Spring 2022 Honors College Trajectory Courses to Help Students Explore Various Career Paths

Peter Aaron

Gearhart Hall

This spring, honors students will have the opportunity to make the most of their honors experience as they envision and prepare for life after college. Honors College Trajectory courses bring in top faculty and experts to guide students both in thinking about innovative career areas and in taking concrete steps toward chosen goals. 

"Trajectory courses can be incredible practicums to prepare for graduate and professional school or to compete for nationally competitive awards, but courses like Innovators and Inspired encourage students to think about new areas of endeavor, such as startups and careers in artistic and creative fields," said John Treat, director of interdisciplinary and curricular learning. "Whichever type of trajectory course a student enrolls in, they leave with broader horizons and practical insight they lacked before they started."

Applications, due Oct. 29, are required for Catapult, Inspired and Med School, and seats are limited in all of these courses. Interested honors students are encouraged to learn more and apply when necessary from the course pages, linked below.

The Spring 2022 Honors College Trajectory Courses are:

Catapult: Taught by Vice Provost Suzanne McCray, Honors College Catapult is designed to place ambitious, high-achieving students on a trajectory toward nationally competitive awards and/or graduate and professional programs of study. Students will prepare their academic resume, construct a personal statement and answer essay prompts, all of which will be consistent with graduate or professional school admission. Additional topics include studying for advanced tests such as the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), building a graduate or professional school timeline and preparing for interviews. Class will meet Monday/Wednesday, 12:55-1:45 p.m., first eight weeks, Spring 2022, and applications are required.

Innovators: Honors College Innovators connects students with some of the very best innovators from a variety of fields. Students will learn how they innovate in art; science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); architecture; and business; as well as for the social good. This course will also discuss the need to embrace failure and the ways in which the successful guest speakers have themselves experienced failure many times. This multi-college interdisciplinary class, offered by Engineering Professor of Practice Karl Schubert, Dean Alan Ellstrand of the Walton College and Louise Hancox of the Honors College Futures Hub, will introduce students to the key elements of innovation, with opportunities to network with guest speakers. Course will meet Tuesdays, 5-6:15 p.m.

Inspired: Everyone is creative! From the generation of an idea to its realization, creativity is part of everyday life. This discussion-based seminar led by Sandy Edwards, senior director of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, provides an excellent opportunity for students to recognize their special brand of creativity and how to best make it sing. Through a variety of engagements with some of the university's top-notch creatives and exercises designed to tap their unique creative process, students will leave with a new and/or improved version of their best creative self. Class will meet Tuesdays, 5-6:50 p.m., first eight weeks, and applications are required.

Law School: This course is designed to provide honors students with an overview of the legal profession and to prepare for the law school admissions process. Students will consider different careers in law, including private practice, public sector and corporate law. They will consider whether law school is the path for them and which schools meet their needs. They will also prepare a complete draft of admission materials. This course will be offered by Andrew Dowdle, professor of political science and director of Legal Studies, and Louise Hancox of the Honors College Futures Hub. Class will meet Mondays, 5-6:50 p.m., first eight weeks.

Med School: The "doctor as healer" and the "genius doctor" are two common personae in the American psyche based upon popularized depictions of physicians and surgeons in media. And these prolific dramatizations often feed cultural and personal myths about what the life of a doctor can and will be. This Honors College Forum requires students to think critically about such popular depictions, as a way to enter conversations that help parse out fantasy from reality. This course is taught by Mack Ivey, Liebolt Chair of Premedical Sciences and associate professor of biology, and Monica Moore of the Honors College Futures Hub. Class will meet Wednesdays, 3:45-5 p.m, and applications are required.