Every year the University of Hartford honors program a yearlong humanities honors course and the topic for the 2014-15 seminar has been announced as Exploring Complexity.

The course is also being taught by two professors, Dr. Jane Horvath and Dr. Marcia Moen. These professors teach in two different academic disciplines – economics and philosophy, respectively.

However, the two have collaborated with each other on complexity in the past, and will be working together again in order to teach this class to the honors students that sign up for it.

“Advanced study in any discipline reveals that disciplines are much more closely connected than might appear at the introductory level,” said Horvath and Moen.  “More in-depth study within a discipline tends to reveal the interconnections.  For example, Adam Smith is both an economist and a philosopher.  Karl Marx is studied by philosophers, economists, and historians. And the ideas of both thinkers have inspired and can be found represented in works from novels to short stories to visual arts.”

Horvath and Moen will not be the only ones teaching their students the knowledge of exploring complexity.  During the second semester of the Exploring Complexity course, faculty fellows will speak during the class to the students, so that they can gain understanding about how complexity is applied in the academic disciplines. 

Students in the course will learn about Complexity Theory and Complexity Science and how to apply it to various disciplines during the Spring 2015 semester.  

Dr. Horvath and Dr. Moen are expecting to have at least 5 or 6 faculty fellows doing lectures in the spring but as of press time they are still accepting applications from interested members of the University of Hartford faculty.     

“The call has gone out for faculty to apply by submitting a proposal on a complexity-related topic they would like to explore.   The call for proposals is open to faculty from any academic discipline and we are hoping for a broad representation from across the campus,” said Horvath and Moen.

Students interested in registering for the Exploring Complexity Humanities Seminar must be honors students and submit a short paper detailing why they want to be part of the seminar.

Students who are accepted into the course will receive both credit and an honorarium, which is a stipend for honors students.