Summer 2026

HONORS 270
Principles and Research Methods in Social Science
(Online course – register through WSU’s Global Campus Summer 2026 Schedule)

Instructor: Colin Criss
Dates: June 22nd – August 2nd

Prerequisite: Must be an Honors Student

In this course, students will select and analyze a contemporary social movement through the lens of foundational social movement theories. They will apply micro-, meso-, and macro-level theories to contemporary movements, and suggest, given their analysis, possible future directions for the movement at hand. This is an introductory sociology course—there is no need for prior sociological knowledge—that will require students to think critically and systematically about our world.

HONORS 280*
Contextual Understanding in the Arts and Humanities
(Online course – register through WSU’s Global Campus Summer 2026 Schedule)

Instructor: Annie Lampman
Dates: May 11th – June 21st

Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student

This is a creative writing course that introduces students to the art and craft of short-form fiction writing. We will read, analyze, and discuss award-winning short stories, complete writing exercises, and write short fiction, working to explore and develop craft elements including characterization, point-of-view, dialogue, plot, scene and summary, setting, and the use of metaphorical language and themes. Each student will have their short stories workshopped with written peer reviews and instructor feedback provided. No previous creative writing experience is necessary, although strong general writing abilities are required to do well in this course. This is also a MESI course where you will keep a mindfulness journal that is meant to correlate to your creative work.

Required Texts: 

1. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, Janet Burroway, ISBN#: 9780226616698
2. Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: 50 North American Stories since 1970, 2nd Edition, Michael Martone, ISBN#: 9781416532279
3. I Am Here Now: A Creative Mindfulness Guide and Journal, The Mindfulness Project, ISBN#: 9780399184444

*This course qualifies as credit for the MESI Certificate.

HONORS 290
Science as a Way of Knowing
(Online course – register through WSU’s Global Campus Summer 2026 Schedule)

Instructor: Joanna Schultz
Dates: May 11th – June 21st

Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student. Any B, BSCI, P, PSCI, or SCI lab or concurrent enrollment.

Dog Tales

This summer you will examine the origins and co-evolution of Canis lupus familiaris (the domestic dog) with Homo sapiens. In recent years, researchers have taken a keen interest in our domestic dog companions for a variety of reasons. I am a “dog person”, but as an evolutionary biologist, the wealth of research on domestic dog evolution and artificial selection for the nearly 200 American Kennel Club (AKC) recognized dog breeds fascinates me. The gray wolf, Canis lupus, is well supported as the precursor to the domestic dog. In this course, you will examine if a single wolf stock with introgression/backcrossing was responsible for C. lupus familiaris (i.e., if domestic dogs arose then backcrossed with wolves) or if there were multiple origins of domestic dogs in different parts of the European continent and Asia from many wolf stocks. You will also investigate the ancient and recent breeds, including the date of origin of the domestic dog, i.e., divergence time between the grey wolf and domestic dog using a molecular clock as one data source. You will also delve into one of the most important relationships in the history of man, the co-evolution of H. sapiens and C. lupus familiaris, beginning with the ancient relationship between early H. sapiens and wolves, C. lupus. Your studies will include selection for canine morphological and behavioral traits and how artificial selection in breeding results in deleterious mutations over time i.e., inbreeding depression. Other topics you will discuss, include village dog populations, dog social behavior, breed stereotypes, dog cloning, domestic dogs as models to study human disease, olfactory and auditory detection dogs, life expectancy, and loss, among other topics. According to one researcher…. without the human-dog relationship, society would never have advanced. Your readings will be from the primary scientific literature, and you will watch fascinating documentaries recently produced on C. lupus familiaris evolution, co-evolution with H. sapiens, behavior, among others.

Course readings will reflect course content and will be chosen from the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Similarly, documentary films and videos will reflect course content. These will be your sources to engage in discussion via the Canvas Discussion Board Forum.

ENGLISH 298
Writing and Research Honors
(Online course – register through WSU’s Global Campus Summer 2026 Schedule)

Instructor: Grant Maierhofer
Dates: May 11th – July 31st

Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student. Any B, BSCI, P, PSCI, or SCI lab or concurrent enrollment.

Writing Fan (Non)Fiction

This course will explore the art of research-driven pop culture and media criticism, drawing upon our individual and cultural obsessions and loves—favorite bands, artist, celebrities, TV series’, video games, action film franchises, athletes, and more—to uncover compelling research questions and unique ways of looking at and understanding the world around us.

Students will read a selection of personal and critical essays in which art critics, rock critics, superfans, gamers, sports journalists, TV and film critics, and creative writers explore the personal and cultural impact of work they love (or love to hate or can’t quite make sense of). They will then complete generative writing exercises and discussions inspired by their own art and media obsessions, as well as two major assignments—one creative/critical essay, and one research-focused essay—about topics of their choice.

This is an introductory but rigorous course designed to introduce students to college-level writing, research methods, and critical & creative thinking. Minor assignments will be low-stakes and generative in nature, helping students to brainstorm ideas for compelling research topics and practice various modes of academic and personal writing.

Required Course Materials:

Huber, Sonya. The Backwards Research Guide for Writers: Using your Life for Reflection, Connection, and Inspiration. Equinox, 2011. ISBN 9781845534424

HONORS 370
Case Study: Global Issues in Social Sciences
(Online course – register through WSU’s Global Campus Summer 2026 Schedule)

Instructor: Tekla Schmaus
Dates: May 11th – June 21st

Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student; HONORS 270 or ECONS 198.

The “roof of the world” sounds mystical, exotic, and distant – it’s one of the last places on earth.  Who lives there, and what is it like? What draws foreigners to it?  This class will use an anthropological lens to examine Central Asia in the popular imagination, and to understand the history and current events behind those perceptions.  We will discuss Mongols and other nomads, the Silk Road, and religious diversity in the region.  We will also discuss Central Asia’s place in contemporary discourse about globalization.  And of course, we won’t neglect food, drink, music, and art.  Why has a place that is so poorly understood by outsiders played such a central role in world history and modern geopolitics?  By the end of this course, you will be familiar with central themes in the anthropology of Central Asia, and you will also have thought critically about issues facing the world today.

HONORS 380 *
Case Study: Global Issues in the Arts and Humanities
(Online course – register through WSU’s Global Campus Summer 2026 Schedule)

Instructor: Annie Lampman
Dates: May 11th – June 21st

Prerequisite: Must be a current Honors student; HONORS 280.

In this creative writing course we will examine the role of memoir and personal narrative in shaping and defining how we see and experience the world. Through readings and analysis, discussion, and a variety of in-class writing exercises and essay/memoir writing work, we will explore the following questions: As global citizens, how can we represent our own experiences and stories through creative writing in a way that is universally understood and felt? How do we (and the authors we read) define/explore/write about the issues that trouble or fascinate us? What are we (and the authors we read) struggling to make sense of or understand about our own lives and the world around us? Throughout the semester, we will work on developing the basic craft elements of creative nonfiction and each student will have one of their essays “workshopped” with written peer reviews. No previous creative writing experience is necessary, although strong general writing abilities are required to do well in this course. This is also a MESI course where you will keep a mindfulness journal that is meant to correlate to you creative work.

Required Texts:

1. Tell it Slant, Third Edition, Brenda Miller & Suzanne Paola, ISBN#: 9781260454598
2. Short Takes: Brief Encounters with Contemporary Nonfiction, Judith Kitchen, ISBN#: 9780393326000
3. Into Nature: A Creative Field Guide and Journal, The Mindfulness Project, ISBN#: 9781615194803

*This course qualifies as credit for the MESI Certificate.

HONORS 390
Case Study: Global Issues in Sciences
(Online course – register through WSU’s Global Campus Summer 2026 Schedule)

Instructor: Joanna Schultz
Dates: June 22nd – August 2nd

This summer, you will examine the current global crisis in climate change and the sixth extinction. We do not need to emphasize the importance of this topic. According to EO Wilson, “The ongoing mass extinction of the natural world ranks with pandemics, world war, and climate change as among the greatest threats humanity has imposed on itself”. You will read selected essays from Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future (2021) by Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist and conservationist Elizabeth Kolbert. You will also be assigned readings from the peer-reviewed scientific literature and watch documentaries on climate and anthropogenic impact related global issues. For example, extinction, biodiversity loss (vs. what can be done), Arctic and Antarctic crises, fast fashion, environmental racism, deep sea mining, food waste, floods, and plastics, among many other topics.

Course readings will reflect course content and will be chosen from one excellent non-fiction book and the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Similarly, documentary films and videos will reflect course content. These will be your sources to engage in discussion via the Canvas Discussion Board Forum.

Required Texts:

1. “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future” by Elizabeth Kolbert (2021) Crown Publishing, New York ISBN 9780593136270, ISBN e-book 9780593136294