For students entering CNU in Fall 2009 and after.

1) HONR 100 3 credit hours

2) Liberal Learning Curriculum Requirements:

  • Second Language Literacy, 3 credit hours
  • Mathematical Literacy, 6-8 credit hours
  • One INW course and accompanying lab, 4-5 credit hours
  • [all other Liberal Learning Curriculum requirements waived]

3) Any three of the following: 9 credit hours

  • HONR 300 Natural World
  • HONR 310 Identity & Culture
  • HONR 320 Western Traditions
  • HONR 340 Creative Expressions
  • HONR 350 Formal & Informal Reasoning

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Description

Students in these interdisciplinary seminars will explore issues focused by means of one of the following Liberal Learning Areas of Inquiry: Creative Expressions; Formal and Informal Reasoning; Identity, Institutions and Society; Investigating the Natural World; or Western Traditions. A major cultural text will frame inquiry and provide historical depth. In discussions of central questions as well as in the development of projects, students will utilize the intellectual approaches and perspectives of various academic disciplines, including their majors. Assignments include a variety of writing assignments (e. g. summaries of research findings) and must include a staged writing project (framing the question, review of sources, multiple drafts) of at least five pages in finished form as well as practice in at least one major skill set (e. g. quantitative analysis, critical analysis, computer skills, argumentative writing, geography, scientific reasoning and hypothesizing).

4) At least two Honors Inquiry classes, which may be the same course number or differing numbers:

  • HONR 381 Major-Related Study and Research, 0-3 credit hours
  • HONR 382 Civic Engagement, 1-3 credit hours
  • HONR 383 Study Abroad, 0 credit hours

5) HONR 490W Problems in Modern World, 3 credit hours

6) Activity Classes (one per semester)

  • HONR 010 (taken twice) 0 credit hours
  • HONR 020 (taken twice) 0 credit hours
  • HONR 030 (taken twice) 0 credit hours
  • HONR 040 (taken twice) 0 credit hours

7) HONR 484 Portfolio, 1 credit hour

8) An additional W I course, 1-3 credit hour(s)

9) A completed major

10) A total of at least 120 credits

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When an Honors Program student drops below the minimum 3.30 GPA, a letter of warning will be sent. Three successive semesters below a 3.30 GPA will result in removal from the program.

If an Honors student fails to maintain a seminar schedule that predicts Program completion, they are subject to removal from the program. Students will normally enroll and complete an HONR course each semester. If removed, he / she must adjust his / her registration accordingly. Withdrawing from an Honors seminar or inquiry course constitutes withdrawal from the Honors Program unless the Director approves a waiver.

Honors 010, 020, 030, and 040 each ask you to attend cultural or intellectual activities, such as lectures, seminars, recitals, or performances, or visit sites of cultural and historical importance, such as museums and exhibits.

Dr. Paul will regularly update the list of approved Honors activity events and post that list on Scholar.

Requirements

  • Attend or visit FOUR different events and submit a separate report for each.
  • You are responsible to know how many reports you have submitted. Keep copies of all reports until you have received a grade.

Writing Activity Reports

  • At the top of each report:
    • Write your name and student ID number
    • Identify the event and group number
    • Include course number (010, 020, etc.)
  • Describe / summarize then briefly critique/evaluate the experience.
  • Each report should contain at least one full page of text, double-spaced, & must be typed!

Submitting Activity Reports

  • Submit hard copies to Tori and Rachel (Student Assistant Directors) in MCM 107.
  • The reports must be submitted within one week of attending the event.

Grading

  • 0-credit, pass / fail courses.
  • A “pass” grade indicates completion of all reports and fulfillment of the above-stated criteria.

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Spring 2011

HONR 100:  "RealScience and Science Fiction"
This seminar course will examine the link between science fiction and "real" science.  Students will explore how science fiction influences actual technological possibilities and affects societal attitudes. The primary focus of this class will be the social, ethical and moral issues surrounding the real science presented in the works of Michael Crichton. Students will learn the basics of scientific research, writing, and ethics. In addition, they will also be given the opportunity to participate in group panels, group collaboration, brainstorming, and presentations. Scientific, creative and critical thinking will be emphasized.
Instructor: Dr. Geoffrey Klein, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

HONR 100: "Themes from the Bible and the Qur'an"
In this course, students will discuss religious themes in the world's major religions as they are expressed in sacred texts/commentaries and in theological and philosophical writings. Students will study and analyze selected themes in the literature, reflect on them, and then provide a critical response to academic works related to these themes. The students will be required to provide interpretations of themes using various intellectual approaches and perspectives, and make presentations utilizing the thinking and perspectives of various majors.
Instructor: Dr. Hussam Timani, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies

HONR 100:  “Moctezuma and the 'Conquest' of Mexico”
The Spanish invasion of Mexico, often called the conquest, brought significant change to both Spain and central Mexico. Spaniards, during and after the invasion, wrote extensively about their own actions in letters to the crown, petitions for rewards, and even in tracts which condemned the methods employed by other Spaniards. In addition to the stories generated by those who called themselves conquistadors, native peoples also wrote about themselves and their experiences before and after the invasion. None of these accounts, native or Spanish, produced objective, disinterested reconstructions of the invasion. This course will ask students to analyze primary accounts, beginning with Hernán Cortés and his second letter in which he describes the first attempts to conquer Mexico Tenochtitlan, to discover the limitations of what they can explain. Students will also read native accounts critically, some mediated through Spanish editors like the Florentine Codex and those authentically written by natives, like the work of Chimalpahin.
Instructor:  Dr. William Connell, Assistant Professor of History

HONR 100:  “The Quest for Camelot”
In this course, students will undertake an in-depth study of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. Our primary focus will be an analysis of the historical and philosophical genesis of the ideas of chivalry, romantic love and gender roles as embodied in Mallory’s work. Students will be asked to critique and develop theories concerning the social and political movements that gave rise to this work, as well as the legacy it has had in our own conceptions of love, masculinity and femininity.
Instructor:  Dr. Lori Underwood, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies

HONR 100:  “From the Evolution of Computing to the Quest for a Thinking Machine”
The course pivots on a central essay and support, 'Who are we in the digital age?' and explores the social reflections on life in the information age. With insights from literature, philosophy, and history, student will undertake an exploration journey through the fascinating development of the digital era and information age, from the invention of the first alphabetic language to the printing press to the World Wide Web. With the construction of the telecommunications infrastructure of cables, optic fibers, and radio waves, technology dominated the first level of the communication-processing-thinking hierarchy. Technology established the second hierarchal level with the introduction of high-speed digital computers. Now the challenge remains to create a machine that can imitate the human power of thought. Students will be asked to critically analyze papers and short videos related to machine intelligence/robotics, controversies surrounding radio frequency identification (RFID), ethical and social implications of nanotechnology, perspectives for growth of information technology in Africa, and cyber-warfare/terrorism. Students in their critical assignment writings will provide justification for their opinion and position, including evidence to back up claims and assertions.
Instructor: Dr. Costa Gerousis, Associate Professor of Computer Science

HONR 100:  “Cinemascapes”
This course examines the ways artists shape time and space to create master narratives, or dominant ways of seeing and understanding the world. What we consider adventure, what we consider decorum, what we consider good or bad art depends upon our expectations of the duration and shape of certain textual objects. This class will examine classic novels and films to determine these time-space configurations, named chronotopes, and we will undertake our own creative constructions of chronotopes as well.
Instructor:  Dr. John Nichols, Associate Professor of English

HONR 100: "Reading in Place, Thinking in Motion: Space and Place in Literature and Culture"
This course explores representations of place and space in literature as a means of introducing students to study in the liberal arts.  How does literature affect our understanding of our own places and spaces in the world?  How do place and space influence literature itself?  Students will engage with the course theme and texts to develop critical thinking and writing skills essential for work across the liberal arts.
Instructor: Dr. Mary Wilson, Assistant Professor of English

HONR 100: "ArtScience: The Frontiers of Human Knowledge"
This course invites students to learn about and dream at frontiers of knowledge where science moves forward by induction and thus where art and science are pursued in very similar ways. It is also here that many opportunities for surprise, discovery, and breakthrough innovation occur and have occurred for centuries. Students will explore past intersections of the arts and science, consider contemporary breakthroughs grounded in such intersections, and envision future collaborations. In short, students will try to recreate in our classroom David Edward’s idea of the ArtScience Lab.
Instructor: Dr. Margarita Marinova, Assistant Professor of English

HONR 100: "Science With Conscience: Navigating Through Rough Waters"
This seminar course will examine the complex and turbulent nature of applying science to environmental issues globally and locally. Students will explore how the skills they will learn throughout their careers at Christopher Newport University can be applied to such issues as well as to reaching their own personal and professional goals. Students will learn to be critical of information, with emphasis placed on considering its source, quality, and reproducibility (where applicable). In addition, students will also be given the opportunity to participate in group panels, group collaboration, brainstorming, and presentations. Scientific, creative and critical thinking will be emphasized.
Instructor: Dr. Russell Burke, Assistant Professor of Organismal and Environmental Biology

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HONR 300:  “The Evolution of Physics”
This seminar traces the development of physics from Aristotelian models of motion and the solar system, to the latest theories of black holes, dark matter, and particle physics. This will be done by look at a number of physicists, each of whom is responsible for a major change in our way of looking at some aspect of the physical world, and investigating the problem they were trying to solve, their solution, its application, and its consequences. We will also investigate the relationship between each physicists and the culture or political climate in which they lived.
Instructor:  Dr. David Doughty, Professor of Physics and Dean of the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences

HONR 310: “Understanding War and Peace”
The goal of this course is to provide students with a broad understanding of the causes, concepts, and consequences of war and the ways of establishing peace. Upon completing the requirements of the course, students will be able to explain the fundamental principles, generalizations and theories of conflict and peace, to identify the relevant political, economic, cultural, and social instruments to prevent and react to war, and analyze issues relating to peace and conflict within the broader context of individual interaction, societal discussions, and the global order. Critical thinking, interpretation and analytical skills will be vital to fulfill the requirements of this course.
Instructor:  Dr. Tina Kempin Reuter, Assistant Professor of Government

HONR 311:  “Law, Ethics, and American Popular Culture”
This course examines the increasing legal and ethical influences of law and lawyers in media, music, politics, race, religion, sexuality, television, and film.  Through literary critiques, role-playing, classroom debates, and student presentations, the traditional and contemporary roles of society in framing the prominent debates in American popular culture will also be explored. Other major topics for discussion and research will include the intersection (or collision) of pop culture in areas of constitutional law, business law, criminal law, entertainment law, family law, international law, and internet law.    
Instructor:  Dr. Patrick Walker, Assistant Professor of Management and Marketing

HONR 312: "Islam in Western Thought"
In this course, we will explore the cultural representations of Islam in Western thought and discuss how the Western approach to Islam had not only distorted Western understanding of the religion and culture but also penetrated the academia, constructed, controlled, and distributed images and understandings of the Islamic civilization and culture. We will explore these perceptions as expressed in historical narratives, political treatises, literature, religious, philosophical, and theological writings, and the visual arts.
Instructor: Dr. Hussam Timani, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies

HONR 313:  “Personal Marketing”
This seminar investigates the way people brand, promote and market themselves to the greater public.  From actors and musicians to athletes, supermodels, and politicians, people jockey for market position and media exposure in popular culture and our society today.  Virtually all of the people who are famous today have become so via shrewd marketing.  Many of the same concepts that go into creating a celebrity apply to ordinary people.  Throughout this seminar, students will learn how anyone—including themselves—can use proven marketing strategies and techniques to achieve some desired outcome of success.
Instructor:  Dr. Lisa Spiller, Professor of Management and Marketing

HONR 314:  “The European Union in the 21st Century”
This course aims to expose and familiarize students with the contemporary economic and political developments in Europe. This seminar will provide students with the knowledge and skills to critically analyze all politico-economic phenomena, events, ideologies, and the role of intellectuals and leaders that contributed to the formation of modern Europe. European countries, by signing a sequence of treaties, established the European Union (EU) which successfully safeguarded peace and promoted prosperity among EU countries for over sixty years. Students will learn how a divided and destroyed Europe was able to rise from the ashes of the two world wars, devoting most of their time studying, conducting research, debating and writing plans and proposals of how the EU countries will surpass the present impediments and proceed to their long path of political and economic integration and development.
Instructor:  Dr. George Zestos, Professor of Economics

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Honors 315: "History & Memory: the Boxer Uprising"
This interdisciplinary seminar examines the role of history and memory in shaping and defining cultural, societal, and personal identities through a case study of a pivotal event in the encounters between China and the West—the Boxer Uprising of 1899-1901. The seminar engages students in understanding the event in the context of modern Chinese and world history and analyzing how the event was perceived at the time and remembered and interpreted later in China and the West. Students will explore the interactions between history and memory and the political, social, and cultural functions of both.
Instructor: Dr. Xiaoqun Xu, Associate Professor of History 

HONR 316: "God Talk: Thinking about Religion and American Public Life"
This seminar will explore philosophical and practical questions raised by “God talk” in American public and political life:
•What is the nature and meaning of the establishment clause in the First Amendment, and of the contested tradition of church/state separation ? How should these dimensions of the Constitution be applied and interpreted?
•What is the nature and extent of the “religious heritage” of the United States? How are claims and assumptions about this “heritage” used in public argument and political activism?
•How does “civil religion” function in public and political life? Howdoes it play both positive and negative roles in fostering a pluralistic and democratic society? In that ways are American religious traditions different from (or even opposed to) American “civil religion”?
•What edifying and productive roles (if any) can religious traditions—particularly in the meanings, insights, and prescriptions that they sustain—play in a pluralistic, democratic society? Are faith commitments, especially those that have public implications, compatible with a pluralistic, democratic society? Does a healthy democracy require that religious faith be a strictly private matter?
Instructor: Dr. Mark Steiner, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies

HONR 317: "Youth Violence"
This course will explore research on the causes and consequences of youth and school violence in the United States. The course will provide an overview of criminological research on violence, which has long dominated the field, and then focus on a growing body of research by cultural sociologists, social psychologists and communication scholars. A criminological approach to understanding violence focuses on delinquent, illegal and physical acts of violence, which will allow us to explore such things as crime statistics on youth involvement in gangs or victimization of children. A cultural approach to violence covers a much wider spectrum of behaviors by focusing on verbal, emotional,sexual, and racial expressions violence. Here, we will focus on such things as bullying, relational aggression among girls, and cyberbullying. Using both criminological and cultural approaches to understanding youth and school violence will help us uncover a wide spectrum of behaviors, attitudes and beliefs that may indeed help us better prevent both subtle and overt expressions of violence. Students will learn about research methods used to study violence and will conduct their own research project.
Instructor: Dr. Linda M. Waldron, Associate Professor of Sociology

HONR 318: "Religion and Globalization"
The world in the twenty-first century is a place where traditions and cultures are converging, societies and nations are becoming more homogenous than ever, and peoples from all over the world are increasingly interacting with each other and “living” together. In other words, we live in the age of globalization. The twenty-first century is also “witnessing a resurgence and globalization of religion.” This course will discuss the role of religion in a globalized world and will attempt to answer the following questions: how have major faith traditions evolved to the present day, how do these traditions impact our beliefs, practices, and politics, and how do they influence world decisions on human rights, the environment, global poverty, the war on terrorism, human trafficking, interfaith dialogue, and international and regional conflicts, among other issues? This course will shed the light on how religions have been transformed by globalization and by their contact with one another, and how the global changes impact the ways that religions are practiced today. Students will reflect on how ancient traditions have been modified in order to accommodate current realities and how the global synergy of these traditions is changing current social and political realities. This course, which covers the major religions of the world, addresses the topic in a political, historical, cultural, religious, social, gender, and economic context, asking also whether and how globalization can shape and alter religion and religious beliefs.
Instructor: Dr. Hussam Timani, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies

HONR 319: "The Lotus Sūtra: What the Buddha Really Taught"
Few works have been as influential throughout Asia as the Lotus Sūtra (Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, Miaofa lianhua jing), one of the most popular Buddhist texts.  The Lotus is a major source of important teachings in the Mahayana branch of Buddhism, and is the focus of intense devotion for thousands of Buddhists the world over.  It has been the basis for more commentaries than any other Buddhist scripture and has inspired countless literary and artistic works.  Arguably it is as central to East Asian cultures as the Bible is to the West.  As such, a basic familiarity with the Lotus sūtra is essential for understanding Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures.  However, this text is exceedingly difficult to understand, especially for people from a stereotypical "Western" background or for whom Buddhism is a hip "philosophy" of meditation and "Free Tibet" bumper stickers.  This class will focus on closely reading this seminal text (in English translation) in its entirety, along with excerpts from commentaries (both medieval and modern) that have been written on it, as well as scholarly articles on the Lotus' influence on various Asian societies over the years.  More to the point, however, this class is designed to encourage us to think critically about what "scripture" actually entails and how it functions in various socio-cultural contexts.  Thus, although our primary aim is to read a specific text (the Lotus sūtra), we necessarily will also engage in broader historical, anthropological, psychological, philosophical, and theological analysis and reflection.
Instructor: Dr. John M. Thompson, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies

HONR 321: “Myths of Transformation:  Ovid’s Metamorphoses”
Ovid’s Metamorphoses offers a delightful retelling of the classic myths of ancient Greece and Rome, focusing primarily on tales of transformation in which humans become trees, flowers, and animals.  This course examines Ovid’s Metamorphoses in its original literary and cultural contexts as well as its influence upon the western tradition.
Instructor:  Dr. Jana Adamitis, Associate Professor of Modern and Classical Languages

HONR 322:  “The American Worldview”
The world today is changing rapidly, growing smaller and more complex each day.  This Honors seminar seeks to introduce students to the contemporary world from an American historical perspective.  It will help students develop their own personal worldviews – to make sense of the world around us as citizens of the United States and as citizens of the world.  And, the seminar will encourage students to use history as a guide when evaluating potential solutions to the world’s problems.
Instructor:  Dr. Andrew Falk, Assistant Professor of History

HONR 323: "Civil Liberty in the Civil War and the War on Terror"
This interdisciplinary seminar explores the ways in which history, culture, politics, and law have shaped 21st-century Americans’ understandings of civil liberties in wartime, particularly in the War on Terror.  The core text is Mark E. Neely’s Pulitzer Prize winning The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties (Oxford University Press, 1991).  Professor Neely holds degrees from Yale University in both History and American Studies and has written extensively about civil liberties in both the Union and the Confederacy.  Students will explore how Americans of the Civil War era—North and South, Republican and Democrat—grappled with the suspension of citizens’ rights in wartime.  We will also look at the controversy surrounding President Franklin Roosevelt’s decision to try Nazi saboteurs before a military tribunal during World War 2.  Students will use the arguments that arose during these very controversial historical episodes as lenses through which to understand and evaluate the Guantanamo Bay cases that have come before the Supreme Court in the last decade.
Instructor: Dr. Jonathan White, Assistant Professor of Leadership and American Studies

HONR 324: "Dial M for Myth"
Dial M for Myth brings together classical myth of the Greeks and Romans with the films of Alfred Hitchcock, the director of fifty-three feature films in London and Hollywood from 1925 to 1976.  Students will review myth and then look for their motifs, patterns, symbols, and archetypes in movies. Each week students will study one to two films and then connect them with the central myth of an Olympian deity. Thus films will be categorized as “Poseidon films,” “Aphrodite films”, etc. There are twelve gods and goddesses in the Olympic pantheon and the course will treat one deity per week. On the Tuesday students will take up a set of myths and discuss how they are presented in literature and art. On the Thursday students will take up the Hitchcock film(s), and consider them as products of popular culture, art, and neoclassicism. In this fashion, students will be able to watch the films while thinking about, or “through,” a body of myth. Class will be interactive, with all students expected to participate in the discussion.
Instructor: Dr. Mark Padilla, Professor of Classical Studies, Provost of the University

HONR 340:  “Writing South Asia”
The central threads of this interdisciplinary seminar will be fiction and history, but our study of the long-contested region that comprises India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan will be enriched by your curiosity and research into any number of other threads—e. g. the geography that has both facilitated and complicated invasion and conquest; the social features of the many people moving back and forth on the Eurasian landmass; the ecological issues facing the rapidly growing, often impoverished populations; the various theories and structure of government; the great leaders and their qualities; the interaction among several of the world's great religions; and jewelry and other artistic traditions reaching from Greece to China.  While reading, discussing, and writing about Salman Rushdie's great novel Midnight's Children, we will watch segments of the BBC six-part documentary The Story of India.  During this first half of the semester, each student will research an event of other subject important to the novel, and compare his or her findings with the appropriate portion of the book.  Fiction and history—two different ways of tell a story, it is said.  We will reach our own conclusions.  Then, in the latter half of the course, each student will select a topic of interest (relating to one or more of the countries under study) to research, report of, and make the focus of a thesis-driven documented essay.  By the end, we should all have learned a great deal of this often perplexing part of the planet and, perhaps, look forward to learning a great deal more.
Instructor:  Dr. Jay Paul, Professor of English

HONR 342: "Cabaret and the 20th Century"
Not only does Kander and Ebb’s 1966 Tony-Award-winning musical Cabaret have a unique history of its own, but its subject matter and its very genesis go far beyond the Broadway stage, virtually framing the entire 20th Century artistically and historically.  Loosely based on Christopher Isherwood’s autobiographical Berlin Stories, its story is well known: cabaret singer Sally Bowles and boyfriend Cliff career through the early 1930s of Weimar Berlin as Germany lurches toward the horrors of Hitler and National Socialism.  But less well known is that Cabaret’s original producer/director, Hal Prince, chose to create this musical because he saw a disturbing parallel between Hitler’s Germany and resistance to the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ‘60s.  Legendary director Bob Fosse totally deconstructed the Prince version to win the Best Director Oscar for his 1972 film version of Cabaret, but he kept Kander and Ebb’s score.  The Fosse version seemed more about sex than politics, which in many ways was a perfect fit for the if-it-feels-good-do-it 1970s.  Still being modified to the present day, Cabaret has become a veritable bulletin board of musical theater history and artistry, and its storyline continues to remind us that the world as defined by post-World War I politics not only made Hitler possible, but its ramifications are still with us today.  Cabaret and the 20th Century will thoroughly study this musical in its many forms and use its study as a lens to investigate the larger movements which it reflects.
Instructor: Professor George Hillow, Department of Theater and Dance

HONR 350:  “The Legal Voice”
In this seminar we will examine the role of language in articulating, maintaining, and subverting relations of power in societies around the world. We will investigate the interrelationship of language and power from linguistic, anthropological, sociological, and philosophical perspectives. We will utilize the notion of language ideologies to consider how speakers productively employ language and other communicative resources to create various social and cultural identities in an effort to maintain or overturn existing power structures across nation-states, ethnic groups, genders, and professions. Students will conduct independent ethnographic research and critically analyze examples of discourse from a range of ideological sites to better understand the power relations that underpin social interactions.
Instructor:  Dr. Stephanie Bardwell, Associate Professor of Management and Marketing

HONR 351:  “Brains, Minds and Machines”
This course studies various theories of the nature of mind and applies those theories in an investigation of the possibility of strong artificial intelligence. What is consciousness? What is the connection between human minds and human brains? Is it possible, even in theory, for a computer to have a conscious mind? What is the connection between sentience and moral rights? If computers can become sentient, how, if at all, should their position in society change?
Instructor:  Dr. Lori Underwood, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies

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CNU Honors faculty design classes and expectations to encourage rigorous, creative thought, developing assignments that challenge and stretch your intelligence. Through their mentoring, you will learn more about internships, prestigious scholarships and graduate studies. 

Dr. Stephanie Bardwell Dr. Stephanie Bardwell is an Associate Professor of Management and Business Law in the Management & Marketing Department of the Luter School of Business. She is a Sam Walkton Fellow, serves as an office of the national Small Business Institute, Secretary of ODK, and faculty advisor to SIFE. She is a graduate of S.U.N.Y. Albany with a cum laude Bachelor of Arts in History and Education; she holds a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco, California and a Master of Laws in Taxation from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Dr. Michelle Barnello

Dr. Michelle Barnello is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Le Moyne College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Binghamton University. Her areas of teaching expertise include a variety of American politics classes, such as Women and Politics, State and Local Government, and Legislative Politics. In the Honors Program, Dr. Barnello teaches Problems in the Modern World. She is the faculty advisor for Pi Sigma Alpha -- the National Political Science Honor Society. Her scholarly publications focus on women and politics and state politics. Currently, she is researching the effects of political party and gender on support of women's interests in the United States Congress.   
Dr. William Connell Dr. William Connell is an assistant professor of history. He received his Ph.D. from Tulane University in Latin American History and has conducted extensive archival research in Mexico and Spain. He won a Fulbright scholarship in 2000 and was recognized in 2004 as a Millennial Scholar by Tulane University. Dr. Connell recently completed a book entitled Indigenous Spaces of Negotiation that considers Mexica (Aztec) politics and self-governing institutions after the Spanish invasion of 1519. He is the author of several scholarly articles and has just begun a new book project which examines judicial violence and capital punishment in Mexico City from 1500-1800.
Dr. David Doughty Dr. David Doughty is Dean of the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences at CNU. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include high speed triggering and data acquisition for nuclear and particle physics and distributed robotics.
Dr. Andrew Falk Dr. Andrew Falk is Assistant Professor of History at CNU. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and specializes in the history of American foreign relations. He has authored a book, Upstaging the Cold War: American Dissent and Cultural Diplomacy, 1940-1960, and is working on a second titled Shadow Diplomats: Humanitarianism and the Refugee Crisis of the 1930s and 1940s. In each case, he examines the motivations and activities of American citizens and private organizations seeking to influence the direction of American foreign policy. His Honors seminar encourages students to do the same.
Dr. Costa Gerousis Dr. Costa Gerousis serves as an associate professor in the Department of Physics, Computer Science and Engineering. He earned his Ph.D. at Arizona State University. Dr. Gerousis’s research interests include Nano-Electronic Devices, Neural Networks, and Architectures.
George Hillow

Professor George Hillow has taught at CNU since 1991 and is a founding member of CNU’s Theater and Dance Department where he designs scenery and occasionally directs. He holds a BA in Psychology from Duke University, an MA in Directing from the University of Memphis, and an MFA in Scene Design from Virginia Commonwealth University. Professor Hillow is also a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, the union of professional theatrical designers. He especially values the study of theater for its ability to act as a lens into the study of so many other disciplines, including history, English, the arts, religion and the social sciences.  
Dr. Tina Kempin Reuter Dr. Tina Kempin Reuter is Assistant Professor of International and Comparative Politics at Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA (2006-present) and Director of the Program in International Conflict Management (2008-present). She got her M.A. (2002) in contemporary history, economics, and international law and her Ph.D. (2006) in international law and international relations, both with distinction, from the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Dr. Kempin Reuter was a visiting researcher at the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict , University of Pennsylvania (2005-2006), a research fellow at the Institute of Public International Law at the University of Zurich Law School (2003-2005), and a research assistant at the Center for Security Studies and Conflict Research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (1999-2002).
Dr. Geoffrey Klein Dr. Geoffrey Klein is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. He earned his B.S. from The College of William and Mary and his Ph.D. from Florida State University. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the National High Magnet Laboratory in Tallahassee Florida, he joined the CNU faculty in the fall of 2006. His current research interests include the analysis of petroleum related products and other environmentally relevant analytes. He has recently been published in a number of journals such as Energy and Fuels, Environmental Science and Technology, Atmospheric Environment and Organic Geochemistry.
Dr. John Nichols Dr. John Nichols is Associate Professor of English and Director of Film Studies at CNU. Dr. Nichols' field of inquiry includes American cinema, particularly the 1890-1960 period, and the aesthetics of the visual. His current research interests include film appreciation and censorship, graphic novels, and Santa Claus in silent film. His Ph.D. is in English and Cultural Studies from the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Mark Padilla
 Dr. Mark Padilla received doctorate and masters degrees in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. He specializes in the Classics and film studies. His publications have focused on Greek tragedy and comedy and classical myth. Dr. Padilla began his education at the University of California at Santa Cruz, double majoring in Classical Studies and English literature. As Professor of Classical Studies, he serves as CNU's Provost.

Dr. Jay Paul		 Dr. Jay Paul serves as a professor of English and is Director of the CNU Honors Program. He earned his Ph.D. at Michigan State University and is the author ofGoing Home in Flood Time. Dr. Paul's research interests include contemporary poetry and American literature.
Dr. Lisa Spiller
 Dr. Lisa Spiller is a professor of Marketing at CNU. She received her B.S.B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from Gannon University and her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She is coauthor of the widely acclaimed textbook Contemporary Direct and Interactive Marketing, soon to be released in its third edition. Dr. Spiller is also coauthor of Branding The Candidate: Marketing Strategies to Win Your Vote. Dr. Spiller was named the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) Robert B. Clark Outstanding Direct Marketing Educator in 2005 and she was the inaugural recipient of the DMAW-EF O’Hara Leadership Award for Direct and Interactive Marketing Education in 2008. 
Dr. Hussam S. Timani Dr. Hussam S. Timani, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, teaches courses on world religions, Islam, Judaism, the Qur'an, and women in Islam. His research interests include theologies of religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue. Dr. Timani holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and is the author of Modern Intellectual Readings of the Kharijites (2008). He has also authored a number of book chapters and scholarly articles and is currently working on a book project on the pluralistic approach to the Qur'an. Dr. Timani is a frequent speaker on Islam and interreligious dialogue in places of worship and academic institutions and has made several appearances on national and international radio talk shows including NPR's With Good Reason.
Dr. Lori Underwood Dr. Lori Underwood is Associate Professor of Philosophy at CNU. Her main areas of research are the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, gender theory, and the philosophy of evil. Her areas of teaching specialization include logic, ethics, epistemology, philosophy of law and philosophy of mind. Professor Underwood earned her BA in History and Philosophy and her MA in Philosophy from the University of Memphis. She completed the Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Missouri-Columbia and her dissertation was on Kant's Theory of Truth. Professor Underwood has authored two monographs, "Kant's Correspondence Theory of Truth: An Analysis and Critique of Anglo-American Alternatives" and "Terror by Consent: The Modern State and the Breach of the Social Contract."
Dr. Linda Waldron Dr. Linda Waldron is an Associate Professor of Sociology. She completed her Ph.D. at Syracuse University (2002) with the support of an American Fellowship from the American Association of University Women and a Mass Media Fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a qualitative researcher, specializing in children and youth, education and school violence, race-class-gender inequalities, and the media. Her research has been published in several scholarly journals, including Youth & Society, Sociology Compass, Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, and Humanity & Society. Her current research examines American schools and looks at the relationship between femininity and masculinity, aggression, and the rise of cyberbullying. Prior to coming to CNU, she worked as a TV News Producer in Atlanta.
Dr. Patrick Walker Dr. Patrick Walker attended Hampton University where he was the recipient of a research scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology. Dr. Walker continued his education at Hampton University, and later earned a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in management. Currently, Dr. Walker serves as an Assistant Professor of Business Law & Management in the Luter School of Business at CNU. His research interests include legal and ethical implications of corporate social responsibility, prisoner re-entry into society from a business perspective, and developing benchmarks for non-profit and charitable organization legal compliance. 
Dr. Jonathan White Dr. Jonathan White is assistant professor of American Studies and a fellow at CNU’s Center for American Studies. His new book, Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman, was published by Louisiana State University Press in 2011. Dr. White has published articles in several peer-reviewed journals and popular history magazines; in 2007 he published an edited volume, A Philadelphia Perspective: The Civil War Diary of Sidney George Fisher, with Fordham University Press. Dr. White was also awarded the 2010 Hay-Nicolay Dissertation Prize by the Abraham Lincoln Institute and the Abraham Lincoln Association, which came with a $5,000 cash prize.
Dr. Xiaoqun Xu

Dr. Xiaoqun Xu (pronounced: Shaw-chun Shue) was born in Shanghai, China and received his Ph.D. in modern Chinese history at Columbia University in 1993. He taught at Francis Marion University in South Carolina for eleven years before coming to CNU in 2004. Besides Honors 315 (History and Memory: The Boxer Uprising), Dr. Xu teaches courses in Chinese and Japanese history and other courses offered by the History Department, such as world history surveys, history methods and historiography, and senior seminar; and he has also led two Study-in-China programs. Dr. Xu has published two monographs, Chinese Professionals and the Republican State: The Rise of Professional Associations in Shanghai, 1912-1937 (Cambridge UP, 2001) and Trial of Modernity: Judicial Reform in Early-Twentieth-Century China, 1901-1937 (Stanford UP, 2008), and numerous journal articles and book chapters. He is currently writing a third monograph. In recent years he delivered invited papers at University of London, Humboldt University (Berlin), UC-Berkeley, Academia Sinica (Taiwan), Harvard Law School, etc. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Durham University in the United Kingdom in 2009-10. He is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and other awards.