Interested in doing a creative honors project? Would you like to develop a multimedia project, photojournalism, documentary? Or, perhaps you are interested in writing literary journalism, memoir, biographical profiles, feature articles, or some other creative nonfiction project you've always hoped to get to. If creativity is at the heart of your honors project, this seminar will assist you in developing a concept, as well as refining and reflecting on the process for archival purposes.

This is the first of two semesters in an honors thesis seminar. This course focuses on the ways we create and reflect meanings made about food. The seminar delves into the material and social meanings of food and implications for identity, culture and social justice. Students will have the opportunity to research food in the context of the meanings made about it in various institutions, businesses, nonprofit organizations, neighborhoods, cultures and communities.

This two-semester course will explore the history of utopian theory and the practice of futuring, an emerging concept that employs speculative modes of representation - such as art, literature and theory - to envision a sustainable and enlightened future. The first semester will dive into the history of utopian theory not only through its literary record, but also through art, architecture and design.

In this Honors thesis seminar, participants will collaboratively study selected landmark Supreme Court cases that have had major impacts upon the experience of race and family in the United States. Cases studied involve such issues as racial segregation, interracial and same-sex marriage, reproductive rights, and child welfare. Our focus will be upon the social, cultural, and political contexts of these cases rather than on the Supreme Court as an institution or on legal reasoning per se, though at times we will also closely read majority and dissenting opinions.

This senior honors thesis course looks at current and past legal structures that have marginalized certain groups in the U.S. - including American Indians, immigrants, African Americans, and the poor - while perpetuating inequality. It also looks at how state and federal laws have been used over the centuries to perpetuate inequalities while addressing the potential to legislate equality and social justice. From the time Europeans first arrived on this continent, there was competition for resources and control. First the colonies, then the U.S.

This two semester Interdisciplinary Honors Thesis Seminar will explore current thinking on health and wellbeing in the built environment, with a focus on campus environments. Consideration of the impact of the built environment on health and well-being is an increasingly important priority in the design fields as well as in conversations concerning equity, public policy, public health, and education. These concerns are interrelated with issues of sustainability, resilience, and planetary wellbeing.

Randomness and uncertainty exist in our daily lives, as well as in every scientific investigation. Our intuition is often wrong when assessing uncertain situations, leading us to make wrong decisions. The goal of this honors thesis seminar and the projects is to better understand randomness and uncertainty and develop tools to make better decisions under uncertain situations, either by humans or AI. In the first semester, the instructor will cover fundamental and relevant concepts from probability, decision theory, psychology, and machine learning.

This two-semester, 8-credit honors thesis/project course focuses on two of the most intractable structural issues confronting contemporary American society: immigration and mass incarceration. This course will place these two issues in historical context through a variety of academic, journalistic and autobiographical texts and documentaries, which will allow students to see how the contemporary phenomena of immigration and mass incarceration have common ideological underpinnings and common historical roots.

Globalization will serve as the cornerstone of our study in this two-semester seminar as students undertake their honors thesis. By globalization I mean the increasingly integrated nature of our world's economy, culture and consciousness. Some of the main issues of globalization the course will explore are: strengthening borders against outsiders (refugees, immigrants); increasing borderlessness of technology, which reaches into all corners of the globe and the relationship between globalization and the distribution of income across countries.

Students registering for this Honors Practicum must complete a contract with their honors sponsor. Appropriate forms and more information are available at the Bloom Honors Advising Center - 201 Commonwealth Honors College.