***The seminar is a trademark experience of the University Honors Program. These course options are pitched by top educators at the University of Cincinnati and hand selected by a committee of Honors staff and students. Such courses allow students to push the boundaries of their disciplines and explore their passions. These are a few of my indulgences.***
ENGL:2089 Intermediate English Composition
During the spring semester of 2015, I was lucky enough to participate in one of the three sections of Intermediate English Composition (ENGL2089) provided by the University Honors Program. Over the course of the semester, we looked at communication in multiple forms beginning by examining literacy in its many forms. Our second assignment acted as a stepping stone in developing the skills we would need to complete our final assignment. In this assignment, we looked a genres and how they may influence the overall message of a particular form of communication. Our final assignment allowed us to immerse ourselves in a community as we examined the many forms of communication a particular group of people may use to interact with one another as well as those outside of the group to spread their message and mission. ENGL2089 sparked a renewed passion for writing as it had been quite some time since I had been given the opportunity to explore the art of writing. With this course, I now understand the many facets that lie in human interaction and communication.
Seminars
MATH:3096 Mathematics in Games and Puzzles
Over the course of the fall semester of 2015, I was able to explore the intricacies of the creation and play of games and puzzles through the honors seminar MATH3096: Mathematics in Games and puzzles. Throughout the class, we looked at a multiple types of games and puzzles from poker to Sudoku identifying the mathematics and strategy behind game play. We began the class by first exploring what defines a game beginning with a very simple definition and then expanding upon these ideas. From here we began looking at the different classifications of games including card games and puzzles. When looking at card games, we began by studying probability and how this affected games play and then we investigated strategy and how you as a player can anticipate the moves of other players and form your own best strategy. In looking at puzzles, we went behind the scenes to see how puzzles such as Sudoku and Slitherlink are made by creating our own puzzles and variations on many classic puzzles. This course presented a great challenge to me both in the mathematics as I was largely out of practice with many skills and in the challenges to creative thinking that ensued from looking at the games I have played throughout my life in a new light.
ARTH:3090 Cincinnati Art and Architecture
For me, the spring semester of 2016 was full of exploration. Through the course ARTH:3090 Cincinnati Art and Architecture, I was able to explore the rich history of Cincinnati through its many contributions to the art and architecture communities. This course allowed me to explore parts of Cincinnati to which I had not yet ventured including such notable locations as the Taft Museum of Art, Music Hall, the Plum Street Temple and the Boswell House designed by the great Frank Lloyd Wright. While we were not able to explore all Cincinnati had to offer in such a short period of time, we were able to gain a shallow but widespread understanding of the place that Cincinnati holds in art history. As we traveled through the past 200+ years of Cincinnati history, we learned of its rich heritage of African American Art, the importance of the city in major developments and milestones in the history of photography and the incredible impact that was felt through the art community in 1990 in the aftermath of the Mapplethorpe Controversy thanks to the decisions made right here in Cincinnati. This course truly allowed me to gain an appreciation for the rich cultural significance that hides right before our eyes.
