These three courses will introduce you to intensive reading and writing, research methods, group projects, and presentation skills. They serve as the foundation of your honors college experience and will prepare you for the high-level work you will encounter in upper-division colloquia. Transfer, AP, IB, and non-CHC UO credits cannot be used to fulfill these requirements.
All CHC students will take one course in each of the following subject areas during their first two years of study. Courses can be taken in any order and in any combination, but all three must be taken before a student can enroll in HC 301H:
HC 221H: Arts & Letters Inquiry
Arts and Letters courses introduce fields such as literature, philosophy, language, religion, and the visual and performing arts. Students study the arts and letters in the honors college in order to develop an understanding for the complexities and depth of artistic and humanistic interpretations of the world around us. Students will learn to critically and creatively think, read, listen, write, and speak about historical, contemporary, and future issues in culture and society.
HC 221H is offered during fall, winter, and spring terms. Course content varies by professor, so choose a section with a topic that sounds interesting to you. Some examples of past sections include:
- Feminist Epic
- Middle Eastern American Theater
- The Literary Lives of Animals
- Ecopoetry
- The Velocity of Gesture or, Intro to Air Guitar
- Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean
- Invisible Landscapes: Space and Place
- The Difference China Makes
HC 231H: Social Science Inquiry
Social Science courses introduce fields such as history, economics, anthropology, sociology, political science, geography, law, business, communication, and education. Students study social sciences in the honors college to explore the diversity of individuals, societies, and institutions in the world around us. Students will learn to engage diverse forms of evidence to develop more nuanced understandings of the complex human world.
HC 231H is offered during fall, winter, and spring terms. Course content varies by professor, so choose a section with a topic that sounds interesting to you. Some examples of past sections include:
- Democracy and its Critics
- Unearthing Medieval West Africa
- Deportation from the United States
- Disease, Public Health, and the Making of the Modern World
- Architecture and Urbanism
- Women, Gender, and Society in Modern Europe
- Holy War from the Crusades to ISIS
- Housing and Homelessness
- African Languages: History, Meaning-Making, and Social Identity
HC 241H: Scientific Inquiry
Science courses introduce fields such as chemistry, earth science, biology, mathematics, physics, engineering, neuroscience, biological anthropology, data science, and human physiology. Students study natural science and mathematics in the honors college in order to understand the approaches by which we study the world around us. Students will learn to use scientific and technical data to test theories, evaluate ideas, and solve problems, and then learn to integrate their understanding of science into critical thinking about multidisciplinary problems.
HC 241H is offered during fall, winter, and spring terms. Course content varies by professor, so choose a section with a topic that sounds interesting to you. Some examples of past sections include:
- Monsters and Machine Learning
- Science of Learning and Memory
- Discovery of Fundamental Particles and Interactions
- The Aesthetics of Mathematics
- Oregon Paleontology
- Decision Making for Sustainability
- Mutants: How "freaks of nature" reveal life's inner workings
- Genes and Disease