Liberal Arts Honors: LAH

Lower-Division Courses

LAH X01. The Idea of Reacting to the Past.

Develop skills in public speaking, debate, critical thinking, research and writing using historically-based perspectives through role play.

LAH X02H. The Idea of the Liberal Arts.

An overview of the liberal arts disciplines.

LAH X03H. The Ideas of Civic Engagement.

Introduces Liberal Arts Honors students to the resources of the University, their history, and how to make best use of them. Provides guidance on internships, scholarships, and career paths, encouraging students to prepare for a lifetime of civic engagement and public service.

LAH X04H. Professionalization and Career Development.

Introduction to the ideas, concepts, and best practices of career development, professionalization and professional online brand management. Provides guidance on internships and career paths working in conjunction with Liberal Arts Career Services.

LAH X05. Topics in Liberal Arts Freshman Honors Seminar.

Intensive small class lecture or seminar course addressing basic issues in various liberal arts disciplines. Lectures, readings, discussions, examinations.

LAH X05R. Reacting to the Past.

Introduction to major philosophical, political, and historical concepts. Re-create the contexts in which these ideas acquired significance through role-playing games.

LAH X12H. The Nature of Inquiry.

Introduction to the nature of research in liberal arts disciplines.

LAH X18Q. Supervised Research.

LAH X19S. Topics in Liberal Arts Honors.

This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the College of Liberal Arts. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program.

Upper-Division Courses

LAH X22L. Law and Organizations.

Examine the intersection of law and organizational/workplace practices. Explore how law regulates the workplace (e.g., laws about sexual harassment), how organizations do or do not comply with the law, and the ways that organizational practices may affect legal standards.

LAH X29S. Topics in Liberal Arts Honors.

This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the College of Liberal Arts. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program.

LAH X40L. Legal Internships.

Explore the role of lawyers and how the practice of law has shaped American society. Intern in law offices or legal settings. Gain practical experience and first-hand knowledge of different legal fields. Internships help shape classroom discussions. Examine the practice of law and how lawyers serve the public interest and larger society

LAH X40M. Business Consulting Internship.

In a classroom setting, explore and discuss the role of consultants in the business world and how both have shaped American society. Discuss hands-on experience from internships in the classroom.

LAH X40N. Nonprofit Management Internship.

In a classroom setting, explore the role of non-profit organizations and how they have shaped American society. Discuss hands-on experience from internships in the classroom.

LAH X40P. Public Health Internship.

In a classroom setting, explore the role of public health organizations and how they have shaped American society. Discuss hands-on experience from internships in the classroom.

LAH X40Q. Technical Writing and Social Media Internship.

In a classroom setting, explore the expanding role of social media and technical writing in society and how both have shaped American society. Discuss hands-on experience from internships in the classroom.

LAH X40R. Public Policy Internships and Advocacy.

Examine how public policy is made, functions, and can be changed through the use of case studies, policy reports, and articles on current issues. Participate in a public policy oriented internship.

LAH X40S. Foundations of Intercultural Competency.

Study the ability to accurately understand and adapt behavior to cultural differences and commonality. Examine self and other awareness, explore culture, practice cross-cultural communication, and develop intercultural competency.

LAH X41T. Creative Writing and Crisis.

Examine how writers are able to respond creatively to challenging conditions and circumstances through certain writing practices and aesthetics. Study various writers and how their work responds to various forms of crises, such as personal, social, environmental, and existential. Explore a wide range of literary texts that capture contemporary dialogue with crisis.

LAH X42U. Poetics and Performance.

Explore depth and range of various poetic forms of contemporary poetry. Study writing poetry as a way of expressing thought and feeling that is shared with others. Engage in a conversation between voices and texts to produce informed writing.

LAH X43V. American Literature and Culture of the Late 1960s.

Examine subjects that polarized Americans in the late 1960s, such as counterculture, the Vietnam War, youth protests, racism in the South, and the Black Power/Black Arts Movement. Explore the culture and social milieu of the late 1960s through the prism of American literature, film, and popular music of the era.

LAH X45C. Tell Your Stories: A Workshop.

Practice writing stories as a way of exploring oneself, relationships and the world. Study examples of written storytelling in various genres including poetry, literary nonfiction, and short fiction.

LAH X45D. Inequality in the United States Educational System.

Examine how inequality has developed and is maintained within the American public education system.

LAH X49. Scholars Honors Capstone.

Produce a paper that reflects upon the student's academic enrichment experiences and how it impacted their views and career goals.

LAH X50. Topics in the Liberal Arts.

Intensive lecture course treating topics from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, taught by instructors from various departments. Lectures, readings, discussions, examinations.

LAH X50.10. In Search of Meaning.

Concepts include monotheism, the nature and personality of this god, the soul, chosen people, linear time, history as divine classroom, original sin, heaven, hell, salvation, etc. Establishes how and when these and a host of other features came into existence and created Judeo-Christian reality, and contrast the reality created therein with other realities--Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam.

LAH X50.11. Rhetoric of Great Speeches.

Exploration of the nature and history of rhetoric and analysis of some of the great speeches of the Western tradition.

LAH X50.12. Technologies of the Book.

Examines the technologies that enabled the book and explores its impact on society, with particular attention paid to the printed book that has flourished since the mid-fifteenth century. Explores the technologies of production and manufacture, and those that enabled the creation of texts by authors and their distribution and reception, and considers the future of the book in today's society.

LAH X50.13. Writing Nonfiction.

The craft of writing profiles, narratives, and essays. Concentration on the fundamental components of nonfiction: beginnings, organization, character development, narrative flow, and conclusions.

LAH X50.14. Money In American Politics.

Explores the nature and consequences of money in American politics.

LAH X50.15. History at Play.

Explores the great religious, political, and cultural debates that occurred around two historic events: England's break with the Catholic Church in 1536 and India gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

LAH X50.16. Psychology and Religion in Modern American Culture.

Explores the historical, religious, and psychotherapeutic manifestations of the "search for meaning" in modern American culture. Examines theology, psychological theory, literature, music, politics, and art.

LAH X50.17. Race and Medicine in American Life.

LAH X50.18. The Johnson Years.

LAH X50.19. British History, Literature, and Politics.

Reading course in history, literature, and politics, and as a class in professional writing. Examines not only the literature, history, and politics of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, but also the interaction of British and other societies throughout the world.

LAH X50.2. Our Lives In Fiction.

Examines the hypothesis that human beings have and continue to create and recreate themselves through the telling of stories. Explores the concept that stories help define what is significant, what is praiseworthy, and what it is we should value and why.

LAH X50.22. Leadership Strategy In Sports.

LAH X50.23. The Human Place in Nature.

LAH X50.27. Sicily: Myth, Reality, and Mafia.

Examine the artistic traces left in Sicily by Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, and Spanish civilizations and how they contributed to create the present Sicilian reality.

LAH X50.29. David Foster Wallace.

LAH X50.3. Technical Change and Financial Crisis.

Explores the economics of the business firm, the management of technical change, and the interaction between technology and finance in the writings of major twentieth century economists. Emphasis on attempting to understand the social and income-distributional consequences of technical change, the potential for system instability, and the dilemmas of public policy in this area.

LAH X50.30. Paradise Lost: Reception History.

LAH X50.31. Immigration Literature.

LAH X50.32. Literature, Cultural Memory, and the American Civil War.

Examines the American Civil War not in terms of its military or political history but in relation to the ways literary and cultural texts have remembered and rewritten it.

LAH X50.4. Literature of World War I.

Selected readings from autobiographies, poetry, fiction, and memoirs, primarily about the Western Front, by German, British, and American authors; a short history of World War I; readings of a central book of literary analysis; exploration of the nature of war, the experience of combatants, and the legacy of the war itself and its unique literature.

LAH X50.5. Modern Masters of the Novel.

An examination of a range of subjects and styles that distinguish the capacity of the novel to reflect private lives and public moments. Focuses on nineteenth and twentieth century British and American novelists such as George Eliot, Philip Roth, Ford Maddox Ford, and Graham Greene.

LAH X50.6. Documentary Film and Inquiry.

Examines how narrative accounts such as documentary film, biography, or other non-fiction work impact the interpretation of significant events. A component of the class includes individual or collaborative research on a chosen topic and presentation of a life history project via a narrative description, video, photography, or other medium.

LAH X50.7. Power and Belief in Early Modern Europe.

The historical and cultural processes that lead people to change the way they look at the world, and also brought some early modern Europeans to argue for religious toleration - first as a practical matter, and eventually as a matter of principle.

LAH X50.8. The Decolonization of the British Empire.

Explores the era of decolonization of the British empire after World War II.

LAH X50.9. Getting it in Writing.

An exploration of nonfiction writing and the process of translating facts, ideas, and experiences into words.

LAH X50G. Guns in America.

Examine firearms in the United States. Engage with literature drawn from the social sciences, law, medicine, and public policy to develop a holistic understanding of the historical and contemporary role of firearms in the cultural, social, and political landscape of the U.S.

LAH X50M. John Milton and the Enlightenment.

Examine the impact of Milton's political and social writings by pairing Milton's political prose with eighteenth-century Enlightenment texts from both sides of the Atlantic. Discover the role Milton's ideas played in shaping the foundations of liberty in both Britain at the Glorious Revolution and in North America at the American Revolution.

LAH X50P. The Paper Chase: Law School and the Life of the Law.

Explore the liberal arts through the lens of the first-year law school experience and the first-year law school experience through the lens of the liberal arts.

LAH X50T. Treasure Hunt Archival Research.

Discover, explore, and identify the boundless treasures that can be found on The University of Texas at Austin campus by hunting through the vast cultural and historical collections at the archives on campus including the Harry Ransom Center, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, and the LLILAS Benson Latin American Collection. Explore essential skills for pursuing original research projects in humanities disciplines and apply these skills to bring public attention to hidden histories and marginalized voices in American culture.

LAH X51C. African American Family in Historical and Contemporary Contexts.

Examine how African Americans managed to maintain a sense of family from the time of slavery to the present trend of mass incarceration.

LAH X51D. Ethical Issues in Medicine and Society.

Explore, analyze, and evaluate health and health care in the twenty-first century. Examine the social factors at play in relation to disease and illness, the rise of the medical-industrial complex, and how the issues of power underlie ethical dilemmas in both medicine and society.

LAH X51E. Gender Equality in World Development.

Examine the causes and consequences of gender equality and inequality in the world. Identify where the most and least progress has occurred for gender equality. Analyze the causal links between women's empowerment and development.

LAH X51F. Philanthropy and Nonprofit Organizations.

Examine the scope and diversity of the nonprofit sector, as well as individual patterns of giving and volunteering. Focus on the tools and skills needed to evaluate charitable programs for effectiveness using social scientific techniques.

LAH X51G. Reacting to Revolutionary Ideas.

Explore revolutionary themes in Western and non-Western countries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

LAH X51I. Rejection Immunity.

Examine the neuroscience and psychology behind the brain's calculations of risk in various aspects of our lives. Explore and craft research based response systems to inform future reactions to receiving a rejection.

LAH X51J. Regime Perspectives on American Politics.

Explore American politics and culture and examine how the parts of America fit together as a whole.

LAH X51K. Citizenship in Democratic Politics.

Examine the role of ordinary citizens in democratic politics.

LAH X51L. Homer and Plato.

Examine the works of Homer and Plato. Explore the ideas of human nature, existence, leadership, courage, honor, ambition, justice, necessity, fate, divine power, human freedom, and moral responsibility.

LAH X51M. Jerusalem and Athens.

Examine the age-old confrontation between the teaching of the Bible and the politics and philosophy of the ancient Greeks.

LAH X51N. Archival Advocacy: Experiential Learning.

Use digital archives and exhibits to amplify voices that actively promote social justice, cultural awareness, and service; and to test the ethical positions about impartiality and advocacy in archival and exhibit practices.

LAH X51O. Data Analytics In Contemporary Society.

Investigate the influence of data analytics in contemporary society. Explore how data is generated and presented in popular, scholarly, and other forms of media.

LAH X51P. Machiavelli: Politics and Culture.

Through Niccolo Machiavelli's chief writings, consider the local, regional, Mediterranean, European, and global aspects of his work.

LAH X51Q. Holocaust Aftereffects.

Explore the historical, political, psychological, theological, and cultural fallout of the Holocaust, as well as literary and cinematic responses in Europe and the United States.

LAH X51R. Social Inequality and Health in the United States.

Examine how socioeconomic status and social inequality shape health and mortality across the United States. Consider various possible explanations including stress, health behaviors, violence, and other factors.

LAH X51S. Interpreting Black Rage.

Examine the residual effects of slavery and its impact on race relations in the United States. Explore Black rage in literature, music, and film.

LAH X51T. Jewish Identities in the Americas.

Examine the work of Jewish creative intellectuals from the United States, Latin America, and Canada from a comparative perspective.

LAH X51U. Neglected Middle Class.

Examine how a steady succession of laws and policies (including labor and employment, consumer lending, financial services, housing, and tax) have created enormous income and wealth inequality gaps between the country's richest households and everyone else.

LAH X51V. Health, Health Care, and Humanities.

Examine the intersections of the humanities with health, illness, and health care and shed new light on health and health care inequities, the role of narrative, and other representational forms in the illness experience. Explore the relationships between health, healing, and culture; the history of pandemics; and social constructions of ability and disability.

LAH X51W. Hitler, Nazism, and World War II.

LAH X52C. Germany in the Twentieth Century.

Survey of German political and military institutions, economic development, culture, and society.

LAH X52D. Dedman Scholars Seminar.

Travel abroad to study the history, culture and politics of different regions across the world under the direction of various academic departments of the University.

LAH X52E. Language Truths, Myths, and Mysteries.

Explore an introductory characterization of language and linguistics. Identify long-lasting controversial issues and common viewpoints about language and puzzling real-life language-related phenomena. Analyze these issues through a reasoned, rigorous confrontation of facts and fallacies with the objective of competently articulating defensible conclusions.

LAH X52I. Image of the Cannibal in the Renaissance.

LAH X52J. Global Sustainability and Soil.

Examine soil as a resource from the perspectives of natural and sustainability science, including soil ecology and biodiversity, formation, fertility for ecosystems and farming systems, soil health, distinguishing characteristics in nature, taxonomy, and soil spatial variability around the globe.

LAH X58Q. Supervised Research.

LAH X64H. The Enlightenment.

Examination of the European Enlightenment, an intellectual movement centered in eighteenth-century France and England that cut across all disciplines and arts and that looked back to the Renaissance and forward to the modern world.

LAH X65P. Honors Seminar in Political Theory.

An in-depth study of selected texts, authors, or themes in the history of political thought from ancient times to the present.

LAH X68H. Literature of the Hispanic World.

An examination of the literature and culture of Spain and Spanish America, from the Middle Ages to the present.

LAH X68T. Honors Tutorial Course I.

Research, read, and write a substantial paper on an interdepartmental subject while supervised.

LAH X69H. Comparative Legal Systems.

A comparison of legal traditions from Europe, English common law, and Asia.

LAH X69T. Honors Tutorial Course II.

Research, read, and write a substantial paper on an interdepartmental subject while supervised.

LAH X70H. The Birth of the Modern World, 1400-1700.

An interdisciplinary course on European culture during the age of the Renaissance and Reformation.

LAH X71H. Classics of Greek Philosophy.

A close reading of major works in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, supported by background reading in the history and literature of ancient Greece.

LAH X73H. Literature of the Western World: Continuities.

Tradition and innovation of form and thought in literature from Homer to the twentieth century.

LAH X76H. The Rise of Modern America.

The end of Reconstruction (1877) to the end of the war in Vietnam (1975)--industrialization, urbanization, immigration, nuclear energy, and global reach.

LAH X77H. Ideas of the Twentieth Century.

Central philosophical controversies of the twentieth century: ethics, politics, comparative religions, science and human nature.

LAH X78H. The Natural Sciences in the Liberal Arts Context.

An attempt to understand contemporary developments in science by focusing on the history and philosophy of science.

LAH X79H. Classical Asian Civilizations.

An examination of the contributions of India and China to intellectual history.

Graduate Courses

Professional Courses