Honors Seminars

This course is designed for individuals interested in learning how to contribute to open-source projects. Participants will develop technical skills, including Git and GitHub workflows and explore non-code contributions such as improving documentation and translations. The course combines hands-on activities, group discussions, reflective blogging and professional development opportunities. By the end, participants will have made meaningful contributions to open-source projects, built a professional portfolio, and practiced job-seeking skills, while reflecting on the social, ethical and professional dimensions of open-source work. 

Taught by Federico Bassetti, Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships 

Unlock the future with generative AI! Dive into the world of generative AI (GenAI) and explore its transformative impact on education and the workplace. In this seminar, you'll investigate the history and current influence of AI tools like Copilot and ChatGPT, analyze their role in teaching, learning, and workforce development and design cutting-edge learning and training experiences that responsibly integrate AI. Gain valuable skills in research, leadership, and civic engagement—highly sought after by employers and graduate schools. Don't miss this chance to shape the future with GenAI!   

Taught by Cindy York, Ph.D., Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment 

We will use didactic, problem-based, and experiential formats to learn about the fundamentals of aging and concepts of brain resilience, including theories of aging, differentiating normal versus abnormal age-associated changes and strategies for optimizing quality of life, lifespan and health span.  

Taught by Jamie Mayer, Ph.D., Department of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders 

This class will use art to explore and express leadership. Jon Briscoe, with 26 years at NIU in the College of Business, will combine his insights with John Siblik of the College of Visual Arts and his 35 years of experience in the arts.  Each class will feature an aspect of leadership ranging from self-leadership to teams, to organizational change.  Alongside that, you will learn art techniques and concepts that challenge and illustrate leadership concepts as well as teach you about art. 

Taught by Jon Briscoe, D.B.A., Department of Management and John Siblik, M.F.A., School of Art and Design 

Join honors students from universities across the United States in exploring the complex issues around sustainable agriculture. The course will begin with a nine-week synchronous online colloquium engaging with students and experts from many institutions and will proceed with meaningful on-campus experiences for the remainder of the semester with the NIU contingent. While the first part of the course includes an online component, the class will be face-to-face throughout the semester. All students in this course will have the opportunity to be Justice Challenge Fellows and participate in signature experiences in spring 2026. The course is open to students in all disciplines and assumes no prior knowledge of sustainable agriculture. You will engage in real social needs and develop your capacity for civic engagement, innovation, leadership and problem-solving. 

Taught by Andrea Radasanu, Ph.D., Department of Political Science 

Students in Monsters and Makers will seek to understand what it means to "create": to create life, to create art, and to create "content."  We will begin by analyzing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and its adaptations, asking big questions such as: what is one’s responsibility for one’s research/creations; what does one need to live life well; and whose responsibility is it to ensure that others have what they need to thrive?  In the second half of the course, you will engage in various 'making' practices using analog, digital and AI technologies. Projects will include a traditional literary analysis with secondary research (incorporating generative AI in our writing process), a creative group project using letterpress technologies in NIU’s Book Lab and an individual media project using Adobe Creative Suite. 

Taught by Melissa Adams-Campbell, Ph.D., Department of English 

Counterstories offer opportunities to create new perspectives and dismantle old stereotypes. The role of digital media has gained prominence as a medium for constructing and circulating counterstories by those who have been disempowered through traditional publication and media outlets. This course will focus on the work of Kendrick Lamar, who has emerged as one of the most powerful voices in Hip Hop and popular culture, globally. His albums are often dense, complex counterstories that challenge listeners’ assumptions, particularly about his hometown of Compton and the Black experience. Good Kid, MAAD City (2012) will serve as the central text (along with other selections from his growing catalog) to examine how counterstory serves as a springboard into issues of history, power, identity, culture, critical media literacies and traditional and digital storytelling. And yes, we will explore "the beef"! 

Taught by Joseph Flynn, Ph.D. and Michael Manderino, Ph.D., Department of Curriculum and Instruction 

Major themes in the historical study of the African diaspora in the trans-Atlantic, trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean regions. Development of African communities, cultures, ethnicities, religions and identities under conditions of enslavement or forced migration and processes of identification in the diaspora with the African homeland; New World developments such as creolization, the construction of multiple identities and the positioning of enslaved Africans within the dynamics of the emergent Atlantic World. 

 Taught by Ismael Montana, Ph.D., Department of History