Current Students

2025 Summer Honors Courses

The Judy Genshaft Honors College offers courses on all three ±«Óătv campuses, as well as off-site locations. Honors courses are open to students from any home campus, but may require a permit. Unless noted specifically in the course description, Honors courses require in-person attendance.

2025 Summer Honors Courses by campus:

Maymester Honors Courses

Fossil Hunters
Natural Sciences
IDH 3350-501
Instructor: Dr. Lydia Wassink
Monday/Wednesday | 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Format: Hybrid

Become a Fossil Hunter in this fast-paced, exciting Maymester Honors course. During the first week of online instruction, you’ll learn about deep time, how fossils form, and biological evolution. During the second week, you’ll hit the road for a field trip to Cincinnati to go hunting for fossils. You’ll keep what you collect, and return home to organize, research, label, and present your findings!

NOTE: This course requires an additional $500 in travel costs, which includes your hotel stay and meals while traveling. Contact Dr. Wassink for a permit.

Tampa Summer A Honors Courses

Exploring Leadership Through Literature and Film
Arts & Humanities
IDH 3100 – 001 
Instructor: Deepak Singh  
Monday/Wednesday/Friday | 9:30 – 11:50 a.m. 
Format: Online Synchronous 

This course explores leadership through the lens of literature and film, using creative narratives to investigate the complexities, moral dilemmas, and responsibilities tied to leadership. Students will engage with literary works, such as: 

  • “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville  
  • “The Secret Sharer” by Joseph Conrad  
  • “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe
  • “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich  
  • “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu  
  • "The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield

Alongside these, students will examine films, like:  

  • “The Great Gatsby” adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel
  • “Death of a Salesman” adapted from Arthur Miller’s play  
  • “Gandhi” directed by Richard Attenborough
  • “Bicycle Thieves” directed by Vittorio De Sica
  • “The Song of Sparrows” directed by Majid Majidi

These works provide a rich canvas for examining how characters confront issues of power, ethics, and transformation.

Students will participate in discussions and produce two response papers, analyzing how leadership challenges are addressed in the texts and films. The final paper will encourage students to reflect on their own leadership potential, informed by the themes and insights developed throughout the course. 

Sick Around the World: Geographical Perspectives on Global Health
Geographic Perspectives
IDH 4200 - 001 
Instructor: Donna Gambino  
Tuesday/Thursday | 1:15 – 4:45 p.m.

This course is designed as a comparative presentation of current issues across international health care systems with a focus on South Africa, Italy, Japan, and France. Emphasis is on discussing diverse areas of health and is appropriate for students of any major interested in health care delivery, personal health, or health education. We will discuss and debate health care delivery systems, medical malpractice, physical/mental health, physician-assisted suicide, the opioid crisis, women’s reproductive health, medical devices, and health care disparities in the United States and abroad.

This is a ‘hands-on’ class, and students will be actively engaged and working in teams to complete a project. Although health and health care in other countries might seem far removed from our daily concerns in the United States, many nations face issues of uneven access, constrained resources, and a focus on improving the efficiency of services. Understanding how different nations confront issues of universal coverage, access, equity, and quality will enhance students’ ability to develop new ideas and approaches for addressing these challenges in the United States. Students will be introduced to community partners of ±«Óătv's Area Health Education Center (AHEC) for project ideas. 

Civic Literacy and Current Events
Honors Capstone
IDH 4950 - 002 
Instructor: Daniel Ruth  
Tuesday/Thursday | 9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 

This class is designed to give students an enhanced understanding of world events and civic institutions that influence their lives. Having a better grasp of the daily news is essential to becoming a more engaged citizen. To that end students will be required to read the online editions of The Tampa Bay Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as follow other information platforms such as NPR, CNN, Fox News and other news outlets. This course will include a weekly news quiz. Students will also participate in weekly team presentations.

It is said that journalism often presents the first draft of history. The goals of this class are two-fold. First students will become better informed and thus more aware of the stories that will serve to shape their world view. Second, students will also gain a keener understanding of the journalistic challenges associated with bringing the news to the public's attention.

St. Petersburg Summer A Honors Courses

World War II and Florida
Social Sciences
IDH 3400 – 601
Instructor: Gary Mormino
Tuesday/Thursday | 9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Explore the lasting influence of World War II on Florida with one of the state’s most illustrious historians. This class will cover the social impact of explosive military growth from 1940-1945, the transformation of the home front, increased population, economy, and tourism after the war, as experienced through the lenses of a broad spectrum of Floridians. Students will collaborate on researching a Merchant Marine memorial on campus, in time for its 80th anniversary celebration.

Tampa Summer B Honors Courses

Narrative Cartography: Mapping the Stories of Your Life
Arts & Humanities
IDH 3100 - 002 
Instructor: Ulluminair Salim 
Tuesday/Thursday | 1:15 – 4:45 p.m.

“You can kiss your family and friends goodbye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach; because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.” — Frederick Buechner, Author and Theologian

Cartography is the study and practice of map-making, and Narrative Cartography invites students to map the stories of their lives. Through reading, writing, and multilayered forms of journeying, students will tell stories that matter to them, from the mundane to the profound. This practice-oriented course leverages written narrative to visit personal places seldom explored, such as:

  • The meaning in and of our names
  • How and why we hold the political values that we do
  • The stories that our bodies tell
  • Death, dying, and remembrance
  • Our personal foodways
  • What it means to celebrate our failures

At its most expansive, this course is a foray into our shared humanity and recognition of the universal in the particular. 

Politics and Human Nature
Social Sciences
IDH 3400 - 001
Instructor: Arman Mahmoudian
Tuesday/Thursday | 9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Politics is a term we frequently hear in everyday life, yet its meaning varies widely. Some describe it as a craft or skill, while others see it as strategy, intelligence, or even selfish ambition. But what truly defines politics? How does it differ from political science? And why is understanding politics essential to making sense of the world around us?  

This course explores the essence of politics and political science, examining their distinctions and significance. Students will analyze how human nature — driven by the pursuit of power, prosperity, and self-interest — has shaped political systems throughout history. While political advancement has contributed to societal progress, it has also come at a heavy cost, leading to conflicts and wars that have claimed countless innocent lives. Through historical case studies, students will critically engage with key political events and ideas, gaining a deeper understanding of how politics functions, its impact on societies, and the role of political science in decoding the complexities of governance and power.

St. Petersburg Summer B Honors Courses

Honors Foundations
Special Topics in Honors
IDH 2930-601
Instructor: Dani Soluna
Online asynchronous 

This fully online, six-week course is designed specifically for Summer B admits to welcome them to ±«Óătv in the 'Burg! This course will help students transition to college life by exploring key academic and campus resources, prepare to navigate the ups and downs of their first year in college, and connect with their honors community.  

Tampa Summer C Honors Courses

Thesis I
Honors Thesis
IDH 4970-001
Instructor: Lindy Davidson

Students should enroll in Thesis I when they are in the final 2-4 semesters of completing their degree. Please go to Honors Thesis for more information and compare different Research Track options. No permit required. Only juniors and seniors may enroll in thesis. 

Thesis II
Honors Thesis
IDH 4970-002  
Instructor: Lindy Davidson

Permit required. Only students who have completed Thesis I may enroll in Thesis II. 

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