Seminars

Upcoming Seminars

Spring 2025

First Year Forum, XPL
Dr. Lee Ann Westman
50:525:162:01
Monday & Wednesday 9:35am-10:55am

The Honors College First-Year Forum is a 3-credit course organized around the theme "What is a Just Community?" This course is required of all first-year Honors College students in their first or second semester at Rutgers-Camden. Faculty from across campus will join us each week to discuss how their discipline approaches the question of "What is a Just Community" and students will work with Honors College Teaching Assistants and each other on semester-long projects to produce a change-making product, service, or initiative.

Upper Division Honors Courses

Perspectives in the History of Medicine and Health, HAC
Margaret Marsh
50:525:151
Tuesday 2:00pm-4:50pm

This course focuses on selected topics in the history of medicine and health in the United States. Such history is important in its own right, and it also helps us to understand a broad range of topics in medicine and health that affect us today. At one level, we see a story of progress, for example, when we think of such advances in public health as clean water and better hygiene, and medical advances such as antibiotics and vaccines. History can also help explain some of the ways in which we have not progressed. One example is the persistence of racial and socio-economic disparities in access to care. Employing historical frameworks, this course seeks to enable students both to understand the past on its own terms and to develop a deeper understanding of medicine, illness, and health in the U.S. today.

Breaking Chains: Understanding Human Trafficking 101, GCM
Jeanann Sousou
50:525:153; 57:525:300
Wednesday 8:00am-10:50am

This course provides an in-depth examination of the complex and multifaceted issue of human trafficking, exploring its global prevalence, underlying causes, impact on individuals and societies, legal frameworks, and intervention strategies. Through a multidisciplinary approach, students will delve into the socio-economic, political, and ethical dimensions of human trafficking, developing a comprehensive understanding of this grave violation of human rights. By the end of this course, students will gain a nuanced understanding of the complexities surrounding human trafficking and be equipped with the knowledge and critical thinking skills necessary to contribute meaningfully to the global efforts aimed at combating this heinous crime.

Inequality, Law, and American Political Development, EAV/GCM
Anthony Grasso
50:525:153; 50:525:155
Monday & Wednesday 2:05pm-3:25pm

This course examines the political development of the American legal system over time and its relationship to entrenched social inequalities. Through a critical exploration of constitutional law, criminal law, corporate law, and more, we will investigate how the legal system has both shaped and reinforced inequalities across race, class, and other social relations. Students will engage with questions including: How has law been used to create and maintain various social hierarchies over time? What legal mechanisms have contributed to structural inequality in the U.S.? How has the evolution of legal institutions influenced the distribution of political and economic power in American society? Under what conditions can the law become a tool for equality and reform?

The course has multiple objectives. First, students will gain a deep understanding of the historical intersections between law and inequality in the United States. Second, participants will acquire knowledge of the institutional and legal mechanisms through which inequality has been fortified and challenged. Third, the course will introduce students to normative and empirical perspectives on law and social stratification, encouraging them to critically evaluate the role of legal institutions in shaping social relations and outcomes. Lastly, students will leave the course equipped to analyze the dynamic role of law in American political development and to thoughtfully consider how legal change can address or perpetuate social inequities in contemporary America.

Sport in the US: Equality, Opportunity, and Public Policy, USW
Catherine D’Ignazio
50:525:154
Tuesday & Thursday 11:10am-12:30pm

Sport holds unique cultural currency. It is widely understood to be based upon “fairness;” rules are transparent and trained officials monitor violations and administer measured penalties. In addition, competence is understood to be meritocratic based upon natural ability/talent accompanied by hard work and tenacity. But, of course, the story of sport, the opportunity to participate and the way society shapes and narrates the meaning of sport, often through policy, is more complex. This course will use case studies in the history of sport in the US that examine equality, opportunity and public policy to critique the “fairness” and cultural and social relevance of sport in the US. How private actors, public authorities and organizations formally and informally shape policy will guide the inquiries.

Education Opportunity in the US: District, Charter, and Private Schools, USW
Julio Alicea
50:525:154
Wednesday 12:30pm-3:20pm

In a country where school is compulsory, the experience of schooling is a definitive experience that shapes and molds students in different ways. Thus, as individuals we tend to acquire many formative experiences, social connections, and points of view that stay with us after graduation. Considering schools based on our own experiences is one valid form of meaning making and it is also worthwhile to take a more sociological approach, looking at the relationship between school and society. Accordingly, it was said long ago by Horace Mann (1848) that from a societal perspective, education would be “beyond all other divides of human origin, […] a great equalizer of conditions of men—the balance wheel of the social machinery.” Indeed, public education in particular has been asked to do a lot for society as a whole, leading to claims of the “educationalization of the welfare state.”

In this course, three different models of education will be explored: district schools, charter schools, and private schools. As a class, we will examine how each model of schooling came to be, what they look like today, and how they affect the students they serve as well as the larger society. The class will partner with one school of each type for student observations, interviews, and collaborations. Working as field teams, students will collaborate with a contact from each school to devise a small research project with an idea towards improving practice and informing policy. School contacts will serve as consultants to the class and judges on the final student products.

Innovation Management: Opportunity, Processes, and Policy, DIV
Supradeep Dutta
50:525:160
Tuesday & Thursday 2:00pm-3:20pm

In recent years, innovation has increasingly become the source of sustainable competitive advantage for firms, regions, or countries, and has garnered significant attention from policymakers. However, building an organization at the forefront of innovation, to push the boundaries of technology, and to bring new innovations successfully and repeatedly to market is a daunting managerial challenge. These challenges are more pronounced for female- and minority-led businesses. The

ownership, profitability, and even the representation in innovation projects is grounded in the differences in access to capital finance, which is unevenly distributed by gender and race—especially for women of color when comparing Black and White communities. Historical factors surrounding discrimination, including wealth disparities, education gaps, and cultural norms, further aggravate the gaps in accessing resources.

In this course we focus on the best practices and processes that managers use to identify, develop, and manage innovation effectively, emphasizing the challenges faced by female- and minority-led businesses, and the role of innovation policy in bringing parity to the underrepresented groups to access the critical resources and in spurring innovation.