Fall Honors College Forums to Explore Topics of HIV/AIDS and Crossroads in Conservatism

Peter Aaron

Next semester, honors students will have the opportunity to examine the history of the HIV/AIDS crisis around the world, as well as the present state of the American conservative movement. These 75-minute, one-credit-hour Honors College Forums bring star faculty and top administrators together with honors students on a weekly basis to discuss timely topics.

"Since they are only one hour, Honors College Forums let students explore topics they might never study otherwise," said John Treat, director of interdisciplinary and curricular learning. "This semester's forums represent the best of what we do, offering students an opportunity to see how AIDS changed U.S. culture and politics or how conservatism in the U.S. will navigate its current ideological crossroads as we approach the 2024 presidential election."

These spring forums do not require an application, but seats are limited. Interested honors students are encouraged to register as soon as possible to guarantee getting a seat.

Fall 2023 Honors College Forums

AIDS: Rhetoric, Revolution, Representation: Ryan Calabretta-Sajder, associate professor of Italian, section head of the Italian program and associate director of gender studies, along with Lisa M. Corrigan, professor of communication and director of the Gender Studies Program, will lead this course. The class will explore HIV/AIDS as a zeitgeist to understand the political climate, public policy, movement activism and artistic representations of AIDS over the past 40 years. It will examine primary source texts from the US federal government, news accounts and canonical artwork from theater, literature and film to understand how the HIV/AIDS crisis was produced and mediated in the United States and abroad.

The Future of Conservatism: Led by Jay P. Greene, a senior research fellow in the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation and previously a Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Education Reform at the U of A, the course will consider what the new conservative movement will look like as we enter the 2024 election year and examine what forces are shaping its reformulation. The focus of the forum will be in analyzing political trends rather than in assessing their merits. Come join us to have a better understanding of the likely future of American conservatism.