2017 Honors FSPs

All students in the Honors Program are expected to take at least one honors course during their first semester. It is highly recommended that honors students take an Honors FSP. Contact Prof. Maggie Benoit (benoit@tcnj.edu) if you think you may be unable to take an honors FSP.

You should choose three of the following Honors FSPs and place them in your First Semester Worksheet. One of these choices will be assigned as your FSP.

Learn more about the Honors Program

FSP 161-H1	Honors FSP: Morality, Free Will, and God This seminar is about what it means to be human. We will draw on philosophy and religion (both Western and Eastern) as well as psychology and art to advance our understanding of what is involved in: 1) being a  moral agent; 2) having a unitary self (or soul); 3) human hopes that the cosmos or divine is  not indifferent to how we live our lives;  4) our capacities to act freely. Course #: FSP 161-H1 Professor: Kamber, Richard Day/s & Time/s: MR: 12:30 - 1:50PM	Kamber, Richard
FSP 161-H2	Honors FSP: Morality, Free Will, and God This seminar is about what it means to be human. We will draw on philosophy and religion (both Western and Eastern) as well as psychology and art to advance our understanding of what is involved in: 1) being a  moral agent; 2) having a unitary self (or soul); 3) human hopes that the cosmos or divine is  not indifferent to how we live our lives;  4) our capacities to act freely. Course #: FSP 161-H2 Professor: Kamber, Richard Day/s & Time/s: MR: 2 - 3:20PM	Kamber, Richard
FSP 161-H3	The History of Disease The millennia and their impact on human society. These include smallpox, cholera, tuberculosis, bubonic plague, syphilis, and the Spanish flu of 1918. Among the emerging diseases we will explore are HIV/AIDS, ebola, SARS, and H1N1. How have we managed to eradicate smallpox and how close are we to ending the spread of polio? These and other questions will be answered in this course.“The history of disease will go on, despite once confident predictions of an end to epidemics in our times, and those who now wage the heroic struggle to find elusive cures to our new plagues may find that they have more to learn from the past than had once been thought.” Course #: FSP 161-H3 Professor: King, Rita Mary Day/s & Time/s: MW: 5:30 - 6:50PM	King, Rita Mary
FSP 161-H4	Star Wars: Films and Adaptations “Star Wars: Films & Adaptations” examines the original movie trilogy (Episodes IV, V, VI) as well as the prequels (I, II, III), Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. We also read one Star Wars novel, watch selected episodes of the Star Wars animated TV series (both Clone Wars series and Star Wars Rebels), and read about and discuss other ancillary creations (e.g. video games, collectibles, Jediism) that make up the Star Wars cultural phenomenon. Our approach is interdisciplinary: film studies, literature, philosophy, religious studies, history, sociology, anthropology, economics/marketing, other. The primary sources analyzed are the fictional works created by George Lucas and others; secondary sources include books and articles in a variety of disciplines. The final project is a research paper on a topic related to Star Wars. If you haven’t already watched all 8 films, please do so over the summer since we won’t be able to avoid spoilers in our reading and discussion. Course #: FSP 161-H4 Professor: Konkle, Lincoln Day/s & Time/s: TF: 11 - 12:20PM	Konkle, Lincoln
FSP 161-H5	The Bible: America's Best Selling Book It is consistently America's best selling book: the Bible. No book has more profoundly shaped American history, and no book is held in wider esteem by Americans, generation after generation. But what's inside this hallowed volume? One will find compelling narratives, stirring words, ghastly events, and tawdry encounters, which have seeded 1000s of faith traditions and nurtured billions of believers. This seminar will sample each of the Bible's genres, critically examine the contexts and uses of select texts, and trace out their influence on American history, literature, politics, and religion. Course #: FSP 161-H5 Professor: Clydesdale, Tim Day/s & Time/s: TF: 3:30 - 4:50PM	Clydesdale, Tim
FSP 161-H6	The Persuasive Power of Recent Television Narrative Many have claimed we are in a new golden age of television, or Peak TV. The Sopranos and The Wire were pioneers that have been followed by multiple recent serialized stories that have captured the attention of film directors, actors, and writers. We have moved from the confinement of networks to cable, pay subscription services, and streaming platforms. Content is developing as quickly as technology, offering us a broader palette of more characters who look like more of us. How we engage with the stories these characters tell shows us the impact of the argument the creators are making. Focusing on the implicit visual arguments these stories make will allow us to create our own explicit written and visual arguments about them. We will explore and write about three of these series, uncovering strategies that each uses to persuade. Students will write one longer final essay on one other series of their choice. Additionally, in small groups, students will create, shoot and pitch a ten-minute pilot for their own series. Course #: FSP 161-H6 Professor: Ringer, Nina Day/s & Time/s: TF: 9:30 - 10:50AM	Ringer, Nina
FSP 161-H7	Writing the Civil War Era This course will explore how writers have shaped our understanding of slavery and the Civil War. Students will first examine different types of primary sources from the period, including former slave narratives, newspaper articles, and wartime memoirs. They will then consider how and why novelists have employed slavery and the Civil War as literary devices to reveal various tensions in the American character. Students will also learn how non-fiction writers have continually revised the history of the Civil War era to shed light on political or social issues in their own times. Course #: FSP 161-H7 Professor: Hollander, Craig Day/s & Time/s: MR: 11 - 12:20PM	Hollander, Craig
FSP 161-H8	Explorations in Time and Time Travel What do you know about time? Does it move, or do we move in it? It is it constant or variable? Can we leave our present moment? These and many other questions are explored as we examine literature on the nature of time and time travel. Ideas and works by thinkers and writers such as Albert Einstein, H. G. Wells, Jack Finney, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein, Stephen Hawking, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King are considered. Physics, philosophy, religion, literature and popular culture are brought to bear on considering meanings and definitions of time and their effects on human thought and consciousness. Course #: FSP 161-H8 Professor: Anderson, Robert Day/s & Time/s: MR: 9:30 - 10:50am	Anderson, Robert
FSP 161-H9	The Bible: America's Best Selling Book It is consistently America's best selling book: the Bible. No book has more profoundly shaped American history, and no book is held in wider esteem by Americans, generation after generation. But what's inside this hallowed volume? One will find compelling narratives, stirring words, ghastly events, and tawdry encounters, which have seeded 1000s of faith traditions and nurtured billions of believers. This seminar will sample each of the Bible's genres, critically examine the contexts and uses of select texts, and trace out their influence on American history, literature, politics, and religion. Course #: FSP 161-H9 Professor: Clydesdale, Tim Day/s & Time/s: TF: 2 - 3:20PM	Clydesdale, Tim
FSP 162-H1	An Era of Opportunity and Crisis: The 1960s In this Honors Freshman Seminar, we will study culture and politics in the 1960s, with particular attention to the music that was part of the charged cultural-political landscape.  Following an introductory overview of the ‘60s, we will explore the decade through intersecting, complementary concerns: the evolution of youth culture; of the Civil Rights Movement, including demands for racial, gender, and sexual equality; of global relations between East and West; and of the Vietnam War.  Musically, the soundtrack to the ‘60s witnessed great diversity and complexity in terms of genre, style, and performance. In this seminar, we will experience rock, rhythm and blues, soul, folk, pop, avant garde “classical,” acoustic, electronic, and psychedelic musics. Through audio and video recordings of live and studio performances, and supported by primary and secondary source readings, we will consider ways in which music reflected, responded to, challenged, and shaped the 1960s as an era of opportunity and crisis. Course #: FSP 162-H1 Professor's: Heisler, Wayne and Venturo, David Day/s & Time/s: TF: 2 - 3:20PM	Heisler, Wayne and Venturo, David	Race and Ethnicity