First-Year Sequence

The First-Year Sequence consists of discussion-based courses in which careful reading, debate, and inquiry are encouraged. Students often manifest their understanding in experimental or creative forms of expression. The several sections of each class are uniquely shaped by the people in the room. They unite, however, around common conceptual pursuits, such as the nature of justice, power, and love; the processes by which humans make decisions and determine values; and the relationships between individuals and the communities they inhabit.

Across three quarters, first-year Honors students complete four courses. They enroll in HNRS 101 and HNRS 103 concurrently in their first quarter at Western; HNRS 104 in the second; and either HNRS 105 or HNRS 106 in the third. Incoming Honors students must complete the First-Year Sequence unless otherwise discussed with the director of the Honors College.

In addition to the foundational experiences offered by the FYS, completion of the sequence awards students the
following General University Requirements (GURs):

  • 8 credits in Humanities (HUM);
  • 1 course in Comparative, Gender, and Multicultural Studies (CGM); and,
  • Fulfillment of the Communication B Block (BCOM)

 

See GUR Fulfillment

Fall Quarter

HNRS 101

As a shared experience for all new students in the WWU Honors College, Honors 101 is an introduction to the how’s and why’s of the Honors experience in which students and professors explore the three foundational questions of the FYS: What must we change and challenge to create the classrooms we desire? What could it mean to trust in
uncertainty and to explore without intent? How can selfless learning empower the communities we inherit, inhabit, and establish? (1 credit)

HNRS 103: Navigating the Human Experience – Pre-Modernity

In Honors 103, students explore worlds, origins, histories, and ideals related to the concept of pre-modernity. Through diverse media, open dialogue, and collaborative inquiry, the course and its work are invitations to practice new forms of classroom participation and creation. May be offered as a study abroad experience. (4 HUM credits)

Winter Quarter

HNRS 104: Navigating the Human Experience – Modernity

In Honors 104, students explore institutions, inventions, violences, and values related to the concept of modernity. Through diverse media, open dialogue, and collaborative inquiry, the course and its work are invitations to practice new forms of classroom participation and creation. (4 HUM credits)

Spring Quarter

Students choose between HNRS 105 and HNRS 106. Both courses use the rubric of “Postmodernity” to hone in on human experiences that academic discourses have, historically speaking, subordinated and silenced. By communing with those whose lives and creations represent a marked departure from the dominant structures, values, and institutions of the Global North (North America and Western Europe), students are invited to revisit, reconsider, and recontextualize material from previous quarters.

HNRS 105: Navigating the Human Experience – Post-Modernity [A]

In Honors 105, students explore creations, rejections, deconstructions, and reclamations related to the concept of postmodernity as they took shape beyond North America and Europe. Through diverse media, open dialogue, and collaborative inquiry, the course and its work are invitations to practice new forms of classroom participation and creation. (4 ACGM credits)

OR

HNRS 106: Navigating the Human Experience – Post-Modernity [B]

In Honors 106, students explore creations, rejections, deconstructions, and reclamations related to the concept of postmodernity through non-dominant traditions of North America and Europe. Through diverse media, open dialogue, and collaborative inquiry, the course and its work are invitations to practice new forms of classroom participation and creation. (4 BCGM credits)