The Artist and Cadavers course examines the relationship through time that artists have had with cadavers. Traditionally there have been two roles cadavers have played in the life of artists. First, they have provided invaluable information about how the body’s surface form is determined by the sub-structure of bone and muscle. Such information is essential for figurative art. Second, one of the important roles artists had in the Renaissance was to render information about the body so that those pursuing the nascent medical professions had some idea about bodies. In the late 20th and 21st centuries a cadavers have come to play a third role for artists. There has been a cultural focus on embodiment: How we are in our bodies? What do our bodies mean to each of us individually, and more generally, culturally? These are important topics for contemporary artists, and cadavers play a significant role in the artistic treatment of these topics.

we approach these topics in three ways: Discussion, Experience, Research/Presentation. For a typical class each student will be responsible for doing the assigned reading and being ready to discuss it. Several class periods are spent in the USC School of Medicine's gross anatomy lab, where cadavers are in their setting as essential components to medical education. During part of the class students construct three dimensional clay models of cadavers on skeletal armatures that emphasizes tactile learning. Students are also required to do some drawing, not to be graded on drawing ability, but rather to make clear by experience how drawing is important to understanding. in Conclusion, students are required to pursue research on a topic relevant to the course, and to present the results of this research to the rest of the class.

Echoes in Blues challenges us to examine our truths (personal knowledge) and dreams, and our quest for individuality within the parameters of community. Our main focus will be on "how do I feel?" instead of on "why do I feel this way?" We will work on our individual answers through reading & writing, discussions, and playing music. In addition to musical recordings and written documents, we will also work with oral narratives (taken from the collection of the instructor): translating an oral narrative into a written narrative will take us to many "crossroads," moments of crucial decisions.

This class is not as much about ingenious constructs of celebrated writers and musicians as it is about how YOU react to their creative voicings. Not as much about historical junctures in Time as how YOU react to your present.

The blues is part of an African-American oral narrative which probably began after the Civil War. Its voices chronicle the social, economic, racial, and spiritual attitudes of a culture within the American experience. Over time the blues has served as a source of inspiration not only to musicians such as Bessie Smith, George Gershwin and B.B. King, but also to authors such as Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, Sherman Alexie and Toni Morrison.

Through the diatonic harmonica* the students will learn to shape colors & rhythms of the blues language. This integral component of the seminar will not only confront us with a creative musical process but with our individual strengths and weaknesses as well.

See the class perform:  Part I:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yx7bc-N2jI
and Part II:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab_gzHtJ-i0

The Ethics of Food Course uses readings and documentary films to examine a range of ethical and societal issues associated with the production and consumption of food.

These include: ethical responsibilities toward animals (including consideration of "factory farming" and vegetarianism), arguments for and against agricultural subsidies, arguments for and against organic or community based agriculture, ethical and social perspectives on genetic engineering, and the pros and cons of pursuing biofuels.

Students are expected to choose a particular research topic to explore extensively, and then lead a session of the class related to that topic. There is also a service-learning component to this class--namely, each student will be expected to spend roughly 10 hours over the course of the semester helping with the Green Quad community garden here at USC. This not only assists the Green Quad but also provide students with a hands-on opportunity to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of organic and community-based agricultural initiatives.

To see inside of some of the Cool Courses that the Honors College offers Click here.

Michael A. Hill Award

Each year the South Carolina Honors College bestows upon a faculty member the Michael A. Hill Award. Recipients of the award are chosen by Honors College seniors as one they judge to have made a profound impact on their Undergraduate Careers.

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The Honors College provides an average of 300 courses for Honors students every year. A sample of recent courses reserved for Honors College students contains: