Current Students

Ranging from classical philosophy to the digital age, this first-year honors course invites students to explore the different ways in which knowledge is created and consumed, how understanding is cultivated, the various relationships possible between knowledge and the self, and the implications of these in our contemporary world. Through an examination of common topics, studio experiences, and assignments, all sections of this course will explore different ways of knowing (e.g., historical, philosophical, scientific, creative, etc.)

Note: This freshman seminar is intended as an introduction to the Judy Genshaft Honors College community for incoming students. There are many sections of this Honors Core course on the Tampa campus, please work with your Honors advisor to select the time that is best for you.

Honors Foundations 
IDH 2930-002 through 2930-050
Instructor: Kevin Lee (each section led by a peer mentor) 
Times vary depending on section 

Led by peer mentors in a seminar-style format, this course introduces first-year Honors students to navigating college. Students will build a community and connections with peers, engage in academic and wellness resources discussions, and develop a sense of belonging for a successful first-year experience. 

Rooted in Place 
IDH 2930-076
Instructor: Andrew Hargrove (with Dora Rodriguez) 
TR | 9:30AM – 10:45 AM 
Sustainable Futures 

This 0 credit course fulfills 50 hours of community service. Please note, this course meets in the USF Botanical Garden at 9:00 AM so that students will be able to leave early and get to their next class.

If you reside in the Honors LLC and would like to take part in this course, please fill out this form expressing your interest. Dan Woods will confirm your placement in this course.

“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.” -Alfred Austin 

The great challenge of our time is to build and nurture sustainable communities. Gardening is an act of compassion – for one’s self, their community members, and ecological partners. Planting and growing food and flowers can promote the health and wellbeing of all our community members – whether in the JGHC, USF, or our surrounding areas. 

This spring, I welcome you to build our JGHC community garden. You will learn valuable skills you can take with you beyond the classroom, including how to reduce the impact of food deserts through community gardening, improve air and soil quality, increase biodiversity of plants and animals, reduce waste through composting, increase physical activity through gardening maintenance, improve mental health and promote relaxation, and promote community wellness through education. In this experiential learning class, you can gain the tools to create a better world for yourself and others through establishing the community garden. 

Honors Orchestra
IDH 2930-090
Instructor: Calvin Falwell
T |5:00 – 6:15 PM

Did you play an instrument in high school, or were you a member of your local youth orchestra or band? Have you been looking for an artistic outlet for your creative personality?  Then you are in the right place! Join the USF Honors Orchestra this semester and explore the world of classical and popular music. This flexible and inviting group of musicians is open to all levels. We hope that you will join us.

Honors Choir
IDH 2930-091
Instructor: Adam Davidson
F |12:30 – 1:45 PM

“The only thing better than singing is more singing.” - Ella Fitzgerald 

The Honors Choir exists to be a welcoming, creative, collaborative, and non-competitive musical space for Honors students.  Love to sing? Like to sing? Interested in singing? Join the Honors Choir. All musical backgrounds are welcome. Honors Choir can contribute to completion of one Experiential Learning requirement. No audition or prior experience is required. The Choir will offer a public performance at least once per semester.

Contemporary Music Ensemble
IDH 2930-092
Instructor: Adam Davidson
R | 3:30 - 4:45 PM

Play guitar? Bass? Drums? Keys? How about sax, trumpet, banjo or fiddle? Got vocal chops like Ella or Stevie or Billie? Join the Contemporary Music Ensemble and explore the popular music of the last 75 years - from jazz and R&B, to straight up Rock N Roll, electronica and beyond. The CME will offer one concert during the semester and may perform at other events as needed. Participation in two semesters of CME may count as one Experiential Learning activity. All Honors students are eligible to apply. Experience preferred but not required. To submit your application, complete this form.

Electric Lit
IDH 3100-001
Instructor: Dennis Mont’ros
TR | 12:30 – 1:45 PM

We are surrounded by stories.  Likewise, our daily lives are immersed in technology.  It seems only natural to merge these two forces which profoundly shape our human experience.  This course is designed to enhance students’ personal and professional storytelling through the careful analysis of visual-based narratives and elevate understanding and employment of Generative Artificial Intelligence tools.  

The two-fold objectives of this course are to learn and practice skillful use of Generative AI tools, and examine elements of compelling textual and visual storytelling.  The culminating project is a digital visual-based narrative such as manga, a graphic novel, a web comic, or experimental form.  Along the way, we will study generative AI technology fundamentals, digital ethics, visual art, and practical uses of generative AI tools.  

“Gotta Dance”: The Greatest Dancers
IDH 3100-002
Instructor: Jeffery Donley
MW | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM 

The phrase “Gotta Dance” comes from perhaps the greatest movie musical ever made, "Singing in the Rain." Dancing is movement, and movement permeates every aspect of life, whether within our bodies, minds, or the world around us. This class is an interdisciplinary integration of creative and critical methods for researching human movement that introduces the aesthetics and creative processes in dance and choreography. You will think critically about dance performance, and you will be engaged in dance as a performing art form by transforming you into the roles of dancer, choreographer, audience member, and critic in relation to the realms of aesthetic questions, politics, identity, religion, and complex views of the human body. Students will also cultivate their critical thinking and observational skills in the ways that artists and scholars conceive of human movement as a way of knowing the world.

Students will watch the greatest dancers perform primarily in dance film musicals, stage and television performances, and music videos. Through guided discussions, they will learn how to observe and analyze the choreography of Busby Berkeley, Marsha Graham, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Michael Kidd, Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, Jack Cole, Robert Alton, and Bob Fosse for their contributions to avant-garde films of the postwar period, translations of stage choreography to screen, architectural studies, cartoon animation, and music videos. Drawing on eclectic source materials from different dance genres, the focus of this class will be an examination and observation of dance in film from c. 1928 to the present, including the performances of male dancers Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, The Nicholas Brothers, Donald O’Connor, John Brasica, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Michael Jackson, and MC Hammer. Female dancers Eleanor Powell, Ginger Rogers, Cyd Charisse, Leslie Caron, Vera-Ellen, Mitzi Gaynor, Ann Miller, Reiko Sato, and Natalia Osipova will be analyzed. No prior dance experience is necessary.

All the World's a Stage: Performing the Self and Your Culture
IDH 3100-003
Instructor: David Jenkins
TR | 2:00 - 3:15 PM

Shakespeare observed that "all the world's a stage." Have you considered how we embody and put into action -- that is to say how we perform -- our various ideologies, identities, and cultures? This course focuses on our unique individual and collective performances in the secular, sacred, and quotidian realms. Drawing from performance studies, communication theory, anthropology, sociology, and other fields this course invites students to view all human interaction as a kind of performance and to consider their varying significances. What happens when the taken for granted becomes our focus? This course puts an emphasis on creative writing, a performance form in and of itself, as well as varying performance forms (storytelling, mixed media, installations) as both objects of study and methods of inquiry to illuminate what we consider to be “the everyday.” 

The view of life as theater is an ancient and enduring metaphor for human reality. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the perspective of life as theater and in performance-centered approaches to communication and culture. This course will draw attention to the relationship between everyday life and traditional aesthetic performance. We will explore how communication in everyday life may be understood using performance as a metaphor and method of study. We will also look at how aesthetic performances are informed by everyday experiences. We will discuss culture as a continuous performance, from the “ordinary” speech of an individual to the elaborate rituals/practice of groups and organizations. We will seek to uncover how our everyday performances construct and maintain culture.

When Growing Up Means Growing Down: The Girls’ Bildungsroman
IDH 3100-004
Instructor: Ashley Reese
TR | 12:30 - 1:45 PM

American girls’ literature forms a genre that follows the bildungsroman of girls “growing down” to join their community and take on the roles of wife and mother. Here mothers, school, and other institutions shape the girl into the socially idealized woman role. This trajectory stands in contrast to the boys’ bildungsroman where they grow up to have adventures, become individuals in their society, and the roles of husband and father are secondary to their identity.  

In this class, students will uncover the societal implications of the American girls’ bildungsroman by reading three novels from the time period, 1850-1939. Students will take turns leading class discussion with a short presentation. They will also conduct original research by exploring the archives at USF Special Collections to locate and analyze a book from this period. The second half of the class will ask students to consider how this framework exists today, by reading modern YA novels in class and research a contemporary text that will result in a poster that can be submitted the USF Undergraduate Humanities Conference.

Home: Designing Where We Live
IDH 3100-005
Instructor: Atsuko Sakai
TR | 3:30 - 4:45 PM
Sustainable Futures

"Home" is something very special to all of us. House, shelter, dwelling — these are all just buildings, but when does a building become a home — a place which touches one's heart with memories, images, feelings, and even smells? Home contains one's important private and family life. We, humans, modify and shape our surroundings to provide comfort and quality of life. Thus, this hands-on course will explore the actual design elements of houses because design reflects specific people and site contexts (i.e. geographical, social, cultural, etc.) of where and how we live. We will also investigate the psychological effects of the physical environment on humans. Together we will go on a journey to discover your own definition of a "Home" by analyzing various readings, brainstorming with your peers, and learning architectural design conventions all while designing your own dream house!

So, You Want to Be a Film Critic?
IDH 3100-006
Instructor: Dan Ruth
MW | 8:00 - 9:15 AM

Movies provide a window into society, our lives, our history and perhaps most importantly - our dreams. This course is designed to provide students with a greater insight and appreciation for this unique art form. Over the course of the semester students will be exposed to some of our most beloved films and the men and women who defined the medium - from Humphrey Bogart to Steve McQueen; from Katherine Hepburn to Faye Dunaway; from John Huston to Sidney Lumet. Students will watch some classic films such as "Casablanca," "Duck Soup," "The Verdict," "The Best Years of Our Lives," "Chinatown," and "Lion In Winter," among many others including, yes, a James Bond film. Indeed, this course will be fun - but it will also impose demands upon the student. This course is not for students who simply think they will be watching movies. This course will also expect students to demonstrate a high standard of creative writing and critical thinking skills. It will also involve active class participation in discussing each film's strengths and weaknesses.

Creator, Images, and Sounds
IDH 3100-007
Instructor: Tamara Nemirovsky
R |9:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Engaged Citizenship

In this class, students will learn how to produce a video that reflects their understanding of current events and their response to them through the creation of a fictional narrative. They will become creators of images and sounds that capture their subjective interpretation of problems that local communities are facing today. This class will focus on concept development, image, and sound composition, research, storyboarding, film language, and construction of meaning through the creation of multiple visual layers and sounds during filming and editing as well as all technical aspects (camera, lighting, sound, editing software) required to produce a creative video.

Students will collectively explore the aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of images and sound to evoke emotions and meanings in the viewer. They will research human-social problems (violence, guns, education, poverty, climate change, addictions, communication, health, Covid 19, etc.) affecting communities today and develop a video art piece that will question at the same time the audience and their systems of beliefs. Students will develop their capacity to recognize how we create understanding through the production of a video step by step, and how creative and fictional work can address their current social and cultural concerns. This course does not require previous film/art knowledge or experience. You will use a DLSR camera. If the students do not have access to a DLSR, they will use their smartphone cameras.

Stop Motion Animation
IDH 3100-008
Instructor: Tamara Nemirovsky
R |12:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Engaged Citizenship

In this course, students will create socially conscious stop-motion animation artwork. Students will explore textural imagery and conceptual animation filmmaking by developing their creative research projects. Projects will examine community issues while incorporating multiple perspectives into production decisions when creating a meaningful and reflective stop-motion animation film. Students will collectively explore the cultural value, story, and emotional meaning of objects, materials, elements, and sounds to evoke emotions and meaning in the viewer by creating socially conscious stop-motion animation artwork.  

Emphasis is on animation film language, experimental stop-motion animation techniques, concept development, and narrative structures as well as all the production stages (pre-production, production, post-production) and technical aspects required to produce a stop-motion animation film. This course does not require previous animation knowledge or experience.

10,000 Hours: Grit and Determination
IDH 3100-009
Instructor: Calvin Falwell
M |5:00 - 7:45 PM

The "10,000-Hour Rule" is a scientific theory that says one needs 10,000 hours of experience with their skill to perfect their craft to be considered an expert. This rule and the importance of practice is a factor in most examples of how creatives become experts at their craft. This course will focus on the power of passion, perseverance, self exploration, discovery and how setting goals in conjunction with organization can lead to a fruitful life and career. At the heart of this course is cutting-edge scientific discoveries about how to foster passion and perseverance for long-term goals. We will focus on the scientific work of Angela Duckworth and author Malcolm Gladwell's observations on why successful people are successful.

Art & The Refugee Experience 
IDH 3100-010 
Instructor: Jerrod Schwarz 
TR |12:30 PM- 1:45 PM 
Engaged Citizenship 

Art & The Refugee Experience will ask students to develop complex responses about the refugee experience by engaging with nonfiction comics about asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants. The work you will do in the course can be largely broken down into two categories: research-based writing and comic creation. No prior art skills are necessary. 

Art + the Environment
IDH 3100-011
Instructor: Tina Piracci
MW | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Sustainable Futures

With rising sea levels and global temperatures climbing, our earth is in need of immediate regenerative action. This studio art course will propose various forms of restorative design and art activism to address climate change, threatened ecosystems and the environment. Utilizing design, fine art, and other creative modes of expressive solutions, we will research potential calls for creative action, whether via art activism and awareness or design implementation and fieldwork. This class does not require previous art experience and various mediums will be open for exploration. Through community partnerships, we will investigate opportunities for impact design with a focus on local oyster restoration via 3D printing ceramic habitat bricks, propose or implement a mural project in collaboration with the USF Botanical Gardens, as well as other topics curated by students. Our oyster brick restoration project is done in collaboration with Dr. William Ellis from the Integrative Biology department and will involve research, partnerships, and field work. With opportunities to ideate and develop design proposals with the environment in mind, we will collaborate with community researchers and organizations to take creative action for a cleaner tomorrow and bring awareness to sustainability.

Solarpunk: Imagining Sustainable Futures
IDH 3100-012
Instructor: Andrew Hargrove
MW | 09:30 - 10:45 AM
Engaged Citizenship
Sustainable Futures

It is becoming increasingly difficult to escape the alarming and dystopian news, media, and narratives that the Earth is being destroyed and the world is ending. These messages can, understandably, lead to feelings of anxiety and helplessness in the face of problems outside of our control. But what if I told you there was an alternative, or dare I say punk, way to view the climate change problem we have found ourselves in? For a message rooted in care for each other, the other, and the planet, and imagining a more sustainable future--join us as we explore the radically hopeful world of Solarpunk. In this seminar style course, we will experience the power of art while we read, watch, create, and enjoy Solarpunk media to reveal the stories of nature, community, and empathy we need to save the world.

Narrative Cartography: Mapping the Stories of Your Life
IDH 3100-013
Instructor: Ulluminair Salim
W | 11:00 AM - 1:45 PM

“You can kiss your family and friends goodbye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach; because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.”

—Frederick Buechner, Author and Theologian

Cartography is the study and practice of map-making, and Narrative Cartography invites students to map the stories of their lives. Through reading, writing, and multilayered forms of journeying, students will tell stories that matter to them, from the mundane to the profound. This practice-oriented course leverages written narrative to visit personal places seldom explored such as the meaning in and of our names; how and why we hold the political values that we do; the stories that our bodies tell; death, dying, and remembrance; our personal foodways; and what it means to celebrate our failures, among other concerns. At its most expansive, this course is a foray into our shared humanity and recognition of the universal in the particular.

Plays Like a Girl: Women Who Shattered the Glass Ceiling in Art Music
IDH 3100-014
Instructor: Francesca Arnone-Lewis
M |5:00 - 7:45 PM

This course examines the suppression of women in music through a survey of important composers and song writers in music history. Often resorting to using their initials, “pen” names, or simply not writing at all, these musicians contributed to shift the music world on its axis, despite being unsupported, dismissed, uncredited, or rarely performed during their lifetime. 

To inform the future, we can learn from the past. What has changed, and what has not, for women in music?  Lectures and presentations cover art music composers ranging from Hildegard von Bingen to Jessie Montgomery, and such songwriters as Carole King and Dolly Parton. The main class assignment will be assembling a project that explores how life experiences influenced the music of historic and contemporary women composers and songwriters.

Climb Every Mountain (Geology of our National Parks)
IDH 3350-001
Instructor: Judy McIlrath
TR | 09:30 - 10:45 AM

We won't actually be climbing mountains, unless you participate in the optional field trip where we will climb some small cinder cone volcanoes.  Instead, we will see how mountains are built along with discussing other geological processes occurring in varied landscapes as we journey through many of the National Parks across the country. Take an adventure with me to discover how these landscapes formed and how they've changed through geologic time, why some house explosive volcanoes and why others provide tranquil scenery. We'll discuss the basics of Geology and how they apply to park landscapes. It is said that the National Parks are America's greatest idea. During our travels through the parks, we'll contemplate the controversy and dilemma their very existence presents and learn some practical life lessons along the way.

The optional field trip is offered so that you can experience some of the parks first hand. Come climb with me, and I think you will agree that setting these lands aside for all people and for future generations truly is America's greatest idea.

Microorganisms and Disease
IDH 3350-002
Instructor: Steven Specter
TR | 8:00 - 9:15 AM

This section will mainly cover general principles of microbiology and immunology with an emphasis on how microbes and humans interact.  This will provide insights into infectious diseases and public health topics.  There will be an opportunity to exam current topics in microbiology via current events sessions.  There will also be some eclectic sessions on other topics, such as evolutionary biology and gene editing.  There is ma strong focus on active learning, so that only a few introductory lectures will be given with discussions on reading materials featured in most classes.  Students will also be afforded the opportunity to look into a few topics in greater depth in order to prepare written and oral presentations.

The Engaged Citizen - Accomplish Real Change Today
IDH 3350-003
Instructor: Michael Cross
TR | 9:30 - 10:45 AM
Community Partner
Engaged Citizenship

All assignments in this course are in service to a community partner whose mission is to make the local Tampa Bay region a better place to live, work, and play. In prior terms we worked with the Glazer Children’s museum to expand a program, “Tampa Bay Learn & Play,” which served pre-kindergarten low-income children with opportunities that would enhance their school-readiness. As a result of adopting proposals by JGHC students, they significantly expanded the population served as well as securing a renewal on an existing grant and being awarded a new grant. In this course, we will work on behalf of a similar community partner by conducting discovery activities to understand their needs, leveraging scholarly research to inform our suggestions, all of which will be presented to mentors from USF’s Institute for Advanced Discovery & Innovation. A final cumulative proposal will be delivered to the community partner for their use in advancing their mission.

Harm or Benefit? Abused Drugs & Their Intended Uses 
IDH 3350-004 
Instructor: Laura Diaz 
M/W | 5:00 – 6:15 PM 
Healthy Humanity
 
In this course, we will journey into the complex world of pharmacology and society's relationship with frequently abused prescription drugs. We will uncover the multifaceted layers of drug use, misuse, and abuse, examining not only the pharmacological aspects but also the societal, cultural, and ethical dimensions. We'll navigate through historical contexts, dissecting how these substances have woven themselves into the fabric of human existence. 
 
The course will provoke thought in practical wisdom as we investigate the notion of "appropriate" drug use of abused substances, including opioids, sedatives, and other frequently prescribed medications. What factors contribute to the perception of a drug as either beneficial or harmful? How do socioeconomic disparities influence patterns of drug abuse? These questions and more will fuel our curiosity, provide rich topics for discussion, and lead us to critical analysis. In addition to our explorations, students will engage in hands-on analysis through graded assessments, including group projects, their contribution to thoughtful discussions, and a research paper that delves into the complexity of pharmacological dynamics and societal impacts. 

Music Mania: The Psychology of Music
IDH 3400-001
Instructor: Jeffery Donley
MW | 2:00 - 3:15 PM

In this course, students will listen to and enjoy all genres of music. It will explore the scientific understanding of all psychological aspects of music. These include studies on listening, performing, creating, memorizing, analyzing, describing, learning, and teaching, as well as applied social development. Students will listen to, experience, and enjoy different genres of 18th–21st century music for analysis, such as: classical, opera, theater lyricist and librettist, blues, vocal, movie musicals, easy listening, country, electronic, folk, R&B/Soul, hip-hop, jazz, Christian & gospel, metal, disco, Latin, alternative, new age, punk, reggae, children’s music, rock n roll, and rap.

Students will analyze all genres of music based on neuroscience, the science of Cymatics (the study of sound and vibration), optic physics, music as psychology techniques and theories, particle physics/superstring theory, and human kinetics. The concept of the student as a “listener” is thematic to our course and inherently rich and diversified in its definition and application. Students will learn not to just hear at a subconscious level but to choose to listen by paying attention to the sound and registering the meaning at a conscious level, thus focusing on sounds and using one’s mind to interpret their social and cultural meanings. No prior music experience is necessary.

Pop Culture and Social Change
IDH 3400-002
Instructor: David Jenkins
TR | 3:30 - 4:45 PM 
Engaged Citizenship

This course examines popular culture as a potential site of resistance that contributes to social change. Looking at contemporary popular culture and the worldwide push against global neoliberalism in comparative perspective with culture and social movements of the past, this course examines how power and resistance operates in society. In varying ways, these cultural products force new perspectives and call for new ways of being through the creation of what Kenneth Burke referred to as "alternate ethical universes," further functioning as "equipment for living." We will explore relevant debates, historical and contemporary, concerning the impact of popular culture on social change. There is a focus on social media, humor, art (both "mundane" and "fine"), television and film, and the human body as sites of resistance. The approach to this course is theoretical, practical, and transnational. It draws from sociology, communication, critical theory, cultural studies, postcolonialism, and other related fields.

This course introduces students to key sociological concepts and their relevance for understanding and explaining major issues in both culture and social change. It aims to define and interrogate fundamental concepts in sociology and cultural studies, while also illustrating these through timely and topical social issues of global scope in the news. While it addresses globalization, it puts this in historical perspective and relates it to enduring ideas in sociological analysis.

Fertility and the Future
IDH 3400-003
Instructor: Holly Singh
TR | 9:30 - 10:45 AM
Healthy Humanity

This course explores the social and behavioral sciences by examining family-making as a social and cultural process, addressing claims to the universal and the particular in reproduction. How do gender, class, race, and religion shape reproductive ideals and practices around the world? How do difficulties in reproduction, ranging from infertility and pregnancy loss (miscarriage) to natural disaster and political upheaval, impact those ideals and practices? And how do examinations of fertility from afar through demography, politics, and ethics articulate with intimate, embodied (and dis-embodied) experiences of reproduction? The course will examine these issues across a variety of geographic contexts and situate local examples within national and global struggles to (re)produce the future.

The Science of Happiness & Well-being
IDH 3400-004
Instructor: Meredith Johnson 
MW | 2:00 - 3:15 PM

What makes us happy? What makes us flourish? There’s an entire body of research that explores the scientific bases for happiness and well-being. Students enrolled in IDH3400 will learn evidence-based strategies for improving overall life satisfaction by reading the latest research from social science, psychology, business, behavioral economics, public health, philosophy, communication, and other disciplines. Using this research to guide their practice, students will implement and reflect upon proven strategies for increasing their happiness and well-being. Section topics include: defining and measuring happiness; identifying and working with character strengths; finding meaning and purpose; balancing productivity, rest, and relaxation; fostering social connections by cultivating personal and communal support; raising energy through intentional movement, exercise, and sleep hygiene; practicing mindfulness, meditation, gratitude, and savoring; and establishing and maintaining happiness and well-being by creating habits that stick.

Government Accountability, Democracy, and the Public Trust
IDH 3400-005
Instructor: Stephanie Williams
MW | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Engaged Citizenship

This course discusses the concepts of government accountability, democracy, and public trust by examining famous political scandals from the 20th and 21st centuries. Students in this class will look at how leaders across political parties and levels of government have abused the powers of their office, and in turn the trust and confidence of the public.  Each class will review controversies related to a wide range of topics including war and foreign policy, impeachment, the misuse of tax dollars, abuse of power, fraud, and electoral misconduct, and the rights and protections of the socially vulnerable. Materials for the class will include news sources, interviews, and political speeches. Students will select one controversy for their in-class presentation and final research paper. This course fosters critical thinking, promotes civic engagement, and fosters civility among all participants in the class.

James Baldwin and the Origins of White and Black
IDH 3400-006
Instructor: Zachary Purdue
MW | 5:00 - 6:15 PM
Engaged Citizenship
Sustainable Futures 

When asked about the future of Black Americans and the future of America, James Baldwin remarked that the two were "insoluble". White Americans, Baldwin argued, would largely determine the country's future to the extent that they could confront the historical and existential origins of American distinctions between Black and white. Failing this task would inevitably lead to "a breaking point" in which the country's race relations would erupt into violence. America's only options for sustainable futures all required a searching, honest appraisal of the relationship between Black and white identities, identities Baldwin saw as interdependent. This course investigates Baldwin's comments surrounding what it means to be Black and white in America. We sift through Baldwin's letters, essays, and interviews to draw out his positions on the phenomenology of racial identity. Additionally, the course examines Baldwin's commitment to optimism and criticisms of pessimism, his views on gay and straight identities, and his relationships with other intellectuals and activists of the civil rights era. We also compare Baldwin's views with studies from history and the social sciences on the origins and development of Western racial distinctions. The course's approach strongly resembles courses in the history of philosophy. Classes consist of seminar-style close readings and discussions of primary sources. There is little to no classical lecturing. Evaluation methods are almost entirely writing and participation, with no tests.

Health, Illness, and Society
IDH 3400-007
Instructor: Nana Tuntiya
MW | 12:30 - 1:45 PM
Healthy Humanity 

How do people define health or illness? These concepts have much importance to us personally, but they also carry social meaning tied to individuals’ status and behavior as well as the attitudes toward them from fellow citizens.  Similarly, medicine is more than a science, it is also a social institution that is built on human relationships and fulfills important societal needs. This discussion-based course will explore illness subjectivity, social and cultural determinants of health, doctor-patient interaction, stigmatization of chronic and mental illness, and the development of a new vision of health as an all-encompassing wellness phenomenon. In the end we might find that good health is much more than our own need or interest, it’s a profoundly social experience rooted in specific cultural and temporal frameworks.

Changing Needs – Redesigning and Reimagining Urban Spaces to Accommodate the City Dweller of the Future
IDH 3400-008
Instructor: Catherine Vazquez
MW | 8:00 - 9:15 AM
Sustainable Futures 

The modern city/suburb design is largely traceable to the prosperity boom following WWII when Americans turned to advancement in technology, industry, transportation, and more to carve out a future for themselves and their nation. Today’s assumptions and realities differ from those of the mid-20th century, however, and cities face an identity crisis as they reimagine their place in a technological future where families are smaller, transportation and environmental needs are constantly evolving, and technological advancements continue to change how we work and shop. This class explores how we got here, where we are heading, and asks what might be imagined for a more inclusive and sustainable urban future.

Human Trafficking – Sex in the Spotlight, Labor in the Shadows
IDH 3400-009
Instructor: Catherine Vazquez
MW | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Victim, survivor? Illegal, undocumented? In this class, we will look at the current state of the global and domestic plague of human trafficking to understand the legal and social implications. We will narrow our focus to view human trafficking through the American lens which fetishizes ‘sex trafficking’ while often ignoring other forms of human slavery such as labor trafficking. Through a review of laws, outreach efforts, law enforcement models, and religious entanglement, we will research, discuss, and seek to understand the broader implications of what human trafficking and the American emphasis on sex trafficking says about our society, laws, ethics, and priorities. 

Disability & Popular Culture 
IDH 3400-010 
Instructor: Kyle Romano 
R | 12:30 – 3:15 PM 
 
What is disability? Answering that question is complicated, but have you ever thought about how you developed your understanding of disability? By examining the way popular media portrays disability and disabled people, this course will shed light on how society thinks about disability and explore how that comes to impact our own understanding of it. 
 
In this course, we will examine the way culture influences us through a variety of mediums, including shows, music, stories, and even video games. These examples, supported by themes presented in scholarly and everyday life, will help us reflect on our own perception of disability. We’ll unpack the role that technology plays in this process, as well as its capacity to both enhance and detract from a productive/healthy discussion about the topic. 
 

Ethics of the Dispossessed: Sustaining Human Populations in an Age of Mass Migrations
IDH 3600-001
Instructor: David Garrison
TR | 3:30 - 4:45 PM

Homelessness is not a new problem. Refugees, the dispossessed, and immigrants have been a part of the human experience for as long as we have records. However, the contemporary world provides new opportunities for dealing with these conditions, new means by which to understand the causes and potential solutions to issues of homelessness, and new challenges in the face of increasingly dense human populations and increasingly numerous migrations. 

In this course we will examine new ways to conceptualize the nature of home and homelessness.  We will explore some of the political, financial, psychological, environmental, and social causes of homelessness and migration, and attempt to address future solutions to some of these challenges.  

The Ethics of Political Grievances, Freedom, and the Response to Tyranny
IDH 3600-002
Instructor: Stephanie Williams  
MW | 9:30 - 10:45 AM
Engaged Citizenship

In this course, we will examine the questions surrounding the concepts of political grievances, freedom, and tyranny through the study of conservative, centrist, and liberal-leaning political speeches.  These readings include politicians and political activists from the Revolutionary War and the founding of America through the Biden Administration.  Students will discuss what it means to express and hold political grievances and debate what a "just" society must look like. The class will also look at the issue of ethics through their arguments related to political freedom from the right to vote, the right to be free from political violence, the right to determine which citizens have “the right to rise," who may make demands of our political systems through protest, and make changes to government policies and institutions that don’t serve their political interests, and make demands to preserve tradition and culture.  By the conclusion of the course, students will improve their skills in political discourse by learning how to research and articulate the major topics that shape our national values.  The professor ensures that all students of all political views are engaged in productive conversations that are civil and fair by allowing students of all political views to be heard in class in a respectful environment.

University Leadership: Ethical Dilemmas and Decision-Making
IDH 3600-003
Instructor: Ralph Wilcox  
TR | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Engaged Citizenship

At a time when the American university is facing pressures to change and appears to be under assault from multiple societal forces, leaders often find themselves having to navigate ever more complex conflicts on-campus and in decision-making. Following a critical examination of the literature on ethical leadership, ideas and practice, students will develop their own framework to better understand and address ethical dilemmas confronting university presidents and other leaders across campus. Topics addressed will include tensions surrounding the purpose and governance of higher education in contemporary America (the pursuit of excellence and public good versus private gain), the reshaping of higher education policy, the role of universities in a democracy, affordable access and the commodification of postsecondary education, performance outcomes, academic freedom and responsibility, faculty productivity, intellectual diversity and the exchange of ideas inside and outside of the classroom, diversity and inclusion, research and ownership of intellectual property, artificial intelligence, grade inflation and plagiarism, philanthropy and tax exempt status of foundations, along with the good, the bad and the ugly of college athletics. Supported by extensive reading and case studies, the class will consider the challenge of university leadership in a time of change and frequent ambiguity through attending and critically analyzing governance meetings and engaging with leaders inside and outside of class. The class will also consider the essential role that students can play with, and in, university leadership along with their future responsibilities as ethically engaged citizens.

Is Western Philosophy Decadent & Depraved?
IDH 3600-004
Instructor: Zachary Purdue
MW | 3:30 - 4:45 PM

Say what you want about their philosophical positions, philosophers themselves can be some scandalous people. This class investigates the lives and deeds of several giants of Western Philosophy. We ask if their moral crimes are inconsistent with their philosophical positions — i.e., if they were hypocrites who didn't live up to their own high standards — or if their philosophical positions enabled their horrifying behaviors. We read biographies focusing on both their personal lives and their intellectual developments, and supplement this with selections from their actual writings. Classes consist of seminar-style discussions. There is some classical lecturing, but very little. Evaluation methods are almost entirely writing and participation, with no tests. Student discretion is advised, as topics of discussion involve (among other things) psychological manipulation, exploiting power dynamics, deeply problematic intimate relationships, and severe substance abuse.

Controversies in Medical Research 
IDH 3600-005
Instructor: David Diamond
M |2:00 - 4:45 PM

In this seminar we will investigate flaws, conflicts of interest, outright deception and breaches of ethics in medical research. This will be an active learning course in which students study the literature in specific health-related topics, and then they present the research in an engaging discussion with the class through the use of PowerPoint presentations.

Examples of topics we will cover are: Diet controversies; drug safety issues; environmental causes of brain diseases; safety and efficacy of fluoridated water, mammograms, vaccines and cholesterol lowering medications.

Ethics at the End of Life
IDH 3600-006
Instructor: Lindy Davidson
MW | 9:30 - 10:45 AM
Healthy Humanity

Death is a taboo topic in American culture in spite of the 100% chance that every human will eventually experience it. This aversion to serious consideration and conversation regarding death, even among physicians, results in a lack of preparation for many people at the end of their life. In this course in applied ethics, we will examine the intersection of medical ethics and end-of-life care. We will look at the history of ethics and decision-making by examining notable cases from U.S. history; consider multiple end-of-life contexts including pediatric illness, cultural perspectives, the impact of religion, and institutional influences; and examine the tools used by health care professionals to address ethics at the end of life. This interactive course will engage students by using creative arts activities, reading responses, and perspective taking. The course will culminate in students producing a creative or educational project for patients, families, students, and/or clinicians that relates to end-of-life.

Biomedical Ethics 
IDH 3600-007 
Instructor: Victor Bowers 
MW | 3:30 – 4:45 PM 
Healthy Humanity 
 
This seminar in biomedical ethics will allow students to explore a range of real-world issues encountered in medical practice. While examining the facts of cases, students will be challenged to consider the cultural, emotional, political, and spiritual perspectives of patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders who find themselves in complex medical situations. Students will attend class ready to engage with readings through class discussions and reflective writing. Students will research an area of ethics that interests them and present their findings to the class at the end of the semester. 

Access to Justice
IDH 4200-001
Instructor: Alma Dedic-Sarenkapa
TR | 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Sustainable Futures
Engaged Citizenship 

People need protection from possible harm inflicted on them. All of us can find ourselves in harmful situations, especially when we engage in disputes or conflicts of interest. In these situations, we start looking into actions or remedies we can use to redress the harm. When remedies are guaranteed by law, they are called legal remedies. Legal remedies involving a third party such as a legal institution lead to resolving disputes mostly through compensation or restitution. The ability of people to access and seek remedies through different mechanisms is the main concern of the Access to Justice concept. In this course, we will explore different models of Access to Justice and human rights standards linked to them in the Americas, Europe & Asia, and Africa. We will also look at the connection between access to justice and social justice. This connection can be examined from different perspectives such as equal or unequal opportunities, privileges, and economic justice.  

Following current events shaping the world we live in students will better understand (human) rights protection in the country and around the world. Students will engage in facilitated discussions, team presentations, student-led working groups, workshops, and final research

Sick Around the World: Geographical Perspectives on Global Health
IDH 4200-002
Instructor: Donna Gambino 
T |9:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Healthy Humanity

This course is designed as a comparative presentation of current issues across international healthcare systems with a focus on South Africa, Italy, Japan, and France. Emphasis is on discussing diverse areas of health and is appropriate for students of any major interested in healthcare delivery, personal health, or health education. We will discuss and debate healthcare delivery systems, medical malpractice, physical/mental health, physician-assisted suicide, the opioid crisis, women’s reproductive health, medical devices, and healthcare disparities in the United States and abroad. This is a ‘hands-on’ class and students will be actively engaged and working in teams to complete a project. Although health and healthcare in other countries might seem far removed from our daily concerns in the United States, many nations face issues of uneven access, constrained resources, and a focus on improving the efficiency of services. Understanding how different nations confront issues of universal coverage, access, equity, and quality will enhance students’ ability to develop new ideas and approaches for addressing these challenges in the United States. Students will be introduced to community partners of USF's Area Health Education Center (AHEC) for project ideas.

Global Perspectives on the Greatest Archaeological Discoveries
IDH 4200-003
Instructor: Jeffery Donley  
MW | 9:30 – 10:45 AM

What does it mean, and what does it take to learn from the past? This course asks these basic questions through interdisciplinary explorations of the global perspectives of the greatest archaeological discoveries from twelve different countries, which will unlock the significance of the region's rich heritage. We understand the past in part through a complex blend of artifacts, literature, art, monuments, and landscapes, which reflect customary practices and beliefs from different time periods. Students will peer beneath the earth's surface to discover hidden worlds of lost civilizations and artifacts in Egypt, Italy, Israel, Greece, China, Turkey, Cambodia, Tunisia, Mexico, South America, England, and the United States. Students will be taken to real worlds other than their own, engaging them deeply and opening the doors to fantastic places and times. This course will be treated as a seminar, allowing each student to actively participate, contribute to facilitated discussions, and reflect critically and hermeneutically.

When students adopt a global perspective to examine the greatest archaeological discoveries around the world, they explore how they can get involved and make a meaningful contribution to this exciting discipline. This course will teach students about the past, but it will also connect them to a broader range of human experiences that will enrich their understanding of the present and future. Students will learn about amazing treasures such as the Antikythera Computer, the Rosetta Stone, the Terracotta Soldiers, Machu Picchu, Pompeii, the Giza Pyramid Complex, Chechen Itza, Göbekli Tepe, Stonehenge, the Knossos Palace, Troy, Cahokia, Angkor Wat, the Antikythera Computer, and Akrotiri. Students will explore how archaeology plays an essential part in the evolution of knowledge by separating mythology and legend from actual history.

Human Development and Environment
IDH 4200-004
Instructor: Alma Dedic-Sarenkapa  
TR |12:30 - 1:45 PM 
Sustainable Futures
Engaged Citizenship 

Human development is about ameliorating human life in contrast to the popular belief making it about economic growth alone. It focuses on people, and expanding opportunities and choices they can access. This course will provide an interdisciplinary approach to examining human development patterns, and the relationship between people and the planet Earth in the age of Anthropocene using the human development index (HDI). In short, HDI is a measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, education or skill set, and having a decent standard of living. We will look into countries that best create conditions for people to thrive in. What country is the most developed country in the world, hence most desirable to live in and why? This will be a seminar-style course using interactive content and following trends worldwide. Together we will read short analyses, watch movies, and have panel and working group discussions uncovering the root causes of inequality, social injustice, short life expectancy, and lack of opportunities for people.  By doing so we will work towards the final course assignment, a project proposing potential solutions for the topics discussed.   

The Non-Citizen Experience and Finding Home: Immigrants, Refugees, and Exiles
IDH 4200-005
Instructor: Nazek Jawad
TR | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Population movement and displacement has been an increasingly powerful phenomenon in our global age. This course considers the experiences of immigrants, refugees, and exiles from the perspective of human rights theory. The aim of this course is to instigate critical thinking of the complexity of their experiences, which is critical for an informed debate. We begin our conversations by examining the state as a moral agent, and state boundaries’ function of inclusion/exclusion. We will examine the causes and consequences of displacement. Why do people migrate across international borders? How do we understand the politics of immigration and the policies that let some people in, but keep others out? We will also spend considerable time learning about immigrants’ process of integration and “learning” their new home. We will look at socioeconomic integration and consider broader questions of belonging and membership.

In this class we will engages with various learning materials, including documentaries, to learn about and reflect on various human experiences in relation to migration. You will also reflect on a story of migration within your surroundings, and compose a migration narrative and create an interactive, multimedia Story Map. In addition, we will explore the immense power of food as a vehicle for cultural preservation and expression, and work together on a collaborative project compiling a cookbook, where you can share authentic narratives, anecdotes, and recipes of dishes that remind you of “home”.

Arab Literature, Culture, and Film
IDH 4200-006
Instructor: Raja Benchekroun
MW | 9:30 - 10:45 AM
Engaged Citizenship 

Ahlan wa Sahlan! Welcome to Arab Literature, Culture, and Film. Through an interdisciplinary approach, students will explore the current changing state of the Arab World and get introduced to new Arab perspectives and principles in today's Middle East and North Africa. This includes discussions on social and family values in everyday life, individual roles, education, and an overview of religious and political affiliations. The course will provide an equitable balance of past and contemporary views, featuring influential writers, speakers, novelists, and musicians from the Middle East and North Africa. We will also cover the challenges that Arabs face in identifying as Muslim, Arab Muslim, and Arab Non-Muslim in today's world.  

Our class will serve as an introductory gateway to the Arab World, grounded in scholarly research, authentic voices, textual and translated resources, media, and literature by authors of Arab origins. Students will be introduced to the region's various languages, dialects, and cultures, which represent a kaleidoscopic wealth of some of the world's most ancient societies and major past and current events that have transformed the Arab region. 

Students will delve into how the interconnectedness of diverse spaces, places, and peoples constitute a community. By examining locales, historical periods, and the people who inhabit them, students will take a reflective and experiential approach to become intentional learners and engaged global citizen.

Food, Society and Culture
IDH 4200-007
Instructor: Raja Benchekroun
MW | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Healthy Humanity 
Engaged Citizenship

Food often carries significant social and cultural magnitude to many societies. In this course, we will learn about Food in the Middle East and North Africa, its intrinsic identification as Arab Cuisine, and the paradox this identification causes in the face of the region's multicultural identities from East to West. We will explore how recipes and dietary practices transmit knowledge from generation to generation, what stories Food tells, and how it preserves cultural heritage and restores family values.   

Students will learn about the Eastern cuisine in Tampa Bay communities. What does Food tell us about the nature of its people and the identity of its origins? How had taste travelled across the Arab region and to the West? How has "comfort food" conserved its authentic flavours and cooking techniques? We will explore Food's journey to tell us about critical historical events in the Eastern world and agricultural hardships, celebrations, religion, and diet. Students will learn how to navigate cultures through Food, networking with diverse community members, and engaging in field trips to local food festivals and Arab and Eastern restaurants in the Tampa Bay area.

Women in Developing Countries
IDH 4200-008
Instructor: Raheleh Dayerizadeh 
TR | 5:00 - 6:15 PM
Sustainable Futures
Engaged Citizenship

This course covers a cross-cultural analysis of the lived experiences of women and their struggle for power and gender justice in the developing world. We will be examining current events, debates, and scholarly works mainly from the Global South to gain a non-Western perspective on the political, historical, cultural, geographical, social, educational, economical challenges and achievements that have shaped gender politics. Topics to be covered include but are not limited to: social movements, cultural relativism, feminism(s), neoliberalism, globalization, and human rights discourses.

A variety of examples and authors from across the Global South will be utilized to provide an interdisciplinary approach to understand the differences and similarities between the realities of women in these societies, to deconstruct the intersections of identity based on race/ethnicity, religion, age, class, gender and citizenship from a transnational context. Together through our readings and discussions we will be critically analyzing the recent trends that have been shaping gender politics in developing countries. Students will become more aware of global women’s issues, and be introduced to feminist scholarship from the developing world. Throughout this term students will be conducting project-based learning in a Virtual Global Exchange (VGE) with a partner class at UniNorte, Colombia.

How to Save a Planet
IDH 4200-009
Instructor: Andrew Hargrove
MW | 2:00 - 3:15 PM
Sustainable Futures
Engaged Citizenship

We are currently in a state of emergency about the future of our relationship with the natural environment. We are experiencing the 6th mass extinction, global warming over 1.5 (2.7F) degrees Celsius, ecological damage, rising sea levels, more natural disasters, and population displacement. It is easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer size, scale, and scope of these crises. Our natural inclination may be to feel hopeless and powerless. BUT you do not have to feel this way! This class will discuss the many facets of the climate change problem, how people are ALREADY working on addressing it, and what YOU can do to contribute to making the world a better and safer place for us all to live. We will engage with the scientific literature, with calls for action, with NGOs around the world, and with people right here in our own community fighting climate change. Join us and learn how to save a planet!

A Hero's Journey of Living Abroad: Immersion and Cultural Meaning-making
IDH 4200-011
Instructor: Mark Lane-Holbert
MW | 8:00 - 9:15 AM
Engaged Citizenship

This course focuses on the experience of cultural immersion through service and work experiences abroad from an interdisciplinary perspective as part of a hero's journey framework, which will include ethnographic study, applied linguistics, anthropology, and positive psychology. It is discussion-based and utilizes a flipped classroom model primarily. We will make use of international case studies or ethnography as a means to understand the way we learn, are challenged by and integrate into re-imagining ourselves within a new culture. These will include guest speakers: third culture kids (TCKs), expatriate corporate workers, returned Peace Corps volunteers, Fulbright scholars, faculty serving at educational institutions abroad, non-profits and NGOs. Students will conduct a novel case study in groups and also participate in an immersion cultural experience themselves, as well as plan and lead an in-class workshop for other students based upon their learning from both of these.  

Cultural study, ethnography and analysis are ways of understanding key aspects of culture; this course navigates in all of these perspectives within a larger global context, which encourages both problem-solving and problem-awareness. This course also engages in a broad interdisciplinary perspective to understand how individuals and their host culture or environment interact; including the role of language acquisition (linguistics), human cultural expression (sociology/anthropology), educational psychology (exploring how we learn new things and pass them on to others), and finally how all of the above shape an individuals’ worldview. This course will also engage in exploration of different geographical areas through case studies and guest speakers for their comparative value, with specific examples from Europe, Latin America, Africa, and East Asia.  Assignments will include a weekly reflection journal and language journal, group discussion tasks based upon ethnography/case study for the week, a novel case study done in groups, and finally presenting a workshop based upon a personal cultural immersion experience in Tampa Bay.

US – UK: The Special Relationship, Myth or Reality? Trans-Atlanticism in the Contemporary World
IDH 4200-012
Instructor: Ralph Wilcox
TR | 2:00 - 3:15 PM

The “special relationship” between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain has been a central feature of trans-Atlantic and Anglo-American relations since 1945 and before.  This course examines the nature and significance of the alliance over time utilizing a multi-faceted framework that includes political and diplomatic relations, strategic and security matters, trade and economic cooperation, social, legal, religious, environmental considerations and cultural appropriation. Set in historical perspective, students will assess trans-Atlantic tensions and threats to the “special relationship” throughout time and consider the current state and likelihood of sustaining a mutually beneficial partnership in the future.  

Utilizing documentary evidence to better understand individual (including presidents, prime ministers and the monarchy) and institutional (big business and media for example) connections, and critically evaluating the symbolism, myth and reality of trans-Atlanticism, the class will explore notions of empire, American and British exceptionalism, and the significance of the alliance to the world today.

Global Perspectives on Health and Wellness
IDH 4200-013
Instructor: Nivethitha Ketheeswaran
T |5:00 - 7:45 PM
Healthy Humanity
Sustainable Futures
Engaged Citizenship

What does it mean to be well in this world? How does context influence our health, from individual personality to social structures, to global positioning? This course examines these questions through in-depth examination of various global cultural perspectives on health and wellness. Students will consume diverse authorship and engage in creative expression to explore their own perspectives on health and wellness along with the diverse perspectives that surround them in today's ever globalizing context. We will examine major health and wellness subjects from a variety of global contexts. We will begin with defining the bio-psycho-social model and how it is applied in different regions of Asia, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East. We will then work through different health subjects and their various global applications such as bodily autonomy, access to health care, alternative wellness, and community wellness. Students will be asked to create a portfolio which includes 1) One proposal for a community wellness center 2) Three arts-based representation of health and wellness, 3) A recipe contribution to a class wellness cookbook and 4) One written reflection of their own health and wellness experiences which apply course learnings. Additionally, students will partake in weekly reading-based discussion posts and one group presentation.

Around the World in Thirteen Things: The Diaspora of Culture and Materials
IDH 4200-014
Instructor: Nivethitha Ketheeswaran
R |5:00 - 7:45 PM
Sustainable Futures
Engaged Citizenship

Each of us relies on culture and materials to live our day to day lives but how often do we pause to take a closer look at how these materials have come into our lives and how our culture influences how we engage with them? In this course students will explore the evolution of thirteen different materials (including glass, chocolate, salt, tea, rose petals, and more!) within a variety of cultural context. Students will learn to develop an interdisciplinary method of looking at culture and materials and explore how each material has gone through diaspora alongside humanity and makes its mark on their lives. Students will create a portfolio made up of 1) weekly discussion posts 2) three arts-based representations 3) one materials and me presentation, 4) one community involvement project, and 5) one reflection paper.

Beasts and Burdens: Survival, Imagination, and Resilience in the (Global) South
IDH 4200-015
Instructor: Ulluminair Salim
T |11:00 AM - 1:45 PM
Engaged Citizenship

"The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete." --Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author and activist

This course disrupts monolithic representations of poverty and the poor by magnifying alternative narratives. Through the lens of select films about poverty in southern riskscapes, students will theorize the ‘south’ as both a geographic location and position of marginality. Beginning their symbolic travels in the American South, students will make the familiar ‘strange’ by confronting the ways in which the ‘distant other’ is in our own backyard. From New Orleans to Orlando to Bombay, we will examine topics such as adverse childhood experiences; the intersection of climate change and poverty; borderlands epistemologies; the refugee crisis; and human trafficking among other concerns. Finally, students will problematize the so-called ‘culture of poverty’ and identify the social capital and resilience often overlooked in representations of the poor

Government Policies and Everyday People 
IDH 4930-001
Instructor: Gus Bilirakis 
F | 2PM - 4:45PM 
Engaged Citizenship 

*This is a 3-credit course delivered in a hybrid format due to the Congressman's travel schedule. Some course meetings will occur in person on the Tampa campus. 

This course explores how the interconnectedness of federal government policies, both domestic and foreign, affects the lives of everyday citizens. Through analysis and discussion of national and world events, students will gain an understanding of the nexus between government action and its consequences. This course will enhance critical/analytical thinking, problem solving, and written communication skills. At the same time, students will attain knowledge and skills related to American government and how it affects their daily lives. 

Local Government and Public Advocacy
IDH 4930-002
Instructor: Harry Cohen
F | 9:30AM - 12:15PM* 
Engaged Citizenship

County governments and municipalities provide essential services that affect people’s lives in the most intimate and immediate ways:  Water – for drinking, bathing and irrigation, wastewater and stormwater management, 911/emergency response and first responders including fire rescue and law enforcement, courts and jails, parks and pools and splashpads, support for arts and culture, not to mention animal control and large swaths of our transportation and ports network.

Go behind the scenes and talk to policymakers about the challenges facing local governments today.  Learn about leadership from people who have run large and complex organizations in the public sector.  Develop techniques to make your voice heard. Learn effective tools for influencing outcomes, not just standing on the sidelines.  Meet current and former elected officials who will share “how things really work.”  Assignments will feature interaction with local officials regarding a subject area of the student’s interest.  

*This class will involve a limited number of field trips including but not limited to Tampa International Airport, Port Tampa Bay, the Tampa Bay Water Desalination Facility and government offices in downtown Tampa.  Where practicable, transportation and/or complimentary parking may be provided on an as-needed basis, but flexibility and cooperation related to site visits is expected, and students should anticipate extra time for travel on site visit weeks.

Please note: All IDH 4950 courses are restricted to senior status for the first week of registration. Juniors will be able to register beginning 4/2. 

Crafting Stories in the Age of AI: Exploring Empathy through Literature and Writing
IDH 4950-001
Instructor: Deepak Singh
MW | 12:30 – 1:45 PM

In this writing-intensive course, students will delve into literature to explore the intricate interplay between human experiences, empathy, and the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence. The course places a strong emphasis on reading like writers, dissecting literature with an eye for craft, and honing the observational skills necessary to create meaningful written work. Students will read compelling literary works and will actively participate in the process of crafting their narratives, developing the ability to observe, critique, and revise their writing over the semester. 

The course will also focus on taming the Inner Critic. Most beginner writers give up before they’ve even started. Their Inner Critic questions their talent to write. Students will talk about how to kick the Inner Critic out of the room and write freely. First drafts are always messy, and writers need to be able to make a mess and have fun with it. With their Inner Critic out of the room, I hope students will tap into their creativity. In this course, students will not only learn to critique their peers’ work but also work on silencing their inner critic for their work.

Quality Makes ¢ent$: Healthcare Research & Quality Outcomes
IDH 4950-002
Instructor: Donna Gambino
T |12:30 – 3:15 PM
Healthy Humanity

What ethical and legal obligations do hospitals have to patients? What challenges and issues arise while conducting healthcare quality projects? How are quality of care and cost of delivery related? Using literature (Foucault's The Birth of the Clinic, Gawande's Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, and others) and film (The English Surgeon, Malice, and others), this course purposes to instill the knowledge of community needs through cultural enlightenment, interdisciplinary practices, and real-life experience. This course will primarily focus on clinical outcomes, process change, and emphasizes analysis of the patient care process to identify specific interventions. Students will learn to incorporate the research process as they conduct an actual healthcare outcomes study utilizing a quantitative research approach. Students will be prepared to present findings and practical applications to hospital administrators. Designed for students interested in inter-professional healthcare delivery, this course seeks to assist students with developing competencies expected of professional programs. Additional topics include an overview of accreditation standards; licensure agencies; reimbursement systems; legal/ethical issues; healthcare computerization; documentation, quality, compliance, and regulatory requirements and HIPPA compliance.

Civic Literacy & Current Events
IDH 4950-003
Instructor: Dan Ruth
M |9:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Engaged Citizenship

This class is designed to give students an enhanced understanding of world events and civic institutions that influence our lives. Having a better grasp of the swirling news events and occur every day is essential to becoming  more engaged citizens. To that end, students will be required to read several daily online newspapers such as The Tampa Bay Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post as well as follow other informational platforms from television to NPR, to social media. This course will include a weekly news quiz. Students will also participate in weekly team presentations exploring in-depth some aspect of current events and/or various civic institutions. It is said the journalism  that goes into reporting the news is, in fact, the first draft of history. With an upcoming presidential election this semester, gaining a grasp of the candidates and issues during the campaign is critical. The goals of this course are two-fold. First, students will become better informed and thus more aware of stories that shape their world view. Second, students will gain a keener appreciation of the journalistic challenges associated with keeping them informed. This class will also require a Capstone writing assignment of about 3,000 words. The topic will be a reflection on how news events over the course of a student's life have served to shape and influence their world view.

Policing and the Constitution
IDH 4950-004
Instructor: Elizabeth Cass
MW | 9:30 – 10:45 AM

This course explores the foundational constitutional and legal principles governing interactions among citizens, law enforcement, and the courts in the United States. Through the study of landmark Supreme Court cases related to the Fourth and Five Amendments, we will explore questions such as:  When can law enforcement legally "seize" an individual? Under what circumstances can deadly force be justified for apprehension? What actions constitute a "search," and when is a warrant necessary? When can eyewitness testimony be admissible at trial? How does the law safeguard the right against self-incrimination?

Through Team-Based Collaborative Learning, students will engage in discussions and debates on the ongoing challenge of balancing conflicting interests and values in a diverse society. In the capstone project, students will showcase their ability to critically analyze court cases within their historical contexts, evaluating the impact of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments from multiple disciplinary perspectives, including their respective majors.

Systems Thinking for Sustainability
IDH 4950-005
Instructor: Kebreab Ghebremichael
T |9:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Sustainable Futures 

Sustainability is an important topic of discussion as humanity faces existential threats. The complex nature of the challenges to sustainable development cannot be solved by the conventional approaches of analysis and decision making we have been following so far. Hence approaches based on systems thinking and multidisciplinary approaches are required. In this course we will use systems thinking tools to explore interdependencies, understand behaviors, and develop solutions to complex sustainability challenges (social, economic, and environment).  

We will discuss real life case studies and consider sustainability related problems on campus or our region in a semester long group project assignment. The project will use social science field methods to demonstrate how one can develop culturally appropriate solutions by engaging community members/organizations. The course is suited for students from multiple disciplines. It allows them to discuss with colleagues and peers on sustainability related topics from different perspectives.

Awareness in Motion (Graphic)
IDH 4950-006
Instructor: Tamara Nemirovsky
T |9:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Engaged Citizenship

Motion Graphic animation is becoming an important medium for creating awareness and explaining important topics to better our community. Students will acquire skills in crafting infographic animation aimed at explaining processes pertinent to their academic majors, or addressing societal challenges such as health, environment, and gun violence, etc. while also proposing potential solutions and encouraging action. Adobe After Effects will be the primary software utilized in this course. Prior motion graphic experience is not required.

Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
IDH 4950-007
Instructor: Holly Singh
TR | 12:30 – 1:45 PM
Healthy Humanity

This course focuses on contemporary social movements around reproductive health, rights, and justice in global historical contexts. The historical and cross-cultural examination of debates about, and advocacy around, reproduction will ground students' research into current medical, legislative, and social reform movements aimed at changing the ways people imagine human futures and work to create them through policy, education, and activism. Students' research will serve as the basis for creating their own projects aimed at increasing public understanding of their topics in the form of a public event, a podcast, an exhibition, a website, a course syllabus, a documentary, or another form.

CAM Co-Lab
IDH 4950-008
Instructor: Leslie Elsasser
F | 9:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Healthy Humanity
Engaged Citizenship

The artistic lens can provide ways of knowing and a means of understanding everyday realities. CAM Co-Lab offers an innovative, curriculum through an active course of study that is grounded in USF Contemporary Art Museum’s Public Art Collection on the Tampa campus. In this trans-disciplinary arts-based course, Honors students will learn the latest skills and practicum to facilitate a 21st-century tour of the USF CAM’s artwork, through object-based learning, and practice on the Tampa campus. The course addresses pertinent socio-political issues, diverse perspectives, and blurs the boundaries between artmaking, education, and anthropological, sociological, economic, historical, and medical issues facing us today. The arts are powerful tools. They highlight our social contexts and have a role as a catalyst that can trigger ideas, stories, and conversations that give each person a voice. They offer the potential to improve tangible, transferable skills necessary within emerging interdisciplinary and interprofessional professions, including enhanced perspective, mindful reflection, research, visual literacy,  sharpened analytic and diagnostic capabilities, increased tolerance for ambiguity, and improved teamwork and communication.

GameCraft: Game Design & Development for Learning
IDH 4950-009
Instructor: Glenn Smith
M | 5:00 – 7:45 PM

Discover the secrets of educational game design and game-programming skills, to create your own learning games and bring them into your career. Learn the structure of computer games, and work in an interdisciplinary team designing/developing a digital game. Discuss research on learning games. Integrate what you have learned in the honors college into a game as a final capstone project. There are no specific skill requirements, although programming, visual design, fine arts, writing and more are welcome for creating strong interdisciplinary teams.

Students will: (a) brainstorm learning needs to be met by games and then game ideas to meet those learning needs, (b) design simple board games from everyday materials, as prototypes for computer games, (c) form interdisciplinary teams, (d) use an authoring system to create a digital learning game as a Minimal Viable Prototype (MVP), and (e) conduct playtests of their games to get feedback and iteratively improve their MVPs.

Advancing Your Future - Serve As A Consultant For A Better Tomorrow
IDH 4950-010
Instructor: Michael Cross
TR | 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Engaged Citizenship 

You will serve on a consultant team of peers to develop a comprehensive proposal for adoption by a local community organization. Experts from USF’s Institute for Advanced Discovery & Innovation (IADI) will join our course at key points to provide insight and mentorship from their experiences in the world of health and institutions. You will be assigned work geared to support the mission of a non-profit organization in the local Tampa Bay region that includes understanding their challenges, building a network of support on their behalf, and navigating complex problems. In previous semesters, we have worked with WeNourish, an organization founded to ensure that those undernourished in our local community due to the pandemic were provided with hot meals. They were able to do this through a grant from Hillsborough County which empowered them to sustain local restaurants which would otherwise close from lack of business. With mentorship from IADI faculty, you will develop a substantive proposal on behalf of a non-profit as well as present your progress throughout. The community partner will join throughout the semester to provide context for their needs and direction during the development of the proposal.

Connections: Community Engaged Research, Museum Tours, & Art-Viewing for Health
IDH 4950-011
Instructor: Ulluminair Salim
R |12:30 – 3:15 PM
Healthy Humanity 

"Develop your senses-especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”—Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance artist

The Connections capstone is a byproduct of a community-engaged partnership between the Judy Genshaft Honors College and the Tampa Museum of Art. The course centers around the museum's Connections program, which offers complimentary, facilitated art-viewing experiences for underserved museum attendees including military veterans and their families; people in treatment for substance use disorders; and people with neurological disorders like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, their families, and caregivers.

In small groups, students will achieve two deliverables:

1. Train to become museum tour guides with specialized training in Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), culminating in the design and facilitation of their own museum tours.

2. Conduct original research in service of the needs and aspirations of the Connections Program at the Tampa Museum of Art.

We will conduct class sessions onsite at the Tampa Museum of Art in downtown Tampa. As such, students should plan transportation to and from the museum.

Perspectives in Performing Arts Healthcare  
IDH 4950-012
Instructor: Sarah Klopfenstine-Wear
F |9:30 AM – 12:15 PM

Performing artists are individuals who engage in creative and artistic activity as discipline and career that includes dance, music, drama, and other expressive arts. Identifying the occupational risks affecting performing artist is an emerging interdisciplinary field of study among artists, educators, and health care professionals.  

In this course, performing artists will be framed as workers whose occupational craft (dancing, playing music, singing, etc.) is their employment. Students will be introduced to the values and culture of performing artists and learn health concerns among this population. For the culminating project, students will tailor health and wellness recommendations from peer-reviewed research and governmental organizations specific to performer populations.

Next-Generation Project Management: Addressing Contemporary Challenges 
IDH 4950-013 
Instructor: Lisa Hammond 
M | 11:00 AM - 1:45 PM 
 
In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, shifting global dynamics, and unprecedented challenges, the field of project management stands as a critical discipline, empowering professionals to lead projects to success against the backdrop of an ever-evolving landscape. This course is designed for students who aspire to lead, innovate, and make a significant impact in their future careers, equipping you with the knowledge, tools, and strategies needed to effectively manage projects amidst the complexities of today's world. This course bridges the gap between traditional project management theories and the practical application of these principles to current issues and events. Through a focus on agile methodologies, technology integration, and sustainability, students will be prepared to manage projects that respond effectively to the evolving demands of the 21st century. 
 
Upon completing this course, students will emerge as forward-thinking professionals equipped with the knowledge and skills to lead projects in diverse fields successfully. From the fields of technology, healthcare, finance, and consumer products, you will be capable of applying project management principles to drive positive change, address global challenges, and contribute to sustainable development. Through short lectures, interactive seminars, case study analyses, project simulations, and guest lectures from industry experts, students will gain the background needed to complete, reflective essays, individual and group projects, and presentations. Successful students will engage in collaboration, critical thinking, and practical application of learned concepts. 

Student Consulting Course
IDH 4950-501
Instructor: Greg Smogard
Format: Online

In this high-impact, experiential learning course, student teams will be paired with a real company located in another country to learn about, research, and address a real-world business problem. The consulting projects are based on specific client needs and will address a wide range of business, industry and/or organizational issues in a global context. Each client will have a unique focus and will 1) provide students with an existing business challenge 2) require applying multi-disciplinary concepts, data collection and analysis, critical thinking, dynamic collaboration, fact-based decisions, and high-performance teamwork and 3) conclude with the consultants presenting actionable recommendations to the client and the faculty advisor. Student teams will meet with the faculty advisor weekly for coaching and problem-solving sessions, while working on their own to research issues and develop recommendations. The culminating project will be presented to the client’s management team. Teams will determine their weekly meeting time after the first week of class. Email Dr. Greg Smogard for a permit.

The Honors Thesis is a two-semester program where students will conduct an independent study under the guidance of their own thesis chair selected by each student. The thesis process mirrors a mentorship system common in graduate schools (e.g., dissertation for a Ph.D. program). By closely working with your own chair, you will come up with a research topic, develop research methods, and produce your own creative work such as a research paper, artwork, a business proposal, etc. It is a great opportunity to create your own unique research project, learn from faculty about the research process, and gain research skills. We recommend that students who are interested in the Honors Thesis prepare early.

Thesis I
IDH 4970-001
Instructor: Atsuko Sakai

Students should enroll in Thesis I when they are in the final 2-4 semesters of completing their degree. Please go to Honors Thesis for more information and compare different Research Track options. No permit required. Only juniors and seniors may enroll in thesis.

Thesis II
IDH 4970-002
Instructor: Atsuko Sakai 

Permit required. Only students who have completed Thesis I may enroll in Thesis II.