Honors Seminars for Fall 2026 and Spring 2027
The following criteria will be considered for registration for all Honors Seminars:
- Seniors will be given priority to register for Honors seminars.
- We will consider the student’s progress towards the completion of their Honors Baccalaureate (i.e. number of Honors credits taken, second language fulfillment status, and a cumulative GPA of 3.5 and above).
- The seminar is advantageous towards the student’s field/s of study and/or future career plans.
SPECIAL NOTE: Please call or email our office to indicate your seminar preferences. We recommend selecting at least two to three seminars that interest you to ensure seminar placement.
Fall 2026 Honors Seminars
Death Becomes Us: The Mystery of Mortality and the Need for Meaning
HONR 400 (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: W/F 9:00 – 10:50 am
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Dr. Thomas P. Donovan, Honors College
Course Description
This seminar seeks to critically explore the role of mortality awareness in the creation of cultural meaning systems. We will explore how our beliefs and values provide a crucial antidote in the face of mortality and against feelings of insignificance and meaninglessness, while also contributing to creating "made-up minds" in the face of uncertainty. We will also explore how challenges to our systems of belief often inspire defensive and aggressive responses to this perceived mortal threat and the implications for our present global reality. This course will examine how humans across cultures manage the enormity of our awareness of finitude and the efforts to give meaning to our temporary existence.
Thomas Patrick Donovan has been teaching graduate and undergraduate students since 2004, and has served as a Faculty Fellow in the Honors College at Montana State University since 2011. He holds a doctorate in Psychology and is particularly interested in the existential questions regarding living a meaningful life that inform the human condition the world over.
Creation of Fictional Worlds
HONR 405 (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: T/R 12:10 – 2:00 pm
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Professor Kent Davis, Honors College
Course Description:
Kent Davis holds an MFA in Acting from the University of California, San Diego and a BA in Dramatic Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. Davis is the author of the A Riddle in Ruby trilogy - three speculative fiction novels for young readers, published by HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books. Davis has over thirty years of professional experience as an award-winning actor, director, and playwright at regional theater venues like La Jolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum | Center Theater Group, Odyssey Theater Ensemble, the Vancouver International Fringe, and the Bedlam Theater in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the former Artistic Director of the Equinox Theater Company. He is an Assistant Teaching Professor at MSU in the Honors College and the School of Film and Photography.
Wolves in Yellowstone: A Social, Scientific and Photographic Journey
HONR 408IN (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: T/R 9:00 – 10:50 am
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Dr. John Winnie, Department of Ecology
Course Description
In this seminar, we will explore society's historic and current attitudes towards wolves framed in the context of wolf reintroduction in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Further, we will evaluate wolves' role as ecosystem engineers by examining how they influence prey population dynamics and behavior, and in turn look at how changes in prey may be influencing plant communities. Students are expected to read, understand, synthesize and discuss content and concepts from the social and life sciences, and use this knowledge to inform opinions and positions they express verbally and in writing. In addition, over the course of the semester, students will develop natural history photography skills through a combination of in-class instruction, independent assignments, and 2-3 field trips to Yellowstone National Park and surrounding lands. Students will use their photos to illustrate the ecological effects of wolf reintroduction, and related conservation issues and controversies, in seminar presentations and their final papers.
John Winnie Jr., PhD, is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Ecology Department here at MSU. He started doing wolf and elk research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 2000, publishing regularly on topics ranging from animal behavior to the influences predators have on prey population dynamics, to trophic cascades. Dr. Winnie is also an avid natural history photographer whose work has been widely published.
Endure
HONR 415 (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: T/R 4:10 – 6:00 pm
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Professor Kim Pribanic, Honors College
Course Description:
Endure is a seminar that invites understanding of human resilience. Through stories of trial, students will come to appreciate the challenges we face, regardless of whether they are brought on by choice or by circumstance. Through analysis of scientific literature, students will learn about the effects of physical, mental, and emotional stress, and begin to identify common responses and means of coping. Finally, through contemplation, discussion and teaching, students will develop the strength and willingness to face difficult subjects and find ways toeffectively communicate with others.
The seminar will begin with investigation of the endurance challenges that people undergo bychoice, including various sports and certain schools of meditation. We will delve into the physiology of endurance and learn how physiological stress can affect the mind, and we will explore the motivations and coping techniques that are often used in these settings. We will then move on to look at situations in which the challenges are imposed by circumstance, or by other people. Our subjects will include soldiers and prisoners of war, inmates of concentration camps and refugees, as well as the homeless, the mentally ill, and people affected by chronic or terminal illness. As before, we will use narrative to appreciate these experiences, but we will also look at scientific literature to derive an understanding of the mental, physical, and emotional changes wrought by these predicaments. Using this information, students will work to identify a subject that is of particular interest to them and begin to formulate their final project.
Kim is an exercise physiologist whose primary interest lies in understanding human capabilities. She is a past officer of The Society for Human Performance in Extreme Environments and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments, (a peer-reviewed, online, open-access journal published by Purdue University Press). She is a Founding Member of the Fascia Research Society and holds active memberships in the Physiological Society (UK), the American Physiological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Kim is also a self-described “desert tortoise.” She began running trails in the mid 1990’s as a means of stress relief and was soon convinced by a friend to compete in the Los Angeles Triathlon to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. That commitment required that she overcome 15 years of fear of open water, and the emotion she experienced after completing the open-ocean swim forever changed the way she has approached life. She has since competed in (but not always completed) numerous trail and road races, including the Skyline to the Sea Marathon, Beartooth Run (10k at 10,000+ feet), Mount Baldy Run-to-the-Top, Bruny Island Ultra, Bangtail Divide, Old Gabe, Gobi March, and her penultimate race, the Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon. She is proud to say that she completed the Kalahari event in just the way she wanted to, feeling strong, joyful, and utterly gobsmacked by the wonders of nature and the people she experienced it with.
Public Things: The Physical, Social and Political Infrastructure of Democracy
HONR 494-001 (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: M/W 10:00 am - 11:50 am
Place: NAH 325
Instructors: Professors Sara Rushing, Political Science and Julia Haggerty, Earth Sciences
Course Description:
This seminar addresses the question of how “public things” function to provide the crucial infrastructure for democracy. The political theorist, Bonnie Honig, has described “public things” as essential conditions of democratic life – those “things” we share in common, which “constitute citizens equally as citizens.” Think public lands and parks, public libraries, public arts, public museums and public history; but also public services like water, energy, education, health, media, and physical infrastructure, as well as the institutions and processes of democracy itself.
As the Founders of the United States well recognized, democratic systems and processes are vulnerable in the absence of democratic culture, which requires an understanding of, trust in, and commitment to democracy as a way of life. The foundational question for this seminar is thus, what are the conditions for creating, sustaining, or reclaiming that way of life? To explore this question, we will look closely at a range of “public things” so as to consider what “democracy” is, why it matters, and where privatization may enhance versus undermine the conditions for it.
Sara Rushing is a political theorist, specializing in feminist and democratic theory. Her 2020 Oxford University Press book, The Virtues of Vulnerability: Humility, Autonomy, and Citizen-Subjectivity, explores modern healthcare as a site of embodied political awakening, resistance, and citizenship training. She has been a member of the Political Science department at Montana State University since 2008, and teaches courses in the history of political thought and politics & ethics.
Julia Haggerty is a resource geographer, specializing in energy and natural resources. She has a diverse research portfolio focused on the intersection of resource policy with economic development and community resilience in resource-dependent regions. Haggerty joined MSU’s Department of Earth Sciences 2013, where she is currently Department Head, and teaches courses in energy resources and regional geography.
Property & Reciprocity: 'Ownership' Through Indigenous and Western Lenses
HONR 494RH-001 (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: T/R 2:10 – 4:00 pm
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Associate Professor Kristin Ruppel, Native American Studies
Course Description
What if everything you’ve been taught about property and ownership is incomplete? This seminar challenges you to reconsider these fundamental concepts by examining them through lenses beyond the traditional Western perspective. In Western thought, property is often treated as a fungible object, something that can be separated from relationships and reduced to monetary value. However, this course invites you to explore ownership from diverse viewpoints—specifically Indigenous frameworks alongside Western economic principles. We will critically examine Indigenous notions of collective governance and personhood, contrasting them with Western ideas like the "tragedy of the commons." The course also integrates ecological insights, revealing surprising areas of agreement between Western and Indigenous worldviews on collective responsibility and cooperation among non-human entities. By combining economic, legal, philosophical, and ecological perspectives, we will unpack how these notions evolved and explore the potential for reimagining property in a more interconnected, sustainable way. Prepare to challenge your assumptions and engage with complex, interdisciplinary ideas about ownership and the commons.
A faculty member in MSU Native American Studies since 2004, Kristin Ruppel serves as the Department’s faculty graduate coordinator and chair of NAS Online through which she has spearheaded the development of the Department’s two graduate certificates including an online program in Indigenous Food Systems launched in spring 2025. She also serves as chair of the Department’s accreditation efforts with the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC), and is a board member and research partner with the Blackfeet non-profit Piikani Lodge Health Institute based in Browning, Montana.
The Forces of Music: Artists Who Resist, Reform, and Redefine Cultural Expression
HONR 494IA (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: M/W 1:10 – 3:00 pm
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Dr. Nora Spielman, Department of Music and Honors College
Course Description:
In a world where parsing out fact from fiction is difficult, songs carry meaning for generations and are some of our most reliable messengers. In this seminar we explore the questions: how does music carry meaning and to what extent does it provoke change? Through analysis of music from the 20th and 21st century we will explore the songs and albums which challenge cultural norms, societal expectations, and injustices. Musicians carry power in movements of resistance, and we will dig to find out what that power and subsequent consequence involves. From the DIY zine creation of the Riotgrrrl era to the bold statements presented on primetime television such as Saturday Night Live and Super Bowl performances, we will investigate the ways a musical artist can approach change using their platform(s). In addition to developing our critical MUSIC listening skills, there will be discussion around the historical context which teaches us about moments in history that called for attention from large groups of people. Let’s find out what music can do.
Nora Spielman, a New York City native, is a distinguished classical guitarist and educator currently based in Bozeman, Montana. Nora is passionate about both solo and ensemble music, maintaining an active performance and teaching schedule in Montana. Most recently she performed on guitar or banjo with the Bozeman Symphony, Opera Montana, Gallatin Valley Concert Band, Montana Theatre Works and occasionally is a substitute DJ on KGLT’s Sunday Morning Classical station. Throughout her career, Nora has been exploring ways to teach music that embraces the significance of popular music in academia and she continues to explore this in higher education and performance settings. In other words, The Beatles and Beyoncé sit right next to Bach and Beethoven in her heart for music appreciation (obsession).
Nora is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor at Montana State University’s Honors College and School of Music with a focus on popular music courses. For more information about Nora visit Noraspielman.com.
Spring 2027 Honors Seminars
Critical Perspectives in Leadership
HONR 406 (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: M/W 5:10 – 7:00 pm
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Professor Richard Broome, Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship and Honors
College
Course Description:
Leadership issues permeate every aspect of our lives. The purpose of this course is to encourage students to develop and exercise critical thinking skills concerning the different issues impacting leadership in the 21st century.
Student will explore such topics as:
-- Historical and contemporary theories of leadership
-- The explosion of technological advances in the 21st century, which are having a significant impact on leaders
-- Crisis leadership
-- Recent societal changes that impact leaders
-- The impact of the 24X7 news cycle on leaders
-- New definitions of power within a cyber world
-- The impact of evolving values and ethics on leadership decision-making
-- Increasing corporate social responsibility and leadership
-- The looming leadership takeover by the millennial generation and generation Z
-- Operational leadership skills in the 21st century VUCA environment (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous)
This is a highly interactive class with an emphasis on class participation and student involvement. The various topical areas identified in the course schedule will be addressed through a combination of short lecture, then a longer discussion of assigned readings, exercises, presentations, group activities and analyses of case studies. The underlying assumption, which guides the teaching of this course, is that students learn best when actively engaged in their learning and exposed to a variety of perspectives. A course outline is attached; however, the instructor will provide weekly agendas, which will include specific assignments, typically via in class announcements and D2L.
Professor Broome has several years of significant leadership experience. He is a faculty member in both the College of Business and the Honors College where he currently teaches courses about leadership and entrepreneurship. He is also appointed to the faculty of The George Washington University where he helped create the curriculum and now teaches the leadership courses for a B.S. degree in Leadership for Global Disaster Response designed only for military members of the U.S. Special Operations Command (Navy Seals, Army Special Forces). For almost nineteen years he held leadership positions at the NASDAQ stock market, Computer Sciences Corporation and Booz Allen Hamilton. Prior to this, Professor Broome spent twenty-seven years in the U.S. Army, entering as a private and retiring as a full Colonel. Professor Broome was asked by two Presidents of the United States to serve on the White House staff at the National Security Council, where he was a member of the crisis management leadership team at the NSC. He has a B.S. degree in Psychology from Utah State University, an M.S. degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, and an M.S. degree in Computer Information Systems from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. He currently serves on the board of the MSU Leadership Institute, the editorial board of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and is a former board member of HAVEN, a shelter for women who are victims of domestic violence. He is the author of three novels.
Understanding Shakespeare from Folio to Performance
HONR 407IA-001 (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: M/W 10:00 – 11:50 am
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Professor Kent Davis, Honors College
Course Description:
This seminar will focus on the works of William Shakespeare through an academic and literary lens, but also through performance. Led by Kent Davis, a classically trained actor and director with over twenty years of experience at venues ranging from La Jolla Playhouse to the Mark Taper Forum to the Edinburgh Fringe, this seminar will analyze the works of Shakespeare from multiple facets including dramaturgical analysis, analysis from the actor’s perspective, verse work and choices of interpretation, and directorial interpretation of the plays. The goal: a holistic understanding of Shakespeare from page all the way to its ultimate expression, the stage.
Kent Davis holds an MFA in Acting from the University of California, San Diego and a BA in Dramatic Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. Davis is the author of the A Riddle in Ruby trilogy - three speculative fiction novels for young readers, published by HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books. Davis has over thirty years of professional experience as an award-winning actor, director, and playwright at regional theater venues like La Jolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum | Center Theater Group, Odyssey Theater Ensemble, the Vancouver International Fringe, and the Bedlam Theater in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the former Artistic Director of the Equinox Theater Company. He is an Assistant Teaching Professor at MSU in the Honors College and the School of Film and Photography.
The Art and Science of Medicine
HONR 411RS (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: T/R 1:10 – 3:00 pm
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Professor Don Demetriades, Department of History and Philosophy and Honors College
Course Description
Designed for students from all academic disciplines, this seminar will focus on just how broadly and profoundly contemporary medicine touches all of our lives. It will examine the underlying principles of medicine through the lens of literature, science, art and related fields. The why of suffering and disease, the how of healing, and the role both patient and physician play in individual health will be explored. Medical professionals will be invited to visit the seminar.
Professor Demetriades is the past coordinator of the humanities curriculum for the Inteflex Program (Integrated Pre-med/Med Program) at the University of Michigan. He currently serves as an Assistant Teaching Professor for the MSU Honors College (nine years) and the History and Philosophy Dept. (fifteen years). He holds a BA in Philosophy and Classics (Michigan), an MA in Philosophy (Michigan), and was a Doctoral Candidate in Philosophy (Michigan). He is also a veteran of thirty-six marathons and twenty ultra-marathons.
The Hidden Design of Decisions
HONR 494IS (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: W/F 12:10 - 2:00 pm
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Professor Troy Holt, Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship
Course Description:
How often are your “choices” actually choices -- or are your decisions quietly made
for you by
the way options are presented? The Hidden Design of Decisions pulls back the curtain
on how
decision environments quietly steer your behavior -- and asks the harder question:
when is
that guidance genuinely helpful, and when does it cross into manipulation? College
students
are constantly navigating structured choices with real consequences: which job offer
feels
safer (and why), how student-loan repayment options are framed, why a “limited-time”
lease
special looks irresistible at midnight, how a research lab’s onboarding process (forms,
timelines, “expected” weekly hours) influences who joins and who decides it’s not
for them, or
how an app’s notifications, defaults, and friction points keep you scrolling, spending,
or
sharing more than you intended. You will use behavioral science to diagnose what’s
really
driving your choices -- defaults, framing, priming,present bias, social norms, scarcity,
cognitive overload, and pressure -- and then evaluate potential interventions through
the
lenses of ethics, equity, transparency, and trust. If you would rather make deliberate
choices
than accept the default, this seminar gives you practical design instincts you can
use
immediately in any field.
Troy Holt teaches in MSU’s Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship. A retired
local
government leader, he brings 30+ years designing public-facing systems, policies,
and
communications that shape behavior under real constraints and public scrutiny. His
work
spans strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, and outreach tied to community
outcomes. This practitioner perspective shows how behavioral tools operate in institutions
--
sometimes to help people, sometimes to move them, and sometimes in ethically fraught
ways. He completed Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Executives program and holds an
MPA
with Highest Honors, along with a BA in Social Ecology from UC Irvine.
Our Nuclear Age: A Seminar on the Promise and Perils of Nuclear Energy
HONR 494CS (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: T/R 12:10 - 2:00 pm
Place: NAH 321
Instructor: Professor Amanda Rutherford, Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering
and Honors College
Course Description
With the growing urgency of climate change, nuclear energy is once again in the spotlight as a reliable, carbon-free power source. The U.S. is witnessing a resurgence of nuclear projects, from the newly approved TerraPower reactor in Wyoming to the recent expansion of the Vogtle power plant in Georgia. Meanwhile, fusion energy remains perpetually “just a few years away” but continues to advance.
If nuclear power is so promising, why has its adoption been slow? Why have some governments embraced it while others have abandoned it? In this interdisciplinary seminar, we’ll explore these questions and more. We’ll cover the fundamentals of nuclear science, its applications in power generation, medicine, and defense, and the complex history that has shaped public perception. We’ll also examine major nuclear accidents—Chernobyl, Fukushima, and beyond—along with the challenges of nuclear waste storage.
Join us for a deep dive into the future of nuclear energy, its potential to combat climate change, and the risks that come with it.
Mandy Rutherford (BSCE-MSU, MS Engineering Mechanics, VPISU) is a member of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering faculty and an active faculty member in the Honors College. Prior to her employment at MSU she worked for 7 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a research engineer and became intensely interested in all things nuclear.
Attention as the Creative Spark
HONR 494IA (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: T/R 10:00 - 11:50 am
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Professor Natalie McKay, Honors College
Course Description:
How is creativity fueled? What kind of environment, both physical and mental, is required for creativity to flourish? Is it possible to create meaningful work while fully engaged in the attention economy? If not, what kind of refusal is required to facilitate creativity? Can attention be applied with agency and intention even within structures that are meant to profit from it? What happens in our society when individuals and communities train themselves to hold their attention on a singular point, rather than letting it bounce from one thing to the next, as our environment increasingly encourages? These are the questions at the heart of this seminar. Through discussion and hands-on experimentation (think analog photography, music sharing, a session with a working artist), we will explore the intersection between attention and creativity, and develop our own philosophies of attention application. While we will spend a considerable amount of time talking about things we traditionally think of as art, we will also consider how creativity, facilitated by focused attention, shows up in any discipline. Come prepared to think about how creativity and attention converge not only in your own creative life, but also in your discipline, in your economy, in your government. Assignments will include an attention experiment of your own design, a cumulative intellectual journal tracking your journey through the semester, and a final creative project in a medium of your choice.
Natalie McKay is a writer and photographer in Bozeman, MT. Teaching first-year college students at Montana State is the joy of every fall and spring for McKay. She moonlights as a flower farmer’s assistant, where she can think all day, hands in the dirt, about what to put on the page next. McKay holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA in Photography from Montana State University. All her other professional training has come from dogs and horses.
Media Literacy in the Age of Unreality
HONR 494IH (4 credits)
Prerequisites: HONR 201 & HONR 202, or HONR 301
Time: T/R 3:10 - 5:00 pm
Place: NAH 337
Instructor: Professor Randy Rosin, Honors College
Course Description:
Are we being manipulated through the media into believing in a manufactured reality? In an age where digital technology is capable of creating synthetic illusions, the distinction between what is real and the artificial has become increasingly difficult to distinguish. This Honors College seminar is designed to empower students with the necessary media literacy skills to “hack” the contemporary media "matrix" of unreality. Media literacy involves the development of habits that encourage people to be critical thinkers, thoughtful and effective communicators, and informed and responsible members of society. Through the application of active inquiry, critical analysis, and self-reflection, students will learn to assert control over the meaning created from personal media experiences. The acquisition of these skills is not just an academic exercise; it is an expression of personal agency in making choices and decisions in all facets of life.
Professor Rosin is a faculty member in the Honors College. Formerly a professor at the National Intelligence University in the School of Science and Technology Intelligence, he taught courses in propaganda and persuasion, deception, information warfare, foreign information and cyber strategies, and cyber threat intelligence. A 32-year Army veteran, he served in the combat arms, as an information warfare expert, a middle eastern foreign affairs specialist, and in human intelligence operations. He holds a PhD in Communication (American University), an MA in Media, Technology, and Democracy (American University), an MS in Strategic Studies (US Army War College), an MS in International Relations (Troy University), and a BS with a concentration in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies (US Military Academy, West Point).
