To find honors courses on LionPATH, you should do an advanced search by clicking “Additional Search Criteria,” choosing “Honors Course” from the course attribute drop-down menu, and unchecking "Show only open classes."

Honors classes are all section 098 or 099 courses; they may or may not carry an “H” in their titles.

As honors students, your records are coded so only you can enroll in honors sections; add/drop slips are no longer required. However, you must register for the 098 or 099 sections, or you will not receive honors credit. The correct—HONORS—course numbers are listed below.

Questions? Contact Dr. Rotunno at [email protected].

Review Penn State Altoona Honors Curriculum Policies

Fall 2025 Honors Courses

MWF 10:10-11:00 AM | Course Number: 18160
This course is an equivalent of ENGL 015 and 030; CAS 138T (the required spring course) is an equivalent of CAS 100. Incoming first-year honors students must take this course and CAS 138T in the spring.
What is rhetoric? How is it used in media—specifically writing and speech? What is the role of a citizen in twenty-first-century life? These are admittedly big questions. To get to some answers (perhaps) and more questions (definitely), we will take these macro questions and apply them to micro issues, namely the environment, sustainability, and food. You will read, watch, and listen to various media, both fiction and nonfiction, to study these topics and to begin engaging them through your own ideas, words, writing, and other critically-focused creations. In addition to the in-class work, we will begin preparing for and collaborating with community partners for community-based learning service and activities such as community gardens and food pantries. This class will challenge your preconceptions, expand your horizons, and demand active participation. Please email any questions to Dr. Stoyanoff at [email protected].

MWF 9:05–9:55 AM | Course Number: 28211
*Make sure to enroll in this 99 section*
This course is a study of natural disasters, their physical causes, effects on humans and societies, and solutions to reduce their occurrences. Natural disasters are a product of natural hazards: earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, heatwaves, near-earth objects, and blizzards, among others. Thus, we will focus on the scientific aspects of natural hazards and their role in disaster formation. Mitigation for disasters and responses to disasters will also be studied across economically developing nations and developed nations. The social characteristics of the population are equally important as the scientific aspects of natural hazards in understanding natural disasters. Case histories related to notable natural disasters events will also be discussed. These include the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the 2011 Japanese earthquake, and tsunami, among others. The popular media will be used as a learning tool to understand the causes, consequences, and public perceptions of natural disasters. This will entail reviewing excerpted segments of “disaster films” as a starting point for analysis.

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

The goal of this course is to conduct a full-scale analysis of natural disasters in terms of their causes, consequences, response, mitigation strategy (future areas of research), and the role of the media in portraying natural disaster events. In the end, students will:

  • gain an understanding of the geographic distribution of natural hazards
  • gain an understanding of the geologic and atmospheric processes responsible for natural hazards
  • gain an understanding of the social characteristics related to natural disaster formation
  • gain an understanding of the areas susceptible to natural hazards and their frequency
  • gain an understanding of practical ways to mitigate the effects of natural hazards in areas where they are likely to occur

In the end, it is my hope that when students hear about natural disasters in the news they will understand what caused the natural disaster to occur (scientific aspects) and how the population of that area may be affected (social aspects). Questions? Contact Dr. Dolney at [email protected].

The below are not “official” honors courses but courses in which an honors option has already been designed. Students who enroll in these courses must fill out an online honors option form at the beginning of the semester.

MWF 1:25–2:15 PM | Course Number 15716
This course is an introduction to the history of "madness," examining and evaluating the ideas that have shaped perceptions of madness, insanity, and mental illness over the centuries. We’ll discuss how and why “mad people” throughout history have been at points venerated and at other points feared. We’ll read texts and watch videos, sometimes from those who live with mental illnesses, that attempt to explain the ways mental illnesses have been addressed by different social groups and throughout different time periods. And we’ll explore popular films that have shaped (for better and worse) how the world talks about mental illness. As a result, you’ll will become acquainted with the ways in which human biology, culture, society, and politics have reciprocally shaped one another in history. Questions? Contact Dr. Page at [email protected].

TR 10:35 – 11:50 AM | Course Number 18555
Ever wondered why some movies just stick with you? This course dives deep into the fascinating intersection of film and philosophy, exploring how movies shape our understanding of reality, culture, and even beauty itself. We'll watch thought-provoking films, unpack key philosophical ideas (no prior philosophy experience required!), and discover how movies reflect and influence our values and everyday lives. Get ready to see film—and the world—in a whole new light.

MWF 10:10 – 11:00 AM | Course Number 18001
Does free speech have any limits and, if so, what are they?
Why does a country as big as the United States only have two political parties?
Is the Electoral College democratic and why does the United States use it?

In this course, we will address questions such as these and more. It is designed as an introduction to the principal features of American political life. The breadth of the course is very wide, but we will focus throughout on the history and evolution of the American political system, the expansion of rights and liberties, and the role of political parties and elections.

The overall goals of the course are threefold: 1) offer students a basic understanding of the key institutions and processes of American political life; 2) present students with a foundation for future political science classes; and 3) provide students with the resources necessary to be active and informed citizens. Additionally, this course also serves as a first-year experience course, so it will include materials and discussion related to starting a college career.

TR 9:05 – 10:20 AM | Course Number 6431
The ability to learn effectively and efficiently is a critically important skill, during college but also beyond. Psych 263N will focus on the science behind learning – how learning actually happens, but also the many factors that affect our ability to learn (such as study strategies, personality, intelligence, motivation, and stress). Students can expect to gain insights into their own learning as well as a better understanding of how learning environments and educational practices can be improved. With the idea of application in mind, this class will include a series of hands-on laboratory exercises, where students will test concepts related to learning using the scientific method. Questions? Contact Dr. Lilenthal at [email protected].

Spring 2025 Honors Courses

Section 99: MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. | Course Number: 18157
In ENGL 137H, you contextualized, analyzed, even TED-talk-erized. In CAS 138T—a REQUIREMENT FOR ALL 2022 INCOMING HONORS FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS—you get to argue and advocate for ideas and actions in which you believe. You get to further find and exercise your voice (or voices). You’ll tell others what you believe in. You’ll enter deliberations about pressing issues with your classmates, and you’ll take those deliberations public to share and advocate for worthwhile ideas. You’ll work to inspire actions in others and undertake some revisions of your work to evaluate and then showcase the accomplishments of your first year at Penn State Altoona. You have the ideas. This class is going to help you get those ideas out to the right audiences, the “right” way. (Prerequisite ENGL 137H). Questions contact Dr. Rotunno at [email protected].

TH 9:05–10:20 a.m. | Course Number: 28336
Make sure to enroll in this 99 section
This course is a study of natural disasters, their physical causes, effects on humans and societies, and solutions to reduce their occurrences. Natural disasters are a product of natural hazards: earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, heatwaves, near-earth objects, and blizzards, among others. Thus, we will focus on the scientific aspects of natural hazards and their role in disaster formation. Mitigation for disasters and responses to disasters will also be studied across economically developing nations and developed nations. The social characteristics of the population are equally important as the scientific aspects of natural hazards in understanding natural disasters. Case histories related to notable natural disasters events will also be discussed. These include the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the 2011 Japanese earthquake, and tsunami, among others. The popular media will be used as a learning tool to understand the causes, consequences, and public perceptions of natural disasters. This will entail reviewing excerpted segments of “disaster films” as a starting point for analysis.

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

The goal of this course is to conduct a full-scale analysis of natural disasters in terms of their causes, consequences, response, mitigation strategy (future areas of research), and the role of the media in portraying natural disaster events. In the end, students will:

  • gain an understanding of the geographic distribution of natural hazards
  • gain an understanding of the geologic and atmospheric processes responsible for natural hazards
  • gain an understanding of the social characteristics related to natural disaster formation
  • gain an understanding of the areas susceptible to natural hazards and their frequency
  • gain an understanding of practical ways to mitigate the effects of natural hazards in areas where they are likely to occur

In the end, it is my hope that when students hear about natural disasters in the news they will understand what caused the natural disaster to occur (scientific aspects) and how the population of that area may be affected (social aspects). Questions? Contact Dr. Dolney at [email protected].

The below are not “official” honors courses but courses in which an honors option has already been designed. Students who enroll in these courses must fill out an online honors option form at the beginning of the semester.

MWF 1:25–2:15 p.m. ZOOM | Course Number: 28263
This course will ask students to reconsider existing perspectives on sustainability and the ecological crisis we currently find ourselves by reading both philosophical and literary texts – specifically in environmental/ecological philosophy and horror/weird literature. Weird literature with its effective use of the uncanny and horror illustrates the urgency of seeking sustainable alternatives to the current modus operandi of the industrialized world under late-stage capitalism. We believe that this course will help students find the wonder of the natural world through the horror it may evoke without our cooperation in sustaining it.

MWF 9:05–9:55 a.m. | Course Number: 18606 (ENGL) OR 18607 (WMNST)
Our world bombards us with images, and we contribute to that barrage each time we post a picture. This class will engage you in vital discussions about those images as well as those that came before us and continue to shape what we see and create today. At its core, this class will be driven by our discussion of visual presentations that use “sex” to “sell” us a story; that story might be about what family is or should be, about what political activism looks like, about how a society thinks about love, beauty, hate, even its future hopes or its present fears. To spur those discussions, we’ll offer you readings by and about artists and their subjects—both fictional and real—and a rich, diverse historical background in visual representations that reflect how Western society, from the mid-19th-century to today, has viewed itself through the lens of sexuality, which always intersects with race, gender, gender identity, and class. For example, the terms “feminist” and “homosexual” were invented by the Victorians and reflect profound shifts in conceptions of identity. Another 19th-century invention was the idea of the literary and artistic “avant-garde” as a minority contingent with politically and/or aesthetically advanced views. These ideas of minority culture were deeply enmeshed with one another and still have effects on our world today. Discussions of these ideas then, hopefully, can help us all navigate the flood of images that today’s media presents as well as the self-images we cast into the world. This course can be used as a prerequisite for a 1-credit study abroad (to LONDON!) opportunity that will occur—circumstances allowing—in late May 2023. Questions? Contact Dr. Rotunno at [email protected] or Dr. Page at [email protected].

MWF 11:15 a.m.–12:05 p.m. | Course Number: 19680
This course is an introduction to the history of "madness," examining and evaluating the ideas that have shaped perceptions of madness, insanity, and mental illness over the centuries. We’ll discuss how and why “mad people” throughout history have been at points venerated and at other points feared. We’ll read texts and watch videos, sometimes from those who live with mental illnesses, that attempt to explain the ways mental illnesses have been addressed by different social groups and throughout different time periods. And we’ll explore popular films that have shaped (for better and worse) how the world talks about mental illness. As a result, you’ll will become acquainted with the ways in which human biology, culture, society, and politics have reciprocally shaped one another in history. This course can be used as a prerequisite for a 1-credit study abroad (to LONDON!) opportunity that will occur—circumstances allowing—in late May 2025. Questions? Contact Dr. Page at [email protected].

TTH 1:35–2:50 p.m. | Course Number: 28121
This course uses movies as a window on East Asian history. We will watch Asian films from the 1920s to recent years as a visual introduction to Asian cultures and societies and for the light they can shed on problems of modern life and historical interpretation. How have modern Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans viewed and depicted their own histories? How have they dealt with war, revolution, and social and cultural change? Approaching film in its diverse uses as documentation, interpretation, commentary, propaganda, nostalgia, vision for the future, and reflection of social norms and problems, we will also consider films as products of specific historical environments: why did certain movies appear when they did? No prior knowledge of Asian history required. Just bring your eyes and curiosity.

MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. | Course Number: 19662
Evolutionary psychology is an approach (or way of thinking) that can be applied to better understand almost any topic within psychology. In this course, we will demonstrate how psychologists use principles from evolutionary biology to generate and test new ideas about the “design” of the human mind. In doing so, we will explore how evolutionary psychologists identify adaptive problems faced by our human ancestors and conduct research on the psychological mechanisms shaped by selection to help solve these problems. These psychological mechanisms are involved in motivation and emotion; learning and memory; mate selection and sexual behavior; family relationships; altruism and competition; mental health; and more. Throughout this course, we’ll illustrate how evolutionary psychology has changed how psychologists approach familiar concepts while providing a framework that unites psychology's different subfields. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: PSYCH 100 and (ANTH 21 or BISC 2 or BIOL 133 or BIOL 222)

Fall 2024 Honors Courses

MWF 10:10–11:00 AM | Course Number: 18286
This course is equivalent to ENGL 015 and 030; CAS 138T (the required spring course) is equivalent to CAS 100. Incoming first-year honors students must take this course and CAS 138T in the spring.

How do others and how can you use words, images, your literal voice, and even videos to inform, persuade, and move other people in striking ways? Those are some of the key questions we will explore in this course. To answer, we will engage with texts from current artists and writers who move us to think about ourselves, our place in the world, how that place is changing, and what we want our world to be. That thinking will lead you to write, speak, and create in different forms and from different viewpoints, striving to use words and images accurately and powerfully. This class promises to challenge you to put your communication skills—reading, writing, and speaking—to use to become one who can use his/her words as “Words of Change,” the subtitle of this course. Questions? Contact Dr. Rotunno at [email protected].

MWF 9:05–9:55 AM | Course Number: 28040
Make sure to enroll in the 99 section

This course is a study of natural disasters, their physical causes, effects on humans and societies, and solutions to reduce their occurrences. Natural disasters are a product of natural hazards: earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, heatwaves, near-earth objects, and blizzards, among others. Thus, we will focus on the scientific aspects of natural hazards and their role in disaster formation. Mitigation for disasters and responses to disasters will also be studied across economically developing nations and developed nations. The social characteristics of the population are equally important as the scientific aspects of natural hazards in understanding natural disasters. Case histories related to notable natural disasters events will also be discussed. These include the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the 2011 Japanese earthquake, and tsunami, among others. The popular media will be used as a learning tool to understand the causes, consequences, and public perceptions of natural disasters. This will entail reviewing excerpted segments of “disaster films” as a starting point for analysis.

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

The goal of this course is to conduct a full-scale analysis of natural disasters in terms of their causes, consequences, response, mitigation strategy (future areas of research), and the role of the media in portraying natural disaster events. In the end, students will:

  • gain an understanding of the geographic distribution of natural hazards
  • gain an understanding of the geologic and atmospheric processes responsible for natural hazards
  • gain an understanding of the social characteristics related to natural disaster formation
  • gain an understanding of the areas susceptible to natural hazards and their frequency
  • gain an understanding of practical ways to mitigate the effects of natural hazards in areas where they are likely to occur

In the end, it is my hope that when students hear about natural disasters in the news they will understand what caused the natural disaster to occur (scientific aspects) and how the population of that area may be affected (social aspects). Questions? Contact Dr. Dolney at [email protected].

The below are not “official” honors courses but courses in which an honors option has already been designed. Students who enroll in these courses must fill out an online honors option form at the beginning of the semester.

TR 1:35-2:50 PM | Course Number 24204

BISC 2: Genetics, Ecology, and Evolution provides an overview of multiple key biology topics. The class is divided into four units, starting with some general biological concepts. This is followed with how living organisms inherit their traits, how organisms including plants and animals evolve, and finally how organisms interact with each other and their environment. BISC 2 will also touch on current issues related to these topics. This class provides Natural Sciences (GN) general education credit. Note that students who have already passed BIOL 110, BIOL 133, BIOL 220W, or BIOL 222 may not schedule this course. Questions? Contact Dr. Allen at [email protected].

MWF 2:30 – 3:20 PM | Course Number 7031

Games & Interactive Media pursues the general education goal of exposing students to different disciplinary modes of intellectual engagement by asking them to 'think like a game designer'. It explores the 'ludic turn' in modern society by having students design games to model or represent the gaming industry, game genres, the structure of narratives in games, and the social and political discourse surrounding games. An honors game design project would involve creating and sharing a prototype game as an individual or collaborative effort. Questions? Contact Dr. White at [email protected].

H 10:35–11:50 AM | Course Number 19161

Have sports been important in your life, in helping to make you the person that you are? More broadly: Are sports good for the world? In Sports, Ethics, Literature, we will look at a range of texts and complete a variety of projects to help you answer those questions. We’ll analyze poetry about horse racing, high school football, and professional wrestling; novels about Cold War gymnastics and baseball in a dystopian future governed by Artificial Intelligence; documentaries about Russian doping and scandal at Penn State; and nonfiction about the impact of NIL rights in the NCAA and transgender inclusion in sports. These texts will be jumping-off points for creative and critical projects of your own: evaluating a sports documentary of your choice, imagining the world from a well-known athlete’s perspective, predicting the world of sports in 2050, and crafting a chapter of your own athletic identity memoir. (This is a "Low-Cost" course with book costs under $50.) Questions? Contact Dr. King at [email protected].

MWF 1:25–2:15 PM | Course Number 15615

This course is an introduction to the history of "madness," examining and evaluating the ideas that have shaped perceptions of madness, insanity, and mental illness over the centuries. We’ll discuss how and why “mad people” throughout history have been at points venerated and at other points feared. We’ll read texts and watch videos, sometimes from those who live with mental illnesses, that attempt to explain the ways mental illnesses have been addressed by different social groups and throughout different time periods. And we’ll explore popular films that have shaped (for better and worse) how the world talks about mental illness. As a result, you’ll will become acquainted with the ways in which human biology, culture, society, and politics have reciprocally shaped one another in history. Questions? Contact Dr. Page at [email protected].

TR 9:05 – 10:20 AM | Course Number 28114

The ability to learn effectively and efficiently is a critically important skill, during college but also beyond. Psych 263N will focus on the science behind learning – how learning actually happens, but also the many factors that affect our ability to learn (such as study strategies, personality, intelligence, motivation, and stress). Students can expect to gain insights into their own learning as well as a better understanding of how learning environments and educational practices can be improved. With the idea of application in mind, this class will include a series of hands-on laboratory exercises, where students will test concepts related to learning using the scientific method. Questions? Contact Dr. Lilenthal at [email protected].

TR 3:05-4:20 PM | Course Number 23955

SC 120N: Plants, Places, and People provides a foundation in the breadth of botanical knowledge within the context of human uses of plants. After covering some core plant biology, the class reviews plants as staple foods, material uses like fibers, wood, and paper, and medicinal plants. Toward the end of the semester, students engage in a group project to learn about an ancient or indigenous culture and how that culture uses plants. Each group presents their findings to the class as a peer-teaching and learning exercise. This interdomain class can provide Natural Sciences (GN) or Humanities (GH) credit along with either the US or IL cultures requirement. Questions? Contact Dr. Allen at [email protected].

Spring 2024 Honors Courses

Section 99: MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. | Course Number: 18345
In ENGL 137H, you contextualized, analyzed, even TED-talk-erized. In CAS 138T—a REQUIREMENT FOR ALL 2022 INCOMING HONORS FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS—you get to argue and advocate for ideas and actions in which you believe. You get to further find and exercise your voice (or voices). You’ll tell others what you believe in. You’ll enter deliberations about pressing issues with your classmates, and you’ll take those deliberations public to share and advocate for worthwhile ideas. You’ll work to inspire actions in others and undertake some revisions of your work to evaluate and then showcase the accomplishments of your first year at Penn State Altoona. You have the ideas. This class is going to help you get those ideas out to the right audiences, the “right” way. (Prerequisite ENGL 137H). Questions contact Dr. Rotunno at [email protected].

MWF 9:05–9:55 a.m. | Course Number: 28420
Make sure to enroll in this 99 section
This course is a study of natural disasters, their physical causes, effects on humans and societies, and solutions to reduce their occurrences. Natural disasters are a product of natural hazards: earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, heatwaves, near-earth objects, and blizzards, among others. Thus, we will focus on the scientific aspects of natural hazards and their role in disaster formation. Mitigation for disasters and responses to disasters will also be studied across economically developing nations and developed nations. The social characteristics of the population are equally important as the scientific aspects of natural hazards in understanding natural disasters. Case histories related to notable natural disasters events will also be discussed. These include the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the 2011 Japanese earthquake, and tsunami, among others. The popular media will be used as a learning tool to understand the causes, consequences, and public perceptions of natural disasters. This will entail reviewing excerpted segments of “disaster films” as a starting point for analysis.

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

The goal of this course is to conduct a full-scale analysis of natural disasters in terms of their causes, consequences, response, mitigation strategy (future areas of research), and the role of the media in portraying natural disaster events. In the end, students will:

  • gain an understanding of the geographic distribution of natural hazards
  • gain an understanding of the geologic and atmospheric processes responsible for natural hazards
  • gain an understanding of the social characteristics related to natural disaster formation
  • gain an understanding of the areas susceptible to natural hazards and their frequency
  • gain an understanding of practical ways to mitigate the effects of natural hazards in areas where they are likely to occur

In the end, it is my hope that when students hear about natural disasters in the news they will understand what caused the natural disaster to occur (scientific aspects) and how the population of that area may be affected (social aspects). Questions? Contact Dr. Dolney at [email protected].

The below are not “official” honors courses but courses in which an honors option has already been designed and thus is ready for students. Students who enroll in any of these courses will need to fill out an online honors option form at the beginning of the semester.

M 1:25 – 3:15 (Lab) / MW 3:35-4:25 pm | Course Numbers 23564/23563
BIOL 127: Introduction to Plant Biology provides a foundation in the breadth of botanical knowledge. Students will learn about the cellular structure and organization of plants, physiological processes including photosynthesis, classification, reproduction, and development, and the relationships of plant groups. BIOL 127 includes both a lecture component and a weekly hands-on lab. This class provides Natural Sciences (GN) general education credit or can be used as a prerequisite for many of the 400-level Plant Biology courses. Questions? Contact Dr. Allen at [email protected].

Tu/Th 6 – 7:15 pm | Course Number 27968
Materials. Realization. Circulation and Interchange. Memory and Gift. Appearance. Touch. We will borrow these terms from a recent book by Edward S. Cooke on Global Objects to frame this semester’s study of “International Cultures through Literature and Film.” Things and material cultures are often relegated to secondary status in our reading efforts, placed “behind” the main character as passive background or accorded short-lived fame as functional props, but what if we turned the tables on this reading habit and started focusing on, not humans and their things, but things--and their humans, including some of the inseparable meshings of the two? What would happen if we did not focus on the dialogue over breakfast but the sugar on the table? The inexplicable silence of a mother but a jacket she left behind? The fact that a bullet was fired but its dreadful touch in the lives of four people living thousands of miles away from each other? In this class, we will trace these crisscrossing maps and their provocations through the work of some of the most exciting writers and filmmakers from across the globe working today. Questions? Contact Dr. Gsoels-Lorensen at [email protected].

MWF 9:05–9:55 a.m. | Course Number 18933/18934
Our world bombards us with images, and we contribute to that barrage each time we post a picture. This class will engage you in vital discussions about those images as well as those that came before us and continue to shape what we see and create today. At its core, this class will be driven by our discussion of visual presentations that use “sex” to “sell” us a story; that story might be about what family is or should be, about what political activism looks like, about how a society thinks about love, beauty, hate, even its future hopes or its present fears. To spur those discussions, we’ll offer you readings by and about artists and their subjects—both fictional and real—and a rich, diverse historical background in visual representations that reflect how Western society, from the mid-19th-century to today, has viewed itself through the lens of sexuality, which always intersects with race, gender, gender identity, and class. For example, the terms “feminist” and “homosexual” were invented by the Victorians and reflect profound shifts in conceptions of identity. Another 19th-century invention was the idea of the literary and artistic “avant-garde” as a minority contingent with politically and/or aesthetically advanced views. These ideas of minority culture were deeply enmeshed with one another and still have effects on our world today. Discussions of these ideas then, hopefully, can help us all navigate the flood of images that today’s media presents as well as the self-images we cast into the world. Questions? Contact Dr. Rotunno at [email protected] or Dr. Page at [email protected].

MWF 1:25–2:15 p.m. | Course Number 28074
This course is an introduction to the history of "madness," examining and evaluating the ideas that have shaped perceptions of madness, insanity, and mental illness over the centuries. We’ll discuss how and why “mad people” throughout history have been at points venerated and at other points feared. We’ll read texts and watch videos, sometimes from those who live with mental illnesses, that attempt to explain the ways mental illnesses have been addressed by different social groups and throughout different time periods. And we’ll explore popular films that have shaped (for better and worse) how the world talks about mental illness. As a result, you’ll will become acquainted with the ways in which human biology, culture, society, and politics have reciprocally shaped one another in history. Questions? Contact Dr. Page at [email protected].

MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. | Course Number 18103
Developmental psychology is a science that analyzes changes in how humans think, feel, and behave across their lives; the influences that support or disrupt these changes; and how we can use this knowledge to improve peoples’ health and well-being. This course provides an overview of the field of developmental psychology, including its theories, research methods, and applications. In this course, we will take an in-depth look at human psychology as it develops from our first moments of life through adulthood. This discussion will focus on changes in our learning and memory, social relationships, emotional experiences, and personality that occur with age, and how and why psychologists study these changes. I look forward to learning with you! Questions? Contact Dr. DelPriore at [email protected].

TuTh 10:35 – 11:50 am |Course Numbers 28096/28632
This course is an introduction to the visual culture, the visual experience, and the sociological and historical context of images of the Middle East in the U.S. mass media. The focus of the course will be on reading and interpreting visual images (painting, photography, film, illustration, digital media) and analyzing the larger social and cultural forces that shape the production, distribution, and consumption of these media forms. We will explore these issues by focusing on a series of images/case studies located in a specific historical context, allowing us to introduce some of the major movements in visual culture, explore the social contexts of these images, and the ways in which the visual experience shapes our social lives and personal identities. We will focus on how the creation of visual media and its interpretations both influence and are influenced by social context and the ways that the arts can be an expression of cultural values, helping students to comprehend the hegemonic aspects of image composition, production, exhibition, and distribution.
Questions? Contact Dr. Seymour at [email protected] or Dr. Marvasti at [email protected].