Honors Program

This course acquaints students with skills and practices relating to human communication in a variety of contexts, including interpersonal relationships, mediated communication, small group interactions, and public presentations. Instructional strategies used in the course include lecture, discussions, group activities, and oral presentations. This course fulfills the Communication Competency requirement as specified in the Core Curriculum. Students taking this course should not take COMM 111 Speech.

An introduction to the Southwestern Honors Program. The course will examine the role of knowledge, faith, and service in the life of the educated Christian. The course will include a service project. Required in the freshman or sophomore year for all Southwestern Honors students.

This course provides a detailed study of American history from Reconstruction to the present, charting the United States' rise from a frontier nation to a world power. The course covers the turbulent days of post-Civil War Reconstruction and the settlement of the west, booming industrialism, Populism and Progressivism, the United States in World Wars I & II, the Cold War, and the distrust of the post-Watergate era. Students will become acquainted with trends in American historiography and practice the skills of historical interpretation and writing. This course partially satisfies general education requirements for history. Students taking this course should not take HIST 112, United States History from 1865.

A study of key issues, events, and transformations that form the basis for pre-modern world civilizations and established the foundations for early modern and modern world history, including the Agricultural Revolution, the development of Hebrew monotheism, classical Greek social ideas, ancient China and India, the rise and fall of the Roman empire, early empires in the Americas, and medieval Europe. This course partially satisfies general education requirements for history. Students taking this course should not take HIST 225, World Civilizations I.

A course emphasizing a particular topic approached through travel and on-site visits to historical, cultural, and artistic locations associated with the specified topic. Topics may vary. Depending on the topic, the class may be applied to a specific general education requirement, or, if applicable, to a specific academic department requirement. The student may take a combination of HNRS 275 and/or 375 for up to a total of 6 hours if the topics vary.

Designed for the student who wishes to do independent study or research or for the teaching of a course not routinely offered. Content and method of study must be arranged prior to registration. May be repeated for a total of 3 credits.

Provides academic departments an opportunity to offer courses in specialized or experimental areas, either lower or upper division, not listed in the undergraduate Bulletin. May be repeated for a total of 3 credits.

In this course, the honors student will prepare the honors thesis proposal and an annotated bibliography.  Discussion will focus on research methods and professional development. 

History of Political Thought is a study of political thinking and key political philosophers in history, particularly those that have most profoundly influenced the political culture and institutions of our own continent.  It is an introductory survey of political ideas, addressing perennial issues of human society, leadership, power, rights, and government.

Also taught as HIST 315 and POLS 315.

The course explores major world views and religious traditions, beliefs, and practices. Each religion will be examined with regard to basic human problems along with proposed solutions. From a Christian perspective, this class seeks to discover common ground and challenges between these major world religions and to encourage respect for diverse beliefs and practices. This course requires research and writing a major paper (Also taught as RELT 325). This course partially satisfies general education requirements for religion.

Environmental science is a discipline that encompasses learning in the sciences, and touches on human development, governance and policy, and ethics. This course will provide the student with the tools to think critically about the environment and how human decisions and activities influence the quality of our lives and the other creatures we share the earth with. We will engage in lecture, discussion, debate and group projects concerning the impact of environmental problems, such as waste management, climate change, water issues, biodiversity, air pollution, human population, and resource use by society. We will also focus on local problems concerning our environment. This course is designed to meet the General Education Life Science requirement (Also taught as BIOL 345).

A survey of the general history and development of the Christian liturgy, with a special focus on the unique development of the Adventist liturgy. the course will examine the roles that music, art, theology, and culture play in Christian worship. The course will include recordings, visuals, lectures, and field trips (Also taught as MUHL 355). This course satisfies the general education requirement for fine arts or partially satisfies general education requirements for religion.

A course emphasizing a particular topic approached through travel and on-site visits to historical, cultural, and artistic locations outside of North America associated with the specified topic. In addition, the student will submit a research project as directed by the instructor. Topics may vary. Depending on the topic, the class may be applied to a specific general education requirement, or, if applicable, to a specific academic department requirement. The student may take a combination of HNRS 375 for up to a total of 6 hours if the topics vary.

A course emphasizing a particular topic approached through travel and on-site visits to historical, cultural, and artistic locations in North America associated with the specified topic. In addition, the student will submit a research project as directed by the instructor. Topics may vary. Depending on the topic, the classs may be applied to a specific general education requirement, or, if applicable, to a specified department requirement. The student may repeat HNRS 376 for a total of 6 hours if the topics vary.

Through directed readings and scholarship, the honors student begins the honors thesis.

The Honors student completes the research and writing of the honors thesis under the direction of the honors director and an academic department faculty mentor. Coursework includes a major seminar presentation.

A study of the philosophies and methodologies of science. The course includes a review of the history of scientific and religious thought, with particular attention given to the role each has played in the development of modern theories of origin. This class satisfies the general education requirement for an upper-division religion class (Also taught as BIOL, GEOL or RELT 419). This course partially satisfies the general education requirement for religion for non-biology majors. Biology majors may take this course to satisfy their major requirements as well as their Honors requirements.

Designed for the student who wishes to do independent study or research or for the teaching of a course not routinely offered. Content and method of study must be arranged prior to registration. May be repeated for a total of 3 credits.

Provides academic departments an opportunity to offer courses in specialized or experimental areas, either lower or upper division, not listed in the undergraduate Bulletin.  Student may be allowed to repeat the course for credit.