Honors Credit

Honors General Education Sections (Fall 2025)

These offerings satisfy the respective UNIFI or LAC category in addition to counting toward your honors designation. They fulfill both university and honors requirements while emphasizing discussion and class participation. Class sizes are limited to approximately 20 honors students, allowing for a focus on active learning and engagement with peers and faculty.

EARTHSCI 1400-01 Intro to Environmental Earth Science

Dr. Heinzel, 9:00-9:50am MWF LECTURE + 8:00-9:50am Tu LAB

Fulfills UNIFI Scientific Reasoning or UNIFI Connect Elective

Course Description: This course explores the intersection of humanity with its environments and resources through science. Science is a powerful tool, but to achieve sustainability economic, social and political concepts must be applied to properly communicate and activate scientific findings. We will investigate the Earth’s land, water and air through interdisciplinary science ‘biogeochemistry’ and a Systems Thinking approaches. The course uses a combination of reading, lecture, lab and discussion to deliver content. Relevant current events are embedded into the content via podcasts, journal articles and field trips. Each student selects an environmental alter ego at the beginning of the semester. Learning occurs as an individual, between student to student interactions and from through the eyes of each other’s alter egos: e.g. Aldo Leopold, Sylvia Earle, Edward Abbey, Katherine Hayhoe.

Professor Biography: C. E. Heinzel, Ph.D. - Geologist/Geoarchaeologist – investigates the successes and failures of past civilizations to inform our current decisions. Leads research and study abroad opportunities to southern Italy/Sicily to learn about the Iron Age, Iceland to discover Viking culture and landscapes and Iowa’s Woodland/Native American history. I enjoy hiking, kayaking and learning from our National Parks. Spending quality time with my family, wife (artist, naturalist, banker), older daughter (actress, conservation genetics grad. student), younger daughter (finance and marketing majors, undergraduate), our two German Shepherds and when possible, a good book with a cup of black coffee. 

HIST 2011-03 Engaging Sources: Monuments and Memory

Dr. Connors, 9:30-10:45am T/Th

Fulfills UNIFI Human Expression or UNIFI Connect Elective

Course Description: Explore how history is remembered through monuments and what happens to them when the past that they commemorate is no longer honored. How do we mark significant places in our history? Whose version of the past is expressed in the public square? How does the historic landscape catch up with our changing understanding of the past? Using an interdisciplinary approach, Honors students will examine examples from around the world through readings, discussion, and presentations. They will contribute to a digital archive, research a related topic, and design an original monument of their choice. A variety of field trips allow students to investigate memorials on campus, in Waterloo, and either Chicago or Des Moines (depending on funding and students’ schedules).

Professor Biography: Professor Connors teaches courses in American, British, and Irish history, and studies how the past has been commemorated in monuments and memorials. His publications include articles on the landscape of Sleepy Hollow and how the U.S. invasion of 1847 has been remembered in Mexico City. Connors also created the inaugural Veterans Legacy educational program for the National Cemetery Administration and is currently working on an app locating historic graves across Iowa.

HIST 2210-01 Problems & Perspectives in Global History: Witchcraft FYO

Dr. McNabb, 11:00am-12:15pm T/Th

Fulfills UNIFI Human Condition-Global or UNIFI Connect Elective

Course Description: The topic of this course, witchcraft, has long proven to be an irresistible draw for both academic and non-academic audiences seeking to understand history through the study of meaning and misfortune, the conflict between good and evil, and the intersection of the natural and the supernatural. During the period between 1400 and 1700, many areas of Europe, which will serve as our course case study, experienced a significant rise in accusations of witchcraft. These accusations resulted in the deaths of individuals identified by neighbors and authorities as practitioners of malefic (harmful) magic. What is less well known to non-specialists is the range of factors that caused what some scholars have identified as Europe’s “witch craze.” Allegations of witchcraft during Europe’s early modern period were the product of many factors, including social and economic tensions over resources in local communities, contestation and negotiation of gender ideals, religious dissension during a period of reform and conflict, new attempts to regulate behavior through law, and the development of the early modern state.

This course will provide students with an understanding of witchcraft through the examination of modern works by leading modern scholars in the field as well as excerpts from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century evidence of the phenomena of witchcraft through contemporary perspectives. Students will also engage in a “Virtual Village” project that will allow them to act as a character in an early modern village and to participate in mock witchcraft trials, applying knowledge gained throughout the first half of the semester. Finally, students will have the chance to compare and contrast early modern European beliefs with beliefs about witchcraft and magic in other historical eras and societies around the world. Student energy and enthusiasm will be vital to the course’s success, so enrolled students should be prepared to take an active role in class!

Professor Biography: Dr. McNabb is the Head of the UNI Department of History. She teaches courses on medieval and early modern Europe as well as the history of England, witchcraft, and the Black Death. She earned her PhD in History from the University of Colorado at Boulder where she specialized in the history of early modern England, 1485-1714, the period of witch-hunting in Europe. She graduated from an honors program as an undergraduate, served as an Associate Director of an Honors College, and has supervised Honors theses and projects throughout her career.

RELS 1040-01 The Power of Myth: Creation Myths

Dr. Burnight, 10:00-10:50am MWF

Fulfills UNIFI Human Expression or UNIFI Connect Elective

Course Description: How did the world come to exist? How did we get here? Why are we here? Such questions reflect what seems to be a universal human impulse to understand our origins and purpose. A wide variety of ideas on the subject have been proposed by mystics, sages, and scholars under the broad categories of religion, philosophy, and science, from the very beginning of the historical period down to modern times. This course will examine and compare a selection of creation myths from a number of ancient sources, such as those of the ancient Near East (including the Bible), Vedic Hinduism, traditional Chinese religion, and Greco-Roman mythology and philosophy, as well as later traditions from Norse, African, and Native American cultures. We will finish with a brief survey of some modern scientific ideas about the nature of the cosmos (e.g., the “Big Bang” theory), emphasizing the effect such theories have had on humanity’s view of its place in the universe, and whether there might be elements of “faith” inherent in these ideas as well. By examining how various cultures have addressed the issue of our beginnings, we might better understand the foundational assumptions underlying our own notions of identity and what it means to be “human.”

Professor Biography: John Burnight is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and World Religions. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in 2011, with an emphasis on Hebrew language and literature. He has been a lecturer at a small private college in the Chicago suburbs and large public universities in Connecticut and North Carolina, teaching introductory and upper-level courses in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, World Religions, and the History of Monotheism. In 2007-08 he was a Fulbright-Hays Visiting Research Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on “subversive” or “protest” literature within the biblical texts: namely, works such as the Book of Job that speak “truth to power” and critique the dominant Israelite/Judahite theology of the biblical periods.

SOCFOUND 2274-04 Democracy and Education in the 21st Century

Dr. Keehn, 11:00-11:50am MWF

Fulfills UNIFI Responsibility or UNIFI Connect Elective

Course Description: coming soon!

Professor Biography: coming soon!

STAT 1772-02 Introduction to Statistical Methods

Dr. Ecker, 11:00am-12:15pm T/Th

Fulfills UNIFI Quantitative Reasoning or UNIFI Connect Elective

Course Description: The Honors Introductory Statistics course covers the topics of: descriptive statistics, probability, random variables, sampling distributions, inferential statistics, confidence intervals and hypothesis tests. Students will be exposed to critical statistical thinking, along with the statistical software package, S-Plus.  Emphasis will be on real world applications of pertinent statistical methods and ideas. Students will collect data on a topic of interest to them, analyze the data using the tools learned in the classroom and present their results to the class.

Professor Biography: I am Professor of Statistics in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Northern Iowa, where I specialize in spatial prediction and modeling using Bayesian and Geostatistical techniques. My research involves hands-on data analysis and developing methodology for spatial association often present in environmental and economic data. In my time here at UNI, I have worked as part of a multidisciplinary team of chemists, biologists, and environmental scientists analyzing water quality data in several of Iowa’s lakes and wetlands. A recent research project involves developing new statistical techniques to measure the negative or positive financial impact on housing prices from living close to a point source, such as a hoglot, nuclear power plant or a highly desirable school. I currently work with Iowa Workforce Development and the Institute for Decision Making to forecast the potential available workers in laborsheds across Iowa. My most current research project involves assessing the accuracy and precision of Automated Valuation Models (“AVMs”), that are professional-grade statistical models that predict house value. For example, Zillow.com uses a consumer- facing AVM that provides free estimates of house value to the public. 

TECH CM 1015-02 Introduction to Sustainability

Dr. Rumsey, 12:30-1:45pm T/Th

Fulfills UNIFI Responsibility or UNIFI Connect Elective

Course Description: What does it mean to live sustainably, and is it a worthwhile goal? In this course, students will engage with these questions at both personal and societal scales. Students will develop a general framework for thinking about sustainability, and will consider sustainability from a range of disciplinary and professional perspectives. Instruction will focus on balancing ecological, social, and economic objectives. Students will learn about systems thinking as an important component of understanding sustainability. This section will be more discussion-based than non-honors sections of Intro to Sustainability. Two major projects are central to the course: one in which students implement sustainable actions in their own lives, and one in which students research broader trends or innovations that enhance societal sustainability. We will hear from a variety of guest speakers from around campus and beyond, and will grapple with a wide range of perspectives on what sustainability means and how it is lived.

Professor Biography: Trained as an environmental historian, Brian Rumsey holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. A native Iowan, he studied as an undergraduate at Iowa State and received an M.A. from Mississippi State. Dr. Rumsey is a former sports journalist, and has been teaching at UNI since 2019. His doctoral research focused on how people have lived with floods as the climate changes, and he also has a research interest in sustainable agriculture. He collaborates with the Land Institute, a research center dedicated to developing perennial field crops, and has worked extensively with local food systems in the Cedar Valley. He is an avid gardener, cook, and traveler.

WGS 1040-03 Women’s and Gender Studies

Dr. Sutton, 2:00-3:15pm T/Th

Fulfills UNIFI Human Condition-Global or UNIFI Connect Elective

Course Description: This course is designed to familiarize students with the academic field of women's and gender studies. Women's and gender studies uses interdisciplinary tools to analyze structural power and the ways that gender manifests itself in social, cultural, and political contexts. Through diverse readings, discussion, and activities, students will be asked to think critically about gender and its construction and reproduction in society and the effect on their own lives and families. Intersectionality with theories of race, class, and other social structures will be examined.

Professor Biography: Elizabeth Sutton is Professor of Art History and Head of the Department of Art at the University of Northern Iowa. She specializes in globalization and power in art as well as in active pedagogical research. She has edited Democratic Habits in the Art Classroom: Supporting Students’ Voice, Choice, and Community (Teachers College Press, 2023) and Women Artists and Patrons in the Netherlands, 1400-1700 (Amsterdam University Press, 2019). Monographs include Angel De Cora, Karen Thronson, and the Art of Place (University of Iowa Press, 2020), Art, Animals, and Experience: Relationships to Canines and the Natural World (Routledge, 2017), Capitalism and Cartography in the Dutch Golden Age (University of Chicago Press, 2015), and Early Modern Dutch Prints of Africa (Ashgate, 2012). Her current interests include various interdisciplinary projects that seek to amplify feminist research, methodology, and pedagogy.

Presidential Scholars Required Credit

Required and reserved for presidential scholars ONLY.

UNIV 1092-01 Presidential Scholars Seminar: BS Detection

Dr. Evan Renfro, 9:30-10:20am T/Th

*2 credit hour seminar – 1st year Presidential Scholars ONLY

Course Description: This course, styled from Oxford University’s pedagogical methodology, provides an
intensive reading and discussion overview of International Relations. We will read four books (not
textbooks) and structure the course around discussion, close reading, and crisp writing. 
 
Course Objectives:
1. Identify and explain the fundamental concepts and theories for studying international relations. 
2. Apply these concepts and theories to real-world situations. 
3. Use these concepts and theories to develop persuasive arguments and make reasoned judgments
about the key debates in international politics.

Professor Biography: Evan “Doc” Renfro is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University
of Northern Iowa. A former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst, Dr. Renfro received his B.A. and M.A.
from the University of Texas at Austin, and Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. While at UT,
he was awarded the Churchill Scholarship. Before coming to Northern Iowa, Doc was a Fleet Professor at
the United States Naval War College in Pearl Harbor, HI, where he taught the seminar on Strategy and
War. With a research agenda focused on the nexus of international security and culture, Dr. Renfro has
published in such outlets as the International Journal of Cultural Studies; Marine Corps Gazette; Joint
Force Quarterly; Cultural Studies; Humanity & Society; and Theory & Event.  His current book analyzes
transnational human rights related graffiti and is under contract with Lexington. Doc also loves teaching
and was awarded the University of Northern Iowa Outstanding Teaching Award.

UNIV 1092-02 Presidential Scholars Seminar: Sophomore Think Tank

Dr. Jessica Moon, 3:30-5:20pm Tuesdays

*2 credit hour seminar – 2nd year Presidential Scholars ONLY

Course Description: coming soon!

Professor Biography: coming soon!

Honors Advanced Credit

Advanced credit includes honors seminars, independent study and the required honors thesis.  Honors seminars are open to students with sophomore standing or above.  Independent study is NOT required, but available as an option.  Lastly, the honors thesis is a typically a two-semester sequence required of all students completing an honors designation.

UNIV 2196-01 Honors Seminar: Child Forensic Interviewing

Dr. MacLin, 11:00am-12:15pm T/Th (T- in person; Th- hybrid)

**3 credit hour seminar – Requires sophomore standing 

Course Description: Conversation is how we share and communicate with others in our day to day lives. However, sometimes conversations are formal and become the context within which memory evidence is collected. Interviewing children who have been victims of crime is a sensitive and interdisciplinary process. In this course, we will cover the policies and procedures for interviewing children in legal contexts, as well as the underpinning science of these approaches including developmental psychology and memory science.

Students will learn about the challenges of balancing the various perspectives and goals of the individuals involved (social workers, law enforcement, mandatory reporters, parents, the accused, and the child). Additionally, students will learn the basics of child forensic interviewing, be able to practice interviewing skills, review real forensic interviews, and learn how to detect and avoid problems in gathering this special form of memory evidence. TW: criminal behavior involving children (including sexual abuse) will be a central focus of this course.

Professor Biography: Dr. Kim MacLin is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychology. Her specialty area is in memory evidence. She is a recipient of the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence for Teaching, Research, and Service, as well as the CSBS Excellence in Teaching Award. She also is a consultant, having worked on over 200 criminal cases providing consultation and expert testimony on memory evidence, including memories collected from child forensic interviews, as well as eyewitness identification procedures. 

UNIV 2196-02 Honors Seminar: History of the Cold War

Dr. Atkinson, 2:00-2:50pm MWF

**3 credit hour seminar – Requires sophomore standing 

Course Description: The Cold War (1947-1991) was not merely a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, but it was a period that continues to shape the present. The story of the Cold War is reminiscent of a Shakespearean drama as the U.S. and the Soviet Union abandoned their World War II alliance to become foes, and forced countries in Asia, Africa, Central and South America, and the Middle East to choose sides. The choices these countries made during the Cold War still shapes the economies, political regimes, ethnic conflicts, and environmental threats of these regions. The Cold War is most famous as a war for information in which Americans and Soviets sought intelligence largely through spies to keep abreast of the political and military activities of their adversaries. The city of Berlin, at that time divided into eastern and western halves by the infamous Berlin Wall and its death strip, was the epicenter of the Cold War conflict, and dubbed the world center for espionage. This city’s history spans the entire period of the Cold War, and the removal of the Berlin Wall led to the beginning of our present post-Cold War era.

This course introduces students to the Cold War, focusing on its political, military, social, and cultural history. It also explores the confrontation between capitalism and communism. In this class we will ask why the Soviets did not foresee the collapse of their society, but why they were surprised when it did. We will also explore the concept of nationalism during the Cold War and how it shapes our present world. We also investigate the important role that spies and espionage played in the Cold War. Commonly viewed as a lengthy time of peace, this class will reveal that the Cold War, along with World Wars I and II, was among the greatest conflicts of the twentieth century. We will also examine the legacy of the Cold War arms race by exploring what newly released documents tell us about the nuclear meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor and how it affects us today. We will not only learn about this fascinating historical period through primary sources, but also through visual media including important films both about and from the Cold War. Students will have ample opportunity to discuss a variety of primary and secondary sources that document this unique historical period.

Professor Biography: Kenneth Atkinson is Professor of History at UNI, where he teaches courses in the history, literature, religions, and archaeology of the ancient and modern Middle East. He began his career as a factory worker in Metropolitan Detroit, spent 2 ½ years as a full-time international traveler, and worked as an archaeologist in the Middle East and Europe. During the Cold War, he served as a soldier with the U.S. Army’s Berlin Brigade, the only military unit stationed in Communist territory. His job included transporting secret documents for the military and U.S. government through the Berlin Wall, across the former East Germany and Soviet zones of occupation, and beyond the Iron Curtain to the former West Germany. During his time in Berlin, Atkinson regularly interacted with spies, was frequently followed at night while transporting secret documents, and was exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor disaster. In 2018, he was one of ten veterans honored in Berlin by the German government for their work during the Cold War, a trip covered by UNI (https://csbs.uni.edu/before-the-wall-fell) and Iowa Public Radio (https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2019-11-08/uni-professor-was-a-covert-courier-in-berlin).  Atkinson is the author of numerous books and frequently speaks at professional conferences in the Middle East and Europe. He is also a member of the Berlin U.S. Military Veterans Association.

UNIV 4198-01 Honors Independent Study"

Dr. Jessica Moon, arr

Course Description: The purpose of independent study is to provide students with an opportunity to participate in an educational experience beyond what is typically offered in the classroom.  Students must be prepared to exercise a great deal of independent initiative in pursuing such studies.  Honors students may receive independent study credit for research projects of their own or those shared with faculty members, certain internship opportunities, or some types of work or volunteer experiences. 

Students wishing to register for Honors Independent Study must meet with Jessica to discuss course requirements and have their registration holds removed.  Call Brenda at 3-3175 to make an appointment.

UNIV 4197-01 Honors Thesis

Dr. Jessica Moon, arr

Course Description: The Honors Thesis is the final step towards earning a University Honors designation from the University of Northern Iowa.  The thesis gives Honors students the opportunity to explore a scholarly area of interest with the guidance of a faculty member.  It is intended to serve as the culmination of the Honors experience. 

The thesis provides you with experience in research as well as an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise.  While the process may at times be challenging, it will also be rewarding.  You will enhance your knowledge of the chosen topic and further develop your research or creative skills.  The final product should leave you with a sense of pride and accomplishment for what you have attained. 

Completion of the thesis is a two semester process.  Most will register for 1 credit of 010:197 to begin the process in the fall and 2 credits of 010:197 to complete their work in the spring (talk with Jessica if your situation requires a different split of hours).  Those wishing to register for Honors Thesis must meet with Jessica to discuss course requirements and have their registration holds removed.  Call Brenda at 3-3175 to make an appointment.

Honors Contract

Contracting provides students with the opportunity to earn honors credit in non-honors courses. Credit is based on the fulfillment of a written contract between student and professor that outlines an enhanced learning experience above and beyond normal course requirements. Contracting is approved on a case-by-case basis, and there are restrictions on the number of honors credits students can contract.

Honors Contract Guidelines

Honors Study Abroad Credit

Students are strongly encouraged to make use of opportunities for international learning. There are many options for study abroad participation at UNI, from short summer study programs to semester or year-long exchange. Students participating in non-honors study abroad programs can apply up to 3 hours of credit toward their honors designations through the completion of a travel journal and reflection paper. The journal should be compiled throughout the study experience and can be used to prepare a reflection paper upon the student's return. A request for credit must be submitted prior to travel, including a description of the themes or questions the student anticipates addressing in the reflection paper. Honors students with majors in the College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences or the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences are eligible to apply for travel funding through the Nadyne Harris Scholarship for Honors Travel and should use that application to request study abroad credit. All others should email their request for credit to Jessica Moon.

Study Abroad

*You do NOT need to register for additional credit for these options, but an application is required.