Honors Course Catalog Fall 2024

HONORS COURSE CATALOG racc.edu

Fall 2024

Save the Date Honors Program Welcome Convocation Miller Center for the Arts Thursday, September 5, 2024 2:55 – 4:30pm Please join us for this annual tradition.

Welcome by Dr. Susan Looney, President Reading Area Community College.

Learn more about Honors Program opportunities.

Meet Honors faculty and fellow students.

Reception to follow. Feel free to bring your family.

Welcome to the Honors Program The Honors Program at Reading Area Community College has served the interests of academically motivated, intellectually curious students for twenty-nine years. It is a course-based, academic enrichment program with twenty-one different courses students can take to fulfill General Education, Major, and Elective requirements.

As Honors Program Coordinator, students ask me, “But aren’t Honors courses harder?” or “Don’t I have too much to do already?” or “But won’t they hurt my GPA?” This thinking comes, understandably, from issues with high school Honors and AP classes, not our Honors classes.

Here at RACC, we see Honors in a different way. Honors classes are NOT harder or involve extra work. Instead, Honors classes emphasize depth of learning, analytic reasoning and creative thinking skills, collaboration with other students, independent research, and lively discussion in the classroom. Maintaining small class size enables learning to be personalized to students’ interests and class activities to extend outside the classroom.

Benefits and rewards are abundant. Honors students support each other and together foster a learning community, have an assigned advisor — known as an “Honors Mentor” —who helps with academic decision-making and career planning, receive two complimentary tickets to Miller Center performances each semester, and are eligible for Program scholarship awards. Honors students gain an edge in applying to competitive colleges when transferring and, upon fulfilling Honors Program graduation requirements, earn an Honors diploma and receive an Honor medallion to wear at Commencement.

Any RACC student is welcome to enroll in an Honors course with at least a B+ average (3.25 GPA) or permission of the professor. Come eager to learn and I can promise you, based on the experiences of the Honors Program students who have come before you, you will not be disappointed.

Dr. Pamela A. R. Blakely Honors Program Coordinator and Professor of Anthropology pblakely@racc.edu April 2024

First Year Seminars First Year Seminars explore worlds beyond your experience, imagined in Fandoms, hidden in the world’s oceans or encoded in Medieval Cathedrals. Make connections, draw insights, gain new perspectives as you study an interdisciplinary topic that genuinely excites your professor.

You will learn academic skills and frames of mind that will support you for success in future courses and careers. Get a head start in earning Honors credits toward graduation and connect with other academically motivated students with whom you can participate in collaborative learning.

First Year Seminars offer you a chance to explore opportunities you may not have even imagined existed. Enter the open door to curiosity and discovery. Experience the space and freedom to learn in deep ways and to ignite your intellectual passion.

Feild trips to Washington DC and New York City with Honors students.

In Fall 2024, HON 100A or HON 100C can be substituted for CSS 103 to fulfill the college success strategies course requirement.

PSYCHOLOGY & POP CULTURE STUDIES - HON 100 A

FANDOMS:

WHAT KIND OF GEEK ARE YOU?

HON 100A (1241) Fandoms: What Kind of Geek Are You? Fall 2024

Harry Potter, Star Trek, The Hunger Games... This First Year Seminar examines basic psychological principles and identity by using a variety of pop culture Fandoms. The course emphasizes active learning, fosters peer collaboration, and promotes rigor in scholarship.

Students learn academic skills and frames of mind that can be applied in future courses and careers. This course can replace CSS 103 to fulfill the college success strategies requirement.

ART, LITERATURE, & SOCIETY - HON 100 C

Notre Dame Cathedral:

What Can This Medieval Masterpiece Teach Us?

HON 100C (1131) Notre Dame Cathedral: What Can This Medieval Masterpiece Teach Us? Fall 2024

Miracle Cures, Architectural Innovation, The Hunchback of Notre Dame…In this First Year Seminar travel back to medieval times to understand how and why people in France and England built massive cathedrals, construction projects often taking more than a hundred years to complete. The course emphasizes active learning, fosters peer collaboration, and promotes rigor in scholarship. Students learn academic skills and frames of mind that can be applied in future courses and careers. This course can replace CSS 103 to fulfill the college success strategies requirement.

Fall 2024 MONDAY/WEDNESDAY

ART 240 1121 #art, Thinking about Art in the Digital Age Professor Anthony Vega, M/W 10:30 – 11:50am HON 100C 1131 First Year Seminar: Notre Dame Cathedral Dr. Pamela Blakely, M/W 12:00 – 1:20pm PHI 272 1131 Introduction to Philosophy Honors Professor Mark Herr, M/W 12:00 – 1:20pm PSY 131 1141 General Psychology Honors Professor Melissa Schlechter, M/W 1:30 – 2:50pm

TUESDAY/THURSDAY COM 122 1221 English Composition Honors Professor Stephanie Andersen, T/Th 10:30 – 11:50am ENV 131 1231 The Environment Honors Professor Bryan Rothermel, T/Th 12:00 – 1:20pm PSY 209 1231 Development Across the Lifespan Professor Carol Bean-Ritter, T/Th 12:00 – 1:20pm ANT 220 1241 Food and Culture Dr. Pamela Blakely, T/Th 1:30 – 2:50pm HON 100A 1241 First Year Seminar: Fandoms Professor Carol Bean-Ritter, T/Th 1:30 – 2:50pm SOC 131 1251 Sociology Honors Dr. Danelle Bower, T/Th 3:00 – 4:20pm

FOOD AND CULTURE - ANT 220

ANT 220 (1241) Food and Culture Fall 2024

Cooking food may have been the key step that led us to develop fully as humans. Since that time, people have created different cultures with distinct ideas about what people can and should eat, the various ways food is procured, prepared, and consumed, and the meanings and functions of their food practices.

This course examines foodways within cultural groups and explores historical and contemporary food-related issues concerning ethnic and regional identity, immigration, social change, and globalization.

In this course, we read about food, talk about food, watch films about food, and eat food in our unique food labs.

#art, THINKING ABOUT ART IN THE DIGITAL AGE - ART 240

ART 240 1121 #art, Thinking about Art in the Digital Age Fall 2024

This course uses the smart phones in our pockets and the apps we use every day to dig into three big questions. What makes social media work? How does social media change the way we interact with each other? How does social media impact and challenge our relationship to fine art? In the course, we examine how art connects to media, basic media theory, and how we think about art today.

From selfies to memes you will learn and utilize the formal and conceptual elements of social media posts and deeply investigate their transmission. This course is a collaborative learning, critical thinking and problem-solving course using digital media as a tool for social exploration that is applicable across disciplines, interests and concentrations. You will need and use a smartphone in this course.

ENGLISH COMPOSITION HONORS - COM 122

COM 122 (1221) English Composition Honors Fall 2024

This Honors section of English Composition assumes a strong foundation in writing skills, including developing and organizing a focused piece of writing and using current conventions of academic discourse. Therefore, the major emphasis will be an in-depth exploration of a socially relevant theme chosen by the professor and/or students using those skills and producing a collaborative, unified body of work rather than isolated individual essays. In a workshop format, the class will work as a community of writers to define and to solve a writing problem. Discussions, readings, interviews, primary research, and extensive writing will result in a culminating final product and presentation that would incorporate the work of the entire term.

THE ENVIRONMENT HONORS - ENV 131

ENV 131 (1231) The Environment Honors Fall 2024

This course is designed to introduce students to basic ecological principles and then apply them to a study of the environment and environmental problems related to human population growth. Topics will include resource utilization; water, air, and land pollution. Specific consideration will be given to the human alteration of the biosphere.

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY HONORS - PHI 272

PHI 272 (1131) Introduction to Philosophy Honors Fall 2024

This course involves students in the analysis and evaluation of primary texts and speculative philosophical questions and theories from primarily the Western tradition as well as major Eastern traditions from pre-classical to contemporary times. It will enable students to identify diverse multicultural philosophical perspectives in the ageless search for Sophia - wisdom. Critical and creative thinking along with our ability to wonder will be utilized in the areas on metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, and axiology. Students will conduct research using various kinds of primary and secondary sources. This course will promote a deeper understanding of Socratic wisdom (Know Thyself), individually and societally.

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY HONORS - PSY 131

PSY 131 (1141) General Psychology Honors Fall 2024 The course concerns psychological phenomena that are basic for understanding human behavior. Topics include history, methods and fields of psychology, learning, motivation, memory, intelligence, emotion, personality, human development, and psychological disorders and their treatment. The course involves in-depth study and exploratory learning, essay writing, collaborative activities, and individualized research.

DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE LIFESPAN HONORS PSY 209

PSY 209 (1231) Development Across the Lifespan Honors Fall 2024

This course involves study of biological, social, and cognitive development from the conception and prenatal period through old age and death. Developmental theories are applied to each age and a cross-sectional research study is conducted.

PSY 209 is the Honors version of PSY 208. It will enable students to earn Honors credit while fulfilling a Psychology major requirement or a Social Work elective. This subject is also required for a BSN degree, so advanced RN students would also benefit from taking this course.

SOCIOLOGY HONORS - SOC 131

SOC 131 (1251) Sociology Honors Fall 2024

The subjects of this course are basic theory, methodology, and knowledge from the field of Sociology. We will discuss concepts such as group, role, norm, status, stratification, socialization, social control, and deviance. The course promotes understanding of social change by utilizing Sociology as a lens through which to view current events.

We will take our learning out of the classrooms and into the community. Students will choose a social issue that is important to them and examine that issue throughout the course by conducting their own original qualitative research.

Honors Courses anticipated for Spring 2025

ANT 255 Interpreting Lives ANT 299 Japanese Culture COM 122 English Composition Honors MAT 151 Foundations of Math Honors PHI 276 Introduction to Ethics Honors PSY 131 General Psychology Honors SOC 131 Sociology Honors

Honors Courses anticipated for Summer 2025

ANT 200 Quantitative Research PHI 276 Introduction to Ethics Honors PSY 261 Psychology in the World of Harry Potter

For information about these courses visit the Honors Program on the RACC website at https://www.racc.edu/academics/honors-courses

Honors Mentors The Honors Committee recommends you meet with your Honors mentor at least once each semester.

Your mentor is the person listed below who corresponds to the Division of your major.

Stephanie Andersen, Communications, Arts, and Humanities Division, sandersen@racc.edu Carol Bean-Ritter, Social Sciences Division, cbean-ritter@racc.edu Dr. Pamela Blakely, Honors Program Coordinator and “Advisor-At-Large”, pblakely@racc.edu Heather Hinkle, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Division, also advising students in the Health Science Division, hhinkle@racc.edu Marjorie Kerbel, Integrative Studies, General Studies and Undecided, mkerbel@racc.edu Dr. Jo Ann Rawley, Business Division, jrawley@racc.edu

MILLER CENTER

for the arts

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2024 | 7PM millercenter.racc.edu/ailey

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