Current Students
Fall 2022 Honors College Courses
The Judy Genshaft Honors College offers courses located on all three USF campuses, as well as off-site locations. Judy Genshaft Honors College courses are open to students from any home campus. All courses require in-person attendance unless otherwise noted.
The following course numbers are considered Honors Core classes: IDH 2010, IDH 3350, IDH 3100, IDH 3400, IDH 3600, IDH 4200, IDH 4930 (in some cases), IDH 4950, & IDH 4970.
Location: USF Sarasota-Manatee campus
Latest trends in hospitality and tourism management
IDH 3400-001
Instructor: Faizan Ali
T/R 12:30-1:45
Hospitality and tourism management is an industry that draws on multiple disciplines in business management and behavioral and social sciences. As a result, the industry trends and issues in hospitality and tourism industry require interdisciplinary solutions informed by a variety of academic and cultural perspectives.
This course uses hospitality and tourism as a case to better understand the facets of a global economy. Students will analyze hospitality and tourism market dynamics, including geographic, demographic, and psychographic influences, geopolitical forces, technological shifts, legal developments, and social and environmental pressures. Students will assess trends in hospitality and tourism business management, including some of the hottest issues like marketing, data mining, corporate strategy, and safety and security, and sustainability using a variety of teaching methods including traditional lectures, day visits, guest speakers, and case studies.
In collaboration with some of the most prominent players in the hospitality and tourism industry (Aramark, Mainsail Lodging, McKibbon Hospitality, First Watch Restaurants, Visit Sarasota, Visit Bradenton), this class equips students with research and practical skills to understand some of the most recent and relevant trends and issues related to hospitality and tourism industry. Students will work on projects in collaboration with the above-mentioned players in the industry.
Location: USF St. Petersburg campus
History by Hollywood: Telling American Stories at the Movies
IDH 3100-601
Instructor: Jason Vickers
Wed. | 2:00pm-4:45pm
This class meets in person.
In this seminar we will examine a variety of episodes, or moments in American history, through the narrating lens of feature films dating from the early-20th to the early-21st century. Specifically, we will explore the cultural, social, and political work that movies about our national past can and often do. Films sometimes play a major role in shaping not just how we understand key events in the country’s history, but in defining identity, how we individually and collectively see ourselves as “Americans.” Change over time is a fundamental concept to historical inquiry – by contextualizing film productions, looking at them in the moment they were created, and how they have been viewed and remembered since, will help us to grasp, finally, the place that movies about the past have in making/shaping historical consciousness in the present.
Human Rights: The Idea of Our Time
IDH 3400-602
Instructor: Thomas Smith
Tue. | 2:00pm – 4:45pm
This class meets in person.
The legal scholar Louis Henkin called human rights “the idea of our time.” Henkin argued that there is now a working consensus that each of us “has a claim to an irreducible core of integrity and dignity.” This class examines the philosophy, history, and politics of this essential idea. We explore the roots of human rights in classical liberal thought and in the promises of the Enlightenment, the institutionalization of rights in the wake of World War II, and the more recent flourishing of human rights advocacy. We will also consider cultural critiques of the universality and even imperialism of rights. Particular modules will focus on human rights today in China, Russia, and Turkey. We will address classic rights issues such as torture, free assembly, and freedom of the press, as well as contemporary issues of healthcare, refugee rights, war crimes, and the unique challenges to human rights in the cyber age.
Science in the Islamic World
IDH 4200-601
Instructor: Tracey Maher
Tue./Thur. | 12:30pm - 1:45pm
This class meets in person.
This course explores the vast scope of scientific activity in Islamic societies stretching from Spain to India from the 9th through 16th centuries. It considers the social, cultural, and institutional contexts in which science in the Islamic world emerged and was sustained. Scientific activity in medieval Islamic societies reached a level unmatched by any of its predecessors or contemporaries. Students will engage primary sources in translation as well as secondary sources, devoting particular attention to changing historical narratives of Islamic science. They will study trends in specific scientific disciplines including astronomy, mathematics, medicine, among others. In familiarizing students with the scientific enterprise of Islamic societies, this course will provide them with new perspectives on what science is, the relationship between science, religion, and philosophy, and the students’ own relationship to and engagement with science in their own place and time.
From Middens to Mermaids: Florida, A Cultural History of Place
IDH 4200-603
Instructor: Catherine Wilkins
Fri. | 11:00am-1:45pm
This class meets in person.
This class will present a colorful cultural history of Florida, with an eye for examining
the ways in which past and present overlap and interact to inform our contemporary
experience of this place we call home. This approach to history will provide us with
an opportunity to engage with current issues like immigration, natural resource conservation,
community development, human trafficking, animal rights, and climate change from both
a historical and a contemporary perspective, and a local and global context. We will
examine how factors like population migrations, environment, politics, tourism, economics,
and interactions with the broader world have shaped our weird and wonderful state,
as well as led to the creation of a very diverse body of art, literature, music, and
architecture about it. We will supplement readings and in-class discussion with firsthand
experiences of the unique and varied landscapes we encounter in our own backyard.
Field trips will include a Tocobaga village site, Gamble Plantation, Ybor City, and
Weeki Wachee Springs.
Honors Capstone: Healing Art
IDH 4950-601
Instructor: Catherine Wilkins
Thur. | 2:00pm-4:45pm
This class meets in person at the James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art
In this collaboration between the USF Honors College and the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art, Honors students learn by experience how interactions with the arts can benefit individuals on both sides of the healthcare equation – patients and physicians alike. By the end of the semester, students will have learned how particular methods of engaging with art can help participants access and express memories, improve communication skills, externalize emotions, relieve stress and anxiety, increase observation abilities, and promote positive feelings. We will consider how these benefits relate to people dealing with a range of medical conditions, providing therapeutic relief that we, too, might enjoy. We’ll practice facilitating these methods ourselves, in preparation for helping our community partner, the James Museum, develop a program for community members diagnosed with dementia, anxiety, depression, and/or other medical conditions. Finally, this capstone course will allow students to participate in furthering the research in these areas by providing an immersive experience at the intersection of art, medicine, and community engagement. Please note: this class will be held at the James Museum in downtown St. Petersburg, 5 blocks from campus. Please allow time in your schedule for traveling to and from the museum.
Honors Thesis
IDH 4970-601
Instructor: Thomas Smith
F | 1:00pm - 2:00pm
This class meets in person.
St. Petersburg Students in the Judy Genshaft Honors College should register for this section of thesis.
Location: USF Tampa campus
Acquisition of Knowledge
Ranging from classical philosophy to the digital age, this first-year honors course invites students to explore the different ways in which knowledge is created and consumed, how understanding is cultivated, the various relationships possible between knowledge and the self, and the implications of these in our contemporary world. Through an examination of common topics, studio experiences, and assignments, all sections of this course will explore different ways of knowing (e.g., historical, philosophical, scientific, creative, etc.)
Note: This freshman seminar is intended as an introduction to the Judy Genshaft Honors College community for incoming students. There are many sections of this Honors Core course on the Tampa campus, please work with your Honors advisor to select the time that is best for you.
Backstage Pass to Health Professions
IDH 2930 - 051
Instructor: Tricia Penniecook
M | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
1 credit course
In our currently evolving health care system, there is a growing emphasis on team-based approaches. Such approaches require that health professions training focus on interprofessional education. This course provides students who plan to pursue a health profession an opportunity to see what happens “backstage” in the health care field by shadowing interprofessional teams. The students will rotate among interprofessional teams that may consist of: medical students, residents, physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, physical therapists, social workers, health administrators, health educators, etc. The students will present their experiences during the class period and complete assignments in order to receive credit.
Global Experience Workshop
IDH 2930-052
Instructor: Megan Braunstein
T |3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
0 credit course that serves as one Honors Global Experience Requirement
This course is designed to prepare students to understand different perspectives and
communicate across cultures. Throughout the semester, students will collaborate on
creative projects and engage in meaningful discussions on various global topics. Ultimately,
we aim to understand our individual biases as well as to refine our abilities to evaluate
and navigate new cultures and perspectives.
**Restricted to juniors and seniors.**
Rooted in Place: JGHC Community Garden Service-Learning Course
IDH 2930 - 054
Instructors: Meg Stowe/Kobe Phillips
T/R | 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM at USF Botanical Gardens
0 credit course that will satisfy the Honors Service Requirement
This experiential learning course explores current knowledge, issues, and innovation in community gardening, including food security/sovereignty, place-based gardening, community health, urban beekeeping, and sustainability. Students will learn factors of sustainable gardening including: 1) plant health and care, 2) companion planting, 3) ethnobotany, and 4) advancements in agriculture. Not only will students be a part of a valuable community, but they will reconnect with their agricultural roots, reforming a sustainable relationship with the Earth. Participants in this course earn 50 hours of community service through construction, planting, and harvesting of a community garden located in the USF Botanical Gardens. There are no pre-reqs for this course, and you do not have to have prior gardening experience. Completion of this course will satisfy the community service requirement for the JGHC and result in eligibility for the community service scholarship.
In the Judy Genshaft Honors College, we believe that the full potential of education is realized when classroom learning is paired with experiential learning, often defined as "the process of learning through experience, and more specifically learning through reflection on doing." The ability for students to participate in a diverse offering of this type of education is one of the factors that makes our college special. Service is at the heart of the Judy Genshaft Honors College. Care and concern for others motivates the administration, faculty and staff of the College, but we also seek to model for students how intellectually and professionally rewarding service can be. By participating in building our community garden, you have the potential to create a tight-knit community based on shared values: to contribute to your communities through service, leadership, and global citizenship.
10 of 19 seats are reserved for students in the Honors College Living Learning Community. For a permit to enroll, send an email to Meg Stowe at mmandell@usf.edu. Please note class sessions will involve getting dirty, so plan your schedule accordingly!
“Gotta Dance”: The Greatest Dancers
IDH 3100-001
Instructor: Jeffrey Donley
T/H | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
The phrase “Gotta Dance” comes from perhaps the greatest movie musical ever made,
Singing in the Rain. Dancing is movement and movement permeates every aspect of life,
whether within our bodies, minds, or the world around us. This class is an interdisciplinary
integration of creative and critical methods for researching human movement that introduces
the aesthetics and creative processes in dance and choreography. You will think critically
about dance performance and you will be engaged in dance as a performing art form
by transforming you into the roles of dancer, choreographer, audience member, and
critic in relation to the realms of aesthetic questions, politics, identity, religion,
and complex views of the human body. Students will also cultivate their critical thinking
and observational skills in the ways that artists and scholars conceive of human movement
as a way of knowing the world.
Students will watch the greatest dancers perform primarily in dance film musicals,
stage/television performances, and music videos. Through guided discussions, they
will learn how to observe and analyze the choreography of Busby Berkeley, Jerome Robbins,
Agnes de Mille, Michael Kidd, Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, Robert Alton, and Bob Fosse,
for their contributions of avant-garde films of the postwar period, translations of
stage choreography to screen, architectural studies, cartoon animation, and music
videos. Drawing on eclectic source materials from different dance genres, the focus
of this class will be an examination and observation of dance in film from c. 1928
to the present, including the performances of male dancers Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly,
The Nicholas Brothers, Donald O’Connor, John Brasica, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Michael
Jackson, and MC Hammer. Female dancers Eleanor Powell, Ginger Rogers, Cyd Charisse,
Leslie Caron, Vera-Ellen, Mitzi Gaynor, Ann Miller, and Natalia Osipova will be analyzed.
No prior dance experience necessary.
Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Music of a Generation
IDH 3100-002
Instructor: Calvin Falwell
M/W | 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
The history of popular music is often presented as a sequence of innovations and events.
The aim of this course, in contrast, is to study popular music in the United States
in order to understand significant social, economic, and cultural transformations
during the past century. We will trace important developments in technology, business,
social life, and popular culture through American popular music. Simultaneously, we
will discuss how popular music has reflected shifting attitudes about race, region,
gender, and class. Particular attention will be devoted to the role that popular music
played in the forging of a mass culture that Americans, regardless of class, region,
race, and gender, participated in.
All the World’s a Stage: Performing the Self and Culture
IDH 3100-003
Instructor: David Jenkins
M/W | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Shakespeare observed that "all the world's a stage." Have you considered how we embody
and put into action -- that is to say how we perform -- our identities, ideologies,
and cultures? This course focuses on our individual and collective performances in
the secular, sacred, and quotidian realms. Drawing from theater and performance studies,
communication theory, sociology, and related fields, this course invites students
to view human interaction as performances and to consider their significance and consequences.
What happens when the taken for granted becomes our focus? This course uses qualitative
research and performance forms (storytelling, mixed media installations, etc.) as
both objects of study and methods of inquiry to illuminate everyday experience
The view of life as a kind of theater is an ancient and enduring metaphor for human
reality. There has been a resurgence of interest in this perspective and in performance-centered
approaches to communication and culture. This course draws particular attention to
the reciprocal relationship between everyday life and aesthetic performance. It examines
human existence as a continuous performance, from the “ordinary” speech of individuals
to the elaborate practices of groups. Through this, we hope to uncover how these construct,
maintain, and disrupt culture.
Creator, Images and Sounds
IDH 3100-004
Instructor: Tamara Nemirovsky
Fridays | 12:30 PM - 3:15 PM
In this class, students will learn how to produce a video art that reflects the understanding
of current events and their own response to them through the creation of a fictional
narrative. They will become creators of images and sounds that capture their own subjective
interpretation of problems that local communities are facing today. This class will
focus on concept development, image, and sound composition, research, storyboarding,
film language, and construction of meaning through the creation of multiple visual
layers and sounds during filming and editing as well as all technical aspects (camera,
lighting, sound, editing software) required to produce a creative video.
Students will collectively explore the aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of images
and sounds to evoke emotions and meanings in the viewer. They will research human-social
problems (violence, guns, education, poverty, climate change, addictions, communication,
Covid 19, etc.) affecting communities today and develop a video art piece that will
question at the same time the audience’s and their own systems of beliefs. Students
will develop their capacity to recognize how we create understanding through the production
of a video step by step, and how creative and fictional work can address their current
social and cultural concerns. This course does not require previous film/art knowledge
or experience. You will use a DSLR camera or your smartphone (if you do not have access
to a DLSR camera) to shoot.
Stop-Motion Animation
IDH 3100-005
Instructor: Tamara Nemirovsky
Thursdays | 2:00 PM - 4:45 PM
In this course, students will create socially conscious stop-motion animation artwork.
Students will explore textural imagery and conceptual animation filmmaking by developing
their own creative research projects. Projects will examine community issues while
incorporating multiple perspectives into production decisions when creating a meaningful
and reflective stop-motion animation film. Students will collectively explore the
cultural value, story, and emotional meaning of objects, materials, elements, and
sounds to evoke emotions and meaning in the viewer by creating socially conscious
stop-motion animation artwork.
Emphasis is on animation film language, experimental stop-motion animation techniques,
concept development, and narrative structures as well as all the production stages
(pre-production, production, post-production) and technical aspect required to produce
a stop motion animation film. This course does not require previous animation knowledge
or experience.
Pilgrim in the Metaverse: Exploring Virtual Reality
IDH 3100-006
Instructor: Csaba Osvath
T/H | 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
This course invites students to immerse themselves into the rapidly expanding world
of virtual reality and learn how this medium will continue to shape and impact various
domains of life and work. Students will learn about the history of VR and how this
technology facilitates immersive experiences. This course offers students an opportunity
to engage with and critically examine various VR applications and experiences (e.g.,
immersive gaming, well-being/fitness, artmaking/creativity, spatial networks, or social
VR). Of noted consideration in this course are the ethical and psychological dimensions
explored when VR is employed to support lived experiences and relationships in alternative
settings via virtual avatars to recreate narratives that have been broken (e.g., healthcare,
wellness, and occupational training).
Art in Motion
IDH 3100-007
Instructor: Tina Piracci
M/W | 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
From the currents in our oceans, to the electrical current in our bodies, energy moves
all things around us. In this course, we will explore how we harness these different
energies to produce forms of kinetic artwork through the investigation of the expressive
nature of computational approaches to art and design in order to create interactive
works of kinetic sculptures or installations. Along the way, we will also look at
a variety of strange, whimsical, and beautiful works created by historical and contemporary
artists and technologists, and we will re-think computation from a poetic, provocative
perspective.
To create art that moves you, we will explore the locomotion at various scales, including
the kineticism of small motors and actuators using microprocessors and the study of
various hand operated, nature-driven or electrical mechanisms. We will introduce Arduino,
an open-source library and integrated development environment (IDE) built for makers,
students, hobbyists, artists, and professionals, as well as other means of kinetics.
These tools will be utilized to explore various modes of creative expression.
Narrative Cartography: Mapping the Stories of Your Life
IDH 3100-008
Instructor: Ulluminair Salim
M/W | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
“You can kiss your family and friends goodbye and put miles between you, but at the
same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach; because
you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.”—Frederick Buechner, Author
and Theologian
Cartography is the study and practice of map-making, and Narrative Cartography invites students to map the stories of their lives. Through reading, writing, and multilayered forms of journeying, students will tell stories that matter to them, from the mundane to the profound. This practice-oriented course leverages written narrative to visit personal places seldom explored such as the meaning in and of our names; how and why we hold the political values that we do; the stories that our bodies tell; death, dying, and remembrance; our personal foodways; and what it means to celebrate our failures, among other concerns. At its most expansive, this course is a foray into our shared humanity and recognition of the universal in the particular.
Refined Imaginations: A Poetry Workshop
IDH 3100-009
Instructor: Deepak Singh
M/W | 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”
– Robert Frost
In this course, students will learn to use their own experiences and memories as a
springboard for detailed imagery and emotions. One doesn’t need to have an exciting
life to write poetry. Poetry can be about little moments that create strong emotions
and most people have felt strong emotions at some point.
During the first part of the semester, students will read and discuss poetry while
becoming familiar with literary devices and sensitive to the sounds and rhythms of
poetry. Students will be expected to interpret the assigned poems and come to class
prepared to discuss them. Developing these skills will be important for the second
part of the course, where students will submit their own poetry and workshop their
peers’ poems.
Travel Writing & Literature
IDH 3100-010
Instructor: Deepak Singh
T/H | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
In this course, students will explore the prose genre of travel writing. They will
closely read current and traditional short pieces, essays, and books and analyze them
like writers. They will write essays and stories inspired by the readings, and/or
their own travels. This course is especially suited to students who have studied abroad,
plan to study abroad, or have experience as an international student; however, such
experience or plans are not required. This course will give students the opportunity
to engage with a variety of views of the world through the accounts of travelers from
a variety of cultural and historical lenses. In the process, students will write a
story of their own—fiction, non-fiction, or another genre—centering on the transformative
potential of travel.
“Fight the Power:” Of Politics, Protest, Resistance, and Popular Music
IDH 3100-011
Instructor: Angsumala Tamang
Wednesdays | 2:00 PM - 4:45 PM
Popular music, which began in the 1950s in the United States and England, has in the
21st century transcended borders to take the world by storm. Defined as a music produced
for mass consumption by the music industry with catchy tunes, rhythms, lyrics, and
instrumentation as comparable to art and folk music, its popularity can be deemed
simply by looking at its world-wide audiences in today’s sonic market. However, despite
its widespread appeal and a global fan-base, popular music as a boundary-defying genre
does not limit itself to only entertainment and escapism as some might suggest. Rather,
it has provided artists and the masses with an active space to articulate resistance
via “symbolic creativity” as part of everyday living to forge counter-hegemonic narratives
of the world.
Taking a relatively new area of academic interest called the “popular music studies,” which is predominantly marked for its interdisciplinary inquiry, experiential interactions, and critical thinking, this course will examine the role of popular music in negotiating, consolidating, contesting, and questioning structures of power between communities, cultures, and individuals. As such our studies will cover Afro-beat, jazz, rock, punk, hip-hop, Bollywood, Cairo-pop, J-pop, K-pop, raï, jali, etc. by grounding it within socio-political realities through readings on nationalism, place, ethnicity, postcolonialism, critical race theory, gender studies, queer studies, cultural studies, and ethnomusicology.
100 Days of Discovery: Cultivating Your Curiosity and Finding Relevance
IDH 3100 –012
Instructor: Francesca Arnone-Lewis
T/H | 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
“Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world
is your film.” - Ansel Adams
While facing the demands and routines of a degree program, you may not necessarily cultivate opportunities nurturing your awareness of the journey as much as your progress toward graduation. Drawing cultural, societal, and community connections aligned with their plan of study, this course affords each student the chance to construct a unique and personally meaningful 100-day project connecting their curiosities and passions to their interests and aspects of their desired degree outcomes. Coursework primarily encompasses daily maintenance and investment in the project. In so doing, the course emphasizes continuous reflection on the project process, encouraging students to investigate new directions and possibilities as their projects transform over the semester. Applying course prompts introduced throughout the semester will jumpstart creative thinking and, at times, project transformation.
Writing Resistance
IDH 3100-013
Instructor: Dennis Mont'Ros
M/W | 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
“The singular power of literature lies not in its capacity for accurate representation
of mass commonalities, but its ability to illuminate the individual life in a way
that expands our understanding of some previously unseen or unarticulated aspect of
existence.” -Nicole Krauss, Writer
Resistance is a natural response to oppression. Natural instinct compels us to push back against factors that limit freedoms. In this course, students will practice creative writing while examining how contemporary and historical writers use fiction to respond against institutional and social oppression. Our primary emphasis will be exploration of the creative by learning about and practicing the craft of writing short fiction to enhance our ability to infuse message with meaning. Our secondary emphasis will be the contextual analyses of the motives and tools of oppressors: rhetoric, censorship, and propaganda.
This course will enhance students’ ability to recognize and utilize language as the most powerful of expressive modalities, while familiarizing them with the struggles of oppressed groups from cultures familiar and foreign. Coursework includes reading and analyzing contemporary and historical works from oppressed groups, and generating fiction and critiquing peer writing. Projects will include a presentation on a creator or movement of resistance writing, and a portfolio of creative work which will be workshopped with peers.
Microorganisms, Disease, and Host Responses
IDH 3350 – 001
Instructor: Steven Specter
T/H | 8:00 AM – 9:15 AM
The course will exam how microbes interact with the body and how immune responses help protect us from infectious diseases. Through journal articles and interactive sessions, we will discuss how everyday life is impacted by disease. Additional topics will include evolutionary biology, innovations in science, and some molecular biology at a level that can be followed by science and non-science majors. The course will feature an individual oral presentation, a group presentation, participation in class discussions, and a term paper in lieu of exams.
Climb Every Mountain: Geology of the National Parks
IDH 3350-002
Instructor: Judy McIlrath
T/H | 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
We won't actually be climbing mountains, unless you participate in the optional field
trip where we will climb some small cinder cone volcanoes. Instead, we will see how
mountains are built along with discussing other geological processes occurring in
varied landscapes as we journey through many of the National Parks across the country.
Take an adventure with me to discover how these landscapes formed and how they've
changed through geologic time, why some house explosive volcanoes and why others provide
tranquil scenery. We'll discuss the basics of Geology and how they apply to park landscapes.
It is said that the National Parks are America's greatest idea. During our travels
through the parks, we'll contemplate the controversy and dilemma their very existence
presents and learn some practical life lessons along the way.
The optional field trip is offered so that you can experience some of the parks firsthand.
Come fly with me, and I think you will agree that setting these lands aside for all
people and for future generations truly is America's greatest idea.
Truth in the "Post-Truth" Era
IDH 3400-001
Instructor: Patrick Casey
M/W | 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
Twenty-five years ago, observers predicted that the internet would improve the lives of millions by ushering in a golden age of democratization of information, and in many ways it has. Yet it has been accompanied by a plethora of careless misinformation and willful disinformation, much of it shared on social media by people we know and trust. This cascade of false information has had numerous consequences, such as: weakening our ability to fight climate change by obscuring a clear and unambiguous scientific consensus; facilitating the spread of dangerous conspiracy theories by asserting malicious connections between disparate events; compromising efforts to combat a global pandemic by attributing sinister motivations to public health officials; and even leading to an insurrection of the US Capitol by alleging what would have been the largest and most ambitious case of election fraud in history. This course on Truth in a Post-Truth Era explores the many ways that our shared understanding of reality is being undermined, and with it, our trust in institutions and in each other. Along the way we will learn how to distinguish between sense and nonsense, to separate fact from fiction, and to use this knowledge to understand how so many people have been seduced by pseudo-science and anti-intellectualism, and what we can do to reverse the trend.
Political Polarization
IDH 3400-002
Instructor: Patrick Casey
M/W | 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
When students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky attended a March for Life rally in the nation’s capital in 2019 they found themselves embroiled in a bitter controversy centered on issues of identity politics, power, and privilege in modern America. Media coverage of the incident portrayed the students in one of two ways consistent with the moral expectations of their reader/viewership: these students were either villains deserving of scorn and contempt, or victims deserving of compassion and understanding. This case, like many others, spotlights the deep ideological encampment so prevalent in America today. Yet why do people understand the same incident so differently? This course offers students a chance to engage with issues relevant to what observers have called the “culture wars,” the politicization of moral and social issues, most notably between what liberals and conservatives think should comprise American values, and the moral evaluations each group makes about the world around them. As this culture war rages, political polarization is on the rise, and the need for good faith discussions that can lead to mutual understanding between reasonable people is greater than ever. This course provides students with the resources and opportunities necessary to learn about the issues that Americans disagree on most strongly and consistently, the sociological and psychological roots of these disagreements, and the perspectives they adopt in evaluating the social and moral order of American society. Most importantly, class meetings will offer students a safe space outside the political echo chambers that make up so much of what we are exposed to from media and social media alike, to discuss these issues intelligently with the goal of increasing empathy and reducing polarization.
Fertility and the Future
IDH 3400-003
Instructor: Holly Donahue Singh
T/H | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Medical Humanities
This course approaches family-making as a bio-cultural process, addressing claims to the universal and the particular in reproduction. How do gender, class, race, and religion shape reproductive ideals and practices around the world? How do difficulties in reproduction, ranging from infertility and pregnancy loss (miscarriage) to natural disaster and political upheaval, impact those ideals and practices? And how do examinations of fertility from afar through demography, politics, and ethics articulate with intimate, embodied (and dis-embodied) experiences of reproduction, from adoption and abortion to IVF and surrogacy? The course will examine these issues across a variety of geographic contexts and situate local examples within national and global struggles to (re)produce the future.
Music Mania: The Psychology of Music
IDH 3400-004
Instructor: Jeffrey Donley
T/H | 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
In this course, students will listen to and enjoy all genres of music. It will explore
the scientific understanding of all psychological aspects of music. These include
studies on listening, performing, creating, memorizing, analyzing, describing, learning,
and teaching, as well as applied social development. Students will listen to/experience/and
enjoy different genres of 18th – 21st century music for analysis such as: Classical,
Opera, Theater Lyricist and Librettist, Blues, Vocal, Movie Musicals, Easy Listening,
Country, Electronic, Folk, Hip-hop, Jazz, Christian, Metal, Disco, Latin, New Age,
Punk, Reggae, Rock n Roll, and Rap.
This course will expose students to cutting-edge “music as psychology” techniques
and theories of psychophysics, cognitive psychology, psychophysiology, particle physics/super
string theory, cognitive neuroscience, and music theory & analysis. The concept of
the student as “listener” is thematic to our course, and inherently rich and diversified
in its definition and application. Students will learn the factors of music listening:
1) to regulate arousal and mood, 2) to achieve self-awareness, and 3) as an expression
of social relatedness. Students will learn not to just hear at a subconscious level,
but to choose to listen by paying attention to the sound and register the meaning
at a conscious level—thus focusing on sounds and using one’s mind to interpret their
social and cultural meanings."
What is the Environment?
IDH 3400-005
Instructor: Andrew Hargrove
M/W | 11:00 AM - 12:15 AM
You may think the answer to the question “what is the environment?” is simple, but this seminar style course will critically explore the way the social construction of the environment has changed through history and how our conception of what the environment is affects how we treat it and what we determine is acceptable. In this course, we will take a global perspective on how the environment is perceived around the world, what we are doing about solving the many environmental problems globally, and how a shift in perspective can spark change. We will explore the environment from philosophical, sociological, psychological, and environmental science perspectives and discuss how such a simple concept is actually quite complex.
Women and Leadership Discourse
IDH 3400-006
Instructor: Amaly Santiago
M/W | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
What do organizations communicate to professional women? How are women advised to be leaders in organizational settings? How should a leader be? This seminar aims to cultivate the understanding of leadership by exploring women’s leadership discourse and the asymmetries in the workplace that dictate women’s career advancement. We will explore how organizational practices construct leadership discourse, how leaders are made in organizations, and how career barriers impact women’s advancement. This course will engage in leadership issues through readings, organizational practices, case studies, and interactive projects.
Careers and Working Life
IDH 3400-007
Instructor: Amaly Santiago
T/H | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Starting a working life is part of our growth as professionals. When it comes to your career, you want to be prepared, confident, and capable of managing real-life work situations. You want to excel in those future opportunities. Careers and Working Life is a practical course that will help students develop their communication and professional skills. Students will learn the foundations of oral communication by delivering speeches, creating effective presentations, and dealing with work engagements such as interviews, productive meetings, evaluations, conflict resolution, and other leadership tools. Multiple learning activities will allow students to creatively develop and analyze the core aspects of public speaking and presentations as they exist in real-life work settings. Students will consider audience, delivery, message, the visual story as well as other components of communicating in professional settings.
Emotions: Experience, Expression, and Understanding
IDH 3400-008
Instructor: Lisa Spinazola
T/H | 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Medical Humanities
What accounts for the differences in how we understand and experience emotions like
guilt, love, shame, joy, gratitude, regret, hope, or anger? Knowledge and expression
of emotions are impacted by how we are raised, culture, gender, personalities, style
of interaction, and current life stressors. We will extend our understanding of emotions
through various lenses and disciplines: psychology, sociology, biology, communication,
and/or social construction. Cognitive Behavioral therapy posits if we change our ways
of thinking, we can impact the emotions we feel, and ultimately change behaviors that
cause disruption and distress in our lives. Can it be this simple?
Paul Ekman studies the universality of emotions, physiological responses to (and causes
of) basic or foundational emotional states, as well as the importance of displaying
and expressing emotions to the formation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships.
Deborah Tannen writes about the origins of, problems that arise, and ways to better
understand the gendered language of emotions. Combining photography and electronic
journaling, we’ll add texture and visuals to the expression of emotional states we’ll
discuss over the course of the semester. For the final project, students will choose
a relationship (and its various emotions) or an emotion (through various relationships)
to write about and reflect upon to demonstrate how their understanding of emotions
has changed and/or developed over the course of the semester."
Post-World War II History and the Concurrent Evolution of Television
IDH 3400-009
Instructor: Daniel Ruth
Fridays | 8:00 AM - 10:45 AM
This course will examine the relationship between the significant news events of Post-World War II and how they were covered by television. This course will explore how news events shaped the evolution of television and later other information platforms, which influenced the framing of public opinion. Students will trace this history from the Army/McCarthy Hearings, through assassinations and conflicts up to the present day.
Rediscovering Disney: A Critical Investigation
IDH 3400-010
Instructor: Erin Gough
M/W | 9:30 AM– 11:45 AM
This interdisciplinary honors class will examine the ways in which viewers experience
and interpret Disney films. We will investigate how the visual and verbal rhetorical
choices encourage audiences to read the films in specific ways. How do the characters’
bodies, behaviors, experiences, expressions, relationships, personalities, song lyrics,
and desires point to intended messages? How do those messages communicate to audiences
about how, who, and what they should be? How do those messages contradict or support
the intended reading of the films?
In order to dissect these messages, this class will explore theories from a myriad
of disciplines such as film theory, communication studies, social learning theories,
rhetorical theories, gender and cultural studies, and critical theories. Students
will be asked to complete two major projects that will build upon one another. This
class may alter your perception of the magic and fantasy often associated with the
Disney corporation; however, the goal is that you will obtain skills to analyze beyond
the escapism offered by the films and the enterprise as a whole.
Biomedical Ethics*
IDH 3600-001
Instructor: John Dormois
M/W | 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
Medical Humanities
*7 Year BS/MD students only. For permit email Mr. Mejias.
This course uses a case-based approach to explore a number of ethical dilemmas that occur in medicine. Students will participate in groups of 3 to prepare class presentations, write summaries on those presentations, and write a 10-page research paper on a medical topic with ethical implications. Class discussions are an important part of the overall experience.
Ethics at the End of Life
IDH 3600-002
Instructor: Brianna Cusanno
T/H | 11:00 AM - 12:15 AM
Medical Humanities
Death is a taboo topic in American culture, in spite of the 100% chance that every human will eventually experience it. This aversion to serious consideration and conversation regarding death, even among physicians, results in a lack of preparation for many people at the end of life. In this course in applied ethics, we will examine the intersection of medical ethics and end-of-life care. We will look at the history of ethics and decision-making by examining notable cases from U.S. history; consider multiple end-of-life contexts including pediatric illness, COVID-19, physician-assisted suicide, and institutional influences; and examine the tools used by healthcare professionals to address ethics at the end of life. This interactive course will engage students by using creative arts activities, reading responses, Socratic circles, debates, and more.
The American Revolution: Ethics in a Time of World War, 1776-1783
IDH 3600-003
Instructor: Jefferey Donley
T/H | 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
This course is a seminar in applied ethics that includes new avenues that set the
stage for the ethical lens of the colonial transformation that was caused and became
inseparable from the American Revolution, creating a fundamental shift in ethical
ideas that still remains today. The focus of this seminar-style course will be one
of reading, reflection, writing, collaborative inquiry, and discussion. What made
the American War for Independence (1775-1783) revolutionary? Students will investigate
whether it was the ethical principle that rights are not the product of human will
or historic development are inherent in all human beings by God’s design—a principle
reaching back to the arguments of English philosopher John Locke and Scholastic philosopher
Thomas Aquinas and explicitly well established as the point of division from the mother
country at least fourteen years before the “shot heard round the world?”
We will go on a journey of an interdisciplinary exploration of an “Ethics of Revolution”
that integrates the “Just War Theory” of a nationalistic endeavor of honor, raw courage,
and self-sufficiency of American exceptionalism in George Washington, Nathaniel Green,
Daniel Morgan, Benjamin Franklin, etc. Students will decide if our Founding Fathers
made the ethical decision of whether they had “the right to go to war” against Great
Britain in that it was just (jus ad bellum) as well as whether the means employed in “the conduct/guidelines of engagement”
were ethical (jus in bello). The ethical principle of “honor” will be thoroughly investigated in this course.
Environmental Ethics: Who is Responsible, to Whom, and Why?
IDH 3600-004
Instructor: David Garrison
T/H | 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
How should human beings relate to the natural world? Do we have moral obligations toward non-human animals and other parts of nature? And what do we owe to other human beings, including future generations, with respect to the environment? This course will examine such questions in light of some current and classical ethical theories: considering what those theories suggest regarding the extent and nature of our environmental obligations. While we will pay some attention to these questions in a general philosophical sense, in this course we will focus on specific topics of interest as chosen by the students. We will emphasize interdisciplinary scholarship and how technology, politics, cultural, and social concerns impact our understanding of the environment and of our ability to negotiate appropriate relationships to and with our environment.
The Ethics of Visual Rhetoric
IDH 3600-005
Instructor: Meredith Johnson
M/W | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
For over 2,000 years, the art of rhetoric has equipped speakers and writers for public
participation. Visual rhetorics, ranging from political yard signs to protest posters
to Instagram posts, are an important part of public participation. We’ll examine and
produce visual texts to better understand how visuals act rhetorically, disrupt privilege,
and promote equity. In this class, we consider visual rhetorics as:
• a means to solve communication problems. How can designed texts use color, typography,
illustrations, layout, and media to achieve rhetorical goals? Which design practices
are the most inclusive and produce accessible texts that allow all our users to achieve
their goals?
• agents of knowledge making, action, or change. How do the designed aspects of documents
shape what we are able, allowed, or made to see? How do visual rhetorics influence
decisions about what counts as a public problem and which problems are significant?
How do visual rhetorics invite (new) behaviors and attitudes?
Students read and analyze theories of ethics and visual rhetoric that are based on
research in behavioral economics, communication, human-computer interaction, persuasion,
design, and more as they study and produce visual texts.
Authoritarianism, Policing and Civil Disobedience
IDH 3600-006
Instructor: Gregory McCreery
M/W | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
In this course, we will review a number of influential texts and case studies that provide theoretical reflection upon what authoritarian governance is, the history of policing (in the United States and beyond), riots, and civil disobedience. With such theoretical considerations in mind, we can focus on relevant, current practices, and the extent to which they succeed, particularly concerning the conflict between authoritarian governance and nonviolent resistance. The aim is to gain an understanding of how nonviolent resistance is thought to work as a mechanism toward positive, political change, as well as to gain an appreciation for non-authoritarian governance and what it is. We will look at works produced by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Gene Sharp, Erica Chenoweth, Todd May, Hannah Arendt, and others who theorize how nonviolent civil disobedience does and does not successfully work against other kinds of violence, such as the violence of the state (“police and military violence”), structural/systemic violence, and symbolic violence. We will also look at case studies in which the political power of the people has successfully stood against authoritarian governments that sustain conditions constitutive of social injustices. We will aim to gain a comprehensive grasp of many ways in which we can produce real change in the world via kinds of resistance that have the potential to transform oppressive conditions and the governments that uphold them.
The Ethics of Political Grievances, Freedom, and the Responses to Tyranny
IDH 3600-007
Mondays | 5:00 PM - 7:45 PM
IDH 3600-008
T/H | 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
Instructor: Stephanie Williams
This course will examine the questions surrounding the concepts of political grievances, freedom, and tyranny through the study of conservative, centrist, and liberal-leaning political speeches. These readings include politicians and political activists from the Revolutionary War and the founding of America through the Biden Administration. Students will discuss what it means to express and hold political grievances and debate what a "just" society must look like. The class will also look at the issue of ethics through their arguments related to political freedom from the right to vote, the right to be free from political violence, the right to determine which citizens have “the right to rise," who may make demands of our political systems through protest, who may make changes to government policies and institutions that don’t serve their political interests, and who may make demands to preserve tradition and culture. By the conclusion of the course, students will improve their skills in political discourse by learning how to research and articulate the major topics that shape our national values. The professor ensures that all students of all political views are engaged in productive conversations that are civil and fair by allowing students of all political views to be heard in class in a respectful environment.
Food and Culture in the Arab and Eastern World
IDH 4200-001
Instructor: Raja Benchekroun
M/W |11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Food often carries significant social and cultural magnitude to many societies. In
this course, we will learn about Food in the Middle East and North Africa, their intrinsic
identification as Arab Cuisine, and the paradox this identification causes in the
face of the region’s multicultural identities from East to West. We will explore how
recipes and dietary practices transmit knowledge from one generation to the next,
what stories Food tells, and how it preserves cultural heritage and restores family
values.
Students will learn about the Eastern cuisine in Tampa Bay communities. What does
Food tell us about the nature of its people and the identity of its origins? How had
taste traveled across the Arab region and to the west? And how “comfort food” conserved
its authentic flavors and cooking techniques? We will explore the journey Food took
to tell us about critical historical events in the Eastern world and agricultural
hardships, celebrations, religion, and diet? Students will learn how to navigate cultures
through Food and networking with diverse community members and engage in field trips
to local food festivals and Arab and Eastern restaurants in the Tampa Bay area.
Arab Literature, Culture and Film
IDH 4200-002
Instructor: Raja Benchekroun
M/W | 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Ahlan Wa Sahlan! Welcome to the Arab Literature, Culture and Film, a gateway to the
Arab World based on scholarly research, authentic voices, textual, translated resources,
media, and literature by authors of Arab origins. The course will introduce the variety
of languages, dialects, and cultures in the region, which comprise a kaleidoscopic
wealth of the world’s most ancient societies and major past/ current events that transformed
the Arab region.
This course explores how the interconnectedness of diverse spaces, places, and peoples
constitute a community. By examining locales, historical periods, and the people who
inhabit them, students will take an interdisciplinary approach to the local, regional,
and global relationships to create intentional learners.
Health and Culture in the Dominican Republic: Beyond the Classroom*
IDH 4200-003
Instructor: Lindy Davidson
M/W |9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
Medical Humanities
*Students must be accepted to the ten-day service trip to the Dominican Republic prior to enrolling in the course. Travel will occur at the end of the semester from December 11-21, 2022. There are additional costs associated with this trip.
Students will explore the many factors contributing to health in the Dominican Republic. Throughout the semester, we will consider political, economic, environmental, structural, and cultural perspectives that impact health in the Dominican Republic. At the end of the semester, students will have the opportunity to participate in the Honors Service Trip to the Dominican Republic, where we will work with the Kerolle Initiative for Community Health. On the trip, students will serve in mobile medical clinics, stay in homes with community members, and participate in service projects to improve the overall health of the communities in and around Sosúa. Click here for more information and to apply. Application deadline is April 15.
Women in Conflicts in the World
IDH 4200-004
Instructor: Raheleh Dayerizadeh
T/H | 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM
In overlooking the important roles that women have had during wars and the aftermath, women have been depicted historically, as having no agency and as victims. This course examines major issues concerning international conflicts and peacebuilding, particularly through the eyes of women. It is designed to further student abilities to think critically about international relations and feminist studies to re-explore contemporary questions and debates surrounding conflicts in the world. Among the cases of conflicts to be discussed are Argentina, Algeria, Bosnia, Guatemala, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, and Rwanda. The role of women as fighters, survivors, leaders, peacemakers, and activists will be examined. This course will be treated as a seminar, allowing each student to actively participate and facilitate with class discussions, individually present to class, work on group projects, and write a final research paper.
Access to Justice
IDH 4200-006
Instructor: Alma Dedic-Sarenkapa
T/H | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
People need protection from possible harm inflicted on them. All of us can find ourselves
in harmful situations, especially when we engage in disputes or conflicts of interest.
In these situations, we start looking into actions or remedies we can use to redress
the harm. When remedies are guaranteed by law, they are called legal remedies. Legal
remedies involving a third party such as a legal institution lead to resolving disputes
mostly through compensation or restitution. The ability of people to access and seek
remedies through different mechanisms is the main concern of the Access to Justice
concept. In this course, we will explore different models of Access to Justice and
human rights standards linked to them in the Americas, Europe & Asia, and Africa.
We will also look at the connection between access to justice and social justice.
This connection can be examined from different perspectives such as equal or unequal
opportunities, privileges, and economic justice.
Following current events and news shaping the world we live in students will better
understand (human) rights protection in the country and around the world. Students
will engage in facilitated discussions, team presentations, student-led working groups,
and final research.
Collaborative Service-Learning in Ghana: Transforming Spectators into Problem-Solvers
IDH 4200-007
Instructor: Elizabeth Doone
T/H | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
The purpose of this course is to foster a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge about real-life issues that challenge communities. Utilizing a multi-disciplinary lens, students will collaboratively select a shared concern with a global peer mentor, generate ideas and responses, critically weigh options and create an action plan. This course is relevant for honors students desiring to immerse themselves in a cultural exchange of ideas and understandings while honing their communication and problem-solving skills.
How to Save a Planet: Individual Action and Systemic Change
IDH 4200-008
Instructor: Andrew Hargrove
M/W | 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
We are currently in a state of emergency about the future of our relationship with the natural environment. We are experiencing the 6th mass extinction, global warming over 1.5 degrees Celsius, ecological damage, rising sea levels, more natural disasters, and population displacement. It is easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer size, scale, and scope of these crises. Our natural inclination may be to feel hopeless and powerless. BUT you do not have to feel this way! This class will discuss the many facets of the climate change problem, how people are ALREADY working on addressing it, and what YOU can do to contribute to making the world a better and safer place for us all to live. We will engage with the scientific literature, with calls for action, with NGOs around the world, and with people right here in our own community fighting climate change. Join us and learn how to save a planet!
Contemporary Middle East
IDH 4200-009
Instructor: Nazek Jawad
T/H |3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
This course aims to provide students with an authentic understanding of the diversified
multi-layered facets of the Middle East, and to expose them to the breadth of Middle
Eastern cultures, and their political and cultural landmarks within historical and
contemporary contexts. This course discusses the main social, economic, and political
developments in the Middle East from the 19th century onward. Besides, this course
also highlights the Middle East abundant culture, and introduces students to countless
contributions of Middle East countries to human civilizations in a wide range of areas,
including science, arts, architecture, and music. Recently, the Middle East is conceived
as a region that breeds fundamentalism and an area of long-lasting conflicts. Due
to the distorted notions and misrepresentations of the Middle East circulated and
promoted in corporate media, and in conventional media outlets as well, this course
is set into a great mission.
The aim of this course is to broaden students’ intellectual perspective by introducing them to the geography, history, politics, political economy, culture, and arts of the Middle East. Another equally important goal of this course is to impart appreciation of cultures other than their own, by introducing them to the diversified cultures of the Middle East.
The Politics of The Russian Federation: From the Second Chechnya War to the Invasion
of Ukraine
IDH 4200-010
Instructor: Arman Mahmoudian
M/W | 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
In this course, we will learn about the Politics of the Russian Federation with a major focus on Moscow's foreign policy. This course will begin with discussing why Russia's peaceful transition to democracy after the collapse of the Soviet Union Failed. Then, we will move forward to review all of Russia's struggles from the local level to the international level. We start with Chechnya War which was the first local/domestic crisis that Russia had to face, then we will learn about Russia's regional struggles with Giorgio and Ukraine, and later we will study Russia's involvement in international crises such as in Syria and Libya.
In the end, we will endeavor to discuss the implication of Russia's foreign policy for Russia's long-term national security.
The Long-lasting Struggles of Arab Middle East: From the Fall of the Ottoman Empire
to the Dawn of Arab Spring
IDH 4200-011
Instructor: Arman Mahmoudian
M/W | 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM
The purpose of this course is to help students to understand the roots of the current instability in the Arab world by reviewing the formation of current borders by the Sykes-Picot agreement, as the aftermath of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. After realizing the impact of errors in the nation-building process in the region, we will step forward to learn about the rise of authoritarianism in the region which eventually led to more instability.
At last, we will analyze how competition between non-Arab regional powers such as Iran, Israel, Turkey, and International Power including the US, Russia, and China in the Arab Middle East has escalated the current tension in the region.
French Revolution (1789- 1794) and Iran Islamic Revolution 1979: A Comparative Perspective
IDH 4200-013
Instructor: Parandoosh Sadeghinia
M/W | 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM
In this course students will learn about French Revolution 1789-1794 and Iran's Revolution 1979 and the similarities in the elements that formed both revolutions. During this course we will discuss the role of art, artists, literature, secret societies, political perspectives (authorities vs oppositions), education agencies, etc. on how they all played crucial roles in both revolutions. Students will develop an in-depth understanding of cultural pluralism, interconnectedness among different groups of societies, and social movement theories through the lens of constructivist comparison. In addition, they will be encouraged to apply socio- political theories to problem- solving oriented class activities, group and individual projects, and a final paper.
UN Sustainable Development Goals and Global Competencies
IDH 4200-014
Instructor: Parandoosh Sadeghinia
T/H | 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM
In 2015, all United Nations members shared a blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet with an agenda to achieve specific goals by 2030. This blueprint is known as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In this course, students will engage in high impact activities related to each goal. This course is designed to help students critically acknowledge global issues and systematically analyze global challenges, leading them to work towards feasible and sustainable solutions. Students will develop an in depth understanding of cultural pluralism, efficacy, global centrism, and interconnectedness through the lens of global competency. In addition, they will be encouraged to apply socio- political theories to problem- solving oriented class activities, group projects, and a final paper.
Beasts and Burdens: Survival, Imagination, and Risk in the (Global) South
IDH 4200-015
Instructor: Ulluminair Salim
Tuesdays | 9:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Medical Humanities
"Can the subaltern speak?" --Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Beasts and Burdens: Survival, Imagination, and Risk in the (Global) South will investigate
health (inequality) and risk through the artistic lens of women and children in southern,
postcolonial spaces, examining their critical, creative, and unconventional responses
to subjugation. Through thematic and geographic “travels,” students will examine axes
of inequality, subalternity, and survival among people across the globe. Beasts and
Burdens will leverage audio, video, imagery, and narrative as windows into the social
imaginary.
Guiding Questions for the course: What are ways in which women’s voices emerge in
the humanistic social sciences, and how do their voices circulate? How can students
and scholars of the (global) south envision alternative narratives and intervene upon
existing characterizations? That is, what are elsewheres and elsewhens of representing
power and agency in southern spaces? Finally, what are ways in which we can critically
theorize gender inequality, health, and resilience in risky spaces? How can we map
them and map onto them? As such, the study of (gendered) violence, power, and socioeconomic
and environmental conflict are central to the issues that this course seeks to examine.
While the course privileges the stories and lived experiences of women and children
of the (global) south, it welcomes students of all gender identities.
Organizational Culture and International Perspectives
IDH 4200-016
Instructor: Amaly Santiago
M/W | 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Organizational Culture and International perspectives (IDH 4200) Organizational culture is the set of shared beliefs, values, and norms that influence the way members think, feel, and behave. Cultural interpretation is one of the best ways of understanding a broad spectrum of aspects of management and organization. This seminar examines organizational culture's development, nature, classifications, and characteristics while exploring the interaction of individuals, groups, organizations, and the environment. The course navigates in cultural understanding, which encourages problem-solving and problem-awareness. This course engages in a broad communication perspective by studying aspects of organizational culture internationally. This course will engage in an analytical framework for what goes on in organizations and management through readings, practical organizational examples, case studies, and special projects.
Sub-Saharan Africa
IDH 4200-018
Instructor: Fenda Akiwumi
M/W | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
This class will look at culture, societies, and development in Sub-Saharan Africa, in historical and contemporary context. It will be a broad interdisciplinary introduction to the study of this part of the African continent. Africa’s history, politics, cultures, and societies are rich, diverse, and complex yet generalizations and negative stereotypes about Africa by the media, academics, and policy makers are common (apocalyptic scenarios of civil war, poverty, famine, diseases such as AIDS and failed states, for example). Using selected case studies we will explore political, economic, and socio-cultural characteristics of both modern and traditional Africa and through critical evaluation of course materials obtain a more balanced portrayal of the continent and its development.
(Global)2 Perspectives of Health: Exploring Components of Holistic Health in the Global
North & South
IDH 4200-019
Instructor: Lydia Asana
Thursdays | 9:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Medical Humanities
This course focuses on comparative explorations of holistic health in the Global North
and Global South. In this course, students will identify existing narratives of health
in terms of the Global North and South while becoming familiar with four primary components
of holistic health namely: Body, mind, spirit (faith/culture) and environment (geographical/societal).
Students will explore the significance of the four primary components with respect
to a selected country and will be challenged to objectively compare and contrast predominant
narratives and alternative perspectives in light of course content and independent
research findings. Towards the end of the course, students will each present their
findings and collaborate to bring forth conclusions and contributions to the understanding
of, and approaches to, addressing holistic health around the world.
Anticipated outcomes of this course include expanded knowledge through instruction and contributions from global experts including guest speakers and sharpened critical thinking through interactive, guided discussions leading to informed perspectives on holistic global health. Students will foster their research skills, enhance their communication skills, expand their intellectual and professional skills, and deepen their appreciation for the benefits of collaboration.
Honors Seminar in Pharmacy
IDH 4930-001
Instructor: Yashwant Pathak
3-hour course counts as Honors Core requirement.
Learn about innovation in the pharmaceutical sciences directly from faculty researchers of the Taneja College of Pharmacy! In this seminar, you will have the opportunity to hear first-hand experiences about technological advances in pharmacy, basic sciences in pharmacy, pharmacogenomics, geriatrics, and drug discovery. You will work on a culminating project with mentorship by faculty of the Taneja College of Pharmacy.
Global Politics*
IDH 4930-002
Instructor: Gus Bilirakis
Fridays | 2:00 PM - 4:45 PM
3-hour course counts as Honors Core requirement.
*Due to the Congressman’s responsibilities in Washington D.C., this course will be delivered in a hybrid modality. Some weeks will meet in-person, and others will meet synchronously via Teams.
Identity, Democracy, and Citizenship in the Evolving International Order
IDH 4930-003
Instructor: Henry McLeish
F |12:00 PM - 3:15 PM
1 credit course, satisfies one Global Experience Requirement
Honors students have a unique opportunity to take this 1-credit 4-week course from
Friday, September 9 through September 30 taught by The Right Honourable Henry McLeish,
a Scottish politician, author and academic who served as First Minister of Scotland
and leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Since leaving politics, McLeish has written
several books, lectured widely in the United States, and voiced his opinion in the
2014 Scottish independence referendum and the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership.
Hear from an international politician on his engagement with what it means to be a
global citizen.
**Restricted to juniors and seniors.** Please email Mr. Kevin Lee (clee24@usf.edu)
for a permit.
New Capstone Process: Registration for capstone courses will be available to seniors beginning March 28 and to juniors and seniors beginning April 4. All other students must request a permit from their honors advisor.
Perspectives in Performing Arts Healthcare
IDH 4950-001
Instructor: Nancy Burns
Fridays | 9:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Medical Humanities
This course provides an overview of the physical and mental health issues of performing artists as a vulnerable and underserved population and explores evidence-based solutions to advance the health care and health access to this population. Completion of the course will leave students with specific knowledge and an empathetic approach to caring for performing artists that can translate into caring for the general population.
Connections: Mental Healthcare, Community Engagement, and Art
IDH 4950-002
Instructor: Ulluminair Salim
Thursdays | 1:00 PM - 3:45 PM
Medical Humanities
Location: Off-campus at the Tampa Museum of Art
In this collaboration between the Judy Genshaft Honors College and the Tampa Museum of Art, Honors students learn about medical conditions such as dementia, depression, substance use disorder, and PTSD and are trained to facilitate interactions with works of art for patient groups dealing with these diagnoses. Students will learn how to deliver therapeutic interactions with art that allow participants to give their own personal interpretations without fear of judgment or failure. The methods utilized in class have been found to help patients access and express memories, improve communication skills, externalize emotions, relieve stress and anxiety, and promote positive feelings. This class will also instruct students in the practices of observation, deep listening, and critical thinking, build empathy and understanding, and engage students with the community. This capstone course will allow students to participate in furthering the research in these areas by providing an immersive experience at the intersection of art, medicine, and mental health. Please note that this class meets at the Tampa Museum of Art – allow time for traveling back and forth when you are planning your schedule. Transportation is not provided but parking fees will be covered.
Transitional Justice
IDH 4950-003
Instructor: Alma Dedic-Sarenkapa
T/H | 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
In the realm of international politics, countries in transition from an authoritarian regime to democracy or from war to peace often face multiple transitions and different challenges, for instance, the challenge of overcoming past abuses of human rights such as political executions, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, or genocide. Such societies at times reach for transitional justice mechanisms to redress past atrocities and human rights violations. Transitional Justice (TJ) mechanisms consist of judicial and non-judicial measures, including truth-seeking mechanisms, reparation programs, and institutional reforms. This complex set of measures if applied in counties in transition can offer reconciliatory elements for grieving and often divided societies on their path to democracy and global trends.
This course will offer an exploration of Transitional Justice mechanisms using real-life experiences. Yet together we will reach even further and look into our own society and communities we live in. What can we learn from societies in transition? Can we apply such measures and experience is our own society and communities? In this course, students will practice how to bridge the gap between academic concepts, and real-life experiences in a complex environment using a problem-solving approach and TJ tools. Through a series of thematic sessions, case studies, and student-led workshops students will learn how to obtain input for project ideas they wish to work on.
Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
IDH 4950-004
Instructor: Holly Donahue Singh
M/W | 11:00 AM - 12:15 AM
Medical Humanities
This course examines contemporary social movements around reproductive health, rights, and justice in global historical contexts. The historical and cross-cultural examination of debates about, and advocacy around, reproduction will ground students' research into current medical, legislative, and social reform movements aimed at changing the ways people imagine human futures and work to create them through policy, education, and activism. Students' research will serve as the basis for creating their own projects aimed at increasing public understanding of their topics in the form of a public event, a podcast, an exhibition, a website, a course syllabus, a documentary, or another form.
Quality makes ¢ent$: Healthcare Research & Quality Outcomes
IDH 4950-005
Instructor: Donna Ettel Gambino
Tuesdays | 2:00 PM - 4:45 PM
Medical Humanities
What ethical and legal obligations do hospitals have to patients? What challenges
and issues arise while conducting healthcare quality projects? How are quality of
care and cost of delivery related? Using literature (Foucault's The Birth of the Clinic,
Gawande's Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, and others) and film (The English
Surgeon, Malice, and others), this course purposes to instill the knowledge of community
needs through cultural enlightenment, interdisciplinary practices, and real-life experience.
This course will primarily focus on clinical outcomes and process change, and will
emphasize analysis of the patient care process to identify specific interventions.
Students will learn to incorporate the research process as they conduct an actual
healthcare outcomes study utilizing a quantitative research approach. Students will
be prepared to present findings and practical applications to hospital administrators.
Designed for students interested in interprofessional healthcare delivery, this course
seeks to assist students with developing competencies expected of professional programs.
Additional topics include an overview of accreditation standards; licensure agencies;
reimbursement systems; legal/ethical issues; healthcare computerization; documentation,
quality, compliance, and regulatory requirements and HIPPA compliance.
Visual Narratives
IDH 4950-006
Instructor: Tamara Nemirovsky
Fridays | 9:30 AM - 12:15 PM
In this class, you will have the opportunity to work collectively in producing a documentary.
You will learn how to:
Pre-produce (developing story ideas, research, developing a proposal and pitching, writing a
treatment, script, writing questions to interview participants)
Produce (the logistics of filming well planned and well execute interviews and shoots that
include conceptual aspect as framing, types of shots, etc. as well as technical aspect
like camera use, light, sound, etc.) and
Post-produce (editing concepts, process and use of editing software)
In learning these concepts, you will be able to turn your project into a documentary
that re-tells the stories of our community in a meaningful and reflective way. During
the semester, you will explore how to produce a short documentary about Tampa Bay’s
communities’ stories through visual narration.
If you pay attention, you can see that your knowledge of what is happening around
you is communicated over and over through images, either through photography, videos,
or movies. Your generation is perhaps the one that most frequently uses visual elements
to create social memories. Most of the time this process is not evident, and you may
not reflect on its social function. This Honors class will teach you to do precisely
that. You can decide to work on science, sports, politics, media, fashion, music,
generational issues, or whatever you might like to investigate to know it better within
Tampa Bay’s local events and/or communities. This course does not require previous
film knowledge or experience. You will use your smartphone to shoot.
Civic Literacy and Current Events - Getting In Touch With The World
IDH 4950-007
Instructor: Daniel Ruth
Fridays | 12:30 PM - 3:15 PM
This class is designed to give students an enhanced understanding of world events and civic institutions that influence our lives. Students will read daily newspapers as well as follow news events across a variety of information platforms.
The goals of this course are two-fold. First students will become better informed and thus more aware of stories that shape their world view. Second, students will gain a keener appreciation of the journalistic challenges associated with keeping them informed. This class will also require a Capstone writing project of about 3,000 words.
Exploring Behind the Veil: The New Honors Building
IDH 4950-008
Instructor: Atsuko Sakai
T/H | 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
The construction of our new home is moving forward! Let’s use this rare opportunity to capture a unique moment in the history of our Judy Genshaft Honors College. While observing parts of the building structure being constructed, we will explore the concept of architectural design and imagine the future of our innovative learning environment. This course will take you to a backstage tour of the multi-year design process we have gone through, and you will be exposed to various design features that support the complex building systems and functions through readings, review of visual documents, hands-on design exercises, site visits, and interactions with different specialists from the large design & construction team. In addition to learning about the physical design elements (i.e., what’s in the building such as structure, lighting, building materials, and landscape), we will discuss how we actually experience 3-dimensional spaces and the effects of our surroundings on our behavior, mood, and learning in particular. In order to examine both human factors and environmental factors, we will be actively exchanging ideas on a variety of topics including: nature and sustainability; neuroscience and environmental psychology; and disability and accessibility. No previous architectural knowledge or design experience is required and students from all majors are welcome!
Systems Thinking for Sustainability
IDH 4950 – 009
Instructor: Kebreab Ghebremichael
T/H | 8:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Sustainability has become an important topic of discussion as humanity faces existential threats. Conventional approaches of analysis and decision making have not been able to address the complex nature of the challenges we face. Hence decisions based on systems thinking and multidisciplinary approaches are required. In this course we will use systems thinking to explore interdependencies in the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic, and environmental), and develop solutions driven by trade-offs between these pillars. We will use real life case studies to describe systems and understand the various components and their interactions to develop solutions to sustainability related problems. This course will use social science field methods to demonstrate how one can develop culturally appropriate solutions by engaging community members/organizations throughout a project’s lifecycle. The course will provide students an in-depth engagement with colleagues and peers from multiple disciplines through group projects.
CAM Co-Lab
IDH 4950-010
Instructor: Leslie Elsasser
Fridays | 9:30 AM – 12:15 PM
The artistic lens can provide ways of knowing and a means of understanding everyday realities. CAM Co-Lab offers an innovative curriculum through an active course of study that is grounded in USF Contemporary Art Museum’s exhibitions dedicated to socially engaged artistic practices. In this trans-disciplinary arts-based course, Honors students will learn the latest skills and practicum to facilitate a 21st-century tour at the USF Contemporary Art Museum, through object-based and interpretive learning, and practice in the museum. The course addresses pertinent issues of our day, diverse perspectives, and blurs the boundaries between artmaking, education, and anthropological, sociological, economic, historical, and medical issues facing us today. The arts are powerful tools. They highlight our social contexts and have a role as a catalyst that can trigger ideas, stories, conversations and give each person a voice that needs to be heard. They offer the potential to improve tangible, transferable skills necessary within emerging interdisciplinary and interprofessional professions, including enhanced perspective, mindful reflection, research, visual literacy, sharpened analytic and diagnostic capabilities, increased tolerance for ambiguity, and improved teamwork and communication.
IDH 4970-001
IDH 4970-002
Instructor: Atsuko Sakai
The Honors Thesis consists of Thesis I & Thesis II. It is a two-semester program where
students will conduct an independent study under the guidance of their own thesis
chair selected by each student. The thesis process mirrors a mentorship system common
in graduate schools (e.g., dissertation for a Ph.D. program). By closely working with
your own chair, you will come up with a research topic, develop research methods,
and produce your own creative work such as a research paper, artwork, a business proposal,
etc. It is a great opportunity to create your own unique research project, learn from
faculty about the research process, and gain research skills. We recommend that students
who are interested in the Honors Thesis prepare early. Permit required. Please go
to Honors Thesis for more information, or compare different Research Track options. 001 for first-semester thesis; 002 for second-semester thesis.