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Seven Faculty named to Faculty Fellows Program to develop new Honors courses

Honors Faculty Fellows 2020

This fall, students in the Honors College will have access to seven new, innovative courses developed by the fourth cohort of Honors College Faculty Fellows.

This year’s courses will challenge students to think about the world in new and different ways. With topics ranging from how to approach problems using creative thinking, to the biology behind how humans age, to gaining cross-cultural competency and real-world business experience through working with fellow undergraduates in Germany, Honors students will be challenged to think more deeply and challenge their assumptions.

“We are excited to announce this year’s cohort of Honors College Faculty Fellows as they bring a range of disciplinary expertise to our students,” said Kate Staples, acting assistant dean of the Honors College, who oversees the Honors Faculty Fellows Program. “Our Faculty Fellows have designed innovative courses that encourage intellectual curiosity and inquiry and promote hands-on learning and community engagement.”

The fellows selected for this competitive program have developed courses that incorporate the Honors College core values of service, leadership and innovation, pushing students to think across disciplines and make connections between their studies and the real world. The Honors College Faculty Fellows program gives faculty the opportunity to design new Honors College courses that also allow students to fulfill General Education Foundations course requirements.

The courses will be offered during fall and spring semester in the 2020-2021 academic year.

The fellows and their courses are:

Dr. Carla Brigandi, Learning Science and Human Development, College of Education and Human Services

“Creative Thinking” will challenge students to look at the world and its problems through the lens of creativity, progressively guiding them through increasingly more advanced creative thinking activities and strategies. This course will give students the toolkit they need to pursue a self-selected passion project in an individual investigation of a real-world problem with the goal of producing real solutions and making the world a better place. 

Kimberly Floyd, Learning Science and Human Development, College of Education and Human Services

 “Trauma, Resilience & Children” will examine the influence trauma has on the lives of children and how it impacts them throughout their lives — in their growth, learning and adult relationships. Students will explore these topics through community activities, guest speakers, readings and interactive in-class learning, focusing on the core issues of trauma-informed care and the influence of childhood trauma on society and the economy.  

Dr. Steven Frisch, Biochemistry, School of Medicine

“The Biology of Aging” will be a multidisciplinary examination of biologic aging and the factors that affect and can extend longevity. Students will learn about the exciting study of “cell senescence,” or the irreversible cessation of cell division. Students will explore work that shows cell senescence as the major factor underlying human aging and learn about new interventions that prevent cell senescence in model organisms, extending their longevity. What could this mean for humans and aging in the future?

Christian Schaupp, Accounting, John Chambers College of Business and Economics

“Global Consulting” will teach students how to work cross-culturally in the business world by working with a real international client, honing students’ cooperation, problem-solving and presentation skills. Students will pair up with undergraduates studying in Münster, Germany, providing both groups of students with the opportunity to work together to learn global competence, collaborating across cultural differences and performing real-world client problem solving.

Andrea Soccorsi, Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Studies, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

“People vs. the Planet” will challenge students to consider climate change and environmental issues through the lens of multiple disciplines, focusing on how the perspectives of diverse stakeholders in the sciences, social sciences and humanities can help us not only to better understand the issues surrounding climate change, but also to propose plausible solutions together. Students will employ critical reading, thinking and writing skills to investigate the science of climate change, as well as its representation in media, literature and other sources. Students will then translate these theoretical problems into real world solutions through an action project with local non-profit organizations and the city of Morgantown. 

John Temple, Reed College of Media

In “Nonfiction Storytelling” students will examine and analyze different types of contemporary nonfiction writing, looking at their narrative structures to learn how stories are built and ultimately creating their own in-depth, original nonfiction stories. Students will discuss the ethics and practical concerns behind applying narrative techniques to real-world events, exploring how storytelling done well is able to entertain and inform, as well as create empathy, making the retelling of a series of events propulsive, satisfying and, ultimately, consequential.  

Johanna Winant, English, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

“Mysteries and Diagnoses” will ask students to re-examine stories of murder mysteries and medical diagnoses as interpretive puzzles, each with their own assumptions, blind spots and biases. Students will probe the process of interpretation and test presumptions of objectivity, learning about the influence of ideology, when interpretation and explanation succeed and fail, and whom they fail. Ultimately students will learn to see how ideological structures and societal values shape even the most objective work and arguments.

This fall, the fellows will each deliver a public lecture based on their courses, providing WVU students and the broader community the opportunity to engage with the course topics.

Faculty Fellows are also provided with interdisciplinary faculty development opportunities throughout the program. The courses designed by the 2020-2021 Faculty Fellows provide faculty the opportunity to develop new curricular and teaching ideas that they can later bring back to their home departments and the wider WVU student body.

“I am really impressed with the breadth and diversity of topics offered by our latest cohort of Honors College Faculty Fellows. Our students are always looking for new and interesting courses to challenge them, and I am certain they will enjoy these courses as they fulfill their GEF requirements,” said Damien Clement, acting dean of the Honors College.

The Honors College offers an enhanced undergraduate experience for high-achieving students at WVU by building a community of scholars who enrich their education in the classroom and beyond.