Honors Courses (Spring 2008)

SPRING 2008 COURSES

PFORZHEIMERHONORS COLLEGE, PLEASANTVILLE CAMPUS

 

Honors courses are designed to be innovative and challenging. They may be interdisciplinary, focus on great works and ideas, cover issues of keen interest, or present a topic in great depth with a faculty member who has expertise in the subject. Honors courses are open only to students in the Pforzheimer Honors College. Students who are not in the Honors College may be permitted to register for an Honors course with written permission from the Director of Honors, contingent upon the student’s QPA and space availability in the course. Each Honors course carries Honors credit which will appear on the student’s transcript and will count toward completing the requirements of the Honors College. For additional information, contact Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton, Director, Pforzheimer Honors College, Mortola Library, third floor, Pleasantville campus, at 914 773-3848 or JBenton@pace.edu.

 

1.  COM 200 PUBLIC SPEAKING, 3 credits

Prerequisite: None

Fulfills: Foundation requirement 

Day: W 9:05-12:10, Ellen Mandel

Course description: This course is devoted to instruction in the mechanics of writing and presenting one's own material. Included are outlining, addressing varied audiences, style, and appropriate techniques of delivery, as well as the use of technology to enhance one's presentation. This pragmatic, skills-oriented course is designed to provide a context for practicing the construction and presentation of well-reasoned public messages.

 

2.  EDU 201D  NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION IN EVERYDAY INTERACTION, 3 credits

Prerequisite: None

Fulfills: AoK 1, Writing-enhanced

Evening: R 4:30-7:20, Xiao-Lei Wang

Course description:  This course examines the nonverbal communication process as it affects communication style and competence. Theories and research on nonverbal communication are discussed in the real context of communication situations. Students have ample opportunities to analyze their experiences and practice new skills through class discussions and assignments.

 

3.  ENG 201  WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES, 3 credits

Prerequisite: ENG 120

Fee: $20

Fulfills: Foundation requirement (suggested for second semester sophomores and juniors)

Day: T 2:30-3:25, R 2:30-4:30, Dan Bender

Course description: This course is an upper level writing requirement. It focuses on writing effective essays and research papers in disciplinary modes and in students’ fields of interest. It may include interviews, analysis of journal articles, and appropriate documentation style formats.

 

4.  ENG 307   CREATIVE WRITING: FICTION, 3 credits

Prerequisite: ENG 120

Fulfills: Inquiry and Exploration

Day: T 9:05-10:00, R 9:05-11:05, Jane Collins

Course description: This course introduces the elements of writing fiction, concentrating on the short story.  Students read short stories by the best writers in the genre in order to understand the ways they move us with their works. Students also complete a series of fiction-writing exercises that culminate in a short story. 

 

5.    HIS 216    HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 3 credits

Prerequisite: None

Fulfills: AoK 3

Evening: T 6:00-9:05, Reza Afshari

Course Description: Since the end of World War II, social and political movements have articulated their messages around the concepts of human rights. This course is an inquiry into the historical development of the norms, processes, and institutions of the international human rights movement. The process by which  legal rules have been made or elaborated is examined, as is the historical confrontation between the human rights concept and the notions of national sovereignty, domestic jurisdictions, and cultural autonomy. The historical development of the monitoring institutions within the United Nations and the human rights non-governmental organizations are studied to show the strengths and weaknesses of the UN. The dual or contradictory role played by the US government in the development of the international human rights movement is analyzed.
 

6.    MCA 240  MASS COMMUNICATION, THE INTERNET, AND SOCIETY, 4 credits

Prerequisite: None

Fulfills: AoK 5, Writing-enhanced

Day: W, 1:25-4:30, plus one hour online, Michelle Pulaski

Course description: This course focuses on how media functions in our information society.  Students gain factual information on various communication technologies including digital telephony, satellite technology, and online advertising as well as digital radio and television. Students will be able to critically analyze the functions of these media through active reasoning. 
 

7.    LEARNING COMMUNITY: NUR 296B   NURSES AND HISTORY: LEADING THE WAY TO HEALTH, 3 credits

Prerequisite: None

Fulfills: AoK 1

Day/evening: M 3:35-6:40, partially online, Sandra Lewenson and Sister St. John Delany

Course description: This course examines the lives of nursing pioneers who changed the nature of health care practice in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th century.  The pressing social, legal,  political, and educational issues that nurses addressed in their quest to provide access to care are examined. Women’s suffrage, nursing licensure, public image of nursing, and control of practice are studied. Trips are taken to the Tenement Museum and the Henry Street Settlement in New York City.

 

8.        PHI 113  ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY,   3 credits

Prerequisite: None.

Fulfills: AoK 2

Evening: W, 6:00-9:05, Lawrence Hundersmarck

Course description: This course explores the foundational and most important ideas at the core of  Western thought. Students investigate how the Greeks and the Romans (including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics) understood the essence of the human experience. 
 

9.    PSY 396J,  ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, 3 credits

Prerequisite: None

Fulfills: AoK 5  

Day: M,T, R 1:25 - 2:20, Robert Keegan

Course description:  This course examines interactions between people and the physical environment.  Characteristics of physical environments have a powerful effect on human perceptions, emotions, attributions, and behavior.  The major focus of the course is on environments designed and constructed by people (the "built" environment), as opposed to natural environments.  Topics covered in this course include personal space, crowding, territoriality, wayfinding, good and bad environmental design, and privacy.

 

10.   ITA 154    SPECIAL TOPICS:   ITALY: YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW, 3 credits Prerequisite: None

Fulfills: AoK 2 or 4, Writing-enhanced

Day: T 11:15-1:15, R 11:15-12:10, Adelia Williams

Course description:   After World War II, Italy experienced an economic boom unequalled in its

history.  The country was transformed from a poor agricultural economy to a rich industrialized nation in only a few decades. This course offers an introduction to the social, literary, artistic, political, and

historical realities that characterize 20th-century Italian culture.  Students look at Italian life in cinema, art, literature, and music from World War II to the present, with emphasis on popular culture and current events. Course work includes writing, group discussion, projects, field trips, and presentations.

 

HONORS INDEPENDENT RESEARCH COURSES

3 credits

Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing, 3.3 QPA minimum

With the written approval of the appropriate professor, the department chairperson, and the Director of Honors, a student may select a topic for guided research that is not included in the usual course offerings. The student meets regularly with the professor to review progress. To receive Honors credit, the results of this independent research must be presented at the Honors Conference held each April. Students may have their papers published in Transactions, the journal of the Dyson Society of Fellows.

 

HONORS OPTIONS COURSES

3 credits

Prerequisite: None

The Honors Option is designed for Honors-level work in a non-Honors course. To receive Honors credit, an additional paper (10-20 pages), project, or presentation is required. Written approval of the appropriate professor and the Director of Honors are necessary. Depending upon the number of credits completed prior to entering the Honors College, Honors students are limited to either one or two Honors options; other Honors course requirements must be completed in Honors courses.

 

Note about Lubin Leaders courses:

2007-08, two Lubin Leaders courses may be used to satisfy your Honors College course requirements.

2008-09, this will apply only to seniors taking Lubin Leaders courses.

Thereafter, all Honors requirements must be fulfilled in Honors courses.

The Lubin Leaders 495 course for seniors may also count as an Honors College course if you present the results of your research at the Honors Independent Research Conference held every April.