HONS 293 Honors Organic Chemistry (Professor Brooke Van Horn)
Three credits (lecture), One credit (lab)
This course provides a qualitative introduction to concepts of kinetic and thermodynamic control of the reactions and applications of organic compounds in materials science and biology.

Prerequisite(s): HONS 192 and HONS 192L with a grade of D+ or higher and MATH 120.
Co-requisite(s): HONS 293L, MATH 220 is recommended.

Anticipated Teaching Format: In-Person

HONS 390-02 Spiritual Activism and the Climate Crisis (Professor Todd LeVasseur)
* There is a $360 fee associated with this course to cover travel costs to Earthaven ecovillage during fall break.
Three credits
This course adopts a religion and environmental humanities lens to investigate not only the causes and impacts of human-induced global warming, but also some solutions. Through a mixture of lectures, videos, and class discussions students will explore how religious identities, broadly speaking, may be mobilized to advocate for resilient solutions to the climate crisis. The course utilizes an intersectional understanding of climate change via ecofeminist and ecowomanist lenses that help analyze causes of climate change, and pathways to more just, resilient solutions to it. The course explores intentional community-based efforts at climate adaptation and resiliency, focusing on the ecospiritual aspects of Transition Towns, Ecovillages, and other sacred-ecologies of place lifeways. Lastly the course investigates the religious, spiritual, and ethical motivations of climate activists, especially intersectional activists in their teens and 20s, while also investigating the psychology of responding to climate change, focusing on how spiritual activism may promote advocacy for a more sustainable future for all.

Anticipated Teaching Format: In-Person

*Covid-permitting, this course will include a required Fall Break trip to Earthaven ecovillage near Asheville, NC. The $360 travel fee will cover 4 days/3 nights of lodging, food, and curricula, plus van rental and gas.

HONS 390-03 Honors Molecular Biology (Professor Renaud Geslain)
Three credits
In this course students will study in detail the structures and functions of the most fundamental biomolecules of life, such as DNA, RNA, and proteins and their relevance to the world we live in through the following eight topics organized in eight separate modules: (i) the design, effectiveness, cost and side effects of drugs, (ii) the detection, prevention and treatment of pathogenic diseases, (iii) the future of agriculture, farming and the environment in general (especially the impact of modern genome editing and synthetic biology), (iv) policymaking and bioethics (the cloning of primates for research, the engineering of human-animal hybrids, the pros and cons of enhanced pathogen research, and the potential and limits of DNA forensics), (v) gene and stem cell therapies (available treatments, future prospects and controversies), (vi) the biology of cancers (established and emerging hallmarks of cancer cells, diagnoses and personalized treatments), (vii) the biology of senescent cells (zombie cells, senolytics and autophagy), and (viii) evolution of hominins and techniques in molecular biology (ancient DNA, paleogenomics, paleoproteomics and landmark discoveries in molecular biology).

Prerequisite(s): BIOL 111/BIOL 111L or HONS 151/HONS 151L, BIOL 112/BIOL 112L or HONS 152/HONS 152L, BIOL 211/BIOL 211D and BIOL 305; one year of chemistry. CHEM 232 or HONS 293 can be substituted for BIOL 211 and BIOL 305.
Co-requisite(s) or Prerequisite(s): MATH 250 or equivalent course in statistics or permission of instructor.
**Because this class has course-specific prerequisites, interested students should contact plasmatinc@cofc.edu or Ganawayb@cofc.edu in order to be enrolled.

Anticipated Teaching Format: In-Person

HONS 390-04 Jews in the Medieval Christian Imagination (Professor Brooke Permenter)
Three credits
This course examines the ways in which Christians perceived and created “Jews” throughout the Middle Ages. We will examine representations of Jews in medieval texts and images, not simply to outline what Christians thought about Jews, but also to consider what Christian definitions of Judaism tell us about medieval Christians themselves. The course begins with ideas of Jews in the Bible, early Church doctrine and medieval law codes and correspondence. Then, we will explore the main currents of visual representation of Jews and their position in medieval society. Finally, we will consider how the Jewish-Christian dynamic and its tendency to mold real Jews into a fantastic “other” contributed to the harsh treatments and expulsions of Jews from England, France, Italy, Germany, Northern Europe, and Spain in the High and Late Middle Ages.

Anticipated Teaching Format: In-Person

HONS 390-05 Manipulating Memories: How and Why We Remember the Past Wrong (Professor Gabby Principe)
Three credits
Most people think of memory like a recording device that exactly captures and forever preserves our experiences. But work on the malleability of memory demonstrate that it is not reliable. In fact, it is easily manipulated and even not so difficult for others to plant false memories that affect behavior long after the memories take hold. We even distort our own memories even when we are trying to be completely honest with ourselves. Usually this tendency is adaptive but can contribute to emotional disorders when we make it a habit to misremember our experiences in negative ways. In this course we will explore the conditions under which we are all susceptible to false memories, what a malleable memory system tells us about our identity and who we are, and why evolution gave us a memory system prone to distortion and interference. We’ll also examine ethical and social issues that come with the ability to plant memories and questions about when health professionals should do so or ban its use.

Anticipated Teaching Format: In-Person

HONS 390-06 Propaganda and Persuasion in the Middle East (Professor Daniel Brown)
Three credits
Course description forthcoming.

Anticipated Teaching Format: In-Person