Published on Sept. 24, 2024
One of the four Series options available to Honors College students, the Social Sciences Sequence offers two courses – “Revolutions” and “Constitutions” – that provide a wide-ranging picture of revolutions and constitutions in their historical and political contexts. The sequence is a collaboration between the Honors College and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy.
There is a new, exciting addition to the sequence, too – a four-week summer study abroad program: the Kinder-RAI Oxford Summer Scholars. The study abroad experience will be led by Billy Coleman, associate director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy and affiliate faculty in the Honors College, and is a product of a unique partnership with the Rothermere American Institute (RAI) at the University of Oxford. Students who participate in the program will be taught by Oxford faculty, live at the historic Corpus Christi College, study at RAI, and receive insider access to numerous resources.
“The idea with the Revolutions and Constitutions Sequence is that you get this big, broad interdisciplinary engagement with the concepts of revolutions and constitutions,” Coleman said. “You get a sense of how their significance changes over time – and from one perspective to another. We look at different examples, focusing, to some extent, on the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution. For the study abroad experience, there is the opportunity to concentrate on one revolution, the Glorious Revolution, which is a culminating point of a revolution that is also perceived by many as a formative point in constitutional history. So, the sequence gives students a broader perspective, and then the study abroad program gives students the ability to really hone in on one example that brings these two courses together. And they get to do so in a place where much of that revolution actually took place, which is amazing.”
Students will be able to earn up to eight credits through the program. Along with the course (GN_HON 3230H: The Glorious Revolution in Oxford), students will be enrolled in a complementary course (GN_HON 4070H: Experience Oxford), which is worth one credit and will take participants across the United Kingdom. Students can also choose one or both of two practicum courses.
“The exciting part of this program is that students will be able to entirely immerse themselves in the experience,” Coleman said. “They will have access to amazing faculty and resources and stay in such a historic location. It’s really going to be an incredible opportunity for our students.”
Coleman said when the Social Sciences Sequence was established, the goal was to offer extra opportunities of this nature.
“From my perspective, this study abroad program makes the Revolutions and Constitutions Sequence a distinctive program,” Coleman said. “The idea that we can have a sequence that allows students to think in an interdisciplinary way about these core ideas and events and episodes that have shaped the world is amazing. We are now able to give a connected experience that takes students out of where they are and allows them to engage with those concepts and build on those concepts in a new and inspiring place-based environment.”
Applications for the program are due on Friday, Nov. 1. While the experience is open to all Honors students, special consideration will be given to students who have participated in at least one of the Revolutions and Constitutions Sequence courses.