Spring 2026 Honors Courses

AI and Innovations Course Descriptions

• ANT 3103 - Fundamentals of Archaeology

  Archaeology is one of the four fundamental sub-fields of Anthropology in the United States. This course covers the fundamental analytical methods that have been and are currently employed by archaeologists to reconstruct past life ways, cultures, and societies. In particular, this course will explore the material culture studies and other evidence used by archaeologists. Topics of inquiry include excavation procedures, sites survey, dating techniques, site formation processes, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, artifact analysis, and key laboratory techniques. Additionally, the course will cover the history of archaeological legislation and regulations that apply to public archaeology, ethical principles of archaeological practice, and the basics of curation and museology. Finally, throughout the semester, we will explore the importance and relevance of archaeology to the modern world.

• ARH 3930 - Special Topics: Crafting America

  This course surveys the history of craft in the United States from the colonial period to the present, tracing how makers of ceramics, textiles, glass, wood, and metal have shaped American art, design, and culture. Topics include early Indigenous and colonial traditions, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Depression-era programs, the postwar studio craft movement, and contemporary practices that address identity, activism, and sustainability.

  Students will explore how craft mediates questions of labor, gender, race, and community while developing skills in object analysis and interpretation. A central component of the course is the Crown Craftsman Project, through which students will research Jacksonville’s Crown Craftsmen Association, curate a museum exhibition, and create digital content for public audiences. By bridging historical study with hands-on public history work, students will gain transferable skills in research, communication, and cultural stewardship.

• ART 3930 - ST: VR Storytelling/Worldbuild

  This Honors-enhanced course introduces students to the imaginative possibilities of immersive storytelling and worldbuilding through virtual reality (VR), with a new emphasis on AI-assisted creative practices. Students will explore how to use generative AI tools in tandem with VR sculpting platforms to conceptualize, develop, and present experiential narratives and environments. Through collaborative projects, students will critically examine the creative agency of both humans and machines, produce public-facing work, and reflect on ethical considerations in AI-enhanced design.

• COM 4930 - ST: Social Innov Hlth Think Tank
  UNF MedNexus in partnership with the Hicks Honors College offers a unique experiential learning opportunity in Spring 2026 through a course focused on social innovation in healthcare. Students will collaborate with leading business and non-profit community partners including Telescope Health and the American Heart Association to address real-world challenges in healthcare using cutting edge technology and innovation strategies. This course is ideal for students from a variety of colleges and majors, including students in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Business, Education, Health and all those with interests or skills in communication, strategic thinking, leadership, and innovation. Participants will gain valuable experience in collaboration, communication, new technology, leadership, and social innovation within healthcare-related professional fields.
• DIG 2990 - Exp: Digital Humanities

  This course teaches students how to use AI-powered drone videography to map natural environments for conservation, a method that's far more accessible and affordable than traditional mapping techniques. In the first half of the semester, students will apply this technology to map a section of the University of North Florida's (UNF) campus. The second half will focus on interpreting their map by examining historical UNF documents and influential conservation literature, including works by Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and Robin Wall Kimmerer. Finally, students will present their project—which includes their methodology, the completed map, and their insights—at two research events: the Spring 2026 Digital Projects Showcase and Honors’ Spring 2026 Innovation Session at SOARS.

• EDF 4444 - Assessment of Learn/Behavior

  The purpose of the course is to provide prospective educators with an overview of assessment, measurement, and evaluation practices inside and outside the classroom. The examination of informal and formal assessment processes, informed by the broader framework of state mandated assessments, will frame classroom assessment as an integral part of teaching to positively impact student learning and motivation. Assessment strategies (diagnostic, formative, summative, and performance) with appropriate accommodations for English Language Learners and students with exceptionalities will be emphasized. These strategies will integrate practical and ethical uses of artificial intelligence (AI) from both learning and teaching perspectives.

• ENC 1143 (H) - Writing with Evidence and Style: Place-Based Writing for Immersive Technologies

  This course asks students to spend time working with immersive technology and time outdoors. UNF is home to nature trails and a reserve that connects to surrounding wetlands. Throughout the course, students are expected to spend time on the nature trails and practice place-based writing for a virtual reality (VR) project (no coding required!) Writing with Evidence and Style is a course designed to give students the opportunity to learn and practice writing for specific audiences with relevant, credible information. The audience for this VR project is next year’s freshmen, and the topic will be transitioning to college (and specifically UNF). Students will practice researching information, reflecting, place-based writing, composing with multimedia, and revising. Specifically, students learn about the UNF trails and visit the same part of campus throughout the semester, taking pictures and writing about their experience there as well as the history of the place. Students do NOT need to have any experience with creating immersive technology. Student-generated content will be put into a program that the professor has already created. However, students will get to learn about different technologies through the course in addition to writing for and with them.

• IDH 3930 - Honoring the Ocean

  Dive into the field of oceanography through the lens of the humanities, and literally sail the high seas with the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO). Honoring the Ocean (HtO) is an experiential learning course taught by Honors professors from across the state, exploring humankind's relationship with the ocean through history, art, political science, language, poetry, and science. The program culminates with a 24-hour sailing in the Gulf of Mexico aboard an FIO research vessel alongside HtO faculty. This interdisciplinary experience is open to all majors: enroll with a sense of adventure and a curious mind.

• IDH 3930 - Code Breakers Research
  This course will introduce you to the architecture of one language. As a class we will work from scratch with a speaker of a language that none of us know, with the goal of unlocking the mysteries of that language at all levels—sound system, word formation, sentence structure, semantics and pragmatics. In essence, you will be introduced to techniques of linguistic and anthropological research and analysis through direct work with a native speaker of an unfamiliar language. By working with a native speaker consultant in the classroom, we will approximate in some way what it is like to do fieldwork. In this class, you will learn how to elicit field data through direct questioning and gathering of texts, how to organize field data, how to prepare entries in a field dictionary, and how to organize and write a grammar. At the end of the class you will be asked to present a mini-description of the language. Students will meet with the native speaker in the class as well as for 30 minutes outside of class to investigate one aspect of the language’s grammar. No previous courses in linguistics are required.  The identity of the language will be revealed on the first day of class. 
• LDR 3003 - (H) Introduction to Leadership
  The course introduces participants to the major theories of leadership and their application in personal and professional settings. Participants engage in self-reflective and applied learning activities that allow them to draw upon their personal characteristics and experiences to make connections between class work and their own developing leadership style.
• MMC 3342 - ST: Content Creation Tools and AI

  The objective of this course is to teach students the tools necessary for social media content creation. Students will learn about mobile phone photography and video shooting. They will master a range of design, image, and video editing software (Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, and Express) as well as their AI features. Also, students will use Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Copilot to plan and create content more efficiently and to optimize it for social media. In addition, students will learn about media entrepreneurship, and they will use social media analytics to measure their reach and engagement.

• MMC 4930 - ST: Human and AI in Communication

  This course is designed to explore ever-evolving, complex generative AIs. It takes a critical AI literacy approach, which will make you a better user of the technology by focusing on: a) Technical Understanding: How generative AI is built and trained, and how each algorithm works. b) Critical Appraisal: The social and environmental costs of development and maintenance, and its fundamental limitations. c) Practical Applications: Ethical and responsible uses.

  More importantly, this course provides an opportunity to experience the benefits and risks of Gen AI firsthand through practical use cases and evaluation activities. This course is suitable for both non-STEM and AI major students. It will help to demystify AI technology and equip students with critical perspectives and practical skills for its ethical and proficient use.

• PSY3213 - Research Methods in Psychology
  This course provides an understanding of the philosophy of science and psychology as a branch of science, enhances critical thinking and logical inference and elaborates basic research methodologies in psychology. Ethical principles in research also are covered.
• SPM 4705 - Applied Sports Analytics

  This course provides graduate and undergraduate students with advanced training in sport data analysis, interpretation, and presentation. Students will collaborate in mixed-level teams to apply artificial intelligence tools for real-world sport industry projects. Using datasets from UNF Athletics and external sport organization partners, students will use AI to support data cleaning, visualization, predictive modeling, and narrative reporting. Final deliverables will be public-facing and presented in the Honors Innovation Session at the UNF Soars Conference.

• Honors First-Year (Fall) Colloquium

  Honors Colloquium is a required course for all first-time in college Hicks Honors College students. Colloquium offers a wide range of topics designed to give students experiential and service learning opportunities, teach students the fundamentals of research in discipline-specific fields, and introduce them to soft skills in professional development and networking. This year's topics include Age of Revolutions, American Coming of Age, Code Breakers, Design Thinking, Introduction to Chemical Management, Publishing Local Archives Online, Strategy and Innovation, Self and Society, Thinking Like a Psychological Scientist, and Words That Slap.

  Age of Revolutions

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Will Pewitt

  Fridays | 9:00 - 11:45 a.m.

  CRN 81210 | 81211

   

  Professor Pewitt's “Age of Revolutions” is a game-based simulation course where students play out scenarios that place them in the revolutionary era. The goal is for students to not only encounter a more complex view of the origins of the modern world, but to place themselves into this formative period to see how they could “change the course of history.” Each week’s activities will thus be shaped directly by how students have responded to the
  professor’s challenges the previous week. Students will develop deep insights into not only the famous figures of the American Revolution but also the less widely told stories of those whose lives impacted these momentous events—from the Indigenous to the indentured, from European princesses to Caribbean pirates, from ideas of the Enlightenment to the experiences of the enslaved. In doing so, students will encounter an interdisciplinary taste of how Honors courses reveal interconnections between various academic fields in ways that put students in control of their own intellectual journey. “AoR” shifts between large group discussions and lectures as well as various smaller group structures where students develop interdisciplinary strategies for achieving their goals as a “revolutionary.”

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  American Coming of Age: Boundaries and Belonging

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Leslie Kaplan

  Tuesdays | 6:00 - 8:45 p.m.

  CRN (multiple-see below) 

   

  This class is about who we are, both as individuals coming of age, and about who we are as a country. This is not a typical class. It will offer some big events for the whole cohort, like Q&A with sitting politicians or a giant simulation activity where students role-play to understand the process of becoming American. It also includes weekly small-group discussions and activities like choose-your-own adventure workshops with recent alumni. There is a service project working with members of the local community. The assignment are designed to build skills like communication, networking, critical thinking and also expand your comfort zone. You will learn about yourself as an individual and as a citizen, build skills that will help your future, and make strong connections with your classmates.

  Please note that when you sign up for this class, you will also sign up for a breakout group. This group will be defined by it service project. The projects for this year may include teaching reading to elementary school students, creating holiday events for elementary school students, coaching soccer for elementary school students, raising money to support the community, GIS projects mapping local resources or mapping Jacksonville’s immigration history, making short documentary films, tutoring adults in English, or mentoring high school students.

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  Code Breakers

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Tiffany Kershner

  Mondays/Wednesdays | 9:00 - 10:15 a.m.

  CRN 81212 

   

  This course will introduce you to the architecture of one language. As a class we will work from scratch with a speaker of a language that none of us know, with the goal of unlocking the mysteries of that language at all levels—sound system, word formation, sentence structure, semantics and pragmatics. In essence, you will be introduced to techniques of linguistic and anthropological research and analysis through direct work with a native speaker of an unfamiliar language. By working with a native speaker consultant in the classroom, we will approximate in some way what it is like to do fieldwork. In this class, you will learn how to elicit field data through direct questioning and gathering of texts, how to organize field data, how to prepare entries in a field dictionary, and how to organize and write a grammar. At the end of the class you will be asked to present a mini-description of the language. Students will meet with the native speaker in the class as well as for 30 minutes outside of class to investigate one aspect of the language’s grammar. No previous courses in linguistics are required.  The identity of the language will be revealed on the first day of class. 

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  Design Thinking

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Suzzane Ehrlich and Amanda Pascale

  Tuesday/Thursdays | 12:15 - 1:30 p.m.

  CRN 82940 | 82967

   

  This course will engage students in human-centered design and solve real-world problems creatively. You'll learn about social innovation, connecting the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), design thinking and research practice as an approach to social innovation. Through the design thinking framework, you'll collaborate on solution-oriented analysis for social and organizational problems in new and creative ways. Additionally, this course will examine AI's role in innovation and the future of work as it relates to these topics. Through innovation challenges and collaborative projects, you'll learn how to think like a designer and gain valuable experience through stakeholder engagement and conversations with local community members.

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  Introduction to Chemical Measurements

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Willis Jones

  Mondays/Wednesdays 1:00 - 1:50 p.m. 

  Fridays (Lab) 9:00 - 11:50 a.m.

  CRN 82966

   

  How much lead is in your tap water? How much mercury is in your favorite seafood? This course focuses on how scientists answer questions like these. Students will be exposed to state-of-the-art instrumentation in a research laboratory and will work collaboratively to monitor the concentrations of trace metal contaminants present in our surrounding environment. This course provides a research experience, introduces students to how research in the physical sciences is performed, and places heavy emphasis on the development of both theoretical expertise and hands-on skills that will translate into success for future research in any STEM discipline.

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  Publishing Local Archives Online

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Clayton McCarl

  Fridays | 12:00 - 2:45 p.m.

  CRN 82965

   

  In this collaborative, workshop-style course, students will publish archival materials related to local history online. Participants will work with documents held in Special Collections and University Archives in UNF's Thomas G. Carpenter Library that provide insight into life in North Florida in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Students will learn to use TEI-XML, the international standard for document markup in the humanities, and Omeka, a platform for creating online collections. The students' digital editions will be made available through the website of the North Florida Editorial Workshop (nfew.org), an ongoing project affiliated with the UNF Digital Humanities Institute. In doing this work, participants will consider how archival and editorial processes allow us to discover hidden stories and question accepted narratives about the region where we live. The course will involve visits to UNF's Special Collections and University Archives as well as historical societies and archives in the surrounding community.  

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  Self and Society

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Rick Tryon 

  Mondays/Wednesdays | 10:30 - 11:45 a.m.

  CRN 82043

   

  Self and Society is taught by Lt. General Richard Tryon. This course focuses on the concept of Community and Belonging: who you are, who you want to be, what you hope to get out of your college experience, and how you can have a positive impact on our greater society and world. S&S provides an overview of all 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals but has students choose 1 SDG to further examine. Students in Self & Society will fulfill their service project requirement by choosing a project as a class, and then deciding as a class how it will be completed. Because of its smaller size, S&S is able to provide its students with the option to participate in small group discussions covering assigned readings on cultural legacy and opportunity.

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  Strategy & Innovation: Making a Magic School Bus

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Sydney Brammer

  Mondays/Wednesdays | 10:30 - 11:45 a.m.

  CRN 82964

   

  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hop on the Magic School Bus? This interdisciplinary course won’t involve deep sea journeys or microscopic mitochondrial exploration, but it will challenge you to hone your strategic communication skills through the imagination, development, and celebration of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville’s new MOCA-Mobile project and its potential for hands-on community art education and connection. Together, we will push the limits of creative skill, language, planning, audience analysis, research into perceptions and motivations, and social innovation as an exercise in self-discovery, team building, and community care.

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  Thinking Like a Psychological Scientist: Researching Academic Success

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Charlie Fitzsimmons

  Tuesdays/Thursdays | 9:25 - 11:50 a.m.

  CRN 83350

   

  Psychology isn’t just about theories – it’s about solving real-world problems. This course will focus on applying psychological science to the broad questions: What does it take to succeed in college? And: How can psychology help us understand and improve academic success? In this course, you’ll learn to think like a psychological scientist, to distinguish scientific from non-scientific ways of thinking and knowing, to read scientific journal articles, and to develop a testable research question. By the end of the course, you will develop a testable research question asking about factors related to academic success. 

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  Words That Slap

  IDH1923-Honors Colloquium

  Instructor: Tiffany Kershner

  Mondays/Wednesdays | 3:00 - 4:15 p.m.

  CRN 83828

   

  Different cultures differentiate and frame events in various ways. At the heart of conceptual events are WORDS, essentially an inventory of the ways a particular group of people depict and understand the interactions they have with each other and with the world around them. An individual’s language is, in one sense, a repository of wisdom about their environment. In this course, we will examine the interrelations between humans and their world by focusing on a culture’s lexical inventory as found in American dialects, invented languages and the use of slang words. First, we will explore how humans recognize, name, and classify living and nonliving things as well as behavior in their environment from a cognitive and symbolic perspective. Second, we will examine whether a culture’s language or dialect influences its perceptions of reality. For example, does a culture’s lexical inventory channel their thoughts in particular ways? Through a detailed examination of linguistic phenomena in American dialects and comparing it with cultures around the world, we will become familiar with how language and culture interact, the extent to which these surface in our everyday lives, and the explanations proposed by various fields (anthropology, linguistics, English, biology, psychology, cognitive science) for their existence.

• Spring 2026 ENC1143

  Schedule at a Glance

  CRN Number	Department	Course	Credit Hours	Title	Days	Time	Instructor
  11431	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Mondays/Wednesdays	10:30 - 11:45 a.m.	Sarah Steffen
  11435	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	1:40 - 2:55 p.m.	Russell Turney
  11711	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	10:50 a.m. - 12:05 p.m	Melissa Halloran
  81214	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	1:40 - 2:55 p.m.	Melissa Halloran
  14682	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Mondays/Wednesdays	12:00 - 1:15 p.m.	Leslie Kaplan
  14696	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	9:25 - 10:40 a.m.	Melissa Halloran
  14697	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	9:25 - 10:40 a.m.	Brendan Steffen
  14698	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	10:50 a.m. - 12:05 p.m.	Russell Turney
  14699	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	12:15 - 1:30 p.m.	Abby Doan
  14700	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Mondays/Wednesdays	12:00 - 1:15 p.m.	Michaela Tashjian
  14701	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Mondays/Wednesdays	1:30- 2:45 p.m.	Michaela Tashjian
  14702	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	10:50-12:05 p.m.	Kailan Sindelar
  14704	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	3:05-4:20 p.m.
  14722	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Mondays/Wednesdays	10:30 - 11:45 a.m.	Alexander Menocal
  14863	English	ENC1143		(H)(GW) Evidence and Style	Tuesdays/Thursdays	12:15 - 1:30 p.m.	Kailan Sindelar

Upper Division Honors Courses

• Brooks College of Health

  Upper Divison HONORS Courses	Title
  APK4912	Honors in Kinesiology Research
  APK4971	Honors in Kinesiology Thesis
  DIE3950	Nutrition Study Abroad
  FSS4945	Professional Capstone in Community Nutrition & Food Management
  HSA4850	Health Administration Internship
  HSA4922	Capstone: Health Administration
  HSA4955	Study Abroad Health
  HSC4730	Public Health Research
  HSC4800	Professional Preparation in Public Health
  HSC4814	Public Health Practical Experience
  PET4942	Internship in Kinesiology

• College of Computing, Engineering and Construction

  Upper Divison HONORS Courses	Title
  BCN4709	Construction Project Management Capstone
  BCN4944	Construction Management Internship
  CGN4803	Senior Capstone Design I
  CGN4804	Senior Capstone Design II
  CGN4911	Supervised Undergraduate Research
  CGN4955	Civil Engineering Abroad
  CIS4955	Computing Honors Research
  EEL4905	Undergraduate Supervised Research
  EEL4914	Senior Capstone Design I
  EEL4915	Senior Capstone Design II
  EEL4949	Electrical Engineering Internship

• College of Arts and Sciences

  Upper Divison HONORS Courses	Title
  ANT4020	Humans, Animals, and Culture
  ANT4931	Lived Religions of SE Asia
  ANT4970	Anthropology Honors Thesis
  ARH4910	Senior Research Seminar
  ARH4941	Art History Internship
  ART4805	Painting and Drawing Research
  ART4929	Senior Project in Painting and Drawing
  CHM4910	Chemical Research
  COM4945	Internship Senior Project
  HIS4940	Internship
  INR4102	Real World Policy
  JOU4348	Advanced Multimedia Storytelling
  MMC4975	Internship Senior Project
  PHI3084	Philosophical Methods
  PHI4941	Internship/Practicum
  PHI4970	Senior Honors Thesis
  PHY4910	Physics Research and Seminar 1
  PHY4911	Physics Research and Seminar 2
  POS4945	Internship/Field Experience
  PSY3213	Supervised Research
  PSY4904	Honors Research
  PSY4906	Directed Independent Study
  PSY4945	Practicum in Applied Psychology
  PSY4956	Study Abroad in Psychology
  PUR4800	Public Relations Campaigns
  REL3102	Religion as Culture
  REL4910	Senior Capstone
  RTV4661	Advanced TV Production
  SYA4943	Sociology Internship

• Coggin College of Business

  Upper Divison HONORS Courses	Title
  ACG4941	Accounting Internship
  ACG4956	Study Abroad in Accounting
  ADV4800	Advertising Campaigns
  ECO3421	Econometrics
  ECO4903	Honors in Economics Research
  ECO4950	Economics Research Practicum
  ECO4956	Study Abroad in Economics
  ECO4970	Honors in Economics Thesis
  FIN4560	Student Managed Investment Fund I
  FIN4561	Student Managed Investment Fund II
  FIN4940	Financial Planning Internship
  FIN4941	Finance Internship
  FIN4956	Study Abroad in Finance
  GEB3361	International Business Internship
  GEB4940	Coggin Semester Exchange Program
  GEB4942	Entrepreneurship Internship
  GEO4956	Study Abroad in Geography
  ISM4941	Business Intelligence Internship
  MAN4940	Human Resources Management Internship
  MAN4942	Management Internship
  MAN4956	Study Abroad in Management
  MAR3930	Selected Topics in Honors in Marketing
  MAR4955	Study Abroad in Marketing
  TRA4945	Logistic Internship
  TRA4956	Study Abroad in Logistics