The following course descriptions are for the upcoming semester, Spring 2008. These descriptions are short synopses of the full descriptions, which may be downloaded in PDF form. Please print out the full document (22 pages) and keep handy to reference the details of each course.

HON 1113-001 FIN: Principles of Finance, Nancy Heck
The course covers the theory and techniques of corporate financial management including financial markets (Ch 2, 3), time value of money (Ch 4), risk and return (Ch 5), security valuation (Ch 6), cost of capital (Ch 7), capital budgeting (Ch 8,9), and financial statement analysis (Ch 12).

HON 1242 – 005 ACS: Modernity & Its Discontents, Professor Newell
Creating the Perfect World: As the consequences of modernity increased through colonialism and the development of the New World, through industrialism, and through new scientific discoveries, traditional ways of understanding the world have fallen apart leaving a greater sense of uncertainty. As a result, the desire to fix what ails the world has become increasingly urgent. Since the New World was once envisioned as a “new heaven” of golden opportunities, this course will use the Americas as our context for examining particular moments when people tried to better the world.

Throughout the course, we will read, discuss, and write about texts that establish the philosophical theories underpinning modern thought like those of Thomas Hobbes, Friedrich Nietzsche, and T. S. Eliot, alongside political visions of what American could be created by authors like Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and in conjunction with literary portraits of America by writers like Walt Whitman and Ralph Ellison. The course will come to a close with Margaret Atwood’s futuristic novel Oryx and Crake.

HON 1380-01 ETH: Ethical Traditions & Contemporary Life, Sarah Vaughan Brakman
This course will introduce the student to major ethical theories and we will study their application to contemporary moral issues. Ethics asks the questions, “What makes for a good human life, a good human being, or a good human action?” In addressing these questions, philosophers in the West have developed three major theoretical positions: virtue-ethics, duty-ethics, and consequentialism.

We will study the approach and solution to the problems in this class through these positions, as well as considering the approach of feminist-ethics and natural rights. Among the issues we will discuss are, obligations to the poor, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, genetics, capital punishment, affirmative action and college speech codes. Throughout the course, we will focus on the overriding issue of conflict - conflicting rights and conflicting interests, among individuals, between the individual and society, and between societies. We will lean how to subject our views to rational scrutiny, and how to approach conflict resolution through moral discourse

HON 1435-001 HIS: Themes in Modern World History, Maghan Keita
Themes in Modern World History is a writing intensive, critical examination of several themes which define the modern era. Among the themes are “modernity” itself and questions of both individual and group identity. Central to the examination of these themes is an analysis of the bodies of knowledge which guide our assumptions about the modern world and the ways in which those bodies of knowledge shape historical discourse.

The basic notion of the course is to challenge our assumptions of the modern and the bodies of knowledge and the histories that undergird them. This challenge will be undertaken through a critical examination of primary source material and literary and graphic sources that confer some meaning about modernity. Central to this process will be the student's willingness to participate in intensive discussion on both the primary and literary sources and the meaning that they think these sources convey about the nature of the modern world. The writing intensive nature of the course constitutes a major dynamic that will also be used to spur in-class discussion.

HON 1772-001 PHY: General Physics II Laboratory, Michael Hones
Text: Interactive and Discovery Laboratory Experiments for Life Science Students; students will be given an updated CD with the lab notes and lab instructions.

Course Content: Selected experiments in thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, wave motion, physiology, and modern physics will be performed. Emphasis will be on the interactive-discovery approach to experimental work in physics. The purpose of this is to give the student a more realistic laboratory experience. For example, this will entail the use of a lab notebook to keep a detailed record of weekly experimental work. Extensive use will be made of state-of-the-art computers and software. Students will be expected to perform in the laboratory setting all the work necessary to write a complete lab report.

Students are to print out the text and the instructions before coming to the laboratory in order to familiarize themselves with the experiment. 

HON 1825-01 THL/RST: Christianity Theology: Introduction, Joanna Scholz
Life is a mystery and it is often difficult to understand ourselves, our beliefs, our relationships, our world. This course invites and challenges students to do theology, that it, to think critically, and reflect on the ultimate mystery the mystery of God - revealed through the word, in Scriptures, and through the Word, in the person of Jesus Christ. Throughout their study of the Hebrew Scriptures and Christian Testament students will discover images of God - who God is and what God does. They will study the writings of philosophers and theologians on the existence of God - as well as explore the writings of philosophers who deny God's existence. Students will be asked to further develop their own images of God, reflecting on how the Scriptures, tradition, and their own experiences mold their images. This course will also explore these issues: How did Christian doctrine develop in the early Church? What are the similarities and differences among Christian Churches? Why is there evil in the world? How does a Christian live a moral life? Course requirements: Active participation in all class sessions, which will include evidence of having completed the assigned readings, completion of several one to two page written assignments throughout the semester, and four tests.

HON 2250-001 MGT: Global Corporate Responsibility and Innovation, Jonathan Doh
In this course, we will explore the causes and consequences of globalization, and its implications for corporate social and environmental responsibility. We will begin with a close examination of globalization from a range of vantages and perspectives, and identify some of the main players in the globalization debate, including national governments, international organizations, multinational companies, civil society, and nongovernmental organizations. We will focus specifically on how tensions among these stakeholders over the implications of globalization have manifested in specific debates and exchanges in the areas of trade policy, privatization, environmental responsibility, human and worker rights, and others areas. We will then turn our attention to how corporations have responded to these tensions, especially to pressures to more fully consider the social and environmental consequences of their actions. We will explore how some companies have responded by taking affirmative stands on social and environmental issues and incorporating social and environmental goals and objectives within their corporate missions, codes of conduct, and global strategies. Finally, we will investigate strategies targeted at responding to the needs of the poorest citizens at the “base of the pyramid” of the developing world, and the application of innovation and entrepreneurship to social problems.

HON 2560-01 Social Science Seminar Edwin Goff
Our foundational question for the Social Science Seminar will be “What are persons doing when they do what is called social science?” We shall examine ways in which social science is differentiated from natural science; ways in which social science is differentiated from social theory; ways in which the sciences are differentiated from the humanities; and ways in which social policies inform and are informed by the practice of social scientists. The seminar will include dialogue with practicing social scientists from the different disciplines (economics, geography, political science, psychology, sociology); a review of the history of social science as an academic discipline; an examination of contemporary social science as mature; and an analysis of the practice of science as value neutral with the value-laden questions that they raise regarding ethics and social justice. Requirements will include individual and group presentations, response papers to our guest presentations, and a semester-long research project that addresses one or more of the questions raised above.

HON: 3050-001 HIS/AAH: Art and Chivalry in Renaissance Courts, Timothy McCall
The course “Art and Chivalry in Renaissance Courts” investigates how princes deployed art to represent power, chivalric and absolutist ideologies, and adulterous love and evaluates the ways that sovereignty, courtliness, and authority were grounded in visual and artistic productions. We investigate change and continuity in diverse courtly models, from the chivalric cultures of the late Middle Ages and the fifteenth century, to the emphasis on courtly customs with the international popularity of books of manners such as Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier. The course emphasizes historical constructions and performances of gender, sexuality, and love, and the origins and development of familiar ideals of romance and romantic love will be identified in concepts of courtly love.

This class introduces students to various approaches to provide a complex, interdisciplinary understanding of the social and political history of courtly art and culture. We will primarily study Italian courts and artists (including Leonardo, Titian, and Raphael), though comparative material will include the court of Elizabeth I of England courts in Burgundy, France, and the German Holy Roman Empire. Students read primary sources and literature (Book of the Courtier and Capellanus’ De amore), classical art historical and sociological scholarship, literary criticism, and recent scholarship by art and literary historians working in the dynamic field of Early Modern court studies. We will conclude with an extended case study of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s two portraits of sixteenth-century Medici Dukes (Alessandro and Cosimo as Orpheus), viewing these paintings first hand and, through them, investigating important themes, including sexuality, power, race, and identity.

HON 3302-001 MGT: Policy Formulation and Administration Practicum, Scott Newbert
HON 3302 will serve as an innovative, practice-oriented complement to HON 3301. Student groups will work directly with the owner of a for-profit business based in an economically distressed area to identify an opportunity or threat faced by that organization. By applying the expertise they have learned in courses across the various business disciplines, students will then develop an actionable strategy in response to this issue. This practicum will allow students the opportunity to experience how academic theory and principles can be applied directly to real-world problems, to work with others from different functional and/or cultural backgrounds toward a common objective, and to contribute in a positive way to an otherwise neglected sector of our local economy.

HON 3600-001 ENG: Creative Writing, Claire Keegan
Fiction Workshop: The fiction workshop is designed for those students whose aim it is to work on stories or a novel. Each participant will be expected to compose and submit two pieces of original fiction. These works will be constructively criticized by the course director and fellow students during the term. The first two weeks will focus on the structure of a narrative, point of view, dialogue, setting and pace. We will examine the tension in fiction, the relationship between time and action. Texts of published short stories and novel extracts will be closely read and discussed alongside the students’ own writing. These will include works by Raymond Carver, William Trevor, John McGahern, Chekhov, Sherwood Anderson, Roddy Doyle, Flannery O Connor, Eudora Welty, Primo Levi and Damon Galgut. Non-fiction works by these authors and some interviews from writers in The Paris Review will be discussed also. Students will be graded on group participation, written criticism of all work submitted and the originality and depth of their own fiction. A rewritten piece of fiction will be required in place of a final examination.

The Irish Story: This course is aimed at those students who would like to read and explore the themes and style of the Irish short story. Works by many Irish authors will be discussed: O’Flaherty, Lavin, Joyce, Beckett, O’Connor, McGahern, Trevor, O’Brien, Plunkett, Bowen and O’Faolain. We will examine male/female relationships, land, sex, children, the house, the church, the family. Our reading will focus on what it means and what it has meant to be alive in Ireland at a certain place and time. We will look at the folklore behind the stories, at the irrational behind the characters’ daily lives and religious beliefs. Students’ work will be graded on group participation, two short exams and a final essay which will be required at the end of term.

HON 3651-001 ENG: Shakespeare in Performance, Spring 2008, Dr. Alice Dailey, English and Dr. Shawn Kairschner, Theatre
Rationale: Nothing like “Shakespeare in Performance” is currently offered at Villanova, due in part to the varied intellectual and artistic demands and innovative nature of such a course. The success of the course will depend on the commitment of the students, their capacity for rigorous academic engagement, their preparedness for sustained and detailed study, and their willingness to take intellectual and interpersonal risks for the rewards of personal and academic development. These are the qualities of Villanova’s Honors students, and it is because of these necessary qualities that we believe the course should be offered through the Honors program.

Objectives: Shakespeare is traditionally taught in both Theater and English Departments—each with a decidedly different emphasis and mode of inquiry. We believe that for students to comprehend and to enjoy Shakespeare’s work fully, they must engage in a sustained textual and performative investigation. By studying carefully the meanings and thematic structures of plays and, at the same time, determining staging techniques designed to open up and make clear these meanings, students will understand that the study of Shakespeare as simultaneously a profoundly scholarly and artistic endeavor. It is our hope that approaching his works from both of these perspectives will allow these modes of inquiry to cross-pollinate and inform one another, providing students a significantly richer experience.

Course Description and Outline: This course will be focused on a single Shakespeare play. In Spring, 2008, this play will be The Taming of the Shrew. Along with detailed study of the play, students will participate in a range of other classroom and production-related activities that will build their understanding of the play, its intellectual and historical context, and the disciplines of literary study and theatrical production. These include:

• Study of a range of scholarly interpretations of the play
• Cutting of the play for performance
• Rehearsal and production of the cut play
• Public performance(s) followed by student-led post-show discussion
• Study of the play’s performance history
• Study of Renaissance theatre history (playhouses, actors, production practices, etc.)
• Participation in a multi-day field trip to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia (www.americanshakespearecenter.com), to see performances of original-practices Shakespearean productions, attend workshops with the actors, and rehearse on the Blackfriars Stage
• Assembling dramaturgical support for the production
• The development of essential acting skills, particularly those pertaining to the performance of blank verse.
• Study of another Shakespearean comedy for the purpose of contextualization within the Shakespearean canon
• Reading of Shakespeare’s principle sources for the play

HON 3651-001 Shakespeare in Performance Dr. Alice Dailey, Department of English and Dr. Shawn Kairschner, Department of Theatre
This unique course will be focused on a single Shakespeare play, The Taming of the Shrew, which we will study in detail and perform publicly at the end of the semester. Students will participate in a range of classroom and production-related activities that will build their understanding of the play and its literary and theatrical contexts. The course will include a four-day trip to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, at the beginning of Spring Break (Feb. 29-Nov. 3) to see four plays, attend workshops with the actors, and rehearse on the Blackfriars Playhouse stage. The success of the course will depend on the commitment of the students and their willingness to take intellectual and interpersonal risks. Although all students will participate in the final production, not everyone will be required to perform on stage. Course requirements include: participation in classroom activities and discussions, oral class presentations, participation in the Blackfriars trip, attendance at out-of-class rehearsals and performances, and a final term paper. Both the demands and the rewards of this four-credit class are likely to exceed those of a conventional three-credit course. Students with questions about the time commitment, Blackfriars trip, performance requirements, or any other matters should feel free to contact Dr. Dailey or Dr. Kairschner.

HON 3652-001 ENG: Contemporary Authors On and Off the Page, Lisa Sewell and August Tarrier
This course will introduce you to the work of five contemporary writers—two poets, one memoirist, and two fiction writers—while providing you with the unique opportunity to interact with them and hear them present their work. Each author will give a reading at Villanova as part of the Tenth Annual Villanova Literary Festival, and they will also visit the class in order to meet with students and answer questions. By reading the work of these living breathing authors, we will have the chance to explore the direction, focus, and relevance of recent American literature. But we will also be able to ask questions about literature not generally investigated in English courses – namely, the specific conditions, motivations, and processes by which writers produce their work.

It is a great opportunity to explore an interest in contemporary literature, creative writing or even the publishing industry. This year, visiting authors include poets Eavan Boland and Arthur Sze, and fiction writers Richard McCann and Hermann Castillo. Students will also have a chance to explore their own creative impulses by working on their own poetry and prose. While we will primarily focus on the work of our visiting writers, all members of the class will be expected to produce at least one creative writing project. This class is a seminar, and class sessions will be run as a discussion; you will be expected to contribute your own thoughts and responses to the work. Course requirements include: regular participation in class discussions, two critical essays (one on poetry and one on prose), one creative project, and attendance at all five readings, which will be held at 7:30 on either Tuesday or Thursday evenings. Please note: attendance at the readings is mandatory.

HON 4350-001 PHI: Contemporary Political Culture, Gabriel Rockhill
This course explores the recent transformations in our “political culture,” understood as the practical mode of intelligibility that dictates the very nature of politics by determining who qualifies as a political subject, what is visible as a political action, and how the spatio-temporal framework of politics is structured. After a brief methodological introduction, we will explore significant changes in the what, the when and the where of contemporary political culture. More specifically, we will discuss whether or not there has been a transformation in the very nature of political practice from a redistributive politics in which rights and/or wealth are reallocated to a politics of recognition in which the symbolic valorization of minority identities has come to play the central role in political practice.

Secondly, we will examine the apparent shift from an era of revolutionary politics (roughly 1789 to 1968) to a post-revolutionary epoch in which the temporal horizons of political action have become resolutely “presentist” insofar as the future is destined to perennially repeat the present. Thirdly, we will discuss the debates regarding the recent displacements in the geographic framework of politics from the nation-state to globalization by exploring “globalization discourse” and its critics. After this examination of the changes undergone by the what, the when and the where of politics, we will then turn to a set of “keywords”—a term borrowed from Raymond Williams—that have left their mark on the early 21st century, including words such as democracy, terrorism, free opinion, neo-racism, and Islamophobia.

Our approach will be resolutely interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on the fields of philosophy, psychology, political science, sociology, history, and media studies. Our primary methodological goal will be to bridge the gap between theoretical reflection and concrete analysis of the contemporary socio-political situation. We will also stress the importance of comparison between different cultural contexts by relying on an international perspective and regularly challenging parochial cultural assumptions. Finally, this course will directly engage with our immediate context, and we will often discuss and critically reflect on current events as they unfold. Students should come away from this course with critical tools to analyze and assess relevant changes in the conceptual and practical horizons of our times—from an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective—in order to have a greater understanding of the contemporary social and political world.

HON 4550-001 PSC/PJ/GIS: Perspectives on Migration, Professor Michele Pistone and John Hoeffner
This course will explore migration from multiple perspectives and disciplines. It aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the various types of migration and the issues raised by them. The effects of migration on both sending and receiving countries will be considered. The class will be structured around class discussion based on readings, reaction papers, exercises, discussion questions, media logs, and immigrant interviews.

HON 4851-01 THL: Searching for God: Theory and Practice of the Christian Contemplative Tradition, Fr. Martin Laird, O.S.A., Ph.D.
This course explores classical Christian teachings on silent prayer and meditation. Like Buddhism and Hinduism, Christianity likewise has a sophisticated tradition of cultivating interior stillness and peace that leads to the silent depths of the heart. This interior stillness facilitates the deepening of personal identity and the overcoming of the sense of alienation from God and others. The course is both theoretical and practical. On the theoretical level there will be an interdisciplinary sampling of texts. We will read ancient Christian authors (4th-14th centuries) who talk about the search for interior peace by first dealing with the sources of anxiety within. To draw out the contemporary relevance of this ancient wisdom, we shall look at contemporary authors on depression, eating disorders, relationship junkies, the addiction process, as well as the biological dimensions of the spirituality of human depths. There is also a practical component. A portion of each class meeting will be devoted to contemplative practice itself, so that the student not only gains a theoretical understanding of the Christian practice of contemplative prayer, but also knows how to practice it in daily life. Requirements: 1. Due to the experiential component of the class, only students who are open to and interested in deepening the spiritual dimension of life are advised to enroll (however, one need not necessarily be a member of any religious denomination). 2. Regular attendance and completion of reading assignments. 3. Exams (mid-term in class; take home final). 4. Research paper.

HON 4951-01 SOC: Contemporary Themes, Rick Eckstein
I’m not exactly sure where the course title came from. My personal favorite was “here we go again!” You know the routine. Our topics this semester will include stratification, inequality and discrimination (economic, gender, racial/ethnic, sexual preference), education, and other “macro” stuff. We will build on the basic sociological tools from last semester so that our “sociological imaginations” are extraordinarily well developed by the time May rolls around.

HON 5750-01 EGR/PHI: Engineering in the Humanistic Context, Dr. Joye, (CHE); Dr. Fielder, (PHI)
HON 5750 is a non-technical course open to all Honors students. This course examines ethical problems of engineers and managers in an organizational setting. Case studies are used to explore actual situations where engineers and managers must respond to ethical issues in a complex array of design problems, safety, history, personalities, finances, regulation, politics and career interests all contend and conflict. The aim is to prepare students for the ethical problems they will encounter in their work in organizations. The course will examine three case studies in depth:

• The DC-10 aircraft. Design problems with a cargo door were recognized but not adequately fixed because of a combination of economic, regulatory and historical reasons. A horrific crash in a forest outside of Paris killed all 349 passengers – and the door was fixed. This is called “tombstone technology:” when there are enough tombstones the technology gets fixed.
• The space shuttle Challenger. Another design problem, but with a heavy layer of politics and the difficulty of shifting NASA from the moon program to the more prosaic space shuttle. It was like asking Ferrari to design buses. Engineers tried to stop the launch: why were they unsuccessful? A video powerfully recreates the teleconference the night before the launch.
• Nuclear power and the accident at Three Mile Island. At one time the country was bursting with enthusiasm about nuclear energy. There were plans to use it to dig canals and even power artificial hearts. The accident just up the river at Three Mile Island and other factors changed our attitude toward nuclear power. Now with oil prices rising, there is increased attention to the use of nuclear energy as well as concern over the proliferation of nuclear weapons. And what do you do with the nuclear waste that will be radioactive for thousands of years?

Students will write two short papers and participate in a group project to investigate a ethical issue associated with technology. The group will formally present its research to the class and write a term paper.

HON 5702 Spring of 2008 GIS/PJ: Introduction to Cultural Studies, Silvia Nagy-Zekmi/Dina Amin
This introductory course (no previous experience with cultural studies is necessary) attempts to answer the question above while examining the various definitions and productions of culture in the era of globalization. We'll discuss the way(s) we live and communicate by looking at the underlying ideologies and assumptions that regulate our thinking, and how these assumptions are shaped, produced and communicated through the media, the various art forms, or popular culture (music, TV, films, advertisements, etc). The course will provide necessary tools and methodologies that enable students to understand and to analyze cultural phenomena. Lively discussions in class!

HON 5999-001 Proseminar: Research Methods and Strategies, Edwin Goff
Open to students in the humanities and history who intend to pursue the six-credit Senior Thesis option. The seminar will provide an introduction to fundamental concepts, terms, and practices of scholarly research in the humanities. Particular emphasis will be placed upon individual research projects in the specific disciplines of each student's projected Senior Thesis topics. The seminar will allow students to work closely with the electronic databases, indexes, and search engines to develop strategies for conducting an exhaustive review of the literature in their selected topic area. Special attention also will be given to developing skills in preparing annotated bibliographies; and class presentations of work-in-progress. The seminar will be writing intensive, with the expectation that at its conclusion students will have made substantial progress in identifying their Honors Senior Thesis topic, and completing a significant amount of research of the relevant literature.