Spring 2026 Honors Courses

TR, 9:30 am – 10: 45 am. Instructor(s): Carol Magee. Enrollment = 24.
When and how do you encounter visual images? When and where do you look at art? Are you aware of your body when you do so? In what ways? How do you move? What sounds are you aware of? How do you sit, stand, hold your phone, look at your computer, flip through your social media accounts? How do you move through a museum to look at a work of art? How does that impact your experience of that artwork? Does the space of the museum itself impact your experience? How do you stand or sit when you arrive at what you want to see? How do, or should, you account for these things when you are interpreting the work? Conventionally, art historical interpretation is grounded in what we see in a work of art, and how what we see connects to what we know about the world. Indeed, the work of art history is the telling of stories about meaning in artworks. This work is built upon the interconnections of what is visually evident in the artwork, conversations (with artists, collectors, archivists), interpretation (of documents, records, historical accounts, etc.), analysis and synthesis of these materials, and revelation (of previously unknown or long forgotten facts, new insights, new artworks). Yet all of these activities involve more than looking; they are happening in environments through which we move, that have sounds and smells, or we are interacting with documents that feel certain ways to us. How do those things influence the way we understand the knowledge we are gaining, the stories we are compiling? In short, how does one register movement and the senses in the processes of interpreting art? We will investigate these questions in this class. To help refine the answers to these questions we will examine a variety of art forms, the content (meaning) and context (for production and consumption). To enhance this, I will incorporate Feldenkrais Lessons in Somatic Education®; these movement lessons heighten self-awareness, and like art, ask us to consider our orientation to the world.  I employ an interdisciplinary approach to art history and will ask you to read and think  broadly in this course. Therefore, although we will be examining these questions in the context of art and art history, you will be asked to move through your own specific worlds, apply what you are learning to your own disciplinary knowledge and bring your own expertise, experiences, and local contexts to bear on our conversations.

Carol Magee is a specialist in the history of African visual culture with an emphasis on photography. Dr. Magee’s teaching and research emphasizes the vital role that movement plays in our lives; to this end her current research theorizes the interpretation of lens-based and sound art as it aligns with the theories and practices of the Feldenkrais Method®. As with all her projects, she asks questions about how encounters with visual culture shape experiences of lives, about how knowledge is generated, and who is involved in the production of that knowledge.

 

MW, 11:15 am – 2:00 pm. Instructor(s): Martin Wannam. Enrollment = 15.
In ARTS 105H Basic Photography you will be introduced to the basic techniques of digital photography. Both technical and conceptual applications of image-making will be explored. This course seeks to develop an understanding of the mechanics, visual language, and history of the photographic medium. Specifically, we will work with digital photographic practices, learning the fundamentals of DSLR cameras, Adobe editing software such as Photoshop and Bridge, inkjet printing, and basic digital workflow and file management. In conjunction with your studio practice, you will also learn about the medium’s rich history.

Assignments will be supplemented with readings, films, library, and museum visits. Over the course of the semester, you will be exposed to a variety of examples of historical and contemporary photography. In the classroom you will be exposed to technical demonstrations, lectures, discussions, critiques, video screenings, and field/museum trips. Outside class, you will work on your photo projects, reading and writing assignments, a research-based artist presentation as well as weekly class blog postings about photographic work by other practitioners. As this is an honors class you will have a bigger work load and more rigorous assignments.

 

Martín Wannam (b. 1992, Guatemala) is visual artist and educator whose work offers a critical exploration of his homeland’s historical, social, and political landscape within a cuir viewpoint. With an equatorial perspective that intersects brownness and wildness, Wannam’s iconoclastic and maximalist approach challenges mainstream narratives through photography, sculpture, and performance art. His multidisciplinary practice examines the impacts of immigration, systemic structures, utopian ideals, and family on both individual and collective levels. Wannam’s dissident perspectives and commitment to freedom dreaming for the cuir individual are deeply rooted in his Guatemalan heritage.

He earned an MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico, a Diploma in Contemporary Photography from La Fototeca, Guatemala, and a BA in Graphic Design from Universidad Rafael Landivar. His work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally, including at The Latinxs Project at NYU, Roots & Culture Contemporary Art Center (Chicago), El Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (Panama), Houston Art League, Project Row House (TX), and the XXIII & XXIV Bienal de Arte Paiz in Guatemala City. He has also showcased his artworks at Photo Pride & Rotterdam Photo in the Netherlands. The residencies he attended include MASS MoCA in North Adams, The Santa Fe Art Institute in NM, Vermont Studio Center and Radicle Residency at Basement in Chapel Hill, among others.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Michael Tsin. Enrollment = 4.

In the last few years there have been many reports on how Maoism is making a comeback in China, an assertion that often draws on a rather crude comparison between the country’s founding leader, Mao Zedong, and its current president, Xi Jinping. Yet, at the same time, commentators are also often quick to emphasize that in many ways the China of today is virtually unrecognizable from the country once ruled by Mao. Indeed, it is common to portray the early years of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) – from 1949 to the late 1970s – as a period characterized by disastrous policies and China’s isolation from the rest of the world. China only became a major player on the world stage, we are often told, when it rejoined the global order from the “reform era” of the 1980s onwards. From that perspective, then, contemporary China is a clear departure from its Maoist predecessor. How are we to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory portrayals of China nowadays?
This class will examine in some detail the histories of those foundational years of the People’s Republic under Mao, assess both the regime’s achievements and setbacks, and explore how those decades of work paved the way for China’s “rise” in more recent times. It will draw our attention to the fact that, its opposition to the United States (and later the Soviet Union) notwithstanding, China under Mao Zedong was a global force in its own right, seeking, often successfully, to challenge, shape and influence the organizational structure of the “world” in many different corners of the globe. Equally important, despite the current Chinese regime’s selective representations of the country’s past, the legacy of Maoist China continues to cast its considerable shadow in myriad ways over the country.
In short, for all the breathtaking transformations of the last two generations, the relationship between Maoist and contemporary China is complicated and nuanced: It is neither a simple case of Xi emulating or returning China to Maoist politics, nor does contemporary China represent a clear rupture from its Maoist past. Understanding Maoist China is hence an indispensable tool if one wants to fully grasp the current predicament and the prospects of the People’s Republic in the twenty-first century.

CROSSLISTED W/ HIST 283H

NO INSTRUCTOR BIO ON FILE

TR, 9:30 am – 10: 45 am. Instructor(s): Pamela Lothspeich. Enrollment = 8.
The Partition of India in 1947 was an incredibly tumultuous event, characterized by unprecedented mass migration, upheaval and violence. This event, precipitated by a hasty decision on the part of the deposed British, to carve Pakistan out of India, still has huge consequences in the region. Course materials will include works of fiction, first-person accounts, essays by nationalist leaders, and historical writings, as well as films and documentaries. Readings and films represent a range of experiences by people of different religious communities, regions, and language groups. Their stories illustrate not only the physical violence and economic toll of Partition, but also the psychological and emotional effects on the people who lived through it. To conclude, we will reflect upon how Partition still affects regional geopolitics and contributes to communal tensions today.

CROSSLISTED W PWAD 331H & HIST 335H.

Pamela Lothspeich (she/her) is Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Director of the Carolina Asia Center. She teaches courses on South Asian literature, culture, theatre, and film, and enjoys learning with and mentoring students at Carolina. Her research focuses on modern adaptations of the Indian epics in various forms. Prof. Lothspeich is the author of The Radheshyam Ramayan in Text and Performance (2025) and Epic Nation: Reimagining the Mahabharata in the Age of Empire (2009), editor of The Epic World (2024), and co-editor, with Harshita Mruthinti Kamath, of Mimetic Desires: Impersonation and Guising across South Asia (2022). She is an avid rose gardener, soap maker, and potter in her non-academic life.

MWF, 9:05 am – 9:55 am. Instructor(s): Jordan Claytor. Enrollment = 24.
BIOL 101 is an introduction to the fundamental principles of biology including molecular and cellular biology, physiology, evolution, and ecology. It is assumed that students in this class do not have a great deal of practice with biology and that any prior experience is likely to be several years ago. BIOL 101 students are expected to take a very active role in their learning by completing readings and homework, watching pre-recorded videos before class, and coming to class ready to engage in activities, as well as reviewing routinely for quizzes and exams. In this highly-structured course, we have evidence that every student can achieve success if they are motivated to be an active learner!

 

Hello all. I’m Jordan and I’m a teaching assistant professor in the biology dept. I have a background in integrative biology with minors in geography and environmental studies and attended graduate school for biology with a focus in paleontology (for my PhD I studied the ecology and evolution of mammals following the extinction of the dinosaurs). Outside of teaching, I love to create embroidery art, explore local bookstores and hike.

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Maria Servedio. Enrollment = 24.
This course teaches students how scientists use mathematics to approach questions in evolutionary biology and ecology. Students learn both biological and mathematical concepts, taught using an array of pedagogical approaches. There are two group projects over the course of the semester, one involving the development of an original mathematical model.

PREREQUISITES: BIOL 101 & MATH 231. PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR REQUIRED FOR STUDENTS LACKING THE PREREQUISITES.

Dr. Servedio’s research centers on determining the evolutionary mechanisms that produce and maintain biodiversity. She is currently concentrating on the evolution of species-specific mate choice in animals, on the evolutionary effects of learning, and on the evolution of male mate choice. Dr. Servedio addresses these questions through the development of mathematical models of evolution.

TR, 9:30 am – 10: 45 am. Instructor(s): Bob Goldstein / Amy Maddox. Enrollment = 24.
This course will take you to the next level of understanding how cells work. You will learn how cell components function, and how cells accomplish dynamic processes including cell division, migration, and communication. These topics are important for development, homeostasis, and avoiding a wide range of human diseases. We consider cell biology interesting because it involves active materials, signal integration, and the struggle to create and maintain order in an increasingly entropic world. The course will also help build your understanding of how scientific knowledge is amassed through creative design of scientific experiments. You will learn to think critically about how discoveries are made, and you will imagine and propose how future discoveries might be made.

Bob Goldstein is a Distinguished Professor of Biology and Adjunct Professor of Art. He runs a research lab at UNC that focuses on discovering fundamental mechanisms in cell and developmental biology. The lab asks questions about how cells work during development, questions that are relevant both to basic biology and to human health: How do cells divide in the right orientation? How do certain components of cells become localized to just one side of a cell? How do cells change shape? How do cells move from the surface of an embryo to its interior? The lab also studies tardigrades, which are microscopic animals that can somehow survive just about anything. He enjoys helping students learn using students’ own curiosity as a starting point.

 

For an organism to develop from a fertilized egg, or for tissues to replenish to compensate for wear and tear, cells must divide. During the final step of animal cell division, cells assemble a transient machine that pinches it in two, creating two topologically distinct daughter cells. Proper execution of this event is essential not only for development and homeostasis but also to avoid disease states including cancer. Amy Maddox’s lab is working to understand the molecular and physical mechanisms of animal cell shape maintenance and change, such as that which occur during cell division. We combine light microscopy, genetics, biochemistry, and mathematical modeling to study cytokinesis and other cell shape changes. Prof. Maddox’s research and teaching emphasize quantitative approaches, interdisciplinarity, and public outreach including scientific communication.

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Jason Reed. Enrollment = 24.
This course will take you to the next level of understanding how cells work. You will learn how cell components function, and how cells accomplish dynamic processes including cell division, migration, and communication. These topics are important for development, homeostasis, and avoiding a wide range of human diseases. We consider cell biology interesting because it involves active materials, signal integration, and the struggle to create and maintain order in an increasingly entropic world. The course will also help build your understanding of how scientific knowledge is amassed through creative design of scientific experiments. You will learn to think critically about how discoveries are made, and you will imagine and propose how future discoveries might be made.

Pre-Requisite: BIOL 103

In our lab we study how plants control their growth through signaling by endogenous hormones and environmental cues, transcriptional response pathways, and cell biological mechanisms.  We have an interest in translating our discoveries in these areas to potentially useful traits, such as allocating growth to desired organs, or changing the kinetics of stomatal opening to improve drought tolerance.

 

TR, 9:30 am – 11:40 am
. Instructor(s): Christopher Willett. Enrollment = 24.
Of course, you know that the Venus flytrap catches and digests insects, did you also know that it is native almost entirely to North Carolina? Extraordinary adaptations can be found in numerous other organisms as well. In class, in addition to studies on the Venus flytraps, we will also look at the exceptional environmental stress tolerance of a tidepool copepod that Dr. Willett’s lab has worked on in his laboratory. This copepod can survive freezing, high salinities, low pH, and anoxic conditions and shows different patterns of adaptation to these stressors across populations.

This class will conduct publishable research in evolution and ecology by doing actual science on the Venus flytrap and tidepool copepod. We will attempt to answer unknown questions about adaptations in these systems by using techniques such as high-speed video analysis, environmental manipulation, and physiological assays. Through this course students will be totally immersed in how research is done. Students will be taught how to generate hypotheses, collect and analyze data in the R statistical programming language, discuss scientific literature, and how to produce scientific articles. This research-intensive class will enable students to ask their own independent research questions and conduct experiments to answer them. The class will include a field trip to the Green Swamp, the home of the Venus flytrap, and experimentation in the lab during the class on campus. This course counts as a lab elective for Biology degrees with both lab and lecture components combined into the same course.

This is meant to be an introduction to research: students are not expected to have any prior research experience. The science will initially be focused on laboratory experiments measuring prey capture ability in the Venus flytrap and stress tolerance in the copepod systems. By focusing on both the instructor’s own system and a wonderful plant found in North Carolina, students will receive a broad perspective on how to investigate and test hypotheses about adaptation in the field and lab. Additional topics covered include adaptationism, natural selection, convergent evolution, exaptation, phylogenetic thinking, evolutionary novelty at multiple levels, applications to human health, and conservation status of our study systems.

Dr. Willett is broadly interested in the ecology and evolution of adaptations. His lab at UNC works on both the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) and tidepool copepod (Tigriopus californicus) and uses them to study thermal adaptation (along with adaptation to other environmental factors) and also as a model for studying speciation. The lab’s work goes from high-throughput sequencing assays of gene expression and genome-wide population genetics to physiological experiments using both of these arthropod systems.

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Elena Simintzi. Enrollment = 45.
This course provides essential tools that anybody interested in business should know. We will analyze theory and practice of the major financial decisions made by corporations. The goal of the class is to teach you 1) how to value firms and project opportunities using methods drawn from the theory of corporate finance 2) to develop an appreciation of how financing decisions impact project and firm value and 3) how to develop effective ways to visualize and communicate spreadsheet analyses. By definition, the course is designed to be “hands-on”.

Prerequisite: BUSI 408 with minimum grade of C

TR, 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm. Instructor(s): Scott Maitland. Enrollment = 50.
The goals of this course are to give the students a broad understanding of the field of entrepreneurship and to introduce the important tools and skills necessary to create and grow a successful new venture. The course is designed to simulate the real life activities of entrepreneurs in the start-up stage of a new venture. Students, in teams, will develop a new venture concept and determine if a demand exists for their product or service. Importantly, the course facilitates networking with entrepreneurs and other students who are considering becoming entrepreneurs.

Scott Maitland is a combat veteran who graduated in 1988 from West Point and in 1995 from the UNC School of Law. He conceived of Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery during his second year in law school and geared his third year in law school around the project. Top of the Hill opened in 1996. It is the fifth oldest brewpub in North Carolina and it has won over 70 Best of the Triangle Awards. Scott is also the founder or co-founder of three other restaurants, two law firms and a distillery. He recently developed an app called “Where’s the Throw” to teach young kids baseball tactics. He has served as the Chair of the UNC Board of Visitors, Chapel Hill Carrboro Chamber of Commerce and the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership. He has taught entrepreneurship related classes at UNC for over twenty years. He recently became a pilot and laments the fact that the University closed Horace Williams airport.

Scott is married to the former Ashly Blalock who teaches 3rd grade. They have three kids: Kaylee (15), Austin (14) and Andrew (9).

TR, 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm. Instructor(s): Jeffrey Mittelstadt. Enrollment = 40.
Students will learn how to apply full triple bottom line sustainability in business to drive simultaneous improvement of impacts on people, the environment and our economy. They will explore how business fits into the greater sustainability landscape and the importance of cross-sector collaboration and partnership. This course concentrates on sustainability in established businesses of all sizes (multinational, regional, local, family, etc.), rather than starting new entrepreneurial ventures. Students will learn how to evaluate existing businesses and industries using ESG metrics (environment, social and governance), the triple bottom line framework (TBL = simultaneously improving impact on people, planet, and profit), lifecycle assessment, stakeholder understanding and other timely standards/frameworks. Work will compare how established businesses address sustainability incrementally versus using it to innovate, and how those companies market sustainability and are viewed within existing indices and rating systems. Learning will emphasize driving profitability through addressing current global social and environmental challenges highlighted by the United Nations Sustainable Development goals; including climate change, social justice, supply chains, economic mobility, water scarcity and much more.

T, 3:30 pm – 6:15 pm. Instructor(s): Melissa Geil. Enrollment = 30.
This course explores the key issues associated with the entrepreneurial career and the lessons of success and failure with a goal to reinforce a high-performance entrepreneurial mindset. The course is designed for students who are committed and currently engaged actively in pursuing an entrepreneurial career path, either during their program, immediately after graduation, or over the course of their early career. This is a required course for Adams Apprentices.

APPLICATION REQUIRED.

R, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Instructor(s): Karin Cochran. Enrollment = 30.
**Application and Permission Required for This Course (See Below)*

Consulting Skills and Frameworks is an intensive skill-based course dedicated to teaching key business and consulting skills of teamwork, analysis and presentations.  While designed particularly for students interested in consulting, any students are welcome.  Students who are interested in applying will need to submit an application at https://kenan-flagler.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_87CMlGhYOPikJV4 by April 1st.  The application requires you to upload your resume (including current GPA) and a brief cover letter (with interest, capabilities, relevant coursework, and seciton preference for 2pm or 5pm on Thursdays, if any).
Note that there are limited seats in the course. *Note: This course is NOT restricted to Honors students, but Honors students may use the course towards their program requirements.
This course is designed to complement the technical and diagnostic skills learned in the other courses at KFBS. A basic premise is that the manager needs analytic skills as well as interpersonal skills to effectively manage groups. The course will allow students the opportunity to develop these skills experientially and to understand team behavior in useful analytical frameworks.
This course is designed to complement the technical and diagnostic skills learned in the other courses at KFBS. A basic premise is that the manager needs analytic skills as well as interpersonal skills to effectively manage groups. The course will allow students the opportunity to develop these skills experientially and to understand team behavior in useful analytical frameworks.

R, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm. Instructor(s): Karin Cochran. Enrollment = 30.
**Application and Permission Required for This Course (See Below)*

Consulting Skills and Frameworks is an intensive skill-based course dedicated to teaching key business and consulting skills of teamwork, analysis and presentations.  While designed particularly for students interested in consulting, any students are welcome.  Students who are interested in applying will need to submit an application at https://kenan-flagler.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_87CMlGhYOPikJV4 by April 1st.  The application requires you to upload your resume (including current GPA) and a brief cover letter (with interest, capabilities, relevant coursework, and seciton preference for 2pm or 5pm on Thursdays, if any).
Note that there are limited seats in the course. *Note: This course is NOT restricted to Honors students, but Honors students may use the course towards their program requirements.
This course is designed to complement the technical and diagnostic skills learned in the other courses at KFBS. A basic premise is that the manager needs analytic skills as well as interpersonal skills to effectively manage groups. The course will allow students the opportunity to develop these skills experientially and to understand team behavior in useful analytical frameworks.
This course is designed to complement the technical and diagnostic skills learned in the other courses at KFBS. A basic premise is that the manager needs analytic skills as well as interpersonal skills to effectively manage groups. The course will allow students the opportunity to develop these skills experientially and to understand team behavior in useful analytical frameworks.

MW, 9:30 am – 10:45 am . Instructor(s): Riccardo Colacito. Enrollment = 40.
The main objective is to expose students to the fundamental concepts of investment theory and financial markets. This course will be highly quantitative and include topics like arbitrage, portfolio selection, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, fixed income securities, and option pricing. An overview of financial instruments, securities markets and trading is also presented. The course is theoretical, but whenever possible, discusses the implementation in practice of the theory presented.

PREREQUISITE: BUSI 408 WITH A MINIMUM GRADE OF “C”.

MW, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm . Instructor(s): Riccardo Colacito. Enrollment = 40.
The main objective is to expose students to the fundamental concepts of investment theory and financial markets. This course will be highly quantitative and include topics like arbitrage, portfolio selection, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, fixed income securities, and option pricing. An overview of financial instruments, securities markets and trading is also presented. The course is theoretical, but whenever possible, discusses the implementation in practice of the theory presented.

PREREQUISITE: BUSI 408 WITH A MINIMUM GRADE OF “C”.

W, 3:30 pm – 6:20 pm. Instructor(s): Ranjit Thomas / Pramita Saha. Enrollment = 15.
Application/Permission Required for this Course (see below)*
Prerequisites: 408, core-requisite: 407

This is a UBP/MBA cross-listed course that follows the second year MBA calendar. It is a course with minimal instruction, where students apply what they have learned to manage a real money portfolio, with feedback on their work from instructors.
Two consecutive terms, earning 6 credit hours OR one term, earning 3 credit hours.
Eligibility:
· Prereqs: BUSI 407 (financial accounting) and 408 (corporate finance)
· Recommended: BUSI 580 (investments) and 584 (financial modeling)
· Observe MOD 4 section prior to official fall enrollment, if possible.
· Preference for students entering final year, who have completed a number of finance courses.
· Familiarity with company financial results and ability to analyze income statement, balance sheet and cash flow.

To apply:
Application will only open during Spring semester.
https://drric.web.unc.edu/im-concentration/aim-applications/aim-application-for-bsba-students/

To apply visit: https://drric.web.unc.edu/teaching/im-concentration/aim-applications/aim-application-for-bsba-students/

Ranjit Thomas has served as a faculty advisor to the Applied Investment Management (AIM) class since 2019. He is a portfolio manager at Spice Capital Advisors, an investment management firm in Raleigh. Prior to this, he was a Partner at Tracer Capital, a long-short equities fund in New York. He has also worked at the private equity unit of Swiss Re and at the Boston Consulting Group in New York and Asia.

Ranjit graduated with an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He is a CFA charterholder and serves on the Board of the CFA Society of North Carolina.

MW, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm . Instructor(s): Julia Lawson. Enrollment = 40.
Prerequisite: BUSI 408 or 580H with a grade of C
Credit markets stood at the epicenter of the recent financial and European sovereign debt crises and at the center stage of many banking regulation and monetary policy debates over the last decade.
In an environment where the markets for fixed income products are continuously expanding both in size and variety, it is essential to get i) a solid grasp of the fundamental concepts underlying securities pricing and hedging and ii) a broad understanding of the overall functioning of these markets.
This is an introductory course in fixed income aiming at developing relevant knowledge to achieve both of these objectives. The first part of the course covers basics on traditional fixed income instruments and derivatives, bond valuation, and interest rate risk management, with a focus on concepts, quantitative tools, and real-world applications. The second part covers various topics including mortgage markets, corporate bonds, sovereign debt, and monetary policy.
While the course is rigorous and relatively quantitative in nature, it is designed to be relevant not only for students considering a career in finance (more specifically, in sales and trading, financial institution lending and credit analysis, and asset management), but also for those generally interested in deepening their knowledge in capital markets and macroeconomics.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am . Instructor(s): Vrinda Mittal. Enrollment = 45.
This course provides a top-down view of how real estate, as an asset class, fits into the capital markets. Topics include the risk-return profile of residential and commercial real estate investments, real estate as a component of a well-diversified investment portfolio, derivative markets for real estate investments, mortgages and their timing options, mortgage-backed securities, and the market for Real Estate Investment Trusts.

PREREQUISTIE: BUSI 408

MW, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Vrinda Mittal. Enrollment = 45.
This course provides a top-down view of how real estate, as an asset class, fits into the capital markets. Topics include the risk-return profile of residential and commercial real estate investments, real estate as a component of a well-diversified investment portfolio, derivative markets for real estate investments, mortgages and their timing options, mortgage-backed securities, and the market for Real Estate Investment Trusts.

PREREQUISTIE: BUSI 408

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Carribeth Bliem. Enrollment = 30.
CHEM 102H is recommended by the Chemistry Department for STEM majors who have excelled in their pre-college chemistry classwork and who have an interest in pursuing chemistry or another STEM field as an academic major at UNC.  Students who excelled in CHEM 101 will also be considered. CHEM 102H is the second half of a yearlong overview of the exciting field of chemistry, the study of the properties and changes of matter and energy. Students will be exposed to many new concepts, techniques and phenomena including thermodynamics, kinetics, and chemical equilibrium. Chemistry 101 (or 101H) is a pre-requisite for Chemistry 102, and together, Chemistry 101 and 102 are the gateway to all courses in chemistry

STUDENTS ELIGIBLE FOR ENROLLMENT IN CHEM 102H:   Students who performed highly in their CHEM 101 at UNC-CH may email Professor Bliem (cbliem@unc.edu) to be considered for enrollment in CHEM 102H.  Students who have earned AP, IB or TR credit in CHEM 101 may also email Professor Bliem (cbliem@unc.edu) to be considered for CHEM 102H. Because the roster will not be set until later this Fall, it is recommended that students enroll in a regular CHEM 102 section until they hear from the CHEM 102H instructor regarding their enrollment status for CHEM 102H.

INSTRUCTOR CONSENT REQUIRED (tiani@email.unc.edu
Complete the survey to be considered for all Honors CHEM courses.

ONLY to FIRST SEMESTER students at UNC.

Carribeth Bliem has been teaching in the Chemistry Department since 2002.  A physical chemist by training, she enjoys teaching General Chemistry and senior-level physical chemistry courses.  Convincing students of all the ways that chemistry impacts their daily life is a goal of every course.

TR , 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Domenic Tiani. Enrollment = 28.
Modern analytical methods in separations and chromatography, spectroscopy and spectrophotometry, advanced acid-base equilibria, acid-base titrations, statistical methods in analytical chemistry, and electrochemistry/sensors.

Gain a broad understanding and introduce students to the major fundamentals behind modern analytical methods and techniques in the areas of analytical spectroscopy, electrochemistry/sensors, and separation science/ chromatography; and to learn how these methods are utilized to make chemical measurements and solve real world analysis problems across many disciplines.  In addition, students will gain a better understanding of statistical analysis as it pertains to analytical chemistry and making measurements utilizing a range of analytical methods.

If you would like to be considered for a seat in 241H, please fill out this survey here. You will need to include your major, overall GPA, and grades in Chemistry courses at UNC.

PREREQUITE: CHEM 102 OR 102H.
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY CONSENT REQURIED.

 

 

My primary research interests lie in the area of chemical education. In particular, I am interested in the development and implementation of new and better methods by which to teach fundamental chemical concepts in the classroom and laboratory. Currently my role in the undergraduate chemistry program at UNC-CH involves undergraduate instruction, curriculum development and the training/supervision of graduate students as laboratory teaching assistants.

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Simon Meek. Enrollment = 30.
Molecular structure of organic compounds, and the correlation between structure and reactivity including the theoretical basis for these relationships; classification of “reaction types” exhibited by organic molecules using as examples molecules of biological importance.  This course will be similar to CHEM 261 with a greater emphasis on class discussion, problem-solving, and the investigation of organic chemistry research at UNC.

PREREQUISITES: CHEM 102 OR CHEM 102H. GPA OF 3.600 OR HIGHER.
PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR REQUIRED. EMAIL chemus@unc.edu.

 

Simon Meek is Associate Professor of Chemistry. Researchers in Dr. Meek’s group are involved with the discovery, design, and development of new chiral catalysts and catalytic methods for chemical synthesis. They focus on developing practical and effective catalysts that enable the use of simple and abundant starting materials for useful carbon-carbon and carbon- heteroatom bond forming reactions. Researchers are interested in understanding reaction mechanisms (efficiency and selectivity) as well as demonstrating and challenging catalytic transformations (reliablility) in efficient enantioselective total synthesis of complex biologically important molecules. Areas of interest in Dr. Meek’s research program include catalysis, stereoselective organic synthesis, and organometallic chemistry.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Marcey Waters. Enrollment = 30.
Chem 262H: Honors Organic Chemimstry II
Continuation of CHEM 261H, with particular emphasis on the chemical properties of organic molecules of biological importance.

 

Professor Waters’ research interests are at the interface of organic chemistry and biochemistry. The overarching goal of her research is to design molecules to control biomolecular recognition for biomedical applications.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Marcey Waters. Enrollment = 30.
Chem 262H: Honors Organic Chemimstry II
Continuation of CHEM 261H, with particular emphasis on the chemical properties of organic molecules of biological importance.

 

Professor Waters’ research interests are at the interface of organic chemistry and biochemistry. The overarching goal of her research is to design molecules to control biomolecular recognition for biomedical applications.

TR, 8:00 am – 9:15 am. Instructor(s): Bo Li. Enrollment = 24.
Dynamic examination of the principles of biochemistry, from macromolecules through enzyme function and catalysis, and into the primary metabolic pathways that create cellular energy.  This course will be an interactive combination of lecture-type materials along with presentations from students and deeper dives into topics of mutual interest to course participants.  The goal of the course is to provide a detailed foundation in biochemistry and to teach critical thinking skills focused on understanding and challenging primary biochemical data.  Students who enroll in this course are typically heading to graduate or professional school in this area of study, or will use the principles employed to enhance their problem-solving abilities.
Chemistry 430H is designed for chemistry majors and is not cross-listed with biol 430.  Hence, Chemistry majors in the honors program will have priority.  Seats will open as follows: Chemistry majors in honors with senior status,
Chemistry majors in honors with junior status, Chemistry majors BS-Biochem, Chemistry majors BA.  Any additional seats (and there usually are very limited at this point) will be open to other majors.  For non-majors, you will be enrolled last based on open seats and affiliation with the Honors Carolina.
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY CONSENT REQUIRED. CONTACT THE DEPARTMENT VIA EMAIL AT chemus@unc.edu. PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME, EMAIL, AND REQUEST FOR CHEM 430H ENROLLMENT IN THE MESSAGE.

 

Bo obtained her B.S. in biological sciences in 2004 from Beijing University. She earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry in 2009 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At Illinois, carried out her thesis work with Prof. Wilfred van der Donk, focusing on enzymatic transformations for generating macrocyclic antimicrobial peptides. Bo conducted her postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. Christopher T. Walsh at Harvard Medical School as a Jane Coffin Childs Fellow. At Harvard Med, she investigated the microbial pathways that make disulfide-containing antibiotics.
Bo joined the faculty of UNC Chemistry in 2013. Her group integrates chemistry and genomics to identify bacterial small molecules, deciphers the enzymatic transformations involved in their biosynthesis, and elucidates their biological functions. She has received a National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence Award, a Rita Allen Foundation Scholars Award, a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, a National Science Foundation CAREER award, and a National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award.

TR, 9:30 am – 10: 45 am. Instructor(s): Joshua Beaver. Enrollment = 24.
Concurrent to CHEM 460 with increased emphasis on primary literature.

PREREQUISITE: CHEM 262 OR 262H.
TO REGISTER FOR CHEM 460H, YOU MUST BE REGISTERED FOR CHEM 460 FIRST. ONCE YOU ARE REGISTERED FOR CHEM 460, PLEASE EMAIL chemus@unc.edu REGARDING YOUR INTEREST IN REGISTERING FOR CHEM 460H.

Joshua Beaver, Ph.D., is a Teaching Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he teaches organic and general chemistries. His graduate training was in the fields of organic chemistry and molecular recognition. His postdoctoral training was in the development of targeted anticancer drug delivery agents using DNA-based nanoparticles under the direction of Ashutosh Chilkoti in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University.
As a teaching professor he adapts interdisciplinary problem-solving approaches to active, evidence-based teaching to help students take an active role in their learning, and develop translatable problem-solving and critical thinking skills that benefit them beyond the classroom.
His current research focuses on improving student outcomes in organic chemistry courses. One branch of this research involves creating data-driven analytical tools to identify students who benefit from additional support at early stages of the semester in order to improve their trajectory, and ultimately their learning in large-enrollment chemistry courses. Other projects include deepening our understanding of modes of instruction and how they influence student learning, establishing effective teaching methodologies across multi-instructor courses, and developing novel scaffolded learning resources, such as the Organic Chemistry Workbook used in Organic Chemistry, CHEM 261, and the Course Pack for Organic Chemistry II, CHEM 262, for learning organic chemistry.

TR, 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm. Instructor(s): Tony Perucci. Enrollment = 20.
In this course, students will create original performance works that they adapt from contemporary fiction. Students will be introduced to methods for creating original performance works based on literary fiction that explicitly address the unstable boundaries between “fictional” and “factual,” “real” and “fake,” “artificial” and “authentic.” We will look to performance as a way to creatively and critically navigate the blurry lines of fact-in-fiction and fiction-in-fact through student work – exploring hoaxes, pranks, phonies and conspiracies in contemporary culture, as well as artists who intentionally blur the fiction/fact boundary.

 

Professor Perucci is a performance scholar and practitioner with a focus on the intersection of interdisciplinary art (post-modern dance, 20th-21st century theatre, performance art, film/video, visual art), performance-based research, and the politics of performance. He is the author of two books on revolutionary artists of the 20th century: the African-American singer/actor/activist Paul Robeson (Paul Robeson and the Cold War Performance Complex) and the post-modern choreographer and performance theorist Mary Overlie (On the Horizontal: Mary Overlie and the Viewpoints). He has created and performed in numerous performance works in theatres, galleries, clubs and public spaces. He has taught at UNC since 2007 after living in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. He lives and breathes Star Wars.

MWF, 10:10 am – 11:00 am. Instructor(s): Jack Snoeyink. Enrollment = 24.
Underlying the many applications of computers in our daily life are discrete structures like Boolean logics, relations, finite state machines, graphs, and networks that have mathematical specifications.
This class introduces these discrete structures and the formal proof techniques that support the production, verification, and maintenance of correct software, often using puzzles, games, or magic tricks.

This is a language class: you will learn vocabulary and idioms of a language that is more precise and less ambiguous than the languages that we usually speak or write. With any new language, you may at first struggle to make yourself understood, but by frequent immersion and fearless practice you can become comfortable thinking and expressing yourself creatively in the language. Students pick up languages at different rates, so work to teach each other. All can gain fluency with effort and a willingness to make mistakes. And fluency will help all your computer science endeavors – precise and unambiguous language helps you catch mistakes early, when they are cheaper to fix.

Math381, Discrete Mathematics, shares many of our goals of teaching formal reasoning and mathematical rigor, but they do so by delving deeply into number theory. We will find our examples more broadly, so that we can also provide students with a toolbox of mathematical techniques and concepts that are fundamental in most areas of computer science.

The honors section is for students who want mastery of this language.
In addition to participating in the regular lectures, honors students will be asked to use this language to develop proofs of more advanced material using the Moore method. For graph theory in particular, the textbook has a series of definitions and questions for which students are asked to provide answers; similar material is being developed for game theory.

PREREQUISITES: MATH 231 or MATH 241; a grade of C or better is required

 

Prof. Jack Snoeyink (Ph.D. Stanford, 1990) works on computational geometry, which is a branch of the theory of computer science that designs and analyzes algorithms and data structures for problems best stated in geometry form. His main application areas are in terrain modeling in geographic information systems, molecular structure validation and improvement in biochemistry, as well as computational topology, computer graphics, and information visualization.

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Tessa Joseph-Nicholas. Enrollment = 24.
COMP 380 explores social, historical, and ethical issues arising from individuals’, groups’, and societies’ design and use of computers, the Internet, and information technologies.

 

Tessa Joseph-Nicholas, MFA/PhD, is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Computer Science. Her teaching and research explore the intersection of computing technologies and human culture with a blend of approaches and methods from the computational to the creative. Specific interests include Internet histories, cultures, and communities; digital literatures, arts, and poetics; inclusive, accessible web design and development; net neutrality and open cultures; and technology ethics.

TR, 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm. Instructor(s): Brent Munsell. Enrollment = 24.
Course Description
Operating systems are a core part of modern computing, powering everything from phones and cars to everyday appliances. This course focuses on general-purpose, time-shared operating systems, examining how they connect users, applications, and hardware. Core topics include:
· Processes, communication, and synchronization
· CPU scheduling
· Memory and virtual memory management
· Secondary storage management
· File systems
· Deadlock detection and prevention
· Distributed systems and services
The Honors section emphasizes implementation: students will study Linux OS services and conduct experiments using kernel modules developed using the C programming language.
Prerequisites
Courses: COMP 301 and COMP 311 (no exceptions)
Skills: Proficiency in C programming and Linux development.
Proficiencies will be assessed in an interview during the first week. Students who do not qualify will be placed in COMP 530 (non-Honors), which meets at the same time and location.
Honors Requirements
An additional 1-hour lab session on Fridays. Lab includes lectures on Linux OS design and implementation
Department of Computer Science permission required.

 

Brent Munsell is a Teaching Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with more than a decade of academic experience. He has taught over 60 undergraduate and graduate courses and mentored more than 30 student research projects, with a focus on machine learning, computer vision, high-performance computing, and medical image processing. His notable achievements include two undergraduate teaching awards, a research mentorship award, and significant contributions to undergraduate computing initiatives. With expertise in computer vision and high-performance computing, backed by NIH-funded research and a U.S. patent, Brent combines his research scholarship with teaching to promote collaborative learning environments.

TR, 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm. Instructor(s): Angela Velez. Enrollment = 15.
Writing intensive. Early short assignments emphasize elements of dramatic scene with subsequent written practice in point-of-view, dialogue, characterization, and refinement of style. Assigned short stories with in-depth analysis of technique, craft, and literary merit. Students will write and revise two stories which will be workshopped by instructor and class. Revision in lieu of final exam. The course is informal but stringent; students may be asked to write each class meeting. Vigorous class participation in workshop is expected. This course (or ENGL 130) serves as a prerequisite for other courses in the fiction sequence of the creative writing program (ENGL 206, 406, 693H). Textbook:  TBD.

FIRST YEAR HONORS CAROLINA STUDENTS ONLY

NO INSTRUCTOR BIO ON FILE

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Karen Tucker. Enrollment = 15.
Writing intensive. Early short assignments emphasize elements of dramatic scene with subsequent written practice in point-of-view, dialogue, characterization, and refinement of style. Assigned short stories with in-depth analysis of technique, craft, and literary merit. Students will write and revise two stories which will be workshopped by instructor and class. Revision in lieu of final exam. The course is informal but stringent; students may be asked to write each class meeting. Vigorous class participation in workshop is expected. This course (or ENGL 130) serves as a prerequisite for other courses in the fiction sequence of the creative writing program (ENGL 206, 406, 693H).

FIRST YEAR HONORS CAROLINA STUDENTS ONLY

Karen Tucker is the author of the novel Bewilderness (2021). Her short fiction appears in The Yale Review, The Missouri Review, Boulevard, Tin House, Epoch, and American Literary Review, among other places. The recipient of an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant for Emerging Writers and a PEO Scholar Award, she earned her PhD in English and Creative Writing from Florida State University.

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Tyree Daye. Enrollment = 15.
This course will explore the many pleasures and challenges of writing poetry. Our focus will be the regular writing and revising of your original poems, and the in-class workshopping of some of these poems, but we will also spend much time reading and discussing exemplary poems from the past and present, learning poetic terms and forms and techniques, listening to poems read aloud, and doing whatever else might help you become a better poet. Among the course requirements: is a notebook, a midterm project and a final project other written exercises; a memorization and recitation assignment; and (most important of all) your writing of up to ten original poems, and your ongoing revisions of those poems. This is a fun and informative class that will help you think and write more clearly, more vividly, and more imaginatively.

INTENDED FOR FIRST-YEAR HONORS CAROLINA STUDENTS, BUT OPEN TO OTHERS, BY PERMISSION OF THE INSTRUCTOR.

Tyree Daye is a poet from Youngsville, North Carolina, and a Teaching Assistant Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is the author of two poetry collections River Hymns 2017 APR/Honickman First Book Prize winner and Cardinal from Copper Canyon Press 2020. Daye is a Cave Canem fellow. Daye won the 2019 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes Fellowship, 2019 Diana and Simon Raab Writer-In-Residence at UC Santa Barbara, and is a 2019 Kate Tufts Finalist. Daye most recently was awarded a 2019 Whiting Writers Award.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Stephanie Griest. Enrollment = 15.
HONORS INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE NONFICTION:
Put on your boots. In this class, we’ll be roaming. We’ll start with an exploration of our own world: our childhoods and our families; our fans and our enemies; our lovers and our friends. Our quirks, our fears, our desires. Next, we’ll investigate other worlds. Like roller derbies, bingo halls, and bail bond agencies. Then we’ll create new worlds by reinterpreting the ordinary as extraordinary—through graphics, lyricism, mosaics, and objects lost and found. Along the way, we’ll read scintillating works that take risks both in content and in form, and then we’ll strive, strive, strive to do the same. We’ll write testimonios. Memoirs. Travelogues. Portraits. Lyric essays galore. We’ll be artists. Seekers of truth. Arbiters of the dynamic Fourth Genre. We’ll write words that matter.

FIRST YEAR HONORS CAROLINA STUDENTS ONLY.

Stephanie Elizondo Griest is a globetrotting author from the Texas/Mexico borderlands whose six books include Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana; Mexican Enough; All the Agents and Saints; and Art Above Everything. She has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, VQR, The Believer, BBC, and Oxford American. A Professor of Creative Nonfiction at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, she has performed on five continents in capacities ranging from a Moth storyteller to a literary ambassador for the U.S. State Department. Visit her website at www.StephanieElizondoGriest.com.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am; Recitation: F, 11:15 am – 12:05 pm. Instructor(s): Sergio Parreiras. Enrollment = 24.
Introduction to Economics (Economics 101H) is the Honors section of the introductory course in Economics
for undergraduates. The Honors section covers the same material as the large enrollment version but does so in more depth. This is an introductory course in both microeconomics and macroeconomics. In this one-semester course students are introduced to fundamental issues in economics including competition, scarcity, opportunity cost, resource allocation, unemployment, ination, 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.

 

Sergio O. Parreiras research focuses on game-theoretic models of contests, tournaments, and relative performance evaluation.

TR, 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm . Instructor(s): Chris Mumford. Enrollment = 24.
The course is designed to help students turn an idea into an enterprise. We will execute a design sprint to reinforce the understanding of the ideation and validation process. Students develop high resolution ideation and marketing skills. We delve into classic strategy principles by applying them given new market and technology trends. Finally, we develop a street smart version of finance through cash flow forecasting and core fund raising techniques. By the end of class, students will be able to discover ideate, validate and accelerate ventures.
Grading will largely be determined by student effort. The class is taught mostly in a flipped classroom, group experiential learning environment. Class participation and being a solid group contributor are essential for grading success. The class will use tutorials, examples and templates extensively. Low stakes quizzes will be used as a recall tool. The primary communication tool is Slack.

Prerequisite: ECON 125.

Chris Mumford is a professor of practice at the Shuford Entrepreneurship program, Kenan-Flagler Business School and School of Education. He is the co-founder of Launch Chapel Hill and 1789 Venture Lab. He is the managing partner of a pro soccer team and mixed use real estate project in Wilmington, NC. Mumford also advises muncipalities on sports entertainment facilities and live-work-play projects. He is the author of Sports Entrepreneurship – Beyond the Big Leagues published by Columbia Business School Press.

During the last 25 years, Mumford founded several businesses in the US and Asia. He served in roles as chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, vice president of sales and vice president of design, while raising more than $30 million from angel, venture capital and private equity investors for several projects. He was an investment banker for seven years. His experience includes consumer products, technology, education and social networks. His current interests include education, technology, apparel and health care.

Mumford grew up in Chapel Hill, NC where he graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with honors. He has two children with his wife Joelle Permutt. He enjoys competing in pickup soccer, cycling, fly fishing and coaching. One day, he hopes to finish editing his novel about his experiences wandering around the world.

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm; Recitation: F, 10:10 am – 11:00 am. Instructor(s): Tugba Somuncu. Enrollment = 24.
The primary focus of the course is on the function of markets and how markets work to allocate resources and distribute income. Topics included in the course are  consumer behavior including economic uncertainty, theory of the firm, market structure (perfect competition, monopoly, and oligopoly), and basic game theory and information economics. One of the purposes of the course is to help students learn how to apply microeconomic principles to economic questions. For this reason, problem sets are assigned and considered to be an important part of the course. The honors section is offered in order to provide students with the opportunity to gain a somewhat greater breadth and depth of knowledge than in other sections. Calculus will be used.

PREREQUISITES: ECON 101. MATH 231 OR STOR 113.

 

I earned my PhD in Economics from Iowa State University in 2024. My primary research interests lie in environmental economics and labor economics. In my PhD dissertation, I focused on the green transition, particularly examining its impact on workers’ earnings, with an emphasis on female workers, as well as the role of water pollution in determining economic opportunities. I am excited to teach honors courses and introduce students to economic tools and their applications.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am . Instructor(s): Jaden Chen. Enrollment = 24.
This course discusses topics in microeconomic theory not normally covered in ECON 410. This course introduces social networks and their applications in economics. Tools of graph theory and game theory will be taught and then used to analyze networks. In this course, we will cover topics like group behavior, contagion, information aggregation, voting and social choice theory.

Pre or Co-Requisites: ECON 400 and 410; a grade of C or better in ECON 400 and 410 is required.

 

NO INSTRUCTOR BIO ON FILE

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Inger Brodey. Enrollment = 24.
GREAT BOOKS:  WORDSWORTH, GOETHE, AUSTEN, BRONTË, FLAUBERT, COLLODI, TOLSTOI, KAFKA, WOOLF, ABE.
An introduction to some of the major texts of nineteenth and twentieth-century literature, focusing on periods of romanticism, realism, and modernism, and with some attention given to parallel developments in the arts and philosophy.  We’ll be exploring the structure and meaning of each text in its own terms, and at the same time examining how it reflects certain formal features or ideas of its period. Throughout the course our emphasis will be on tracing central themes, in particular those dealing with explorations of individual identity, work and leisure, and conflicts over agency and responsibility. Texts will be drawn from different countries and literary genres: Wordsworth, selected poems; Goethe, Sorrows of Young Werther; Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Brontë, Jane Eyre; Flaubert, Madame Bovary; Collodi, Pinocchio; Tolstoi, Death of Ivan Ilych; Kafka, The Metamorphosis; Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway; and Abe, Woman in the Dunes.

 

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, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Cindy Current. Enrollment = 25.
Space adventure, aliens, funky forms of identity, and apocalyptic worlds are familiar territories for science and fantasy fiction; but the novels we read this semester will ask us to reconsider and redefine all of these concepts. We’ll start first with the name of the genre itself:  science fiction. Under Course Reserves you’ll find works, such as Adam Roberts book on science fiction, that those of you particularly interested in the genre of science fiction might like to read.
But let’s start here. We’re going to use the term speculative fiction because it covers science fiction, fantasy, and even many forms of standard literature. Speculative fiction, in this course, includes novels that present alternative conceptions of the worlds we know through critiques of science, society, and identity. Speculative fiction asks us not only to think about where our worlds are heading technologically, environmentally, and politically, but also interrogates where we are now and where we have come from.
The goals for this course include more than basic reading and discussion. In other words, this class not a book club, and we’re not here to write book reports. Quizzes, group work, speaking your thoughts in class, and formal writing assignments are structured upon the skills of analysis and critique. More than ever, in a data-driven and image-dominated world, the ability to read, write, and critically analyze are vitally important (and let’s also add the ability to focus). Certainly, the featured authors believe in this deeply, and so, for those of you interested in fully participating in your careers and in your culture, this course is important. Not only will we have fun reading challenging books, but we will also come away with a different eye on the world and an understanding of why that lens matters.
As a final note, the materials in this course are purposely challenging. Some works include difficult contemporary social and cultural content. This course also strives to be inclusive in any number of ways from form to content.
The classroom and textual selection are meant to draw out diverse ideas based on mutual respect for each other. My goal is that all students’ perspectives are valued. I broadly define diversity to include race, gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, social class, age, sexual and gender identity, and physical and learning ability. I strive to make this classroom an inclusive space for all minority student groups. I value your input to improve the climate of my classroom.

 

NO INSTRUCTOR BIO ON FILE

MWF, 2:30 pm – 3:20 pm. Instructor(s): María DeGuzmán. Enrollment = 24.

This course examines major U.S. novels and their night optics. These novels of the night perform a deep questioning of the “American Dream” and the novelistic task of giving form to chaos and refiguring the social order. This course examines the intertwining legacies of the dark side of the Enlightenment, Gothicism, Romanticism, Naturalism, noir, existentialism, Gnosticism, and socio-political and aesthetic dissent. Required reading: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night (1934); Djuna Barnes’s Nightwood (1936); William Styron’s Lie Down in Darkness (1951), Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952), John Rechy’s City of Night (1963), Toni Morrison’s Jazz (1992), Paul Auster’s Oracle Night (2003), and Manuel Muñoz’s What You See in the Dark (2011) in combination with ongoing reading of sections of Dr. DeGuzmán’s Buenas Noches, American Culture: Latina/o Aesthetics of Night and Understanding John Rechy.

Dr. María DeGuzmán is Eugene H. Falk Distinguished Professor of English & Comparative Literature and the Founding Director of the UNC Latina/o Studies Program at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has published three scholarly books: Spain’s Long Shadow: The Black Legend, Off-Whiteness, and Anglo-American Empire (Minnesota Press, 2005); Buenas Noches, American Culture: Latina/o Aesthetics of Night (Indiana University Press, 2012); and Understanding John Rechy (University of South Carolina Press, 2019) as well as articles and essays on Latina/o/x lived experiences and cultural production. She is also a conceptual photographer, creative writer, and music composer / sound designer. She has published photography in The Grief Diaries, Coffin Bell, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Map Literary, Two Hawks Quarterly, Harbor Review, The Halcyone, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, Ponder Review, Alluvian, and streetcake: a magazine of experimental writing; two creative nonfiction photo-text pieces, one in Oyster River Pages and the other in La Piccioletta Barca; a photo-text flash fiction in Bombay Gin; photo prose poetry in Landlocked Magazine; poetry in Empty Mirror; and short stories in Mandorla: New Writing from the Americas, Huizache: The Magazine of Latino Literature, Sinister Wisdom, and Obelus Journal. Her SoundCloud website may be found at: https://soundcloud.com/mariadeguzman.

MWF, 12:20 pm – 1:10 pm ; Recitation: M, 11:15 am – 12:05 pm OR M, 2:30 pm – 3:20 pm. Instructor(s): Greg Gangi. Enrollment = 24.
This course will explore changing human-environmental relations from a variety of social, geographical, and historical settings. While some lectures do include material from the natural sciences this is a social science class. The class cuts across many disciplines in a manner that is integrative rather than segregating lessons from different academic disciplines into separate lectures. The focus of this course is in the first half of the class to give students familiarity with how humans and human organizations deal with issues of sustainability. The second half of the semester will explore some critical issues like population, food security, climate change, urban planning and transitioning to a low carbon economy. This part of the course will not only give student information important background information about the problems but also highlight possible solutions.

The most important reason to take this class is that it will be closely linked to the UNC Cleantech Summit. Clean energy, sustainable mobility, circularity and bioeconomy/green chemistry are the consistent themes of the Summit.  This past March we had over 250 speakers and a lot of high-level keynotes that included government leaders, CEOs of large and small companies and the CEO of a large bank. Speakers come from all over the world and representatives of foreign governments often contribute as speakers. It is an amazing networking opportunity and students have connected with internships and job at the Summit.

In addition, to weekly class lectures, students will attend a one-hour recitation session to enjoy small-group discussion and to explore related topics of personal interest.  Your class involvement will be enhanced by a class listserv, that is set up to facilitate the exchange of references and other course related information.  Major Objectives:  1)  To introduce the social context of environmental issues.  2)  To provide an exposure to diverse aspects of human-environmental relationships so that students who are pursuing a major or minor in environmental studies can better design their future plan of studies.  3)  To allow all students to better understand the link between environmental problems, cultural behaviors, public policies, corporate decision-making, and citizen and consumer behavior.

Course requirements: Students are required to attend class, to compete reading assignment, to participate in class discussion and recitation exercises, to complete a group project, and to perform successfully on written examinations.  There will be a midterm (10% of the grade), a Cleantech Summit assignment (10% of grade) and a final examination (35% of the grade).  Another 20 percent of the grade will be based upon a group project and written paper assignment on one case study related to one of the topics covered at the UNC Cleantech Summit.  The recitation grade will account for the remaining 25 percent of the grade.

Greg Gangi has broad interests in sustainable development. He is interested in nurturing experiential learning opportunities for students and has developed a number of innovative field based program in different parts of the world.

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Simon Weschle. Enrollment = 2.
This course focuses on key political features that are widely and varyingly used in European democracies, such as multi-party systems, parliaments, and proportional representation. It also focuses on key issues that are causing much debate in Europe today, including migration, nationalism, citizenship and populism. An important element of the class is to explore the interaction between these features and issues, how they developed historically especially since 1945, and what might lie ahead for them and for Europe. This class encourages students from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to enroll because it benefits significantly from such diversity. No prior knowledge or experience is needed; instead, students need to be ready to dig deeply into the complicated issues raised in the materials and in our discussions of them.

CROSSLISTED W/ POLI 239H.

Simon Weschle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science. His research and teaching focus on democratic representation and accountability, with a geographic focus on Europe.

R, 2:00 pm – 4:50 pm. Instructor(s): Michal Osterweil. Enrollment = 24.
There is no doubt that we are living through a period of unprecedented crises—economic, environmental, social, and political. Even before Covid-19, some described this moment as one of impasse in which none of the political and theoretical frameworks with which we are accustomed to thinking and acting are sufficient. As a result, traditional paradigms of change—based around movements, revolutions, resistance, etc. —are themselves no longer adequate. At the same time, around the world people, movements and projects—ranging from prison abolitionists, to indigenous communities and ecological initiatives, to less articulate change projects — are developing and experimenting with alternative visions of change. Many of these require fundamental shifts in levels we don’t often think about when it comes to social change, namely epistemology and ontology, or the forms of knowing, being and doing that inform the forms and frameworks of action and future making.

This course explores both the theories, practices and change imaginaries currently being elaborated and developed by social movements and other social actors engaged in social change work. This includes work with art, culture, science, meditation, nature and even food.

There are no official pre-requisites to take this course but having taken GLBL 210 in particular (or GLBL 401 or 487) can be helpful. If you are uncertain about whether the course is appropriate for you, don’t hesitate to reach out: osterwei@email.unc.edu

 

Michal Osterweil is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Curriculum in Global Studies at UNC Chapel Hill.  Her PhD is in Cultural Anthropology with a Certificate in Cultural Studies.  Her courses and research focus on new paradigms of social change, in particular those emerging from various social movements as well as other sources of relational or non-dualist thought and action ranging from anti-capitalist social movements like the Zapatistas, and various indigenous movements,  to complexity and systems theory in science, as well as spiritual philosophies and practices including Buddhism and various forms of religious and mystical thought. In her writing, research and teaching she has focused on what she understands as a “new political imaginary” or a new paradigm of social change being simultaneously discovered and created in a variety of spaces and movements. She is co-convenor with Arturo Escobar of UNC’s seminar, Theory and Politics of Relationality, and currently involved with community projects aimed at making visible and viable alternative ecological ways of being.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Michael Tsin. Enrollment = 20.

In the last few years there have been many reports on how Maoism is making a comeback in China, an assertion that often draws on a rather crude comparison between the country’s founding leader, Mao Zedong, and its current president, Xi Jinping. Yet, at the same time, commentators are also often quick to emphasize that in many ways the China of today is virtually unrecognizable from the country once ruled by Mao. Indeed, it is common to portray the early years of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) – from 1949 to the late 1970s – as a period characterized by disastrous policies and China’s isolation from the rest of the world. China only became a major player on the world stage, we are often told, when it rejoined the global order from the “reform era” of the 1980s onwards. From that perspective, then, contemporary China is a clear departure from its Maoist predecessor. How are we to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory portrayals of China nowadays?
This class will examine in some detail the histories of those foundational years of the People’s Republic under Mao, assess both the regime’s achievements and setbacks, and explore how those decades of work paved the way for China’s “rise” in more recent times. It will draw our attention to the fact that, its opposition to the United States (and later the Soviet Union) notwithstanding, China under Mao Zedong was a global force in its own right, seeking, often successfully, to challenge, shape and influence the organizational structure of the “world” in many different corners of the globe. Equally important, despite the current Chinese regime’s selective representations of the country’s past, the legacy of Maoist China continues to cast its considerable shadow in myriad ways over the country.
In short, for all the breathtaking transformations of the last two generations, the relationship between Maoist and contemporary China is complicated and nuanced: It is neither a simple case of Xi emulating or returning China to Maoist politics, nor does contemporary China represent a clear rupture from its Maoist past. Understanding Maoist China is hence an indispensable tool if one wants to fully grasp the current predicament and the prospects of the People’s Republic in the twenty-first century.

CROSSLISTED W ASIA 283H

NO INSTRUCTOR BIO ON FILE

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Donald Reid. Enrollment = 24.
In this course, we will read a number of short novels (or portions of longer novels) to put literature and history into dialogue. We will develop fruitful ways to think about how novels create new worlds that appear old or distant and lead readers into new understandings of particular historical situations. We will discuss works  (a) by Honoré de Balzac, Assia Djebar, Sembene Ousmane, William Gardner Smith, Edward P. Jones, and Yasmina Khadra that address a diversity of societies built on  homogeneity, inequity and exclusion;  (b) by Patrick Modiano, Joseph Kessel, and Jorge Semprún that deal with oppression and resistance in Occupied France; and (c) by Margaret Atwood, George Orwell, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Francis Spufford that explore the unrequited love and terror totalitarian projects inspire. There are no prerequisites for this course. None of the authors we’ll read set out to write books that would achieve the status of required reading in a college course. They wanted readers from all walks of life open to being engaged and enthralled and who are willing to think about what had never occurred to them before. If that could be you, take that walk on the wild side to this class.

I will present to the class the particular historical context in which each novel is situated. Students will not read any “history books,” although we will read the novels as history books of a radically different sort. Our goal is to examine how the imagined worlds authors create in these novels pose and respond to important questions about lived experience in the past, and how in turn these experiences and unrealized alternatives to them haunt historical actors. These are questions which historians do not ask or have trouble answering using the tools of analysis of their own discipline. Students will write several short papers, but there will be no exams. I encourage students with questions about the course to contact me at dreid1@email.unc.edu.

 

Donald Reid is an historian of modern Europe with a particular interest in how individuals and societies take control of their communities and workplaces and how they deal with traumatic pasts. He has written books on coal miners who defenestrated their engineer and generations later spent weeks in a sit-in strike in the mine to protest its closing; on watchmakers who occupied their factory when it faced radical downsizing, seized the watch parts, and produced watches on their own, without engineers and managers, sold them, and paid their salaries for close to a decade, realizing the dreams and nightmares of the French in the 1970s; on Paris sewer men and French fascination with them; and on how the Resistance has been remembered and given meaning in France. His recent publications include analyses of a bingeworthy dramatic television series set in France during the German occupation; of the detective as historian in the novels of Didier Daeninckx; of Jorge Semprún’s never ending engagement in his novels with his experiences in the Resistance, in a concentration camp, and in the Communist party; and of the Cambodian film director and genocide survivor Rithy Panh’s entry into the mind of a Khmer Rouge torturer.

 

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Pamela Lothspeich. Enrollment = 6.
The Partition of India in 1947 was an incredibly tumultuous event, characterized by unprecedented mass migration, upheaval and violence. This event, precipitated by a hasty decision on the part of the deposed British, to carve Pakistan out of India, still has huge consequences in the region. Course materials will include works of fiction, first-person accounts, essays by nationalist leaders, and historical writings, as well as films and documentaries. Readings and films represent a range of experiences by people of different religious communities, regions, and language groups. Their stories illustrate not only the physical violence and economic toll of Partition, but also the psychological and emotional effects on the people who lived through it. To conclude, we will reflect upon how Partition still affects regional geopolitics and contributes to communal tensions today.

CROSSLISTED W ASIA 331H & PWAD 331H.

Pamela Lothspeich (she/her) is Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Director of the Carolina Asia Center. She teaches courses on South Asian literature, culture, theatre, and film, and enjoys learning with and mentoring students at Carolina. Her research focuses on modern adaptations of the Indian epics in various forms. Prof. Lothspeich is the author of The Radheshyam Ramayan in Text and Performance (2025) and Epic Nation: Reimagining the Mahabharata in the Age of Empire (2009), editor of The Epic World (2024), and co-editor, with Harshita Mruthinti Kamath, of Mimetic Desires: Impersonation and Guising across South Asia (2022). She is an avid rose gardener, soap maker, and potter in her non-academic life.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Sarah Shields. Enrollment = 24.
This course came about as a result of my time with the Honors Study Abroad Program in Cape Town, South Africa. My goal is to introduce students to the history of empire, the role of race in creating and sustaining it, and the ways that people have resisted the imposition of outsider control. It will also focus on the methods historians use to understand the past. No prerequisites are required. We will together figure out how best to present our own research on these topics to broader audiences. By the end of the course, I hope that you will not only have learned about the history of race, imperialism, and resistance, but also developed the analytical skills you will need to present your ideas effectively and coherently.

 

Sarah Shields teaches courses on the modern Middle East, the history of Iraq, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the development and consequences of nationalism and borders in the region. She has been named a “Favorite Geek” by the Independent Weekly. Shields has taken ten outstanding UNC students to Turkey as part of the Burch Field Research Seminar program, and directed the Honors Study Abroad Programs in London and Cape Town. Shields is a Carolina Parent, and both her son and her daughter were part of the Honors Carolina cohort. In addition to her new focus on water issues in the region, she is currently researching the long-term impact of the League of Nations on the Middle East.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Brett Whalen. Enrollment = 24.
Jesus Christ, understood by Christians as the Son of God, was seemingly everywhere in the European
Middle Ages: featured on stain-glass windows, illuminated in manuscripts, carved in stone on church
facades, performed in passion plays, invoked in sermons, celebrated during the Christian Mass. As
represented in the medieval world, there were multiple and diverse iconographies of Christ: the child in
manger, the miracle-worker, the man of sorrows on the cross, and the dreadful judge at the end of time
to name a few.

This course will explore the “medieval lives” of Jesus in Christian texts and artistic traditions, focusing
mainly on the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries. This is not a class about the biblical or historical
Jesus. Rather, we will explore the figure of Jesus as mediated through medieval sources and ask
questions about the significance of Jesus for medieval politics, culture, and society. For example, how
did the idea of Christ as king inform medieval views of kinship? How did the concept of avenging Christ
contribute to the ideology of the crusades? How did feminized visions of Christ respond to forms of
women’s spiritual devotion?

The historical permutations of medieval Jesus are nearly endless. The class will also explore possible
disjunctures and connections between medieval and modern attitudes toward Jesus, above all in the
contemporary United States.

Class meetings will involve informal lecture, common readings, and active discussion, but the course will
also be project-based, requiring students to devise and carry out evidence-based research projects
related to the topic of Jesus Christ in the Middle Ages.

3.0 CREDIT HOUR COURSE

FULFILLS HS-HISTORICAL ANALYSIS & WB-WORLD BEFORE 1750 GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENT UNDER THE MAKING CONNECTIONS CURRICULUM.

FULFILLS (FC-PAST OR FC-KNOWING) & RESEARCH GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENT UNDER THE IDEAS IN ACTION CURRICULUM.

Brett Whalen is associate professor in the department of history. His first book, Dominion of God: Christendom and Apocalypse in the Middle Ages, explored the medieval idea that all of humankind would join together under the Christian Church before the end of time. Since then, he has published and taught widely on topics including the crusades, the history of the papacy, pilgrimage, and medieval science. In 2012, he won the UNC-CH Chapman prize for excellence in teaching. He currently serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in History.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Camille Goldmon. Enrollment = 24.
When people think of the rural United States South, “radical” is hardly the first word that comes to mind. This course examines histories of activism and radicalism in rural areas of the United States throughout the Jim Crow era. Beginning with Reconstruction and proceeding thematically throughout the long civil rights movement, students will use a combination of lectures, readings, archival sources, and mixed media to engage with rich evidence of contention and cultural reckoning throughout the US South, taking into account the specificities of rural problems including: access to education and healthcare, food sovereignty, lack of protective anonymity in rural/sparsely populated areas, agrarianism and land disparities, gender and class differentials, generational divisions, queer identity, self-defense, environmental activism, labor autonomy, engagement with activist causes and organizations in urban and international spaces, political demagoguery, and counter-activist violence. In this seminar-style course, students will define the word “radical” for themselves, interrogating how it has been used to label various modes of activism throughout modern history.

 

NO INSTRUCTOR BIO ON FILE

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Lisa Lindsay. Enrollment = 24.
This course considers the world oil industry from the nineteenth century to the present from political, economic, cultural, and environmental perspectives. How and why did oil become the most powerful international business of the last 160 years? How and why did struggles over oil become central to world politics? How has oil transformed consumer culture and ordinary lives, in the United States and globally? How have people in different nations wrestled with the trade-offs between the unprecedented wealth and prosperity generated by oil development and the social, economic, and environmental costs that have come with it?  Through interactive mini-lectures, discussions, and assignments, students will explore and debate the answers to these questions, learning about the history of oil while honing your critical thinking and communication skills.
This course can fulfill the Global Understanding and Engagement and Communication Beyond Carolina capacities of the IDEAS in Action General Education curriculum.

 

Lisa Lindsay (https://history.unc.edu/person/lisa-a-lindsay/) specializes in the history of Africa and its global connections.  She has taught at UNC for more than twenty years, served as Chair of the History Department, and directed semester-long Study Abroad programs in Cape Town and London.  She has published books and articles on the history of colonial Nigeria, gender in modern Africa, and the transatlantic slave trade.

MW, 5:05 pm – 6:20 pm. Instructor(s): Henry Gruber. Enrollment = 24.
Premodern Pandemics takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of pandemic diseases and their effects on history in the period before ca. 1600 CE. We will integrate the close reading of primary source accounts with the latest research in the fields of epidemiology and ancient pathogen genetics. Our case studies begin in the ancient Mediterranean and include the so-called Plague of Athens, the Antonine and Cyprian plagues of the Roman Empire, and the great bubonic plague outbreaks known as the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death. We will then cross the Atlantic and examine the role of disease in the encounter between Europeans, Africans, and Indigenous Americans after 1492. Students will work on their writing skills, engage in a group digital project, and present on scholarly articles, all leading up to a major research paper.

Henry Gruber is a historian and archaeologist of the late Roman Mediterranean, the Director of the Ancient World Mapping Center at UNC Chapel Hill, and the editor of the Justinianic Pandemic Sourcebook online. He has spent 13 seasons on archaeological projects throughout the Mediterranean, and integrates the materiality of the ancient world into his research and teaching. His research focuses on social history, economic history, and the history of disease. His current book project, Quantifying Catastrophe: Archaeology, Violence, and the End of Roman Spain analyzes the economic impact of the fall of Rome. His research on the Justinianic or First Plague Pandemic has been published in the Journal of Late Antiquity, Human Ecology, and featured at conferences and workshops in the United States, Germany, and Lithuania.

MW, 3:35 pm – 4:50 pm. Instructor(s): Benjamin Waterhouse. Enrollment = 24.
In the fall of 2008, the world nearly ended. Even if you were too young to understand what was going on, you were most likely aware that something historic—and historically bad—was going down. Words like “meltdown,” “crisis,” and “economic catastrophe” were everywhere. Billions of dollars of wealth disappeared nearly overnight. Entire countries went bankrupt. So what actually happened? How did the “worst financial disaster since the Great Depression” come to pass in the first place? Weren’t there smart people in charge who should have prevented this? And now, looking back from a short distance ahead, how can we put the financial crisis—its causes and its effects—into historical context? What did it mean?
This course will investigate the immediate causes, historical background, and long-term repercussions of the worldwide economic and financial crisis that began in 2007, climaxed in 2008, and continues to shape the economic destiny of the world today. We will consider such themes and issues as the American housing bubble, the role of large and interdependent financial institutions, the challenges and possibilities of financial regulation, and the way economic crisis shapes political philosophies and ideologies.

Benjamin C. Waterhouse is a historian of the culture and politics of business in the modern world. He teaches courses on American business and finance, global capitalism, and the political and social history of modern America. He is the author of One Day I’ll Work for Myself: The Dream and Delusion that Conquered America (Norton, 2024); The Land of Enterprise: A Business History of the United States (Simon & Schuster, 2017); and Lobbying America: The Politics of Business from Nixon to NAFTA (Princeton University Press, 2014).

MW, 3:35 pm – 4:50 pm. Instructor(s): Michael Morgan. Enrollment = 24.
Today, the language of human rights is almost universal. It is fundamental to the way that we understand justice both at home and, especially, abroad. But this was not always the case. Ideas of human rights changed over time, gaining power as a result of political, intellectual, and social developments worldwide. This course looks at the international history of human rights from the Enlightenment to the present and considers how human rights ideas first emerged, how they evolved, and how they became so influential.

NO FIRST YEAR STUDENTS. IT IS RECOMMENDED FOR STUDENTS TO HAVE TAKEN AT LEAST ONE PRIOR HISTORY COURSE.

Michael Morgan specializes in modern international and global history. His first book, The Final Act: The Helsinki Accords and the Transformation of the Cold War (Princeton University Press, 2018), examines the origins and consequences of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the most ambitious diplomatic undertaking of the Cold War and a watershed in the development of human rights. At UNC, he teaches courses on the history of diplomacy and international politics, the Cold War, and the history of human rights. Before coming to UNC, he taught at the US Naval War College and the University of Toronto, where he was the inaugural holder of the Raymond Pryke Chair.

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Andrea Dara Cooper. Enrollment = 4.
The purpose of this course is to explore the role of philosophy in modern Judaism. We will examine how contemporary thinkers have considered philosophy, ethics, and theology from a Jewish perspective. Methodological points to be addressed include: the role of interpretation in Judaism, revelation and redemption, authority and tradition, pluralism and inclusion, suffering and evil, Jewish philosophy in conversation with feminism, gender, race, and colonialism, and contemporary approaches to transcendence.

Questions to be addressed include: Are faith and reason compatible? In what ways have contemporary thinkers understood theology, the study of God, from a Jewish perspective? Should a Jewish thinker be read within an exclusively Judaic framework? This course will consider these methodological questions as starting points for inquiry.

Students in the course will gain a general overview of major topics and thinkers in modern Jewish thought while becoming acquainted with philosophical modes of writing and argumentation. In class, we will read texts critically and closely, analyzing them to outline questions and problems for discussion. We will consider the systems of power that enable the proliferation of marginalization and exclusion along racial, ethnic, gendered, and religious vectors in relation to developments in modern Judaism. We will address the Jewish Enlightenment struggle for emancipation, the categorization of various Jewish communities, and the ideological background to political inequalities. Students will gain a sense of the wide variety of discourses within the field of modern Jewish thought and the transnational dimensions of the discipline.

CROSSLISTED WITH RELI 224H.

Dr. Andrea Dara Cooper is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC. Dr. Cooper works at the intersection of Jewish thought, contemporary philosophy, cultural theory, and gender studies. At UNC she teaches classes on Introduction to Jewish Studies, Human Animals in Ethics and Religion, Women, Gender, and Judaism, and Modern Jewish Thought.

 

MWF, 2:30 pm – 3:20 pm. Instructor(s): Katya Pertsova. Enrollment = 24.
Introduction to the formal analysis of human language, including sounds, words, sentences, and language meaning, plus child language acquisition, language change over time, social attitudes toward language, and similarities and differences among languages. Other topics may include writing systems, animal communication, and language analysis by computers.

Dr. Katya Pertsova is an Associate Professor in the Linguistics Department. She received her PhD. from UCLA in 2007, spent some time at MIT, and two years at the Center of Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. Her research centers on the theoretical and computational models of language learning and human cognition. Her current work, funded by the National Science Foundation, focuses on exploring parallels between linguistic and non-linguistic categorization in connection to so-called “cognitive biases”, systematic predispositions towards particular patterns of thought. She has on-going collaboration Snigdha Chaturvedi in the CS department at UNC on logical fallacy detection by large language models and with the Psychology and Linguistics departments at the University of UMass, Amherst.
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TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm . Instructor(s): Emily Burkhead. Enrollment = 35.
This course serves as a transition from computational to more theoretical mathematics, designed to provide you with the fundamental skills necessary for success in situations that require you to read, write, and reason precisely when working with mathematics. Special emphasis is given to improving your fluency in the use of mathematical vocabulary and notation when writing and critiquing mathematical proofs. Topics are from the foundations of mathematics: logic and proof techniques, set theory, relations and functions, counting methods, and basic number theory. In many ways, this will be the first “abstract” math course in your academic career. Although we will explore specific, concrete examples whenever possible, this course requires you to hone your ability to analyze and articulate the logical essence of the problems being studied. In other words, you will be expected to learn how to communicate coherently and persuasively using the language and the grammar of mathematics.  PREREQUISITE: is MATH 232 or a B or better in MATH 231 or MATH 210.

 

Emily Burkhead holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She has been teaching collegiate mathematics since 2002 and won the Goodman-Petersen Award for Excellence in Teaching, presented by the UNC Mathematics Department, for the 2020 – 2021 academic year. Her professional focus is on mathematics education and best practices in teaching, with research interests in discrete dynamical systems.

 

MWF, 1:25 pm – 2:15 pm. Instructor(s): Pedro Sáenz. Enrollment = 35.
The main topic of this course is ordinary differential equations (ODEs) from two points of view. The first point of view is how ODEs model a wide range of applications from biology, chemistry, engineering and physics. In particular, the laws of chemistry, physics and Nature are not given as “formulas”, rather, they are typically given in terms relations between a function and its derivatives. Classic examples include “population” models where the population might be humans, bacteria, radioactive species, or many other populations. The evolution of the population size is governed by rates for growth versus decay. The second point of view is the methods to solve ODEs, studying a wide range of ODEs for which we exact solution methods are known as well as an even larger range of ODEs for which we must use approximate or numerical solution methods.
The honors section will place greater emphasis than other sections on understanding how the behavior of solutions is tied to the properties of the structure of the ODE itself. E.g., if the ODE is “linear” or “nonlinear” in the unknown function and its derivatives, how does that influence both the methods of solution and the behavior of solutions. This perspective allows one to understand the limitations or successes in how well a given model describes the application it was derived for.
The honors section will be graded on the basis of homework, in-class exams, and a semester project that the instructor and student agree upon ahead of time. Depending on one’s present major, the project may be more mathematical (e.g., methods of proof or underlying mathematical concepts for qualitative behavior or quantitative solutions), or it can involve how ODEs are used in an area of application of interest to the student (e.g., biology, chemistry, economics, finance, marine sciences, social sciences). It is possible for a pair of students to create a team project.
Prerequisites: A grade of B+ or higher in Math 233 or 233H at UNC, or permission of the instructor in special cases.

 

NO INSTRUCTOR BIO ON FILE

M, 12:00pm – 12:50pm. Instructor(s): Leyla Mangual-Santiago. Enrollment = 20.
This course is entirely hands-on. Under the direction of the newsroom managers, students will write, produce, and broadcast a weekly TV news program and provide news content for other MJ-school platforms. Students will fill all normal newsroom positions.

 

PRE-REQUISITE: MEJO 522.001

INSTRUCTOR CONSENT REQUIRED.

Leyla Santiago joined the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media in the fall of 2023 as the Daniels Executive-In-Residence. Santiago has worked in local, national and international newsrooms as a broadcast journalist. Most recently, she was a correspondent for CNN, based in Miami, and was at the forefront of CNN’s coverage on natural disasters, immigration, the Covid-19 pandemic, politics, and the relationship between the United States and Latin America.

After her extensive coverage of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Santiago was nominated for a Peabody Award and her team won an Edward R. Murrow award. She was one of the first to reach some of the most remote parts of the island after the hurricane. Officials added more cases to the list of hurricane-related deaths after her investigation exposed inaccuracies in the government’s low death toll.

In 2020, Santiago joined CNN’s political team to report from the campaign trail. She covered the presidential bids of Congressman Beto O’Rourke and Senator Elizabeth Warren and captured the campaigns’ courtship of voters, focusing on the issues that mattered most to communities across the country.

In April of 2018, Santiago spent nearly a month traveling through Mexico with a caravan of migrants thrust into the national spotlight after President Trump tweeted about the group. Santiago introduced viewers to the families of the caravan and explained the complexities of U.S. immigration laws. She also garnered the prestigious Alfred I. DuPont award for the documentary, “The Journey Alone,” about the surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America and Mexico crossing the U.S southern border in 2014.

Santiago was named to Crain NewsPro’s “12 to Watch in TV News” in 2019.

Before joining CNN, She reported as a journalist for WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina; KBAK/KBFX in Bakersfield, California, KTUU in Anchorage, Alaska; and NBC29 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

M, 9:05 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Charles Tuggle. Enrollment = 20.
This course is entirely hands-on. Under the direction of the newsroom managers, students will write, produce, and broadcast a weekly TV news program and provide news content for other MJ-school platforms. Students will fill all normal newsroom positions.

INSTRUCTOR CONSENT REQUIRED.

C.A. Tuggle — Dr. T to his students — enjoyed a 16-year career in local television news and media relations before returning to academia to educate and train a new wave of broadcast journalists. He spent 11 years at WFLA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Tampa/St. Petersburg, the nation’s 13th largest media market. He has held many newsroom titles, but he spent most of his career as a sports reporter/producer.

His forte as a teacher is developing storytellers — journalists who can use the language and all the tools available to them to turn out memorable broadcast reports. Broadcast and electronic journalism students broadcast one live installment of the TV news program Carolina Week, one live episode of the radio newscast Carolina Connection and one live installment of the sports highlights, analysis and commentary show SportsXtra per week.

Tuggle is the recipient of an Edward Kidder Graham superlative faculty award, the David Brinkley Teaching Excellence Award and the Ed Bliss Award, which is a national honor for broadcast journalism educators who have made significant and lasting contributions to the field throughout their careers.

W, 11:15 am – 12:30 pm. Instructor(s): Adam Hochberg. Enrollment = 20.
A practicum class in which students work under faculty guidance to produce news stories, features, interviews, sports stories, podcasts, and other audio content. Student work is broadcast on “Carolina Connection” — a weekly radio program — and is distributed on Spotify and other digital platforms. Students is 523H.003 also work as producers and mentors for the weekly program, setting each week’s coverage agenda and assigning other students to cover stories as needed.

 

PRE-REQUISITE: MEJO 426.

INSTRUCTOR CONSENT REQUIRED.

Adam Hochberg teaches journalism at the University of North Carolina School of Media and Journalism. Students in his practicum class produce a weekly radio newsmagazine and podcast. In 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021, the program received the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television Digital News Association, which named it the nation’s top student newscast. Five times, the program has received the top national collegiate award from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Hochberg has also taught accountability journalism and journalism ethics. He is often interviewed in the media on issues of ethics and journalistic standards.
Hochberg is a veteran journalist and educator with over two decades of experience in national news. A former correspondent for NPR, he has won multiple national journalism awards, including an Edward R. Murrow Award for national investigative journalism in 2013.
Hochberg leads “The American Homefront Project,” a nationwide collaboration of public radio newsrooms that produce in-depth journalism on military and veterans issues.
A native of Chicago, Hochberg received his master’s degree in 1986 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated from Ohio University in 1985. He lives with his wife and daughter in Chapel Hill.

MW, 12:30 PM – 1:35 PM. Instructor(s): Amy Fulk. Enrollment = 20.
This is a serious course for serious students. This course is entirely hands-on. Under the direction of the instructor, students from the School’s various specialty areas will work together to find, produce and market stories that would attract the attention of professional media partners throughout the state and region, and at times, the nation. We will produce multiple versions of each story and expect each to be at a level of quality to warrant publication. We expect you to be an expert on your particular platform, and conversant enough with the other platforms to earn the title of APJ. (all-platform journalist) We will look for stories with broad appeal. We will concentrate on trends and developments that many news organizations don’t have the manpower to cover. The course will involve and require substantial field work from all students enrolled.

The majority of the work in this class will be fieldwork — from chasing down leads to investigating tips, securing sources, performing print, audio or video interviews, capturing video and audio, pitching stories to news directors, promoting the students’ work regionally, etc. Each week, every student on every team will spend a majority of his or her time working outside the classroom to capture and gather the raw materials necessary to turn these packages into professional-quality work. The stories will involve local, regional and national issues, and the teams will pitch all the completed packages to professional news outlets across the state, region and country.
This is not your typical college course, so don’t treat it like one. This will mimic the professional journalist’s work environment more than any other class in the School of Media and Journalism.

The marketing team is charged with coordinating with the content teams so that we might keep our professional partners apprised as we move through the newsgathering, production, and delivery phases of the work. As a team, the marketing group will produce contact lists for media outlets across the state, building on the strong relationships established in earlier semesters. The marketing team will also continue to brand the Media Hub initiative, chart pickups by professional outlets, develop best practices, and contribute to the degree possible to content creation.

INSTRUCTOR CONSENT REQUIRED.

NO INSTRUCTOR BIO ON FILE

MW, 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm. Instructor(s): Charles Tuggle. Enrollment = 20.
This is a serious course for serious students. This course is entirely hands-on. Under the direction of the instructor, students from the School’s various specialty areas will work together to find, produce and market stories that would attract the attention of professional media partners throughout the state and region, and at times, the nation. We will produce multiple versions of each story and expect each to be at a level of quality to warrant publication. We expect you to be an expert on your particular platform, and conversant enough with the other platforms to earn the title of APJ. (all-platform journalist) We will look for stories with broad appeal. We will concentrate on trends and developments that many news organizations don’t have the manpower to cover. The course will involve and require substantial field work from all students enrolled.

The majority of the work in this class will be fieldwork — from chasing down leads to investigating tips, securing sources, performing print, audio or video interviews, capturing video and audio, pitching stories to news directors, promoting the students’ work regionally, etc. Each week, every student on every team will spend a majority of his or her time working outside the classroom to capture and gather the raw materials necessary to turn these packages into professional-quality work. The stories will involve local, regional and national issues, and the teams will pitch all the completed packages to professional news outlets across the state, region and country.
This is not your typical college course, so don’t treat it like one. This will mimic the professional journalist’s work environment more than any other class in the School of Media and Journalism.

The marketing team is charged with coordinating with the content teams so that we might keep our professional partners apprised as we move through the newsgathering, production, and delivery phases of the work. As a team, the marketing group will produce contact lists for media outlets across the state, building on the strong relationships established in earlier semesters. The marketing team will also continue to brand the Media Hub initiative, chart pickups by professional outlets, develop best practices, and contribute to the degree possible to content creation.

INSTRUCTOR CONSENT REQUIRED.

C.A. Tuggle — Dr. T to his students — enjoyed a 16-year career in local television news and media relations before returning to academia to educate and train a new wave of broadcast journalists. He spent 11 years at WFLA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Tampa/St. Petersburg, the nation’s 13th largest media market. He has held many newsroom titles, but he spent most of his career as a sports reporter/producer.

His forte as a teacher is developing storytellers — journalists who can use the language and all the tools available to them to turn out memorable broadcast reports. Broadcast and electronic journalism students broadcast one live installment of the TV news program Carolina Week, one live episode of the radio newscast Carolina Connection and one live installment of the sports highlights, analysis and commentary show SportsXtra per week.

Tuggle is the recipient of an Edward Kidder Graham superlative faculty award, the David Brinkley Teaching Excellence Award and the Ed Bliss Award, which is a national honor for broadcast journalism educators who have made significant and lasting contributions to the field throughout their careers.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Joshua Carlton. Enrollment = 20.
The contemporary digital information environment is creating new opportunities for marketers and advertisers to communicate with and engage consumers. This course provides the practical knowledge and insights on current and emerging digital technologies and experiences. Students will gain knowledge about various opportunities for strategically implementing digital media into communications plans through case study analysis and hands-on projects. Students will be required to establish digital marketing objectives and strategies, properly select digital media platforms, and monitor and measure the results of those efforts. While the course provides a framework of how to evaluate and construct digital communication strategies and plans, its focus is on applying critical reasoning skills through assignments and a progressive digital campaigns project. Possessing the skills to evaluate and create digital marketing and advertising is valuable for students planning careers in communications, branding, marketing, or consulting, and is a fundamental function across all industries and organizations.

 

Pre-Req – MEJO 379

Josh Carlton joins UNC Hussman with more than two decades of experience in brand strategy, marketing communications and customer insights consulting. He has worked with more than 140 brands across most industries, including automotive, retail, CPG and technology.  Carlton has held leadership roles at agencies including The Martin Agency and McKinney. He served as an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University from 2008-10 and was initially introduced to UNC Hussman as an adjunct instructor from 2014-21. He specializes in uncovering human insights through data and translating them into actionable strategies.  Carlton earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of Richmond and holds an M.A. in advertising, communications and account planning from the University of Texas at Austin. At UNC Hussman, he teaches advertising and strategic communication courses; mentors students; and directs the school’s M.A. in Digital Communication program.
Bio link

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Matthew Taylor. Enrollment = 24.
“How is solving a crime like diagnosing an illness? Why do descriptions of diseases follow narrative patterns? What’s behind the rhetoric of “battling” disease, and why are social problems often characterized as “ills,” “plagues,” and “cancers”? How have notions of “health” and “normality” resulted in such things as forced sterilization and genocide? What are the cultural meanings associated with “life” and “death”? What do the stories we create—about disability and disease, about who (and what) has the power to heal, about the fear of death and desire for transcendence—tell us about our culture, our history, and the experience of being human? This course will provide an introduction to Health Humanities, a new area of study that combines methods and topics from literary studies, medicine, cultural studies, and anthropology. We’ll read novels, screen films and television episodes, learn about illnesses and treatments, and explore multidisciplinary perspectives as we investigate the close affinities among literary representation, medical science, and clinical practice. We’ll also play close attention to how ideas about sickness have changed over time and across cultures. Topics will include the doctor-patient relationship, medical detection, the rise of psychiatry, illness and social exclusion, pandemics and the “outbreak narrative,” government eugenics programs, the quest for immortality, and end-of-life care.”

Prerequisites: This course welcomes students from all fields—especially humanities majors and those interested in careers in healthcare and health affairs.

Class format:  “There will be two discussion-based meetings per week. During some meetings we may take occasional field trips to on-campus sites such as the Ackland and the Greenlaw Gameroom.”

Texts:  Literary works may include Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, a science fictional exploration of the lives of medical clones; first-person narratives of illness; and movies such as How to Survive a Plague. Nonfiction works will include articles drawn from journalism, medicine, anthropology, and history. We’ll conclude with selections from Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, a powerful reflection on longevity and humane care for those at the end of life.

Assignments: “Two short response essays, reading quizzes, an illness narrative, and a take-home final. The illness narrative is a research project that focuses on the cultural, literary, and biological aspects of any medical condition of the student’s choosing.”

 

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, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Rebecca Kreitzer. Enrollment = 4.
NO COURSE DESCRIPTION ON FILE.

Rebecca Kreitzer is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned a BA in Chinese and Political Science from Macalester College, and her MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Iowa. Her research explores questions of public opinion, interest groups, representation, policy feedback and policy diffusion in the states, with an area of expertise in gender and sexuality policy.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Pamela Lothspeich. Enrollment = 6.
The Partition of India in 1947 was an incredibly tumultuous event, characterized by unprecedented mass migration, upheaval and violence. This event, precipitated by a hasty decision on the part of the deposed British, to carve Pakistan out of India, still has huge consequences in the region. Course materials will include works of fiction, first-person accounts, essays by nationalist leaders, and historical writings, as well as films and documentaries. Readings and films represent a range of experiences by people of different religious communities, regions, and language groups. Their stories illustrate not only the physical violence and economic toll of Partition, but also the psychological and emotional effects on the people who lived through it. To conclude, we will reflect upon how Partition still affects regional geopolitics and contributes to communal tensions today.

CROSSLISTED W ASIA 331H & HIST 335H.

Pamela Lothspeich (she/her) is Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Director of the Carolina Asia Center. She teaches courses on South Asian literature, culture, theatre, and film, and enjoys learning with and mentoring students at Carolina. Her research focuses on modern adaptations of the Indian epics in various forms. Prof. Lothspeich is the author of The Radheshyam Ramayan in Text and Performance (2025) and Epic Nation: Reimagining the Mahabharata in the Age of Empire (2009), editor of The Epic World (2024), and co-editor, with Harshita Mruthinti Kamath, of Mimetic Desires: Impersonation and Guising across South Asia (2022). She is an avid rose gardener, soap maker, and potter in her non-academic life.

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Robert Jenkins. Enrollment = 5.
This course explores the development of Euro-Atlantic security institutions and compares security policy in the United States and Europe. Initial focus begins with a discussion of the concept of security and a selected review of international relations theorizing on interstate alliances and security structures. The bulk of the course addresses concrete Trans-Atlantic institutions and policies, beginning with the development of NATO, as the institution bridging security policy in the United States and Europe from the post-World War II period through the Cold War and its aftermath, and continuing through NATO enlargement and its missions in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Libya. The growth of European Union security institutions, particularly the evolution of Common Security and Defense Policy, is another important focus, as are rifts in Trans-Atlantic relations during the 2000s. The triangular relationship between NATO, the EU, and Russia is also considered. These relations provide a context for interpreting approaches to the war in Ukraine. The course concludes with challenges from climate change and the rise of China.

Robert M. Jenkins is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  A long-time specialist in Central and Eastern Europe, his expertise also includes the European Union, NATO, international organizations, and climate change policy. His current research includes projects on comparative Transatlantic policies on climate change and international intervention into the post-conflict Western Balkans. Dr. Jenkins is committed to study abroad programs, leading semester programs in Brussels (2022, 2023, 2025), Cape Town (2013, 2016), and a long-running 6-week summer program in the Balkans and Vienna (12 times since 2002, most recently 2025).

MW, 5:05 pm – 6:20 pm. Instructor(s): James Pryor. Enrollment = 24.
This course will be an introduction to philosophy in the analytic tradition, by focusing on a few representative issues:

1. How can we tell whether animals and future computers have “minds” — that is, their own thoughts, experiences, ambitions, self-awareness, and so on — or whether they’re instead just mindless automata?

2. Relations between minds, brains, and machines: Are your mind and body made of different stuffs? If a machine duplicates the neural structure of your brain, would it have the same thoughts and other mental states that you have?

3. What does it take to have free will? Is this incompatible with one’s choices being programmed or physically determined?

The course will place a strong emphasis on learning how to read philosophical texts and how to evaluate and produce philosophically compelling arguments. The format will vary between lectures and in-class group discussion.

 

Jim Pryor joined the Philosophy department in 2020. Before that, he spent time at NYU, Harvard, and Princeton. His research and teaching spans epistemology, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind.

TR, 5:00 pm – 6:15 pm. Instructor(s): Pietro Cibinel. Enrollment = 24.

This course will use the tools of philosophy to address key ethical questions that we face as individuals and as a society. Is eating meat morally justified? What do we owe to people that might exist in the future? When is blame appropriate? How significant is the distinction between killing and letting die? Our focus will be on analyzing and evaluating arguments for ethical conclusions that are relevant to how we lead our lives and arrange our society. Along the way, we will cover topics in such areas as animal ethics, medical ethics, the ethics of giving, and the ethics of war.

 

Pietro’s research focuses on topics at the intersection of ethics and decision theory, and he has additional interests in epistemology. Pietro completed his PhD at Princeton University; he holds a BPhil from the University of Oxford and a BA from Lancaster University.

M, 3:35 pm – 6:05 pm. Instructor(s): Sarah Stroud. Enrollment = 24.
An examination of how philosophical issues are explored in the medium of film. We will engage with a number of philosophical themes, questions, and topics, ranging from metaphysics and epistemology to ethics and political philosophy. Our discussions of philosophical texts will proceed hand in hand with close examination of classic and more recent films which bring those issues to life. A recurring theme of the course will be the distinctive ways in which the cinematic medium stimulates and enhances philosophical reflection.
The target audience for this course is students with some Philosophy background (required) who are interested in exploring philosophical questions through film. As an Honors section, this course will require consistent active participation in class discussion and frequent writing.

Sarah Stroud joined Carolina in 2018 as Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Parr Center for Ethics. She holds degrees from Harvard (A.B.) and Princeton (Ph.D.) and taught previously at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

MWF, 9:05 am – 9:55 am; Recitation: , OR , . Instructor(s): Stefan Jeglinski. Enrollment = 24.
Physical Computing is an introduction to the computing archetype known as the microcontroller. Microcontrollers are ubiquitous but mostly hidden in our lives – they are the brains of almost anything electronic that you interact with – virtually all appliances, vehicles, and consumer products that require any sort of input/output display, and/or remote connection or automation, and/or some degree of computation, contain at their heart a microcontroller.

A microcontroller is an electronic interface to the outside world. Its interface facilitates measurements of an environment and then controls that environment as needed. The environment can be either local (e.g., adjusting the speed of an automobile engine in response to an accelerator pedal) or remote (e.g., sensing the presence of a person in a room on the other side of the world and turning a light on in response). Microcontroller implementations use sensors and actuators, support electronics, and programming to accomplish these tasks.

Students that finish this course will be able to prototype basic microcontroller implementations using sensors, actuators, and support electronics, and write code that ties the pieces together. Honors students will perform extra course projects that extend these prototypes.

For the SP26 semester only, the course will feature remote lecturing and specially scheduled in-person support (office hours and lab help). All lectures will be recorded, and the majority of labs will be performed by students on their own time and in their own setting.

In addition to the lecture and lab activities, all students will learn the mechanics of writing a “feasibility proposal” suitable for research grant submissions. A special assignment will require all students to analyze and write such a proposal.

This course has prerequisites because it is an elective for several departments; however, the instructor waives all such prerequisites and permission is granted to all who want to take the course, with only a few caveats. No experience is necessary – the course is designed to teach students the basics of electronics and programming needed to accomplish the course objectives.

 

In a previous 30-year engineering career, Stefan Jeglinski designed and built instrumentation, learned to program from scratch, and performed research and development for large and small companies. For five years he was an actual rocket scientist, so when he says “this ain’t rocket science,” he knows what he’s talking about! He broke away from rockets to complete his PhD in experimental condensed matter physics at the University of Utah, and then returned to industry where he spent over 15 years in all aspects of product development for electron microscopy.
Since arriving at UNC in 2010, Dr J (as he is known to students) has helped transform the introductory sequence of physics courses, developed a First Year Seminar in Mechatronics, and teaches his favorite course, Physical Computing, as a yearly deep dive into the latest microcontroller technology. Not originally an academic, he is here to share everything he’s learned about the intersection of electronics, computer hardware, and programming.

MWF, 10:10 am – 11:00 am. Instructor(s): Amanuel Gebremichael. Enrollment = 24.
This course is an introduction to American political institutions, political behavior, and the policy process. In this course we will discuss the origins of the current governmental system in America, the structure of the U.S. government, and how theories of American government apply to current events and problems the government and citizens face today.  At the end of the course students should have a greater understanding of government, political differences, and how to be an engaged citizen in our democracy.

Amanuel T. Gebremichael is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests are in African-American politics, economic inequality in the U.S., and Pan-Africanism. Dr. Gebremichael earned his Ph.D. in Government from the University of Virginia and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University prior to joining UNC.

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Caitlin Andrews-Lee. Enrollment = 24.
This course provides an overview of major topics in the study of Latin American politics. It is aimed at students with a desire to understand how Latin American societies and governments are organized, what the major problems are that these societies are facing, and what accounts for different outcomes from the point of view of the welfare of citizens. We shall examine both common traits in the region’s history, culture, and economic, political, and social structures, and important differences between countries in these dimensions. We shall gain an understanding of the diversity of national experiences and a somewhat deeper knowledge of a few select cases: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Cuba, and Mexico.

 

Caitlin Andrews-Lee is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She received her Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin and was an Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University prior to joining UNC. Andrews-Lee’s research and teaching interests are in comparative politics and political behavior, with an emphasis on charismatic leadership and followership in Latin America. She is the author of The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements: Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Her research has also been published in several academic journals. Her current project investigates the gendered nature of charismatic authority and explores under what conditions women can defy expectations and establish legitimacy as charismatic leaders.

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Simon Weschle. Enrollment = 22.
The course is designed to familiarize you with European politics. It introduces you to the political institutions and policies of the European countries and the European Union. The course is divided into three sections. The first part focuses on the domestic politics of European countries, and explores topics like voter behavior, political parties, electoral systems, and welfare states. The second part focuses on the history and institutions of the European Union (EU). Finally, we will examine some of the most important challenges and opportunities that European countries and the EU are facing, looking at topics like immigration, populism, democratic backsliding, population aging, and external relations.

 

CROSSLISTED W/ EURO 239H.

Simon Weschle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science. His research and teaching focus on democratic representation and accountability, with a geographic focus on Europe.

W, 3:35 PM – 6:20 PM. Instructor(s): Niklaus Steiner. Enrollment = 24.
While the global movement of products, services, ideas, and information is increasingly free, the movement of people across borders remains tightly controlled by governments. This control over international migration is a highly contested issue, and it is complicated by the fact that never before have so many people had the ability to move from one country to another while at the same time governments have never had so much power to control this movement. This class explores the moral, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of this movement across international borders. The class is based on discussions (as opposed to lectures) and tackles thorny questions like: do we have an obligation to let poor people into our rich country? what constitutes persecution? how do foreigners affect national identity?  how should citizenship be allocated? We will pay particular attention to the distinction between migrants who move voluntarily (immigrants) and those who are forced to flee (refugees) – is this an important distinction to make, and does one group deserve admission more than the other?  No prior knowledge or experience is needed; instead, students need to be ready to dig deep into all sides of migration issues through reading, writing and discussion. This class encourages students from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to enroll because it benefits significantly from such diversity.

One goal of this class is to build your confidence to read, write and discuss without the assistance of AI. Therefore, we will usually leave our laptops closed in class, and you will write the midterm and the final in class. I will ask you to print out many of the articles and bring them to class, so mark them up to facilitate our discussions. From my experience, you will not do well in this class if you rely on AI to do the readings for you.

 

Niklaus Steiner is a Professor of the Practice in Political Science. A native of Switzerland who moved to the U.S. in his youth, Steiner has had the good fortune of moving between cultures all his life, and this experience shapes his academic focus. Steiner earned a B.A. with Highest Honors in International Studies at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in Political Science at Northwestern University. His research and teaching interests include migration, refugees, nationalism, and citizenship.

 

 

TR, 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm. Instructor(s): Junghyun Lim. Enrollment = 24.
Migration is a global phenomenon. Approximately 4% of the world’s population lives in a country different from where they were born, and this number is growing steadily. What drives this increasing human mobility? What are the political and economic causes and consequences of global migration? This course explores these key questions surrounding international migration and critically examines its broader implications for politics and the global economy.

Junghyun Lim is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her research is on international and comparative political economy, with a special focus on the politics of migration and globalization. Junghyun’s work has been published or is forthcoming in Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies, Democratization, and Nature Communications. Before joining UNC, Junghyun served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Borders and Boundaries Lab at University of Pennsylvania, and at Princeton University’s Niehaus Center for Globalization & Governance. She completed her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. In her work, Junghyun uses a diverse set of methods including causal inference with observational data, experiments, and computational tools such as text analysis and machine learning.

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Robert Jenkins. Enrollment = 19.
This course explores the development of Euro-Atlantic security institutions and compares security policy in the United States and Europe. Initial focus begins with a discussion of the concept of security and a selected review of international relations theorizing on interstate alliances and security structures. The bulk of the course addresses concrete Trans-Atlantic institutions and policies, beginning with the development of NATO, as the institution bridging security policy in the United States and Europe from the post-World War II period through the Cold War and its aftermath, and continuing through NATO enlargement and its missions in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Libya. The growth of European Union security institutions, particularly the evolution of Common Security and Defense Policy, is another important focus, as are rifts in Trans-Atlantic relations during the 2000s. The triangular relationship between NATO, the EU, and Russia is also considered. These relations provide a context for interpreting approaches to the war in Ukraine. The course concludes with challenges from climate change and the rise of China.

Robert M. Jenkins is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  A long-time specialist in Central and Eastern Europe, his expertise also includes the European Union, NATO, international organizations, and climate change policy. His current research includes projects on comparative Transatlantic policies on climate change and international intervention into the post-conflict Western Balkans. Dr. Jenkins is committed to study abroad programs, leading semester programs in Brussels (2022, 2023, 2025), Cape Town (2013, 2016), and a long-running 6-week summer program in the Balkans and Vienna (12 times since 2002, most recently 2025).

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Peter Gordon. Enrollment = 24.
Topics in vision, audition, and the lower senses. Receptor mechanisms, psychophysical methods, and selected perceptual phenomena will be discussed.

PREREQUISITE: PSYC 101.

I am a cognitive scientist who takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying how people take in and use information from the world. A major focus of my work is the interface between perception and language comprehension, a topic that I have pursued by examining the role of higher-level auditory processing in the recognition of spoken language and the manner in which visual and oculomotor factors shape reading comprehension.

TR, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm. Instructor(s): Charlie Wiss. Enrollment = 24.
: This course will focus on providing an overview of many of the major psychological disorders, with a focus on adult disorders. The major objectives of this course will be for the students to:
· Gain mastery of the diagnostic criteria and identifying features that are associated with each disorder
· Identify and distinguish the disorders
· Have a thorough understanding of the etiologic theories associated with each disorder.
· Understand the major treatment approaches associated with each disorder.
The course will utilize a variety of formats including lectures, discussions, videos, and group presentations. We will attempt to move beyond the definitions of the disorders toward a more nuanced understanding of how they manifest in real life and how modern social, cultural, and biological forces may impact them.

 

My background is in Clinical Psychology and my early career was spent providing psychotherapy for children, adolescents, and adults; with a focus on adolescents with moderate to severe mental illnesses. This background informs my teaching and I tend to focus more on clinical presentation than statistical trends.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Patrick Curran. Enrollment = 24.
PSYC 532H will offer an in-depth exploration of the science of quantitative psychology. Although the field of statistics is most commonly associated with quantitative psychology (e.g., statistical methods used to analyze psychological data), this represents only one part of a much broader area of scientific inquiry. Additional components of quantitative psychology include psychometrics (e.g., the measurement of psychological constructs such as depression or motivation), assessment (e.g., personality, intelligence), testing (e.g., academic, military), personnel selection (e.g., industrial/organizational psychology), evaluation (e.g., treatment outcome, program evaluation), and research design (e.g., experimental and quasi-experimental design). The primary objective of this course is to systematically study the core components that make up the science of quantitative psychology through the design and execution of hands-on empirical research. Given the variety of research conducted in quantitative psychology, the research-component of the course will be equally varied. Empirical research will be conducted using computer simulations, the analysis of existing data, and the design and collection of new empirical data. Class lectures will focus on the presentation and discussion of specific topical modules (e.g., applied statistics, psychometrics, assessment, scale construction) and research projects will be conducted within each module to parallel the topic of study. The organizing goal is to conduct a series of specific research projects throughout the semester that will culminate in a larger final project that will be presented in a research symposium held at the end of the semester. Upon completion of the course, students should have acquired not only a broad introduction to the field of quantitative psychology, but should also have acquired an appreciation for the science of quantitative methods as a mechanism for generating new knowledge.
Prerequisites & Course Attributes:
Prerequisite: PSYC 101, PSYC 210 OR 215 OR SOCI 252 OR STOR 155.
Registration Procedures:
*Honors Carolina students may register beginning on their enrollment appointment date. Other students may register beginning April 12.
*Enrollment capacity increases on Apr 5 (18) and Apr 9 (24).

Areas of Research: Latent variable models, multilevel models, substance abuse in adolescents.

M, 4:40 pm – 7:40 pm. Instructor(s): Alice Ammerman. Enrollment = 24.
The innovative and sustainable nature of entrepreneurial pursuit can benefit public health initiatives, especially when entrepreneurship identifies economically self-sustaining solutions to public health challenges. This three-credit course will introduces students to basic concepts and case studies of commercial and social entrepreneurship as applied to the pursuit of public health through both for-profit and non-profit entities. This course features many guest speakers with successful experience in public health entrepreneurship in diverse arenas.

At the core of this course is a real-world project where students will work in groups to design their own start-ups, refining both their idea throughout the semester and pitching it to experienced entrepreneurs for feedback.

 

Dr. Alice Ammerman is interested in design, testing, implementation and dissemination of innovative clinical and community-based nutrition and physical activity interventions for chronic disease risk reduction in low income and minority populations. She is Director of the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP). Dr. Ammerman and colleagues have developed and are testing the “Med-South” diet which is the Mediterranean diet adapted to agricultural availability and taste preferences in the Southeastern US. Her research addresses the role of sustainable food systems in health, the environment, and economic well-being, emphasizing the social determinants of health, particularly food access and food insecurity.  Dr. Ammerman also teaches a course in food systems and the environment. She leads the culinary medicine component of the UNC School of Medicine curriculum and has founded both a for profit and not profit organization addressing nutrition security and rural agricultural opportunity.

 

MWF, 12:20 pm – 1:10 pm. Instructor(s): Maria Carnovale. Enrollment = 24.
This course will introduce students to public policy as a discipline and the policy analysis process. The process involves defining a public problem and understanding stakeholders and their perspectives; describing public problems with quantitative data; understanding market failures and other rationales for government involvement; selecting criteria relevant for decision-making; constructing policy alternatives; evaluating the different alternatives against the stated policy criteria; and making and communicating a recommendation. This is a research-based and communication-intensive course, which requires the completion of a policy brief in several, iterative steps. The course incorporates current events and relevant case studies to motivate and explain the policy analysis process.

 

Maria Carnovale studies under what conditions technology maximizes well-being without negatively impacting individuals and communities and how policies can foster this process. She has written about the social and ethical implications of digital platforms, digital contact tracing, and more recently smart sanitation, among other topics. An economist by training, after receiving her PhD in Public Policy from Duke University in 2019, she joined the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) first as a postdoctoral fellow and later as an adjunct lecturer. In 2020, she was a Lead Policy Analyst at the Duke Initiative for Science and Society, before joining the Harvard Kennedy School as a Technology and Human Rights Fellow. Since 2021, she served as Vice President at the Institute for Technology and Global Health where she led the communications team, as a Visiting Associate at the Pulte Institute for Global Development at the University of Notre Dame, as Senior Policy Analyst at Katametron, a non-profit based in Geneva, and she coordinated stakeholder engagement at NxtWork, a non-profit aimed at empowering minority women in the corporate world. An avid writer, her work has been published on Slate, Issues and Zocalo, among other publications.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): Fenaba Addo. Enrollment = 24.
This course will introduce students to public policy as a discipline and the policy analysis process. The process involves defining a public problem and understanding stakeholders and their perspectives; describing public problems with quantitative data; understanding market failures and other rationales for government involvement; selecting criteria relevant for decision-making; constructing policy alternatives; evaluating the different alternatives against the stated policy criteria; and making and communicating a recommendation. This is a research-based and communication-intensive course, which requires the completion of a policy brief in several, iterative steps. The course incorporates current events and relevant case studies to motivate and explain the policy analysis process.

 

Fenaba R. Addo is an associate professor in the department of public policy. Her work examines debt and wealth inequality with a focus on family and relationships and higher education, racial stratification, and union formation and economic strain as a social determinant of health and well-being.  She received her Ph.D. in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University and holds a B.S. in Economics from Duke University.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Rebecca Kreitzer. Enrollment = 20.
NO COURSE DESCRIPTION ON FILE.

Rebecca Kreitzer is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned a BA in Chinese and Political Science from Macalester College, and her MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Iowa. Her research explores questions of public opinion, interest groups, representation, policy feedback and policy diffusion in the states, with an area of expertise in gender and sexuality policy.

MW, 3:35 pm – 4:50 pm. Instructor(s): Benjamin Meier. Enrollment = 24.
PLCY 340H examines arguments about justice in public policy, considering the ethical foundations of both the means and ends of policy choices. We first focus on the means used to implement policies.  In the pursuit of important public goals, is it legitimate for officials to use means that would otherwise be unethical?  We then explore the ends of policies.  How are we to know whether a policy is just?  Upon what normative foundations can our consideration of individual policies rest?  Those who complete this course will be able to identify ethical issues in public policy, analyze them through established theoretical frameworks, and relate them to specific cases in current events.

Professor Meier’s interdisciplinary research—at the intersection of international law, public policy, and global health—examines the human rights norms that underlie global health policy.  In teaching UNC courses in Justice in Public Policy, Global Health & Human Rights, and Global Health Law & Policy, Professor Meier has been awarded the 2011 William C. Friday Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2013 James M. Johnston Teaching Excellence Award, the 2015 Zachary Taylor Smith Distinguished Professorship in Undergraduate Teaching, and six straight annual awards for Best Teacher in Public Policy.  He received his Ph.D. in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University, his J.D. and LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Cornell Law School, and his B.A. in Biochemistry from Cornell University.

 

TR, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Instructor(s): Andrea Dara Cooper. Enrollment = 20.
The purpose of this course is to explore the role of philosophy in modern Judaism. We will examine how contemporary thinkers have considered philosophy, ethics, and theology from a Jewish perspective. Methodological points to be addressed include: the role of interpretation in Judaism, revelation and redemption, authority and tradition, pluralism and inclusion, suffering and evil, Jewish philosophy in conversation with feminism, gender, race, and colonialism, and contemporary approaches to transcendence.

Questions to be addressed include: Are faith and reason compatible? In what ways have contemporary thinkers understood theology, the study of God, from a Jewish perspective? Should a Jewish thinker be read within an exclusively Judaic framework? This course will consider these methodological questions as starting points for inquiry.

Students in the course will gain a general overview of major topics and thinkers in modern Jewish thought while becoming acquainted with philosophical modes of writing and argumentation. In class, we will read texts critically and closely, analyzing them to outline questions and problems for discussion. We will consider the systems of power that enable the proliferation of marginalization and exclusion along racial, ethnic, gendered, and religious vectors in relation to developments in modern Judaism. We will address the Jewish Enlightenment struggle for emancipation, the categorization of various Jewish communities, and the ideological background to political inequalities. Students will gain a sense of the wide variety of discourses within the field of modern Jewish thought and the transnational dimensions of the discipline.

CROSSLISTED WITH RELI 224H.

Dr. Andrea Dara Cooper is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC. Dr. Cooper works at the intersection of Jewish thought, contemporary philosophy, cultural theory, and gender studies. At UNC she teaches classes on Introduction to Jewish Studies, Human Animals in Ethics and Religion, Women, Gender, and Judaism, and Modern Jewish Thought.

 

TR, 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm. Instructor(s): Juliane Hammer. Enrollment = 24.
This course introduces students the presence of Muslims in the United States through both historical and thematic inquiry. We start with a historical survey spanning enslaved African Muslims in the Americas in the antebellum period to the ongoing marginalization of US Muslims in the first quarter of the 21st century. We then explore, in thematic units, topics such as American Muslim communal and demographic diversity, political and civic organizations, political participation, religious practices as well as family, education, knowledge production and cultural diversity. Special attention will be paid to questions of gender, race, and citizenship, as well as to issues of religious authority and authenticity. The course engages diverse materials within the contexts of both American religious history and Islam as a global religious tradition.

Dr. Juliane Hammer is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC. Hammer previously taught at Elon University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Princeton University, and George Mason University. She specializes in the study of gender and sexuality in Muslim contexts, race and gender in US Muslim communities, as well as contemporary Muslim thought, activism, and practice, and Sufism. Her publications include Palestinians Born in Exile: Diaspora and the Search for a Homeland (University of Texas Press, 2005), American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism: More Than a Prayer (University of Texas Press, 2012), and Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts against Domestic Violence (Princeton University Press, 2019). She is also the co-editor (with Omid Safi) of the Cambridge Companion to American Islam (2013) and (with Samah Choudhury) of Sexual Violence in Muslim Communities: Towards Awareness and Accountability (2024).

T, 3:30 pm – 6:20 pm. Instructor(s): Brendan Thornton. Enrollment = 24.
This course explores the diverse phenomenon of “spirit possession” and introduces
students to various theoretical and methodological approaches to its academic study. It
aims to familiarize students with the diversity of religious experience and expression and
to expose them to some of the methods and theories used to study and explain that
diversity. In addition to critically engaging with accounts of spirit possession and
mediumship from around the world, students will explore various related themes of
gender, power, and religious and cultural change.

Dr. Brendan Jamal Thornton is a cultural anthropologist and associate professor of religious studies. He is an accomplished ethnographer and expert on religion and culture in the Caribbean. His research and scholarship are interdisciplinary in scope and have been published in what are generally considered to be the top journals in the fields of religious studies, anthropology, and Latin American studies, including Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Anthropological Quarterly, and Latin American Research Review. His first book, Negotiating Respect: Pentecostalism, Masculinity, and the Politics of Spiritual Authority in the Dominican Republic (University Press of Florida 2016), was awarded the 2017 Barbara T. Christian Literary Award for the best book in the humanities by the international Caribbean Studies Association.

TR, 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm. Instructor(s): Guang Guo. Enrollment = 24.
SOCI 111H Human Societies is an introduction to sociology and the course focuses on social inequality.

The course has two parts. The first part is based on the textbook Human Societies. The book seeks to explain social and cultural characteristics of a society (such as the degree of social inequality, family structure, women’s status, division of labor, and even the nature of religious beliefs and the games people play). The ecological-evolutionary theory, which is the guiding theory for these materials, states that the level of subsistence technology (e.g., the technology used in hunting and gathering, plant cultivation and industrial production) is a prime determinant of social and cultural characteristics in a society.

The second part of the course focuses on social inequality in the contemporary world, especially in the contemporary United States. We examine social inequality along three main social “faultlines”: economic classes, race/ethnicity, and gender/sex. Topics to be covered include health inequality and the opioid epidemic in the US; the lives and thoughts of the superrich; income inequality; classic sociological literature on power, the elite and social stratification; racial inequality and the origin of races and ethnicities; gender inequality, and the origin of sex and sexual orientation.

Guang Guo has a PhD in sociology from Princeton University and has taught at UNC Chapel Hill for more than two decades. He is Dr. George Alice Welsh distinguished professor in the department of sociology. His work has focused on social genomics, or the intersection between social sciences and genetics. The second half of the course will have an introduction to genetics and their impacts on social sciences.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am. Instructor(s): David Cook-Martin. Enrollment = 24.
Why do people move across borders? Why do others stay behind?
In our interconnected world, human migration shapes economies, politics, cultures, and individual lives. This honors-level course invites you to explore the complex dynamics of global migration through multiple lenses—sociological, anthropological, political, environmental, and economic.

What you’ll explore:
· Migration Theories & Patterns – Understand explanations of historical and contemporary migration flows that have shaped our world
· Power Dynamics – Examine how ideas of race, gender, class, and nationality influence who moves and why and how we create categories of people like “refugees”
· Labor & Economics – Investigate connections between migration, work, and development
· Climate Change – Analyze emerging patterns of environmental migration
· Citizenship & Belonging – Question what it means to belong in an age of mobility
· Migration Industries – Discover the complex systems that facilitate and control human movement, and their sometimes tragic effects on people

What makes this course distinctive:
· Interdisciplinary Approach – Engage with perspectives on mobility from social science, literature, film, and art
· Global Scope – Examine case studies spanning Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America
· Research Focus – Develop an original research project on a migration topic of your choice
· Hands-On Learning – Maintain a migration journal to track your intellectual journey

Who should take this course:
This honors course is ideal for sociology majors and students interested in global studies, political science, anthropology, public policy, international relations, and human rights. The course welcomes both those with personal connections to migration and those curious about one of the most significant social phenomena of our time.

Prerequisites: None. Open to all students interested in migration issues.

David Cook-Martín brings a global perspective to the study of migration rooted in his experiences of living in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, the United States, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. As William Burwell Harrison Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UNC Chapel Hill, he researches migration, citizenship, race, and ethnicity—the very themes students will explore in this course.
His award-winning books include Culling the Masses (with David FitzGerald), which examines how states construct racial barriers to immigration, and The Scramble for Citizens, which explores citizenship policies across countries. His forthcoming book, Workers without Rights: The Making of Temporary Labor Migration since Abolition (Oxford University Press), directly connects to the course’s focus on labor migration systems worldwide.
David’s teaching approach emphasizes collaborative exploration of complex social questions. He creates classroom environments where students can connect theoretical frameworks to real-world migration patterns and policies. Having previously taught at institutions including NYU and the Spanish National Research Council, he brings diverse pedagogical experiences to guide students through their own research journeys in understanding the factors shaping human movement across borders.

TR, 9:30 am – 10:45 am . Instructor(s): Richard Smith. Enrollment = 24.
This course teaches data analysis methods with a primary focus on linear regression. Linear regression is the starting point for all more advanced statistical tools that aim to predict one “response” variable based on a number of other variables known as covariates. It is very widely used in medical and public health applications, social sciences including economics, and applications in biological and environmental sciences. More advanced techniques such as generalized linear models, survival analysis, longitudinal data analysis, etc., all require a basic foundation in linear regression. Therefore, a sound understanding of linear regression is essential for anyone seeking to use advanced statistical methods in almost any context.
Compared with the non-Honors version of this course, STOR 455, the aim of this course is to go into much more detail about the mathematical foundations of the subject, but still with focus on computational applications in R as in the current STOR 455. Mathematical prerequisites include the basic undergraduate calculus sequence and an introductory course in linear algebra such as Math 347.

Richard L. Smith, Department of Statistical and Operations Research. https://rls.sites.oasis.unc.edu/