Helps students build rhetorical knowledge, develop critical thinking skills, and practice writing processes. By doing so, students gain transferable knowledge and skills that they can apply to a wide range of fields, disciplines, and writing situations. Students can expect to practice some of the types of writing that they may encounter in their college careers, such as summaries, analysis papers, academic arguments, reviews, critiques, and papers built on research. Honors 1110 serves as a foundation for future writing practice within specific disciplines, where students will encounter different tasks, audiences, and purposes under the guidance of faculty from across the college.
Fall semester Honors Dignitas. Provides the foundation for students' college experience by introducing them to the key elements unique to a St. Scholastica education as well as to the Honors Program. Dignitas, the Latin word for dignity, is the program's signature element focusing on the instrinsic, absolute value of being a person.
Spring semester Honors Dignitas.
When it comes to living a good life, it is not just about pursuing the good, but also avoiding the bad. Or so thought the tradition of western monasticism in which emerged a sophisticated analysis of identifying and reflecting on a certain set of behaviors considered disastrous for human flourishing. The so-called seven deadly sins -- vainglory, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust -- continue to serve as a rich source of psychological, spiritual, and moral insights for analyzing common patterns of behavior and cultural practices. This course will examine the seven deadly sins in their historical, theological, and spiritual roots, as well as in their artistic and popular expressions. Attention will also be devoted to relating this tradition to issues of contemporary social ills, such as environmental degradation, workaholism, and consumerism, just to mention a few.
Emphasizes the work of contemporary women thinkers in several disciplines who are exploring various dimensions of the question of women’s presence, exclusion and contribution to religions of the world. Through historical and comparative study the course provides both a critical and a constructive understanding of the contributions that women make to religions, as well as the influence of religions on the situation of women in the world. We will focus particularly on the origins of gender norms, women’s lived experiences in indigenous religions, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as critical issues including violence against women sanctioned implicitly or explicitly by religion, the impact of patriarchy on men, and other contemporary issues.
Explores religious, political, and social perspectives on compassion with a particular focus on how we understand and care for - or don’t - strangers. Examines current political and social developments to understand the elements of a compassionate politics that keeps faith with our values, and analyzes the complexities of how public policies affect vulnerable groups, such as refugees, persons of color, the economically disadvantaged, and victims of human rights abuses.
Examines the life and work of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, with emphasis on close study of her autobiography. The course places the life and work of this major figure in the historical and cultural context of the Civil Rights Movement and the history of social movements in the United States.
This course aims to give students, largely from the Upper Midwest, exposure to and an opportunity to analyze current issues from around the globe. Because the text is a British publication, it exposes students to foreign perceptions of the United States. Students gain the research skills needed to quickly get additional information on events around the world.
This Honors Program offering on the Covid-19 pandemic in global perspective is part of the 2000-level course cluster for the new Honors minor in Civic Studies. The Covid-19 pandemic has rendered visible a number of pre-existing fault lines and inequalities in the neoliberal global economy, from health disparities faced by people of color and other vulnerable populations to the vaccine apartheid practiced by the Western powers and pharmaceutical companies on a global scale. These fault lines and inequalities remind us that the history of disease is not only a biological event, but also a social and cultural one. This course will pursue an intersectional analysis of the political economy of the Covid-19 pandemic in global perspective, focusing on the interlocking fault lines and inequalities of race, class, and gender that the pandemic laid bare. Topics include the color of Covid-19, the global systemic inequalities of disease risks and access to healthcare, prior unethical responses to global pandemics such as HIV-AIDS, the Trump administration’s disastrous response to Covid-19 as the party of Trump became a death cult, the varieties of activism that emerged during the pandemic such as the BLM movement after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, how the pandemic transformed the way that people think about their role as engaged citizens, and last but not least, what post-colonial theorist Achilles Mbembe’s idea of “necropolitics” has to teach us in the time of the pandemic.
Special topics courses designed for first-year students and sophomores.
Students complete an independent study on a specific topic under the supervision of an Honors faculty member. Approval of the supervising faculty member and the Honors Program Director are required.
Examines socially engaged visual art through historical and contemporary lenses. Looking at a range of works from the art of John Heartfield and Kathë Kollwitz in response to war in Germany to anonymous contemporary artists commenting on systems of oppression like The Guerilla Girls and Banksy, students will employ critical analysis through reading, writing and discussion. Examining how or why art could be considered "an instrument of war," as Picasso so famously intoned, will b
This course involves reading and discussing psychology literature on selected, often controversial, topics in human sexuality. Subjects include evolutionary psychology and mate selection, love styles and classifications, unlovely feelings such as jealousy, correlates of sexual orientation, the church and sexuality, contraceptives, resolving unplanned pregnancies, impact of pornography on sexual aggression, atypical sexual behavior, realities and politics of child sexual abuse and sex therapy. The course will emphasize interactions between psychological factors and other influences- biological, social, cultural, religious-on sexual attitudes and behavior, and the study of sexuality as a scientific discipline.
The incredibly rich fiction, drama and poetry of a tiny island have produced four Nobel Prize winners in literature. While some texts written before the 20th century are read, the emphasis is on modern and contemporary literature, in part because it was written in English rather than in Irish, but more importantly because Irish writers are among the giants of modern literature and some of the most brilliant writers working today. Students read, discuss and write about important literary texts, with a few forays into Irish myth, music, art, and history.
Examines the social problems of homelessness and the causes and consequences of the lack of affordable housing. Students will gain an understanding of the extent of these problems, looking at homelessness on a regional, state and national level and comparing the social problems of homelessness in the U.S. to other countries. We will explore how mental health, substance addiction, domestic violence, structural racism, national housing policies, and incarceration affect who finds themselves homeless. We will look at the effects of criminal justice policies that criminalize homelessness and criminal justice policies that seek to decriminalize homelessness and work to reintegrate people who have been incarcerated into their communities. We will study the programs and policies pursued by government, nonprofit agencies, and the private sector that are designed to help those who find themselves homeless and address structural changes that reduce the number of people who experience homelessness. You will meet leaders in Duluth’s homelessness response community who are working to address the problems of homelessness every day. You will hear firsthand how they are addressing challenges, advocating for new policies, and creating safe and welcoming spaces for people experiencing homelessness.
Special topics courses designed for sophomores and juniors.
Explores the principles of game theory, which provide a powerful framework for analyzing strategic interaction among individuals and groups in a variety of different settings. Strategic interactions occur when individuals interact with each other, have competing interests, and the outcome depends upon how each individual behaves. In this course we examine the conditions under which cooperation is desirable and what policies make cooperation more likely. A fluency with high school algebra is assumed.
Combines a spring-semester course on campus with a study abroad experience in London, England during May. Students will experience the city after encountering it in fiction and will see performances at multiple venues, visit literary sites and museums, and tour the rebuilt Globe Theatre. This course exposes students to the social and cultural landscapes of London as they intersect with literary and performance texts. Offered every other spring semester. Application required.
Students complete an independent study on a specific topic under the supervision of an Honors faculty member. Approval of the supervising faculty member and the Honors Program Director are required.
Compares written and cinematic texts. A variety of film theories will be discussed in conjunction with image creation. Narrative issues - e.g. theme, style, and characterization - will be covered.
This course explores the turn to religion and the supernatural, as well as concerns of youth in American popular culture since the early 1990s. Whether one examines the hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel or enormously popular films such as The Matrix trilogy and Dogma, there has been a virtual explosion of angels, monsters, vampires, and aliens in American film, TV, and literature. Beginning with a critical and historical look at some of the precursors to the recent aesthetic and cultural articulations of religion and the supernatural - from Mary Shelley's 19th century Gothic novel Frankenstein to the horror films of James Whales in the 1930s and 1940s - questions are raised about the contemporary fascination with the supernatural alongside path-breaking work in the history of religions, media studies, and cultural studies.
Study of the history of the book in the west with a focus on the 15th century, which saw the transition from the manuscript to the printed book. An exercise in experimental archaeology, the course centers on material aspects of book production from calligraphy, illumination, and sewing to typesetting, printing, and binding. Students learn basic book production skills and collaborate to produce one manuscript book and a limited run printed book. Additionally, students individually investigate aspects of the history of book production and contribute reports to an anthology of studies that accompanies the manuscript and printed books.
Special topics courses designed for juniors and seniors.
The course involves examination of the Holocaust and its meaning for subsequent generations through an analysis of key source materials, memoirs and interpretations. Critical for an understanding of the Holocaust is the experience of victims, perpetrators and bystanders.
Individual research projects will result in a thesis. Students will work under the supervision of a faculty member. Approval of the supervising faculty member and the Honors Program Director are required. <a href="http://www.css.edu/Academics/Honors-Program/Courses.html">Honors section descriptions.</a>
Students complete an independent study on a specific topic under the supervision of an Honors faculty member. Approval of the supervising faculty member and the Honors Program Director are required.