Honors Program Seminars
Students are required to take three courses from a menu of two-credit Honors Program seminars. Some examples of recent seminar topics include: “Corporate Responsibility,” “Intellectual Property,” and “Globalization.”
The goal of this requirement is to provide an extra set of opportunities to help students think more broadly and deeply about the process of leading others and the special functions leaders perform in helping teams to be more effective. A minimum grade of “B” is required in each seminar. This is a requirement only for students enrolled in the management Honors Program curriculum and cannot be taken until the sophomore year.
Spring 2011
| SM454: Lifestyle Discrimination |
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| Kabrina Chang, Assistant Professor, Markets, Public Policy and Law |
| Can your boss fire you because you had a raucous party at your house over the weekend? Can they fire you because you support a political candidate the CEO does not? What about if you smoke cigarettes—at home? There are very few laws that protect employees under these circumstances. We will explore examples of discrimination based on off-duty employee conduct, and what, if any, laws protect employees, through in-depth discussion of cases and state statutes. We will also look at the management considerations behind such actions, and whether from a manager’s perspective, there are better ways to address the relevant concerns while reducing the likelihood of a lawsuit. |
| SM456: Careers in the 21st Century |
| Kathy Kram, Shipley Professor in Management, Organizational Behavior |
| In this seminar we will examine the nature of careers in the 21st century, and how they differ from traditional careers of prior generations. Readings on Careers, Adult Development, Work-Life Balance, and Mentoring will inform our conceptual understanding of contemporary careers. In parallel, students will complete a number of assessment tools in order to develop a deeper understanding of the values, goals, and skills they will bring to their work after graduation. Each student will complete brief thought papers, a group project, and a seminar paper in which they present their working theory of Career Management, and a personal plan for implementation going forward. |
| SM458: Sustainable Development and the Global Economy |
| Paul McManus, Executive-in-Residence/Lecturer, Strategy & Innovation, and Managing Director of ITEC |
| To introduce this course I paraphrase Bill Clinton: “The next big challenge is whether the 21st century is marred by [scarcity,] terrorism [and environmental degradation] of all kinds or whether it becomes the most peaceful and prosperous time the world has ever known.” – Bill Clinton Through readings, cases and rich discussion of current events, students will explore the topics of globalization, environmental sustainability, their impact on cultures, societies, politics, and business. Over the course of twelve weeks we will; travel the globe to uncover the social, cultural and economic legacies of eight countries, walk the crowed streets of emerging megacities, the halls of big business and corridors of national powers to take the measure of what I consider to be the most important issue of our time. |
Fall 2010
| Sustainable Energy – Data and Debates |
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| Nitin Joglekar, Associate Professor and Dean’s Research Fellow, Operations and Technology Management |
| Two key barriers to the diffusion of sustainable energy technologies are the difficulties in measuring the performance of these technologies with precision, and the ambiguity in linking the impact of individual technologies on the aggregate global climate in the long term. Such barriers give rise to debates, including questioning of the data that setup the very premise of global warming. Such barriers may also spawn opportunities for new business models and alternative policies for pricing of environmental externalities. This seminar examines data on the individual and aggregate impact of hydrogen, wind, solar and heating technologies, with applications to the transportation sector and the built environment, though a combination of readings, a simulation game, group discussions. |
| Privacy Law |
| David Randall, Lecturer, Markets, Public Policy and Law |
| Privacy is a broad, elusive, and ever-evolving concept. This seminar uses an authoritative legal text and in-depth discussion of court opinions to examine the various legal bases for the right to privacy, to explore the limits of the law’s protection of privacy interests, and to develop students’ ability to analyze and understand legal problems. |
Spring 2010
| Careers in the 21st Century |
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| Kathy Kram, Shipley Professor in Management, Organizational Behavior |
| Global Sustainability |
| Kristen McCormack, Executive-in-Residence/Lecturer, Organizational Behavior, and Faculty Director, Public & Nonprofit Management Program |
