Spring 2025 Honors Foundation Courses

Honors Foundation courses are grounded in disciplinary thinking and methodology, exposing students to the essential ideas and key concepts in a given discipline, the methodologies used to address them, and the tools necessary to understand them. Remember that…

  • All Honors College students are required to complete at least one Honors Foundations course during their first year in the Honors College.
  • Foundation courses count towards the 22 HONS credit requirement.
  • Students may take additional Foundations courses as an Honors elective.
  • Most Foundation courses count towards the College’s General Education requirements.

HONS 152 – Honors Biology II
Instructor: Brian Scholtens
TR 1:40 – 2:55 p.m.
Lab 01: M 1:35 – 4:35 p.m., or
Lab 02: T 4:35 – 7:35 p.m.

A course for Honors science majors covering life and living systems. It emphasizes the evolution, form and function of organisms. It provides an introduction to primary literature and practice evaluating this literature. This course helps prepare students for upper-level courses in organismal biology. Lectures three hours per week. This is the Honors course version of BIOL 112. Students may not receive credit for both.

Prerequisite(s): HONS 151
Corequisite(s): HONS 152L

This course counts towards the College's natural science general education requirement

HONS 156 – Honors Geology II
Instructor: Erin Beutel
TR 9:25 – 10:40 a.m.
Lab 01: T 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Lab 02: W 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.

This class reviews the 4.6 billion-year Earth history revealed by scientific analysis of rocks, the atmosphere, oceans, and fossils. We learn how scientists find and use evidence to understand Earth’s history and its life, discuss physical and biological changes over time, explore Earth’s major systems to understand how they change and interact, and discuss the fossil record and observe how and why life evolves.

Prerequisite(s): HONS 155
Corequisite(s): HONS 156L

This course counts towards the College's natural science general education requirement

HONS 158 – Honors Physics II
Instructor: Ana Oprisan
MWF 10:00 – 10:50 a.m.
Lab: R 4:00 – 6:59 p.m.

A continuation of Honors Physics I. Topics covered are Electricity, Magnetism, Light, Relativity, Atomic Physics, Quantum Physics and Nuclear Physics. Lectures emphasize the application of these topics in interdisciplinary areas. Examples of interdisciplinary applications are electric potentials in biology and medicine, magnetic field in medicine, or optics and the biology of human vision and possibly visual arts.

Prerequisite(s): HONS 157/157L or PHYS 111/111L, MATH 120, or permission of the instructor
Corequisite(s): HONS 158L

This course counts towards the College's natural science general education requirement

HONS 160 – Honors Astronomy II
Instructor: Ana Uribe
MWF 12:00 – 12:50 p.m.
Lab: T 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

A continuation of Honors Astronomy I. Subjects covered include: instruments used in astronomy, stars (binary, variable), star clusters, interstellar matter, galaxies and cosmology. A working knowledge of high school algebra is assumed.

Prerequisite(s): HONS 159/159L
Corequisite(s): HONS 160L

This course counts towards the College's natural science general education requirement

HONS 165-01 – Honors American Government
Instructor: Lynne Ford
TR: 12:15-1:30 p.m.

The course investigates national American government at all levels including its functions and challenges. This is the Honors course version of POLI 101. Students may not receive credit for both.

This course counts towards the College’s General Education Social Sciences requirement and Founding Documents requirement.

HONS 167 – Honors Introduction to Sociology
Instructor: Brenda Sanders
TR 12:15 – 1:30 p.m.

Have you ever wondered why people behave the way they do? In this class you will gain a scientific understanding of the social world by observing human behavior, including culture, socialization, social inequality, and more, through the window of the sociological perspective-the deeper understanding of how society affects you and how you affect society. This is the Honors course version of SOCY 101. Students may not receive credit for both.

This course counts towards the College's social science general education requirement

HONS 170 Honors Intro to Philosophy
Instructor:  Scott Hemmenway
MWF 10:00-10:50 a.m.

An examination of problems in central areas of philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology and ethics. This is the Honors course version of PHIL 101. Students may not receive credit for both.

This course counts towards the College's humanities general education requirement

HONS 192 – Honors Organic Chemistry: Applications of Molecular Structure and Properties
Instructor: Michael Giuliano
MWF 9:00 – 9:50 a.m.
Lab: M 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

An introductory course utilizing theoretical principles and fundamental facts to form an understanding of the structure, characterization, properties and reactivities of organic compounds. Functional groups, fundamentals of reaction mechanisms, and spectroscopy are included. This is the Honors course version of CHEM 231. Students may not receive credit for both.

Prerequisite(s): HONS 190/190L with a D+ or higher
Corequisite(s): HONS 192L
MATH 120 is recommended as a pre-or co-requisite.

This course counts towards the College's natural science general education requirement

HONS 210 – Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
Instructor: Lancie Affonso
TR 1:40 – 2:55 p.m.

This course provides an introduction to theoretical and experiential issues in entrepreneurship including the language of entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, lean startups, business models, entrepreneurship, and learning from both successful and unsuccessful ventures. Readings, lectures, and live case discussions with entrepreneurs will be used to explore these and related issues. This is the Honors course version of ENTR 200. Students may not receive credit for both.

HONS 210 – Honors Business Law
Instructor: Roxanne DeLaurell
TR 10:50 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.

This course is designed to introduce the student to the legal, ethical and regulatory environment of business. Students will focus on the laws of contract, property and torts once a foundation of the legal system is established. Analysis of ethical considerations in a business environment will strengthen the student’s ability to make critical decisions in the strategic arena of business. This is the Honors course version of BLAW 205. Students may not receive credit for both.

*Please note that Spring 2025 course offerings are tentative, and are subject to change.