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 2021 Honors Classes

• 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)
• ENGL 111H - Writing and Rhetoric I: Honors (EN credit)

  Mondays/Wednesdays 12:30-1:50 a.m. (Instructor Ariel Weygandt)
  WEB Synchronous

  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: Mondays/Wednesdays 10:30-11:50 a.m. WEB synchronous (Instructor Dylan Weir)
  Section 2: Mondays/Wednesdays 2-3:20 p.m. WEB synchronous (Instructor Cathy Oswald)
  Section 3: Mondays/Wednesdays 3:30-4:50 p.m. WEB synchronous (Instructor Chris Bryson)
  Section 5: Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:30-11:50 a.m. Hybrid (Professor Matt McCurrie)
  Section 6: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. WEB synchronous (Professor Brendan Riley)
  
  
  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)

  Tuesdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Instructor Jim DeRogatis) 
  WEB synchronous

  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

• LITR 282H - The Vietnam War in History, Literature and the Arts: Honors (HL credit)

  Tuesdays 3:30-6:20 p.m. (Professor Tom Nawrocki)
  WEB synchronous

  The Vietnam War is one of the most studied, documented, and argued about wars in American history. The debate has taken the form of historical inquiries, poetry, novels, film, music, and other arts. The war shaped the experiences of a generation and continues to affect American life and arts. This interdisciplinary course examines the conflict in Southeast Asia through the eyes of journalists, fiction writers, poets, historians, filmmakers, musicians, and other artists. 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 379H - Seminar in Literature: Honors – Oscar Wilde and Aestheticism (HL credit)

  Wednesdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Professor Ken Daley)
  WEB synchronous

  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

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

  Thursdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Professor Michelle Yates)
  WEB synchronous

  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.

• ECON 310H - Ethics and Economics – Controversial Policy Issues of our Time: Honors (SS credit)
  Wednesdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Professor Rojhat Avsar)
  Hybrid
  
  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
• HIST 262H - History of the American City: Honors (HI DEI credits)
  Fridays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Instructor Nick McCormick)
  WEB synchronous
  
  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.
• HUMA 110H - Western Humanities: Honors (HU credit)
  Thursdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Professor Carmelo Esterrich)
  WEB synchronous
  
  This course introduces and engages with the historical, intellectual, and aesthetic development of ideas, values, arts, and traditions in western culture through a survey of art, architecture, literature, music, philosophy, and religion. 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.
• RELI 311H - Religion and Its Critics: Honors (HU credit)
  Mondays/Wednesdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Professor Stephanie Frank)
  WEB synchronous
  
  Recently, the ‘New Atheists’ have leveled a variety of criticisms against religion, regarding the (purported) falsity of its claims, the ways in which it shapes people and citizens, and the sorts of political problems it occasions. But these arguments are not new-indeed, they go back several hundred years (further, in some cases). In this class, we will look at some of the most important articulations of these criticisms of religion in the modern period, as well as some of the defenses of religion. We will contextualize these ideas with respect to social and political developments, and then in turn use them to reconsider the recent claims of the New Atheists. 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.
• BIOL 215H - Genetics: Honors (SL credit)
  Tuesdays/Thursdays 1-2:50 p.m. (Professor Julie Minbiole)
  WEB synchronous
  
  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.
• BIOL 235H - Evolution of Sex: Honors (SC Credit)
  Thursdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Professor Michelle Rafacz)
  WEB synchronous
  
  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 credit)
  Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m. (Professor Beth Davis-Berg)
  WEB synchronous
  
  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.
• SCIE 155H - Science of Musical Instruments: Honors (SL credit)
  Tuesdays 1-4:50 p.m. (Instructor David Dolak)
  Hybrid
  
  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.

Fall 2020 Honors Classes

• CCCX 199H – Big Chicago: Honors (FE credit)

  Section 1 - Access, Civic Life & City Design
  Thursdays 3:30-6:20 p.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 - Music and Media in Chicago
  Mondays 9-11:50 a.m. (Jim DeRogatis)

  Music and Media in Chicago will provide an overview of the past, present, and future of the many genres of music thriving in Chicago. It will examine how this city put its stamp on the development of these sounds as they spread around the world, as well as introducing the tools of the historian, sociologist, musicologist, and cultural critic via lectures, video, film, online and dead-tree readings, and vibrant discussions. The class also will review the past, present, and future of Chicago media-newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the blogosphere-examining the city’s journalism culture and infrastructure, and, as with music, providing an understanding for an informed and critical reading of these texts so that the student can become an active and involved citizen participating to the fullest extent in everything this extraordinary metropolis has to offer. Students should expect to do some writing for each class, providing their reactions to and analysis of their choice of one of several examples of the music or media being discussed that week, and in some sessions sharing their work with the class or in breakout groups.

  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)

• ENGL 111H - Writing and Rhetoric I: Honors (EN credit)
  Section 1: Mondays/Wednesdays 10:30-11:50 a.m. (Dylan Weir)
  Section 2: Mondays/Wednesdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Dylan Weir)
  Section 3: Mondays/Wednesdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Doug Reichert Powell)
  Section 4: Mondays/Wednesdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Dylan Weir)
  Section 8: Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:30-11:50 a.m. (Kathryn Bergquist)
  Section 9: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Kathryn Bergquist)
  Section 10: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Kathryn Bergquist)

  
  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 4: Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:30-11:50 p.m. (Leslie Singel)
  Section 5: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-1:50 p.m. (Hilary Sarat-St. Peter)

  
  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 130H – Oral Expression: Honors (SP credit)

  Section 1: Tuesdays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Alexis Sarkisian)
  Section 2: Tuesdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Alexis Sarkisian)

  
  Students overcome difficulties they may have in public speaking, such as stage fright and poor diction. Students are made aware of important elements such as delivery and posture, use of gestures, and good grammar. Course introduces students to informative, persuasive, and occasional modes of public speaking and helps students develop well-organized and purposeful speeches.

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

  Tuesdays 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.
  

  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.

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

  Thursdays 9-11:50 a.m. (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.

• ECON 311H - Irrational Economics - Why We Make Bad Decisions: Honors (SS WI credits)
  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
• HIST 262H - History of the American City: Honors (HI PL credits)
  Mondays 3:30-6:20 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 353H - Oral History: The Art of the Interview: Honors (HI credit)

  Wednesdays 9-11:50 a.m. (Erin McCarthy)

  The foundation of this multi-layered, applied history course is immersion into a specific period in United States history to acquire the contextual knowledge necessary to conduct a well-informed oral history interview. After an extensive introduction into the field of oral history and the discipline's methodology, a series of colloquiums on question formulation, script development, interviewing techniques, and transcription standards are held. Finally, after the interview and full transcription is completed, each student will present a content analysis and edit of their interview. All interviews will be archived with an established oral history project.

• HUMA 219H - The Italian Renaissance: Honors (HU GA credits)
  Fridays 12:30-3:20 p.m. (Laurie Perlini)
  
  This is an interdisciplinary humanities class in the Italian Renaissance, a period of time that marked a shift in sensibilities in which human values in all fields were reborn and reaffirmed amidst political and religious crises. A new self-awareness, the return to humane letters and to classical antiquity created an outburst of creativity. During a time of rapid change, mankind discovered a capacity to improve, to change the world, to grow, learn and to create. We will examine how artists, bankers, diplomats, courtiers, princes, philosophers, merchants, patrons and religious leaders responded to these new values through which they affirmed their individualism, often through many-sided achievements, to wit, Michalangelo ( sculptor, painter, poet) DaVinci (painter, scientist, inventor) Alberti (painter, architect, humanist) the Medici (bankers, poets, patrons). This class integrates readings in literature, art history, history, philosophy and political science. Through readings, lectures, images and class discussions we will study how political, religious and historical events contributed to the artistic achievements of the Italian Renaissance and its lasting impact in today’s world.
• RELI 213H - Religion and Violence: Honors (HU credits)
  Mondays/Wednesdays 2-3:20 p.m. (Stephanie Frank)
  
  Much violence perpetrated in the world today is considered religious in nature. This class will interrogate that assumption by considering several important questions: Is there something inherently violent about religion? What work does violence do, for religion? What is religious terrorism, and what do the techniques of terror earn for those who use them? Is violence ever justified? Must it be justified with religion, if it is to be justified at all? Most centrally: Is the category of religious violence meaningful?
• BIOL 235H - Evolution of Sex: Honors (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 credit)
  Tuesdays/Thursdays 1-2:50 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.
• EASC 110H - The Science of Global Change: Honors (SC credit)
  Mondays 9-11:50 a.m. (Gerald 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.
• SCIE 155H - Science of Musical Instruments: Honors (SL credit)
  Tuesdays 1-4:50pm (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.
• COMM 326H – Semiotics for Creators of Popular Culture: Honors (SS WI credits)
  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.