Honors Interdisciplinary Seminars
Honors Interdisciplinary Seminars are upper-level courses through which Honors students led by a faculty members from across Northeastern explore a subject both broadly and deeply. As with all Honors courses, the Interdisciplinary Seminars are open to students from all colleges and are without prerequisites resulting in enriching and multi-faceted discussions. Among the themes of past Seminars are the portrayal of family businesses in film and global health from the lenses of art and science.
Fall 2024 Courses
HONR 3310-01
Contemporary Issues in Health Care
Time: TF, 9:50am-11:30am
CRN: 14263
NUPath: SI, EX, Service-Learning
Lorna Hayward, Department of Physical Therapy
Bouvé
This course is a service-learning, interprofessional, Honors seminar that is project-based and involves examination of the complexity of issues related to a community defined health need. We will explore modern health care issues at the individual, local, national, and global levels. The US health care system will be presented historically from 1850 to current day. Health decisions will be discussed from multiple perspectives including: historical, political, ethical, financial, technological, and epidemiological. From there, students will develop an understanding of the complexity of health care concerns and the impact on the participants at their community sites.
HONR 3310-02
The Reality of Illusions
Time: TF, 1:35pm-3:15pm
CRN: 17600
Ennio Mingolla, Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders
Bouvé
Illusions can be a source of entertainment or even beauty, but they can sometimes lead us to make inferior decisions about important matters. This course takes an experiential approach to learning about visual illusions, including those based on capture or misdirection of attention, as in magic performances. It also considers illusions of hearing and “cognitive illusions”, where judgments made by humans vary as a function of the narrative framing of a question. The course surveys the role of illusions in development of philosophical and scientific thought from ancient Greece through the “method of doubt” of René Descartes and into the modern era of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Using software tools or pre-programmed online demonstrations, students can investigate how the strength of various illusions varies as a function of parametric variations in display variables, including images, videos, or narrative “displays.” There are no prerequisites and students of all majors are welcomed. Finally, the course considers the extent to which one can intentionally avoid or overcome the effects of illusions, and how to approach situations where experiencing an illusion seems to be all but inevitable.
HONR 3310-03
The Paradox of Want Amidst Plenty: The Roots of and Solutions for Food Insecurity in America
Time: 9:50am-11:30am
CRN: 17772
Christopher Bosso, Department of Political Science
CSSH / School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs
The United States has long faced a paradox: in a wealthy nation literally awash in food, to the point that policymakers struggle to manage persistent crop surpluses, many in America do not enjoy consistent access to affordable, healthy food. That paradox was made especially vivid in the early days of Covid-19, which saw long lines of the suddenly needy in their cars at pop-up food distribution centers at the same time farmers were forced to destroy food that no longer had markets. Why does this happen, and what can be done? Topics for exploration will include: The paradox of want in a nation of plenty; pathologies of the dominant food system and why surpluses happen; causal factors in food insecurity and hunger; the relationship of food waste and food insecurity; government food assistance policies and programs; food banks, food pantries, and the apparently permanent “emergency” food assistance system; how other countries do it; the implications of a legal “right “to food. The seminar will include experiential components, including visits to local organizations working to address food insecurity, and an applied project focused on ideas to address the challenges facing specific subpopulations in Greater Boston.
HONR 3310-04
Social Justice & Narrative Non-Fiction
Time: M, 5:00pm-8:00pm
CRN: 13207
Michael Patrick McDonald, John Martinson Honors Program
Office of the Chancellor
In order to write the most effective non-fiction around social justice issues, a writer might undertake personal reflection on his/her own life to access that “place” that allows for greater empathy. When we write about issues affecting other people’s lives, it is important to engage in a process of contemplation that will lead to more in-depth understanding, and create a unique and passionate “voice” that “brings the reader in.”
This is true, no matter where we come from or what our previous exposure to the issues at hand (it is my belief that one does not have to come from poverty to write effectively about poverty, come from domestic violence to write effectively about domestic violence etc.; however, I believe that one would be well served by accessing one’s own place of vulnerability in order to write empathically about social issues). This seminar will help students engage in critical thought and discussion of a wide range of social issues as well as grassroots movement for change, in order to help writers to find their own writing voice.
Central unifying themes of the course will be poverty and its attendant violence, crime, and other social issues, as well as poverty’s intersections with racism, gender, and other identities (*note, in terms of “intersectionality,” for the purposes of this course, class/poverty will always be included in the intersections or “interlocking oppressions.” As worthy a topic as all the identity oppressions are, this course centers poverty/class in tandem with all the identities, as it always disproportionately is). Advisory: This course will often look at some harsh atrocities—racism, class oppression, violence, and death are all part of the story of restorative justice/transformative justice and healing. Interpersonal violence, colonialism, state atrocities, terror, inter-communal conflict, and peacebuilding will all be part of readings, films, and class discussion. We will hear some very difficult stories and will read troubling accounts of violence as well as moving accounts of reconciliation and healing. We will read graphic and graphically spoken violence, including racism. If one needs to excuse oneself, or refrain from participation in a particular conversation, I will give appropriate make-up work. One should never worry about having to step out of the classroom or having to “pass” during discussions.
We will also look at the intersection of justice-and-healing in grassroots efforts happening in our communities that have been most affected by these issues. In particular we will approach Social Justice themes through a RESTORATIVE & TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE lens, which calls for shifts in the ways we communicate across perceived differences, rather than the adversarial and fundamentalist Good vs Evil approaches that dominate Social Justice discourse today (e.g. on Social Media and in some classrooms) today. Therefore, the role of Empathy on and off the page will be our most central unifying theme. And concepts such as mutual aid and solidarity (rather than charity) will be explored.
We will focus on the implications for writers of non-fiction on these topics. The course will present an “insider’s” view into writing with a greater consciousness of social justice issues (in particular, questions of socio-economic inequality) by starting with some of my work, which includes two memoirs, a screenplay, and essays. Second, the course will move outward to the works of other significant writers of non-fiction, with different approaches to the issues, whether through personal journalism (also called “new journalism”), straight-journalism, or opinion/advocacy journalism or essay. What makes various approaches work effectively? What works for which audiences? How might the works influence contemporary social injustice? Are there policy links to any of these writings? And most importantly for our purposes, how might a Restorative or Transformative ethos be applied to the various approaches?
Finally, the course will frame a discussion of the many ways to write non-fiction about these central themes: as memoir, non-fiction books, journalism, and essay (as well as other forms of dramatic writing, one-person-shows, documentary film or whatever examples of social-issue-writing the class comes across in the general popular culture).
This course will be taught by Northeastern University Honors Department’s Professor of the Practice, Michael Patrick MacDonald. Professor MacDonald is the author of two memoirs set in Boston: All Souls: A Family Story from Southie and Easter Rising: A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion. He is a long-time grassroots social justice organizer working to promote leadership among those most impacted by poverty, inequality, and violence. He was selected as a 2019 Fulbright Scholar at Queen’s University in Belfast, where he taught transformative storytelling and implemented transformative storytelling projects in communities dealing with the ongoing legacy of colonization and the Troubles in the North of Ireland.
HONR 3310-05
Slam and Social Justice
Time: TF, 9:50am-11:30am
CRN: 14396
NUPath: CE, IC,
Ellen Noonan, Department of English
CSSH
The title of the course may seem fairly straightforward: Slam Poetry and Social Justice. Those concepts, though, those “performances,” can be complicated (and I am using “complicated” as both verb and adjective here), and that complicating will be the work of our class. We’ll start with questions: What is Slam Poetry? How is it made, performed? What is Social Justice? How is it made, performed? How do we integrate these so that poetry can work towards social justice, so that social justice might have poetry’s energy, immediacy, and grace? These are my opening questions: we will ask many more questions together, while also reading many kinds of texts, and writing, performing, and workshopping our own texts in a collaborative writing and learning space where all voices will be valued and heard.
HONR 3310-06
Philosophy of Comedy: From Don Quijote to Today
Time: TF, 1:35pm-3:15pm
CRN: 17601
NUPath: IC, Writing Intensive
Patrick Mullen, Department of English
CSSH
This course will explore how humans use comedy to think philosophically about themselves and the world. From the time of Miguel Cervantes’s Don Quijote (1610), the first novel in the European tradition, comedy and humor have been fundamental aspects of a modern enlightened worldview. Comedy has helped to articulate critical thinking, has been a way to express social values and to voice dissent, and has communicated what it means to be human. Today, comedy in an impressive variety of media and forms continues to offer a vital understanding of humanity. This course offers students the opportunity to: 1) explore the history of comedy through the engaged reading of the first (and perhaps best!) European novel, Don Quijote; 2) examine the contemporary world of comedy from stand-up, to social media, to film, to any form students might want to research; 3) create their own creative and critical comedic works through creative writing assignments, videos, and podcasts, as well as traditional seminar essays.
Rather than offering a unified theory of comedy, we will work simultaneously along two streams. While this might seem a strange way to organize the class, I believe that it will both provide us the tools we need to understand how comedy has shaped our thinking historically and how comedy continues to philosophize and interrogate our current moment. One note: comedy can be violent, misogynistic, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc. This course will not examine hate-fueled comedy. We will only explore humor anchored ultimately in love, compassion, and understanding.
HONR 3310-12
Family Business & Film
Time: T, 5:20pm-8:45pm
CRN: 14617
Kimberly Eddleston, Schulze Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship
DMSB
Family businesses are the predominant form of business around the world. Yet, because of the inextricable link between the family and business, there is much diversity in their goals, values and how they are managed. Most unique to family businesses is the central role of the family and its influence on the business. An instrumental tool to discover, identify, and evaluate family relationships and family business dynamics is film. In this course, students will learn to critically analyze and evaluate family relationships and family business dynamics through the examination of various television shows and films and how they reflect research and theories. By watching, analyzing and discussing these films, the complexities of family businesses will come to life, offering students a unique glimpse into how family relationships impact the business and in turn, the business affects family relationships. By utilizing television shows and film, students will also have the opportunity to diagnose the roots of family conflicts and see how a ‘healthy family’ helps to ensure a ‘healthy business.’
HONR 3310-14
Representation in Young Adult Literature
Time: MWR, 10:30am-11:35am
CRN: 15497
Kat Gonso, Department of English
CSSH
Historically, middle grade and young adult books have been written by white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied writers. When readership of Kitlit skyrocketed in the 2000s (from the 3,000 titles published annually in the late 1990s to 30,000 annually in 2010), an uptick in diverse published young adult writers and protagonists followed. Regardless, the YA publishing industry still fails to champion diverse experiences and is not reflective of the reality of our communities, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, gender, people with disabilities, and ethnic and religious minorities.
Representation in Young Adult Literature offers students an opportunity to join a collaborative community of readers to discuss the YA books that have captured modern readers’ imaginations. Students will be exposed to a variety of styles (contemporary, dystopian, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, mystery and graphic novels) and books with writers and/or protagonists that identify as BIPOC (Love Boat Taipei; The Hate U Give), LGBTQIA+ (Cemetery Boys, They Both Die at the End), people with disabilities, neurodivergence or mental illness (Challenger Deep), and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities (Darius the Great is Not Okay) to name a few. We will also discuss intersectionality, the rise and fall of the #OwnVoices movement, the white-washing of book covers, and the Kitlit discourse of Twitter, TikTok, Goodreads, and other social media sites. Students will have the opportunity to speak with professionals in the publishing industry, writers, and bookstore owners. In short, if you are interested in exploring young adult books with diverse characters and stories, this is the class for you!
HONR 3310-16
The Ethics of Philanthropy: How to Make the World a Better Place for All People
Time: MR, 11:45am-1:25pm
CRN: 20015
NUPath: SI, ER
Patricia Illingworth, Department of Philosophy and Religion
CSSH
Given great global and domestic need, the responsibility to help others falls on all of us. This course considers questions such as: Is everyone morally obligated to give to others? What is the moral foundation underlying our duty to give? Are some charitable purposes morally more compelling than others? Does big philanthropy undermine democracy? Is there such a thing as bad philanthropy? Should nonprofits accept dirty dollars? We will draw on interdisciplinary readings in our effort to answer these questions.
HONR 3310-17
Election 2024: America at the Crossroads
Time: W, 4:45pm-8:05pm
CRN: 20114
Jonathan Kaufman, Department of Journalism
CAMD
Few campaigns have galvanized the country as much as the current race for president. It is polarized and emotional, with many feeling American democracy is at stake. Our class will duplicate the immersive newsroom experience of covering this presidential campaign: reading up on new ideas and issues, exchanging views with experts and your colleagues, trying out different approaches to story telling. Throughout the term we will be joined by journalists, professors and other experts in who will guide us through the fast-moving campaign.
Cross-listed w/ JRNL 3305
HONR 3310-18
From “Engineers of the Soul” to “Fake News”: Propaganda Tactics between Russia and the US from 1917-2023
Time: MWR, 9:15am-10:20am
CRN: 21413
Erina Megowan, Department of History
CSSH
The 20th century is sometimes thought of as the “propaganda century.” This obsession with mass influence was shaped largely by the confrontation between the 20th century’s two dominant ideologies, liberal democratic capitalism and communism. This course will explore the evolution of Russian, Soviet and US propaganda strategies and tactics from 1917 all the way to the present. Beginning with the Russian Revolution’s rejection of the idea of “neutral” information, we will trace the goals and objectives of state-led propaganda campaigns as they evolved in conjunction with the total war and regime change after WWI, the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe, the absolute destruction of WWII, the Cold War, the nuclear age, and national liberation movements, and then declined once the Soviet Union collapsed, only to roar back to life in the 2000s against the backdrop of the digital age and mass media technologies that have revolutionized communications. In doing so, we will scrutinize official and private attitudes towards propaganda and mass manipulation.
Why did early 20th century idealism about the possibility for influencing public opinion give way to anxiety, pessimism and negativity? What distinguishes the propaganda of the Soviet Union from US methods of manipulating and influencing the news or public opinion, in terms of goals and objectives, actors, and methods? How do censorship or freedom of expression shape propaganda narratives? Who are the actors conceptualizing or producing propaganda, and what are their motivations? How different is “propaganda” from advertising, PR or other forms of mass persuasion? How have war and military conflicts reshaped propaganda tactics and narratives and attitudes towards them? Assignments will draw heavily on propaganda itself, including fiction, film and cartoons, music, and posters.
Summer 2024 Courses
Summer 1 2024 Courses
HONR 3310
Creative Writing: Short Story
Times: Remote Asynchronous
CRN: 41896
Kat Gonso, Department of English
CSSH
This seminar allows developing writers to practice writing short fiction in a community setting, featuring discussion of published and student work. Our online classroom will be a place for students to collaborate and create. Much like an architecture or art studio course, we will share our work, give and receive feedback, and approach our work with curiosity and kindness. This course is meant to be supportive and generative, meaning that you’ll walk away with new writing. Lastly, this course is meant to fuel your literary curiosities, talents, and inclinations so that you can leave with a clearer image of who you are – or rather, who you might be – as a writer.
HONR 3310
The Power of Language: Linguistic Diversity, Discrimination and Language Identity as a Human Right
Times: Remote Asynchronous
CRN: 41897
NUpath: SI, DD
Heather Littlefield, Department of Linguistics
COS
We, as humans, enjoy the advantages that using language gives us on a daily basis, but most of us do so without much, if any, awareness of the complexities of the linguistic structures involved. Additionally, when we do consider the functions of language we most often focus on its communicative role, and overlook the crucial role that language plays in creating, maintaining, and negotiating social identity and status. Examining the social role of language allows us to understand how language is used to create personal and group identities, and how identities may interact with one other in efforts to include or exclude other social groups. In this course, we examine the intersection of language and social identity, using linguistics, the scientific study of language, as a foundation for our inquiry, drawing also from the fields of philosophy, sociology, and psychology to further inform our discussion. We use both historical and present-day case studies to examine how linguistic features play a powerful role in marking identity in areas such as race and ethnicity, social class, and gender, and how linguistic discrimination through microagressions and human rights violations can create and maintain social inequality. Lastly, we consider how language may also be adopted as a tool to advance social justice at the personal, local, and global levels.
HONR 3310
The Reality of Illusions
Time: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur/9:50am–11:30am
CRN: 40915
Ennio Mingolla, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Illusions can be a source of entertainment or even beauty, but they can sometimes lead us to make inferior decisions about important matters. This course takes an experiential approach to learning about visual illusions, including those based on capture or misdirection of attention, as in magic performances. It also considers illusions of hearing and “cognitive illusions”, where judgments made by humans vary as a function of the narrative framing of a question. The course surveys the role of illusions in development of philosophical and scientific thought from ancient Greece through the “method of doubt” of René Descartes and into the modern era of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Using software tools or pre-programmed online demonstrations, students can investigate how the strength of various illusions varies as a function of parametric variations in display variables, including images, videos, or narrative “displays.” There are no prerequisites and students of all majors are welcomed. Finally, the course considers the extent to which one can intentionally avoid or overcome the effects of illusions, and how to approach situations where experiencing an illusion seems to be all but inevitable.
Summer 2 2024
HONR 3310
Systems Thinking and Social Change
Time: Mon, Wed/8:00am–11:30am
CRN: 61045
Rebecca Riccio, Department of Human Services
CSSH
The overarching goal of this course is for you to understand how “Big Ideas” like restorative justice, universal basic income, and public campaign financing reimagine how society can grapple with persistent social challenges by disrupting the status quo within complex and dynamic systems. We will examine how human systems come into being, how they can intentionally and unintentionally perpetuate inequity and injustice, and where opportunities exist for Big Ideas to influence change within them. The course is designed to support systems thinking, critical thinking, complex problem solving, ethical reasoning, perspective taking, relationship building, collaboration, and personal and intellectual growth through class discussion, reflection, group work, and systems mapping.
Spring 2024 Courses
HONR 3310-01
Law, Public Policy and Human Behavior
Times: Mon, Wed / 2:50pm – 4:30pm
CRN: 33479
NUpath: SI
Richard Daynard, School of Law
Many public policies and legal decisions rest on the assumption that each individual can best understand what would make himself or herself happy, and that governmental limitations on choice must therefore make people less happy. This seminar will challenge this “rational actor” model suggesting that it misdescribes human self-understanding and behavior. We will test this in a variety of contexts, including behaviors like eating, smoking and gambling, the behavior of various actors in the legal system including judges, juries, experts, eyewitnesses, and prosecutors, how we approach health, health care, and “informed consent,” and implications for the environment, global warming and the future of our species. Students are expected to participate actively in seminar discussions, and to write a paper testing “rational actor” assumptions in an area of their choosing.
HONR 3310-02
Global Health: Art, Science, and Imagination
Time: Wed / 4:40pm – 8:00pm
CRN: 33150
NUpath: SI
Richard Wamai, Department of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies
CSSH
While it might have been the case in past decades that a disease experienced in one country “stayed” in that country or continent, this is no longer the case (think: Ebola in Africa, Zika in South America, SARS in Asia, MERS in the Middle East, or COVID-19!). With today’s unparalleled global mobility, it’s quite clear that what happens in one nation does affects others— and this is particularly true when we consider infectious diseases. With greater understanding that our planet is a dynamic system, it is critically important that we acknowledge that a disease in one nation can have worldwide consequences, and we recognize a greater need for moral imagination. Global health provides a foundation and mechanism for identifying those factors that promote or threaten health in diverse contexts and with diverse populations, leading to implications for prevention, intervention, and hopefully, effective treatments. This interdisciplinary seminar provides a platform for curious students to explore the multifaceted new frontiers of global health in ways that span research, theory, practice, communication, and social action— the “art and science” of health— all while learning how a new disciplinary imagination and set of professions emerge.
HONR 3310-03
Creative Writing Workshop Online
Time: Does Not Meet (Remote Asynchronous)
CRN: 32912
NUpath: WI, EI
Ellen Noonan, Department of English
CSSH
Using language—writing, reading, etc.—is a social activity, one way to connect with others (past, present, future others)—and to document and, sometimes, to trouble, those connections. By thinking about and “practicing” language in this way, by adopting this approach, you will all see and practice how the rhetorical choices writers make are consequential, impacting not only the clarity of the sentences (an annoyingly persistent view of writing that reduces the complexity of writing (situations, circumstances, audiences, identities, genres…) to a simplistic exercise in skill building, i.e., learning the rules of a monolithic grammar), but also, and most importantly, the shaping of what is possible to think about, what is worth thinking about, what is worth writing about.
The courses within the NU creative writing program are not, in fact, focused on “skill building” or THE right way to write; rather, they aim to raise your level of awareness, to make you conscious of the complex social nature of writing and reading, their dynamism and power. In this course, we will be using the “frame” of connections and connectedness (and disconnections and disconnectedness) alongside the concepts of “translating,” “borrowing,” and “adapting” to think about the “tools” that writing uses to construct identities— personal, social, private, public: How do you (how might you) use writing to create a space in the world? How is identity crafted? How is identity understood by others (your readers, your audience)? What tools are at your disposal as a maker? How do you negotiate the myriad choices of purpose and audience and tone and style? These questions have many answers, which I hope to explore with you; there are also many more questions to ask, which will—along with generating lots of “writing”— be our most important class activity.
HONR 3310-04
Representation in Young Adult Literature
Time: Mon, Thurs/11:45am-1:25pm
CRN: 39776
Kat Gonzo, Department of English
CSSH
This Seminar offers students an opportunity to join a collaborative community of readers to discuss the YA books that have captured modern readers’ imaginations. Students will be exposed to a variety of styles (contemporary, dystopian, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, mystery, and graphic novels) and books with writers and/or protagonists that identify as BIPOC (Love Boat Taipei; The Hate U Give), LGBTQIA+ (Cemetery Boys, They Both Die at the End), people with disabilities, neurodivergence, or mental illness (Challenger Deep), and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities (Darius the Great is Not Okay), to name a few. We will also discuss intersectionality, the rise and fall of the #OwnVoices movement, the white-washing of book covers, and the Kitlit discourse of Twitter, TikTok, Goodreads, and other social media sites. Students will have the opportunity to speak with professionals in the publishing industry, writers, and bookstore owners. In short, if you are interested in exploring young adult books with diverse characters and stories, then this class is for you.
HONR 3310-05
Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time: The Art and Science of Memory
Times: Tue, Fri / 9:50am – 11:30am
CRN: 39156
Patrick Mullen, Department of English
CSSH
Our Question: What is memory and how does it work? Are memories reliable stories about the past or are they distortions shaped by outside circumstances or by our own inner desires or by biology? Are memories part of the core of who we are or are they vague apparitions, things that we can’t quite articulate or understand and therefore profoundly foreign to our sense of self? How are memories related to art and writing? If you want to become an artist or a writer, are your memories a good place to start?
Our Main Reading: This seminar will explore the art and science of memory through the work of the French writer, Marcel Proust. In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu is the title in French) is one of the great works of 20th century European literature and many consider it one of the most important pieces of world literature of all time. La Recherche is a shining star on many a bucket list. Unfortunately, it is a star whose celestial coordinates are often not reached by mere mortals who find themselves intimidated by the heft and reputation of the work or who are simply otherwise engaged! It is easy to understand why the novel is intimidating: It is a sprawling 3,000-page, 7-volume, work written between 1906-1922. The hero is a narrator named Marcel who works his way through the memories of his life. But more than simply the sequential reporting of things that happened to him, the work is a philosophical and psychological investigation about the connections between life and art. Even if the size of the work is potentially overwhelming, it also promises great rewards. It is a life-affirming and comic novel and its myriad themes still resonate today: memory, childhood, the family, sexual desire, queer lives, social mobility, racism and antisemitism, corruption, and the calling of the writer. Reading Proust is a once in a lifetime experience.
Our Procedure and Related Works: We will make this great work accessible by reading 2 of the 7 volumes: Swann’s Way (vol. 1) and Time Regained (vol. 7). This selective reading will give you entrance into Proust’s universe as well as into the cultural, artistic, and scientific discussions that his work has influenced. We will begin the course by considering how to read what seems like an unreadable work with the help of Pierre Bayard’s How to Talk about Books You Haven’t Read (2005). We will then explore the importance of Proust to philosophy, science, and even self-help by reading: Joshua Landy’s The World According to Proust (2023), Lisa Genova’s Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting (2021), and Alain de Botton’s How Proust Can Change your Life (1997). As we make our way through the novel, we will survey the richness and diversity of literary scholarship on the work.
What Students Will Do: First, you will read! You will not read simply to master or to pass a quiz, but you will read to discover the pleasures of reading Proust. (You are invited to read the work in French or English. I will be reading the French version). You will also read through a variety of disciplines and contemporary works that see Proust as important. Next, students will be asked to make short group presentations on the related works (listed above) and Proust scholarship. These presentations are intended to launch our discussion for the day. Finally, you will write! At the core of this class is the proposition that reading and talking about Proust can help to invigorate your relationship to yourself and to your world. You will articulate this by writing your own memoir, your own expression of art and life. You will have weekly workshop activities designed to help you draft your memoir over the course of the semester. At the end of the course, you will have the chance to present these to your colleagues. While you will be allowed to include multiple media in the final project, the use of AI will not be permitted.
HONR 3310-06
Sports, Ethics, and Crises
Times: Tue / 5:40pm – 9pm
CRN: 39325
Alan Zaremba, Department of Communication Studies
CAMD
This course examines ethical challenges in sports contexts and the potential ramifications of poor ethical decisions. Ethical challenges confront all persons and all organizations. In sport contexts, the behavior of athletes, coaches, and administrators is often under great scrutiny because of media exposure. Ill-advised or unethical decisions which may not be embarrassing or fuel crises in some organizations, can be debilitating for sport figures, teams, leagues, and sport governing organizations (for example, the NCAA, FIFA) The course includes foundational content related to ethics and crises, case analyses, student position papers, in class debate, preparation and delivery of formal statements, and simulated press conferences.
HONR 3310-07
Cold War Spies
Times: Wed / 4:40pm – 8:00pm
CRN: 39312
Jeffrey Burds, Department of History
CSSH
Drawing from a wide variety of published and unpublished primary and secondary sources, supplemented by modern theoretical and social science perspectives, literature, and films, this course explores the history of espionage during the Cold War era (1943-1991) and its immediate aftermath, through a series of case studies. This seminar will lead students through the history of covert operations over the past 75 years focusing on these sub-themes: the origins of the Cold War in War World II; the postwar battle for German scientists; Containment and Rollback; Operation Gladio, Venona and codebreaking; nuclear spies; defectors; proxy wars (Middle East, Southeast Asia); insurgencies and counterinsurgencies; terrorism; technological espionage; propaganda; the psychology of betrayal; and mind control (MKULTRA). Students are required to make two presentations, and to write short papers based on those presentations.
HONR 3310-08
Platform Business Models
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 10:30 – 11:35am
CRN: 39327
Kevin Boudreau, Department of Entrepreneurship & Innovation
DMSB
The growing digitization of the economy has led many of today’s leading enterprises–including both the largest global superstar firms and most exciting entrepreneurial start-up ventures–to be born digital and organized as platforms. Trends to digitization have also led to an urgency for established businesses across all sectors to learn how to meaningfully adopt digital and platform-based business practices. While these trends have been in motion for years, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated these trends.
To understand how platform-based business models work and their impact on the world (and you, personally), this course is organized around a business strategy question: How to optimally design a platform business model? To answer this question, this course draws together insights across academic research and industry practice on platforms, along with longstanding lessons of business strategy and business model design.
By placing the strategic questions, above, are the heart of the course, the course is intended to teach you several things: How to take tangible analytical steps to design a new platform business mode; how to analyze and evaluate an existing platform business mode; and how it can be improved. Further, by understanding these economic and strategic issues, you will gain insights on how to anticipate likely future competitive outcomes and industry evolution and how to critically anticipate and evaluate the emerging role of platforms in society.
HONR 3310-09
Platform Business Models
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 1:35 – 2:40pm
CRN: 39328
Kevin Boudreau, Entrepreneurship & Innovation
DMSB
The growing digitization of the economy has led many of today’s leading enterprises–including both the largest global superstar firms and most exciting entrepreneurial start-up ventures–to be born digital and organized as platforms. Trends to digitization have also led to an urgency for established businesses across all sectors to learn how to meaningfully adopt digital and platform-based business practices. While these trends have been in motion for years, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated these trends.
To understand how platform-based business models work and their impact on the world (and you, personally), this course is organized around a business strategy question: How to optimally design a platform business model? To answer this question, this course draws together insights across academic research and industry practice on platforms, along with longstanding lessons of business strategy and business model design.
By placing the strategic questions, above, are the heart of the course, the course is intended to teach you several things: How to take tangible analytical steps to design a new platform business mode; how to analyze and evaluate an existing platform business mode; and how it can be improved. Further, by understanding these economic and strategic issues, you will gain insights on how to anticipate likely future competitive outcomes and industry evolution and how to critically anticipate and evaluate the emerging role of platforms in society.
HONR 1310-11
Exploring Race and Class in America
Times: Wed / 4:40pm – 8pm
CRN: 39833
Jonathan Kaufman, Journalism School
CAMD
Race, class and ethnicity are fundamental to understanding American history, and grappling with the problems society faces today. Every day the media shapes how we view these issues, how we talk about them, how we vote on them. This class will examine race, ethnicity and class in America, along with racism, anti-semitism and other challenges we face today. We will focus on politics, culture, university campuses and the media. Where have we done well? Where have we done badly and how can we do better? The course will be taught by Jonathan Kaufman, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and author, and director of the School of Journalism. You don’t need any journalism background; just come with an open mind.
HONR 3310-12
Examining Family Business Through Film
Times: Tue / 5:20-8:45pm
CRN: forthcoming
Kimberly Eddleston, Entrepreneurship & Innovation
DMSB
Family businesses are the predominant form of business around the world. Yet, because of the inextricable link between the family and business, there is much diversity in their goals, values and how they are managed. Most unique to family businesses is the central role of the family and its influence on the business. An instrumental tool to discover, identify, and evaluate family relationships and family business dynamics is film. In this course, students will learn to critically analyze and evaluate family relationships and family business dynamics through the examination of various television shows and films and how they reflect research and theories. By watching, analyzing and discussing these films, the complexities of family businesses will come to life, offering students a unique glimpse into how family relationships impact the business and in turn, the business affects family relationships. By utilizing television shows and film, students will also have the opportunity to diagnose the roots of family conflicts and see how a ‘healthy family’ helps to ensure a ‘healthy business.’
Fall 2023 Courses
HONR 3310-01
Contemporary Issues in Healthcare
Times: Tue, Fri / 9:50-11:30am
CRN: 14959
NUpath: SI, EX
Lorna Hayward, Department of Physical Therapy
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
This course is a service-learning, interprofessional, Honors seminar that is project-based and involves examination of the complexity of issues related to a community defined health need. We will explore modern health care issues at the individual, local, national, and global levels. The US health care system will be presented historically from 1850 to current day. Health decisions will be discussed from multiple perspectives including: historical, political, ethical, financial, technological, and epidemiological. From there, students will develop an understanding of the complexity of health care concerns and the impact on the participants at their community sites.
HONR 3310-02
The Reality of Illusions
Time: Tue, Fri / 1:35-3:15pm
CRN: 20143
Ennio Mingolla, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Illusions can be a source of entertainment or even beauty, but they can sometimes lead us to make inferior decisions about important matters. This course takes an experiential approach to learning about visual illusions, including those based on capture or misdirection of attention, as in magic performances. It also considers illusions of hearing and “cognitive illusions”, where judgments made by humans vary as a function of the narrative framing of a question. The course surveys the role of illusions in development of philosophical and scientific thought from ancient Greece through the “method of doubt” of René Descartes and into the modern era of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Using software tools or pre-programmed online demonstrations, students can investigate how the strength of various illusions varies as a function of parametric variations in display variables, including images, videos, or narrative “displays.” There are no prerequisites and students of all majors are welcomed. Finally, the course considers the extent to which one can intentionally avoid or overcome the effects of illusions, and how to approach situations where experiencing an illusion seems to be all but inevitable.
HONR 3310-03
Newsroom Confidential: Inside Politics, Media, and Policy
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 4:35-5:40pm
CRN: 20322
Ted Landsmark, Department of Public Policy and Urban Affairs
CSSH
Jonathan Kaufman, Department of Journalism
CAMD
This course, taught by distinguished Policy School and Journalism faculty, explores how interactions between politics and various media shape and disseminate public policies. Historical and current policies will be examined through highly interactive discussions and research initiatives.
HONR 3310-04
Non-Fiction Writing and Social Justice Issues
Times: Mon / 5:00-8:00pm
CRN: 13637
Michael Patrick MacDonald, Professor of the Practice
University Honors Program
In order to write the most effective non-fiction around social justice issues, a writer might undertake personal reflection on his/her own life to access that “place” that allows for greater empathy. When we write about issues affecting other people’s lives, it is important to engage in a process of contemplation that will lead to more in-depth understanding, and create a unique and passionate “voice” that “brings the reader in.” This is true, no matter where we come from or our degree of previous exposure to the issues at hand (it is my belief that one does not have to come from poverty to write effectively about poverty, come from domestic violence to write effectively about domestic violence etc.; however, I believe that one would be well served by accessing their own place of vulnerability in order to write empathically about social justice issues). In order to help students find their own writing voice, this seminar will engage students in critical thought and discussion of a wide range of social justice issues as well as grassroots movement for change.
Central unifying themes of the course will be class/poverty and its attendant violence, crime and other social issues, as well as its intersections with racism, gender, sexuality and other identities. We will also look at the intersection of justice-and-healing in grassroots efforts happening in our communities that have been most affected by these issues. In particular, we will approach Social Justice themes through a Restorative and Transformative Justice lens, which calls for shifts in the ways we communicate across perceived differences, rather than adversarial and fundamentalist Good vs Evil approaches that dominate Social Justice discourse (e.g., on social media and in classrooms) today. Therefore, the role of Empathy on and off the page will be our most central unifying theme, and concepts such as mutual aid and solidarity (rather than charity) will be explored.
Ultimately, we will focus on the implications for writers of non-fiction on these topics. This course will present an insider’s view into writing with a greater consciousness of social justice issues (in particular, questions of socio-economic inequality) by starting with some of the instructor’s own work, which includes two memoirs, a third memoir-in-progress and multiple essays. Secondly, the course will move outward to the works of other significant writers of non-fiction, using different writing approaches to related issues, whether through personalized journalism (also called “new journalism”), straight-journalism, or opinion/advocacy journalism or essay.
What makes various approaches work effectively? What works for which audiences? How might the works influence contemporary social problems? Are there policy links to any of these writings? And most importantly for our purposes, how might Restorative or Transformative Justice be applied to the various approaches?
The course will frame a discussion of the many ways to write non-fiction about these central themes: as memoir, non-fiction books, journalism and essays (as well as other forms of dramatic writing, one-person shows, documentary film or other examples of social-issue-writing the class comes across in general popular culture).
HONR 3310-05
Found Poetry Workshop
Times: Tue, Fri / 9:50-11:30am
CRN: 15133
NU path: EI
Ellen Noonan, Department of English
CSSH
First, in a course that’s really about “borrowing” to compose our own work, let me start by borrowing from Annie Dillard:
“Happy poets who write found poetry go pawing through popular culture like sculptors on trash heaps. They hold and wave aloft usable artifacts and fragments: jingles and ad copy, menus and broadcasts — all objet trouvés, the literary equivalents of Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans and Duchamp’s bicycle. By entering a found text as a poem, the poet doubles its context. The original meaning remains intact, but now it swings between two poles. The poet adds, or at any rate increases, the element of delight. This is an urban, youthful, ironic, cruising kind of poetry. It serves up whole texts, or interrupted fragments of texts.”
In Found Poetry Workshop, we will all be “happy poets.” Though we will look at examples of the form—via Found Poetry Review’s archives and texts like Charles Simic’s Dime Store Alchemy and Mary Ruefle’s A Little White Shadow, to name a few—most of the class will be hands-on: making/composing individual and group found (and interdisciplinary!) texts, and workshopping what we make/compose. Forms and practices will include (but will not be limited to): erasures, centos, cut-ups, 3-D poems, and remixes.
HONR 3310-06
Violence and Non-Violence: Politics, Ethics and Justice
Times: Mon, Thur / 11:25am-1:25pm
CRN: 20144
NU path: SI, ER
Whitney Kelting, Department of Philosophy and Religion
CSSH
Defining and shaping our thinking about violence and non-violence are ideas drawn from political theory, ethics, religions and specific cases and exemplary individuals. Tracking the threads of state violence, resistance, non-violent movements, civil and uncivil disobedience, ethical and religious responses, and statements of individual commitments, this course will explore the ethical landscape of the discourse and actions associated with violence and non- violence. We will read debates centered around the justifications and rejections of warfare, the responses to state violence and explore contemporary questions through these lenses. The seminar will develop a collective research project based on one of the cases and will share their findings beyond the classroom in a public form like a symposium or public access publication.
HONR 3310-07
Contested Issues in the US Economy
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 1:35-2:40pm
CRN: 16777
NU path: SI, ER
Peter Simon, Department of Economics
CSSH
In the large and complex economy of the United States, there is controversy over what goods and services should be produced. Should we legalize drugs or continue to fight the war on drugs? Should there be a limit to our national debt? What is the economic justification for import tariffs? In addition to the topics listed in the title, this course looks at the economic and ethical aspects of other issues such as mandatory vaccination, organ sales, death with dignity, and scalping. To understand the nature, the causes, and the ethical implications of these, and many other current controversial and contested issues, is the objective of this course. Students will work in pairs to conduct their own econometric study on contested issues, which is the objective of this course.
HONR 3310-12
Examining Family Business Through Film
Times: Tue / 5:20-8:45pm
CRN: 16935
Kimberly Eddleston, Entrepreneurship & Innovation
DMSB
Family businesses are the predominant form of business around the world. Yet, because of the inextricable link between the family and business, there is much diversity in their goals, values and how they are managed. Most unique to family businesses is the central role of the family and its influence on the business. An instrumental tool to discover, identify, and evaluate family relationships and family business dynamics is film. In this course, students will learn to critically analyze and evaluate family relationships and family business dynamics through the examination of various television shows and films and how they reflect research and theories. By watching, analyzing and discussing these films, the complexities of family businesses will come to life, offering students a unique glimpse into how family relationships impact the business and in turn, the business affects family relationships. By utilizing television shows and film, students will also have the opportunity to diagnose the roots of family conflicts and see how a ‘healthy family’ helps to ensure a ‘healthy business.’
HONR 3310-14
Novel Writing
Times: Mon, Thur / 11:45am-1:25pm
CRN: 16907
Kat Gonso, Department of English
CSSH
Writing a novel is filled with daunting choices. Who is the main character? What do they want? Where does the story begin? In this course, students will answer these questions and write part of a novel. All genres are welcome: romance, young adult, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, literary and so on. As a collaborative community of writers, we will discuss craft issues—characterization, the protagonist’s want, plot, point of view, voice, and dialogue—and read short scenes from each other’s work, providing feedback in an environment that recognizes the specific challenges of the novel in progress. By the end of the course, students will have produced at least 20 pages of new writing and an outline for their book. Students will also have the opportunity to speak with professional writers.
HONR 3310-01
Contemporary Issues in Healthcare
Times: Tue, Fri / 9:50-11:30am
CRN: 14959
NUpath: SI, EX
Lorna Hayward, Department of Physical Therapy
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
This course is a service-learning, interprofessional, Honors seminar that is project-based and involves examination of the complexity of issues related to a community defined health need. We will explore modern health care issues at the individual, local, national, and global levels. The US health care system will be presented historically from 1850 to current day. Health decisions will be discussed from multiple perspectives including: historical, political, ethical, financial, technological, and epidemiological. From there, students will develop an understanding of the complexity of health care concerns and the impact on the participants at their community sites.
HONR 3310-02
The Reality of Illusions
Time: Tue, Fri / 1:35-3:15pm
CRN: 20143
Ennio Mingolla, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Illusions can be a source of entertainment or even beauty, but they can sometimes lead us to make inferior decisions about important matters. This course takes an experiential approach to learning about visual illusions, including those based on capture or misdirection of attention, as in magic performances. It also considers illusions of hearing and “cognitive illusions”, where judgments made by humans vary as a function of the narrative framing of a question. The course surveys the role of illusions in development of philosophical and scientific thought from ancient Greece through the “method of doubt” of René Descartes and into the modern era of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Using software tools or pre-programmed online demonstrations, students can investigate how the strength of various illusions varies as a function of parametric variations in display variables, including images, videos, or narrative “displays.” There are no prerequisites and students of all majors are welcomed. Finally, the course considers the extent to which one can intentionally avoid or overcome the effects of illusions, and how to approach situations where experiencing an illusion seems to be all but inevitable.
HONR 3310-03
Newsroom Confidential: Inside Politics, Media, and Policy
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 4:35-5:40pm
CRN: 20322
Ted Landsmark, Department of Public Policy and Urban Affairs
CSSH
Jonathan Kaufman, Department of Journalism
CAMD
This course, taught by distinguished Policy School and Journalism faculty, explores how interactions between politics and various media shape and disseminate public policies. Historical and current policies will be examined through highly interactive discussions and research initiatives.
HONR 3310-04
Non-Fiction Writing and Social Justice Issues
Times: Mon / 5:00-8:00pm
CRN: 13637
Michael Patrick MacDonald, Professor of the Practice
University Honors Program
In order to write the most effective non-fiction around social justice issues, a writer might undertake personal reflection on his/her own life to access that “place” that allows for greater empathy. When we write about issues affecting other people’s lives, it is important to engage in a process of contemplation that will lead to more in-depth understanding, and create a unique and passionate “voice” that “brings the reader in.” This is true, no matter where we come from or our degree of previous exposure to the issues at hand (it is my belief that one does not have to come from poverty to write effectively about poverty, come from domestic violence to write effectively about domestic violence etc.; however, I believe that one would be well served by accessing their own place of vulnerability in order to write empathically about social justice issues). In order to help students find their own writing voice, this seminar will engage students in critical thought and discussion of a wide range of social justice issues as well as grassroots movement for change.
Central unifying themes of the course will be class/poverty and its attendant violence, crime and other social issues, as well as its intersections with racism, gender, sexuality and other identities. We will also look at the intersection of justice-and-healing in grassroots efforts happening in our communities that have been most affected by these issues. In particular, we will approach Social Justice themes through a Restorative and Transformative Justice lens, which calls for shifts in the ways we communicate across perceived differences, rather than adversarial and fundamentalist Good vs Evil approaches that dominate Social Justice discourse (e.g., on social media and in classrooms) today. Therefore, the role of Empathy on and off the page will be our most central unifying theme, and concepts such as mutual aid and solidarity (rather than charity) will be explored.
Ultimately, we will focus on the implications for writers of non-fiction on these topics. This course will present an insider’s view into writing with a greater consciousness of social justice issues (in particular, questions of socio-economic inequality) by starting with some of the instructor’s own work, which includes two memoirs, a third memoir-in-progress and multiple essays. Secondly, the course will move outward to the works of other significant writers of non-fiction, using different writing approaches to related issues, whether through personalized journalism (also called “new journalism”), straight-journalism, or opinion/advocacy journalism or essay.
What makes various approaches work effectively? What works for which audiences? How might the works influence contemporary social problems? Are there policy links to any of these writings? And most importantly for our purposes, how might Restorative or Transformative Justice be applied to the various approaches?
The course will frame a discussion of the many ways to write non-fiction about these central themes: as memoir, non-fiction books, journalism and essays (as well as other forms of dramatic writing, one-person shows, documentary film or other examples of social-issue-writing the class comes across in general popular culture).
HONR 3310-05
Found Poetry Workshop
Times: Tue, Fri / 9:50-11:30am
CRN: 15133
NU path: EI
Ellen Noonan, Department of English
CSSH
First, in a course that’s really about “borrowing” to compose our own work, let me start by borrowing from Annie Dillard:
“Happy poets who write found poetry go pawing through popular culture like sculptors on trash heaps. They hold and wave aloft usable artifacts and fragments: jingles and ad copy, menus and broadcasts — all objet trouvés, the literary equivalents of Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans and Duchamp’s bicycle. By entering a found text as a poem, the poet doubles its context. The original meaning remains intact, but now it swings between two poles. The poet adds, or at any rate increases, the element of delight. This is an urban, youthful, ironic, cruising kind of poetry. It serves up whole texts, or interrupted fragments of texts.”
In Found Poetry Workshop, we will all be “happy poets.” Though we will look at examples of the form—via Found Poetry Review’s archives and texts like Charles Simic’s Dime Store Alchemy and Mary Ruefle’s A Little White Shadow, to name a few—most of the class will be hands-on: making/composing individual and group found (and interdisciplinary!) texts, and workshopping what we make/compose. Forms and practices will include (but will not be limited to): erasures, centos, cut-ups, 3-D poems, and remixes.
HONR 3310-06
Violence and Non-Violence: Politics, Ethics and Justice
Times: Mon, Thur / 11:25am-1:25pm
CRN: 20144
NU path: SI, ER
Whitney Kelting, Department of Philosophy and Religion
CSSH
Defining and shaping our thinking about violence and non-violence are ideas drawn from political theory, ethics, religions and specific cases and exemplary individuals. Tracking the threads of state violence, resistance, non-violent movements, civil and uncivil disobedience, ethical and religious responses, and statements of individual commitments, this course will explore the ethical landscape of the discourse and actions associated with violence and non- violence. We will read debates centered around the justifications and rejections of warfare, the responses to state violence and explore contemporary questions through these lenses. The seminar will develop a collective research project based on one of the cases and will share their findings beyond the classroom in a public form like a symposium or public access publication.
HONR 3310-07
Contested Issues in the US Economy
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 1:35-2:40pm
CRN: 16777
NU path: SI, ER
Peter Simon, Department of Economics
CSSH
In the large and complex economy of the United States, there is controversy over what goods and services should be produced. Should we legalize drugs or continue to fight the war on drugs? Should there be a limit to our national debt? What is the economic justification for import tariffs? In addition to the topics listed in the title, this course looks at the economic and ethical aspects of other issues such as mandatory vaccination, organ sales, death with dignity, and scalping. To understand the nature, the causes, and the ethical implications of these, and many other current controversial and contested issues, is the objective of this course. Students will work in pairs to conduct their own econometric study on contested issues, which is the objective of this course.
HONR 3310-12
Examining Family Business Through Film
Times: Tue / 5:20-8:45pm
CRN: 16935
Kimberly Eddleston, Entrepreneurship & Innovation
DMSB
Family businesses are the predominant form of business around the world. Yet, because of the inextricable link between the family and business, there is much diversity in their goals, values and how they are managed. Most unique to family businesses is the central role of the family and its influence on the business. An instrumental tool to discover, identify, and evaluate family relationships and family business dynamics is film. In this course, students will learn to critically analyze and evaluate family relationships and family business dynamics through the examination of various television shows and films and how they reflect research and theories. By watching, analyzing and discussing these films, the complexities of family businesses will come to life, offering students a unique glimpse into how family relationships impact the business and in turn, the business affects family relationships. By utilizing television shows and film, students will also have the opportunity to diagnose the roots of family conflicts and see how a ‘healthy family’ helps to ensure a ‘healthy business.’
HONR 3310-15
Transforming Public Health Through Complex Systems Analysis
Times: Tue / 11:45am-1:25pm; Thu / 2:50pm – 4:30pm
CRN: 20588
Leanne Chukoskie, Department of Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Science
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Do you want to help make healthcare equitable for all? Interested in how research and persuasive writing can work to advance this goal and others? This is a seminar for all majors, which will train and equip you with the highly desired knowledge and skills in persuasive academic writing, identifying a research problem, posing solutions and conducting complex systems analysis. Using the lens of public health, we will use case studies including the COVID-19 pandemic, air quality, and disability to apply our new skills. Semester long group work will enable students to apply their knowledge and skills to healthcare issues of their concern.
Summer 2023 Courses
HONR 3310
Board Game Design and Development
Time: Mon, Wed / 1:30-5:00pm
CRN: 41725
Duncan Davis, First Year Engineering
COE
This course will teach the fundamentals to design board games from an engineering perspective using rapid prototyping, iterative design, and various game creation techniques. Students will review published games, prototype games, and games created by their peers and balance the statistical probability of random events, relative balance of player skill to chance, game mechanics, creative design, theme, and flavor. They will study player psychographs, methods to match a game to its intended audience, and engineering games to be ‘fun’. The course will explore crowd-funding and pitching products to publishers as well as surveys various roles in the tabletop game industry including designers, publishers, manufacturers, distributors, game stores, conventions, and online sales. Students will be able to communicate how to be an art director and instills the basics of board games aesthetics. 3D modeling and Adobe Suite software experience is recommended but not required.
HONR 3310
The Power of Language: Linguistic Diversity, Discrimination and Language Identity as a Human Right
Times: Remote Asynchronous
CRN: 417026
NUpath: SI, DD
Heather Littlefield, Department of Linguistics
COS
We, as humans, enjoy the advantages that using language gives us on a daily basis, but most of us do so without much, if any, awareness of the complexities of the linguistic structures involved. Additionally, when we do consider the functions of language we most often focus on its communicative role, and overlook the crucial role that language plays in creating, maintaining, and negotiating social identity and status. Examining the social role of language allows us to understand how language is used to create personal and group identities, and how identities may interact with one other in efforts to include or exclude other social groups. In this course, we examine the intersection of language and social identity, using linguistics, the scientific study of language, as a foundation for our inquiry, drawing also from the fields of philosophy, sociology, and psychology to further inform our discussion. We use both historical and present-day case studies to examine how linguistic features play a powerful role in marking identity in areas such as race and ethnicity, social class, and gender, and how linguistic discrimination through microagressions and human rights violations can create and maintain social inequality. Lastly, we consider how language may also be adopted as a tool to advance social justice at the personal, local, and global levels.
HONR 3310
The Science of Play
Time: Tue, Thur / 1:30-5:00pm
CRN: 41177
Emily Mann, Department of Human Services
CSSH
Students will actively engage in the scholarship of play and explore the role and function, benefits and barriers of play. Course topics will include the background and significance of play in history, the role of play as a predictor of academic and social functioning, the use of play in character/moral development, and the use of play to prevent, intervene, and treat trauma. Clinical and non-clinical implications of play will be explored, as well as the physiological and social implications of play, using contemporary research on brain science and brain development. The Science of Play combines classroom learning with fieldwork and research. Students will alternate between classroom time and field experiences throughout the local Boston community, examining the physical spaces of play in our community. Service-based research projects will be developed with community partners to address key questions related to the science of play.
HONR 3310
The Reality of Illusions
Time: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur / 9:50-11:30am
CRN: 41212
Ennio Mingolla, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Illusions can be a source of entertainment or even beauty, but they can sometimes lead us to make inferior decisions about important matters. This course takes an experiential approach to learning about visual illusions, including those based on capture or misdirection of attention, as in magic performances. It also considers illusions of hearing and “cognitive illusions”, where judgments made by humans vary as a function of the narrative framing of a question. The course surveys the role of illusions in development of philosophical and scientific thought from ancient Greece through the “method of doubt” of René Descartes and into the modern era of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Using software tools or pre-programmed online demonstrations, students can investigate how the strength of various illusions varies as a function of parametric variations in display variables, including images, videos, or narrative “displays.” There are no prerequisites and students of all majors are welcomed. Finally, the course considers the extent to which one can intentionally avoid or overcome the effects of illusions, and how to approach situations where experiencing an illusion seems to be all but inevitable.
HONR 3310
Systems Thinking and Social Change
Time: Tue, Thur / 1:30-5:00pm
CRN: 61375
Rebecca Riccio, Department of Human Services
CSSH
The overarching goal of this course is for you to understand how “Big Ideas” like restorative justice, universal basic income, and public campaign financing reimagine how society can grapple with persistent social challenges by disrupting the status quo within complex and dynamic systems. We will examine how human systems come into being, how they can intentionally and unintentionally perpetuate inequity and injustice, and where opportunities exist for Big Ideas to influence change within them. The course is designed to support systems thinking, critical thinking, complex problem solving, ethical reasoning, perspective taking, relationship building, collaboration, and personal and intellectual growth through class discussion, reflection, group work, and systems mapping.
Spring 2023 Courses
HONR 3310
Law, Public Policy and Human Behavior
Times: Mon, Wed / 2:50-4:30pm
CRN: 33983
NUpath: SI
Richard Daynard, School of Law
Many public policies and legal decisions rest on the assumption that each individual can best understand what would make himself or herself happy, and that governmental limitations on choice must therefore make people less happy. This seminar will challenge this “rational actor” model suggesting that it misdescribes human self-understanding and behavior. We will test this in a variety of contexts, including behaviors like eating, smoking and gambling, the behavior of various actors in the legal system including judges, juries, experts, eyewitnesses, and prosecutors, how we approach health, health care, and “informed consent,” and implications for the environment, global warming and the future of our species. Students are expected to participate actively in seminar discussions, and to write a paper testing “rational actor” assumptions in an area of their choosing.
HONR 3310
Dark Schooling: Higher Education Narratives in Literature, History and Sociology
Times: Mon, Thur / 11:45am-1:25pm
CRN: 36563
NUpath: IC, SI
Mary Loeffelholz, Department of English
CSSH
The “education gospel,” in Tressie McMillan Cottom’s phrase, has been a widely shared faith in the US for much of the nation’s history. The education system in the US is the largest in the world, relative to the population, and access to more education, or better education, for more people, is often proposed as a remedy for social ills.
Where there are great expectations, however, there is the potential for great disappointment and betrayals of trust. The value of education, particularly higher education, is currently under scrutiny—perhaps even in crisis—in the US. Does higher education advance equality or cement inequality in place? Whom does it serve? What do people really learn in college, beyond the formal curriculum? This course will address these questions through stories of dark schooling: narratives of education that end badly, drawn both from literary fiction and nonfiction (memoirs, essays) and from readings in the sociology and history of education.
HONR 3310
Say it Loud!: The Black Power Movement and Higher Education
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 9:15am-10:20am
CRN: 39028
NUpath: DD
Vanessa Johnson, Department of Applied Psychology
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
This course explores the impact of the Black Power Movement (1965-1975) on American colleges and universities. Following a grounding in the history of the movement and its relationship to the Civil Rights Movement, students will explore the various impacts of Black Power on contemporary higher education. The course traces how the movement led to distinct ideologies, scholarship, practices, and terminology that provided new lenses through which institutions of higher education viewed Negros in terms of the preservation, transmittal, and enrichment of their culture by means of instruction, scholarly work, and scientific research.
HONR 3310
Global Health: Art, Science, and Imagination
Time: Wed / 4:40-8:00pm
CRN: 33563
NUpath: SI
Richard Wamai, Department of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies
CSSH
While it might have been the case in past decades that a disease experienced in one country “stayed” in that country or continent, this is no longer the case (think: Ebola in Africa, Zika in South America, SARS in Asia, MERS in the Middle East, or COVID-19!). With today’s unparalleled global mobility, it’s quite clear that what happens in one nation does affects others— and this is particularly true when we consider infectious diseases. With greater understanding that our planet is a dynamic system, it is critically important that we acknowledge that a disease in one nation can have worldwide consequences, and we recognize a greater need for moral imagination. Global health provides a foundation and mechanism for identifying those factors that promote or threaten health in diverse contexts and with diverse populations, leading to implications for prevention, intervention, and hopefully, effective treatments. This interdisciplinary seminar provides a platform for curious students to explore the multifaceted new frontiers of global health in ways that span research, theory, practice, communication, and social action— the “art and science” of health— all while learning how a new disciplinary imagination and set of professions emerge.
HONR 3310
The Ethics of Philanthropy: How to Make the World a Better Place for All People
Times: Mon, Thur / 11:45am-1:25pm (Remote Synchronous)
CRN: 33289
NUpath: SI, ER
Patricia Illingworth, Department of Philosophy and Religion
CSSH
Given great global and domestic need, the responsibility to help others falls on all of us. This course considers questions such as: Is everyone morally obligated to give to others? What is the moral foundation underlying our duty to give? Are some charitable purposes morally more compelling than others? Does big philanthropy undermine democracy? Is there such a thing as bad philanthropy? Should nonprofits accept dirty dollars? We will draw on interdisciplinary readings in our effort to answer these questions.
HONR 3310
Cold War Spies
Times: Wed / 4:40-8:00pm
CRN: 33290
Jeffrey Burds, Department of History
CSSH
Drawing from a wide variety of published and unpublished primary and secondary sources, supplemented by modern theoretical and social science perspectives, literature, and films, this course explores the history of espionage during the Cold War era (1943-1991) and its immediate aftermath, through a series of case studies. This seminar will lead students through the history of covert operations over the past 75 years focusing on these sub-themes: the origins of the Cold War in War World II; the postwar battle for German scientists; Containment and Rollback; Operation Gladio, Venona and codebreaking; nuclear spies; defectors; proxy wars (Middle East, Southeast Asia); insurgencies and counterinsurgencies; terrorism; technological espionage; propaganda; the psychology of betrayal; and mind control (MKULTRA). Students are required to make two presentations, and to write short papers based on those presentations.
HONR 3310
Enabling the Platform Economy with Computing Technology and Digital Business Transformations
Times: Tue/ 11:45am-2:45pm
CRN: 39033
NUpath: EI
Yakov Bart, Department of Business
DMSB
David Kaeli, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
COE
The increasing digitization of the economy and the accelerating rise of platform-based businesses has been changing not just the kind of products and services that companies produce but fundamentally altering the way they generate value and deliver it to final customers. New computing technologies have allowed a variety of innovative business models to flourish, disrupting many mature industries and transforming the future of commerce, healthcare, transportation, lodging, energy, computing, and other industries. McKinsey experts believe that by 2025 over $60 trillion (about 30 percent of total world revenue that year) will be mediated by digital platforms, and yet only 3% of established companies have adopted an effective platform strategy. As the platform economy evolves, there are both new opportunities as well as new challenges that arise with heightened complexity.
This interdisciplinary course examines the platform economy through two different lenses. First, we discuss the underlying computing technologies that have emerged to support more convenient and cost-effective access to assets and resources via platforms and sharing mechanisms. Second, we examine the key economic drivers and building blocks of digital business transformations underlying the best practices of the platform economy and discuss how companies and governments can successfully take advantage of emerging multi-sided platforms and market-driven network externalities. We will explore both technological and consumer-based perspectives to highlight potential biases and discrimination arising in the platform economy and consider various approaches for establishing fair and appropriate regulations and policies to mitigate such issues.
HONR 3310
Creative Writing Workshop Online
Time: Does Not Meet (Remote Asynchronous)
CRN: 39237
NUpath: WI, EI
Ellen Noonan, Department of English
CSSH
Using language—writing, reading, etc.—is a social activity, one way to connect with others (past, present, future others)—and to document and, sometimes, to trouble, those connections. By thinking about and “practicing” language in this way, by adopting this approach, you will all see and practice how the rhetorical choices writers make are consequential, impacting not only the clarity of the sentences (an annoyingly persistent view of writing that reduces the complexity of writing (situations, circumstances, audiences, identities, genres…) to a simplistic exercise in skill building, i.e., learning the rules of a monolithic grammar), but also, and most importantly, the shaping of what is possible to think about, what is worth thinking about, what is worth writing about.
The courses within the NU creative writing program are not, in fact, focused on “skill building” or THE right way to write; rather, they aim to raise your level of awareness, to make you conscious of the complex social nature of writing and reading, their dynamism and power. In this course, we will be using the “frame” of connections and connectedness (and disconnections and disconnectedness) alongside the concepts of “translating,” “borrowing,” and “adapting” to think about the “tools” that writing uses to construct identities— personal, social, private, public: How do you (how might you) use writing to create a space in the world? How is identity crafted? How is identity understood by others (your readers, your audience)? What tools are at your disposal as a maker? How do you negotiate the myriad choices of purpose and audience and tone and style? These questions have many answers, which I hope to explore with you; there are also many more questions to ask, which will—along with generating lots of “writing”— be our most important class activity.
HONR 3310
The Politics of Comedy
Times: Mon, Thur / 11:45am-1:25pm
CRN: 39237
NUpath: IC, WI
Patrick Mullen, Department of English
CSSH
This course will explore connections between politics and comedy—a topic that is particularly alive and raw at the moment. This will not be primarily a current events course, however, even though, as you will see, there is room in the class for you to bring into our discussion a whole range of contemporary political comedy in a variety of forms. We will explore particular critical questions that yoke politics and comedy together including questions of race, gender, and sexuality. We will look at class and economics. We will look at violence and playfulness. Rather than offering a unified theory about the connection between politics and comedy, we will work simultaneously along two streams. While this might seem a strange way to organize the class, I believe that it will both provide us the tools we need to understand how comedy and politics have been connected historically and how they interact in our current moment.
HONR 3310
Witchcraft and Literature
Times: Wed, Fri / 11:45am-1:25pm
CRN: 39251
Francis Blessington, Department of English
CSSH
Witchcraft is a worldwide phenomenon. In the West, it has had terrible consequences, but also, it has been employed by many great writers, musicians and artists to stimulate the imagination and create art, e.g., Homer, Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, Mozart, Goya, Huxley, Updike. We shall explore the uses and abuses of sorcery and the human longing for magic and miracle in literature and other arts.
HONR 3310
Platform Business Models
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 10:30-11:35am
CRN: 36568
Kevin Boudreau, Entrepreneurship & Innovation
DMSB
The growing digitization of the economy has led many of today’s leading enterprises–including both the largest global superstar firms and most exciting entrepreneurial start-up ventures–to be born digital and organized as platforms. Trends to digitization have also led to an urgency for established businesses across all sectors to learn how to meaningfully adopt digital and platform-based business practices. While these trends have been in motion for years, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated these trends.
To understand how platform-based business models work and their impact on the world (and you, personally), this course is organized around a business strategy question: How to optimally design a platform business model? To answer this question, this course draws together insights across academic research and industry practice on platforms, along with longstanding lessons of business strategy and business model design.
By placing the strategic questions, above, are the heart of the course, the course is intended to teach you several things: How to take tangible analytical steps to design a new platform business mode; how to analyze and evaluate an existing platform business mode; and how it can be improved. Further, by understanding these economic and strategic issues, you will gain insights on how to anticipate likely future competitive outcomes and industry evolution and how to critically anticipate and evaluate the emerging role of platforms in society.
HONR 3310
Platform Business Models
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 1:35-2:40pm
CRN: 36569
Kevin Boudreau, Entrepreneurship & Innovation
DMSB
The growing digitization of the economy has led many of today’s leading enterprises–including both the largest global superstar firms and most exciting entrepreneurial start-up ventures–to be born digital and organized as platforms. Trends to digitization have also led to an urgency for established businesses across all sectors to learn how to meaningfully adopt digital and platform-based business practices. While these trends have been in motion for years, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated these trends.
To understand how platform-based business models work and their impact on the world (and you, personally), this course is organized around a business strategy question: How to optimally design a platform business model? To answer this question, this course draws together insights across academic research and industry practice on platforms, along with longstanding lessons of business strategy and business model design.
By placing the strategic questions, above, are the heart of the course, the course is intended to teach you several things: How to take tangible analytical steps to design a new platform business mode; how to analyze and evaluate an existing platform business mode; and how it can be improved. Further, by understanding these economic and strategic issues, you will gain insights on how to anticipate likely future competitive outcomes and industry evolution and how to critically anticipate and evaluate the emerging role of platforms in society.
HONR 3310
Consider the Verb: A Window on How We Use and Abuse Language
Times: Mon, Wed, Thur / 10:30am-11:35am
CRN: 38967
Janet Randall, Department of English
CSSH
Everyone is curious about language. Parents wonder about their toddler’s speech (runned), scientists ask if any part of language is “wired-in”; word-watchers question new expressions (because money), and social-media hawks comment on how the internet is changing our communication. But there are thornier issues to consider. Non-standard dialects still fare poorly at school. Politicians influence us by “framing,” choosing to call immigrants “illegal aliens” or “asylum seekers” based on their audience. Words we once knew (they, woke) now have new meanings and new rules for using them. Court cases turn on the meaning of an ambiguous phrase, or one whose use has changed since it was put into the Constitution. This course is aimed at fine-tuning our critical thinking about language. Using verbs as a launch-pad, we will cover a landscape of topics, from trendy themes to the tougher questions we all need to ask.