Honors Forum



HF101
First Year Honors Colloquium
Prof. David Vella

A weekly discussion group for first-year members of the Honors Forum. Topics might include the evolving goals and methods of higher education, the nature of research and the ethics of scholarship in the academy, competing and complementary modes of inquiry, the intellectual demands of collaborative and interdisciplinary learning, and the myriad forces that seek expression and balance as we create a college community. The course will focus on objects of study drawn from the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Materials may include readings from various fields of study, films, performances, lab demonstrations, case studies, exhibits, historical artifacts, and site visits. Student work will include participating in panel discussions and writing essays that address aspects of the major disciplinary foci.




HF200 / HF300
Hindu Art and Religious Art in India
Prof. Joel Smith

A study of the interplay between art and religion in Hinduism with a focus on selected temple sites in South India. This course is a pre-requisite for the travel seminar of the same name to be taught in India in January, 2009, by Rob Linrothe and Joel Smith.  Only students accepted for the travel seminar may take this course.  Permission of instructor required.


HF201
Junior Great Books Training
Prof. Catherine Golden

This one-credit Honors course is designed to introduce students interested in teaching on the secondary level to a program that inspires students’ passion for reading and encourages students to think for themselves—Junior Great Books. Students enrolled in this course will undergo an intensive 10-hour training and receive certification as a Junior Great Books instructor, a curriculum used in schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The training program teaches participants how to help students build on their critical thinking and literacy skills—comprehension, speaking, writing, and listening. In addition to the training, students will meet weekly with a professor certified in Junior Great Books to put their training into practice before entering a secondary school classroom setting. Attention will be given to the formulation of questions to encourage students to think critically, planning of small group activities to stimulate debate, and designing of follow-up writing activities to help students learn to use writing as an aid to reading and learning. Written work includes a journal and briefs (short papers focusing on reading and writing activities). Students who enroll in this course are expected to take HF 200: Junior Great Books Practicum and participate in the Expanding Horizons Program between Skidmore and the Schuylerville schools. The course is geared for students interested in pursuing primary or secondary school teaching or education. Permission of instructor is required.




HF202
Junior Great Books Practicum
Prof. Catherine Golden

This one-credit course is a follow-up to HF200: Junior Great Books Training. Students certified in Junior Great Books will be paired and placed in a small group setting at the junior high level in the Schuylerville school district. Using materials prepared in the prerequisite course, students will have an opportunity to teach Junior Great Books curriculum in a weekly after school program that will run 10 weeks. A professor certified in Junior Great Books will supervise students, observing them in the classroom and offering feedback on their performance. All students enrolled in the course will meet periodically throughout the semester to compare and assess their classroom experiences.
Written work includes a journal and briefs (Short papers assessing the Junior Great Books Program and their classroom experiences). The course is geared for students interested in pursuing primary of secondary school teaching education. Prerequisite: HF200: Junior Great Books Training. Permission of instructor in required.


HF203
Citizen Studentship
Prof. Steven Pearlman

Citizen Studentship is the first course is Skidmore's history to be designed by students. The course gives students the chance to break down traditional educational structures of authority, thus offering an alternative method of education that emphasizes participation and responsibility as a member of the academic community. Students will challenge each other, generating their own assignments for which they must think, speak and write critically. Citizen Studentship will culminate in the design and fulfillment of a class project that will help students to find their potential for making a meaningful contribution to the intellectual environment of the campus and the community at large.



HF271, 272 A, B, C, D
Honors Independent Study
See Prof. David Vella

An independent research or project opportunity for unusually well qualified first-year or sophomore students working at "honors" level. In consultation with a sponsoring faculty member, the student proposes to the Honors Council a project that builds upon the student’s academic background and interests and concludes in an “honors” paper or project to be shared with the wider student community. The Honors Independent Study may not be substituted for available honors courses. The project proposal must describe the project coherently and in detail, especially indicating the ways in which the undertaking exercises sophisticated abilities and methodologies; it must also make clear why the available “honors” courses are not suitable for the student proposing HF271/272.

 

HF300
Jane Austen in Bath
Prof. Catherine Golden

Two of Jane Austen’s novels—Northanger Abbey (1818) and Persuasion (1818)—are set in Bath, a seat of culture in eighteenth-century England.  Using the facilities of Bath as our living classroom, we will explore the settings in Bath vital to characterization and plot of these two novels—specifically the Pump Room and the Assembly Room—and walk the Bath city streets central to Austen and her characters.  The course will comprise reading of biography and fiction, on-site field trips, a group project, and creation of an analytic booklet focusing on Austen’s life and creation of these two famous novels.

 

HF301
Honors Forum Senior Symposium
Prof. David Vella

What is the difference between a public policy statement and a lab report, between a poem and a philosophical treatise? Just how do different disciplines conduct their inquiries, define the “evidence” they employ, and make claims for knowledge and value? These will be our central questions as seniors from a variety of disciplines work on and discuss their culminating research and creative projects for their majors. We will also read current discussions and critiques of contemporary undergraduate education with an eye to contextualizing our culminating experiences within wider discussions of the liberal arts. The main work of the course, however, will be student-generated discussion of senior-year capstone projects. We will meet one hour each week for the first half of the course, then two hours every other week for the remainder of the semester. There will be one student report and one analytical paper due at the end of the course. Faculty and administrative guests will be invited to join us on occasion.


HF371, 372 A, B, C, D
Independent Study
See Prof. David Vella

An independent research or project opportunity for unusually well qualified Junior or Senior students working at "honors" level. In consultation with a sponsoring faculty member, the student proposes to the Honors Council a project that builds upon the student’s academic background and interests and concludes in an “honors” paper or project to be shared with the wider student community. The Honors Independent Study may not be substituted for available honors courses. The project proposal must describe the project coherently and in detail, especially indicating the ways in which the undertaking exercises sophisticated abilities and methodologies; it must also make clear why the available “honors” courses are not suitable for the student proposing HF371/372.