HNPG 09 – Fall 2008 (v.9/4/08

Honors First Year Workshop: Learning, Leadership and Creativity
2 units for letter grade.  50 minute lecture, 50 minute discussion section per week.
C. Chase-Dunn                  Wednesday 5:10-7 pm, University Lecture Hall (UNLV)

Ansel Adams photograph of the Swarthmore of the West

Course Purpose:

Students at a research university have both the privilege and the responsibility of learning. This involves both scholarship and lifelong lessons of exploring options, asking questions, thinking critically, and developing decision-making skills. Your generation will need to understand and confront the challenges that humanity has created for itself in the 21st century. The UCR Honors Program is designed to help you to become knowledgeable leaders and creators.

In this introductory Honors course we will explore the evolution of learning in the context of the emergence of physical, biological and socio-cultural complexity and the rise of modern higher education in the context of a single globalizing system of human societies.  Discussion sections will provide an opportunity to dialogue with other students, clarify your values and beliefs, ask questions, and explore topics more deeply. We hope to stimulate your intellect and to help you develop critical thinking and communications skills.

Required Readings:

Available in the Campus Store:

*W. Warren Wagar 1999 A Short History of the Future. (3nd Edition) Chicago:

          University of Chicago Press.

Other required readings are available from the Course Reader, which may be purchased from UCR Printing and Reprographics (near the Campus Store) and is available on the course web site at http://iLearn.ucr.edu/

Course Requirements:

Weekly attendance in lecture and discussion is required. Class discussion and dialogue are a vital part of this course, so come to class prepared and ready to express yourself. You will earn a participation grade by attending lecture and discussion, and becoming actively involved in your discussion section. 

 

Course Grading:

Attendance:

  20 points

 

Participation:

20 points

 

Midterm:

30 points

 

Final

30 points

 

TOTAL:

100 points

                   

 

 

 

 

Attendance (20 points): Attendance in lecture and discussion is required.

Participation (20 points): Based on active participation in class discussions and activities.

Midterm Exam (30 points): The Midterm is a closed-note, closed-book in-class short-answer essay exam. Three questions must be answered. These are chosen from a list of five questions on the Exam. A week prior to the exam 10 or 12 questions will be handed out. All the questions on the Midterm will be on this list.

Final Exam (30 points): The Final Exam is just like the Midterm, except that it will cover the second half of the course material.

Discussion Sections:

You will be assigned to a discussion section on the first day of class (October 1). The room may or may not be what appears on your schedule of classes. You are responsible for attending the discussion section assigned to you by the Honors Program. 

University Honors Program – Academic Policies

First Year Honors Workshop and Colloquium

This is a required sequence of courses for all first year Honors students. HNPG 09, 10A, and 10B provide students with a useful perspective on higher education and stimulating topics for discussion.

Standards of Work

Honors students are expected to reflect effort and thoughtfulness in all of their assignments.

Academic Standing

In order to receive Lower Division Honors recognition at the end of the sophomore year, an overall cumulative grade point average of 3.2 and a GPA of 3.2 in Honors courses is required. Honors credit for a section or seminar will not be given if a student receives a grade lower than "B" in that Honors section or seminar. It is expected that UHP students will maintain these same grade point requirements from quarter to quarter. All students below the required 3.2 GPA will be notified in writing and placed on UHP probation for one quarter. If a student's GPA falls below 3.0, it is sufficient for immediate dismissal from the UHP. If the minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 is not attained the following quarter, status in the University Honors Program will be revoked. A student may also be placed on UHP probation for failure to complete his or her learning contract.

Honors Sections and Seminars

To complete the requirements for Lower Division University Honors, each student is required to complete a minimum of four Honors courses over two years. Only a grade of B or higher will allow a student to receive Honors credit for a section or seminar. Students will be required to continue taking Honors courses until they have received Honors credit for four courses.

 

HNPG 09- Learning, Leadership and Creativity

Items marked with an asterisk (*) should be read prior to the class discussion. Other items are recommended but not required.

Oct. 1  Introduction, overview and syllabus. Discussion sections will be assigned and attended.

Oct. 8  The Evolution of Learning Since the Big Bang: Physical, Biological and Socio-cultural Complexity. (start reading W.Warrren Wagar book)

David Christian 2004 Maps of Time. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Richard G. Klein and Blake Edgar 2002 The Dawn of Human Culture.  New York: Wiley

Oct. 15  The Evolution of Human Societies: Learning, Institutions and Innovation

*Thomas D. Hall and Christopher Chase-Dunn, 2006 “Global social change in the long run” Chapter 3 in C. Chase-Dunn and S. Babones (eds.) Global Social Change. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. (in Course Reader and available on Ilearn)

John R. McNeill and William  H. McNeill 2003 The Human Web. New York: Norton.

Christopher Chase-Dunn and Thomas D. Hall 1997 Rise and Demise: Comparing World-Systems. Boulder, CO: Westview.

Christopher Chase-Dunn and Bruce Lerro, Social Change, Chapter 1: “History and Social Evolution”

 

Oct. 22  The Modern World-System and Globalization

* Christopher Chase-Dunn and Bruce Lerro, Social Change, Chapters 14 and 19 (in Course Reader and available on Ilearn)

Immanuel Wallerstein 2004 World-Systems Analysis. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

Giovanni Arrighi 1994 The Long 20th Century. London: Verso

Christopher Chase-Dunn 1998 Global Formation,: Structures of the World-Economy. Lanham, MD.: Rowman and Littlefield.

Christopher Chase-Dunn 1999 "Globalization: A World-Systems Perspective" Journal of World-Systems Research, Vol V, 2: 165-185.

Oct. 29 The U.S Trajectory and Global Inequality

(continue reading W. Wagar)

*Christopher Chase-Dunn, A. K. Jorgenson, T.E. Reifer and S. Lio 2005 “The trajectory of the United States in the world-system” Social Forces 48,2:233-254. (in Course Reader and available on ILearn)

* Volker Bornschier 2008 “Income inequality in the world: looking back and ahead” (in Course Reader and available on ILearn)

Thomas J. McCormick 1995 Americas Half Century. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Giovanni Arrighi 2008 Adam Smith in Beijing. London: Verso.

Bruce Podobnik 2006 “Global energy inequalities” Chapter 7 in C. Chase-Dunn and S. Babones (eds.)

          Global Social Change.  Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

          http://jwsr.ucr.edu/archive/vol8/number2/pdf/jwsr-v8n2-podobnik.pdf

Mike Davis, Prisoners of the American Dream

Nov. 5 Southern California and Northwestern Mexico: Migration and Change

Lowell John Bean, Mukat’s People (Midterm questions handed out in Discussion Section)

Mike Davis, City of Quartz

Mike Davis, Ecology of Fear.

Richard Heinberg  Powerdown

Kevin Danaher, Shannon Biggs and Jason Mark 2007 Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grass Roots. Sausalito, CA: Polipoint Press

Nov. 12 Midterm exam 5:10 to 6 pm in UNLV.  

Nov.19  Global Citizenship

Tracy Kidder 2004 Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the           World. New York: Random House

George Monbiot 2004 Manifesto for a New Global Order

Ruth Reitan 2007 Global Activism. London: Routledge.

Smith, Jackie, Marina Karides, et al. 2007 The World Social Forum and the Challenges of Global           Democracy. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

Nov.26 no class or discussion section today.

 Dec.3 The 21st Century: Three Challenges and the Potential for Global Democracy

* W. Warren Wagar 1999 A Short History of the Future. (3nd Edition) Chicago:

          University of Chicago Press. (Read Chapters 1-9)

Heikki Patomaki 2008 The Political Economy of Global Security. London: Routledge.

C. Chase-Dunn 2008 “The world revolution of 20xx” in J. Harris (ed.) GSA Papers 2007: Contested           Terrains of Globalization. Chicago: ChangeMaker. (Available on ILearn)

Final Exam December 10, 7-9 pm, UNLV