Winter '27 Course Preview

Article by Noah Rogers

Registration for Winter Semester opens October 19^th! Are you looking for some Unexpected Connections classes to take? I recently met with four Honors faculty who are teaching new Honors classes Winter Semester to gain insight into these new classes.Keep reading to learn about the amazing opportunities on the schedule for next semester. Our Honors advisors are ready to help if you have any questions or problems with registration.

HONRS 290R (Arts/Letters) is titled “A Room of One’s Own: Women, Creativity, and Marginalization in Literature and Music,” and will be taught by Professors Jarica Watts and Luke Howard. This class examines the barriers women have faced in order to express their creativity, as well as celebrating the successes women have achieved. Professor Watts said, “I want students to recognize the platform that they’re standing on and the women that built that structure up. These female composers and authors have done so much, but there is so much more that needs to be done.”

This class fulfills the Arts & Letters GE categories, focusing on the two disciplines of the Professors: Music and Literature. Professor Watts is a Professor of English, focusing on early twentieth-century British Literature, while Professor Howard is a Professor of Music History, focusing on late 19^th century music. As you take the class, you’ll see the history of the Women’s movement characterized by the creativity they were able to express. The title of the class comes from Virginia Woolf, a 20^th century author, who famously states as her thesis that “"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” What does a woman need to succeed to write fiction, or to pursue other creative endeavors, and what does that look like today, to Latter-day Saint women?

Turning from literature to music, people of all music levels, from advanced to none, are welcome to take this class! Professor Howard expressed his desire to design assignments to help you learn and experience music, rather than typical essays and assignments (though there will be some of those too.) This learning experience is designed to be experiential and to stretch you, and to help you experience in a small way the feelings these women experienced in breaking into a world of creativity. Professor Howard said he views this class as an opportunity to challenge your assumptions about the world, both through the experiences of women in the past and through music. He noted, “Music is a chance for students to challenge their assumptions about the way the world is in a safe way, in a way that can be transferred to other, more complex parts of their life.”

In HONRS 226 (Social Science/Letters), Professors Bryant Jensen and Daniel Becerra ask, “What does it mean to “Become Zion?” Their new Honors course, "Becoming Zion: Discipleship for Society," will focus on how we build Zion in our own personal lives, our workforce and in our society. It explores what we think and assume about Zion.Is it a people, or a place? What does it look like in our own life? What characteristics describe Zion? The interdisciplinary approach will lead to an uplifting class that encourages students to look up to God and outward to each other.

Professor Jensen and Becerra met years ago while interviewing students for a study abroad trip. Professor Becerra, Associate Professor of Ancient Scripture, asked these students questions about their religiosity. This struck Professor Jensen, Professor of Teaching Education, as something invaluable. Professor Jensen’s research focuses on learning and instruction, teaching vulnerable communities, and the impact of teaching on societal development. He said that Professor Becerra’s comments reminded him of how interconnected religiosity was to the civil rights movement, for example.

Our religiosity has a great deal with the society around us, and how we should interact with others, they noted. Rather than closing off the different aspects of our life as separate, Latter-day Saints can build Zion by acknowledging the integral aspect faith plays in our life and letting that affect all that we do. Their goal for students is that you’ll be able to integrate your faith better into every aspect of your life, personal and family life, public, and professional. To do that, these faculty will share what the scriptures say about Zion and becoming like Christ and let you decide how to let these aspects play out in your own life. The class will also dive into what Professor Jensen has learned in his own studies as “the virtues of teaching,” attributes that lead to effective teaching, and the virtues in our life that lead to blessing those around us.

As I met with Professors Jensen and Becerra, I could sense their sincerity about this class and their love for God and those around them. These professors are seeking to make the world around them a better place by helping students develop virtues in their lives and by sharing them with those around them, and they seek to become Zion in the same ways in their own lives. As Professor Jensen said, “virtue formation and Zion building is a practical thing.”

That practicality is reflected in the coursework. In addition to the typical writing assignments, there will be reflection, and hard questions for you to wrestle with about your own life. For example, one question may be ‘why do you want to do the work that you do?’ The idea of bringing our discipleship into our everyday lives and work is the core of this class as we become bilingual disciples. Professor Becerra said, “I want students to leave this class with a clear vision of the path that The Lord wants them to take, the improvements they need to make, their strengths, and how they can integrate that to every part of their life.”

In addition to these two classes, below is a list of all upcoming Unexpected Connection classes being offered Winter 2027.See all Honors courses here.

Honors 221 (Biology/Arts)
"Mismatch! Strangers in a Strange Land"
Jerry Johnson/James Swensen
We have created a world unlike anything humans have ever experienced, and it is likely killing us. This course considers the paradox of progress and what it means to live a good life. Can people still thrive in environments for which our own evolutionary legacy has no history? We consider the challenges and opportunities of living today by looking to our human origins and then imagining our best future. Art, photography, and museum curation combine with human evolution and modern health care in unexpected ways in this class to empower you to choose your best life.

Honors 223 (Physical Science/Letters)
"Transcendent Skies: Literature and Astronomy”
Denise Stephens/Aaron Eastley
From time immemorial, people have been inspired by the heavens. We have studied them, imagined and ordered them as constellations, sought the divine through them, and made them metaphors in our art. This course combines Physical Science and Letters, focusing on astronomy and the influence of the heavens on writers and readers from classical antiquity to the present. On the literary front, we will inquire into the many ways in which texts both affect and connect us. We will consider literary works spanning from Greek and Roman classics to Shakespeare, and give careful attention to Tennyson’s In Memoriam and C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. On the astronomy front, we will explore how our views of science have changed. What started out as empirical observations led to physical laws where outcomes could be predicted and unseen worlds could be discovered. But as science grew and developed, small deviations from these physical laws forced us to reevaluate the unseen world and accept that science is driven by uncertainty, and at the smallest and largest scales science is still an exploration of the unknown and a desire to explain what we cannot know. This will be a hands-on, experiential, fun and deeply intellectually engaging course. We will meet primarily in the BYU planetarium, personally make some of the most famous observations first made by people like Galileo, and hope to take field trips to the observatory on West Mountain and down to southern Utah, and read books like Michael Ward’s The Narnia Code and Alan Lightman’s Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine.

Honors 226 (Social Science/Letters)
"Becoming Zion: Discipleship for Society"
Bryant Jensen/Daniel Becerra
This course will focus on how the collective exercise of moral virtue in our personal, public, and professional lives can contribute to a more Zion-like society. It is built upon the assumption that Christlike character finds its fullest expression in community and will address such questions as: What moral character attributes (i.e., virtues) should Latter-day Saints aspire to, and what are their various manifestations and means of cultivation? What kind of society should Latter-day Saints seek to create, how, and what are the tools and challenges of doing so? And how can Latter-day Saints better align their spiritual aspirations and covenant commitments with their professional goals and civic engagement?

Honors 226 (Social Science/Letters)
"Borders and Belonging"
Mike Taylor/Jane Lopez
What does it mean to belong? How do visible and invisible borders shape our access to belonging? And how does the prophetic teaching that we are all children of God compel us to expand our understandings of belonging and question borders that exclude? Through literature, sociological theory, real world examples, and site visits across Utah, we will explore the social, cultural, political, legal, and religious structures that both support and disrupt our experiences of belonging.

Honors 227 (Social Sciences/Arts)
"Flourishing through Design: Applying Design Principles to Increase Well-Being"
Brian Hill/Stephanie Allen Egbert
In this course, students discover how design and art enhance human flourishing, learn how general and specific design principles apply across design disciplines and media, and practice using new media to produce meaningful designs/art focused on specific principles within a gospel methodology. Students also learn to be aware of designers’ intentions and create their own design intentions.

Honors 290R (Biology/Social Sciences)
"Strong Bodies, Resilient Minds, and Healthy Relationships"
Jason Whiting/Matt Seeley
This class covers the latest scientific research on finding fulfillment through physical health, individual wellness, and relationship success. Students will apply exercise science for developing sustainable plans to achieve and maintain physical health while avoiding musculoskeletal injuries. Students will also learn practical approaches to emotional and mental resilience, including how to cope with stress through mindfulness, self-care, and life balance. Students will learn characteristics of healthy relationships, as well as red flags and damaging patterns within relationships. They will learn how to apply these principles in dating relationships and marriage.

HONRS 290R (Biology/Global & Cultural Awareness)
"From Fire to Fork: How Food Shaped Civilization and Health"
Eric Dursteler/Gene Ahlborn
Food is not just sustenance — it is the nexus of human evolution, culture, history, science, and health. This course will explore how the evolution of foodways — from ancient practices to modern technologies — has shaped human societies, scientific discoveries, and nutritional health. By integrating historical context with food science principles and nutrition insights, students will critically examine how cultural shifts, historical developments, technological advances, and biological needs intersect to define what, why, and how we eat — past, present, and maybe even the future.

HONRS 290R (Arts/Letters)
"A Room of One’s Own: Women, Creativity, and Marginalization in Literature and Music"
Jarica Watts/Luke Howard
This unexpected connections course pairs the study of literature and music to ask a single question: what does it cost women to make art? Taking its title from Virginia Woolf's 1929 essay, “A Room of One’s Own,” this course will examine the material, economic, and social forces that silenced women writers and composers alike. Examining British literature alongside musical works, students will trace a shared history of exclusion and, finally, recovery.