Grow and explore in a Fall 2026 Honors Seminar

Building your Fall 2026 class schedule?

While University Honors Program (UHP) students get priority registration, honors seminars are open to undergraduate students outside the program as well! Try one out for an interdisciplinary, hands-on learning experience like nothing else on campus.

Honors seminars can also fulfill Breadth of Knowledge requirements; details are available on the UHP website.

Hear directly from guest speakers with firsthand professional knowledge around death and dying — including a hospital chaplain, a palliative-care nurse, and others — as you examine the broad array of cultural perceptions about death. If you’ve ever made a list of “things I want to do before I die,” taken a walk in Spring Grove Cemetery, or imagined a future for yourself in a legal, medical, or mental-health field, this seminar is for you.

Try this class if you’re into: learning from other peoples’ experiences, mourning or funerary rituals, or seeking meaning in your daily life.

Uncover the relationship between design and childhood development in this honors seminar, and learn about the complex landscape of children’s media. (Ever wondered about the principles behind kids’ TV-show design, or what exactly toddlers are watching on YouTube Kids?) You’ll also apply design and learning theory to create publicly available educational content for children.

Try this class if you’re into: early childhood development, media production, design, or education.

Develop your skills in problem-solving, collaboration, and systemic thinking in this seminar, as you work with your group to build a complete, working pinball machine from scratch. Uncover the surprising history of pinball, including an era of national prohibition, and participate in a Q&A with the design team for the recently released Dungeons & Dragons pinball machine!

Try this class if you’re into: arcades, retro aesthetics, unconventional storytelling, or puzzles.

In this seminar, you’ll get familiar with the UC Game Lab; play games, and create them; and collaborate with college students in Brazil. No experience with game design or development is required — just an openness to trying new things and working closely with your peers.

Try this class if you’re into: games (analog or digital!), cross-cultural exchange, Brazilian culture and history, or collaborative projects.

Discover how animals that lived and died millions of years ago have continued to disrupt the past two centuries of science and culture in this seminar, which unpacks the historical connections between fossils, politics, and science communication. Observe ancient fossils firsthand, including a visit to the Cincinnati Museum Center’s scientific collection!

Try this class if you’re into: fossils, science communication, debate, or communication design.

Dive into the history of engineering disasters, from the Boston Molasses Flood to the Titan sub implosion: the materials failures that caused them, the human cost that they incurred, and the innovations that took place in their aftermath. You don’t have to be an engineer to take this seminar, just curious and up for some research!

Try this class if you’re into: shipwrecks, problem-solving, or translating technical concerns for a broader audience.

Develop the self-awareness needed to recognize your strengths, values, and blind spots, and combine that knowledge with the communication skills required to harness others’ perspectives and solve complex problems. Whatever sector you aspire to lead in — business, healthcare, education, nonprofits, or beyond — this seminar will equip you with the mindset and tools essential to your success.

Try this class if you’re into: leadership, communication, or career-focused skill-building.

Whether you’ve already run your own campaign, avidly watch Dimension 20, or have never laid hands on a set of polyhedral dice — this seminar is a space for you to explore moral dilemmas through learning Dungeons & Dragons gameplay. You’ll also engage in service learning by assisting with the Ethics & Dragons program, which teaches middle-school students to investigate the same issues, in a local public-library branch!

Try this class if you’re into: D&D, education, libraries, or debate.

Examine what it means to be a good person, now and throughout history, in this unique seminar. Study some of the most admired and innovative public figures of the last century, appraise where they went wrong, and collaborate on real nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize (Professors of Philosophy are among those eligible to submit, and they’re kept under seal for 50 years).

Try this class if you’re into: big-picture questions, meeting your heroes, or self-reflection.

Featured image at top: BIOL3060/ENGL3160 students during a tour of the historic Spring Grove Cemetery, led by UC English faculty member Michael Griffith. Photo/UHP