Each of the courses is distinctive and may not be cross-listed for credit in other departments. The first course in the Program (Honors 100) serves as a one-credit introduction to intellectual enrichment opportunities through faculty and student presentations, and issue-based symposia. Honors 110 extends the conversation begun in ILA and Honors 100 with special attention to critical thinking and the perspectives provided by various branches of intellectual inquiry.

In the middle section of the Program students pursue in-depth examinations of the thought and work of figures and of events, movements, and ideas instrumental in shaping our world, through the selection of three Honors 210 courses. From there students enroll in a specially designed junior or senior-level, interdisciplinary, independent study course whose outcome is a project and public presentation (Honors 410). Finally, for one credit in the senior year (Honors 420) Honors students are invited to select an activity or project from a menu of service learning, campus leadership and research opportunities.     

Acceptance into the Program is determined competitively, first by invitation and application at the time of admission, and then again at mid-semester of the fall semester of the freshman year. Sophomores, and sophomore transfer students may also seek admission. Their applications will be considered on an individual basis. To be recognized as an Honors Graduate, a student will normally have taken at least 17  semester hours in the program, including Honors 100, 110, 410, and 420,  attain at least a B- in each course, and graduate with a 3.5 college-wide GPA. A participant in an officially sanctioned ACM-GLCA off-campus study program may be released from one Honors 210 course. Possible release from Honors 410 because of Off-Campus Program attendance will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis with the Honors Committee.

Courses are reserved initially for Honors students. If space is available, others may enroll with the consent of the instructor.

Coordinator:
Craig Watson, English, Chairperson

HONR 100.  Introduction to Honors.   A one-credit introduction to intellectual resources, liberal learning, discipline studies, and academic discourse at Monmouth College. The course is organized as a seminar around weekly meetings in which faculty, student, and guest presentations are followed by discussion of issues.

HONR 110. Honors I. Wonder, Ideas, Trials. A critical examination of texts and issues in an introduction to the history of ideas and to the examination of ideas from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.  (Three credits.) (Prof. Craig Watson; spring semester)

HONR 210. Selected Topics. A critical examination of a seminal figure, event, movement, or idea recognized as significant in shaping our collective history. A minimum of four courses is required. (Three credits each.)

Current Courses in Selected Topics:

The Births and Deaths of Tragedy. The course first examines literary definitions and representative types of tragic drama, tracing the genre from Greek plays and Aristotle’s Poetics through Senecan, Elizabethan, neo-classical French, then modern European and American works. Readings and discussion next focus attention upon philosophical theories of tragedy, particularly of the 19th century—theories which find in literary works ways of describing "tragedy in the world." Consideration is subsequently given to Freud’s tragic consciousness and to reports of intellectual and literary historians in the 20th century that announce the "death of tragedy." (Prof. Craig Watson)

Corn. The agricultural revolution that marked the transition of some humans from hunter-gatherer to agricultural life-styles, is one of the most profound in the history of our species. This course will explore relationships between humans and plants by using corn as a model system. Topics will include the history of grasses, New World corn-based cultures, prairie ecology, conventional & organic farming, genetic engineering, bioethics, & ecological economics. Labs will include field trips to local museums, farms, & facilities involved in corn and meat production.

Evil. This course engages the theme of evil and our responses to evil. Course material will include an introduction to what philosophers of religion call "the problem of evil" (how can we simultaneously believe in an all-powerful, benevolent deity given the existence of evil in the world?); how different religious traditions have addressed the problem of suffering; the western tradition of belief in an Anti-Christ as the source of evil; and contemporary discussions that encourage broadening our understanding of what counts as evil so as to include experiences of physical pain, helplessness, poverty and torture. The course includes literature as well as scholarship from the fields of religious studies, history, philosophy, politics and education.

Globalization. One of the most significant trends of the second half of the twentieth century has been a dramatic increase in circulation of people, commodities, and cultural products in the world. This phenomenon, generally referred to as globalization, has posed a serious challenge to social scientists. This is so because the new social and political formations wrought by globalization break down familiar expectations that human societies can be understood in terms of specific geographic and cultural regions. In this context of complex flows and unexpected linkages of people, capital, resources, and political relationships, how are we to define meaningful analytical and interpretive boundaries? This course will examine globalization by first introducing students to the major issues discussed by recent scholarship on globalization. For the second half of the course we will focus on a particular region, South Asia, in order to challenge the premise that globalization is a 20^th century phenomena. Globalization in South Asia began not with the introduction of McDonald' s and global capital investment, nor with the nineteenth-century dominance of the British Raj. It began with the earlier encounters between India and the Arab and European world. The impact of this globalization process will be examined closely. In doing so, we will come to a general understanding of the impact of globalization on regions, peoples, and cultures.

The Human Dialogue. A course organized around the theme of dialogue as a principle for interpreting the human condition. The human sciences most commonly focus on either the individual self (e.g., psychology) or the social structures within which people live (e.g., sociology). By contrast a dialogical approach centers attention on the interaction between individuals as a generative force which can account for outcomes of both self and social structure. Topics covered while examining the dialogical principle will include: dialogue as a pragmatic of communication and conversation, dialogue as a philosophical concept, dialogue as a basis for ethics, and dialogue as the progenitor of the self. Students will read and discuss critical texts, reflect on dialogical experience in journals, analyze communicative interactions, and pursue an individual project. (Prof. Lee McGann)

The Ideal.
This course will explore views on what it means to be an optimal organism, a superior species, a perfect plant, an  ideal individual. Together, we will examine the machinery of life and answer the question, “what makes us more than the sum of our parts?” The majority of the course will be dedicated to studying humans and our quest to become “the ideal.” Advances in science and medicine have created new paths to attain the “ideal” and satisfy our deepest human desires: perfect health, superior performance, younger bodies, happy souls, better children, and more. How we with modern science and medicine are engaged in fulfilling human desires will be discussed in class, studied at off campus sites, and experienced through hands-on  activities. Technical, moral, ethical, social, and legal challenges that accompany the quest for “the ideal” will be studied and debated throughout the course.

New York: Portrait of a City.
The course is an exploration of New York City from multiple angles. From an inquiry into the archaeology of the city, her Native American and colonial roots; to her emergence as a North American trading, and later industrial metropolis; a port of entry for millions of immigrants; to her current position as an undisputed global financial, cultural and political center, this course will probe into the complex history and social and cultural dynamics of this unique city.

Nobel Laureates: Modern Literature. The course is an overview of modern world literature by way of the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Works will be selected from the following authors: Albert Camus, Yasunari Kawabata, Samuel Beckett, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Gabriel Garcia Marquz, Wole Soyinka, Heinrich Böll, Thomas Mann, Naguib Mahfouz, Luigi Pirandello, Ivo Andríc, Patrick White, Czeslaw Milosz, and Nadine Gordimer. If feasible, a work by the recipient of the 1998 prize will be included. The primary focus of the course is a critical appreciation of these writings as works of art. Secondarily, the breadth of the literature will invite comparative analysis both in literary and cultural terms.

Reading Through The Millennia. An examination of texts from three millennial transitions (1 B.C., 1000 A.D., and 2000 A.D.). With an emphasis on general cultural and historical characteristics as well as prophetic/predictive aspects of each period.

Signifying Voices: The Caribbean. An in-depth study of the Anglophone, Francophone, and Hispanophone Caribbean, including the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica), and the Lesser Antilles (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Trinidad) and touching on Mexico and the countries of Central and South America where their histories and cultures pertain to the Caribbean. The emphasis is on understanding the peoples of the region through their own eyes, and largely through their literary traditions, but also including other artistic traditions, notably music and dance. Course participants will also study the history and the politically and economically strategic significance of the region.

Strange Worlds: The Quantum World, The Early Universe, and The World of Complexity. The ideas of modern physics have profoundly changed our view of the universe and our role in it. The application of those ideas has had and will continue to have tremendous technological, social and ethical consequences. This course will focus on the conceptual understanding of quantum theory, cosmology, theories of chaos, and on the philosophical and practical consequences of those ideas. Particular attention will be paid to the historical development of these ideas and to the experimental data that support them. The consequences of a world view that includes quantum physics, modern cosmology, and new understandings of complexity will be discussed and analyzed in detail. This discussion may include topics dealing with ethical dilemmas and questions that arise because of both the world view and the practical and technological results of those ideas.

HONR 410. Honors II. The capstone course attempts to synthesize the students’ intellectual experiences as well as to anticipate conditions and ideas for the future. Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.) (Staff; fall semester)

*substitution for General Education required courses:

Honors students who complete the program may substitute specifically designated HONR 210 courses for the following General Education requirements:

A lab science course in the rubric "Physical Universe and its Life Forms"

2. A "Human Societies" course other than "Comparative Societies"

3. An "appreciation" course under the rubric "Beauty and Meaning in Works of Art"

4. A course listed under the rubric "Issues and Ideas"

(The Registrar will normally count an HONR 210 course (not otherwise assigned as a substitute) for any other General Education course) as a substitute for the "Issues and Ideas" course, for all students completing the program.)

For any student enrolled in the Honors program but who subsequently fails to complete it, the Registrar will evaluate the student transcript upon student notification of discontinuance from Honors, and apprize the student of remaining General Education requirements for graduation.

A grade of "B-" or better is required in each Honors course. If a student falls below that grade in a particular Honors course and leaves the program subsequently, that course will substitute for a designated General Education requirement. Should a student complete all requirements in Honors but fail to graduate with "Honors" because of a college-wide G.P.A. below 3.5, "designated" Honors courses taken by the student will substitute for the pertinent General Education courses.

**Application and Admission to the Honors Program

The Admissions Office may invite qualified students, newly admitted to the college, to apply to the program. Applicants are asked to submit a formal essay of about 400-500 words, in which they review their expectations of the program and their motivations for applying. Along with the essay, applicants should also submit a recent sample of their high school writing.

Students on campus may also receive nomination for the program from their ILA instructor in the first semester. Again, applicants are asked to submit to the program coordinator a formal essay of about 400-500 words, in which they review their expectations of the program and their motivations for applying. Along with the essay, applicants should also submit a recent sample of their writing, in this case a college essay.

Otherwise, any interest and qualified student should solicit a confidential letter of recommendation from a faculty member familiar with his or her academic performance, and follow the process described above.

The Honors Committee will also review applicants’ high school records and ACT scores. All application material should be submitted to Craig Watson, Honors Program Coordinator.

IMPORTANT DATES