Spring 2021 Honors Forums to Focus on Religious Diversity, Economic Analytics and Creative Process

Peter Aaron

Next spring, honors students will have an opportunity to study religious diversity in Arkansas, apply the latest tools in economic analytics to real life problems, and explore the creative process with stand outs in fields ranging from theater to art to fine dining. 

These 75-minute, one-credit-hour honors courses, designated HNRC 300VH in the University of Arkansas catalog, bring star faculty, top administrators and community leaders together with honors students on a weekly basis to discuss key topics, from climate change to running a major museum. 

"We've assembled a great line up for the spring that will provide honors students with in-depth, high-level discussions on key issues," said Honors College Dean Lynda Coon. "We're excited to partner again with our friends at Crystal Bridges and TheatreSquared to offer "Inspired," a great opportunity for students interested in pursuing careers in creative fields."

Honors students must apply to participate in Honors College Forum courses, and seats are limited. Interested students are encouraged to read more about the courses and professors on the Honors College Forums web page.

The final deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30. 

The Spring 2021 Honors College Forums are:

Arkansas Religious Pluralism: This course will challenge students to understand a broad variety of new or new-to-Arkansas religious traditions, to put them into the context of a rapidly changing state, and to understand the different points of tension that arise when a homogeneous region diversifies. The forum will be led by the Honors College dean and professor of history, Lynda Coon, whose research focuses on the history of Christianity, and the Honors College director of development, John Treat, a sixth-generation Arkansawyer who holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in cultural history from the U of A. Each week a guest speaker or field trip along with supplemental readings will introduce students to a new religious tradition, its history in Arkansas, and its experience of integration into the larger community.

Economic Analytics: The digital revolution ignited an explosion of data. The availability of data is no longer a constraint to answering important questions. The critical constraint is now the ability to analyze, digest, visualize and ultimately harness the data to drive decision making in business, science and society. Enter economic analytics, which combines economic theory and modeling with the latest big data skills. This forum, led by Raja Kali, a professor in economics and the ConocoPhillips Chair in International Economics and Business, will showcase economics and economists "in the wild." Students will get a sneak peek into the diversity of real-world problems that can be illuminated by economic analytics and how economists "get their hands dirty" with messy (muddy) real world data. Applications will span issues in education, health, urbanization, poverty, inequality, labor markets, and both firm and individual behavior.

Inspired: Sandy Edwards and Margi Conrads, members of the strategy team of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and The Momentary, will lead this forum, which will meet weekly at TheatreSquared. The course will begin by inviting students to recognize their own special brand of creativity and how they can best make it sing. After this initial session focused on defining creativity, Edwards and Conrads will bring in six shining examples of creativity — professionals who will share how the creative process feeds their work and life. Students will leave the class with a new and/or improved version of their best creative selves.