You are in the official 2006-2007 General Catalog
for California State University, Fresno.
Honors
The Smittcamp Family Honors College
Stephen Rodemeyer, Director
McLane Building, Room 200
2345 East San Ramon Avenue, M/S MH128
Fresno, CA 93740-8031
Phone: 559.278.8160
Toll Free: (877) 323-2089
FAX: 559.278.8162
E-mail: honors@csufresno.edu
http://honors.csufresno.edu
What is an honors program?
Simply put, it is a program of educational opportunity for outstanding students. It takes the form of specially structured academic offerings designed to engage students more comprehensively and intellectually with an institution's best faculty on virtually a one-to-one basis. Honors studies provide top students the opportunity to function in the most stimulating and challenging intellectual learning environment an institution can create.
Earl and Muriel Smittcamp Family
California State University, Fresno planned to establish a program of honors study for many years. With an initial generous gift of $1 million from the Earl and Muriel Smittcamp Family, the plan for the Honors College is now a reality.
The Honors College
Studying the best programs in the country, the university created a concept for an honors education at Fresno State.
Working to provide the advantages of a small liberal arts college within the resources of a major university, the Honors College offers three types of degrees with honors: University Honors, College/School Honors, and Department Honors. A degree with University Honors is based in General Education honors studies and requires 24 lower division and 9 to 12 upper-division units. All courses are specially designed and will be available only to honors students. The initial offerings are structured so all honors students take these courses together, thereby becoming a special honors learning community in which students and faculty truly share a common experience. In order to stimulate maximum student/faculty interaction, courses will be limited to 25 students each.
College/School Honors are earned at the upper-division level. Students may pursue a special program of advanced study within the college/school of their chosen discipline. Currently, the Sid Craig School of Business has such a program in place. In time, all colleges/schools plan to have comparable upper-division programs for their majors.
Department Honors, also earned at the upper-division level, allow students to pursue an advanced program of study within their major. The Psychology Department and the Criminology Department currently have such programs, and the university is actively encouraging and supporting the development of honors programs in other departments.
Honors Colloquium
A distinctive offering of our Honors College over and above the innovative design of our courses is each semester's Honors Colloquium. Designed around the "town meeting" model, each semester's offerings will be focused on a topic of current importance. Sample topics might be "Public Service and Private Life," and "The United States and Social Responsibility: Self Improvement vs. Global Imperatives." A combination of faculty experts, University Lecture Series guests, and various outside authorities will address the topic in a weekly public gathering. Honors students then engage with the week's expert in a dialogue that grows from the expert's presentation. The honors director or other faculty is the moderator; our campus community at large is invited as audience.
These colloquia also provide opportunities for faculty to present their own research. The campus can learn about a colleague's research while students experience models for presenting their own research. Finally, Honors students themselves will use the colloquia as a vehicle for publicly presenting their own senior honors projects.
Scholarships
Assisted by Student Affairs and Financial Aid, President Welty pairs the honors academic opportunity with financial opportunity.
All 75 students in each Smittcamp Family Honors College class receive a President's Honors Scholarship Grant. This consists of the equivalent of full tuition and fees, an annual $200 book allowance, and free housing on campus for all four years of a student's honors study.
The program is designed to attract more freshmen students to California State University, Fresno. The intellectual level of the campus is enhanced by Honors College offerings and activities; the impact resonates throughout the Central Valley.
For more information, contact the director of the Honors College.
COURSES
Honors (HONOR)
1. Honors Colloquium (1; max total 6)
Open to students in the honors program only. Colloquium for students in
the Smittcamp Family Honors College. Overview of the university. Presentation
and discussion of current topics. Special presentations by faculty, campus
guests, and senior honors project students.
101. Emerging Voices after Colonialism:
Revolution in Theory, Revolution in Practice (4)
Open to students in the honors program only. Explores the expanding
field of post colonial studies. Postcolonialism critically analyzes the
dialectic between Western imperialism and resistance to colonialism in Africa,
Asia, and the Caribbean. Readings will include primary sources, essays of
criticism and theory, colonial literature, and a diverse selection of novels
from formerly colonized nations.*
102. Revolutions in Natural and Social Sciences (4)
Open to students in the honors program only. Examines fundamental changes
in natural and social sciences. Focuses first on revolutions in natural
sciences particularly in physics and biology. Then surveys major changes
in economic theory with an emphasis on the so-called marginal revolution.*
103. Ecological Social Effects (4)
Open to students in the honors program only. Examines the impact of
the Industrial Revolution and the accompanying industrialized nations' demand
on Third World nations for tropical products. Puts the Industrial Revolution
into global perspective by integrating biological, geographical, ecological,
historical, and social effects. *
180. Special Projects in Honors (1-3; max total 9)
Open to students in the honors program only. Individual projects in the
Smittcamp Family Honors College. Projects related to Honors College courses;
for example, internships, research papers, community service projects, new
classroom approaches, and learning communities.
__________
* For honors students, HONOR 101, 102, and 103 fulfill G.E. areas IB, IC, ID, and M/I. See honors adviser for prerequisites.
Other Honors Courses
ARMS 20H. Arts of Armenia (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Introduces Armenian architecture,
painting, sculpture, ceramics, metal work and textiles. G.E. Breadth C1.
BIOL 10H. Life Science (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Not open to students with credit
BIOSC 1A. Shows how living things work and why they work that way. Discusses
biology from chemical and physical foundations through ecological and evolutionary
processes. Examines biology and its relationship to human affairs. (2 lecture,
2 lab hours) G.E. Breadth Area B2.
CFS 38H. Honors Life Span Development (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Basic theories, research, and
principles of physical, cognitive, and psychological development from conception
to death presented from the perspective of diverse families. Emphasizes
reading original theoretical and empirical works by prominent developmentalists
and requires a student-conducted research project. G.E. Breadth E1.
CHEM 10H. Chemistry and Society (4)
Open to students in the honors program only. Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation
B4. Not open to students with credit in college chemistry; for non-science
majors. Discusses significance of chemical principles in contemporary society;
benefits and hazards relative to areas such as energy, health, diet, environment
and agriculture. (3 lecture, 3 lab hours) G.E. Breadth B1.
COMM 6H. Rhetoric for Autonomy and Collaboration
in the Marketplace of Ideas (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Explores invitational rhetoric
and its civic function in contemporary public discourse; experiences designed
to enhance fundamental communication skills - - research, organization,
reasoning, empathic listening and problem-solving - - through series of
oral presentations. G.E. Foundation A1.
DRAMA 75H. Theatre in Contemporary American Culture (3)
Open to honor students only. Introduction to the practice and scholarship
of American theatre today. Application of critical methodology for four
areas of theatrical production (1) theatre architecture, (2) acting, (3)
directing, and (4) design. Attendance at two to three theatre performances
is required. G.E. Breadth C1.
ENGL 42H. Creative Writing (4)
Open to students in the honors program only. Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation
A2 (ENGL 1). Beginning workshop in the writing of poetry and fiction; appropriate
readings and analysis. G.E. Breadth C1.
GEOL 8H. Natural Disasters and Earth Resources (4)
Open to students in the honors program only. Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation
B4. Processes and materials that produce the different geologic resources
and hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, landslides.) Plate tectonic
theory (including continental drift) as the unifying model to explain geologic
phenomena. Emphasizes the relationship between geology and humans. (3 lecture,
2 lab hours) G.E. Breadth B1.
HIST 15H. Trials of the Century (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation
A2 (ENGL 1). Studies celebrated legal trials from 1896 to 2000 as windows
for understanding larger historic context. Cases address issues such as
racial discrimination, freedom of speech and religion, reproductive rights,
consumer protection, war crimes, treason and capital punishment. G.E. Breadth
D1. (Formerly HIST 12H, HIST 20H)
HUM 10H. Introduction to the Humanities of the Western World (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Prerequisites: G.E. Foundation
A2 (ENGL 1). Accelerated survey of the relationships between the art, literature,
and philosophy of classical antiquity, from classical Greece to the dawn
of the Renaissance. G.E. Breadth C2.
MATH 45H. Exploring Mathematics (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Prerequisite: Student must
meet the ELM requirement. Covers topics from the following areas: (1) The
Mathematics of Social Choice; (2) Management Science and Optimization; (3)
The Mathematics of Growth and Symmetry; and (4) Statistics and Probability.
General Education Foundation B4, Quantitative Reasoning.
MUSIC 60H. Music in Social Context (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Exploration of various settings
in which music has been an important indicator of social class and class
values. Emphasis on western classical music and American jazz. Attendance
at 2-3 performances of music required. G.E. Breadth C1.
NSCI 4H. Science and Nonsense: Critical Thinking and
the Philosophy of Science (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Shows the use of language,
rational inquiry, and logic in science, distinguishing science fact from
science fiction. Inductive and deductive methods, judgement, opinion, origins
of knowledge, belief and actions. A critical examination of contemporary
pseudoscientific issues (creation science, UFOs, astrology, etc.) G.E. Foundation
A3.
NUTR 53H. Nutrition and Health: Realities and Controversies (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Optimal nutrition to reduce
the risk of cancer, heart disease, allergies, hyperactivity, and other diseases.
Social, psychological, and cultural dictates that affect food selection
and health. Personal strategies to develop a nutrition plan for better health.
G.E. Breadth E1.
PHIL 32H. Life, Death, and Afterlife (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Diverse reflections (religious
and philosophical) on the meaning of life, death, and afterlife. The nature
of the soul (e.g. immortal/mortal); connection to body; implications of
an afterlife (if any) for this life; includes Western and non-Western perspectives.
G.E. Breadth E1.
PHIL 35H. Logic for Autonomy and Collaboration
in the Marketplace of Ideas (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Explores techniques for analysis
of reasoning in contexts ranging from interpersonal communication through
scholarly and political discourses. Theoretical grounding for these techniques,
including both central ideas from philosophy of logic and readings from
classical and contemporary sources on freedom of thought, freedom of conscience,
and the autonomy of reason. G.E. Foundation A3.
PLSI 2H. American Government and Institutions (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation
A2 (ENGL 1). Meets the United States Constitution requirement and the federal,
California state, and local government requirement, Not open to students
with credit in PLSI 101. Development and operation of government in the
United State; study of how ideas, institutions, laws and people have constructed
and maintained a political order in America. G.E. Breadth D2.
PLSI 71H. Introduction to Environmental Politics (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation
A2 (ENGL 1). Introduction to study of environmental politics and policy
making in the United States; a brief history of environmentalism; basic
principles in environmental policy making, including policy making for interest
groups, legislatures, and levels of government; and selection of current
topics in environmental issues. G.E. Breadth D3.
PSYCH 62H. Introduction to Social and Cultural Psychology (3)
Open to students in the honors program only. Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation
A2 (ENGL 1). Interaction between social environments and behavior with an
emphasis on culture and cultural differences. Includes topics such as social
influence and beliefs, conformity, the self, attitude change, group influence,
prejudice and racism, aggression, attraction and intimacy, altruism and
helping. G.E. Breadth D3.
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