Claire Covner

Honors 100, section BI

Sample Four-Year Plan Major Track: Design
2012-2013
Autumn
INFO 101
POL S 204
Honors 394A
Honors 100
Winter
Honors 231B
English 131
Hebr 411
Spring
Honors 222
Hebr 412
Design 166
2013-2014
Autumn
Hebr 413
Art H 260
Design 207
Winter
Study abroad
Spring
Art H 201
Design 209
Design 210
2014-2015
Autumn
Design 211
Design 212
Design 488
Winter
Design 366
Design 367
Design 368

Spring
Honors Study abroad maybe fulfilling additional required Honors courses
2015-2016
Autumn
Design 376
Design 378
Design 466
Winter
Design 478
Honors 221
Honors Arts/Humanities
Spring
Design 479
Design 480
Honors Science
Course Descriptions & Reflections:
Honors 231B In this seminar, we will study how our government works to protect your
individual and national security. We will ask, "Who are the true enemies and adversaries of the
USA in the coming century?" We will analyze how our National Security Council combats
terrorist and transnational crime organizations. To do this requires a look at the historical
concepts of war and justice. We will review how corruption started in biblical times and trace the
evolution of identity as a key variable in today's conflicts. Then we will use a "real time" strategy
game (Peacemakergame.com) to practice conflict resolution scenarios. Through assigned
readings in the primary text, we will discuss the nexus of terrorist organizations and transnational
criminal organizations ("mafias") and use in-class exercises to understand the problems they
pose. We can then look to the future of cybercrime and cyberwarfare.
Primary text: "McMafia" by Misha Glenny (New York: Knopf, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4000-4411-5).
The course is organized around 5 topic modules:
1) Identity, gang & tribal membership- Understanding who you are and how you see things.
2) Identity and the Middle East- study peacemaking in a virtual gaming exercise.
3) How corruption, crime & terrorism come together: what should the "rules of engagement" be
that guide America's response to these threats?
4) Drugs, guns and money: how criminals clean dirty money and terrorists raise clean money for
dirty deeds.
5) Develop an understanding of how the US government (the President and the National Security

Council) conducts its "war on terror" and "war on drugs," and how we are evolving strategies for
the changing nature of these threats in the 21st Century. In this Honors seminar we will practice
advising the President on such actions through the National Security Council.
I want to be sure to take this particular course before I graduate because I have always been
interested in issues of crime and conflict, especially pertaining to todays society, but I have
never really pursued the subject too much. I think the different topic modules that will be
addressed in this class are also interesting, specifically the Middle East, terrorism, and drug wars.
This also fits well into my Honors core requirements and I think it will be a good, fun,
experimental class.
Design 166 (Design Foundations) Examines the rudiments of visual structure and problem
solving in two and three-dimensional design. Emphasizes design methodology and design
processes with emphasis on the formal principles of composition and organization.
I want to take this class because even if I do not in fact go into design as my major, I want to at
least test the waters in that discipline. Since it is an introduction class, I think it will be a great
way for me to find out if design is what I truly want to pursue. In addition, the processes and
general methodology might be helpful to me in other subjects and I think I will find it interesting
because I am a visual person.
Honors 221 The theory of evolution by natural selection is the underlying theme that unites all
fields of biology. In this course we will cover the basic principles of evolution, explore ways in
which evolutionary theory can be applied to human biology and behavior, and consider how
evolutionary thinking might guide the development of social policy. We will consider questions
such as these:
-Why are women and men different?
-Which is more egalitarian: monogamy or polygamy?
-Why do step-parents and step-children often have more conflicted relationships than biological
parents and biological children?
-When do people cooperate, when are they selfish, and why?
-What can we do to reduce the rate of spousal abuse and homicide?
My goal is to help students learn selection thinking; that is, to help them learn to reason like
evolutionary biologists. I hope to help students pose questions, formulate hypotheses, design
experiments, and critically evaluate the quality of evidence. After taking this course, students
will be able to:
-Apply evolutionary theory to human interactions, especially those involving social conflict, and
make predictions about how the divergent interests of the parties involved will affect their
behavior.
-Design observational studies and experiments to test these predictions.
-Interpret and critically evaluate graphs and tables showing data on behavioral patterns in
humans and animals.

-Provide evolutionary interpretations of various human social institutions, such as laws, wills,
and social policies.
I want to be sure to take this class during my time at UW because the hard sciences and math are
not my strong suits and I think this would be a great alternative to help fulfill the NW credits I
need. I am interested in this aspect of science and how scientific concepts can be applied to
people today and how humans behave. I would also love to explore the ideas outlined in this
course, specifically regarding evolution and the differences between genders, especially since
this quarter I have been taking a class on gender studies.