honors classes & Conversion

  GENERAL HONORS (GH) CLASSES CLASS CONVERSION HONORS PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

Previously Offered general honors (GH) classes

The following is an example of a General Honors (GH) course that has been offered in the past. This course may or may not be offered again. View a list of the GH courses that will be offered next semester here.

Russia under the tsars

     
 

Course Description

What are the roots of Russian authoritarianism? How did the Russian Empire emerge? What are unique components of Russia’s rich culture? Are the myths of the powerful personalities of its history connected with reality? This course is a journey through Russian history and culture from its origins to 1855, including discussions of: the characteristics of the Russian Orthodox Church, the madness of Ivan the Terrible, the expansion of Russia and the diverse peoples under its control from Ukraine to Siberia, the era of Peter the Great, the building of St. Petersburg and “tsarist” architecture, the achievements of Catherine the Great, Russia’s victories in the Napoleonic wars, the Golden Age of Russian literature, and the beginnings of a Russian “police state”

Instructor: barbara skinner

Professor Barbara Skinner is fluent in Russian and travels there annually for her research on the 18th-century empire. She brings first-hand experience to her teaching of Russian history.