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St. Petersburg Fall 2026 Honors Courses

The Judy Genshaft Honors College offers courses on all three campuses, as well as off-site locations. Honors courses are open to students from any home campus, but may require a permit. Unless noted specifically in the course description, Honors courses require in-person attendance.

Click a category below to browse all related courses:

IDH 2010: Honors Acquisition of Knowledge

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.).

This required freshman seminar is an introduction to the Judy Genshaft Honors College community for incoming students.

601 | Acquisition of Knowledge

  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 2010-601
  • Instructor: Blaze Marpet
  • Schedule: Tuesday, Thursday | 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

602 | Acquisition of Knowledge

  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 2010-602
  • Instructor: Blaze Marpet
  • Schedule: Tuesday, Thursday | 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

603 | Acquisition of Knowledge

  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 2010-603
  • Instructor: Blaze Marpet
  • Schedule: Tuesday, Thursday | 2 - 3:15 p.m.

604 | Acquisition of Knowledge

  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 2010-604
  • Instructor: Cayla Lanier
  • Schedule: Monday, Wednesday | 2 - 3:15 p.m.

IDH 3100: Honors Arts and Humanities

IDH 3100: Honors Arts and Humanities courses explore how different types of creative production such as art, literature, drama, music, or film are interwoven with the pressing issues of society, politics, history, and culture. Classes may focus on a certain historical period, region, type of media, or theme.

601 | Art + the Environment

  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 3100-601
  • Instructor: Tina Piracci
  • Schedule: Wednesday | 9:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
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 brick or propose and implement a mural project in collaboration with the USF Botanical Gardens. 

Our oyster brick restoration project is done in collaboration with Dr. William Ellis from the Marine Biology department at USF St. Petersburg, 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.   

IDH 3350: Honors Natural Sciences

IDH 3350: Honors Natural Sciences courses engage with current knowledge, issues, and innovation in the natural sciences, using the perspectives of this field to answer important social, ethical, and philosophical questions. Ultimately, this course is designed to break down barriers between the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, helping them become better interdisciplinary scholars.

601 | Field Methods in Marine Science

  • Category: Gulf Scholars Program
  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 3350-601
  • Instructor: Teresa Greely
  • Schedule: Saturday | 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Make a salty splash during this six-day outdoor, field explorations course to local marine environments to experience Tampa Bay and the Gulf as citizens and scientists.

As citizens we will learn how the blue economy relates to you and your role in it by analysis and synthesis of data to interpret how your future career sector intersects with the blue economy.

As scientists, we will: 

  • Survey an undeveloped barrier island (coastal geology); 
  • Conduct fish surveys over seagrass meadows (coastal ecology);
  • Measure mangrove trees canopy and estimate carbon sequestration;
  • Analyze hydrology by paddling down a river until it meets the bay; and
  • Practice decision-making via Fish Banks — a simulation — as owners of commercial fishing companies.

Note: This course will meet on six Saturdays during the semester. Specific dates will be provided in the course syllabus, which will be available by July.

This course will count towards curriculum requirements for the Gulf Scholars Program.

IDH 3400: Honors Social and Behavioral Sciences

IDH 3400: Honors Social and Behavioral Sciences courses introduce students to cultural and sociopolitical inquiry. They explore the different dimensions of human experience, learning to empathetically understand why people think, feel, and act in certain ways. By reconciling the issues and perspectives presented in class, students will better understand the complexity of social interaction. 

601 | Narrative Health: Expressive Writing, Meaning-Making, and Well-Being

  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 3400-601
  • Instructor: Tiffany Cheneville
  • Schedule: Thursday | 11 a.m. - 1:45 p.m.
This course examines how storytelling and expressive writing function as evidence-based tools for improving physical and mental health. Integrating psychological theory, empirical research, and creative writing practice, students explore how narrative shapes identity, emotion regulation, coping, and recovery across the lifespan and cultures. With readings of research on expressive writing interventions, analysis of illness and trauma narratives, and guided writing practice, the course emphasizes ethical, culturally responsive applications of narrative methods in health contexts. Students will critically evaluate when and for whom expressive writing interventions are effective, while developing practical skills to design, assess, and reflect on writing-based approaches to well-being.

IDH 4200: Honors Geographic Perspectives

IDH 4200: Honors Geographical Perspectives courses broaden students’ horizons through a close examination of specific nations or regions and the people who inhabit them. These courses often focus on how a global issue is experienced in a local context, and how that local context may influence or be influenced by other places or peoples. Students will learn to critically explore global relationships in our interconnected world.

601 | Coastal Cultures: From Gulf to Global Perspectives

  • Category: Gulf Scholars Program
  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 4200-601
  • Instructor: Heather O'Leary
  • Schedule: Tuesday, Thursday | 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

This course will connect Tampa Bay, the Florida Gulf, and its interconnected waterways with macro-scalar case studies to understand the power of cross-cultural comparison between local and international scales. By using Tampa Bay and the Gulf as a microcosm to which all activities are connected, students will learn about transnational dynamics through the meaningful symbols, language, rituals, practices, and social life of water. Themes will draw from award-winning writing in the environmental humanities and social sciences, ideally drawing case studies from every continent.

Readings will pair contemporary studies in anthropology, sustainability, blue humanities, and material culture with embodied and experiential practices through everyday autoethnographic fieldwork and participant-observation encounters in the Gulf.

This course will count towards curriculum requirements for the Gulf Scholars Program.

IDH 4950: Honors Capstone

IDH 4950: Honors Capstone is a culminating classroom experience focused on integrative and applied learning. In this course, an instructor guides students to engage deeply with a specific topic through research and community engagement. The capstone concludes with a final scholarly, creative, or public contribution generated by student groups, bridging the gap between Honors learning and other spheres of life.

Honors Capstone courses are restricted to students with 90+ earned credit hours the first week of registration. The restriction is lowered to 60+ earned credit hours the second week of registration.

601 | Healing Arts

  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 4950-601
  • Instructor: Catherine Wilkins
  • Schedule: Thursday | 2 - 4:45 p.m.
In this collaboration between the USF Judy Genshaft Honors College and the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art, Honors students learn by experience how particular methods of engaging with art can help people access and express memories, improve communication skills, externalize emotions, relieve stress and anxiety, increase observation abilities, and promote positive feelings. 

We will consider how these benefits relate to people dealing with a range of medical conditions, providing therapeutic relief. We’ll practice facilitating these methods ourselves, in preparation for helping our community partner, the James Museum, deliver their Art in Mind program. Community members diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and related conditions will come to the museum to receive therapeutic tours from us, as a class! Finally, this capstone course will allow students to participate in furthering the research at the intersection of art, medicine, and community engagement. 

Please note: this class will be primarily held at the James Museum in downtown St. Petersburg, a 10-minute walk from campus (.5 miles). Please allow time in your schedule for traveling to and from the museum.  

A permit is required to register; request a permit for Honors Capstone here. 

IDH 4970: Honors Thesis

IDH 4970: Honors Thesis guides students as they develop a substantive, original, interdisciplinary final project under the direction of a faculty mentor. Students individually craft their thesis based on research methods and guidance of their chosen field and may be expressed as an academic paper, a design project, a creative performance or portfolio, or an organizational plan. Students should enroll in Thesis I when they are in the final 2-4 semesters of completing their degree. Please read the Honors Thesis page for more information and compare different Research Track options. 

601 | Honors Thesis

  • Course Code/Section Number: IDH 4970-601
  • Instructor: Catherine Wilkins
  • Schedule: Monday | 5 - 6:15 p.m.
A permit is required to register; request a permit for Honors Thesis here.

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