Undergraduate Course Directory

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Courses by Subject Area

Click on the links below for a list of courses in that subject area. You may then click “View Classes” to see scheduled classes for individual courses.

1100. Afrocentric Perspectives in the Arts

Also offered as: FINA 1100

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Lectures and discussions about assigned readings focus on historical and aesthetic perspectives of African American Arts and their African sources, with emphasis on how social and aesthetic context impacts on creative expression by African American artists. Presentations by guest lecturers and University of Connecticut faculty plus small group discussions. CA 1. CA 4.

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2211. Introduction to Africana Studies

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: May not be taken out of sequence after passing AFRA 4994.

Grading Basis: Graded

Interdisciplinary overview of Africana studies, giving consideration to the artistic, intellectual, political and cultural experiences of black people in the United States, Caribbean, Europe, and Africa. Significant movements, ideas, people and events that have shaped and continue to shape Africa and the Diaspora.

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2214. African American Literature

Also offered as: ENGL 2214

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011.

Grading Basis: Graded

Critical and historical examination of the literature of African American writers from Phyllis Wheatley to the present. CA 4.

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2214W. African American Literature

Also offered as: ENGL 2214W

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011.

Grading Basis: Graded

Critical and historical examination of the literature of African American writers from Phyllis Wheatley to the present. CA 4.

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2222. Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Power of Looking

Also offered as: AAAS 2222, ARTH 2222

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Not open for credit to students who have passed ARTH 2198 when offered as "Race, Gender, and the Power of Looking."

Grading Basis: Graded

A beginning investigation into the issues of what constitutes visual culture and how race, gender, and sexuality are seen and not seen. The goals of the course include engaging with the history and scholarly dialogues around visual studies, becoming more active and critical visual consumers and critics, and understanding personal stakes and diverse positions in dialogues about visualizing gender and race. CA 1. CA 4.

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2250. Racial Disparities in Health

Also offered as: SOCI 2250

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Social determinants of health. Racial differences in health outcomes. Social, economic, and political structures and their impacts on health organization and inequalities in care delivery. Patient-provider interactions; meanings of illness. CA 2.

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2345. Language and Racism

Also offered as: COGS 2345

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Open to sophomores or higher. Recommended preparation: One course in AFRA or COGS.

Grading Basis: Graded

Examines the relationships between language use, both historically and across the lifespan, and the social construction of race, racism, and racial identity, with particular emphasis on racial politics in the United States.

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2461. Race, Gender, and U.S. Health Care

Also offered as: SOCI 2461

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: AFRA/SOCI 1001.

Grading Basis: Graded

Factors of race and gender at work in U.S health care. Focus on African Americans and Black immigrants as care recipients and care providers in health care institutions. CA 2. CA 4.

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2510. Ethnicity and Race

Also offered as: SOCI 2510

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Ethnic groups, their interrelations, assimilation, and pluralism. Culture, and identity that arise from differences in race, religion, nationality, region, and language. Formerly offered as AFRA/SOCI 3501.

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2520. White Racism

Also offered as: HRTS 2520, SOCI 2520

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

The origin, nature, and consequences of white racism as a central and enduring social principle around which the United States and other modern societies are structured and evolve. Formerly offered as AFRA/HRTS/SOCI 3505. CA 4.

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2530. African Americans and Social Protest

Also offered as: HRTS 2530, SOCI 2530

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Social and economic-justice movements, from the beginning of the Civil Rights movement to the present. Formerly offered as AFRA/HRTS/SOCI 3825.

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2621. Cuba in Local and Global Perspective

Also offered as: HIST 2621, LLAS 2621

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Major themes in Cuban politics and culture. Local and global perspective. Key topics include race, gender, class, cultural movements and practices, slavery, political economy and movements, nationalism. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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2622. History of Gender and Sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean

Also offered as: HIST 2622, LLAS 2622, WGSS 2622

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Topics may include: empire and colonialism/anti-colonialism; slavery, science, and the state; cultural practices and institutions; feminisms and masculinities; law and public policies; immigration; forms of labor and political mobilization; sex and reproduction; and human rights from historical perspective. Formerly offered as AFRA/HIST/LLAS/WGSS 3622.

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2752. Africa in Global History

Also offered as: HIST 2752

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Broad historical survey of civilizations in Africa, including origins of human life in Africa, economic livelihoods, socio-economic and political structures, state formation, trade, commerce, urbanization, and indigenous systems of belief and world religions. Formerly offered as AFRA/HIST 3752. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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2753. History of Modern Africa

Also offered as: HIST 2753

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

The history of African perceptions of and responses to the abolition of the slave trade, Western imperialism and colonialism, and the development of nationalism and struggle for independence. CA 1. CA 4-INT. Formerly offered as AFRA/HIST 3753.

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3025. Contemporary Africa

Also offered as: ANTH 3025

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Africa since its partition in 1884. Urbanization, social stratification, racial and ethnic conflict.

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3033. Race and Policy

Also offered as: POLS 3633, PP 3033

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Examination of contemporary public policy through the lens of race.

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3042. Baseball and Society: Politics, Economics, Race and Gender

Also offered as: AMST 3042, HDFS 3042, WGSS 3042

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

Baseball in historical, political, sociological, and economic contexts. Topics may include: impact on individuals and families; racial discrimination and integration; labor relations; urbanization; roles of women; treatment of gay athletes; and implications of performance-enhancing drugs.

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3050. African-American Art

Also offered as: ARTH 3050

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

The artistic and social legacy of African American art from the eighteenth century to the present day. CA 4.

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3050W. African-American Art

Also offered as: ARTH 3050W

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

The artistic and social legacy of African American art from the eighteenth century to the present day. CA 4.

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3106. Black Psychology

Also offered as: PSYC 3106

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: PSYC 1100; PSYC 1101 or 1103.

Grading Basis: Graded

Empirical and theoretical literature on psychological experiences of African Americans. Impact of race, culture, and ethnicity on psychological development. CA 4.

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3131. African-American Theatre

Also offered as: DRAM 3131

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

The significant developments in African American theatre and its antecedents and an examination of selected play scripts that exemplify those developments. CA 4.

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3132. African-American Women Playwrights, 1900 to the present

Also offered as: DRAM 3132

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: AFRA/DRAM 3131.

Grading Basis: Graded

African American women's playwriting in relationship to social, historical, and political contexts. CA 1. CA 4.

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3152. Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism

Also offered as: ANTH 3152

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Popular and scholarly theories of human group identity and diversity, in cross-cultural and historical perspective. Topics include: an overview of 'race' and 'ethnicity' in Western thought, ethnic group formation and transformation, political mobilizations of group identity, and systems of inequality. CA 2. CA 4.

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3155. Anthropology of the African Diaspora

Also offered as: ANTH 3155

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

An exploration of the racial, political, and social similarities and differences within and between the communities constituting the African Diaspora from an anthropological perspective.

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3206. Black Experience in the Americas

Also offered as: HIST 3206

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: AFRA 3563/HIST 3563/HRTS 3563; AFRA 3564/HIST 3564, AFRA 3620/HIST 3620; or HIST 3609/LLAS 3609.

Grading Basis: Graded

Major themes in recent scholarship of African-descended communities in the Americas and their interconnection beyond geopolitical boundaries; race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, cultural movements and practices, slavery, political economy, political movements, and African consciousness, from historical perspective. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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3208. Making the Black Atlantic

Also offered as: HIST 3208, LLAS 3208

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: AFRA/HIST/HRTS 3563 or AFRA/HIST 3564 or 3620; or HIST/LLAS 3609.

Grading Basis: Graded

Recent scholarship on the central role played by African-descended communities in shaping the early history of the Americas and their interconnection beyond geopolitical boundaries; race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, cultural movements and practices; slavery, political economy, and political movements.

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3213. Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century African American Literature

Also offered as: ENGL 3213

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

Broad historical survey of African American literature from its origins through the turn of the twentieth century. CA 4.

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3213W. Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century African American Literature

Also offered as: ENGL 3213W

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

Broad historical survey of African American literature from its origins through the turn of the twentieth century. CA 4.

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3215. Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century African American Literature

Also offered as: ENGL 3215

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

Broad historical survey of African American literature from the twentieth and twenty-first century. CA 4.

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3215W. Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century African American Literature

Also offered as: ENGL 3215W

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

Broad historical survey of African American literature from the twentieth and twenty-first century. CA 4.

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3217. Studies in African American Literature and Culture

Also offered as: ENGL 3217

3.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

Focused study of a theme, form, author, or movement in African American literature or culture. CA 4.

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3217W. Studies in African American Literature and Culture

Also offered as: ENGL 3217W

3.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

Focused study of a theme, form, author, or movement in African American literature or culture. CA 4.

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3224. History of Pan Africanism

Also offered as: HIST 3770

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Open to juniors or higher. Recommended preparation: At least one of HIST 3752, 3753, 3563 or 3564.

Grading Basis: Graded

The development of ideas of Pan-Africanism, beginning with the proto-Pan-Africanists in the nineteenth century; examination of the linkages between those ideas in Africa and the evolution of Pan-Africanism as a movement in the African Diaspora.

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3252. Politics In Africa

Also offered as: POLS 3252

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

The political systems in contemporary Africa; the background of the slave trade, imperialism, colonialism, and the present concerns of nationalism, independence, economic development and military rule. Emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa.

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3293. Foreign Study

1.00 - 15.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: Consent of director required, normally to be granted prior to student's departure. Recommended preparation: Introductory courses in African history.

Grading Basis: Graded

Consent of Director required, normally to be granted prior to student's departure.

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3295. Special Topics

1.00 - 6.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Prerequisites and recommended preparation vary.

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3299. Independent Study

1.00 - 6.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: Instructor consent.

Grading Basis: Graded

Supervised reading and writing on a subject of special interest to the student.

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3320. Race, Culture, and Reproductive Health

Also offered as: ANTH 3320

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

An examination of the reproductive health experiences of women in the United States, including those focused on sexuality, birth, and motherhood. An exploration of the complex relationship between women’s reproductive experiences and their contemporary racial and socioeconomic locations in American society.

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3512. African Archaeology

Also offered as: ANTH 3512

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

An archaeological perspective on more than three million years of human social and behavioral change in Africa, from Stone Age societies that are the earliest in the world to sweeping changes brought about by the development and spread of cattle and crops, sophisticated metallurgy, and the later rise of kingdoms and complex polities situated at a global crossroads of trade and interaction.

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3563. African American History to 1865

Also offered as: HIST 3563, HRTS 3563

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

History of African-American people to 1865, from their West African roots, to their presence in colonial America, through enslavement and emancipation. Adaptation and resistance to their conditions in North America. Contributions by black people to the development of the United States.

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3564. African American History Since 1865

Also offered as: HIST 3564

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

History of African-American people since the Civil war. Contributions by black people to American development. African-American activity in international arenas.

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3565. African American Women’s History: From A’r’nt I a Woman to Black Girl Magic

Also offered as: HIST 3565, WGSS 3565

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

African American women's history in the United States, including black women's activism and leadership; roles within the larger African Diaspora; engagement in local, national, and international freedom struggles; and redefinitions of identities as wives, mothers, leaders, citizens, and workers. Special attention given to the diversity of black women’s experiences, and to the dominant images of black women in America from Mumbet (the first enslaved woman to sue for her freedom and win) to contemporary issues of race, sex, and class.

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3568. Hip Hop, Politics and Youth Culture in America

Also offered as: AMST 3568, HIST 3568, MUSI 3568

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

History of hip-hop, its musical antecedents and its role in popular culture. Race, class, and gender are examined as well as hip-hop's role in popular political discourse.

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3569. Slavery in Film

Also offered as: HIST 3569

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: AFRA/HIST 3206 or 3563 or 3564; or CLCS 1110.

Grading Basis: Graded

Depictions of chattel slavery in cinema and popular media over time. Topics include histories of slavery, race and identity, media studies, and cultural studies.

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3575. Black Documentary Film Archival Practices

Also offered as: JOUR 3575

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Students must have taken a film or media course where they learned how to edit.

Grading Basis: Graded

Critical and historical examination of Black American archival usage through documentary films and media.

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3618. Comparative Slavery in the Americas

Also offered as: HIST 3618, LLAS 3618

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

The rise and fall of trans-Atlantic slavery. Topics include resistance, migration, antislavery mobilization, abolitionism, empire, revolution, cultural production, political economy, labor, gender, race and identity formation.

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3619. History of the Caribbean

Also offered as: HIST 3619, LLAS 3619

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Encounter experience; slavery, antislavery mobilization, and abolitionism; colonialism; citizenship and nation building; race and gender; political cultures and movements; migration/immigration; cultural production; and political economy; topics will be examined from a historical perspective. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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3619W. History of the Caribbean

Also offered as: HIST 3619W, LLAS 3619W

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011.

Grading Basis: Graded

Encounter experience; slavery, antislavery mobilization, and abolitionism; colonialism; citizenship and nation building; race and gender; political cultures and movements; migration/immigration; cultural production; and political economy; topics will be examined from a historical perspective. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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3620. Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Spanish Caribbean

Also offered as: HIST 3620

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Discovery and settlement, slavery and plantation economy, recent political and economic developments, and United States relations with the Spanish Caribbean.

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3642. African-American Politics

Also offered as: POLS 3642

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

Political behavior, theory, and ideology of African-Americans, with emphasis on contemporary U.S. politics. CA 4.

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3647. Black Leadership and Civil Rights

Also offered as: POLS 3647

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

Black leadership, emphasizing the principles, goals, and strategies used by African-American men and women to secure basic citizenship rights during the civil rights era.

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3652. Black Feminist Politics

Also offered as: POLS 3652, WGSS 3652

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Open to juniors or higher.

Grading Basis: Graded

An introduction to major philosophical and theoretical debates at the core of black feminist thought, emphasizing the ways in which interlocking systems of oppression uphold and sustain each other.

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3898. Variable Topics

3.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: Prerequisites and recommended preparation vary.

Grading Basis: Graded

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4100. Experiential/Service Learning Seminar

Also offered as: AAAS 4100, LLAS 4100, WGSS 4100

4.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Interdisciplinary examination of the history of social justice organizing in the U.S.; theories, strategies, and practice of community organizing movements such as those for immigration, environmental, reproductive, and racial justice. Includes practice in community organizing and political advocacy.

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4994W. Senior Seminar

3.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: AFRA 2211; ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; course is required for majors and is generally taken in the senior year.

Grading Basis: Graded

Critical training and comprehensive examination of African American studies, using primary and secondary sources.

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4996. Honors Thesis Preparation

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: AFRA 2211; open to honors students, juniors or higher; instructor consent required. Recommended preparation: Students complete several courses in the disciplinary field of their research interest.

Grading Basis: Honors Credit

Preliminary reading in primary and secondary sources or key texts in research field in consultation with thesis advisor.

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4997W. Senior Thesis in Africana Studies

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; AFRA 2211 and 4996; open to students in the Honors Program; instructor consent required; may be open to non-honors students with consent of instructor.

Grading Basis: Honors Credit

Honors Research and writing in the major with close supervision of multiple drafts.

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