Academics

UAlbany’s most distinguished faculty teach Honors College courses as an opportunity to work closely with students in a collaborative, discussion-based environment.

Departmental honors courses typically meet at least one general education requirement and may also count toward your major.

Recent offerings include:

• Art Goes to War!
• Human Trafficking
• The Beat Poets
• Confucianism and Samurai Ethics
• Cultural History of Food in America
• Money and Power
• Scientific Revolutions

For current offerings, explore the Schedule of Classes.

Honors College seminars are taught by Honors College lecturers and faculty fellows. 

They are interdisciplinary by design to emphasize the complex nature of the world. Like departmental honors courses, Honors College seminars typically meet at least one general education requirement. 

Recent offerings include: 

• Conspiracy Theories and Public Discourse
• Food Waste
• Remote Sensing of the Universe
• From Personal Ethics to Global Morality
• Poster Making for Social Activists
• The Asian-American Experience

For current offerings, explore the Schedule of Classes.

All Honors College courses at UAlbany must meet one or more of the following criteria:

• The course uses an open discussion (or another interactive and participatory) format, rather than a pure lecture format, to create a learner-directed classroom culture.
• The course approaches its subject in an interdisciplinary manner, encouraging multiple points of view and emphasizing the interconnectedness of both problems and solutions.
• The course provides opportunities for students to apply knowledge and skills developed in the course in other contexts outside the classroom (whether elsewhere on campus or in the wider community).
• The course builds global awareness and appreciation for other cultures and viewpoints, including educational experiences abroad or domestic experiences with culturally diverse communities.
• The course critically examines the origins and development of knowledge through the study of primary texts.
• The course explores how theories developed in one field can be applied in new contexts, across disciplinary boundaries.