Fall 2026 Honors Seminars

Honors Seminars Fall 2026

Monsters!

HNRS 4000, Section 1002; 75168; Wednesday: 1:30pm-2:20pm (1 credit)

Instructor: Prof. Thomas Castillo

In this seminar, students will engage with the concept of folkloric monsters, including the Witch, the Vampire, and the Werewolf, consider their origins and development in popular culture (primarily cinema) as well as their historical context, and explore how cultural memory and belief in monsters persists in both popular culture and everyday life. What was the social function of monsters in a previous era, and what is their social function now? What is their continued allure, from a cultural standpoint?

In the course, students will be asked to view a selection of films and media outside of the class meeting time, as well as engage with select readings, both academic and non-academic, that provide a basis for ongoing class discussion and responses.

Creative Expression and Interpersonal Violence

HNRS 4000, section 1001, 75167; Tuesday: 4pm-5pm (1 credit)

Instructor: Dr. Sidra Lawrence and Dr. Kacee Snyder

This course offers opportunities for students to engage with issues that are of immediate public consequence, and are pertinent on local, national, and global scales. Students are invited to learn about IPV from several perspectives: public policy and health, economic, legal and judicial, social identity and movements, and survivor accounts. By examining global case studies, students will engage with how local cultural perspectives and worldviews inform public response, justice, and survivor experiences. This is an opportunity to think about a global issue from many grounded perspectives, and to think comparatively across cultures, especially regarding creative and artistic responses.