Justice: Promoting a Just Future Through Community-Based Techniques for Truth, Accountability & Repair | Prof. Michael Patrick MacDonald, Honors Professor of the Practice
Immigrant Justice: Fighting for Asylum Seekers through Research and Writing | Prof. Hemanth C. Gundavaram, School of Law
2022 – 2023
Building a Holistic Wellness Toolbox | Dr. Chong. Kim-Wong, Vice Chancellor & Dean of Students
Immigrant Justice: Fighting for Asylum Seekers through Research and Writing | Prof. Hemanth C. Gundavaram, School of Law
Restorative Justice: Promoting a Just Future Through Community-Based Techniques for Truth, Accountability & Repair | Prof. Michael Patrick MacDonald, Honors Professor of the Practice
We Wear the Masks | Prof. Vanessa D. Johnson, Bouvé
From Global Experience to Local Action: A Project-Based Exploration of the Challenges That Impact Our Collective Lives | Dr. Jalene Tamerat, Community-Engaged Teaching and Research
Novel Writing: Begin Authoring Your Own Novel | Prof. Kat Gonso, CSSH
Three Meanings of Argument: Disputation Training for Curious Minds | Prof. Michael Hoppmann, CAMD
2021 – 2022
Art, Story & Health: Narrative Health Psychology in Critical Times | Dr. Irina Todorova, Bouvé
Authorship Narrative | Dr. Emma Futhey, University Honors Program
The Future of Work | Diane Ciarletta, Anne Grieves & Steven David Torres, Career Design, & Michele Rapp, Alumni Relations
Immigrant Justice: Fighting for Asylum Seekers through Research and Writing | Prof. Hemanth C. Gundavaram, School of Law
Restorative Justice: Promoting a Just Future Through Community-Based Techniques for Truth, Accountability & Repair | Prof. Michael Patrick MacDonald, Honors Professor of the Practice
We Wear the Masks | Prof. Vanessa D. Johnson, Bouvé