Current Honors Course and Seminar Offerings

The list of honors course offerings is always being improved to meet the needs of our CHP students in a variety of programs. Below is a list of the courses and seminars available for the upcoming Fall 2025 semester. Click here to see who can sign up for Honors courses, and for contact information.

Fall 2025 Seminars (open to Honors program students only)

Important announcement: there is now a new option to complete your Honors Culminating Project within the seminars listed below by completing a culminating project contract with the seminar instructor(s). This is in lieu of taking the 1-credit HON 260 Culminating Honors Project course separately in your last semester. If you wish to complete your Honors Culminating Project in one of the seminars below, let the instructor know and email CHP@BristolCC.edu for the project contract.

If you have a culminating project or area in mind that does not coincide with these seminars, you may still take HON 260 to complete your culminating project.

PSY 295 Honors Seminar in Community Leadership

Professors Lisa Delano-Botelho and Erin Smith

In this interdisciplinary course, students review the scholarly literature on leadership to gain a concise grounding in major leadership concepts and theories, including a contemporary approach for leadership in groups, communities, and organizations. Students will practice problem-solving strategies and leadership skills by developing a project plan to help an organization provide a service needed in the community and assessing the project and their personal growth using guided-reflection techniques. Three hours of lecture per week. 3 credits. 

Prerequisite: Enrollment in the Commonwealth Honors Program or permission of the instructors.

Online synchronous, Wednesdays 4 - 5:15 p.m.
Register for: PSY 295.HON – CRN# 93282

HUM 291 Postmodern Studies Seminar

Professor Engin Atasay

Postmodern Studies Seminar is designed to critically examine our conceptions in life and our everyday practices. This seminar is NOT solely about dense ideas, complicated theories and philosophical critiques and so on. Well, maybe a little bit of that... But the core goal of this seminar is to capture what a postmodern study can be and apply it to any academic discipline we choose to investigate. Postmodern Studies Seminar is designed to critically examine the very foundations of our conceptions and perspectives. Be warned! You may never be "normal" again... The seminar will question "truths" found in different academic disciplines and in our everydayness. While challenging common norms and deconstructing our established assumptions about reality, sciences, and norms, the seminar will allow us to map out alternative perspectives, identities, histories and politics in relation to society and the world; down the rabbit hole we will go! Our first task will be to distinguish between "modern" vs. "postmodern." Then we will expand our intellectual scope to play with postmodern concepts in different academic disciplines and areas of inquiry to seek new paths and speeds. 

Online synchronous, Fridays, 4 to 6:40 p.m.      
Register for: HUM 291.HON – CRN# 96150

SCI 251 Moments of Revolutionary Discovery 

Professors Zach Wolfson and Emily Brown

How does your own memory mislead you? Will AI save us or destroy us? Is it ethical to try to find a cure for death? These are just a few questions that illustrate that we are living in a time of great scientific discovery and rapid social change. This multidisciplinary discussion-based seminar focuses on different topics each week, and challenges students to engage with material in ways that depart from the typical classroom experience. Join us to explore these questions, expand your mind, and challenge your preconceived notions. Three lecture hours per week. 3 credits.

Prerequisite: Open to Commonwealth Honors Program students only.

In-Person in Fall River, Thursdays, 7 - 9:40 p.m.
Register for: SCI 251.HON – CRN# 93277

Fall 2025 100-Level Honors Courses (open to all students)

COM 104 Fundamentals of Public Speaking 

Professor Laura Gostin

Discover the public speaker in you.  Learn how to speak like a leader while studying the secrets of the greatest speakers in history. Experience the joy of creating and producing a professional quality video. Practice delivering oral presentations in a safe and supportive environment. Techniques to address public speaking apprehension, critical thinking, information literacy, technology skills, verbal and nonverbal communication, and active listening are included in this dynamic course. Three lecture hours per week. 

Prerequisite: A passing score on the College's Reading and English placement tests;, or C or better or concurrent enrollment in ENG 091 or ENG 092.

Competency met: Oral Communication, Humanities, 3 credits.

Hybrid in Fall River, Mondays and Wednesdays 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Register for: COM 104.HON – CRN# 94573

HST 114 U.S. History after 1877: Through the Lens of Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Professor Robyn Worthington

With the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, more Americans have been thinking about the ways that the court impacts the rights of U.S. citizens and society at large. In this fully online course, we will examine U.S. History from 1877 through the lens of landmark Supreme Court cases to discover how the court has shaped the nation we live in today. Together we will assess how the power of the court has affected civil rights, justice, free speech, voting rights, freedom of religion, due process of law, and more. This course will use only free materials easily accessible online.

Prerequisite: A passing score on the college's reading and writing placement tests, or C or better or concurrent enrollment in ENG 091 or ENG 092.

Online asynchronous
Register for: HST 114.HON – CRN# 90380

ENG 102 Composition II: Writing About Literature

Professor Chris Yokel

What is it about fairy tales and myths that makes them stick around? Why are we still reading and retelling stories written hundreds, sometimes thousands of years ago? In this class, we're going to explore the ways such stories get told and retold, from European fairy tales and myths to modern day comics, films, and plays. We'll also explore some of the literary theory around folklore and mythology.

Prerequisite: ENG 101. Three lecture hours per week. Instructional Support Fee applies.

Competency met: Critical Thinking, Written Communication, 3 credits.

Online asynchronous
Register for: ENG 102.HON – CRN# 93328

BIO 121 Fundamentals of Biological Science I

Professor Mary Rapien

Honors Bio 121 focuses on three areas of contemporary biological science including selected topics in chemistry as necessary for more advanced courses such as cell biology, immunology and microbiology; the structure and function of cells with emphasis on reproduction, membrane functions and cell energetics; and the molecular mechanisms of genetic control and patterns of inheritance. Student scholars will read and discuss peer-reviewed papers describing research underpinning current biological knowledge and will delve into deeper areas of discussion that are not typically addressed in a standard BIO121 course. Unlike a traditional course where the instructor is the "sage on the stage," scholars will be given the opportunity to propose and lead discussions related to the structure and physiology of cells and will be required to produce scholarly writings on biological topics. Between the lecture and laboratory, scholars will enhance their research skills; develop their ability to reason scientifically; and construct scientifically sound responses to questions in order to explain biological phenomena. Three lecture hours and three laboratory hours per week. Instructional Support Fee applies. 

Prerequisite(s):  One year of high school biology or chemistry with labs with a grade of C or better, or CHM 090 with a grade of C or better. 

Competency met: Scientific Reasoning and Discovery, 4 credits.

In-Person in Fall River, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. - 1:50 p.m.
Register for: BIO 121.HON – CRN# 92808

ACC 102 Principles of Accounting II

Professor Mary Rapien

This course is designed to continue with the study of financial accounting. The course covers inventory costing systems, fixed assets and intangible assets, corporations, bonds payable, cash flows and financial analysis. Additionally, the course introduces students to managerial accounting topics, including internally generated reports used to direct operations and make decisions. Computer applications are integrated into the course in a variety of ways, including in a computerized lab setting.

In-Person in Fall River, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. and Thursday lab 12:30 - 1:20 p.m.
Register for: ACC 102.HON. – CRN# 90526

Fall 2025 Culminating Honors Project (open to honors students in their last semester)

Note: The honors culminating project is required in your final semester for the Commonwealth Honors Program, unless you opt to complete the project in your honors seminar. You do not have to register for this course separately if you will be completing your culminating honors course with your honors seminar instructor(s) (see list of honors seminar courses above). Email Kimberly.Newton@BristolCC.edu if you do plan on completing your culminating honors course in an honors seminar to receive a culminating honors project contract.

HON 260 Culminating Honors Project (take this course if you are graduating in December)

Professor Kimberly Newton

This one-credit honors experience is open only to students in the Bristol Community College Honors Program and should be taken during the student’s final semester. A student develops project activities and objectives with a faculty mentor who oversees the project. A contract describing the project must be submitted to the Honors Program for approval. Students are encouraged to present honors projects at appropriate conferences. Each culminating honors project will be unique, focusing on an area of particular interest to the individual student. The number of class meetings per week will vary by contract.

Prerequisite: current enrollment in the Honors Program.

Online synchronous, Mondays, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Register for: HON 260.B1W – CRN# 93737  

Who can sign up for Honors Courses?

Any student who wishes to try their hand at a challenge may enroll in any 100-level Honors course. Course pre-requisites as noted for each class. 

Current Bristol students with a Bristol GPA above 3.45 will be invited to join the program officially and may then take any 100-level Honors course or 200-level Honors seminar.    

Students already accepted into Honors may take any Honors course or seminar.    

Please check additional prerequisites for each course as noted.

Any questions? Contact Kimberly Newton, Commonwealth Honors Coordinator Kimberly.Newton@BristolCC.edu