Fall 2026 Honors First Year Seminars & Launches

MWF, 11:15 am – 12:05 pm. Instructor(s): Tim Marr. Enrollment = 24.
This course explores birth and death as essential human rites of passage impacted by changing American historical and cultural contexts. Since both remain defining life events beyond experiential recall, studying them in interdisciplinary ways opens powerful insights into how culture mediates the construction of bodies and social identities. Readings and assignments are designed to explore changing anthropological rituals, medical procedures, scientific technologies, and ethical quandaries. Students will choose the topics for research projects and learn how to access useful resources. We will investigate questions about when life begins and ends, explore different ways of a conceiving and disposing bodies and remembering individuals, and consider how a confrontation with the impermanence of life leads to the creation of meaning, especially for students being figuratively born again as learners at UNC.

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ONLY.

Timothy Marr is Professor in the Department of American Studies, where since 2000 he has taught interdisciplinary course such as those on mating and marriage, captivity, cultural memory, and tobacco. His research interests include the life and works of Herman Melville and American approaches to Islam and Muslims.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm . Instructor(s): Tania String. Enrollment = 20.
What did it mean to be a man or to be a woman in the Renaissance? This seminar will explore the ways in which constructions of gender are critical to understandings of the visual arts in the early modern period (c. 1400-1650). We will discuss and analyze a focused group of representations of men and women: portraits, mythological and biblical paintings and sculptures, and even turn our attention to the buildings these men and women inhabited. We will study the work of artists such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Titian, Holbein, and Rubens, amongst others, to find ways of understanding how masculinity and femininity were central concerns in early modern society and in the art produced in this period.

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ONLY.

Dr. Tania String is an art historian specializing in the art of the Tudor period in England, and the Renaissance more broadly. She is the author of numerous books and articles on the portraits of Henry VIII and on Renaissance masculinity. Before coming to UNC in 2010 she taught in England at the University of Bristol.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Mark Peifer. Enrollment = 24.
In this course we will examine the biology of infectious disease and challenges of treating it in the developing world, and also explore the root causes of global health care inequity.

Mark Peifer is the Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor of Biology at UNC, where he and his lab study how the animal body is assembled during embryonic development, using genetic and cell biological tools.  He was raised in Minnesota and is a first generation college student.  His interest in global public health was stimulated by a desire to help students take a closer look at the world around them, and by the experiences he has had with the people of Haiti.  He and his spouse live in the woods west of town, and his two daughters are both UNC grads, one a social worker and one a teacher in second grade.  He believes diversity, equity and inclusion are core American values.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Prasun Dewan. Enrollment = 24.
In 1987, Nobel laureate Robert Solow famously observed the information technology paradox: “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.” When applied to education, this paradox raises even more questions about technology’s true impact on learning. A particularly relevant question is reflected in the title of a recent 2023 study: “From ‘Ban It Till We Understand It’ to ‘Resistance is Futile’: How University Programming Instructors Plan to Adapt as More Students Use AI Code Generation and Explanation Tools such as ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot.”

This freshman seminar invites students to explore the evolving role of technology in education through a series of hands-on experiments. Through these experiments, students will engage with cutting-edge AI and non-AI technologies while receiving a carefully balanced mix of peer and instructor feedback. This feedback serves as a key measure of the effectiveness of the technology itself.
Beyond the experiments, students will gain a preview of foundational concepts in data and computer science, offering insight into potential future coursework. No prior experience in these fields is required, ensuring an inclusive and level starting point for all participants.
Students will be evaluated based both on content mastery and their reflections on the technologies they used based on evidence they collect on the usage of these technologies throughout the semester. Their final “exam” will be a 5-minute talk that critically assess both the benefits and limitations of the technologies they encountered in the learning and teaching process, providing a thoughtful, evidence-based, analysis of technology’s evolving role in education.

The reflections component thus qualifies the course as a Research Methods (RM) Course, as students systematically collect and analyze data about their own use of technology and present well-supported conclusions about the effectiveness and limitations of these technologies in educational contexts.

Prasun Dewan is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before joining UNC-Chapel Hill, he was on the faculty of Purdue University. He received a B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology of New Delhi and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Wisconsin at Madison.
His research interests are in technology for implementing and extending collaborative systems (e.g. Zoom and Google Docs), programming environments (e.g. Eclipse, Jupyter, Bash), and educational technology (e.g. Piazza). He has recently started exploring tools and techniques that use AI and testing technology to improve teaching. with an emphasis on courses on parallel and distributed computing.
He has been an associate editor of ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction, ACM Transactions on Information Systems, and Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work.
He has designed and taught UNC courses on introductory programming, foundations of programming, programming languages, undergraduate and graduate distributed systems, undergraduate/graduate distributed collaboration, and gradate operating systems.
On a personal note, the vegetable he hates the most and the sport he loves the most have the same name!

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm; Recitation: F, 2:30 pm – 3:20 pm. Instructor(s): Robert McDonough. Enrollment = 32.
Introduction to Economics (Economics 101H) is the Honors section of the introductory course in Economics. The Honors section covers the same material as the large enrollment version but does so in more depth through discussion of real-life questions and the use of economic models. The course is an introduction to both micro and macroeconomics. In this one-semester course students are introduced to fundamental issues in economics including competition, scarcity, opportunity cost, resource allocation, unemployment, inflation, and the determination of prices. This course is the gateway course for the major of Economics; if you wish to major in Economics, you must have at least a C in this course.

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ONLY.

Robert McDonough is a labor economist, with research interests in the economics of education and the economics of crime and policing. His most recent work focuses on understanding what researchers can learn from student grades and grade point averages, and how workers make overtime choices with respect to their chance of being injured on the job.

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Drew Coleman. Enrollment = 20.
Have you ever wanted to stand on a volcano, see a glacier, trace out an earthquake fault, or see the Earth’s oldest living things? This seminar is designed around a one-week field trip to eastern California, where students will study geologic features including active volcanoes, earthquake-producing faults, and evidence for recent glaciation and extreme climate change. Before the field trip (that will take place the week of Fall Break and be based at a research station near Bishop, California), the class will meet twice a week to learn basic geologic principles and to work on developing field research topics. During the field trip students will work on field exercises (e.g., mapping, measuring, and describing an active fault; observing and recording glacial features) and collect data for the research projects. After the field trip, students will obtain laboratory data from samples collected during the trip and test research hypotheses using field and laboratory data. Grading will be based on presentation of group research projects, and on a variety of small projects during the trip (notebook descriptions, mapping projects, etc.). Students may be required to pay some of the costs of the trip (typically, about $500.) This course will require missing three days of classes. The course is designed to teach basic geology “on the rocks”, so there are no prerequisites. Link to Yosemite Nature Notes video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5RQp77uVPA

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ONLY.

Drew Coleman’s research focuses on understanding how the Earth works by determining the rates of processes (mountain building, extinction, volcanism, etc.) that occurred in the past. To accomplish this he and his students date rocks. His teaching is inquiry based and he is most happy when he is teaching “hands on” in the field or lab.

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Matthew Taylor. Enrollment = 24.
What will our world look like in ten years? Fifty? One hundred? Will the future be a utopian paradise or a dystopian wasteland? Through a wide-ranging survey of popular science writing, novels, and films, this first year seminar will examine fictional and nonfictional attempts to imagine the future from the nineteenth century to the present. We will explore everything from futurology and transhumanism to warnings of imminent environmental collapse. Our focus will be less on assessing the accuracy of these predictions and more on determining what they tell us about the hopes and fears of the times in which they were made. The course will culminate in a short research paper on a future-oriented topic of your choosing.

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ONLY.

My research focuses on the intersections among environmental humanities, critical theory (including posthumanism, biopolitics, science and technology studies, and critical race theory), and nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature. My first book, Universes without Us: Posthuman Cosmologies in American Literature (Univ. of Minnesota Press), examines cosmologies that challenge the utopianism of both past and present attempts at fusing self and environment.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am . Instructor(s): Inger Brodey. Enrollment = 24.
This course will focus on the fiction of Jane Austen and the many film adaptations of her novels. We will read several of her most influential novels along with her teenage “Love and Friendship,” her unfinished last work “Sandition,” and one film adaptation of each novel.

We will take advantage of two 2026 adaptations of Austen’s work (a serialization of Pride and Prejudice and The Other Bennet Sister), as well as a live Jane Austen & Co. online video series on “Austen’s Unsung Characters” (October-December, 2026). We will mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by comparing it to declarations of independence within her novels. Students will have the opportunity to contribute blogs for a public humanities Austen program, enter a national essay or film-making contest, and create their own film interpretation of one of Austen’s opening scenes. There will be a midterm, weekly response essays, a final exam, and a final project. Students will also take turns leading group discussion.

FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS ONLY.

Dr. Brodey was born of Danish parents in Japan, immigrated to the US, and studied in Germany and Japan, before receiving her Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Her primary interests are in the comparative history of the novel and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the novel in Europe and Japan. Her UNC awards include a Spray-Randleigh Faculty Fellowship, a Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, a Johnston Family Teaching Award, and a Faculty Mentoring award, among others. A prominent Jane Austen scholar, her most recent book, Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness (2024), has gained international attention. Check out the Jane Austen Summer Program (www.janeaustensummer.org), Jane Austen and Co.(janeaustenandco.org), Jane Austen’s Desk (http://Janeaustensdesk.org), and The Virtual Feast (virtualfeast.net) for examples of her public humanities outreach.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am . Instructor(s): Jason Mihalik. Enrollment = 24.
How does the brain shape who we are—and how does it fail? In this Honors seminar, we examine the brain as the most sophisticated “computer” known to humanity, exploring how billions of neurons give rise to thought, behavior, emotion, and performance. Students will investigate core principles of brain anatomy and function, neurodevelopment and maturation, decision-making, and neurological disease, with particular attention to real-world issues such as concussion and brain health.

Designed for first-year Honors students from all majors, the course emphasizes active learning and scientific inquiry. Students will analyze primary research articles, design applied brain assessment protocols, engage in collaborative projects, and interact with campus neuroscience scholars. By the end of the semester, students will have developed foundational neuroscience knowledge, strengthened their ability to critically evaluate scientific evidence, and gained insight into how research informs policy, medicine, and everyday life.

Dr. Jason Mihalik is a Professor in Exercise and Sport Science and Director of the Matthew Gfeller Center at UNC–Chapel Hill. For more than 20 years, his research has focused on civilian and military traumatic brain injury (TBI), resulting in over 185 peer-reviewed publications and sustained federal funding. His work has informed rule and policy changes in major sports organizations, shaped state concussion legislation, and supported the development of clinical programs serving Veterans and first responders. In the classroom, Dr. Mihalik enjoys translating complex neuroscience into accessible, real-world applications, helping first-year Honors students understand how research can shape health, performance, and public policy.

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Gabriela Valdivia. Enrollment = 24.
This First Year Seminar (FYS) explores how ideas about nature shape the societies we live in. We’ll compare Indigenous and Western views of nature to deepen our understanding of how value, sovereignty, and sustainability are connected to environmental stewardship.  Through creative projects, oral presentations, group discussions, and research-focused writing, students will explore the ethical and practical questions surrounding preservation, conservation, and resource extraction. By the end of the seminar, students will gain new tools for thinking critically about nature, society, and our shared future.

Gabriela Valdivia is a geography professor and chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies curriculum. She studies environmental justice and environmental change, focusing on how these issues affect Indigenous lives in Latin America, especially in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Gabriela’s research centers questions of land, power, and sustainability. She uses ethnography (learning from people’s lived experiences), participatory mapping, and political-economic analysis to better understand how communities respond to and resist resource extraction projects, particularly oil, mining, and energy, in their everyday lives.  In her teaching, she connects these real-world issues to the classroom, helping students better understand the links between environment and society.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Ana Silva Campo. Enrollment = 24.
This seminar explores early modern witchcraft and magic to introduce students to the ways in which historians think about questions of gender, power, and belief in historical perspective. The seminar will focus on how historians pose problems, collect evidence, and evaluate knowledge about how witchcraft and magic reveal broader tensions in the early modern world.

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ONLY.

Dr. Silva Campo is a historian who specializes in the era of Spanish colonial rule in the region that is now Colombia. She researches questions of religious belief through the archives of the Spanish Inquisition. She enjoys engaging with students through informed discussion of primary and secondary readings and encourages active participation in class. She also teaches courses on Latin American history.

MW, 3:35 pm – 4:50 pm. Instructor(s): Daniel Gitterman. Enrollment = 24.
This seminar will define a policy entrepreneur and examine strategies used by policy entrepreneurs to achieve policy change or innovation in the policy making process. This course also aims to explore ways that public, private, and non-profit sectors collaborate to address problems that cannot be solved by one sector alone. There is growing recognition that sustainable solutions to some of the most complex challenges confronting our communities can benefit from these collaborative or “intersector” approaches.

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ONLY.

Daniel Gitterman is Duncan MacRae ’09 and Rebecca Kyle MacRae Professor of Public Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill. He also serves as Director of the Honors Seminar in Public Policy and Global Affairs (Washington, DC).

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Barbara Ambros. Enrollment = 24.
Course description:  This course explores the many lives of animals in Japanese myth, folklore, religion, and popular culture. We’ll ask why animals have been worshiped as gods, feared as demons, honored in rituals, and transformed into beloved companions in real life, manga, anime, and video games. Along the way, we’ll examine fox spirits and dragons, Buddhist practices of life release and memorialization, Shinto rites of appeasement, and Pokeìmon as modern echoes of older traditions. To frame our study, we’ll turn to ideas from animal studies to think critically about how humans imagine and live with nonhuman beings. By the end of the course, you’ll see Japanese culture—and perhaps animals themselves—in a new light.

Field of specialization: Religions of Asia Research interests: Religions in early modern through contemporary Japan; gender studies; animal studies; place and space; and pilgrimage.
Fun fact: she holds a fourth-degree black belt in Shotokan karate and serves as the faculty advisor for the UNC Shotokan Club.