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Courses
Kairos courses are handpicked by our director to ensure you make the most out of your collegiate experience. The minimum number of Honors Credit hours required for the Honors Diploma is 24. Most of these hours are located in the general education core. Here are some classes currently in rotation:
Freshman Year Required Courses
Kairos Gateway is an opportunity for the freshman cohort to examine the purpose of a liberal arts education and answer questions about what kinds of people it creates. It is the communal center of social life for our incoming freshmen. The Kairos sections of Benevolence and Global Perspectives further connect freshmen with each other and the university’s values.
Kairos Rhetoric & Research is a mandatory class for all of our incoming freshmen which exposes them to and prepares them for the elevated demands of college writing. This class provides an environment which is both critically heightened and also extremely supportive of each individual student’s growth. It equips our students to succeed in a college environment while also guiding students in what it means to read intelligently for pleasure.
Kairos Foundations of Western Culture presents students with a core collection of ancient texts which are formative for the western literary and philosophical tradition. From these texts and the cultural history provided in the class, students can begin to trace the history of influential ideas from Homer into the present day. The class guides students as they learn how to synthesize textual evidence to form arguments. Students then construct arguments in class, in papers, and on exams, which habituates students to think critically about texts and arguments.
In Kairos Environmental Science, students discover how ecosystems develop and sustain themselves. In the lab portion of the class, students go on adventures with their professor to apply what they have learned to the local environment. It teaches our students to develop a growing sense of their connectedness to creation in both scientific and personal ways while also encouraging students to apply learning in situations outside of a physical classroom.
Sophomore Year Required Courses
In Kairos Introduction to Theology, students are presented with texts and doctrines that are core to Christian faith and tradition. It challenges them to ask questions about the development of Christianity while also providing resources where students can look for potential answers to these questions. In this class, students pursue critical and Christian exploration which allows them to better understand and appreciate the intellectual aspects of their faith.
Kairos Introduction to Christian Ethics builds on the theological knowledge students gain in Introduction to Theology and challenges them to apply their knowledge of theology to different ethical frameworks and questions about Christian ethics. In this class, our students learn to process difficult questions concerning how to apply a cohesive, Christian perspective to questions about right and wrong.
Courses Offered Every Year
Kairos Rise of Europe bridges the gap between the ancient and modern worlds, illuminating their continuities and differences. Beginning with the fall of Rome, this class traces the history and development of Europe through the Renaissance by examining the literary, philosophical, religious, and artistic facets of Western culture during this time period. This class enhances students’ ability to trace the development of Western culture into the beginnings of modern Europe, thereby furthering their understanding of this culture.
Kairos American Government goes beyond examining the function of the United States government and dives into a broader view of the philosophical and ideological foundation of democracies. The class helps students start to understand how a government works in relation to the people within it, teaching our students how to begin thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of American society and how to participate as a member of it.
In Kairos Introduction to Philosophy, students learn about philosophy from its origins into questions of modern relevance. By first discussing the questions philosophers have been asking since ancient Greece, the class provides students with a background from which to understand modern philosophical concerns. Then, turning to more modern philosophers, the class gives students an extended philosophical framework to explore questions about today’s world.
Courses Offered Every Other Year
Kairos Understanding Human Behavior introduces our students to the major topics and themes of psychology. By exploring psychological principles, students are better able to understand themselves and their interactions with others. This class is not only enriched by the expertise of the professor, but also by guest lecturers whom the professor invites to speak about their individual fields of expertise. This addition heightens this class beyond a cursory exploration of psychology’s major topics.
Kairos Foundations of the Modern World explores the historical events and literature that shape the ideologies of our modern world. The class traces the ideas of Western culture from the Renaissance to the 19th century, examining how these ideas shaped the sociopolitical culture of their time and how these ideas still affect our world today. In this class, students will participate in discussion about and gain insight into the important ideologies that still influence our culture today.
Kairos Logic is a chance for our students to explore formal logic in order to better understand the implementation of logic in arguments. A deeper understanding of logic improves our students’ ability to examine arguments for validity and thereby think more critically about arguments in philosophy, literature, and everyday life. Moreover, understanding formal logic and arguments helps our students learn to construct good arguments and develop a capacity for clear, complex thinking.
Colloquium
Honors Colloquium is an interdisciplinary seminar offered each spring for variable credit. In this class, Kairos students meet to discuss an overarching question or topic in relation to three different disciplinary perspectives. Each semester, three professors rotate leadership of the class in four-week sections, challenging students to constantly think in new ways about a topic. This class is especially unique because it often connects Kairos upperclassmen who have already completed other Kairos courses and because it so heavily encourages the interdisciplinarity that Kairos emphasizes in the program as a whole.
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