Enrollment and waitlist data for current and upcoming courses refresh every 10 minutes; all other information as of 6:00 AM.
| 09/09 - 12/22 | ||||||
| M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | Su |
3:25 pm |
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Subject: Honors (HONR)
CRN: 42550
In Person | Topics Lecture 3
St Paul: Murray-Herrick Campus Center 205
Requirements Met:
Writing to learn
Natasa Dragovic, Timothy Lynch
Electoral Calculations: Understanding U.S. Elections Through Numbers - As elections near, we are often reminded of the importance of voting to make our voices heard. However, decisions about how to conduct contests, made long before an election takes place, can be just as critical to the results as turning out to vote. This course explores voting methods and how they can influence candidate strategies and the outcomes of elections. After examining several voting methods and comparing electoral systems, students will explore contemporary contests in the U.S. that feature ranked-choice voting to investigate the real-world implications of a voting system that is increasingly advocated and employed in elections. The course offers a unique opportunity to participate in immersive, data-driven conversations and analysis of current electoral contests and is suitable for anyone interested in deepening their civic engagement, exploring mathematical applications to political science, or applying data to examine elections. These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university.
2 Credits
| 09/09 - 12/22 | ||||||
| M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | Su |
9:55 am |
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Subject: Honors (HONR)
CRN: 42555
In Person | Topics Lecture 8
St Paul: O'Shaughnessy Education Center 210
Core Requirements Met:
[Core] Diversity/Soc Just
Other Requirements Met:
Narrative Medicine Minor Appr
Racism & Medical Discrimination in Healthcare - All people should have equal access to medical care without fear of being mistreated or denied services outright. Yet for many, this is not true due to their race, sexual orientation or gender identity. Racism penetrates every aspect of society, including access to and experiences with healthcare. Research shows that blacks and other minority groups in the U.S. experience more illness, worse outcomes, and premature death compared to whites. In addition, stigma, bias and systemic inequalities in health care frequently prevent LGBTQ people from receiving appropriate health care. From the Tuskegee Experiments to Henrietta Lacks to LGBTQIA+ discrimination, this course will provide in-depth analysis and discussion of racism and medical discrimination in healthcare. Students will begin the course by exploring racism and medical discrimination from a historical perspective. The sociological, psychological, and philosophical effects of racism and medical discrimination will be explored with the help of subject matter experts. Particular attention will be paid to female and LGBTQIA+ medical discrimination and the overreaching effects this injustice has on these populations. Students will examine this controversial topic from a historical, sociological, psychological, and philosophical viewpoint all while examining their own experiences and viewpoints on the healthcare system. These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university.
2 Credits
| 09/09 - 12/22 | ||||||
| M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | Su |
1:30 pm |
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Subject: Honors (HONR)
CRN: 42554
In Person | Topics Lecture 7
St Paul: Murray-Herrick Campus Center 207
Core Requirements Met:
[Core] Diversity/Soc Just AND [Core] Integ/Humanities
Other Requirements Met:
CommGood/Community-Engaged
Writing to learn
Hugh Smeltekop, Kelly Sardon-Garrity
Preference for enrollment in this course will be given to second-year scholars. This seminar will prepare you to make the most of your honors experience at St. Thomas, including building skills to examine a “sticky problem” from multiple disciplinary lenses, participating in active service with a community partner, engaging in critical self-reflection, working effectively as a team, and refining your leadership skills. Specifically, this semester you will engage with a community partner, Second Harvest Heartland. You will learn about their organizational mission, vision, and strategies; volunteer at their food packaging hub and at a local food shelter served by Second Harvest Heartland; look critically at the organization’s challenges through an interdisciplinary lens and research ways to approach those challenges; and present your conclusions to the organization. This process will include critical self-reflection about how your experiences have influenced how you envision the organization and our society’s challenges. You will also prepare and engage in an Oxford-style debate around a topic related to food security. The course also includes reflection around the mission of the Aquinas Scholars Honors Program (including the purpose of higher education and the liberal arts), learning about and preparing to apply for a prestigious scholarship, engaging in informational interviewing as a career exploration strategy, and refining your leadership skills. These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university.
2 Credits
| 09/09 - 12/22 | ||||||
| M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | Su |
1:30 pm |
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Subject: Honors (HONR)
CRN: 42763
In Person | Topics Lecture 8
St Paul: Murray-Herrick Campus Center 207
Core Requirements Met:
[Core] Diversity/Soc Just AND [Core] Integ/Humanities
Other Requirements Met:
CommGood/Community-Engaged
Writing to learn
This seminar is for upper-level scholars who want to guide a small group of second-year scholars in multiple class projects that will prepare them to make the most of their honors experience at St. Thomas, including building skills to examine a “sticky problem” from multiple disciplinary lenses, participating in active service with a community partner, engaging in critical self-reflection, working effectively as a team, and refining your leadership skills. Specifically, this semester you will support a small group of first-year scholars as they engage with a community partner, Second Harvest Heartland. You will help your small group learn about Second Harvest Heartland’s organizational mission, vision, and strategies; accompany first-year scholars as they volunteer at their food packaging hub and at a local food shelter served by Second Harvest Heartland; support your small group to look critically at the organization’s challenges through an interdisciplinary lens and research ways to approach those challenges; and support your small group to work collaboratively to present their conclusions to the organization. This process will include critical self-reflection about how your experiences have influence how you envision the organization and our society’s challenges. You will support your small group to prepare and engage in an Oxford-style debate around a topic related to food security. The course also includes reflection around the mission of the Aquinas Scholars Honors Program (including the purpose of higher education and the liberal arts), learning about and prepare to apply for a prestigious scholarship, engaging in informational interviewing as a career exploration strategy, and refining leadership skills. These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university.
2 Credits
| 09/09 - 12/22 | ||||||
| M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | Su |
3:25 pm |
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Subject: Honors (HONR)
CRN: 40751
In Person | Topics Lecture 1
St Paul: Brady Educational Center 111
Core Requirements Met:
[Core] Integ/Humanities
What is your value as a human being in society? What does it mean to be useful? Will you ever achieve enough, produce enough, or be enough? What if we were to shift the paradigm? What would it feel like to live in a culture where being was cherished more than doing? What would it mean to do… nothing? Many contemplative traditions emphasize the importance of “nothing,” the empty spaces in between perceived “somethings.” Although our modern culture celebrates an endless cycle of planning, striving, and multitasking, those activities do not reflect the fundamental nature of human experience. What is the difference between thinking and experiencing, between conceptualizing life and living life? How would life be different if we spent more time in a state of present-moment awareness? This course is designed to challenge cultural assumptions, inspire healthy resistance, and help reclaim personal autonomy. We will explore what it means to be aware, and the extent to which we can deliberately direct our own consciousness. Inclusive, or secular, meditation practice is an effective tool for developing such awareness. Students will investigate a variety of mindfulness practices and consider the research and applications of these in the contexts of other disciplines. Each class period will integrate experiential learning with rigorous self-reflection and discussion of the research on attention, consciousness, and awareness. Students will be expected to establish and maintain a regular meditation practice throughout the duration of the course. Because when we pay attention, nothing might become everything. These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university.
2 Credits
| 09/09 - 12/22 | ||||||
| M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | Su |
3:25 pm |
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Subject: Honors (HONR)
CRN: 42549
In Person | Topics Lecture 2
St Paul: John Roach Center 247
Core Requirements Met:
[Core] Integ/Humanities
Dogs! Environment, Society, and Representation - The relationship between dogs and humans opens up a host of questions about who we are and how we interact with the world around us. Popular characters like Lassie and Snoopy encourage us to think about the limits and possibilities of human characteristics such as friendship, loyalty, happiness, grief, and patience. But more broadly, how do we understand and represent the bond between dogs and humans? What do dogs teach us about ourselves? Dogs as companion species also confront us with questions of what we consider to be nature, wilderness, domestication, and civilization. The increasing attention to dogs’ needs in urban planning has led to the construction of dog parks, dog friendly apartments, boarding facilities, and doggy day cares. How have we reimagined the natural and built environments around us to accommodate and strengthen our bond with dogs? In this course, we will explore these questions through environmental and literary studies. You will have the chance to explore the human/dog bond through fieldwork, literary analysis, discussions with classmates, and conversations with people who work with dogs and communities. These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university.
2 Credits
| 09/09 - 12/22 | ||||||
| M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | Su |
3:25 pm |
||||||
Subject: Honors (HONR)
CRN: 42551
In Person | Topics Lecture 4
St Paul: Murray-Herrick Campus Center 206
Core Requirements Met:
[Core] Diversity/Soc Just AND [Core] Integ/Humanities
The Art & Science of Giving: Why Philanthropy Matters - Philanthropy is more than giving—it’s an art, a science, and an expression of deeply held values. In this course, you’ll explore why people and organizations give, how philanthropy shapes society, and what it means to both give and receive. Through case studies, guest speakers, and interactive discussions, you’ll examine personal and collective motivations for giving, the role of nonprofit organizations, and philanthropy’s influence on critical social issues. You will also reflect on your values and consider how they might shape your own approach to giving or civic engagement. These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university.
2 Credits
| 09/09 - 12/22 | ||||||
| M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | Su |
1:30 pm |
||||||
Subject: Honors (HONR)
CRN: 42552
In Person | Topics Lecture 5
St Paul: McNeely Hall 117
Core Requirements Met:
[Core] Integ/Humanities
Other Requirements Met:
Writing to learn
Fantasy Football and the Good Life - This is a course about work and the good life, masquerading as a course about fantasy football. It explores whether there is room in the good life for frivolous pursuits like fantasy football and whether a successful competitor can be a good person. You do not have to have fantasy football experience to take this course. However, you must be willing to learn how to play it while thinking about ethical questions about a pretend sport (fantasy football) that tempts us into exploitation and that is derivative of a real sport (American football) that arguably exploits the incredible athletes who risk their minds and bodies to play it. Class members will form a fantasy football league, joining a $20 billion market of fantasy sports enthusiasts, many of whom work at mundane jobs on weekdays and play on a fantasy field on weekends and believe that the only thing in common between their work and play is that they are both ethics-free zones. While we play, we will examine, among other concepts, fair trade with someone who knows less than you do; conflicts of interest when your best fantasy option plays for your rival; collusion among competitors; and profiting from another’s misfortune. Anyone who wants to be a better fantasy football player, a better person, or both, should take this course. These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university.
2 Credits
| 09/09 - 12/22 | ||||||
| M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | Su |
1:35 pm |
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Subject: Honors (HONR)
CRN: 42553
In Person | Topics Lecture 6
St Paul: Murray-Herrick Campus Center 208
Core Requirements Met:
[Core] Diversity/Soc Just AND [Core] Integ/Humanities
Other Requirements Met:
CommGood/Community-Engaged
Writing to learn
Sonia Rey-Montejo, Amy Finnegan
Imagine & Play: Theater for Social Justice - This experiential course is an exploration of the practice of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), a political and educational tool based in the arts which explores the mechanics and process of struggles for social justice. In this course, the over-arching emphasis will be play and experimentation with a variety of TO methodologies including games, image theatre, forum theatre, legislative theatre and beyond. Students will exercise their creativity and imagination individually and collectively to practice and embody real solutions to ongoing social and political problems. In the course, students will also learn of the historical underpinnings of TO, linking back to struggles in Brazil and throughout Latin America, and they will have the opportunity to engage with contemporary theatre performances in the Twin Cities as well as with artists that utilize theatre as a means to work towards justice and liberation. These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university.
2 Credits