Vol 2 No 6
It’s that
time again! We are moving into those
weeks and months where everyone seems to be looking towards next semester –
deciding what courses to take and what paths will lead them to their ultimate
goals. Or to determining what those
goals are. Here at Honors Studies, we
want to encourage you to come explore what we have. So many fun things are coming and while you
COULD just look them up on WebAdviser, we thought it might be easier to list
them here for you! So, without further
ado, here are the Spring 2018 offerings in Honors:
HONORS SEMINARS
HON 200-50 – A Writer’s Retreat -- This
course provides a unique opportunity for aspiring, and accomplished, writers to
gather in a supportive community to practice and discuss craft and aesthetics.
We will meet for four weekends (10:00 am Saturday through 1:00 pm Sunday) at
FLCC's inspiring Muller Field Station at the south end of Honeoye Lake where we
will nurture, nourish, and revitalize our individual writing practices through
weekend workshops and feedback sessions. With an emphasis on poetry and
creative non-fiction the semester culminates with the creation of individual
manuscripts, a course anthology, and a final public reading. (February 3 &
4, March 3 & 4, April 7 & 8, May 5 & 6 – Nehring Bliss / Palzer)
HON 200-90 – Women Who Kill -- Society
seems darkly fascinated and quick to misunderstand the motives and minds of
women who kill; we seem to think that murder is a predominately masculine
crime. Studies reveal, however, that it is not gendered and female murderers
have been around as long as male ones. But there are differences, and so we
will spend this semester exploring what drives a woman make this choice and why
it seems to enthrall, fascinate, and sometimes amuse society. We will look into
positive and negative images connected to the feminine and also explore the
psychological links between our myths, the collective unconscious, and the
human brain. Opportunities for self-reflection will add context to student
thoughts and feelings related to their experiences as critical readers and
thinkers. (Tuesdays @ 6:00 – Ross/Merrill)
HONORS IN THE DISCIPLINES
COM 115 – Interpersonal Communication
Honors – The course focuses on the development of the interpersonal
communication skills necessary for building and maintaining positive
relationships in both a personal and professional environment. Topics of study
will include an orientation to interpersonal communication, verbal and
non-verbal communication in career and personal relationships, perception of
self and others, listening, managing conflict, response skills, cultural and
gender considerations, characteristics of leadership and effective work groups,
and job interviewing. Students will study various theories and practice skill
development. (MW @ 2:00 – Flager)
ENG 101 – Composition I Honors - The
goals of Composition I are to develop students' abilities to write at a college
level and to think critically. Students will learn to make decisions based on
rhetorical concerns of a writer's purpose, the readers' needs, and the context
in which documents are read. As using sources effectively is one of the goals
in the course, research will be interwoven into documents as a way to support
ideas and connect with the audience. The course emphasizes process-based
writing, student reflection of their learning progress, and it culminates in a
learning portfolio. (MW @ 11:00 -
Murphy)
ENG 102 – Introduction to Literature --
ENG 102 introduces students to a range of literary genres that may include
poetry, drama, fiction, and creative non-fiction and develops skills in
reading, interpreting, and evaluating literature. Students will learn and
practice the skills of close reading through discussion and writing. (MW
@ 11:00 – OR- TTH @ 11:00 – Nehring Bliss)
ENG 103 – Composition II Honors -- Continuing
the educational goals of Composition I (critical reading and thinking, focused
research, reflective writing, and process-based writing), Composition II shifts
the focus to the rhetorical concerns of persuasion and argument. The course
provides students with increased practice in research, analysis, and genres of
writing done throughout college as well as in the professional realm. The
course emphasizes academic research-based writing and culminates in a
best-works portfolio. (MW @ 9:30 – Gillio)
MUS 117 – Master Composers II Honors - The
complimentary study (with MUS 111) of canonic pieces of Western Music
Literature as well as critical issues involved in the assertion of canonicity
or "greatness" (MW @ 3:30 – McGuire)
PSY 100 – Introduction to Psychology Honors
– This course is a comprehensive overview of the scientific study of
behavior and mental processes. It will familiarize students with the scientific
methods used in the field of psychology. It will also introduce various topics
within the field, such as consciousness, motivation, learning, memory,
cognition, development, personality, psychological disorders and their
treatments, social psychology, and the biological bases of behavior. (TTH @ 3:30 – Ross)
SCI 137 -- Chaos Hybrid Honors – An
innovative introduction to Chaos which brings the new scientific paradigm to
the undergraduate curriculum. Starting from geometric fractals describing
trees, leaves, and snowflakes the quantitative understanding of fractals is
achieved through laboratory exercises including modeling on computers.
Relevance of the Chaos theory is explored across scientific disciplines, and
extended to non-science areas such as communications, economics, and arts. This
course fulfills a science elective course requirement for students whose
primary area of study is other than the sciences; however, interested
science/mathematics students can take this course as an elective. (F @ 2:00 – Samanta / Strieter)
SSC 215-01 Topics in Social Science:
Gender and Women's Studies Honors – Gender and Women's Studies examines the
social forces that shape our lives by gender, with a particular emphasis on
women in the contemporary United States. The course emphasizes awareness of the
many forms of diversity among women, and explores issues of race, class, and
sexuality, as well as gender. The course will cover areas such as "gender
and the body" (including beauty, sexuality, and interpersonal
violence),"gender and social institutions" (including family,
economy, politics, education, and religion), and "gender and social
change" (including feminist, anti-feminist, LGBTQ, and other gender-related
movements). (MW @ 3:30 – Whisman)
Three things
to remember:
- GO SEE YOUR ADVISER!
- Check Webadvisor for more details
- If you declare Honors as part of your program,
you can gain an Honors adviser who can help even more!
This
edition of Honors Matters is brought to us by a guest – not just a guest
blogger, but also a guest at the Fall 2018 Honors Studies Convocation. It is tradition to have the ‘report’ of the
event come from someone other than myself.
This way, you get to hear the voice of another who is invested in, and intrigued
by, Honors. I would like to thank those
who attended and also those who presented.
You will read more about those presentations below. I would also like to thank those who made
posters for this semester’s Convocation:
Brianna Smith and Bucket Abdallah (Perspectives on Tolkien), Rebeccas
Rayne (Math for Liberal Arts Majors), and Persy Woodruff (Games and
Storytelling). Now, without further ado,
let us read about the presentations!
I am Johnathan Murray, the Director of the One Stop Center here
at Finger Lakes Community College. Like you, I am curious about Honors
Studies, and it was this curiosity that prompted me to attend the College’s
third Honors Studies Convocation. The convocation took place on
Wednesday, December 5th, and
involved five Honors Scholars sharing their experiences with us. It was
an impressive, and moving event. Each scholar shared an assignment from
their course, and with their own unique style and voice, provided us with a
window into the honors experience at FLCC.
Mela Folan was next, discussing ENG 101 – Composition 1
Honors. Mela provided an overview of the assignments she worked on in the
course, and shared her initial apprehension about taking the course. She,
with the encouragement of her professor, discussed the detailed essay she wrote
about smoothies.
Next, was the sister duo of Persy and Luc Woodruff. Trista
introduced the pair as de-facto twins, and noted their proclivity for collaboration.
The sisters shared their experience in HON 200 – Games and Storytelling.
The sisters took turns sharing the Vignettes they created in the course, about
their names. They each told a moving story.
Last, but not least, was Mara Cornwall. Mara presented on
ENG 230 – Perspectives on Tolkien, a course that is on my personal bucket
list. In Mara’s course they watched the classic animated Hobbit film from
the 70s. Visions of a green frog-esque Gollum jumped around in my head,
as Mara related a quote from the film to her own experience as an honors
scholar.
