2013-14 Humanities Center Seminar Leader and Theme Selected

Beth Richards of the Department of Rhetoric and Professional Writing in the College of Arts & Sciences has been selected to lead the 2013-14 Humanities Center Honors Seminar on the theme of Utopia/Dystopia.

Coined by Sir Thomas More in his book of the same name, utopia is defined as an ideal society, perfect in its social, legal, and political forms. Professor Richards’ course will examine the concepts of utopia and dystopia as underlying (but not always deeply explored) assumptions about “what kind of lives should people lead?”.

In the Fall, the year-long seminar (HON 389-390) will begin by grounding participants in concepts of utopia through readings from historical and contemporary texts that define ideal societies from a variety of viewpoints: political, educational, religious, psychological, scientific-technological, and socio-cultural. The Spring lecture series will feature experts in both academic and non-academic fields, such as business, science, technology, religion, government, and others. Four Faculty Fellows will be among the speakers, selected from applications open to all faculty working on projects related to the seminar theme. Honors students will be invited to apply for the course before the Spring 2013 registration period begins, and those selected will earn an honorarium in addition to course credit.

Professor Richards is fascinated by the attempts of humans to conceptualize—and even attain—the ideal world. She teaches in the Department of Rhetoric and Professional Writing and is Director of the First-Year Rhetoric and Writing Program.

For more information about The Humanities Center at the University of Hartford, contact T. Stores, Director, at 860.768.4938 or stores@hartford.edu. For more information about the Honors Program, contact Don Jones, Director, at 860.768.4751 or djones@hartford.edu.