Honors Program

Leela Bingham

Honors Course: Spanish 201 with Service Learning

BACKGROUND: Professor Bingham teaches Spanish at Mesa College and has worked extensively to promote service learning to Mesa College students through the Everyone-A-Reader program, where Mesa students tutor in local elementary schools with ESL students.

Who would you recommend your Honors Class to?

I recommend service learning to anyone who would like to mentor a child and see the culture and language through their eyes. It is not crucial to speak Spanish fluently. Students who undergo this process will feel helpful and useful, and will have made a difference in the community.

What is most rewarding to you as an Honors instructor?

Working with the students. Those taking an Honors class tend to welcome a challenge and are creative and passionate about learning.

How does the Honors program benefit the student?

Honors allows you to personalize course goals and strengths and work with your Professor. Honors and service learning allows for much more student involvement. You put in more effort - but you receive much more in return.

Joline Bourdages

BACKGROUND: I have been teaching at Mesa College for six years. I teach General Psychology and Social Psychology. Social Psychology is the class I developed for the district and teach as an honors course. I have also offered honors contracts in General Psychology.

How does your Honors class differ from a regular class?

The design of the class allows for us to go into depth on the topics. It is more of a learning seminar than a traditional lecture class. The small class size creates numerous opportunities for the students to participate in activities that reinforce learning of the material.

To whom would you recommend this class?

I would recommend this class to any student who in interested in how our behavior is influenced by those around us and how we influence the behavior of others. It transfers to the UC and CSU campuses.

What is most rewarding to you as an Honors instructor?

The quality of the work, ideas and discussions that the honors students produce is very rewarding. One former student won second place in a national contest for the work he completed in the course. Several students have been selected to present at an honors conference.

How does the Honors program benefit the student?

It fosters in depth critical thinking that is applicable to everyday life.

How would this class enrich the educational experience of the students?

Enrichment would occur by exposing students to learning opportunities that are challenging and thought provoking. This can promote a love of learning and increase a student's sense of self-efficacy.

What is the most unique activity the students in your Honors class will experience?

One of the requirements is to complete a research project in which they are required to collect data in order to test a hypothesis.

If you had to sum up the Honors Program in one word, what would it be?

Enthusiasm!

Ron Israel

Honors Course: English 101

BACKGROUND: Professor Israel joined the English department in the Spring of 1997, after spending the previous six years an adjunct instructor at SDSU and Mesa, Palomar and MiraCosta colleges. He has been teaching Honors English 101 since 1999 and offers Honors contracts in most of his courses. In rare moments of relaxation he enjoys playing the guitar.

How does your Honors class differ from a regular class?

I try to engage the students at a deeper, more rigorous level of critical thought and response through carefully chosen readings and subject matter. Whereas my non-Honors course might cover a broad range of topics through an anthology or reader along with another "whole" text, my Honors section will explore ideas through several whole texts. This semester, for example, our readings will include Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth, Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran, and Yann Martel's Life of Pi.

To whom would you recommend this class?

I recommend it to anyone who wants to pursue ideas and written responses in a way that requires an open mind and a desire to dig deep.

How would this class enrich the educational experience of the students?

I hope that my students come away with a broadened sense of our world-both geographically and culturally-as well as a broadened sense of themselves and their place in that world. I also hope that my students begin to understand that all changes start small and grow with cultivation and persistence.

What is the most unique activity the students in your Honors class will experience?

I think the most interesting and unique activities are the discussions of texts-those assigned by me and those produced by the students-as those texts are often not ones considered or read by the students. Their sense of joy at discovering the beauty of an idea or the writing style of an author previously unknown is a wonderful experience for them and me.

If you had to sum up the Honors Program in one word, what would it be?

"Awe-inspiring" ("awe" in the sense of reverence, respect, and wonder-excluding the dread by and large!).

Dr. Leticia P. Lopez

Honors Course: Spanish 202, Focus on Film

BACKGROUND: Professor Lopez joined the Languages department at Mesa in the Fall of 2002. She holds a B.S. in Biology and a Ph.D. in Hispanic Language and Literatures from UCSB. Her interdisciplinary approaches to language teaching, as well as her passion for literature, film, and travel are reflected in her classes.

How does your Honors class differ from a regular class?

In SPAN202 Honors, students engage in a more advanced level of oral and written discourse than in a regular section. Also, students will acquire and apply discipline specific terminology, since the focus is on film.

To whom would you recommend this class?

Students who enjoy challenging and thought provoking classes and wish to improve their Spanish language proficiency should enroll.

What is most rewarding to you as an Honors instructor?

I enjoy witnessing students' creative growth as they try applying film techniques and terminology to their scripts and critiques in Spanish.

How does the Honors program benefit the student?

Undoubtedly, Honors students benefit from the small class size and, therefore, more individualized instruction.

How would this class enrich the educational experience of the students?

Film analysis opens many doors to debate and discussion that, in a Spanish class, provides an avenue for enriching one's power of discourse.

What is the most unique activity the students in your Honors class will experience?

For the past three years that I've offered this course, students have had the opportunity to attend the Latino Film Festival for one week, free of charge, and visit the San Diego Media Arts Center where the festival is organized.

If you had to sum up the Honors Program in one word, what would it be?

Challenging

Carl L. Strona, FAIA

Honors Course: Architectural Theory, Arch. 226

BACKGROUND: Professor Strona is a Licensed Architect in both California and Hawaii. He has 32 years of teaching experience with the San Diego Community College District. In 2006 he was elected to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows. Professor Strona offers an Honors class in Architectural Theory.

How does your Honors class differ from a regular class?

The course is offered only as an Honors course.

To whom would you recommend this class?

Anyone interested in architecture.

How would this class enrich the educational experience of the students?

Architecture is one of the foundations of all cultures. An educated person should have a basic understanding of the concerns and motives of architecture.

What is the most interesting activity the students in your Honors class participate in?

Students interview an architect and document with pictures his/her work. Each student makes a report to the class comparing and contrasting the work of their chosen architect with the lecture and reading material presented in class.

If you had to sum up the Honors Program in one word, what would it be?

Enriching