Welcome to the Homepage of the UWMC Honors Program. This page will contain information about the Honors Program at UWMC. The page is still under construction. At present, we have the following items:
If you have any questions about the Honors Program please contact the Student Services Office at UWMC (e-mail: uwmc@uwc.edu) or Dr. Fe Evangelista, Chair of the Academic Honors Committee.
This is the fourth issue of HONORARIA, and the first issue since December 1991. We intend to publish HONORARIA at least annually in the future. Publication of HONORARIA not only provides useful information for Honors students, but also is an attempt to increase awareness and participation in the Honors Program at UWMC. We are planning some special events for you.
Members of the Academic Honors Committee for 1995-96 include Mark Brown, Fe Evangelista, Dean Dennis Massey, and Student Representative April Crass. This year's committee is enthusiastic about our Honors Program and possible expansion and improvements for the program. If you have any suggestions for the Honors Program or ideas for special events, please contact any member of the committee.
Our program is recognized by all the four-year campuses of the UW System. If you complete the requirements for sophomore honors, you will receive a scholarship to aid you in your future professional development at your four-year campus. If you have any questions about sophomore honors, please contact either Student Services or a member of the Academic Honors Committee.
In this issue of HONORARIA we present contributions from Dean Dennis Massey, and professors teaching honors sections/courses for Spring 1996. You can easily add an honors section to your Spring 1996 schedule because no additional tuition is required for honors sections. For further information regarding each course, contact the appropriate professor.
Ned Grossnickle
For 1995-96, our Campus Collegium selected the following goal for special attention by UWMC faculty and staff: "To make UWMC's strengths, advantages, and expectations well known in the community, promoting the enrollment of well-prepared and highly motivated students." The Honors Program plays an important role in meeting this goal both in 1995 and the many years the program has been in existence.
Designed to provide academic challenge and an opportunity for students to work closely with faculty on advanced topics, the Honors Program has helped ambitious students to gain valuable preparation for baccalaureate and graduate level study through group research, special projects, field trips, and seminar-style classes.
During the 1995-96 year, there are over 20 courses or special sections representing virtually all the academic divisions which students can select from. Successful completion of these courses is recognized on the official transcripts and can count toward Honors status at transfer institutions.
As a participant in the Wisconsin Honors Council, UWMC is proud of the fine performance of our Honors students. I invite you to seek more information on the opportunities provided and become a part of this highest form of commitment to our educational mission.
G. Dennis Massey
Campus Dean
Even if you have already registered, we would like to call your attention to the Honors courses offered in the spring semester. They are:
CHE 155 General Chemistry
CHE 363 Intermediate Organic
Chemistry
SPA 205 Fourth Semester Spanish
HIS 102 History of the United States
Since the Civil War
HIS 120 Europe and the Modern
World, 1815 to the Present
MAT 221 Calculus and Analytic
Geometry I
MAT 222 Calculus and Analytic
Geometry II
MUS 174 Music Literature and
Appreciation
PSY 225 Experimental Psychology
PSY 260 Developmental Psychology:
The Child
CHE 155 (General Chemistry):
This class is presented as a supplement to the normal General Chemistry II
(CHE 155) course. The additional hour each week is devoted to a discussion
of some applied topics in chemistry. The choice of what topics to cover is
made by mutual agreement of the class and the instructor. Past topics have
included: forensic chemistry, pyrotechnic chemistry (fireworks), photographic
chemistry, and numerical methods of solving chemical problems. In addition,
each student will research a topic of his/her choice and present a short
summary of the results to the class.
- Joel Case
CHE 363 (Intermediate Organic Chemistry):
This course continues CHE 343H's training in and the use of the conventional
and electronic (Dialog) data base searches. Students will select a topic
in intermediate organic chemistry in coordination with the instructor, in
order to prepare a term paper. Dialog data base search will be following
by a selection and request of the appropriate research papers through out
UW interlibrary services. After a study of such research works, a term paper
will be prepared. In addition, the instructor will assign to each student
a "real-life simulation" Dialog data base search on an organic chemistry
topic of current general interest (e.g., new organic medicinals, new types
of organic compounds, structural and mechanistic theories, new commercial
uses of organic compounds, etc.). Students will then prepare a status report.
The course involves weekly group and/or individual meetings/discussions with
the instructor.
- Marcel Grdinic
SPA 205 (Fourth Semester Spanish):
Honors students will meet one additional day - Fridays at 10:00 - in a small
group for conversational practice and discussion of literary selections including
short stories, poetry, and drama. Students will be expected to make oral
presentations in Spanish and write two essays in addition to those required
for the regular 205 course.
- Nancy Hessert
HIS 120 (Europe and the Modern World, 1815 to the Present):
This Honors section is a four credit course designed to assist students in
learning how to study independently. The course is offered concurrently with
the regular History 120 course, but the course requirements are separate.
The semester will be divided into two or three week segments. For each segment
the Honors student will receive a packet containing reading assignments,
essay questions and identification terms covering that period. When the Honors
student has prepared these materials, he/she will take an examination consisting
of two of the essay questions and four or five of the identification terms.
The Honors student will attend the Monday and Wednesday lectures, but will
not take the quizzes and examinations in the regular History 120 course.
History 120 is a writing emphasis course, and to fulfill this requirement
the Honors student will be required to prepare two book reviews of three
to five pages each and a short term paper of eight to ten pages.
- Harlan Grinde
HIS 102 (History of the United States since the Civil War):
The Honors section differs from the standard survey course in several ways.
The most obvious difference involves added emphasis on discussion and personal
contact with the instructor. Extra discussion time will be devoted to an
exploration of some problems and interpretive questions relating to the history
of the United States, 1865-present. Additional readings will be used to generate
discussion of these issues.
Students in the honors section will also be asked to attend at least one meeting of the History Teaching Alliance seminar, so that they will be exposed to the teaching of a specialist in immigration history. This meeting will provide an opportunity to deepen knowledge of the ethno-cultural heritage of the American people.
The honors section will also place emphasis on the historian's process and method, including analysis of documentary evidence (primary sources). An extension of this encounter with original texts will be the research paper prepared by each student. After discussing a topic with the instructor, each student will research and write a paper (10-15 pages, typed and double-spaced). This research project will engage the student in the historian's work. It must be based, at least in part, on primary sources (the instructor will assist in locating documentary material). Thus, by the end of the semester, each one of us will have become involved in the scholarly life, which is the essence of the university.
Honors students will be required to take a research field trip to Madison
at some time during the semester.
- James J. Lorence
MATHEMATICS:
Every year, the UWMC Mathematics Department offers the following Honors courses:
An Honors student may enroll in any of the sections of the Honors Course being offered during the semester. Additional work for Honors in both the above courses will involve the following:
"Honors students will be required to display a deeper understanding of the theory and methods contained in the course, than regular students. Additional work involving proofs and solution of harder problems will be periodically assigned. Students may be required to undertake an Honors Project."
Honors courses in Mathematics during Spring 1996 will be taught by:
M. Maheswaran, Larry Olson - MAT 221.
Clare Hemenway, Paul Martin - MAT 222.
MUS 174 (Music Literature and Appreciation):
At this university one of the greatest pleasures I enjoy is the teaching
of Music Literature and Appreciation. There is a personal satisfaction in
exposing students of all ages to the world of "classical" music.
One of the biggest frustrations in teaching this survey course is the amount of material that should be covered in sixteen weeks. Most students take only one music course as a humanities requirement. Therefore, in my first semester course, material from every musical period (middle ages to 20th century) is covered with the idea of exposing them to as many styles of music as possible.
In the second semester, I enjoy teaching a course that will concentrate on
one or two musical periods. Hence the solution is an Honors section of Music
Literature and Appreciation. In this course a good student has the opportunity
to study, in depth, a musical period, its style characteristics, musical
elements, and its composers. From this knowledge gained the ultimate goal
will be a much better understanding when listening to music. A research paper
is an important part of the Honors course. Here again, the student may delve
into a subject area, gain important knowledge and become an amateur authority
on a musical subject that interests them.
- William Day
PSY 225 (Experimental Psychology):
This is a course in research methodology. It is designed to permit students
to begin to function as research scientists in psychology. Various data
collection procedures are explored, as well as potential flaws in the data
collection process. Alternative research designs (true experiments, quasi-
experiments, correlational, and descriptive studies) are presented and
contrasted. The central part of the course involves a major individual research
project conducted by each student. Students are responsible for all aspects
of the project, from the initial stages of topic selection and literature
review to data collection, analysis of results, and a comprehensive written
report. All students are taken to Madison to use the UW- Madison libraries,
and to participate in an annual undergraduate research conference in psychology.
Honors students meet an extra hour each week to discuss additional readings
pertinent to the issues being examined in class.
- Bryan Hendricks
PSY 360 (Developmental Psychology: The Child):
The Honors section for Child Psychology permits a more extensive coverage
of several topics included in the course. The specific topics are usually
selected in response to the particular interests of the students registered
for Honors' credit. The class will include a trip to the UW-Madison library
and to the UW- Madison Psychology Department Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Some off-campus work with children, e.g., tutoring an elementary school child,
will probably also be required.
- Byron Barrington