University Honors Courses
University Honors students can complete their UH course enrollment one of two ways:
- Complete one UH course per year.
- Complete two UH courses in either the first or second (sophomore) years. If a student chooses this option, they can combine the remaining two UH courses in any way that works; however, it is not an option to complete two courses a second time.
In summary, students must take at least one class freshman and sophomore year. Below is an outline that displays five UH course completion options:
| Year in School | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 | Option 5 |
| First | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Second | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Third | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Fourth | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Fall 2024
BIOL 2001, Section 550 - Our Food: Science and Production (3 credits)
Class # 30839
Natural Sciences | Sustainability
MWF 9 - 9:50 am
Dr. Paul Bates
This course will examine 3 large aspects of the food we eat: food science, human nutrition, and agricultural production methods. We will look at the main components of food, and how manipulation of food molecules creates different flavors, textures, and structures. We will then focus on the relative nutritional value of different foods and their effects on the human body, including illnesses related to poor nutrition. Finally, we will explore modern agricultural practices and discuss ways to enhance stability and sustainability in our food supply.
HON 3303, Section 550 – The World of Surfing (4 credits)
Class# 10728
Global Perspectives
Tu Th – 9:15 am – 10:45 am - UH Classroom
Dr. Scott Laderman
Surfing is one of the world's most popular cultural phenomena. While the number of actual surfers is relatively small – probably between five and ten million people – the sport's reach has historically extended far beyond the limited community of wave riders, influencing everything from fashion and music to film, photography, tourism, and marketing. This class will explore how a pastime commonly associated with mindless pleasure has in fact been implicated in some of the major global developments of the last two-hundred years, such as empire-building and the "civilizing mission" in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Hawai'i, modernization and economic development in the so-called Third World, the growth of international tourism following the Second World War, political mass movements and the antiapartheid struggle, American foreign relations and Cold War cultural diplomacy, and the surf industry and corporate globalization. The course also has an experiential component; to develop an appreciation for the subject and for why millions of people have planned their lives around the sport, you will learn to surf.
HON 3495 Section 550, Community Immersion and Entrepreneurship (3 credits)
Class #10709
WF 9:15-10:45 am - UH Classroom
Social Science
Dr. Aparna Katre
This is a seminar course and it involves once a week (Wednesday) off-campus meetings in downtown Duluth and engagement in situ with community partners. The course is designed to facilitate long-term collaborations between the University and the Twin Ports community to respond entrepreneurially to community issues. It provides a framework for thoughtful, sustained engagement where responses to community issues are developed organically, collaboratively, and with grassroots participation. Supported by theories for social change, such as systems thinking, intersectionality and entrepreneurship, students immerse themselves in projects to strengthen the community. The emphasis is on building a sound grasp of the topics by connecting them to community issues and entrepreneurial activities.
PSY 4821, Section 550, Cognitive Neuroscience (3 credits)
Class #32139
Social Sciences
MWF 11 - 11:50 am
Dr. Rebecca Gilbertson
Overview of cognitive neuroscience including neuroanatomy, the neural basis of mental functions, cognitive neuroscience methods, application to psychopathology, development, social cognition, and addiction. Credit for PSY 4821 will not be granted if credit is already received for PSY 5821; no grad credit. pre-req: minimum 60 credits or instructor consent.
TH 4801, Section 550, Theatre History: Comedy (3 credits)
Class #33753
Humanities
MW 1:15 - 2:30 pm, UH Classroom
Dr. Jenna Soleo-Shanks
What makes us laugh? Why is humor essential to human society? How does comic forms relate to comic function? In this class we will examine comedy as a genre of theatre history, from Ancient Greek satire to contemporary stand-up comedy, to understand how the comic conventions, inventions, aesthetics, and content of each distinct performance tradition responded to and impacted its community. We will consider the science of laughter, comic formulas, liveness, power, and dissent as it applies to comic creators, their creations, and their audiences. Required materials will include plays and other performance texts, performance theory, videos and attendance at live performances.
Spring 2024
CUE 1001, Sect. 550: Culture Industry and Creative Economy (3 credits)
Course# 67845
Tues/Thr 2 - 3:15pm, UH Classroom (KAML 119)
Global Perspectives
Dr. Aparna Katre
This course is an introduction to the history, development and contemporary scope of the creative economy. In the past, the United States and the global economy heavily relied on industrial production, yet today a distinctive shift to a creative economy based on cultural products has occurred. Arts and crafts, tourism, entertainment, sports, digital mass media, food and beverage products – all these generate an increasing percentage of our overall economic output, and provide a multitude of entrepreneurial opportunities. The course introduced students to the academic discipline of cultural entrepreneurship, which studies how change agents organize cultural, financial, social and human capital to generate income and promote economic growth from cultural activities. Through case studies and contemporary examples, students develop an appreciation of the diversity of material cultures in the United States and around the globe. The course emphasizes critical examination of the impact of commercialization of ethnic, native and global products on the populations that generated them. Community-based project work constitutes 50% of the grade and is the basis to achieve the learning objectives of this course. It provides the platform to learn both the hard and soft skills crucial to operate in the creative economy.
FA 1102, Sect. 550: Creating Art, Sec. 550 (3 credits)
Class #47042
MWF 12-12:50 pm, Montague Hall 206
Dr. Justin Rubin
Fine Arts
No textbooks, only hands-on interactive learning. What do we do? We make films when you've never made one before, create an illuminated manuscript, study paintings of recluses and hold lively discussions on how and why people never stop making interesting things from every era and perspective.
HLTH 3341, Sect. 550: UH Encountering Death and Grief: A cross-cultural Journey (3 credits)
Class #65406
Tuesday, 3:30 - 6:20 pm, Sports & Health Center 207
Cultural Diversity in the US
Dr. Mitzi Doane
This class incorporates field trips and guest speakers who come from different cultures, religions or death experiences (such as loss due to suicide, murder, accident). Students have an opportunity to explore death via reading and discussion including such topics as capital punishment, the right to die, war. The class is not a lecture, it is a seminar where there is a free give and take.
HON 3305, Sec. 550: UH French Cuisine Exploring French Culture Through Food (3 credits)
MW: 4-6pm, UH Classroom (KAML 119)
Dr. Dana Lindaman
Humanities and Global Perspectives
This course is taught in English and will use food as an entry point into a deeper exploration of French identity, including analysis of important contemporary issues related to gender, class, and sustainability. Students will study the ways in which French society has sought to establish order and symmetry around the table, a focal point of French society, and the many points of creative resistance to that order.
PHIL 2021, Sec. 550: Science and Pseudoscience: Thinking about weird things (3 credits)
Class #67721
MWF 9 - 9:50 AM, Bohannon Hall 343
Dr. Robert Schroer
Humanities
A critical introduction to the nature of knowledge and belief by focusing on contemporary issues, such as UFOs, ESP, mysticism, creationism and evolution, and near-death experiences, which explains the differences between rational beliefs and articles of faith and between science and pseudo-science.
WRIT 3180, Sec 550: UH Advanced Writing
Class# 46444
T & Th 9:30 - 10:45, Cina Hall 214
Rebecca Boyle, MFA
**Senior and Junior UH students will have priority access, then sophomores and first-year students who are interested if they have completed 60 credits and seats remain.
Develops research, critical thinking, and collaborative writing strategies as well as rhetorical skills to draft documents in multiple genres for multiple audiences. This includes professional correspondence and reports, research proposals, literature reviews, oral presentations, and related documents for the honors project as well as the production and publication of Aisthesis, UH's own interdisciplinary honors journal. If you want to take this course, email Joelle McGovern ([email protected]) to process your request.