HNR 201 is structured around a series of campus and community lectures, performances, exhibits, and other events. Readings and classroom activities prepare students to experience each event as fully as possible. Group attendance, follow-up discussion, and written reflections help students derive meaning from each experience and place it in larger contexts. The ultimate aim of the course is to equip students to engage in intelligent participation in public dialogues.

Students are required to attend at least five of the scheduled campus or community events. All students in the class, whether they plan to go or not, prepare for each event by discussing readings, videos, or websites associated with the event, and then all students process the event afterward by hearing from those who attended and discussing the themes or issues raised by the event. As part of the class, students also discuss readings about leadership, service, education, civic discourse, or other related themes.

Winter 2023 Events

Jerry Wallace, MLK Day speaker

Dara Richardson-Heron, Frederik Meijer Lecture Series

GVSU Wind Symphony, Symphony Orchestra, and Concert Band

NPR’s Deborah Amos: “War Crimes”

Model Arab League: Professor Courtney Freer from Emory University

“See No Stranger: An Evening with Valarie Kaur, civil rights leader, lawyer, filmmaker, and author

Suzanne DiMaggio, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “Iran at the Crossroads”

Jazz Ensembles Concert

Fireside Chat, Anita Hitchcock, Grand Rapids City Attorney, with Mayor Rosalynn Bliss

Art Gallery opening: “Convergence: Cracks in the Glass Ceiling”

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest

“Building Trust Across America, One Relationship at a Time. A conversation between Van Jones and Meghan McCain.”

Mosaic Lecture, with Dr. Joseph Teran, Fellow at the American Mathematical Society

Poetry night with Juan Felipe Herrera

Fall 2023 Events

Tour of Artprize

Campus-to-Campus River Cleanup

Maria Antonia Montes, Senior Program Office from US Institute of Peace, "Conflict and Peace-Building in Latin America"

First Voice Generation, a film about Latin American first-generation students

Faye Richardson-Green, Frederik Meijer Lecture Series

Three Short Films about Rural LGBT Life by Austin Bunn

“Citizens of the World: Global Citizenship and U.S. Foreign Relations” with Christopher McKnight Nichols

Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz, a play directed by Meijer Honors College Student Katie Rain Auberle

GVSU Concert Band concert

Julie Lesnik, “Edible Insects: The History of Bugs as Food”

GVSU University Arts Chorale

Art Gallery opening: “Stephen Duren: A Life of Painting”

Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass

Padnos-Sarosik Civil Discourse Symposium: “Calm the Chaos: Honoring All Voices in Public Education”

Hauenstein Center Wheelhouse Talk: “Stepping into Leadership”