Spring 2020 Advanced Studies Courses

***Prerequisite(s) for ALL Honors Advanced Studies Courses: At least one Honors foundation course and at least one Honors colloquium course.

HONS 204 Honors Managerial Accounting (Professor TBD)

A survey of accounting information critical for planning, control and business decision-making within an organization.
Additional Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing; HONS 203

HONS 390 Impact X: Entrepreneurship (Professor David Wyman)

This course describes entrepreneurship as a process of economic, environmental and/or social value creation, rather than the single event of opening a business. Reflecting recent research, the course focuses on opportunity recognition, business model generation and lean startup. Students will research and develop a repeatable, scalable business model for an impact startup that solves an environmental and/or social problem, while making a profit.

*Honors Impact X is a two-course, same-semester sequence. Students must also enroll in HONS 390-03 Impact X: Technology. Interested students should contact Honors@cofc.edu to request enrollment into Honors Impact X.

HONS 390 Impact X: Technology (Professor Chris Starr)
In this course, students enter as co-founders in the domain of the technical startup community. In the computational analog, this is akin to entering as intelligent agents within a complex adaptive system. Through the application of concepts, data, processes and tooling, students will iteratively develop and deliver innovative solutions to human problems at the intersection of applied technology and business. The theme of the course is innovation technologies rooted in the principles of computing and providing a platform for experimentation, innovation and failure.

*Honors Impact X is a two-course, same-semester sequence. Students must also enroll in HONS 390-01 Impact X: Entrepreneurship. Interested students should contact Honors@cofc.edu to request enrollment into Honors Impact X.

HONS 390 Evidence-Based Medicine: Throwing Out the Cookbook in the 21st Century (Professor Kate Pfile)

This course explores the evolution of medicine from a tradition-based field into one that combines scientific evidence, clinical expertise, and patient needs in the decision-making process. Students enrolled in the course will explore and evaluate approaches to evidence-based medicine (EBM) relevant to the health, wellness, and medical fields. Course content will focus on the application of EBM to prevention, clinical testing, and diagnosis, as well as management and treatment strategies.

HONS 390 Elections Have Consequences (Professor John Culhane)

On November 3, 2020 Americans will once again go to the polls to elect a president of the United States. Now is certainly an appropriate time to ask ourselves, how important is this next election and just how important is a president? What qualities should we look for in a president? What is the role of the president in our government? What issues will define the 2020 presidential election?

This course is a combination of American history, politics, the rule of law and a bit of philosophy. Most importantly, it will raise issues and questions about the fragility of the American experiment and the imperfect process of electing our chief executive and commander in chief. Professor Culhane will challenge his students to think about 2020 America: Are we declining as a positive influence around the world? Is our Democracy alive and well? Does our Constitutional architecture allow us to effectively govern ourselves in 2020?

HONS 390 Understanding Electronic Music: Sound in the Modern Imagination (Professor Blake Stevens)

A series of innovative and experimental musical practices emerged in the early twentieth century in response to the soundscape of urban experience. The Italian Futurist Luigi Russolo proposed that the noises of modern life could be captured in newly-constructed “noisemakers” that would supplement and even replace traditional instruments. The composer Edgard Varèse refashioned the art of composition into the “organization of sound,” which included electronic instruments and recorded sounds alongside traditional instruments used in often unconventional ways. With the expansion of these techniques, musicians have confronted and transformed the fundamental practices of Western art music, creating new sonic “worlds” that allow listeners to enter into virtual realities and imagined futures.

To what extent have these musical practices participated in the broader artistic and philosophical reflection on the proliferation of technology and its impact on modern life? To open a path to answering this question and assessing the cultural significance of electronic music and sound art, this seminar examines the history and aesthetics of the field from its origins in the early twentieth century to the present. It draws upon primary sources (electroacoustic works, artistic manifestos, and science fiction film) as well as recent work in musicology and philosophy. To experience directly the questions of form, expression, and technique musicians working in this medium face, seminar members will experiment with the production of electronic music through creative modeling projects, including drone composition and acousmatic music (musique concrète).

HONS 390 Engaging the Dance Thinker (Professor Scott-Copses)

Initially the art of dance and the practice of academic writing may appear at odds–the dancer thinks kinesthetically while the writer thinks verbally, often from a reflective distance. Yet this course privileges an “embodied” view of learning through a writing practice that joins body and mind in the physical and mental act of knowledge construction. We will work with and through the body to choreograph and compose written and physical texts. This course requires neither specialized knowledge in composition theory nor dance practice and methodologies, but will draw from both to encourage the active role of sensory experience in knowledge construction.

HONS 390 Voice and Memory: Exploring the Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement (Professor Marjory Wentworth and Trisha Folds-Bennett)

Individual and collective memory for specific events is the foundation for the telling and re-telling of those events. What do people remember? What do they forget? Why do some people remember events in one way and others in a completely different way? What implications do voice and memory have when we are concerned about issues of justice and civility? In this class, we will explore the ways in which perspective, bias, beliefs, and values have shaped our nation’s understanding and memory of the civil rights movement and its impact on individual lives and society as a whole. Studying the theory and scope of social justice, drawing upon both historical and contemporary accounts of social justice, we will learn through the voices of various authors who have told the story of the civil rights movement. We will situate ourselves in the context of the civil rights movement by journeying to Atlanta, Selma, Birmingham, and Montgomery in hopes that we might gain new perspective on the experiences of the individuals who were at the epicenter of the movement.

Note: There is a required spring break travel component of this class with an associated cost. Please email Dr. Folds-Bennett at foldsbennettt@cofc.edu to learn more and to verify that you are able to participate.

*course offerings subject to change

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