Course Descriptions

While many students have a notion that honors courses are, by default, harder, we always say that honors classes are different. With an average class size of just 17 students, honors classes allow students to have far more interaction with their professors and fellow students; in turn, this allows professors to design their classes to revolve around discussion and active learning rather than lectures and tests.

The Honors College offers two types of honors courses that are available to all honors students. Liberal Studies honors sections (LBST-H), which also fulfill general education requirements, and honors topics seminars (HONR 3700), upper-level discussion-intensive courses.

Please note, you must be enrolled in the University Honors Program, Business Honors Program, Arts + Architecture Honors Program, Levine Scholars Program, Martin Scholars Program or have the permission of the Honors College.  To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault (Administrative Support Associate) at cchenaul@uncc.edu.  

Summer 2023 Schedule of Classes

Honors College - Summer 2023

HONR 3700 – H80 (CRN#32072) Honors College Topics: The History and Development of Black Education in America
First Half Term Summer | On-Line Synchronous
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 10:00 am – 12:20 pm
Willis, Evan

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu. 
The course will discuss the education of Black people beginning in the North during Antebellum Period, then focus on Southern African Americans after emancipation. Afterwards the focus will shift toward the Jim Crow South educational experience leading up to Brown V Board in 1954. This will transition to the resistance measures taken towards segregation. Finally, the course will culminate in the resegregation of Schools. The students will then be asked of ways in which they can create better educational opportunities in urban centers of America.

LBST 2102 – H80 (CRN#32079) Global Connections (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
HONR 1501 - H80 (CRN#32243) Global Social Science (HONR) [New Gen Ed]
Second Half Term Summer | On-Line Synchronous
Tuesday and Wednesday 10:00 am – 1:30 pm
Sawhney, Monika

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu. 
“Complex Emergencies, Crisis Management, Health and Development in Global Context.” - This course looks at how complex emergencies impact individual and population health. It will cover the humanitarian system, encompassing an examination of actors involved in complex emergencies, humanitarian action, and laws and norms that seek to constrain and guide these actors. This course offering is focused more explicitly on topics related to social development, health systems in complex emergencies, forced migration, nutrition, and non-communicable diseases.


Fall 2023 Schedule of classes

Honors College - Fall 2023

LBST 1105 - H71 (CRN#16179) Arts & Society: Visual Arts (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
HONR 1512 - H71 (CRN#17379) Local Arts/Humanities (HONR) [New Gen Ed]
Thursday 2:00 pm - 4:45 pm
Malin Pereira

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
"Inquiry into the Visual Arts" In this course, we will conduct individual and group inquiries into the visual arts. We will visit a range of art events, museums, galleries and public spaces, aiming to experience and investigate a range of artistic expression from the classical to the experimental and from a variety of cultural perspectives. Assignments require attendance, research using academic sources, reflection, writing and discussion. Most activities will fit our Thursday afternoon class time, but there may be one or two substitutions, all of which will be on the course calendar the first day of class. This course will be held at The Dubois Center in Uptown Charlotte so we can access all the local art. Light rail transportation to the 9th St campus is free and highly recommended; students with main campus parking that includes TDC will be able to park there.

LBST 1105 - H78 (CRN#16172) Arts & Society: Visual Arts (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
ARCH 1502 - H78 (CRN#16453) Global Arts/Humanities (HONR)  [New Gen Ed]
Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm
Matthew Gin

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu. 
“Designing Change” Is it possible to design a better world? How can design thinking be used to tackle big problems? This course will explore these questions by examining architectural schemes both real and imagined to improve the human condition. Our investigation focuses on the West in a turbulent period of architectural and social experimentation known as the Age of Reform (c. 1700-1900). We will consider how architecture in this moment helped to shape and was in turn shaped by attempts to address major cultural, economic, and political issues through design. In addition to analyzing the aims of various reform movements, we will also reflect critically on the limitations of design as a tool to achieve an improved social order. Among the examples covered in this course are visionary designs for hospitals and factories, utopian communities, and the histories of homeless shelters and water fountains. To link past with present, students for their final project will create a design manifesto that addresses a contemporary problem in their community. No previous experience with architecture or design is necessary.

LBST 1105 - H79 (CRN#17105) Arts & Society: Visual Arts (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
RELS 1502 - H79 (CRN#17106) Global Arts/Humanities (HONR)   [New Gen Ed]

Monday and Wednesday 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm
Janet McDaniel

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
“Myth, Meaning, and Society: Contemporary Approaches” This course will provide insights into the power and function of myth in cultures. You will investigate ways of interpreting world myths using contemporary approaches. Myths form the bases of worldviews. They are stories that reflect, reinforce, and sometimes challenge a society’s social, cultural, and religious constructs. In this class, you will explore myths around the world from both the past and present. You will discover theoretical approaches to myths, including perspectives on gender. You will examine the function of ritual and myth, and the ways in which myths are passed down through oral storytelling, literature, and children’s stories (fairytales).

LBST 2102 - H72 (CRN#17067) Global Connections (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
HIST 1502 - H72 (CRN#17032) Global Arts/Humanities (HONR) [New Gen Ed]
Monday and Wednesday 11:15 am - 12:30 pm
Dan Du

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu. 
“Food in the Chinese Diaspora” This interdisciplinary seminar will introduce Chinese food and foodways as well as their spread to other parts of the world, such as the United States, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Students will read scholarly works on Chinese food in different regions and cultures, discuss how eating helped weave peoples, places, and times into the globalization process, and explore the influence of Chinese food on social, cultural, and economic systems. The readings and discussions will prepare students to conduct original research projects that investigate Chinese food and foodways with historical texts, visual materials, and interviews from interdisciplinary perspectives.

LBST 2211 - H77 (CRN#17033) Ethical Issues (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
HONR 1511 - H77 (CRN#17380) Local Social Science (HONR) [New Gen Ed]
Monday and Wednesday 10:10 am - 11:25 am
Catherine Tingelstad

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
"Exploring Media Literacy in a Complex Information Environment" This course examines how media literacy addresses the topics of misinformation, media bias, rhetoric in media content, representation, and ownership. Students will read a number of articles and book chapters on these topics and will apply the content to an analysis of our media environment and its impact on our lives as citizens and its effect on a democratic society. Discussions will focus on the concept that media is constructed and determined by a variety of influences. The course will challenge students to think about the impact this has on exposure to information and personal belief systems. Students will participate in a close analysis of these influences to develop a better understanding of what media literacy involves and why it is essential to understanding information.

LBST 2214 - H74 (CRN#17034) Health & Quality of Life (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
HIST 1512 - H74 (CRN#17369) Local Arts/Humanities (HONR) [New Gen Ed]
Tuesday and Thursday 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Kristina Shull

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
"Climate Change Histories and Futures" While the earth’s climate has experienced natural fluctuations over the past several million years, the advent of the modern industrial age and advances in climatological research have brought us to a global consensus that we have entered an unprecedented era of human-made climate change. Yet, dominant modes of production, consumption, political debate, and rising global inequality continue to stall collective action despite warnings of climate catastrophe. Through an exploration of social and environmental histories, media studies, and speculative fiction with an emphasis on the United States, this course interrogates the past, present, and future of humanity’s impact on, and reactions to, climate change. Students will pursue a series of historical, literary analysis, argument, and creative assignments to develop critical thinking and communication skills that are transferrable across all disciplines, culminating in a final project that will put course learnings into local climate action

LBST 2301 - H73 (CRN#12278) Critical Thinking & Comm (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
CTCM 2530 - H73 (CRN#16956) Critical Thinking (HONR) [New Gen Ed]
Tuesday and Thursday 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm
Ian Binns

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
"Science, Religion, and Society" This course will provide students with a philosophical and historical overview of the interactions between science and religion, two indisputably profound cultural forces. The epistemological differences between science and religion will be addressed along with various perspectives and specific examples regarding their interactions. Although science-religion relationships are often portrayed as hostile and divisive, in particular, with conflicts over teaching biological evolution in the United States, this course will broaden students’ historical perspective and, thus, increase understanding of contemporary issues related to science and religion.

LBST 2301 - H75 (CRN#12449) Critical Thinking & Comm (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
CTCM 2530 - H75 (CRN#16962) Critical Thinking (HONR) [New Gen Ed]
Tuesday and Thursday 8:30 am - 9:45 am
Jordan Boyd

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
“Race, Class, Education, and Culture in Today’s America” In this course, students will study the concept of citizenship with an emphasis on the ways in which race, class, education, and culture act as key variables in the subject’s multifacetedness. Discussions, readings, and reflective journal entries will engage the historical, ethical, and sociopolitical foundations of citizenship and the issues such as poverty, educational opportunity, and social mobility.

LBST 2301 - H76 (CRN#14989) Critical Thinking & Comm (HONR) [Old Gen Ed]
CTCM 2530 - H76 (CRN#16963) Critical Thinking (HONR) [New Gen Ed]
Monday and Wednesday 1:25 pm - 2:40 pm
Andrew Keener

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
"Identity, Belonging, and Citizenship" This course facilitates critical thinking and process-oriented communication on the subjects of identity, belonging, and community, by way of the forms – social forms, but also forms of speaking, writing, and artistic expression – that bring them into being. While providing chances for strengthened engagement with complex, community-relevant topics, this course also offers skill-building in evidence-based written argumentation, the exchange of helpful feedback, and purposeful intellectual inquiry – all in a way that will prepare students for future work in honors (e.g. senior capstone) and beyond.

HONR 2720 - H01 (CRN#14768) Competitive Scholarship Workshop
Wednesday 11:15 am - 12:30 pm
Andrew Keener

This course welcomes students who are enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental), OR are in the following Scholars programs: Albert, Freeman, Johnson, Levine, Martin. Additionally, non-honors students are welcome to request permission to register; to do so, please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
This course provides students a supportive workshop environment for researching, developing, drafting, and revising written material towards nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships. At the beginning of the semester, students will select opportunities to apply for, and will work towards the submission of a complete application over the course of the semester. Activities and assignments may include resumes, personal statements, research statements, frequently-appearing short answer questions, establishing and sustaining connections with faculty, and tips and practice for interviewing. By the end of the course, students will have developed a strong set of application materials that will be relevant not only to a nationally competitive award, but also for internships, graduate programs, and jobs.

HONR 3700 - H01 (CRN#13605) Honors College Topics: Comic Books, Manga, and Graphic Novels: Deconstruction, Creation, and Publication
Wednesday 2:30 pm - 5:15 pm
Adriana Medina

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
In this course, we will read and examine comic books, manga, and graphic novels to enjoy and deconstruct the genres. We will appraise the value of relaying information through pictures and words. Next, we will consider a universal story we have experienced, want to better understand, and share. Then, we will go through the writing process to write and illustrate our own mini comic, manga, or graphic novel. Finally, we will share and attempt to publish our work. Additionally, we will discuss how these genres can be utilized in our respective disciplines.

HONR 3700 - H02 (CRN#12654) Honors College Topics: African American Intellectual History
Monday and Wednesday 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Christopher Cameron

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
This seminar is intended to provide you with a wide-ranging introduction to some of the most important developments and debates concerning the history of African American thought and culture. We will explore the diversity of African American beliefs, experiences, and expressions from the revolutionary era to the present. African American thought has been central to the creation of black culture in America, political mobilization, and community formation. Our coverage will be both historical and thematic. On one hand, it will help you to recognize changes and continuities over time (historical development) within African American intellectual traditions. On the other hand, it will help you to discern and analyze the inherent plurality of ideas, opinions, and cultural practices within African American communities at any given moment (thematic development).

HONR 3700 - H03 (CRN#11894) Honors College Topics: Consuming Appalachian Foodways
Thursday 2:30 pm - 5:15 pm
Ashli Stokes

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
In this course, students will examine various components of Appalachian life and culture, all in the context of the region’s foodways and against a backdrop of the broader food culture of the American South. The course will examine the origins and practice of Appalachian foodways (what people eat and why) from rhetorical, critical, and interdisciplinary perspectives. Food supplies a common fuel to launch discussion, and in class we will examine, debate and eat to understand how foodways reflect this regional cuisine. We will study the region’s culinary history, the relationship between food and race/class/gender dynamics, think about food as a sign of regional identity, and examine the cultural representation of Appalachian food. We will analyze scholarship about Appalachian foodways, read cookbooks and novels, watch movies and listen to music about Appalachian food, engage in product tastings, and conduct fieldwork. Students will be required to go outside the classroom to research Appalachian foodways and present their findings digitally, in a collaborative final project, and in a research forum.

HONR 3700 - H04 (CRN#13444) Honors College Topics: Documenting the Modern Black Freedom Struggle from Charlotte, NC
Tuesday and Thursday 11:30 am - 12:45 pm
Willie Griffin

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
Racial integration and voting rights have been promulgated as the primary, and often only, objectives of the Modern Civil Rights Movement. Politicians, public school curricula, and mainstream media have helped cultivate this belief over several decades. We will reconsider this belief, interrogate the successes and failures of the movement, and examine the crucial dimension of economic justice to better analyze the legacy of structural inequity in policing, employment, education, and housing. Using the latest scholarship, oral and digital histories, along with records from the black press charting the movement’s trajectory, this course aims to reshape what Julian Bond referred to as the “master narrative” of the Civil Rights Movement. Charlotte’s local history, often overlooked in Civil Rights scholarship until the 1970s, will be central to our exploration of the historical roots of the Modern Black Freedom Struggle, its development into the mid-twentieth century, and its legacies in the twenty-first century. We will seek to better understand how African Americans waged battles for social and economic justice and the systematic responses to their struggle. Major topics include, but are not limited to, the Black Radical Tradition, White Supremacy, Jim Crow, the Great Migration, Black Nationalism, Civic Organizing, Leadership, the NAACP, the New Deal, Labor Organizing, World War II, Black Women, Violence vs. Non-Violence, Rosa Lee Ingram, Emmett Till, Mass Mobilization and Grassroots Organizing, Ella Baker, Martin Luther King, Jr., SCLC, the urban and rural South, the North, Sit-Ins, Freedom Rides, SNCC, Freedom Songs, Black Power and the White Backlash, Black Panther Party, Black Arts Movement, and Black Lives Matter.

HONR 3700 - H05 (CRN#16932) Honors College Topics: Disability and Politics Policy
Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm
Amber Knight

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
This course applies insights from the field of disability studies to the canon of Western political thought in order to examine the political nature of disability and the disabling nature of politics. In this course, students are exposed to varying definitions, cultural meanings and representations, social justice and human rights issues, and current bioethical debates related to disability. Building off of feminist theories pertaining to “intersectionality,” the social construction of difference, and the politics of embodiment, we will address some important preliminary questions: What counts as “normal” in human cultures? How have fluctuating assumptions about ability and impairment structured political institutions, law, citizenship, education, and culture? How does the experience of disability affect and inform key political concepts such as identity, dependency, autonomy, and justice? And, how do public policies, civil rights statutes, and health care institutions impact the lives of people with disabilities across gender, race, and class lines?

HONR 3700 - H06 (CRN#17063) Honors College Topics: Churches and Temples as Neuro-Performance Spaces
Tuesday and Thursday 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Mark Pizzato

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
This course explores how the architecture, artworks, and performances in religious spaces reflect specific traditions--and the inner theatre of the visitor's brain.

ECON 2101 - H01 (CRN#11198) Principles of Economics-Macro
Tuesday and Wednesday 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm
Theresa Mannah-Blankson

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
This course reviews the scope and methodology of economics as a social science. Topics reviewed include the measurement of national income, the theory of national income determination, money and banking, monetary and fiscal policy, and international economics. Generally, the course aims to provide an overview of macroeconomic analysis at the most fundamental level.

Recommended honors writing sections for students needing WRDS 1103. Does not count as honors credit for UHP. - Fall 2023

WRDS 1103 - H03 (CRN#15604) Writing and Inquiry In Academic Contexts I and II - Honors Restricted
Tuesday and Thursday 8:30 am - 9:45 am
Meaghan Rand

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
Students write extensively as they explore literacy and writing. They engage critically with the opinions and voices of others while developing an extended inquiry project that integrates materials from varied sources and includes writing in multiple genres. Students write, revise, edit, and reflect on their writing with the support of the teacher and peers. Students also immerse themselves in a conversation about a topic through reading, questioning, and process writing. Students learn to distinguish rhetorical contexts, practice different conventions, and develop positions in relation to research. They also adopt digital technologies to network, compose, and/or critique and disseminate their work. Grades are derived primarily from portfolios that include work generated throughout the term.

WRDS 1103 - H04 (CRN#15604) Writing and Inquiry In Academic Contexts I and II - Honors Restricted
Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm
Meaghan Rand

Must be enrolled in Honors (AAHP, BHP, UHP, or departmental) OR be a Levine Scholar; OR have permission of the Honors College. To obtain permission please contact Colette Chenault at cchenaul@uncc.edu.
Students write extensively as they explore literacy and writing. They engage critically with the opinions and voices of others while developing an extended inquiry project that integrates materials from varied sources and includes writing in multiple genres. Students write, revise, edit, and reflect on their writing with the support of the teacher and peers. Students also immerse themselves in a conversation about a topic through reading, questioning, and process writing. Students learn to distinguish rhetorical contexts, practice different conventions, and develop positions in relation to research. They also adopt digital technologies to network, compose, and/or critique and disseminate their work. Grades are derived primarily from portfolios that include work generated throughout the term.

University Honors Program - Fall 2023

HONR 1700 - H01 (CRN#12498) University Honors Program Colloquium
Wednesday 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm
Denise Lynch

Must be enrolled in the University Honors Program.
Introduces University Honors Program (UHP) students to scholarship, community engagement, and leadership opportunities within the Honors, University, and Greater Charlotte communities. The class format is inquiry and discussion driven. Students participate in an experiential learning opportunity through the National Collegiate Honors Council’s City as Text™ program. This course is offered only in the Fall semester for incoming UHP students.

HONR 1700 - H02 (CRN#12497) University Honors Program Colloquium
Thursday 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm
Denise Lynch

Must be enrolled in the University Honors Program. 
Introduces University Honors Program (UHP) students to scholarship, community engagement, and leadership opportunities within the Honors, University, and Greater Charlotte communities. The class format is inquiry and discussion driven. Students participate in an experiential learning opportunity through the National Collegiate Honors Council’s City as Text™ program. This course is offered only in the Fall semester for incoming UHP students.

HONR 3791- H01 (CRN#16640) UHP Senior Project
Wednesday 2:30 pm - 5:15 pm
Mindy Adnot

Must be enrolled in the University Honors Program. 
Students in the University Honors Program (UHP) must complete an honors capstone project in order to graduate with University Honors. Students can satisfy this requirement by applying to a disciplinary honors program and completing a disciplinary capstone or thesis project (leading to dual honors; available for most majors on campus), or can complete their capstone project in UHP by completing HONR 3790 and HONR 3791. In HONR 3791, students will complete their review of the scholarly literature begun in HONR 3790 and design and lead a seminar series for a small group of incoming honors students. This work is undertaken under the mentorship of an honors faculty committee selected by the student. This course provides the opportunity for collaborative work with peers, group discussions, and feedback.

HONR 3791- H02 (CRN#16641) UHP Senior Project
Thursday 2:30 pm - 5:15 pm
Mindy Adnot

Must be enrolled in the University Honors Program. 
Students in the University Honors Program (UHP) must complete an honors capstone project in order to graduate with University Honors. Students can satisfy this requirement by applying to a disciplinary honors program and completing a disciplinary capstone or thesis project (leading to dual honors; available for most majors on campus), or can complete their capstone project in UHP by completing HONR 3790 and HONR 3791. In HONR 3791, students will complete their review of the scholarly literature begun in HONR 3790 and design and lead a seminar series for a small group of incoming honors students. This work is undertaken under the mentorship of an honors faculty committee selected by the student. This course provides the opportunity for collaborative work with peers, group discussions, and feedback.

Previous Course Listings

Curious about previous honors courses? The links below are to honors course listings from previous semesters. Some courses may be offered again in future semesters.