Figuring out your schedule for the next semester can be stressful and overwhelming, but with this Honors Course Catalog, some student insight, and the information gathered from Bill’s Honors Course Info Session, you will be more than prepared for registration. 

Here are some tips and tricks to be better prepared for registration. First, schedule a meeting with your advisor with a first draft of your desired schedule; having an idea of what courses you want to take helps them achieve what you want for your next semester. Next, check if you have any holds on the Pace Portal to make sure that when it’s time to register, nothing’s holding you back. As of right now, the registration date for seniors and juniors is April 17, and April 18 for sophomores and freshmen; your specific time and date will be found in your Pace Portal. Lastly, register at the earliest possible moment you can. On the day of your registration, schedule your day around your time slot so you can access stable Wi-Fi. If your time slot is during one of your classes, politely ask the professor if you can step outside or take a moment to register; most are more than understanding. If any issues occur while you are registering, email your advisor with your name, your U number, the name of the class that is causing the issue, and its CRN. 

Here is some information on the Honors College’s courses this upcoming semester. It explains what each course is about and what they contribute to your degree. Also, there’s some insight from students who have previously taken some of the classes.

Classical Civilization, Learning Community: An LC that combines LIT 211S, Masterpieces of World Literature: Selected Classics, and HIS 102, Ancient and Medieval History to the 14th Century, with Professor Jaclyn Kopel.

This course will examine Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and literature with the poet Homer, Hesiod, and Sappho, continue with samples of Greek tragedy and comedy of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, and conclude with Roman literature and philosophy. The history portion of the class will include ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Byzantine Empire, and the Middle Ages to see how other civilizations impacted Greece and Rome.

Kaitlyn, a freshman Honors student who took Classical Civilization, said:

“I was in the Classic Civilization [LC], which involved ancient Medieval history and 14th-century masterpieces of world literature, selected classics. But I really liked these. You got to learn about the civilizations in the history class, the literature from the time, and more about art. It really provided an enriching experience, and it made a lot more sense when you took both of the classes at the same time.”

Reacting to the Past:  Conflict and Revolution in Early America, Learning Community: Another LC, INT 198F, is a part of the Interdisciplinary department and will be taught by Professors Kristen Michelson and Bill Offutt.

This LC plays and analyzes games for both the History and the English writing portions. In the history portion, students will be assigned texts that prepare them for the parts they’ll play in the “role-playing game” reenactments of famous intellectual and political confrontations. The English portion will use The Sims, Life is Strange, Papers Please, and other video game-based materials throughout this course.

Marg, a junior Honors student who took Reacting to the Past, said:

“I took Reacting to the Past with Bill. I suggest it because it is so fun! If you don’t like history, take this class because you will start liking history. You get assigned a role, and you get to act out history and change the course of what happened, and I would highly suggest it.”

Contemporary Business Practices: BUS 101 is required for all Business majors (except Public Accounting majors). It is a three-credit course, and the professor has yet to be announced.

This course will introduce students to the functions of business and their interrelationships. Students will work in teams to run simulated companies, and the development of business writing and speaking, presentation, and data analysis skills will be emphasized. 

Ryan, a sophomore Honors student who took Contemporary Business Practices, said:

“I took Business 101. It’s an intro course for Lubin students. You apply many skills that you learn because everyone in it takes part in a simulation where you own a coffee shop. It’s a good course!”

Media, Culture, and Society: CMS 113 is a three-credit core course for Communication & Media Studies that will be taught by Professor Adam Klein.  

This course addresses the link between media, culture, and society as they relate to the discourses of modernity and cultural globalization, aesthetics, consumption, and markets. From a trans-disciplinary perspective, we will attempt to understand the categories of media, culture, and society in the context of representations of women and immigrants in the media, the construction of self in the age of new media, and the impact of media digitization.

Ryan, a sophomore Honors student who took Media, Culture, and Society, said:

“It’s a class for the Communication and Media Studies department. It teaches you a lot about how media influences our culture and society. How we consume media and how that influences the decisions we make. You learn about all the different types of media, like the telephone and everything in between, like how the media worked up into our current broadcasting and streaming.”

Principles of Economics: Macroeconomics: ECO 115 is a three-credit lecture course taught by Professor Anna Shostya.

It focuses on the basic concepts of national income determination, money and banking, business cycles and economic fluctuations, monetary and fiscal policy, economic growth, and current microeconomic issues.

Sonia, an Honors student who took ECO 115, said:

“I took Principles of Macroeconomics last semester with Professor Shostya. I actually really liked the class. I like how she structured her lectures. It made it really easy to understand the material and be interested in what we were learning. I actually ended up switching my major to Economics because of her class.” 

Critical Writing: ENG 120 is a four-credit lecture-style foundational course that all Pace students must take. It depends on your SAT/ACT score (if you have submitted it), your preparation in high school English, or your placement test. The professor has yet to be announced.

It emphasizes the development of argument and analysis as students work with various literary and non-fiction texts. Students will learn advanced research skills, including documentation methods, library and Internet resources, and synthesizing and integrating primary and secondary sources into their essays.

Abby, an Honors student who took ENG 120, said:

“I took Critical Writing with David Gibbs. It was a really awesome course because he got to focus the entire semester around one topic and write a ton of different essays related to it while still being able to discuss it in class.” 

History of Non-Violent Activism in Modern Asia: HIS 218 is a three-credit course taught by Professor Joseph Lee.

It will talk about how non-violence has been used by political leaders in 20th-century Asia to oppose Western colonialism, pursue democracy and justice, and resolve domestic and international conflicts. This course explores the history of non-violent activism across Asia from historical and comparative perspectives.

I personally took HIS 218, and it was an enjoyable class; Joesph Lee is a great professor. We had outside field trips. We went to the Rubin Museum and watched historic Asian films that were super awesome because I’m a visual learner. We had a few debates, too, so you put what you learned to the test and see if you knew what you were talking about.

Public Speaking: There will be two sophomore-standing COM 200 Honors classes offered, one taught by Professor Satish Kolluri and the other by Professor Jaclyn Griffith.

This is a foundation course all Pace students must take devoted to instruction in writing mechanics and presenting one’s material. This will include outlining, addressing varied audiences, style, and appropriate techniques of delivery, as well as the use of technology to enhance one’s presentation. 

Ryan, a sophomore Honors student who took Public Speaking, said:

“It’s a gen-ed that all students at Pace students must take. It teaches you many skills about public speaking, [like] learning how to pace yourself, and writing throughout speeches and research topics for informative and persuasive speeches.”

Writing in the Disciplines: There are four ENG 201 courses being offered next semester. There will be one in-person class with Professor Lowenheim and two in-person with Professor Lindsey Lee, who will also offer an asynchronous option.

This course is an upper-level writing requirement. Juniors are strongly recommended to take it during their fall semester. It will focus on writing effective essays and research papers in disciplinary modes and students’ fields of interest. The Honors sections of ENG 201 focus on developing topics, research plans, and organizational skills needed to complete the Honors thesis.

Manny, a junior Honors student who took ENG 201, said:

“Everyone has to take it, but especially for Honors, it helps us better prepare for our thesis and helps us have something in mind.” 

Principles of Marketing: MAR 201 is a three-credit Business core course taught by Professor Gopalakrishna.

It introduces the complex and dynamic field of marketing and its systems and examines marketing’s place in the firm and society. Considered and analyzed are marketing research and strategies for product development and promotion, advertising, sales promotion, and public relations.

Ryan, a sophomore Honors student who took MAR 201, said:

“It’s really good. It tells you more about advertising from the brand perspective and how that affects consumers. It’s really just about the relationship between a brand and the consumer and how they go back and forth, and how much you can read into the consumer. ” 

Psychology of Civic Engagement: PSY 233 is a  three-credit course taught by Professor Tesoriero.

This course will introduce you to the application of psychology principles to a variety of social service settings. A strong emphasis on civic engagement will be featured. 

Kaitlyn, a freshman Honors student who took PSY 233, said:

“ I took Psychology of Civic Engagement for the Honors credit. I like this class because it taught you a little about the behaviors and emotions behind community service and civic engagement, and I actually got to participate in it myself. I volunteer now for the crisis text line, and it is a very fulfilling experience.”

International Law and Human Rights: POL 247 is a three-credit political science course taught by Professor Nayak.

This course will explore the mechanisms, advantages, and disadvantages of utilizing international law to address human rights violations. Topics include the tension between sovereignty and human rights, the distinction between international criminal and humanitarian law, racial violence, indigenous rights, refugees, labor rights, climate change, and more.

Heebah, a junior Honors student who took POL 247, said:

“ Dr. Nayak [was] a great professor. She made her class very approachable and very easy to understand while dealing with heavy topics, which could be off-putting to some people, but the way she approached it made people believe that there was hope in the world. It was a more constructive Hands-On course [than I thought].”

Neurobiology: BIO 325 is a three-credit course that will be taught by Professor Buraei. 

This course provides a foundation on the function and cell biology of neurons, nerve cell communication and action potential, synapse structure and function, nerve cell specializations, and how small circuits of neurons are formed and their functions. Having established this basic understanding of nervous system function,  the focus shifts to how knowledge is built through experimental neuroscience. 

Agathe Burdi, a junior Honors student who took BIO 325, said:

“I took neurobiology last semester; it was really fun. I like Professor Buraei. He’s a very informative teacher. He does his best to answer questions and really thoroughly go over the material. This is a hard class, but it is very interesting.”

Creative Writing: ENG 223 is a three-credit course that will be taught by Professor Richie.

This course allows students to develop the art and craft of writing short stories, poems, and memoirs. Across the genres of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, students will write and read models by contemporary authors and share new work with fellow students. This is aimed at helping students cultivate their voice and style.

Agathe Burdi, a junior Honors student who took ENG 223, said:

“Creative writing class was really fun because we explored different movies, some movies I’ve never seen before. This really enhanced my writing skills.”

Writing Comics and Graphic Novels: ENG 316 is a three-credit course that will be taught by Professor Levitz. 

In this course, you will explore graphic storytelling fiction and nonfiction and develop your writing skills as you learn to express yourself in this form. Discussions will include a brief history of comics in America, the current state of the graphic novel and memoir, and the potential for this form. 

Heebah, a junior Honors student who took ENG 316, said: 

“It was an exceptional course that I took as a writing credit. We analyzed different graphic novels and text, looked at the colors, and the spacing of the dialogue, and saw how it affected literature. I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a non-traditional class.”

Racial Justice: PJS 296R is a three-credit course that will be taught by Professor FitzGerald. 

This course will look into the recent global proliferation of new grassroots movements for racial justice, including the global rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, Idle No More in Canada, Rhodes Must Fall in South Africa, and the CARICOM campaign seeking reparations for slavery in the Caribbean. It  will explore the internal dynamics of various movements for racial justice as well as the external conditions to which they are responding by charting the complex interconnections between the concepts of “race,” “peace,” and “justice.”

Ryan, a sophomore Honors student who took PJS 296R, said:

“I took this class with Professor FitzGerald, and I absolutely loved it. I learned so much. It was really engaging and created a community. Everyone in the class knew each other and participated in really deep conversations. I definitely recommend this class.”

Education I: Understanding Schools: TCH 201 is a three-credit course that will be taught by Professor Medow.

This course examines schools in a diverse and changing society. Examining the history of philosophy, legal, and social responsibilities associated with schooling introduces you to the interactions among community, families, schools, curriculum, teachers, students, and cultures. Through guided field experiences, you will observe and reflect on different aspects of schooling with a particular focus placed on the role language serves across all interactive domains of society and the role of the teacher as an agent of change and empowerment. 

Pierce, an Honors student who took TCH 201, said:

“I learned a lot about the fieldwork that we had to do. It was a very enjoyable class, and being able to learn through the reading, along with the collaboration, allowed me to have a teamwork aspect that I love to have [in] the Honors College.”

Script Analysis: There are two PAPE 270 sections being offered next semester. Professor Thomas Keith will teach both classes. Every PPA major will have two courses designated for Honors credit, usually one in Fall and one in Spring. 

In this course, students will read, work, and engage with several plays to establish an understanding of the specific analytical needs of actors, directors, and designers. Students will examine several approaches to script analysis.

AMT, an Honors student, said:

“Thomas Keith is the greatest of all time. You read Streetcar Named Desire a lot, especially at the beginning of the class, but then you get to new material, which is fun.”

Those are just a few comments from Pace’s Honors students on the dozens of upcoming Honors courses. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your advisors, as they are more than happy to help you figure out how to get on track. If you want more student insight, check out the Honors Instagram page @pacehonorsnyc. Under the story highlights, there will be videos of students discussing their previous course experience to help you feel better prepared for your next registration.