ISU INDEX A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

University Honors Program

Fall 2005 Honors Seminars

HON 321A, Workplace Violence: Threat Assessment & Management on Campus, Tuesday, 4:10 - 6:00 p.m., 2 credits, Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4626005
Description: Campus violence is an ongoing concern for institutions across the country. This seminar will address a range of issues regarding the foundations of violence, early intervention and prevention strategies, threat management, and legal/ethical concerns encountered when attempting to increase campus safety. Seminar participants will develop a simulated threat management team with each student adopting one of the disciplines typically represented on such teams. Students will explore the issues, challenges, strategies and resources unique to each role. Through this simulation, participants will gain a more complete understanding of the dynamic nature of violence and threat management. To further this understanding, students will write a brief paper regarding a critical issue related to workplace violence or threat assessment & management.

Instructor: Gene Deisinger, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in counseling psychology from Iowa State University. He is a licensed psychologist, a certified health service provider in psychology, and a certified peace officer. He is currently Commander of the Special Operations Unit with the Iowa State University Police. In this role he is responsible for assessing and managing threats against persons, managing criminal investigations, and for providing crisis intervention & negotiation services. He has provided consultation and operational support to university, municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. He also provides consultation to organizations as they deal with potentially violent situations.

HON 321B, Incunabula to PDFs: What is the Future of Libraries?, Tuesday, 2nd half, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4627005
Description: Utilizing the rare and unique collections housed by the Special Collections Department in the Iowa State University Library, students will explore and discuss the various issues relating to the preservation and access of primary sources. We will specifically look at the Department’s rare book collection, including incunabula (published between 1475 and 1501); the artifact collection documenting the history of ISU; the photograph collection which numbers over 1 million images; manuscript collections, focusing on the topic of international agriculture through letters and photographs; and a collection of motion picture films created by ISU. How researchers use this material will be discussed, and finally, the class will look at the impact of the digital revolution. What issues does digitizing raise for these materials, in terms of their access, care of the physical object, copyright, reference use, and technological needs of the institution? Class time will be dedicated to presentations based on the topic, care and handling of the objects, and class discussion related to the presentation and readings.

Instructor: Tanya Zanish-Belcher is currently an Associate Professor and Head of the Special Collections Department and the University Archives at the Iowa State University Library. Her research focuses on the role of oral history in documenting women in science and engineering, the development of women’s archives, and special collections and archives management issues.

HON 321C, The Royal Road to Modern Art: 'Calling of Matthew' to 'Lavender Mist', Tuesday, 4:10 - 5:00 pm, 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4628005
Description: In this seminar we view, admire, discuss, and debate paintings by artists from the 17th century to the 20th century. Our selection of art will be determined by what’s appealing and fun to look at. We begin with Caravaggio, who changed European art with his natural style. We blink along with Dutch painters such as Vermeer and Rembrandt, who rediscovered light. We seek allure in El Greco, Murillo, and Velasquez from Spain. We minuet into the French Rococo with Watteau and Fragonard. We hail Neo-classicists like David and Ingres and swoon with the Romantics such as Delacroix and Gericault. We point the brushes of our minds over the work of Georges Seurat. But, we save our major effort to learn to “see again for the first time” with the Impressionists: Cezanne, Mary Cassatt, Courbet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, and Monet. Then, we move on to explore the highly personal world of Expressionism, as seen in the works of Franz Marc, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Braque, and Max Beckman – pointing the way to a discovery of Modern Art, as represented by the Abstract Expressionists, such as Kandinsky, Picasso, Brancusi, deKooning, and Jackson Pollack.

Instructor: Dale Chimenti is an engineer (Aerospace Engineering) with a highly developed appreciation for beautiful paintings. As a scientist, he has published over 75 archival journal articles, holds two patents, and serves as editor for several distinguished technical publications.

This seminar has been approved by the Faculty Senate for International Perspectives credit.

HON 321D, Making Difficult Decisions: Advice from a Medieval Knight, Tuesday, 1st half, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4629005
Description: What major to choose? Is that a job for me? Should I go on that trip? Our life is full of difficult "everyday" and "one time only" decisions. The goal of this seminar is to explore the life of St. Ignatius Loyola and his method for making decisions. Loyola was a Spanish medieval knight, founder of the Jesuit catholic order, and considered the Master of Discernment. Students will be encouraged to compare his with other decision-making methods from various religious traditions and cultures. Students will be expected to read the assigned material before in order to be equipped for discussion. Students will also be expected to apply Loyola’s methods for a specific decision during the run of the seminar. In-class and take-home exercises will be assigned, and an individual journal will be expected as final product of the seminar.

Instructor: Valentin Picasso is a Ph.D. student in Sustainable Agriculture at ISU. His elementary and high school education was in a Jesuit School. He has studied and practiced Ignatius Loyola’s spirituality for more than 10 years. He has taught Agronomy undergraduate courses at ISU, and is currently participating in the Preparing Future Faculty program.

HON 321E, Role of the Police in a University Community, Thursday, 2nd half, 5:30 - 7:30 pm, 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4630005
Description: This seminar will explore a number of issues involving police and the university community. Topics may include: Alcohol and other drugs - use and abuse; managing large events - campus riots; threat management - critical incident response; sexual assault; community policing; recruitment and selection of police officers; and town / gown relationships. The instructor will provide an overview of constitutional law and the police. Also, he will address Iowa laws covering the above topics. Each student will select a topic related to issues involving university communities, e.g., mob behavior (VEISHEA riots); alcohol use and abuse; computer hacking; internet fraud, and will research a topic for a class presentation and discussion.

Instructor: Loras Jaeger is the City of Ames Police Chief. He has trained at the FBI National Academy. Prior to assuming the position of Chief of Police, he was the Director of Public Safety at Iowa State and Chief of Police for Cedar Falls.

HON 321F, Contemporary Arabic Culture, Thursday, 1:10 - 2:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4631005
Description: The seminar will cover several topics in Arabic culture (media, music, literature). Students will have a better understanding of the Arab world while taking into consideration recent political issues. Each class time will be devoted to a particular issue (newspapers religious aspects, history, etc.). Students will read Arabic newspapers in English and compare political issues and will examine current, historical and religious issues from the Arab perspective. Students are expected to do a presentation after doing some research on the topic.

Instructor: Jean-Pierre Taoutel was born in Syria and grew up in Lebanon before moving to France. French and Arabic are his native languages. He has been teaching at ISU since 1999 as a Lecturer of French and an instructor of Arabic.

This seminar has been approved by the Faculty Senate for International Perspectives credit.

HON 321G, From Ideas to iPods: An Uncensored View of the Design Process and How It Has Shaped Our Society, Wednesday, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4632005
Description: The seminar will focus on the unique responsibilities of the designer in society. Whether designing machines, buildings, processes, or biomedical implants, the required qualities for a successful designer often elude traditional academic programs (i.e. engineering, art, architecture, etc.) The course will introduce and illustrate some of the vital tradeoffs that challenge the designer in a competitive corporate or academic environment. The objectives of the course include enabling the students to contemplate the elegance and functionality of designs, to identify tradeoffs in the design of an object based on its final form, to appreciate the societal motivations for new designs and new application of old ideas, and to identify and discuss the ethical issues involved in designing artifacts with direct impact on the quality or termination of life (i.e. weapons, biomedical devices).

Class time will consist of presentation of material by means of case studies, audiovisual programs, or by short lectures. The material will be presented in all of the complexity and sometimes ambiguity that many designers are faced with, and in a way that allows students to explore the spectrum of possible ideas and solutions to the situations. Most class periods will involve an in-depth guided discussion of the topics and students’ opinions.

Instructor: Cris Schwartz is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering, a licensed professional engineer, and an engineering consultant. He worked as a senior research engineer at Southwest Research Institute both as a project manager and mechanical designer. Among his many past projects is work on a non-lethal riot control weapon for the U.S. Department of Defense, and the design of ultrasonic inspection hardware for military aircraft. He is a co-inventor on a patent for a signal analysis technique for ultrasonic pipeline inspection.

HON 321H, The Sixties in American Life - The Lessons and Legacies, Wednesday, 4:10 - 5:30 pm, 2 credits. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No.4633005
Description: This seminar covers that turbulent decade known as "the Sixties" – a period that was a continuous movement from "the 50’s, when Civil Rights began, through the Vietnam War and finally to a burgeoning women’s movement and a movement to protect the environment. Seldom has a decade been so polarizing, given the amount of social change attempted, as well as the effort of antiwar protestors to stop an increasingly unpopular war. Students will be able to absorb the movement’s culture through films, readings and class discussion.

Instructor: Katherine Fromm was a teacher at Iowa State in various Department of History courses. She has taught women’s history at Iowa State and Mankato State, in addition to Issues in a Globalizing Society, and a course on Asian Women in the LAS College.

HON 321J, Are Humans Safe for Planet Earth? A Gorilla’s Perspective, Tuesday, 1st half, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4634005
Description: “Can we save the world from ourselves?” This is the fundamental question addressed in two books by Daniel Quinn, in which the telepathic gorilla Ishmael is the central character. Through the eyes and intellect of Ishmael, many of the assumptions that humans take as "givens" are re-framed and reinterpreted. This seminar will focus on reading and discussing Ishmael, the first of these books, which in the form of a novel presents a thought-provoking re-assessment of the role of humans in the natural world. An additional book, Earth Odyssey, describing the relationship between humans and the environment in various parts of the globe, will be read as a complement to Ishmael's novelized treatment. The seminar as a whole will probe the implications of Ishmael's worldview when applied to current issues, including: population growth, the impacts of agriculture, species extinction and sustainable human food production.

Instructors: Jim Colbert is a biologist with interests in local and global environmental issues. He teaches introductory biology courses and biology field trip courses, and is the "Admiral" of the Skunk River Navy. Dr. Colbert was awarded the 2003 Excellence in Teaching Award by the University Honors Program.

Ricardo J. Salvador is an agronomist with a special interest in hunger and sustainability issues. He is currently the Interim Faculty Director of the Honors Program at ISU.

HON 321K, War and Society, Victor Raymond, Tuesday, 3:10 - 4:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4635005
Description: Does warfare serve as "the judge of nations" or is it random and should it be avoided at all cost? How would we know and what standards would we use to decide? The seminar will examine the social effects of war, both in the field and on the home front. We will explore the profound effects of warfare on social consciousness and decision-making. Readings will be drawn from a variety of sources, including American perspectives as well as those from other countries. Discussions will focus on politics, economics, lived experience and other sources, to demonstrate the complexity and chaos of war, and the resulting implications for our society. At the end of the seminar, students should be able to:

  • understand the nature of warfare and its effect on society;
  • understand claims made for and against warfare in an ethical context;
  • be able to analyze contemporary issues related to warfare and reach informed conclusions about them.

Instructor: Victor Raymond is a doctoral student in the Sociology Dept. at ISU, and is a Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellow and a Preparing Future Faculty graduate. His specific areas of sociological interest include social organization and conflict theory. He has a lifelong interest in the nature and effects of war on society.

HON 321L, Living on (Fault) Lines, Wednesday, 3:10 - 4:00 p.m, 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4636005
Description: Multiracials, bisexuals, and other boundary crossers in history and contemporary society. When looking at society, there is a strong drive to categorize, often in a dichotomous fashion:

  • women and men;
  • white and black (sometimes recognizing different racial and ethnic groups);
  • heterosexual and homosexual;
  • able-bodied and disabled.

But..., there are a growing number of people who "straddle" these boundaries, and sometimes work to break them down or transform them in various ways. Readings will be from analyses and lived experience of these "boundary crossers" and the implications for contemporary society.

The main material of the course will consist of directed readings followed by critical group discussions facilitated by students. On completing the seminar, students should possess an awareness of the issues addressed by this course and to be able to engage in critical evaluation of different political and social perspectives regarding these issues, and be able to link these to their own perspectives and attitudes.

Required Readings: Ruth Colker: Bisexuals, Multiracials, and Other Misfits Under American Law

Instructor: Victor Raymond is a doctoral student in the Sociology Dept. at ISU, and is a Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellow and a Preparing Future Faculty graduate. Prior to graduate school, he was a frequent guest lecturer on identity politics and social justice movements.

This seminar has been approved by the Faculty Senate for U.S. Diversity credit.

HON 321M, What About the Stock Market?, Tuesday, 1st half semester, 9:30 - 11:30 a.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4640005
Description: This seminar will cover various aspects related to stock market investment. Two main features of the seminar will be: (1) management of a portfolio during the semester, and (2) discussion of issues related to the financial markets. Much of the class will revolve around these two activities. Each class period will be devoted to either work/discussion on portfolios or discussion of current issues and their impact on security markets. The WWW will be used extensively as a source for discussion and security prices.

Required Readings: To be selected.

Instructor: Howard E. Van Auken is Professor of Management in the College of Business at Iowa State University. He was a William J. Fulbright Scholar in Mexico in 1989 and in the Czech Republic in 1994. In 2001, he was a Visiting Professor at the Consortium for International Business in Paderno, Italy. He has also lectured or worked in Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Malaysia, and Canada. He taught investments at ISU for about 15 years, and has taught many previous Honors seminars.

HON 321N, An Ingenious Gentleman: Don Quixote de la Mancha, Wednesday, 1:10 - 2:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4645005
Description: The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, which celebrates the 400th anniversary of its publication (1605), is considered to be the first modern novel in world literature. This seminar will introduce students to Cervantes’ novel and the historical setting in which it was written. After a brief examination of the external forces, which fostered the creation of Don Quixote, the class will focus on a detailed reading of the lengthy novel. Informing our reading will be a variety of contemporary critical approaches to the text. The students will culminate their reading experience with a creative component, namely their own video production of an episode from the novel.

Students will acquire a general understanding of the historical circumstances informing Cervantes’ writing, as well as a familiarity with Don Quixote by means of a complete reading of the text.

Instructor: Dawn Bratsch-Prince is professor of Spanish and chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. She received her Ph.D. in Romance Philology (medieval languages and literatures) from the University of California - Berkeley in 1990. Her scholarly interests include medieval Spanish literature; the history of women, particularly women writers, in Western Europe, and the history of underrepresented peoples in Spain throughout history.

HON 321P, America's Next War? Korea, South Asia and the Middle East, Monday, 1st half, 2:10 - 4:00 p.m, 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4647005
Description: This seminar will focus on three major world hot spots, for example: those involving development of nuclear technology, or those where conflict exists due to deep cultural or religious differences (e.g., Christianity and Islam, Hinduism and Islam, Islam and Judaism, etc.) Students will learn to read behind the superficial information presented in western media (particularly), and to understand the role of the past in these very current crises.

For reading materials, students will review international news in the Washington Post, the New York Times and CNN web sites daily so we can have discussion: What is the troubled area? What are the issues? How well/accurately does the media present them the issues?

We will spend the first week in general discussion, to learn one another’s perceptions of the world’s hot spots. Thereafter we will spend two weeks per world hot spot - the first week will consist of a discussion of the current events; the second week will focus on how the situation developed and, based on history, the way it is likely to resolve. Finally, during the eighth week, we will discuss how history helps us understand and frame the discourse of present global tensions.

Instructor: Charles Dobbs is Professor of History. He has his Ph.D. in US and East Asian History and his research interest is US diplomatic and military history.

This seminar has been approved by the Faculty Senate for International Perspectives credit.

HON 321Q, Concepts of Ecosystem Health: Is There a Doctor in the House?, Monday, 2nd half, 2:10 - 4:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 4648005
Description: In a short few thousand years, and particularly during the past couple of centuries, humans have gained power to alter and completely destroy ecosystems. We have not advanced nearly as much in our power to heal the damage we are capable of unleashing. Furthermore, we have only begun to pay attention to ecosystem deterioration and processes behind it. Emerging concepts of ecosystem health encourage a novel approach to natural resource management that may be similar to the physician/patient relation. Treating nature as a patient needing medical examination and assistance before intervening calls for discussion of concepts and ideas supporting and opposing the approach.

Students and instructor will explore historical circumstances leading to current ecosystem degradation, investigate basic metrics of ecosystem health (based primarily on examples from aquatic ecosystems), interact directly with surrounding ecosystems, and evaluate the effectiveness of the ecosystem health approach in resolving critical management and conservation issues. In the seminar, the instructor will use a combination of directed readings and vigorous discussion, together with a hands-on approach to assessment techniques in the laboratory and in the field. Online discussions and a mailing list will be used to facilitate seminar activities and as an electronic "brain-storming" opportunity that will support the exchange of ideas and discussions on the topic outside of the seminar meeting.

Students should emerge from the seminar with increased awareness about the abilities and responsibilities of natural resource managers, as well as other citizens, in maintaining sustainable growth and biological diversity. Students should recognize that the concept of ecosystem health is not a book-worm approach and that it is current, changing and actively molded and shaped by people in society: experts, legislatures and layman interest groups.

Instructor: Dusan Palic is a veterinarian and Ph.D. student co-majoring in Fisheries and Immunobiology. He has long-term experience in aquatic ecosystem and fish health assessment. His tenure as Head of the Biology Laboratory and Aquatic Ecology Group at the Petnica Science Center, working with students gifted for science and research work, as well as his veterinary medical background, provide a unique blend of medical reasoning and ecological principles. Dr. Palic is bridging areas of ecology and medicine to enrich the student learning environment with recent ideas and concepts of ecosystem evaluation and management.

HON 321R, God and Science, Thursday, 1st half, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 pm, 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 5145005
Description: Religion and science are two of the greatest forces influencing humankind. The two fields are generally interested in different aspects of reality. Science addresses "how" questions while religion answers "why" questions. However, an area of common interest is the origin and history of life. This seminar will explore the boundaries and interaction between science and theology in this area of common interest. Topics will include:

  • Introduction to science and theology as intellectual disciplines and typologies of their interaction
  • History of life on earth – the view from science;
  • Differing Christian views of the meaning of the Biblical accounts of creation;
  • What does science have to say about the existence of God?
  • Does science have a place as an explanation in science?
  • Is there room for God’s action within a framework of natural laws?

We will explore these topics through the writings of well-known scientists and theologians with expertise in these areas. Class time will generally be spent discussing weekly reading assignments.

The learning objectives for the seminar are to: 1) increase student understanding of the nature and practice of science; 2) increase student understanding of the roles of science and theology in gaining knowledge about the multifaceted character of reality; 3) increase student understanding about appropriate interactions of science and theology; and 4) to develop critical thinking skills.

Instructor: Thomas S. Ingebritsen is Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology. He received a Ph.D., in Biochemistry from Indiana University in 1979. He did bench type research for over 20 years primarily in the area of signal transduction. He is currently Director of Project BIO, an outreach program with the mission of developing and sharing biology education resources via the Internet. He is also Director of the LAS Center for On-Line Learning. His current research/creative area is the pedagogy of online learning. As a scientist and a Christian, Dr. Ingebritsen has a strong interest in this seminar topic.

HON 321T, Developing Your Emotional Intelligence: EI over IQ?, Thursday, 2nd half, 2:10 – 4:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 5148005
Description: Defining and applying four dimensions of emotional intelligence (emotional self-awareness, emotional self-management, empathy, interpersonal skills) through discussion of text, in-class activities, and weekly written reflections. Students will work in teams to develop in-class activities related to aspects of emotional intelligence that they deem most relevant to their success in college, life and career. The capstone learning experience will be small learning projects designed by individual students, based on their self- and peer-assessment of aspects of EI that each want to develop.

Instructor: Suzanne Hendrich taught “EI” in the College of Food and Consumer Sciences (CFCS) freshman learning community from 2000-2002, and for an Honors seminar in Fall 2002. Students in the CFCS learning community of Fall 2000 reported statistically significant increases in their self-assessed confidence in emotional intelligence skills as they participated in the course. Through a Miller Faculty Fellowship in 1999-2000, Dr. Hendrich has focused on learning about interpersonal skill development in college students in an attempt to enhance cooperative learning environments in the classroom. Dr. Hendrich is Professor of Food Science & Human Nutrition, and has been an ISU faculty member for 18 years.

HON 321U, Ethics and World Hunger, Thursday, 2:10 – 3:30 p.m., 1 credit, Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 5149005
Description: Although there is enough food in the world to feed everybody a healthy diet, there are over 800 million chronically hungry and malnourished people in the world, primarily in developing nations. Women and especially children are disproportionately affected by hunger: of the approximately 24,000 people who die each day from hunger, or hunger related causes, over half are children under the age of five. Hunger is the direct result of poverty and inequity: 1.2 billion people, many in rural areas of developing nations, earn less than $1 per day and cannot afford a healthy diet. While the poor in the world are struggling to meet their basic needs, in the U.S. we are inundated with inexpensive food and struggle with the question of whether or not to super size our fast food meals. There is thus an apparently critical moral flaw in the world economy: food flows from the poor and hungry nations of the world to the rich and well-fed nations.

This seminar will explore ethical issues with respect to world hunger. Can world hunger be ethically justified? What should our individual and societal response to hunger be? What ethical principles can be developed to deal with world hunger and the related issues of poverty, inequity, population growth, and environmental destruction? Historical, cultural, religious, economic, and agricultural facets of hunger and inequity will also be explored.

Instructors: Clark Ford is an associate professor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department. For the last several years he has taught World Food Issues (Agron, FSHN, and TSC 342), utilizing Guns Germs and Steel as a text to explore the origins of hunger and inequity. Dr. Ford also co-teaches a graduate seminar course, Issues in Biology, which explores ethical issues concerning world hunger, among other topics. Dr. Ford is an active member of the ISU Bioethics Program, and is a graduate of several weeklong ISU Bioethics Institutes.

Clark Wolf is associate professor in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Director of the ISU Program in Bioethics. He regularly teaches courses in agricultural and environmental ethics, political philosophy, and international justice.

This seminar has been approved by the Faculty Senate for International Perspectives credit.

HON 321V, Gender Issues in Physical Activity and Sport, Jerry Thomas and Kathi Thomas, Tuesday, 3:10 - 4:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 6545005
Description: Students will read and discuss research and review papers focused on gender issues in physical activity/sport. In particular, attention will be paid to the development of gender differences during childhood and adolescence as related to sport and physical activity. Both a biological and social view of gender and sport/physical activity will be discussed. In the first half of the course, the instructors select papers for discussions to set basis parameters. During the second half, students select papers and lead discussions. Evaluation is done using a student-developed matrix that identifies papers and important findings.

Instructors: Jerry Thomas, Interim Dean of the College of Education and Professor, and Katherine Thomas, Associate Professor, have published extensively on the development of gender differences in physical activity and sport. They have team taught this seminar two previous times.

This seminar has been approved by the Faculty Senate for U.S. Diversity credit.

HON 321W, Art, Medicine, Healing and the Creative Process, Tuesday and Thursday, 2nd half, 3:10 – 4:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 6544005
Description: This seminar will explore the relationship between art and healing. The class will take an interdisciplinary look at the creative process and its possible affects on mental and physical health, and in turn the effect of the psychosomatic state on the creative process. Guest speakers will include local artists. Scientific articles relating healing and morbidity with positive psychology, emotions and optimism will be discussed.

Students will:

  1. Read and discuss scientific papers. Discussions of papers and movies will be lead by student groups of two;
    1. A study guide will be completed for each paper and turned in for a grade.
  2. Host and introduce one guest speaker;
  3. Conduct a phone interview of 2 artists using a group questionnaire;
  4. Write a summary of the interview process and discoveries;
    1. Present a five-minute oral summary of interviews.

Instructors: Robert Gitchell is a retired orthopedic surgeon and an avid supporter of art. Joan Cunnick is Associate Professor of Animal Science with 16 years of research experience and interest in psychoneuroimmunology.

HON 321Y, Cracking the Code of Life: Biology in the Information Age, Wednesday, 1st half, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., 1 credit. Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 7631005
Description: Round-table discussions on selected topics in computational biology and its influence in advancing our understanding of the basic chemical alphabet and grammar that defines all living organisms. The seminar will be based on genomics, which is the large-scale investigation of the structure and function of information encoded by the DNA of an organism. Examples of topics include: the Human Genome Project, agronomic crop improvement, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), personalized medicine, computer-aided drug design and biological intellectual property (IP). Although these areas will be primarily presented from the interdisciplinary interface between biology and computer science, discussions and guest speakers will also cover the engineering, liberal arts, and business perspectives as necessary.

Instructor: Scott Emrich, a graduate of Loyola College’s Honors Program, is pursing a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at Iowa State and holds a B.S. in Biology and Computer Science from Loyola. His research interests lie directly on the interdisciplinary boundaries of computational biology with a focus on useful parallel algorithmic solutions to large genomics problems. He has significant experience in both theoretical molecular evolution and applied bioinformatics.

HON 321Z, Creative Imagery, Manipulating the Medium and the Message, Tuesday, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., 1 credit, Enrollment limit: 15, Ref No. 7634005
Description: The creative and effective use of still images in the communication process will be explored in detail. Students will observe and reflect on techniques others have used in mainstream media. They will judge the success of some of those efforts (ex. how Ken Burns creates entire television series filled with characters that only exist, visually, as still photos). The students will also take part in the process. They will receive Photoshop training and learn how to use PowerPoint as a dynamic image sequencer. They will be required to create a minimum of two projects that will be presented and critiqued in class by both the instructor and their classmates. A short paper on the ethics of image manipulation and usage will also be required. At least one class will involve a trip to an actual facility that does this kind of work professionally. All students should leave this seminar with better visual communication and presentation skills and a better understanding of the visual communication process.

Instructor: Rich Beachler is a graphic and musical artist who has worked at Iowa State University as a Graphic Designer and Computer Graphics Specialist for 27 years. He offers workshops on Adobe Photoshop, Communications Projects, and Web graphics for faculty and staff, originally through the Instructional Technology Center, and currently through the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. He also offers night classes for the William Penn College for Working Adults on the topics of Jazz History and Computer Applications. He has 30 years experience as a private music instructor.

HON 323A, Russian Culture Through Film, Friday, 10:00 – 10:50 a.m., 1 credit, Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 7587005
Description: One of the mantras of artistic policy in the former Soviet Union was a quote, attributed to the Communist Party leader Lenin, that cinema is ‘the most important art of all.’ This seminar on Russian Film will focus on modern and recent films from Russia and the former Soviet Union. We will begin with a brief historical overview of the early Soviet cinema, and quickly proceed through representative films to the movies of the last decade.

Films selected for the course will be a source of contextualized information on cultural, historic, and economic developments in contemporary Russia (for example, effects of new economic changes in Friend of the Deceased, political life of Russia and the Soviet Union in Anna, Chechen issues in Prisoner of the Mountains). Students will be acquainted with the small ‘C’ culture through analysis and discussions of Russian people’s everyday habits and traditions in a variety of settings as they are seen through the eyes of contemporary filmmakers. Students will discuss the content, stories and messages of these films, as well as consider issues of style and technique.

This seminar has been approved by the Faculty Senate for International Perspectives credit.

HON 323B, Brazilian Culture Through Film, Friday 10:00 - 10:50 a.m., 1 credit, Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 7588005
Description: Brazil has one of the most vibrant film traditions in the world. While most imported films (primarily from Hollywood) are generally consumed as entertainment, Brazilian directors have a long tradition of producing films that address their nation’s most serious socio-political problems. The films selected for the course will present an excellent source of contextualized information on cultural, historic, and economic developments in contemporary Brazil (for example the pervasive role of television in Brazilian popular culture: "Man in the Box" or the impact of poverty on children living in urban areas "City of God," "Children’s War"). In addition to the presentation of serious socio-political issues facing Brazil, the students will also become acquainted with Brazil’s small "C" culture through analysis and discussions of the Brazilian people’s everyday habits and traditions in a variety of settings as they are seen through the eyes of contemporary filmmakers. The students will discuss the content, stories and messages of these films, as well as consider issues of style and technique.

The seminar will be conducted in English. All films are subtitled.

Class time will be devoted primarily to discussions of films that the students will watch as their home assignment. Seven films will be covered during the seminar. Therefore students will be required to watch one film over the period of two weeks. Students will also be required to keep an informal journal, in which they will note their thoughts on the films analyzed in class.

Instructor: Thomas Waldemer’s main research interest is contemporary Latin American fiction and cinema, with a particular emphasis on the new historical novel. He has published several articles on the Argentine author Abel Posse and on Brazilian historical fiction.

This seminar has been approved by the Faculty Senate for International Perspectives credit.

HON 323C, Are You What You Eat?, Tuesday 1:10 - 2:00 p.m., 1 credit, Enrollment limit: 15, Ref. No. 7589005
Description: What nutrients are essential for life and what foods and food supplements will improve the quality of life? Why? Why not? This seminar will emphasize the role of nutrition provided by food and food supplements in promoting a healthy life through the prevention of diseases and disorders. The physiological function of nutrients and the provision of those nutrients by common foods will be the topic of the first part of the course. Then, the role of nutraceuticals and probiotics as food supplements in a healthy life will be emphasized. Popular topics in nutrition will be discussed via oral presentations by the students.

Instructor: Don Beitz is a Distinguished Professor of Agriculture who has taught biochemistry (e.g., BBMB 420 and BB 405) for 37 years at ISU. In addition, he teaches an Agricultural Biotechnology Colloquium for Scholarship for Excellence students in the College of Agriculture. His research program focuses on application of molecular biology and biochemistry to animal food production and animal diseases. He has participated actively in Honors programs (e.g., Freshman Mentor, Honors projects, advisor) throughout his ISU career.