Honors Program

Honors classes at Columbia College Chicago are open to all students who have a 3.5 GPA or higher, and as long as all prerequisites are met.

Honors Course Characteristics

• Academic and Intellectual Challenges: Honors courses provide engaging and academically challenging opportunities for all students. Classes are committed to inclusive academic excellence.
• Interrogation of Power and Privilege: Honors courses provide spaces where students can question how factors including race, class, gender, disability, and ethnicity influence culture and knowledge.
• Independent Learning: Honors courses provide opportunities for students to further develop their own areas of interest through independent and self-directed projects.
• Smaller Class Sizes: Honors courses provide robust mentorship from faculty instructors and, in many cases, more involvement with faculty members' scholarly and creative interests.
• Scholarly Communities: Honors courses provide academic and professional development through an expectation of collaboration, research, and interdisciplinary work.

For questions about Honors classes, contact honors@colum.edu. 

Spring 2023 Honors Classes

• ARTH 105H - Introduction to Visual Culture: Honors (HU and DEI credits)

  Wednesdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Instructor Marissa Baker)

  In this course, students will refine their skills of seeing, discussing, and writing about visual culture. Structured according to methodologies for visual analysis rather than chronology or artistic style, the course introduces students to critical approaches that can be applied to a wide range of images, objects, and spaces. Through assignments that emphasize writing, research, and presentation skills, students will explore a broad range of perspectives on visual literacy. This is an Honors course and in addition to any pre-requisites, students need a minimum 3.50 GPA to enroll.

• BIOL 215H - Genetics: Honors (SL credit)
  Mondays/Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m. (Professor Julie Minbiole)
  
  This course is a survey of the fundamentals of genetics and their application to contemporary issues with hands-on, inquiry-based activities. Major topics include DNA structure and replication, the chromosomal basis of inheritance, mutation, gene expression and epigenetics, and utilization of model organisms and genetic technology. Special topics may include ethical issues in genetics, human development and reproductive technologies, stem cell research, DNA fingerprinting, genetic basis of disease, and use of model organisms in genetic research.
• COLL 480H - Undergraduate Research Mentorship: Honors
  The Undergraduate Research Mentorship connects talented students interested in conducing academic research with faculty. This course, available to students from across the College, gives students the opportunity to share the intellectual excitement of inquiry into new questions, the solving of scholarly and creative problems, and the creation of knowledge with faculty mentors. Students learn research and scholarly techniques as they assist faculty practitioners in their academic and integrative disciplines, gaining valuable experience in pursuit of professional fields or higher academic degrees.
  
  Prior to the project semester, the supervising faculty and student must submit a joint proposal outlining the project. 
For more information, contact honors@colum.edu.
  
  
Requirements: Permission Required (DP) and 3.5 or Higher GPA (35GP) and Junior Standing or Above (JR)
• CULS 101H - Introduction to Cultural Studies: Honors (HU and DEI credit)

  Thursdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Professor Michelle Yates)

  This course introduces students to the terms, analytical techniques, and interpretive strategies commonly employed in cultural studies. Emphasis is on critical approaches to exploring how cultural processes and artifacts are produced, shaped, distributed, consumed, and responded to in diverse ways. Through discussion, research, and writing, class members investigate these varied dimensions of culture; learn to understand them in their broader social, aesthetic, ethical, political, and economic contexts; and thereby prepare for more advanced coursework in cultural studies. This is an Honors class. In addition to other possible pre-requisites, students need a minimum G.P.A. of 3.50 or higher to enroll.

• EASC 110H - The Science of Global Change: Honors (SC credit)

  Mondays 9-11:50 a.m. (Professor Gerry Adams)

  This course examines the idea of global environmental change and the mechanisms by which global change occurs. We will use an approach combining Earth history with modern Earth processes (Earth systems) to understand changes in the physical environment like plate movement and climate change, and changes in the biological environment like evolution and extinction. We will analyze some of the relationships between physical and biological changes on Earth (physical mechanisms for extinction, biological inputs to climate change, and others). Students will be challenged to use their knowledge to better inform public awareness of global change, and public policy on global change issues. This is an Honors class. In addition to other possible pre-requisites, students need a minimum G.P.A. of 3.50 or higher to enroll.

   

• ECON 310H - Ethics and Economics – Controversial Policy Issues of our Time: Honors (SS credit)
  Wednesdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Professor Rojhat Avsar)
  
  Conventional economic justification for policies embodies a particular moral logic despite its claim to value-neutrality. This course surveys alternate moral/political perspectives from which legitimacy (or moral acceptability) of contemporary economic policies could be debated. Students will be invited to apply these theoretical arguments to a set of contemporary policy issues in the U.S.
  
  Prerequisites: ENGL 112 Writing and Rhetoric II or ENGL 122 International Writing and Rhetoric II
• ENGL 111H - Writing and Rhetoric I: Honors (EN credit)

  Tuesdays/Thursdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Instructor Delia Pless)

  Writing and Rhetoric I helps students understand and refine their own writing processes. Designed to assist students in making connections between their knowledge, cultures, worlds, and the multiple-literacies and discourses of academic, communicative and performing life, the course encourages students to develop their distinctive voices as they learn to make conscious rhetorical decisions. Writing and Rhetoric I connects personal reflection with critical analysis, providing plentiful and varied opportunities for writing, strengthening reading skills, and becoming a member of a writer-reader community.
  
  Prerequisites: TWC-T-4 EXAM-TWC WRITING MINIMUM SCORE = 4

• ENGL 112H - Writing and Rhetoric II: Honors (EN credit)
  Section 1: Tuesdays/Thursdays 9-10:20 a.m. (Professor Matt McCurrie)
  Section 2: Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:30-11:50 a.m. (Professor Matt McCurrie)
  Section 3: Mondays/Wednesdays 10:30-11:50 a.m. (Professor Doug Reichert Powell)
  Section 4: Mondays/Wednesdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Professor Doug Reichert Powell)
  Section 5: Mondays/Wednesdays 3:30-4:50 p.m. (Instructor Kyle Francois)
  Section 8: Mondays/Wednesdays 3:30-4:50 p.m. (Instructor TBD)

  
  
  Writing and Rhetoric II helps students use writing to develop and sustain an in-depth personal and intellectual inquiry into a subject of their choosing. The course unfolds in a series of assignments designed to lead students through a continually deepening creative research process that ripens into a written project of considerable length and complexity. Focusing on methodology, rather than specific course theme, students learn to generate worthwhile questions, collect primary data, locate secondary resources, and form original research insights.
  
  Prerequisites: ENGL 111 Writing and Rhetoric I or ENGL 111H Writing and Rhetoric I: Honors or TWC-T-7 EXAM-TWC WRITING MINIMUM SCORE = 7

• ENGL 246H - Reviewing the Arts: Honors (HU credit)

  Mondays 9-11:50 a.m. (Instructor Jim DeRogatis)

  Students write confident and well-researched reviews of visual, performing, and media arts, reviews that can broaden the role of the arts in our daily lives. Students generate content for their reviews by visiting cultural and artistic institutions, attending performances, and / or viewing recordings. They examine selected expert reviews and theoretical perspectives; and they compose and revise their work through a combination of weekly in-class workshops, discussion, and take-home assignments. 
  
  Prerequisites: ENGL 112 Writing and Rhetoric II or ENGL 112H Writing and Rhetoric II: Honors or ENGL 122 International Writing and Rhetoric II

• HIST 262H - History of the American City: Honors (HI DEI credits)
  Mondays 3:30-6:20 p.m. (Instructor Nick McCormick)
  
  Course examines the history of the development of the U.S. as an urban nation. It analyzes the rise and decline of various urban systems that developed over the course of American history. Students investigate the social, economic, political, technological, and demographic trends that have shaped the modern American city. This is an Honors class. In addition to other possible pre-requisites, students need a minimum G.P.A. of 3.50 or higher to enroll.
• HIST 270H - Black Artistry and the Archive (HI and DEI credits)

  Fridays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Professor Melanie Chambliss)

  Why do we remember certain artists and forget the names of others? What is the relationship between who we remember and how the past is preserved? How do we understand the importance of preservation from the perspectives of an artist, an archivist, and a researcher? With a focus on African American art, this course will address these questions by discussing the connections between history, creativity, and the archive (broadly defined). This is an Honors class. In addition to other possible pre-requisites, students need a minimum G.P.A. of 3.50 or higher to enroll.

• LITR 110H - Introduction to Poetry: Honors (HL credit)

  Tuesdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Professor Ken Daley)

  Students study poetry ranging from traditional forms and figures to contemporary experimental forms. Course may include selected significant poems from all major periods. This is primarily a literature course, not a writing workshop. This is an Honors class. In addition to other possible pre-requisites, students need a minimum G.P.A. of 3.50 or higher to enroll.
  
  
  Prerequisites: ENGL 109 Writing and Rhetoric I Stretch B or ENGL 111 Writing and Rhetoric I or ENGL 111H Writing and Rhetoric I: Honors or ENGL 121 International Writing and Rhetoric I or TWC-T-7 EXAM-TWC WRITING MINIMUM SCORE = 7 

• LITR 270H - The Bible as Literature: Honors (HL credit)

  Tuesdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Professor Matt McCurrie)

  Course studies literary qualities of the Bible with attention to its poetic and narrative modes. Instruction examines ways in which Biblical literary forms, themes, and images influence American and European literature. This is an Honors class. In addition to other possible pre-requisites, students need a minimum G.P.A. of 3.50 or higher to enroll.
  
   
  Prerequisites: ENGL 112 Writing and Rhetoric II or ENGL 112H Writing and Rhetoric II: Honors or ENGL 122 International Writing and Rhetoric II 

• LITR 379H - Seminar in Literature: Honors (HL credit)

  Section 1: Strange and Supernatural Tales: Thursdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Professor Terence Brunk)
  Section 2: Journalism as Literature: Tuesdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Instructor Jim DeRogatis)

  Advanced study focusing on selected writers, issues, trends, or movements in literature. Course may address American, British, and / or world literatures. Course repeatable as topic changes. This is an Honors course and in addition to other pre-requisites, students need a minimum GPA of 3.50 to register.
  
  Prerequisites: ENGL 112 Writing and Rhetoric II or ENGL 112H Writing and Rhetoric II: Honors or ENGL 122 International Writing and Rhetoric II

• PHYS 145H - Quantum Physics: Fundamental Ideas: Honors (SC credit)

  Tuesdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Professor Luis Nasser)

  This course is designed for non-scientists (with little or no background in physics and mathematics) with emphasis on the apparent paradoxes, beauty, and fundamental ideas of quantum physics. Students will learn basic ideas of modern physics such as quantum duality, wave functions, uncertainty principle, Schrodinger’s equation, theory of relativity, elementary particles, and cosmology. This is an Honors course and in addition to other pre-requisites, students need a minimum GPA of 3.50 to register.

• RELI 212H - Religion Through Film: Honors (HU credit)

  Mondays/Wednesdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Professor Stephanie Frank)
  
  This course will consider many of the central categories used to analyze religious phenomena through pairing some of the most important theoretical contributions to the study of religion with films that are concerned with similar themes. We will ask: how does the relevant theory of religion cast light on the film? Does the film suggest revisions to the theory? Can we think of real-world examples that bear out one or the other? What light does film cast on religion? This is an Honors course and students need a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher to register.

   

• SCIE 155H - Science of Musical Instruments: Honors (SL credit)
  Tuesdays 1-4:50 p.m. (Instructor David Dolak)
  
  Students study the scientific principles by which sound is generated in common acoustic musical instruments and discover the mathematical foundation of musical scales. This course explores mechanical oscillation, frequency, wavelength, and the harmonic series. Students investigate the complex timbre of musical instruments through hands-on laboratory experiments using wave and spectrum analysis, and develop scales using sound-generation software. For a final project, students construct a functional instrument and perform an original musical composition. This is an Honors course and students need a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher to register.

Fall 2022 Honors Classes

• ARTH 105H - Introduction to Visual Culture: Honors (HU DEI credits)

  Thursdays 6:30-9:20 p.m. (Whitney Huber)

  In this course, students will refine their skills of seeing, discussing, and writing about visual culture. Structured according to methodologies for visual analysis rather than chronology or artistic style, the course introduces students to critical approaches that can be applied to a wide range of images, objects and spaces. Through assignments that emphasize writing, research and presentation skills, students will explore a broad range of perspectives on visual literacy.

• BIOL 235H - Evolution of Sex: Honors (SL or SC credit)
  Thursdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Michelle Rafacz)
  
  Understanding the nature of sex and its relationship to evolution is important in biology. This class will cover sex and sexual selection across the animal and plant kingdoms. We will discuss the nature of science and the influences of culture on science, specifically the role of feminism on our understanding of female choice. Monogamy, polygamy, polyandry, homosexuality and other types of sexual and asexual relationships will be explored in an evolutionary context through primary literature.
• BIOL 245H - Ecology: Honors (SL or SC credit)
  Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m. (Beth Davis-Berg)
  
  This course introduces basic principles of ecology- the study of relationships among living organisms, their environment and each other. We examine ecological concepts applied to individuals, populations and communities of both plants and animals. Topics include plant and animal adaptations to the environment, the role environmental factors in the distribution and abundance of organisms, the dynamics of population growth, species interactions including competition and predation, the structure of ecological communities, and the application of ecology to problems in conservation.
• CCCX 199H – Big Chicago: Honors (FE credit)

  Section 1 - Access, Civic Life & City Design
  Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:30-11:50 a.m. (Marcella David)

  "Access" has many connotations. It can mean the actual physical means of entering a location, the permission given to people seeking to enter a location, start a career, or communicate with a person, or the ability someone may have to make use of a resource. Each pf these instances of "access" is linked to a design or plan: an architect's choice between a ramp or stairs, the decision to limit enrollment of a new school building to children living within 20 blocks and not 25 blocks, the decision to locate a free clinic far away from public transportation. We will investigate how Chicago's design choices influence how people experience and use the city. On walking tours and site visits throughout the city, students will examine and critically evaluate the current condition of Chicago's urban spaces and investigate how different people may be welcomed or discouraged from fully participating in Chicago's civic life. As part of our analysis we will explore how markers of difference, including physical ability, race, socio-economic status and gender, may be influential elements of design that expand or restrict access.

  Section 2 - Civil Rights in Chicago
  Tuesdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Suzanne McBride)

  Chicago has long been an epicenter for struggles and achievements in the area of civil rights, broadly defined as guarantees of equality protection under the law regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, and physical and mental ability. Almost sixty years ago, Chicago took center stage in the so-called Long Civil Rights Movement when Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. joined local activists in the Chicago Freedom Movement to fight housing discrimination and slum conditions, followed by Fred Hampton and the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party organizing block by block for progressive change in low-income neighborhoods. Today, Chicago—its people, its history, and its culture—are on the front lines of newly energized struggles for civil rights across an array of social justice concerns. Young people all over the region—including Columbia College Chicago students—are playing a role in these struggles, highlighted by movements, organizations, and activities such as Black Lives Matter, M4BL, Trans Lives Matter, me too, United We Dream, just to name a few.  We will explore a variety of contemporary civil rights issues and engage with the people and institutions that have made our city an international focus for social change.  We will use journalism, communication, and basic social science techniques to document, communicate, and share with each other the past and current state of civil rights in Chicago.

   

  These courses are only open to freshmen students with less than 14 credit hours. 

• COLL 480H – Undergraduate Research Mentorship: Honors

  The Undergraduate Research Mentorship connects talented students interested in conducing academic research with faculty.  This course, available to students from across the College, gives students the opportunity to share the intellectual excitement of inquiry into new questions, the solving of scholarly and creative problems, and the creation of knowledge with faculty mentors.  Students learn research and scholarly techniques as they assist faculty practitioners in their academic and integrative disciplines, gaining valuable experience in pursuit of professional fields or higher academic degrees.

  Prior to the project semester, the supervising faculty and student must submit a joint proposal outlining the project. 
For more information, contact honors@colum.edu.

  
Requirements: Permission Required (DP) and 3.5 or Higher GPA (35GP) and Junior Standing or Above (JR)

• COMM 326H - Semiotics for Creators of Popular Culture: Honors (SS credit)

  Thursdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Herb Allen)

  Writing-intensive course explores the study and use of semiotics (or symbolic meaning) in the development of advertising and other creative works that contribute to the content of popular culture. Interdisciplinary in scope, the course explores how advertising uses symbolic language from diverse disciplines such as literature, cinema, television, performing arts, architecture, fashion, and other fields that shape the overall popular culture.

• CULS 101H - Introduction to Cultural Studies: Honors (HU DEI credits)

  Mondays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Jaafar Aksikas)

  This course introduces students to the terms, analytical techniques, and interpretive strategies commonly employed in cultural studies. Emphasis is on critical approaches to exploring how cultural processes and artifacts are produced, shaped, distributed, consumed, and responded to in diverse ways. Through discussion, research, and writing, class members investigate these varied dimensions of culture; learn to understand them in their broader social, aesthetic, ethical, political, and economic contexts; and thereby prepare for more advanced coursework in cultural studies.

• ECON 311H - Irrational Economics - Why We Make Bad Decisions: Honors (SS credit)
  Wednesdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Rojhat Avsar)
  
  We may not be the rational calculating machines maximizing their satisfaction to perfection, as economists would like to believe. This course sheds lights on the psychological and evolutionary foundation of our apparently irrational economic decisions. A more nuanced understanding of the intricacies of our decision-making process could potentially inform an array of policies that would improve our well-being.
  
  Prerequisites: ENGL 112 Writing and Rhetoric II or ENGL 122 International Writing and Rhetoric II
• ENGL 111H - Writing and Rhetoric I: Honors (EN credit)

  Section 1: Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:30-11:50 a.m. (TBD)
  Section 3: Mondays/Wednesdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Dylan Weir)
  Section 4: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Kathryn Bergquist)
  Section 5: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Kathryn Bergquist)
  Section 6: Mondays/Wednesdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Doug Reichert Powell)
  Section 7: Mondays/Wednesdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Doug Reichert Powell)
  Section 8: Mondays/Wednesdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Dylan Weir)

   

  Writing and Rhetoric I helps students understand and refine their own writing processes. Designed to assist students in making connections between their knowledge, cultures, worlds, and the multiple-literacies and discourses of academic, communicative and performing life, the course encourages students to develop their distinctive voices as they learn to make conscious rhetorical decisions. Writing and Rhetoric I connects personal reflection with critical analysis, providing plentiful and varied opportunities for writing, strengthening reading skills, and becoming a member of a writer-reader community.
  
  Prerequisites: TWC-T-4 EXAM-TWC WRITING MINIMUM SCORE = 4

• ENGL 112H – Writing and Rhetoric II: Honors (EN credit)

  Section 1: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Alyson Warren)
  Section 2: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Alyson Warren)
  Section 3: Wednesdays/Fridays 10:30-11:50 a.m. (Jeffrey Wolf)

  
  Writing and Rhetoric II helps students use writing to develop and sustain an in-depth personal and intellectual inquiry into a subject of their choosing. The course unfolds in a series of assignments designed to lead students through a continually deepening creative research process that ripens into a written project of considerable length and complexity. Focusing on methodology, rather than specific course theme, students learn to generate worthwhile questions, collect primary data, locate secondary resources, and form original research insights. 
  
  Prerequisites: ENGL 111 Writing and Rhetoric I or ENGL 111H Writing and Rhetoric I: Honors or TWC-T-7 EXAM-TWC WRITING MINIMUM SCORE = 7

• HIST 262H - History of the American City: Honors (HI DEI PL credits)
  Mondays/Wednesdays 3:30-4:50 p.m. (Nicholas McCormick)
  
  Course examines the history of the development of the U.S. as an urban nation. It analyzes the rise and decline of various urban systems that developed over the course of American history. Students investigate the social, economic, political, technological, and demographic trends that have shaped the modern American city.
• HIST 321H - The Enlightenment: Honors (HI GA credits)

  Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Kate Hamerton)

  Learning about the Enlightenment as a complex, trans-national intellectual movement, we will focus in this class on the Enlightenment in Paris, its heart. Issues studied will vary by semester, and may include science, social satire, women’s roles in the Enlightenment, the development of a public sphere, the use of fictional literature to ?do? Enlightenment, commerce, education and epistemology, political thought, penal reform, aesthetics, racial and gender theory, the transmission of ideas, and the question of how the Enlightenment may be linked to the French Revolution of 1789. This is an Honors class and students need a GPA of 3.50 or higher to register.

  Requirement: Sophomore Standing or Above (SO)

• LITR 225H - Postcolonial Literature: Honors - Why Wakanda Matters (HL DEI credits)

  Thursdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Madhurima Chakraborty)

  Generally understood as the literature written in countries that have gone through colonization and decolonization, postcolonial literature includes writing concerned with a wide variety of political and literary issues that include, but are by no means limited to: colonial power and anticolonial conflict, political and cultural legacies of imperialism in the newly independent postcolony, and the role of diaspora. Our class will be structured around these three broad sets of ideas, and will attempt the daunting work of balancing a global understanding of the various moves in postcolonial literature with a particularized and intense analysis of individual works. This is an Honors class. In addition to other possible pre-requisites, students need a minimum G.P.A. of 3.50 or higher to enroll.

  Prerequisites: ENGL 109 Writing and Rhetoric I Stretch B or ENGL 111 Writing and Rhetoric I or ENGL 111H Writing and Rhetoric I: Honors or ENGL 121 International Writing and Rhetoric I or TWC-T-7 EXAM-TWC

   

   

• PSYC 215H - Emotions: Honors (SS credit)

  Section 1: Tuesdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Rami Gabriel)

  The emotions play a significant role in our inner lives. Sometimes the emotions act in concert with our cognitive decision-making, and sometimes they crash over our rational thinking like uncontrollable storms. Emotions influence and fuel our behavior, values, art, and other aspects of culture. Yet, systematic study of emotions is quite recent. In this course we will examine Western psychology and philosophy of emotions.

  Prerequisites: ENGL 112 Writing and Rhetoric II or ENGL 112H Writing and Rhetoric II: Honors or ENGL 122 International Writing and Rhetoric II 

• RELI 210H - Religion and Gender: Honors (HU GA credits)

  Mondays/Wednesdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Stephanie Frank)
  
  In this course, we will look at examples from many different cultures to consider forms of religiosity that are traditionally ‘gendered’, including spirit possession and practices relating to food, ritual, purification, and so on. We will also analyze religions’ constructions of masculinity and femininity around the issues of sex, reproduction, pain and agency, and the religious significance of people who do not fit into traditional gendered categories. Finally, we will take up political problems associated with religion and gender, particularly those associated with secularism and colonialism. This is an Honors course and students need a 3.50 cumulative GPA to register.

   

• SCIE 155H - Science of Musical Instruments: Honors (SL or SC credit)
  Tuesdays 1-4:50pm (David Dolak)
  
  Students study the scientific principles by which sound is generated in common acoustic musical instruments and discover the mathematical foundation of musical scales. This course explores mechanical oscillation, frequency, wavelength, and the harmonic series. Students investigate the complex timbre of musical instruments through hands-on laboratory experiments using wave and spectrum analysis, and develop scales using sound-generation software. For a final project, students construct a functional instrument and perform an original musical composition.