Required Courses (6 hours)

HON 3360H: Principles and Practices of Global Engagement
This course is the gateway to the Honors College minor in Global Engagement and provides a theoretical, ethical and experiential learning framework for participation in academic, co-curricular and professional travel programs. It emphasizes principles of critical reflection, cultural awareness, personal accountability and ethical engagement that serve to enhance learning experiences in the context of local, national and international communities. The concept of global engagement begins with an examination of the principles of citizenship in diverse societies, creating a foundation for an orientation towards critically reflective learning.

HON 3361H: Global Engagement and Research
This is an interdisciplinary reading and research seminar on the economic, cultural, political, historical and technological components of global engagement. Discussion will focus on the strengths and limitations of various research methodologies, and individuals will complete a research project.

Approved Electives (9 hours)

Elective courses listed below, along with corresponding experiential learning components, are necessary for the Global Engagement and Research minor. Academic petitions for approval of coursework not listed below that can be applied to the minor should be made to both the director of the Global Engagement and Research minor and the dean of the Honors College. Students must earn a 3.0 average GPA or higher in all coursework counted toward the minor.

Featured Electives, Summer 2022

HON 3397H — Summer in the City: Creating Our Spaces, Our Places, Ourselves (Galib)

We often limit the concept of creativity to artists and authors without realizing that creativity is foundational to interesting work and rewarding careers. What is creativity? How does studying it inform our perspectives of our entrepreneurial strengths and skills, ultimately positioning us to be sustainable change leaders no matter what careers we pursue? Through a mixed-media approach (through literature, film, and site-based learning), this course will enable students to develop their understanding of creativity, innovation, design thinking, self-awareness, leadership, mindfulness, and systems thinking to develop a real-world solution to a challenging Houston problem. Classes will meet at the ionhouston.com 4201 Main Street in Midtown on Thursdays and dinner will be included.

Since 1950, refugee populations worldwide have continued to swell at an alarming rate due to political and religious persecution, civil and regional military conflict, and, more recently, climate change. As of the end of 2020, the UNHCR reported 82.4 million forcibly displaced individuals worldwide, including some 21 million refugees under the UNHCR's mandate. While root causes of forced migration vary, they each represent at some level the failure of international relations. This course will explore via case studies incidents of forced migration that have shaped the international community's responses to asylum-seekers, refugees, and other forms of involuntary migrants, including "climigrants." This class culminates in the Osgood Center's American Foreign Policy Institute on-site in Washington, DC. Travel dates are July 31 – August 12; travel component is CITE funded and fulfills the "national" and "10-day" excursion requirement for the minor.