Honors Program Curriculum

First Year

           Course Title Credits Total

Fall

HON 101 Culture, Ideas, and Values I 3

HON 111 Critical Analysis I 3

HON 112 or higher math Honors Math 3

FYE 11xx First Year Experience 3

Major, Minor, or Elective Course(s) 4

Total 16

Spring

HON 102 Culture, Ideas, and Values II 3

HON 113 Critical Analysis II 3

Major, Minor, or Elective Course(s) 10

Total 16

Second Year

Fall

HON 201 Culture, Ideas, and Values III 3

HON 203 Paradigms of Nature I 4

HON 320 Modern US Perspectives 3

Major, Minor, or Elective Course(s) 6

Total 16

Spring

HON 202 Culture, Ideas, and Values IV 3

HON 204 Paradigms of Nature II 4

Major, Minor, or Elective Course(s) 9

Total 16

Third Year

Fall

Major, Minor, or Elective Course(s) 13

Total 16

Spring

HON 360 Upper Level Seminar II - Problem-Solving 3

Major, Minor, or Elective Course(s) 13

Total 16

Fourth Year

Fall

HON 440 Upper Level Seminar III - Politics/Economics 3

HON 403 Senior Honors Project I 2

Major, Minor, or Elective Course(s) 11

Total 16

Spring

HON 460 Upper Level Seminar IV - World Issues 3

HON 404 Senior Honors Project II 2

Major, Minor, or Elective Course(s) 11

Total 16

Total Honors Program Requirements 51

Total Major, Minor and Elective credits 77

Total Credits for Graduation* 128*

*128 credits is the minimum required for graduation. Certain Majors may require more course credits. Consult the NJCU Catalog or the academic department of interest.

HONORS PROGRAM COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

HON 101 Culture, Ideas and Values I

This course is a study of the great ideas and issues of human civilizations seen through the theme of humanism. Readings are grouped thematically across disciplines, ages, and cultures so as to highlight important ideas and issues and their interrelationships.

HON 102 Culture, Ideas and Values II

This course is a study of the great ideas and issues of human civilizations seen through the theme of faith. Readings are grouped thematically across disciplines, ages, and cultures so as to highlight important ideas and issues and their interrelationships.

Prerequisite HON 101 Culture, Ideas and Values I.

HON 111 Critical Analysis I – Poetry and the Critical Imagination

This course provides students with the opportunity to examine the role of literature in our lives, acquire the technical skills necessary to effectively read poetry (skills that will aid students in all their reading), develop a profound appreciation for this genre by applying the analytical skills necessary to appreciate both the technical accomplishment and emotional appeal of poems.

HON 112 Honors Math

This course is a technologically enriched course in college algebra which will engage the student in concrete modeling. The course will promote conceptual understanding through exploration of real-world problems. This course is intended for the student preparing for higher level mathematics courses and for the student taking the course to satisfy the all University math requirement. The course is intended to develop the quantitative literacy and savvy that graduates need to function effectively in society and the workplace.

Prerequisite: MATH 098 or equivalent.

HON 201 Culture, Ideas and Values III

This course is a study of the great ideas and issues of human civilizations seen through the theme of scientific inquiry. Readings are grouped thematically across disciplines, ages, and cultures so as to highlight important ideas and issues and their interrelationships.

Prerequisite HON 101 Culture, Ideas and Values I & II.

HON 202 Culture, Ideas and Values IV

This course is a study of the great ideas and issues of human civilizations seen through the theme of liberation. Readings are grouped thematically across disciplines, ages, and cultures so as to highlight important ideas and issues and their interrelationships.

Prerequisite HON 101 Culture, Ideas and Values I, II, and III.

HON 203 Paradigms of Nature I

This course stresses the goals and natures of scientific investigations and the evolution and interconnectedness of scientific knowledge. The course accomplishes this by using an investigative, interdisciplinary approach to topics in the Earth and Physical Sciences. Topics include motion, forces, energy and energy transformations, wave energy, the universe, the solar system, oceans, planetary circulation, earthquakes, volcanism, and plate tectonics.

Co-requisites: MATH 112 Algebra for College (or equivalent) and INTD 120 Computer as a Tool (or equivalent).

HON 204 Paradigms of Nature II

This course will focus on the biological and chemical aspects of living organisms. It will follow the origin of life through evolution to the present state of humans. Evolution, genetics, and the development of modern medicine will be emphasized.

Prerequisite: HON 203 Paradigms of Nature I.

HON 320 Modern U.S. Perspectives I

This course is a seminar that will focus on readings relevant to the development of distinctly American

political, social and cultural experiences. The course directs particular attention to the emergence and development of and American identity and its alteration over time. This seminar considers developments from 1780 to the World War I era.

HON 340 Upper-Level Seminar I – The Arts: Looking, Thinking, Talking, Doing

This seminar will expose participants to a wide range of creative work and provide a basis for understanding that work. Through direct experience, reproductions, critical reading, and discussion, members of the class that will interact with contemporary and historical works of art. This seminar will attempt to discuss broadly the context in which art is made and received, and to aid in and encourage its enlightened evaluation. The role of creator will also be experienced and analyzed. Field trips to various cultural venues will be a required part of the course.

N.B. No prior training or experience in the arts is required for this class.

HON 360 Upper-Level Seminar II – Problem-Solving: Reason, Imagination and the Unfathomable

This course will reconstruct some classic responses to basic human problems. What is the riddle of one’s life? What is the role of art in facing the tragedy of existence? What is true? What are the sources of violence and how to control it? How can the goodness of God be compatible with the existence of evil in the world? We will take an interdisciplinary approach to these questions, weaving the perspectives of literature, aesthetics, epistemology, politics and ethics.

HON 403 Senior Honors Project I

The purpose of the Senior Honors Project is to help students in their final year of the Honors Program to prepare for graduate-level work by conducting independent research on a topic related to their field of study. Part one of a two-semester sequence, this course will focus on understanding the steps of the research-writing process, exploring the various methods of inquiry used in research, and producing a variety of writings that will support the final research project.

HON 404 Senior Honors Project II

The purpose of the Senior Honors Project is to help students in their final year of the Honors Program to prepare for graduate-level work by conducting independent research on a topic related to their field of study. Part two of a two-semester sequence, this course will carry forward work begun in part one: Students will produce a draft of the final research project and revise it through a process of peer review, continued reading, and group discussions. Students will make an oral presentation of their work prior to the submission of the final written version of the project.

HON 440 Upper-Level Seminar III – Politics/Economics: Political Economy

This course explores basic economic concepts and applies them to contemporary political and social issues. The tools of economics are used to analyze how these issues impact the public and non-profit sectors.

HON 460 Upper-Level Seminar IV – World Issues: Sex, Gender and Globalization

This course examines sex and gender as dynamic of globalization, focusing on the sexual politics of colonialism and nationalism, the economics of mothering and domestic work, the militarization of women’s lives, global responses to AIDS, trafficking in women, and the international politics of adoption and surrogacy.