Classes

Honors Colloquia

Every student in Honors must complete six elective colloquia, also called “exploratory” courses. The colloquia are selected through a competitive process by the Faculty Senate Honors Committee. They are designed to allow highly motivated and dynamic teachers and students the opportunity to learn together. Because of the diversity of student majors in the Honors Program, courses are oriented towards non-majors and have no prerequisites. Past courses have ranged from once-in-a-lifetime offerings to enhanced versions of courses that faculty regularly teach well. If student and faculty interest is high, occasionally a colloquium will be offered more than once.

Current and Past Honors Colloquia

2013 to Present

2024-2025	Migration and Borders in the Hispanic World — Kathleen Connolly, Spanish Digital Inclusivity: A Deep Dive into Accessible Media Creation — Greg Zobel, Teacher Education Non-Nicene Christianity — Ken Kirby, Philosophy & Religious Studies The Queen’s Gambit: Chess in Mass Media & Culture — Greg Zobel, Teacher Education Dance and the Moving Image: Short-form Screendance Films — Tim Cowart, Dance Children’s Literature in Diverse Classrooms — Marie LeJeune, Teacher Education UFOs – Government Officials Go on the Record — Eliot Dickinson, Political Science
2023-2024	Extraordinary Bodies: Gender and Disability in Hispanic Cultures — Kathleen Connolly, Spanish Musicals and American History — Corrie Cowart, Dance The New Wild West — Henry Hughes, English Reproductive Health — Emily Vala-Haynes, Public Health Mathematics of Voting — Leanne Merrill, Mathematics Mysticism in World Religious Traditions — Ken Kirby, Philosophy & Religious Studies Remembering Trauma — Tiara Good, Communication Studies
2022-2023	Music & Social Justice Movements — Charles Mueller, Music Migration & Borders in the Hispanic World — Kathleen Connolly, Spanish Math Puzzles and Patterns — Leanne Merrill, Mathematics Overview of the Cannabis Industry — Graham Rankin, Chemistry Children’s Literature in Diverse Classrooms — Marie LeJeune, Teacher Education Paradoxes — Ryan Hickerson, Philosophy Oregon Women’s History — Kimberly Jensen, History
2021-2022	Rhetoric of Horror: Society and Identity — Tiara Good, Communication Studies Complexity Theory: How the World Works at the Edge of Chaos — Lar Soderlund, Writing Reproductive Health — Emily Vala-Haynes, Public Health Dance and Race Relations — Cynthia Gutierrez-Garner, Dance Speaking Rivers: People and Water — Henry Hughes, English Emotional & Physical Survival in Law Enforcement — Jennifer Moreno, Criminal Justice
2020-2021	Children’s Literature in Diverse Classrooms — Marie LeJeune, Teacher Education System Languages: From Morse to Moore — Ted Beers, Computer Science Introduction to Linguistics — Cornelia Paraskevas, Linguistics & Writing Rhetoric of Horror: Society and Identity — Tiara Good, Communication Studies Mysticism in World Religious Traditions — Ken Kirby, Philosophy & Religious Studies Blues and the African-American Experience — Charles Mueller, Music
2019-2020	Forensics in the Media — Misty Weitzel, Criminal Justice The Dark Side of Big Data — Breeann Flesch, Computer Science Medieval Truth vs. Medieval Myth — Samantha Morgan, Literature Voting Theory: Electoral Politics and Math — Leanne Merrill, Mathematics Marine Invertibrates: Creative Investigations — Karen Haberman, Biology Transmitting Reality through Personal Writing — Lars Soderlund, Writing
2018-2019	Communication and Civic Action — Emily Plec, Communication Studies History of the Book as Disruptive Technology — Robert Monge & Elizabeth Brookbank, Library Science Introduction to Linguistics — Cornelia Paraskevas, Linguistics & Writing Creative Writing Workshop — Katherine Schmidt, Writing The Dark Side of Big Data — Breeann Flesch, Computer Science
2017-2018	Children’s Literature in Diverse Classrooms — Marie LeJeune, Teacher Education Nineteenth Amendment Centennial in History — Kimberly Jensen, History Language in Place — Robert Troyer, Linguistics Critical Videogame Studies — Daniel Tankersley, Art & Visual Design Dances that Changed the World — Sharon Oberst, Dance Artistic Pathways to Scientific Understanding — Karen Haberman, Biology Make ‘Em Laugh — Kent Neely, Theatre Arts
2016-2017	Intellectual Boldness & Humility — Sriram Khe, Interdisciplinary Studies Introduction to Linguistics — Cornelia Paraskevas, Linguistics & Writing Non-Nicene Christianity — Ken Kirby, Philosophy & Religious Studies Games, Simulation, Role-Playing — Frederick Oerther, Business Complexity Theory: World on the Edge of Chaos — Lars Soderlund, Writing Popular Music & Postmodernism — Charles Mueller, Music
2015-2016	Performance Anxiety — Diane Baxter, Music Difference, Inequality, Social Justice — Susanne Monahan, Sociology Game Theory — Breeann Flesch, Mathematics Children’s Literature in Diverse Classrooms — Marie LeJeune, Teacher Education Critical Videogame Studies — Daniel Tankersley, Art & Visual Design
2014-2015	Creative Writing Workshop — Katherine Schmidt, Writing Environmental Politics — Mary Pettinger, Political Science Scientific Inquiry and Design for Educators — Erin Baumgartner, Biology History of the Book as Disruptive Technology — Robert Monge & Elizabeth Brookbank, Library Science
2013-2014	Exploring Literacy — Cornelia Paraskevas, Linguistics & Writing Introduction to Linguistics — Cornelia Paraskevas, Linguistics & Writing History of Cognition — Joel Alexander, Behavioral Science Mysticism in World Religious Traditions — Ken Kirby, Philosophy & Religious Studies

2000 to 2013

2012-2013	Human Rights — Mary Pettinger, Political Science Communication and Civic Action — Molly Mayhead, Communication Studies
2011-2012	Causes of Peace — Eliot Dickinson, Political Science Why Do We Move? A Cross-Disciplinary Study — Bob Hautala, Heath & Exercise Science
2010-2011	Oregon Women Suffrage History — Kimberly Jensen, History Creativity — Deborah Jones, Dance Communication and Civic Action — Emily Plec, Communication Studies
2009-2010	Transformative Experiences — Mark Girod, Teacher Education Environmental Writing: Cultural Foundations of Nature — John Campbell, Writing
2008-2009	Prison Writing — Steve Gibbons & David Murphy, Criminal Justice
2007-2008	Fitness/Wellness: One Body/Many Disciplines — Bob Hautala, Exercise Science The Intersection of Theatre Arts & Science — Michael Phillips, Theatre Arts
2006-2007	The Literature of Terrorism — Gavin Keulks, Literature
2005-2006	20th Century Irish Literature: Modernism & Beyond — Gavin Keulks, Literature Masculinites and the Media — Emily Plec, Communication Studies
2004-2005	The Terrorist as a Liminal Figure: A Cross-cultural and Historical Examination — Ram Sil, History Maps and Math — Maria Fung, Mathematics, & Sriram Khe, Geography
2003-2004	The Truth of that Particular Fiction: Fact, Falsehood, and Invention in Historical Fiction — Susan Kirtley, Writing
2002-2003	The Art of Mindful Living — Jerry Braza, Health Education Detective and Crime Fiction — Gianna Martella, Spanish Language & Literature Nuclear Landscapes — Max Geier, Political Science
2001-2002	Judeo Christian Mysticism in Medieval and Renaissance Spain — Jeffrey Diamond, Humanities
2000-2001	The Arthurian Legend — Ann Bliss, Literature Creativity — Deborah Jones, Dance

1987 to 2000

1999-2000	Women & the Sea: Cross-Cultural Analysis of History, Metaphor, Ideology, & Institutions — Kimberly Jensen, History
1998-1999	Religion and Science — Dale Cannon, Religious Studies, and Robert Turner, Biology Human Movement in Science, Art, and Technology — Brian Caster, Health & Exercise Science
1997-1998	African American Culture as Seen Through its Music — Marion Schrock
1996-1997	Modern Mythology: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien — Ann Bliss, Literature Mourning the Holocaust: Representing the Unrepresentable — Kit Andrews, Literature
1995-1996	Improvisation (Dance) — Jacqueline McCormick, Dance World War I & 20th Century Culture — Richard Meyer, Literature & Folklore
1994-1995	Exploring America’s Drug Policy — Carl Stevenson
1993-1994	Sensitivity to Language — Cornelia Paraskevas, Linguistics & Writing
1992-1993	World Music — Thomas Bergeron, Music
1991-1992	The Discovery of America — John Rector, History
1990-1991	The Rhetoric of Social Protest and Control — Molly Mayhead, Communication Studies
1989-1990	The College/Knowledge Experience in the Fiction of Hardy and Lawrence — Betsy Sargent, Writing
1988-1989	Aspects of Evolution — J. Morris Johnson
1987-1988	Ethnic Oregon in the 1990’s: Current and Future Perspectives — Xavier Romano

Honors Program

Academic Programs and Support Center, Room 210

Phone: (503) 838-8519
Email: honors@wou.edu