Honors Courses for First Year Students

Anthropology Majors:

ATH 185H: Cultural Diversity in the US
CRN: 15438, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Anthropological and ethnographic approaches to the study of cultural, social, and linguistic variation in the United States, its territories, and borderlands. As an introduction to cultural anthropology, the course provides a foundation for understanding historical and contemporary contexts related to globalization and diaspora; ethnic, racial, and class identities; political economy and environment; belief systems; and ethnographic methodology.

ATH 175H: Global Cultural Diversity
CRN:15770, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description:Provides an appreciation of human cultural, social, and linguistic variation around the world and through time. Develops anthropological and ethnographic approaches to understanding cultural differences and similarities in political, social and economic organization; marriage and family patterns; environment and beliefs systems; and other aspects of globalized human cultural life.

Biology, Botany, Medical Laboratory Science, Microbiology, and Zoology Majors:

BIO 116H/MBI 116H: Biological Concepts: Structure, Function, Cellular, and Molecular Biology Multiple sections, 4 credit hours total (3 lecture, 1 lab)
Course Description: Biological principles common to microbes, plants, and animals, including interactions between organism and environment.

BIO 203H: Intro to Cell Biology
CRN: 11181, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Introductory study of eukaryotic cell structure and function. Prerequisite: BIO 116/MBI 116, or BIO 191.
Note: Recommend with reservations. Students should be Biology or Zoology majors who have credit for BIO116/BIO115 that do not intend on retaking for advanced schooling, such as medical school.

MTH 135H: Math for Science Applications*
CRN: 13911, 3 Credit Hours
Course description: Taught at the precalculus level, the course focuses on concepts and examples from chemistry, physics, and biology to give students practice with problems they will encounter in natural science courses. Being multidisciplinary by nature, the course prepares students knowledge and skills to tackle real-world problems and for analysis of global issues such as climate and temperature changes, spread of infectious diseases, and drinking water availability. Enhanced with MCAT practice problems, the course also gives additional motivation for students interested in premedical studies.

CAS Economics Majors:

ECO 201H: Principles of Microeconomics 
Two sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Nature and scope of microeconomics, including the role of the market in resource allocation, the role of competition, market forces, the forces governing the distribution of income, and the role of foreign trade in economic welfare.

MTH 151H: Calculus I*
CRN: 15667, 4 credit hours
Course Description: Topics include limits and continuity, derivatives and their applications, and early integration techniques of polynomial, rational, radical, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions. It is expected that students have completed a trigonometry or pre-calculus course and possess the following prerequisite knowledge: factoring polynomials, working with fractional exponents, finding the domain of functions, properties of common functions such as polynomial, absolute value, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and rational functions, solving a variety of types of equations, inverse functions, graphing, and other related topics.

OR 

MTH 251H: Calculus II*
CRN: 13686, 4 credit hours
Course Description:  Continuation of Calculus I. Plane analytic geometry, techniques of integration, parametric equations, polar coordinates, infinite series, approximations, applications. Credit not awarded for both MTH 249 and 251. Prerequisite: a grade of C or better in MTH 151.

Chemistry and Biochemistry Majors:

Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

CHM 141H: College Chemistry- Honors
CRN: 15551, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: General chemistry lecture course. Examines the fundamentals of atomic and molecular structure, chemical reactions and stoichiometry, properties of solutions, thermochemistry, gases, and chemical bonding. Students also develop ideas, experience, methodology, and skills used in the application of scientific methodology. Credit not given for both CHM 141R and 141. IVB, LAB. PA-2B. Prerequisite: one year of high school chemistry and a math ACT score of 22 (or a SAT math sub-score 530) or higher or permission of instructor. Co-requisite: CHM 144.

MTH 135H: Math for Science Applications *
CRN: 13911, 3 credit hours
Course Description: Taught at the precalculus level, the course focuses on concepts and examples from chemistry, physics, and biology to give students practice with problems they will encounter in natural science courses. Being multidisciplinary by nature, the course prepares students knowledge and skills to tackle real-world problems and for analysis of global issues such as climate and temperature changes, spread of infectious diseases, and drinking water availability. Enhanced with MCAT practice problems, the course also gives additional motivation for students interested in premedical studies.

MTH 151H: Calculus I*
CRN: 15667, 4 credit hours
Course Description: Topics include limits and continuity, derivatives and their applications, and early integration techniques of polynomial, rational, radical, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions. It is expected that students have completed a trigonometry or pre-calculus course and possess the following prerequisite knowledge: factoring polynomials, working with fractional exponents, finding the domain of functions, properties of common functions such as polynomial, absolute value, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and rational functions, solving a variety of types of equations, inverse functions, graphing, and other related topics. 

MTH 251H: Calculus II*
CRN: 13686, 4 credit hours
Course Description:  Continuation of Calculus I. Plane analytic geometry, techniques of integration, parametric equations, polar coordinates, infinite series, approximations, applications. Credit not awarded for both MTH 249 and 251. Prerequisite: a grade of C or better in MTH 151.

Data Science & Statistics Majors:

Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

MTH 151H: Calculus I*
CRN: 15667, 4 credit hours
Course Description: Topics include limits and continuity, derivatives and their applications, and early integration techniques of polynomial, rational, radical, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions. It is expected that students have completed a trigonometry or pre-calculus course and possess the following prerequisite knowledge: factoring polynomials, working with fractional exponents, finding the domain of functions, properties of common functions such as polynomial, absolute value, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and rational functions, solving a variety of types of equations, inverse functions, graphing, and other related topics. 

MTH 251H: Calculus II*
CRN: 13686, 4 credit hours
Course Description:  Continuation of Calculus I. Plane analytic geometry, techniques of integration, parametric equations, polar coordinates, infinite series, approximations, applications. Credit not awarded for both MTH 249 and 251. Prerequisite: a grade of C or better in MTH 151.

MTH 252H: Calculus III*
CRN: 13177, 4 Credit Hours
Course Description: Three-dimensional analytic geometry, vectors, derivatives, multiple integrals, applications. The honors course offers an in-depth treatment of these topics. Admission to the honors course requires honors standing or permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: MTH 249, MTH 249H or MTH 251.

English: Creative Writing and English: Literature Majors:

ENG 180: How Do the Arts Shape Culture?
CRN: 16166, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Emerging questions seminar for first-year students. From memes on social media, to ground-breaking films, to the latest drop by a vocal artist, the visual and performing arts are everywhere. Thinkers harkening back to Plato have reflected upon how to represent themes that are crucial to our democracy. Indeed, as cultures evolve, so too have various approaches to artistic and creative practice. But the question is: how do literature and the performing arts shape culture? Should art (think largely here about literature, film, art, music, architecture, dance, etc.) imitate life in a faithful way? How do we understand when something is misrepresented? What kind of rhetorical strategies are used by writers and artists? This Honors Questions seminar takes up questions such as these while also reading key thinkers and artists who have made important insights. See more details in the Emerging Questions section below.

Film Studies Co-Majors:

FST 201H: Film History and Analysis
CRN: 16008, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Introduction to basic principles of cinematic form and to major movements and issues in the history of cinema. Primary emphasis given to principal methods of critical thinking in film studies, from close analysis of formal and stylistic elements in a single film to more global ways of understanding and interpreting films within their aesthetic, social, historical, and political contexts. Includes screenings of representative films, lectures, discussions, group activities, papers, and exams.

Geology and Environmental Earth Science Majors:

CHM 141H: College Chemistry- Honors
CRN:15551, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: General chemistry lecture course. Examines the fundamentals of atomic and molecular structure, chemical reactions and stoichiometry, properties of solutions, thermochemistry, gases, and chemical bonding. Students also develop ideas, experience, methodology, and skills used in the application of scientific methodology. Credit not given for both CHM 141R and 141. IVB, LAB. PA-2B. Prerequisite: one year of high school chemistry and a math ACT score of 22 (or a SAT math sub-score 530) or higher or permission of instructor. Co-requisite: CHM 144.

MTH 135H: Math for Science Applications*
CRN: 13911, 3 credit hours
Course Description: Taught at the precalculus level, the course focuses on concepts and examples from chemistry, physics, and biology to give students practice with problems they will encounter in natural science courses. Being multidisciplinary by nature, the course prepares students knowledge and skills to tackle real-world problems and for analysis of global issues such as climate and temperature changes, spread of infectious diseases, and drinking water availability. Enhanced with MCAT practice problems, the course also gives additional motivation for students interested in premedical studies.
Note: Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

MTH 151H: Calculus I*
CRN: 15667, 4 credit hours
Course Description: Topics include limits and continuity, derivatives and their applications, and early integration techniques of polynomial, rational, radical, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions. It is expected that students have completed a trigonometry or pre-calculus course and possess the following prerequisite knowledge: factoring polynomials, working with fractional exponents, finding the domain of functions, properties of common functions such as polynomial, absolute value, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and rational functions, solving a variety of types of equations, inverse functions, graphing, and other related topics. 
Note: Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

History Majors:

HST 198H: World History Since 1500*
CRN 16044, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Provides global perspective as well as introduction into history of individual civilizations. Stresses interrelations among societies and cultures and compares experiences of peoples and civilizations with one another.

HST 180: Road Trip?
CRN: 15693, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Students go on a journey to investigate the appeal, the history, and the future of the road-trip tradition. Topics include exploration, migration, countercultures, and mobility. Discussions of films, memoirs, and novels from the past will form the basis of an independent work at semester's end. See more details in the Emerging Questions section below.

Journalism Majors:

JRN 101H: Journalism and American Life 
CRN: 15549, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Students in this Miami Plan class explore the role of journalism in American democracy. They consider the social, historic, cultural, and economic contexts shaping the practice of journalism in the United States while also considering the ethics guiding journalistic choices. This is a course that introduces students to journalism as genre as well as practice, providing students a window into the watchdog, mirror, and marketplace functions of news media in a democracy.

Mathematics and Math & Statistics Majors:

Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

MTH 151H: Calculus I*
CRN: 15667, 4 credit hours
Course Description: Topics include limits and continuity, derivatives and their applications, and early integration techniques of polynomial, rational, radical, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions. It is expected that students have completed a trigonometry or pre-calculus course and possess the following prerequisite knowledge: factoring polynomials, working with fractional exponents, finding the domain of functions, properties of common functions such as polynomial, absolute value, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and rational functions, solving a variety of types of equations, inverse functions, graphing, and other related topics. 

MTH 251H: Calculus II*
CRN: 13686, 4 credit hours
Course Description:  Continuation of Calculus I. Plane analytic geometry, techniques of integration, parametric equations, polar coordinates, infinite series, approximations, applications. Credit not awarded for both MTH 249 and 251. Prerequisite: a grade of C or better in MTH 151.

MTH 252H: Calculus III*
CRN: 13177, 4 Credit Hours
Course Description: Three-dimensional analytic geometry, vectors, derivatives, multiple integrals, applications. The honors course offers an in-depth treatment of these topics. Admission to the honors course requires honors standing or permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: MTH 249, MTH 249H or MTH 251.

Students with either credit for MTH 251 (Calculus II) or an AP Calculus BC score of 4 or 5 should consider the following two classes, which must be taken together to earn an honors course requirement:

MTH 222T: Introduction To Linear Algebra 
CRN: 14301, 2 Credit Hours
Course Description: Departmental honors version of MTH 222: Treatment with emphasis on Euclidean spaces and matrix algebra: systems of linear equations, elementary matrix operations, determinants, vector methods in geometry, vector spaces, and linear transformations. MTH 222T and MTH 331T are complementary courses that meet four days per week, 70 minutes per meeting. They must be taken together. These courses are designed for students interested in a challenging academic experience that will explore topics in greater depth than the regular courses offered by the department.

AND

MTH 331T: Proof: Intro to Higher Math 
CRN: 10210, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Departmental honors version of MTH 331: Designed to ease the transition to 400-level courses in mathematics and statistics. The emphasis of the course is on writing and analyzing mathematical proofs. Topics covered will be foundational for higher level courses and will include propositional and predicate logic, methods of proof, induction, sets, relations and functions. MTH 222T and MTH 331T are complementary courses that meet four days per week, 70 minutes per meeting. They must be taken concurrently. These courses are designed for students interested in a challenging academic experience that will explore topics in greater depth than the regular courses offered by the department.

Talk to a Math Department advisor about MTH 222T and MTH 331T.

Philosophy Majors:

PHL 131H: Introduction to Ethics
CRN 15567, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Introduces students to, and cultivates, ethical reasoning. The course will foster students' capacity to recognize ethical issues and situations, to understand different ethical perspectives and concepts, and to engage in ethical deliberation. Students will have opportunities to analyze concrete situations and human conduct in relation to ethical principles, ideas, and frameworks and thereby to reflect more deeply on their own values and on the social context of ethical obligations and ethical dilemmas. Course topics may include the nature of our responsibilities to ourselves and to others, confrontations between the rights of an individual and those of society, and consideration of what it means to lead a good life. The course aims to enrich students' ability to see themselves as ethical actors in the world

PHL 180: Who am I and Who are We?
CRN: 15568, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: How well do you understand your own values and commitments? Do you understand the sources of your own desires and beliefs? How are you shaped by the past and by situations you inherit, and how are you responsible for shaping the future? This course will focus on questions of identity and agency that emerge in the course of becoming oneself individually and forming communities collectively. We will explore a variety of ideas about self, self-knowledge, self-determination, and the limits to self-understanding and self-mastery. See more details in the Emerging Questions section below.

Physics Majors:

Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

MTH 151H: Calculus I*
CRN: 15667, 4 credit hours
Course Description: Topics include limits and continuity, derivatives and their applications, and early integration techniques of polynomial, rational, radical, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions. It is expected that students have completed a trigonometry or pre-calculus course and possess the following prerequisite knowledge: factoring polynomials, working with fractional exponents, finding the domain of functions, properties of common functions such as polynomial, absolute value, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and rational functions, solving a variety of types of equations, inverse functions, graphing, and other related topics. 

MTH 251H: Calculus II*
CRN: 13686, 4 credit hours
Course Description:  Continuation of Calculus I. Plane analytic geometry, techniques of integration, parametric equations, polar coordinates, infinite series, approximations, applications. Credit not awarded for both MTH 249 and 251. Prerequisite: a grade of C or better in MTH 151.

MTH 252H: Calculus III*
CRN: 13177, 4 Credit Hours
Course Description: Three-dimensional analytic geometry, vectors, derivatives, multiple integrals, applications. The honors course offers an in-depth treatment of these topics. Admission to the honors course requires honors standing or permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: MTH 249, MTH 249H or MTH 251.

Political Science, Public Administration, and Diplomacy & Global Politics Majors:

POL 221H: Comparative Politics
CRN: 15698, 3 credit hours
Course Description: Comparative introduction to the development, governmental structures, and political processes of societies in modern world. Case studies used to relate theories to actual problems and governing strategies in contemporary political systems.

Diplomacy & Global Politics Majors are also encouraged to consider:

RUS 254H: Intro Russian & Eurasian Studies*
CRN: 15998, 3 credit hours
Course Description: Examines the major developments that have shaped Russian and Eurasian culture, society and politics over the last millennium. The course incorporates perspectives from the social sciences, humanities, and the fine arts. Taught in English. Honors students will participate in a Diplomacy Lab research project in collaboration with the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa. Students will get to visit the Office of Religious Freedom at the State Department.

Premedical and Pre-Health Studies Co-Majors:

BIO 116H/MBI 116H: Biological Concepts: Structure, Function, Cellular, and Molecular Biology Multiple sections, 4 credit hours total (3 lecture, 1 lab)
Course Description: Biological principles common to microbes, plants, and animals, including interactions between organism and environment.

MTH 135H: Math for Science Applications*
CRN: 13911, 3 Credit Hours
Course description: Taught at the precalculus level, the course focuses on concepts and examples from chemistry, physics, and biology to give students practice with problems they will encounter in natural science courses. Being multidisciplinary by nature, the course prepares students knowledge and skills to tackle real-world problems and for analysis of global issues such as climate and temperature changes, spread of infectious diseases, and drinking water availability. Enhanced with MCAT practice problems, the course also gives additional motivation for students interested in premedical studies.

Public Health Majors:

MBI 131H: Exploring Public Health
CRN: 15561, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Exploration of public health problems and solutions in the US. Impacts of physical and social determinants of health on development of health-related problems, impacts of disease prevention strategies, and the roles of public health professionals and organizations are addressed. Does not count as credit toward an A.B. or B.S. in microbiology. 

BIO 116H/MBI 116H: Biological Concepts: Structure, Function, Cellular, and Molecular Biology Multiple sections, 4 credit hours total (3 lecture, 1 lab)
Course Description: Biological principles common to microbes, plants, and animals, including interactions between organism and environment.

MTH 135H: Math for Science Applications*
CRN: 13911, 3 Credit Hours
Course description: Taught at the precalculus level, the course focuses on concepts and examples from chemistry, physics, and biology to give students practice with problems they will encounter in natural science courses. Being multidisciplinary by nature, the course prepares students knowledge and skills to tackle real-world problems and for analysis of global issues such as climate and temperature changes, spread of infectious diseases, and drinking water availability. Enhanced with MCAT practice problems, the course also gives additional motivation for students interested in premedical studies.

Spanish Majors:

SPN 311H: Modern Communication and Culture*
CRN: 16320, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Enhance speaking and writing skills in a context-driven, topic-based approach. Targeting Intermediate-mid proficiency, the course explores relevant vocabulary, form-meaning connections, and cultural insights in the Spanish-speaking world. Rooted in proficiency guidelines, students actively use Spanish for communication, cultural respect, identity reflection, and analyzing equity and social justice. A proficiency-oriented course fostering language growth and cultural awareness.
Note: Spanish placement in 311 or credit for SPN 202 required. 

SPN 315H: Intro to Hispanic Literatures*
CRN: 14699, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Close reading and critical analysis of selected poetry, essay, narrative fiction, and drama from Spain and Latin America.
Note: Credit for SPN 311 required.

Quantitative Economics Majors:

Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

ECO 201H: Principles of Microeconomics 
Two sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Nature and scope of microeconomics, including the role of the market in resource allocation, the role of competition, market forces, the forces governing the distribution of income, and the role of foreign trade in economic welfare.

MTH 151H: Calculus I*
CRN: 15667, 4 Credit Hours
Course Description: Topics include limits and continuity, derivatives and their applications, and early integration techniques of polynomial, rational, radical, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions. It is expected that students have completed a trigonometry or pre-calculus course and possess the following prerequisite knowledge: factoring polynomials, working with fractional exponents, finding the domain of functions, properties of common functions such as polynomial, absolute value, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and rational functions, solving a variety of types of equations, inverse functions, graphing, and other related topics.

MTH 251H: Calculus II*
CRN: 13686, 4 Credit Hours
Course Description:  Continuation of Calculus I. Plane analytic geometry, techniques of integration, parametric equations, polar coordinates, infinite series, approximations, applications. Credit not awarded for both MTH 249 and 251. Prerequisite: a grade of C or better in MTH 151.

MTH 252H: Calculus III*
CRN: 13177, 4 Credit Hours
Course Description: Three-dimensional analytic geometry, vectors, derivatives, multiple integrals, applications. The honors course offers an in-depth treatment of these topics. Admission to the honors course requires honors standing or permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: MTH 249, MTH 249H or MTH 251.

Architecture & Interior Design Majors:

Architecture and Interior Design majors are also encouraged to explore Miami Plan 2023 PA-2A National Sciences, PA-2B Social Science, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

Art and Communication Design Majors:

ART 188H: Art and Society: Renaissance to Modern*
CRN 14173, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Course covers roles played by the visual arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, etc.) in societies from the Renaissance (ca. 1300 CE) to the present day. Students will understand how the visual arts facilitate religious devotion; define group and individual identities; offer new ways to value the artistic creativity; and other functions that reveal how the visual arts across history shape, reflect, and are informed by societies different from our own. Honors students complete an additional project in connection to the art at the Miami University Art Museum.

Art and Communication Design majors are also encouraged to explore Miami Plan 2023 PA-1B Math & Formal Reasoning, PA-2A National Sciences, PA-2B Social Science, PA-3B Humanities, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

Art Education Majors:

ART 188H: Art and Society: Renaissance to Modern*
CRN 14173, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Course covers roles played by the visual arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, etc.) in societies from the Renaissance (ca. 1300 CE) to the present day. Students will understand how the visual arts facilitate religious devotion; define group and individual identities; offer new ways to value the artistic creativity; and other functions that reveal how the visual arts across history shape, reflect, and are informed by societies different from our own. Honors students complete an additional project in connection to the art at the Miami University Art Museum.

Art Education majors are also encouraged to explore Miami Plan 2023 PA-1B Math & Formal Reasoning, PA-2A National Sciences, PA-3B Humanities, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

Arts Management & Art Entrepreneurship Majors Majors:

CCA 111H: Creativity & Design Thinking
2 sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Description: This course is intended to enhance creativity, innovation, and design thinking skills of students transferrable to disciplines beyond this course. We will explore how the Design Thinking process influences the evolution of a user-centered design problem and explore the interrelationship of creativity, design, and innovation in problem solving. Learning the roles and processes of innovation and design thinking will be central to this exploration. Team work, problem-solving and leadership skills will also be addressed, and students will both self-author and collaboratively author original concepts.

Arts Management and Art Entrepreneurship majors should consider Miami Plan 2023 PA-2A National Sciences, PA-2B Social Science, PA-3B Humanities, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

Arts Management and Art Entrepreneurship majors may want to consider this Signature Inquiry course:

ENG 180: How Do the Arts Shape Culture?
CRN: 16166, 3 credit hours
Description: Our world is saturated with representations. From memes on social media, to ground-breaking films, to the latest drop by a vocal artist, the visual and performing arts are everywhere. Thinkers harkening back to Plato have reflected upon how to represent themes that are crucial to our democracy. Indeed, as cultures evolve, so too have various approaches to artistic and creative practice. But the question is: how do literature and the performing arts shape culture? Should art (think largely here about literature, film, art, music, architecture, dance, etc.) imitate life in a faithful way? How do we understand when something is misrepresented? What kind of rhetorical strategies are used by writers and artists? This Honors Questions seminar takes up questions such as these while also reading key thinkers and artists who have made important insights. See more details in the Emerging Questions section below.

Emerging Technology, Business + Design Majors:

Emerging Technology in Business + Design majors should consider Miami Plan 2023 PA-2A National Sciences, PA-2B Social Science, PA-3B Humanities, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

Games + Simulations Majors:

Games + Simulation majors should consider Miami Plan 2023 PA-2A National Sciences, PA-2B Social Science, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

Students who plan to double major in Computer Science should consider CEC 111H:

CEC 111H: Imagination, Ingenuity and Impact I*
Multiple sections with different meeting times, 2 Credit Hours
Description: This course is for first-year students interested in exploring engineering and computing. Students engage in hands-on, interdisciplinary design that addresses societal and environmental challenges. Students work in teams to design innovative solutions and develop communications skills. The course facilitates student transition to college by introducing key information, resources, and skills needed to succeed. It addresses issues including information literacy, academic integrity, personal responsibility and career development; and identifies key campus resources to enhance academic success.

Music (BA & BM) Majors:

MUS 185H: Multicultural Perspectives in Music*
CRN: 15660, 3 credit hours
Description: This course explores non-Western classical musical tradition and practices from around the world. By studying how music and society intersect, students develop skills for identifying and tracing musical differences and reflecting on factors such as history, culture, politics, economics, thought, and religion that shape their personal music- listening identities. Young scholars will think critically about music's power, not as a universal language but as an agent of unity, identity, war, propaganda, division, and faith. Students will develop cultural competency for their future professional and civic life by investigating disparate musical perspectives. An emphasis on self- reflection and intercultural learning is encouraged through a deeper understanding of self and others in a global context. This course will challenge students in scholarly areas beyond their primary studies and features authentic, active learning. Students can employ prior knowledge or skills from this course in other fields through interdisciplinary readings, media, writing, and cooperative projects.

MUS 186H: Global Playlists*
CRN: 15688, 3 credit hours
Description: This course is a survey of popular music throughout the world. Through the study of specific cultures and repertories, students will explore and engage in popular music in various cultural contexts in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The goal is to give students a broad understanding of what exactly is popular music, how it can be defined, and the differences and similarities amongst diverse popular music traditions.

Music, Music Performance, and Music Technology majors are also encouraged to explore Miami Plan 2023 PA-2A National Sciences, PA-2B Social Science, PA-3B Humanities, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

Music Education Majors:

MUS 185H: Multicultural Perspectives in Music*
CRN: 15660, 3 credit hours
Description: This course explores non-Western classical musical tradition and practices from around the world. By studying how music and society intersect, students develop skills for identifying and tracing musical differences and reflecting on factors such as history, culture, politics, economics, thought, and religion that shape their personal music- listening identities. Young scholars will think critically about music's power, not as a universal language but as an agent of unity, identity, war, propaganda, division, and faith. Students will develop cultural competency for their future professional and civic life by investigating disparate musical perspectives. An emphasis on self- reflection and intercultural learning is encouraged through a deeper understanding of self and others in a global context. This course will challenge students in scholarly areas beyond their primary studies and features authentic, active learning. Students can employ prior knowledge or skills from this course in other fields through interdisciplinary readings, media, writing, and cooperative projects.

MUS 186H: Global Playlists*
CRN: 15688, 3 credit hours
Description: This course is a survey of popular music throughout the world. Through the study of specific cultures and repertories, students will explore and engage in popular music in various cultural contexts in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The goal is to give students a broad understanding of what exactly is popular music, how it can be defined, and the differences and similarities amongst diverse popular music traditions.

Music Education majors are also encouraged to explore Miami Plan 2023 PA-2A National Sciences, PA-3B Humanities, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

Theatre Majors:

Theatre majors should take an honors course that fulfills a Miami Plan 2023 requirement such as PA-2A National Sciences, PA-2B Social Science, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

Theatre Majors may want to consider this Signature Inquiry course:

ENG 180: How Do the Arts Shape Culture?
CRN: 16166, 3 credit hours
Description: Our world is saturated with representations. From memes on social media, to ground-breaking films, to the latest drop by a vocal artist, the visual and performing arts are everywhere. Thinkers harkening back to Plato have reflected upon how to represent themes that are crucial to our democracy. Indeed, as cultures evolve, so too have various approaches to artistic and creative practice. But the question is: how do literature and the performing arts shape culture? Should art (think largely here about literature, film, art, music, architecture, dance, etc.) imitate life in a faithful way? How do we understand when something is misrepresented? What kind of rhetorical strategies are used by writers and artists? This Honors Questions seminar takes up questions such as these while also reading key thinkers and artists who have made important insights. See more details in the Emerging Questions section below.

Teacher Education Majors:

TCE 191H: Threshold Concepts of Teaching, Curriculum, and Educational Inquiry
CRN: 13943, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: This course explores the purposes, organizations, and outcomes of schooling from the perspectives of the field of social foundations of education. Students undertake critical inquiry into teaching as a profession and examine threshold concepts related to teaching, curriculum, and educational inquiry. Students will explore historical, philosophical, and contemporary purposes of schooling in order to open up new possibilities for them as teachers and community members in a complex, multicultural society. The course challenges students to understand how historical and contextual issues related to schooling intersect with matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This examination centers issues related to schooling within the context of power, justice, and social change.

Kinesiology Majors:

KNH 188H: Physical Activity and Health*
CRN: 15768, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Critical examination of relationships among exercise, physical activity, fitness, and health from epidemiological perspective. The role of genetic, sociocultural, economic, geographic and political influences on physical activity patterns, exercise habits, fitness and health are explored. A description of the physiological mechanisms that link physical activity and health are also examined.

MTH 135H: Math for Science Applications*
CRN: 13911, 3 credit hours
Description: Taught at the precalculus level, the course focuses on concepts and examples from chemistry, physics, and biology to give students practice with problems they will encounter in natural science courses. Being multidisciplinary by nature, the course prepares students knowledge and skills to tackle real-world problems and for analysis of global issues such as climate and temperature changes, spread of infectious diseases, and drinking water availability. Enhanced with MCAT practice problems, the course also gives additional motivation for students interested in premedical studies.
Note: Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

Sport Management Majors:

ECO 201H: Principles of Microeconomics 
Two sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Nature and scope of microeconomics, including the role of the market in resource allocation, the role of competition, market forces, the forces governing the distribution of income, and the role of foreign trade in economic welfare.

ESP 201H: Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Business Models
CRN: 14451, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Topics include requirements and challenges of successful entrepreneurship, characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, the life cycle stages of a business, careers and opportunities for entrepreneurship.
Note: Requires the co-requisite course ESP 101.

CEC 111H: Imagination, Ingenuity and Impact I*
Multiple sections with different meeting times, 2 Credit Hours
Course Description: This course is for first-year students interested in exploring engineering and computing. Students engage in hands-on, interdisciplinary design that addresses societal and environmental challenges. Students work in teams to design innovative solutions and develop communications skills. The course facilitates student transition to college by introducing key information, resources, and skills needed to succeed. It addresses issues including information literacy, academic integrity, personal responsibility and career development; and identifies key campus resources to enhance academic success.

Students with majors in the College of Engineering and Computing will be enrolled in CEC 111H prior to Orientation.

Students who need to explore an alternative Honors course instead of CEC 111H should consult with an Honors advisor at Orientation.

CEC majors interested in minoring in math and have either credit for MTH 251 (Calculus II) or an AP Calculus BC test score of 4 or 5 should ask to talk to a Math Department advisor to inquire about MTH 222T and MTH 331T as their honors course.

Most students in a Farmer School of Business (FSB) major will be pre-enrolled into either an honors section of the First Year Integrated Core, or into one of the following honors sections of FSB required classes:

ECO 201H: Principles of Microeconomics 
Two sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Nature and scope of microeconomics, including the role of the market in resource allocation, the role of competition, market forces, the forces governing the distribution of income, and the role of foreign trade in economic welfare.

OR

ACC 221H: Intro To Financial Accounting
CRN: 13853, 3 credit hours
Course description: Introduction to the purposes of financial statements and the recognition, measurement, and disclosure concepts and methods underlying financial statements. Focus is on preparing, using and interpreting financial statements and on understanding the impact of transactions and events on financial statements and financial ratios.

OR

ESP 201H: Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Business Models
CRN: 14451, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: Topics include requirements and challenges of successful entrepreneurship, characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, the life cycle stages of a business, careers and opportunities for entrepreneurship.
Note: Requires the co-requisite course ESP 101.

Honors students in the honors section of the First Year Integrated Core should not take a second honors course in the fall semester.

Honors students in a FSB major who are not pre-enrolled into one of these options or who need an alternative honors course should explore Miami Plan course options with their FSB and Honors advisor at Orientation.

FSB majors interested in minoring in math and have either credit for MTH 251 (Calculus II) or an AP Calculus BC test score of 4 or 5 should ask to talk to a Math Department advisor to inquire about MTH 222T and MTH 331T as their honors course if they are not in a honors section of the First Year Integrated Core.

Nursing Majors

Select a Miami Plan 2023 course from the following: PA-2B Social Science, PA-3A Creative Arts, PA-3B Humanities, PA-4A Ethical Citizenship course, PA-4B Intercultural Consciousness, PA-4C Global Inquiry, and/or Signature Inquiry Honors courses. 

The question of what a good society would look like is very old. This first-year honors Emerging Questions seminar introduces you to the origins of Utopianism, with a focus on the 20th century and on key cultural texts that captured the era’s hopes in, and anxiety about, the creation of a good society for all. This is a 3 credit hour course. You will engage with readings and films focused on utopian and dystopian societies all semester. This culminating project in this seminar asks you to explain your own vision for a good society. CRN: 15565

This course can fulfill Miami Plan Perspective Area-3B (Humanities) and/or a Signature Inquiry requirement.

Watch the video below to hear from the course instructor:

Our world is saturated with representations. From memes on social media, to ground-breaking films, to the latest drop by a vocal artist, the visual and performing arts are everywhere. Thinkers harkening back to Plato have reflected upon how to represent themes that are crucial to our democracy. Indeed, as cultures evolve, so too have various approaches to artistic and creative practice. But the question is: how do literature and the performing arts shape culture? Should art (think largely here about literature, film, art, music, architecture, dance, etc.) imitate life in a faithful way? How do we understand when something is misrepresented? What kind of rhetorical strategies are used by writers and artists? This Honors Questions seminar takes up questions such as these while also reading key thinkers and artists who have made important insights. This is a 3 credit hour course. CRN: 16166

This course can fulfill Miami Plan Perspective Area-1C (Advanced Writing) and/or a Signature Inquiry requirement.

Watch the video below to hear from the course instructor:

Section is FULL

Students go on a journey to investigate the appeal, the history, and the future of the road-trip tradition. This class uses the broader historical background of travel writing to interrogate the enduring allure of the “Great American Road Trip.” Topics include exploration, migration, countercultures, and mobility. Discussions of films, memoirs, and novels from the past will form the basis of an independent work at semester's end. This is a 3 credit hour course. CRN: 15693

This course can fulfill Miami Plan Perspective Area-1C (Advanced Writing) and/or a Signature Inquiry requirement.

Watch the video below to hear from the course instructor:

How well do you understand your own values and commitments? Do you understand the sources of your own desires and beliefs? How are you shaped by the past and by situations you inherit, and how are you responsible for shaping the future? This course will focus on questions of identity and agency that emerge in the course of becoming oneself individually and forming communities collectively. We will explore a variety of ideas about self, self-knowledge, self-determination, and the limits to self-understanding and self-mastery. This is a 3 credit hour course. CRN: 15568

This course can fulfill Miami Plan Perspective Area-3B (Humanities) and/or a Signature Inquiry requirement.

Watch the video below to hear from the course instructor:

What does a good life look like and how can I lead such a life? We’ll work together to think deeply about this interdisciplinary question. We’ll draw on ecology, self-cultivation practices, and religious studies to analyze the role of nature, contemplative practices, and visions of the self in harmony with the universe in cultivating a good life. This class has a strong experiential component that allows students to engage in meditation, breath work, forest walks, etc. as possible practices that support a good life. In the class’s semester-long project, groups will create their own time capsules of “best practices” for living a good life in the year 2025. This is a 3 credit hour course. CRN: 15599

This course can fulfill Miami Plan Perspective Area-3B (Humanities) and/or a Signature Inquiry requirement.

Watch the video below to hear from the course instructor:

Contract course option:

MTH 135H: Math for Science Applications*
CRN: 13911, 3 credit hours
Description: Taught at the precalculus level, the course focuses on concepts and examples from chemistry, physics, and biology to give students practice with problems they will encounter in natural science courses. Being multidisciplinary by nature, the course prepares students knowledge and skills to tackle real-world problems and for analysis of global issues such as climate and temperature changes, spread of infectious diseases, and drinking water availability. Enhanced with MCAT practice problems, the course also gives additional motivation for students interested in premedical studies.
Note: Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

Honors exclusive course options:

ENG 180: How Do the Arts Shape Culture?
CRN: 16166, 3 credit hours
Description: Our world is saturated with representations. From memes on social media, to ground-breaking films, to the latest drop by a vocal artist, the visual and performing arts are everywhere. Thinkers harkening back to Plato have reflected upon how to represent themes that are crucial to our democracy. Indeed, as cultures evolve, so too have various approaches to artistic and creative practice. But the question is: how do literature and the performing arts shape culture? Should art (think largely here about literature, film, art, music, architecture, dance, etc.) imitate life in a faithful way? How do we understand when something is misrepresented? What kind of rhetorical strategies are used by writers and artists? This Honors Questions seminar takes up questions such as these while also reading key thinkers and artists who have made important insights. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above.

HST 180: Road Trip?
CRN: 15693, 3 credit hours
Description: Students go on a journey to investigate the appeal, the history, and the future of the road-trip tradition. This class uses the broader historical background of travel writing to interrogate the enduring allure of the “Great American Road Trip.” Topics include exploration, migration, countercultures, and mobility. Discussions of films, memoirs, and novels from the past will form the basis of an independent work at semester's end. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above. Section is FULL.

Honors exclusive course options:

ATH 175H: Global Cultural Diversity
CRN: 15438, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Provides an appreciation of human cultural, social, and linguistic variation around the world and through time. Develops anthropological and ethnographic approaches to understanding cultural differences and similarities in political, social and economic organization; marriage and family patterns; environment and beliefs systems; and other aspects of globalized human cultural life.

ATH 185H: Cultural Diversity in the US
CRN: 15770, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Anthropological and ethnographic approaches to the study of cultural, social, and linguistic variation in the United States, its territories, and borderlands. As an introduction to cultural anthropology, the course provides a foundation for understanding historical and contemporary contexts related to globalization and diaspora; ethnic, racial, and class identities; political economy and environment; belief systems; and ethnographic methodology.

ECO 201H: Principles of Microeconomics 
2 sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Nature and scope of microeconomics, including the role of the market in resource allocation, the role of competition, market forces, the forces governing the distribution of income, and the role of foreign trade in economic welfare.

POL 221H: Comparative Politics
CRN: 15698, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Comparative introduction to the development, governmental structures, and political processes of societies in modern world. Case studies used to relate theories to actual problems and governing strategies in contemporary political systems.

Contract Honors course options:

KNH 188H: Physical Activity and Health*
CRN: 15768, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Critical examination of relationships among exercise, physical activity, fitness, and health from epidemiological perspective. The role of genetic, sociocultural, economic, geographic and political influences on physical activity patterns, exercise habits, fitness and health are explored. A description of the physiological mechanisms that link physical activity and health are also examined.

Honors exclusive course option:

MBI 131H: Exploring Public Health
CRN: 15561, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Exploration of public health problems and solutions in the US. Impacts of physical and social determinants of health on development of health-related problems, impacts of disease prevention strategies, and the roles of public health professionals and organizations are addressed. Does not count as credit toward an A.B. or B.S. in microbiology. 

Honors exclusive course option:

CCA 111H: Creativity & Design Thinking
2 sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Description: This course is intended to enhance creativity, innovation, and design thinking skills of students transferrable to disciplines beyond this course. We will explore how the Design Thinking process influences the evolution of a user-centered design problem and explore the interrelationship of creativity, design, and innovation in problem solving. Learning the roles and processes of innovation and design thinking will be central to this exploration. Team work, problem-solving and leadership skills will also be addressed, and students will both self-author and collaboratively author original concepts.

Contract course options:

ART 188H: Art & Society: Renaissance to Modern*
CRN: 14173, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Course covers roles played by the visual arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, etc.) in societies from the Renaissance (ca. 1300 CE) to the present day. Students will understand how the visual arts facilitate religious devotion; define group and individual identities; offer new ways to value the artistic creativity; and other functions that reveal how the visual arts across history shape, reflect, and are informed by societies different from our own. Honors students complete an additional project in connection to the art at the Miami University Art Museum.

MUS 184H: Opera: Human Stories in Music*
CRN: 14529, 3 Credit Hours
Description: This course focuses on opera as the "total art work," encompassing aspects of Western European history and culture. From opera’s roots in ancient Greek drama to the present day, opera is constantly being shaped by the society in which it has thrived. Art, literature, theatre, and business are also relevant to opera and will be included in our journey through operatic masterpieces. Framed in the context of Italy as the self-proclaimed birthplace of opera, the course addresses how the passion for this art form has spread through—and united—cultures around the globe. A focus is on the patrons who have supported opera from its inception to the present-day. Students will learn to appreciate the art form by studying selected operas, attending an opera at Miami University and watching videos of operas.

MUS 285H: Introduction to African American Music*
2 sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Description: This course is an overview of the musical practices of African Americans and how this array of musical sounds, performance practices, and modes of dissemination correlate with the evolving consciousness of Blackness. Emphasis is placed on the evolution of Black folk practices into specific forms of popular music and classical (concert) music.

Honors exclusive options:

AMS 180: Perfect World: Imagining the Good Society
CRN: 15565, 3 credit hours
Description: This first-year honors Emerging Questions seminar introduces you to the origins of Utopianism, with a focus on the 20th century and on key cultural texts that captured the era’s hopes in, and anxiety about, the creation of a good society for all. You will engage with readings and films focused on utopian and dystopian societies all semester. This culminating project in this seminar asks you to explain your own vision for a good society. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above.

JRN 101H: Journalism and American Life
CRN: 15549, 3 credit hours
Description: Students in this Miami Plan class explore the role of journalism in American democracy. They consider the social, historic, cultural, and economic contexts shaping the practice of journalism in the United States while also considering the ethics guiding journalistic choices. This is a course that introduces students to journalism as genre as well as practice, providing students a window into the watchdog, mirror, and marketplace function of news media in a democracy.

PHL 131H: Introduction to Ethics
CRN: 15567, 3 credit hours
Description: Introduces students to, and cultivates, ethical reasoning. The course will foster students' capacity to recognize ethical issues and situations, to understand different ethical perspectives and concepts, and to engage in ethical deliberation. Students will have opportunities to analyze concrete situations and human conduct in relation to ethical principles, ideas, and frameworks and thereby to reflect more deeply on their own values and on the social context of ethical obligations and ethical dilemmas. Course topics may include the nature of our responsibilities to ourselves and to others, confrontations between the rights of an individual and those of society, and consideration of what it means to lead a good life. The course aims to enrich students' ability to see themselves as ethical actors in the world.

PHL 180: Who am I and Who are We?
CRN: 15568, 3 credit hours
Description: How well do you understand your own values and commitments? Do you understand the sources of your own desires and beliefs? How are you shaped by the past and by situations you inherit, and how are you responsible for shaping the future? This course will focus on questions of identity and agency that emerge in the course of becoming oneself individually and forming communities collectively. We will explore a variety of ideas about self, self-knowledge, self-determination, and the limits to self-understanding and self-mastery. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above.

REL 180: What is the Good Life?
CRN: 15599, 3 credit hours
Description: What does a good life look like and how can I lead such a life? We’ll work together to think deeply about this interdisciplinary question. We’ll draw on ecology, self-cultivation practices, and religious studies to analyze the role of nature, contemplative practices, and visions of the self in harmony with the universe in cultivating a good life. This class has a strong experiential component that allows students to engage in meditation, breath work, forest walks, etc. as possible practices that support a good life. In the class’s semester-long project, groups will create their own time capsules of “best practices” for living a good life in the year 2025. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above.

Contract course options:

CHI 261H: Forbidden Romance*
CRN: 15573, 3 credit hours
Description: This course introduces undergraduate students to “forbidden romance” in modern China through surveying literary works and films that describe illicit love, desire, and sexuality in China during the 20th and 21st centuries. The course analyzes various crucial issues such as gender, class, ethnicity, and ideology and it provides students with a global consciousness to better understand the multi-faceted modern world. Taught in English.

FRE 131H: Masterpieces of French Literature in Translation*
CRN: 14533, 3 credit hours
Description: Accessible introduction to French culture through the study of selected examples of significant works in literature and arts (understood in a broad sense). Works are examined in their social, historical, and ideological contexts and cover the period from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century. All readings in English translation.

FST 201H: Film History and Analysis*
CRN: 16008, 3 credit hours
Description: Introduction to basic principles of cinematic form and to major movements and issues in the history of cinema. Primary emphasis given to principal methods of critical thinking in film studies, from close analysis of formal and stylistic elements in a single film to more global ways of understanding and interpreting films within their aesthetic, social, historical, and political contexts. Includes screenings of representative films, lectures, discussions, group activities, papers, and exams. Note: One of the class meeting times is to screen movies for discussion. 

HST 198H: World History Since 1500*
CRN: 16044, 3 credit hours
Description: Provides global perspective as well as introduction into history of individual civilizations. Stresses interrelations with societies and cultures and compares experiences of peoples and civilizations with one another.

RUS 137H: Magic & Power in Russian Folklore*
CRN: 15597, 3 credit hours
Description: Introduction to Russian folklore, including study of the folk tale, charms and incantations, ceremonial poetry connected with the calendar, jokes, proverbs, folk ditties, wedding ceremonies, funeral customs, modern gestures, and graffiti. Some discussion devoted to Slavic pre-Christian society and survivals of pagan customs in the Christian era. Considerable treatment of comparative folklore worldwide. Taught in English.

SPN 315H: Intro to Hispanic Cultures*
CRN: 14699, 3 credit hours
Description: Close reading and critical analysis of selected cultural manifestations from Spain and Latin America.
Note: Credit for SPN 311 required.

Honors exclusive option:

ATH 185H: Cultural Diversity in the US
CRN: 15770, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Anthropological and ethnographic approaches to the study of cultural, social, and linguistic variation in the United States, its territories, and borderlands. As an introduction to cultural anthropology, the course provides a foundation for understanding historical and contemporary contexts related to globalization and diaspora; ethnic, racial, and class identities; political economy and environment; belief systems; and ethnographic methodology.

Contract honors course options:

ART 188H: Art & Society: Renaissance to Modern*
CRN: 14173, 3 credit hours
Description: Honors contract course. Course covers roles played by the visual arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, etc.) in societies from the Renaissance (ca. 1300 CE) to the present day. Students will understand how the visual arts facilitate religious devotion; define group and individual identities; offer new ways to value the artistic creativity; and other functions that reveal how the visual arts across history shape, reflect, and are informed by societies different from our own.

GER 252H: The German-Jewish Experience*
CRN: 14794, 3 credit hours
Description: Discusses readings of and about major Jewish figures in the German-speaking world. Frames historical background. Discover constants and changes over time. Assesses terms for analyzing culture. In English.

MUS 285H: Introduction to African American Music*
2 sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description: This course is an overview of the musical practices of African Americans and how this array of musical sounds, performance practices, and modes of dissemination correlate with the evolving consciousness of Blackness. Emphasis is placed on the evolution of Black folk practices into specific forms of popular music and classical (concert) music.

RUS 137H: Magic & Power in Russian Folklore*
CRN: 15597, 3 credit hours
Description: Introduction to Russian folklore, including study of the folk tale, charms and incantations, ceremonial poetry connected with the calendar, jokes, proverbs, folk ditties, wedding ceremonies, funeral customs, modern gestures, and graffiti. Some discussion devoted to Slavic pre-Christian society and survivals of pagan customs in the Christian era. Considerable treatment of comparative folklore worldwide. Taught in English.

RUS 255H: Love and Death in Russia*
CRN: 14781, 3 credit hours
Description: Love and Death in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature. Examines works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, and Dostoevsky and a number of critical essays representative of a variety of viewpoints. Uses interdisciplinary approach that takes into account social, historical, political, religious, as well as literary factors. Taught in English.

SPN 311H: Modern Communication and Culture*
CRN: 16320, 3 Credit Hours
Course description: Enhance speaking and writing skills in a context-driven, topic-based approach. Targeting Intermediate-mid proficiency, the course explores relevant vocabulary, form-meaning connections, and cultural insights in the Spanish-speaking world. Rooted in proficiency guidelines, students actively use Spanish for communication, cultural respect, identity reflection, and analyzing equity and social justice. A proficiency-oriented course fostering language growth and cultural awareness.
Note: Spanish placement in 311 or credit for SPN 202 required. 

Honors exclusive options:

ATH 175H: Global Cultural Diversity
CRN: 15438, 3 Credit Hours
Course Description:Provides an appreciation of human cultural, social, and linguistic variation around the world and through time. Develops anthropological and ethnographic approaches to understanding cultural differences and similarities in political, social and economic organization; marriage and family patterns; environment and beliefs systems; and other aspects of globalized human cultural life.

POL 221H: Comparative Politics
CRN: 15698, 3 credit hours
Description: Comparative introduction to the development, governmental structures, and political processes of societies in modern world. Case studies used to relate theories to actual problems and governing strategies in contemporary political systems.

Contract course options:

CEC 266H: Globalization and Engineering in Heavy Metal Music*
CRN: 16073, 3 Credit Hours
Description: This course addresses the linkages among heavy metal music, global culture and engineering developments. Heavy metal is a truly global popular music with major impacts from Europe, Asia, the Americas and beyond. Advances in various technologies have extensively influenced heavy metal, enabling some of its most defining characteristics. This course explores the interplays of technology, music and culture by integrating the powerful history of metal with an overview of the engineering impacts. Students will engage in demonstrations and discussions of the musical breadth along with the engineering technologies. Honors students will work in groups to build an electric guitar. Non-CEC majors welcome.

FRE 131H: Masterpieces of French Literature in Translation*
CRN: 14533, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Accessible introduction to French culture through the study of selected examples of significant works in literature and the arts (understood in a broad sense). Works are examined in their social, historical, and ideological contexts and cover the period from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century. All readings in English translation.

HST 198H: World History Since 1500*
CRN: 1604, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Provides global perspective as well as introduction into history of individual civilizations. Stresses interrelations among societies and cultures and compares experiences of peoples and civilizations with one another.

MUS 186H: Global Playlists*
CRN: 15688, 3 credit hours
Description: This course is a survey of popular music throughout the world. Through the study of specific cultures and repertories, students will explore and engage in popular music in various cultural contexts in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The goal is to give students a broad understanding of what exactly is popular music, how it can be defined, and the differences and similarities amongst diverse popular music traditions.

RUS 254H: Intro Russian & Eurasian Studies*
CRN: 15998, 3 credit hours
Description: Examines the major developments that have shaped Russian and Eurasian culture, society and politics over the last millennium. The course incorporates perspectives from the social sciences, humanities, and the fine arts. Taught in English. Honors students will participate in a Diplomacy Lab research project in collaboration with the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa. Students will get to visit the Office of Religious Freedom at the State Department.

NOTE: Signature Inquiry courses can overlap (i.e. "double dip") with the Perspectives Areas requirement for the Miami Plan. Meaning, if a course is approved for a Perspectives Area and Signature Inquiry, the course can fulfill two requirements of the Miami Plan. Each course below indicates if it also fulfills a PA.

Honors exclusive options:

AMS 180: Perfect World: Imagining the Good Society
CRN: 15565, 3 credit hours
Description: Emerging questions first year seminar. The question of what a good society would look like is very old. This first-year honors Emerging Questions seminar introduces you to the origins of Utopianism, with a focus on the 20th century and on key cultural texts that captured the era’s hopes in, and anxiety about, the creation of a good society for all. You will engage with readings and films focused on utopian and dystopian societies all semester. This culminating project in this seminar asks you to explain your own vision for a good society. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above. Approved for PA-3B Humanities as well.

ATH 185H: Cultural Diversity in the US
CRN 15770, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Anthropological and ethnographic approaches to the study of cultural, social, and linguistic variation in the United States, its territories, and borderlands. As an introduction to cultural anthropology, the course provides a foundation for understanding historical and contemporary contexts related to globalization and diaspora; ethnic, racial, and class identities; political economy and environment; belief systems; and ethnographic methodology. Approved for PA-4A Ethical Citizenship as well.

CCA 111H: Creativity & Design Thinking
2 sections with different meeting times, 3 Credit Hours
Description: This course is intended to enhance creativity, innovation, and design thinking skills of students transferrable to disciplines beyond this course. We will explore how the Design Thinking process influences the evolution of a user-centered design problem and explore the interrelationship of creativity, design, and innovation in problem solving. Learning the roles and processes of innovation and design thinking will be central to this exploration. Team work, problem-solving and leadership skills will also be addressed, and students will both self-author and collaboratively author original concepts. Approved for PA-3A Creative Arts as well.

ENG 180: How Do the Arts Shape Culture?
CRN: 16166, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Our world is saturated with representations. From memes on social media, to ground-breaking films, to the latest drop by a vocal artist, the visual and performing arts are everywhere. Thinkers harkening back to Plato have reflected upon how to represent themes that are crucial to our democracy. Indeed, as cultures evolve, so too have various approaches to artistic and creative practice. But the question is: how do literature and the performing arts shape culture? Should art (think largely here about literature, film, art, music, architecture, dance, etc.) imitate life in a faithful way? How do we understand when something is misrepresented? What kind of rhetorical strategies are used by writers and artists? This Honors Questions seminar takes up questions such as these while also reading key thinkers and artists who have made important insights. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above. Approved for PA-1C Advanced Writing as well.

HST 180: Road Trip?
CRN: 15693, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Students go on a journey to investigate the appeal, the history, and the future of the road-trip tradition. This class uses the broader historical background of travel writing to interrogate the enduring allure of the “Great American Road Trip.” Topics include exploration, migration, countercultures, and mobility. Discussions of films, memoirs, and novels from the past will form the basis of an independent work at semester's end. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above. Approved for PA-1C Advanced Writing as well.

JRN 101H: Journalism and American Life
CRN: 15549, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Students in this Miami Plan class explore the role of journalism in American democracy. They consider the social, historic, cultural, and economic contexts shaping the practice of journalism in the United States while also considering the ethics guiding journalistic choices. This is a course that introduces students to journalism as genre as well as practice, providing students a window into the watchdog, mirror, and marketplace functions of news media in a democracy. Approved for PA-3B Humanities as well.

PHL 131H: Introduction to Ethics
CRN: 15567, 3 credit hours
Description: Introduces students to, and cultivates, ethical reasoning. The course will foster students' capacity to recognize ethical issues and situations, to understand different ethical perspectives and concepts, and to engage in ethical deliberation. Students will have opportunities to analyze concrete situations and human conduct in relation to ethical principles, ideas, and frameworks and thereby to reflect more deeply on their own values and on the social context of ethical obligations and ethical dilemmas. Course topics may include the nature of our responsibilities to ourselves and to others, confrontations between the rights of an individual and those of society, and consideration of what it means to lead a good life. The course aims to enrich students' ability to see themselves as ethical actors in the world. Approved for PA-3B Humanities as well.

PHL 180: Who am I and Who are We?
CRN: 15568, 3 credit hours
Description: How well do you understand your own values and commitments? Do you understand the sources of your own desires and beliefs? How are you shaped by the past and by situations you inherit, and how are you responsible for shaping the future? This course will focus on questions of identity and agency that emerge in the course of becoming oneself individually and forming communities collectively. We will explore a variety of ideas about self, self-knowledge, self-determination, and the limits to self-understanding and self-mastery. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above. Approved for PA-3B Humanities as well.

REL 180: What is the Good Life?
CRN: 15599, 3 credit hours
Description: What does a good life look like and how can I lead such a life? We’ll work together to think deeply about this interdisciplinary question. We’ll draw on ecology, self-cultivation practices, and religious studies to analyze the role of nature, contemplative practices, and visions of the self in harmony with the universe in cultivating a good life. This class has a strong experiential component that allows students to engage in meditation, breath work, forest walks, etc. as possible practices that support a good life. In the class’s semester-long project, groups will create their own time capsules of “best practices” for living a good life in the year 2025. See more details in the Emerging Questions section above. Approved for PA-3B Humanities as well.

 

Contract course options:

CEC 111H: Imagination, Ingenuity and Impact I*
Multiple sections with different meeting times, 2 Credit Hours
Description: This course is for first-year students interested in exploring engineering and computing. Students engage in hands-on, interdisciplinary design that addresses societal and environmental challenges. Students work in teams to design innovative solutions and develop communications skills. The course facilitates student transition to college by introducing key information, resources, and skills needed to succeed. It addresses issues including information literacy, academic integrity, personal responsibility and career development; and identifies key campus resources to enhance academic success.

CEC 266H: Globalization and Engineering in Heavy Metal Music*
CRN: 16073, 3 Credit Hours
Description: This course addresses the linkages among heavy metal music, global culture and engineering developments. Heavy metal is a truly global popular music with major impacts from Europe, Asia, the Americas and beyond. Advances in various technologies have extensively influenced heavy metal, enabling some of its most defining characteristics. This course explores the interplays of technology, music and culture by integrating the powerful history of metal with an overview of the engineering impacts. Students will engage in demonstrations and discussions of the musical breadth along with the engineering technologies. Honors students will work in groups to build an electric guitar. Non-CEC majors welcome. Approved for PA-4C Global Inquiry as well.

MTH 135H: Math for Science Applications*
CRN: 13911, 3 credit hours
Description: Taught at the precalculus level, the course focuses on concepts and examples from chemistry, physics, and biology to give students practice with problems they will encounter in natural science courses. Being multidisciplinary by nature, the course prepares students knowledge and skills to tackle real-world problems and for analysis of global issues such as climate and temperature changes, spread of infectious diseases, and drinking water availability. Enhanced with MCAT practice problems, the course also gives additional motivation for students interested in premedical studies. Approved for PA-1A Math, Formal Reasoning as well.
Note: Discuss your math placement with your divisional advisor.

MUS 186H: Global Playlists*
CRN: 15688, 3 credit hours
Description: This course is a survey of popular music throughout the world. Through the study of specific cultures and repertories, students will explore and engage in popular music in various cultural contexts in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The goal is to give students a broad understanding of what exactly is popular music, how it can be defined, and the differences and similarities amongst diverse popular music traditions. Approved for PA-4C Global Inquiry as well.

SPN 311H: Modern Communication and Culture*
CRN: 16320, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Enhance speaking and writing skills in a context-driven, topic-based approach. Targeting Intermediate-mid proficiency, the course explores relevant vocabulary, form-meaning connections, and cultural insights in the Spanish-speaking world. Rooted in proficiency guidelines, students actively use Spanish for communication, cultural respect, identity reflection, and analyzing equity and social justice. A proficiency-oriented course fostering language growth and cultural awareness. Approved for PA-4B Intercult'l Consciousness as well.
Note: Spanish placement in 311 or credit for SPN 202 required. 

FRE 301H: Culture & Interpretation*
CRN: 14534, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Gateway to upper-level offerings in French. Organized around a theme developed by each professor (for example: modernity, desire, revolution, or voyages), this class initiates students into the work of original analysis and creative interpretation. The course will include works from a variety of media, voices, and historical moments, from films to comics, speeches to sonnets, Paris to Algiers, Versailles to the street. Students will explore the relationships between literature and culture while gaining exposure to a range of approaches to, and theories of, reading. Students will hone their ability to present their ideas in writing.Taught in French.
Note: Prerequisite: FRE 202, or placement through Miami's French language placement exam.

RUS 101H: Beginners Russian*
Two sections taught at different times, 4 credit hours
Description:  Essentials of Russian language including rudiments of grammar, acquisition of a simple vocabulary, practice in reading and conversation, and simple written exercises.
Note: No experience with Russian Language required.

RUS 201H: Intermediate Russian*
CRN: 14279, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Conversation, vocabulary building, readings, composition, grammar.
Note: Placement in RUS 201 or credit for RUS 102 required.

SPN 311H: Modern Communication and Culture*
CRN: 16320, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Enhance speaking and writing skills in a context-driven, topic-based approach. Targeting Intermediate-mid proficiency, the course explores relevant vocabulary, form-meaning connections, and cultural insights in the Spanish-speaking world. Rooted in proficiency guidelines, students actively use Spanish for communication, cultural respect, identity reflection, and analyzing equity and social justice. A proficiency-oriented course fostering language growth and cultural awareness.
Note: Spanish placement in 311 or credit for SPN 202 required. 

SPN 315H: Intro to Hispanic Literatures*
CRN: 14699, 3 Credit Hours
Description: Close reading and critical analysis of selected poetry, essay, narrative fiction, and drama from Spain and Latin America.
Note: Credit for SPN 311 required.