THE HONORS PROGRAM AT ALVERNIA COLLEGE

Excellence, Interaction, Enthusiasm

Psychology Course Offerings

Women’s Leadership
In this students will examine the factors that contribute to effective leadership and explore ways to encourage this in women. Some students will use case study methodology to analyze leaders both historic and contemporary, reflect on their own experiences, and sharpen their own leadership skills.

Stigma: Living with Mental Illness
This course examines the experience of metal illness as it has changed from early history to modern times, including; the rise and fall of asylums; psychiatry and medicalization of behavioral problems advocacy, the consumer movements and community based treatment. The phenomena of stigma will be studied and as it effects the lives of people with metal illness, families, communities, providers of services, and heath care policy.

Ethics and Leadership
In this course students will examine the factors that contribute to strong and ethical leadership by reviewing the major theories of leadership, analyzing leadership challenges and crises in the contemporary business environment, and reflecting on their own experience with leadership. Students will use case study methodology to analyze leaders who exemplify strength and moral leadership, and those who illustrate the tragedy with neither or both are present. Each student will complete a project based on a leadership analysis.

Applied Psychology
The theme of this course is Applied Psychology. Simply put, applied psychology is the study of the way in which findings from science about the human mind, body, and spirit can be used to understand a wide array of situations and provide solutions to real-world problems. This is a topic relevant to any student at any time.

Leaders: Born, Made and Portrayed
The theme of this course is Leadership. In this course we will explore the many dimensions of leadership in teams of its creation and emergence in individuals and its enactment. The essential question of “are leaders born or made” will help guide an examination of the characteristics of individuals and situations which interact to impact the development of good leaders. In addition, we will explore how leaders are portrayed in the media and in popular and classis literature. In order to apply the knowledge gained in class and to share to enable a sharing of that knowledge with fellow classmates, students will choose a leader to analyze and present for their final project.

Good and Evil in Fact and Fiction
What is good? What is evil? Students will analyze specific forms of “goodness” including altruism and love, as well as varieties of “evil,” including violence, oppression, and deceit. Using contemporary novels and film, the course will also address the ways in which the themes of good and evil are woven throughout fiction. The topic will be approached from multiple perspectives and involve several field experiences. This class is reserved for freshmen.

Mind, Brains, and Computers
Do zebras wear pajamas when they sleep? Computers can calculate pi to a million decimal places easily, keep track of a company’s payroll, provide diagnosis of cancer patients and play chess. But are they really smart? Can they answer ‘do zebras wear pajamas when they sleep’? What is the difference between digital computers and human minds? This course assesses the research program called cognitive science where human mind is understood as a complex computational system. We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of cognitive science—are we really computers?!

For More Information, Contact:
Dr. Victoria Williams, Director of the Honors Program
Francis Hall 406
Office Phone (610) 796-5511
Victoria.williams@alvernia.edu

Updated: October 12, 2006

Your comments are welcome.