University of Arkansas

Walton College

The Sam M. Walton College of Business

Honors Colloquium

Students in the Walton Honors Program are given the opportunity to expand their knowledge base beyond the traditional business curriculum through Honors Colloquia courses.

WCOB 3003H and Departmental Colloquiums

(ACCT 4003H, ECON 4003H, FINN 4003H, MKTG 4003H, SEVI 4003H, SCMT 4003H)

The Walton College Honors Colloquium courses are offered each fall and spring to students who have completed the pre-business core and are in good standing with the Walton Honors Program. The topics for these courses are new each semester and offer students the chance to explore and discuss relevant topics in business. Students will need two honors colloquium courses, and typically take a general honors colloquium course (WCOB 3003H) that is open to all business students and a departmental colloquium course with their major (ACCT 4003H, ECON 4003H, FINN 4003H, MKTG 4003H, SEVI 4003H, SCMT 4003H).


Spring 2022 Colloquium Courses   Departmental Colloquiums   Past Colloquium Courses

Spring 2022 Colloquium Courses

WCOB 3003H

Topic: Consulting for Social and Environmental Impact

Instructor: Rogelio Garcia Contreras

Students in this 3-credit hour semester long pre-departure course will access community-based opportunities to learn and practice useful consulting skills while contributing to the scalability of the most impactful initiatives. Students will be exposed to concrete methodologies, tools and benchmarks used by sustainability and social impact consultants. The purpose is to provide students with the tools to assess, develop, and propose solutions to operational, strategic, or administrative challenges identified by selected community partners. The goal of the course is to offer students the opportunity to learn by doing while supporting local organizations as they strive to fulfill their respective missions in more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable ways. The course would develop students’ knowledge around impact assessment, project evaluation, replicability, and scalability. By participating in this course, students will develop the necessary skills to consult with businesses and local innovation initiatives, on best practices and certification processes.


WCOB 3003H

Topic: Corporate Social Responsibility

Instructor: Dan Worrell

A key tenant of corporate social responsibilities is an informal license for the business to operate granted by the public. Today, this unspoken social contract between business and society demands that business act more responsibly toward a much broader range of multiple stakeholders that lie within the corporate organizational orbit.

The focus of this class will be on both social responsibility issues –the process of assuming the corporate obligations to meet the expectations (economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary) of society and on social responsiveness – the more action-oriented, pragmatic means (strategy, plans, decision making, objectives) adopted to achieve organizational goals.

Areas of examination will include: corporate governance; strategic human resource management; government relations; ethics; global issues in the management of the firm; consumer issues; product safety; environmental challenges; diversity issues; crisis management; employee privacy; worker safety and health; and public affairs management. Traditional lectures, case studies and experiential learning will all be employed in the class.


WCOB 3003H

Topic: Current Trends in Global Business and Investment

Instructor: Dobrina Jandik

The class will focus on new trends of capital movement around the world and the new shifting dynamic of cross-border trade channels. The international flow of investments has dramatically changed over the last several decades. The topics covered in the class will revolve around the movement of manufacturing as a sector around the world over time, the transformation of importing vs. exporting nations, Chinese investments in Africa, the status of emerging economies and their transition to developed economies and other current trends in global capital flow. The movement of manufacturing centers of the world has led to new trends of global cooperation and new trade agreements have reshaped the landscape of global business. The class will explore the evolution and current status of various international trade agreements - NAFTA, EU, RCEP, CPTPP, ASEAN and others. Students will gain understanding of how global factors impact regional economies and how government policies impact capital markets. This class will serve broad audience of business students interested in the current state of global affairs.


SEVI 4003H

Topic: Social Innovation Strategies

Instructor: Rogelio Garcia Contreras

Social Innovation Strategies is a hands-on, active-learning and project-based course focused on exploring the process through which social innovation strategies are designed, developed, and introduced to the market. Using the case of successful social innovation strategies at the grass root, small and medium social enterprises, multi-sector collaborations, and corporate levels, students will learn how new technologies, research-based innovation, and data science can impact our world by developing viable social innovation strategies and social business models around these innovations.

*As long as one honors colloquium is completed from within the Walton College, students are also eligible to take one of their honors colloquium courses outside of the Walton College. These include seminars from the Honors College listed below.*


HNRC 4013H (Must apply for this course by October 25th)

Topic: Economic Thought and Competition Law

Instructor: Sharon Foster

Economic thought is the study of what economists thought happened, what did happen or what was about to happen within a particular economy. The study of economic thought from the ancient period and the Middle Ages provides a rich understanding of the origins of competition law, or as it is known in the United States, antitrust law.

The written evidence from the ancient period and the Middle Ages indicate economic thought in general, and in competition law specifically, focused on fair and unfair – virtue and vice. In fact, the term “justice” referenced in many ancient texts primarily meant economic justice. Economic justice, basic principles of fairness, permeates legal history in numerous areas of commercial law including contracts, usury, and debt relief. But competition law is, perhaps, where we most clearly see economic justice concepts. Admonitions against the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few by unethical means included cartels and monopolization, a particular concern during frequent times of famine and plague. Yet, despite a bountiful historical record relating to competition law, there is very little historical analysis of competition law from the ancient period or the Middle Ages.

In this Signature Seminar, students will analyze economic thought starting with the ancient city-states of Mesopotamia from around 2402 B.C.E. through the Middle Ages ending in 1400 C.E. The primary focus will be on economic thought regarding cartels and monopolization as expressed through ancient codes, biblical sources, canon law, philosophical writings and literature. Through these sources from the ancient period and the Middle Ages, this Signature Seminar will elucidate the connection between early economic thought and modern economic theory as it applies to competition law.

Professor Sharon Foster, the Sidney Parker Davis, Jr. Professor of Law, will lead this seminar. Learn more on the Economic Thought and Cmpetition Law course webpage.

Learn more on the Economic Thought and Cmpetition Law course webpage.


HNRC 4013H (Must apply for this course by October 25th)

Topic: Euclid

Instructors: Edmund Hariss & Joshua Young

Euclid’s Elements weaves its way through the history of mathematics and the world. Studying the book provides an amazing insight into many topics, especially the history of the book in general and of course mathematics.

This Signature Seminar will guide students through the textual and intellectual history of Euclid. For more than 2,000 years, the mathematical concepts written up by the mathematician from Alexandria in Africa, have served as building blocks for students, theoreticians, designers, builders, and even poets and musicians. The collected books of Euclid were one of the most frequently taught texts in the world until the early 20th century and remain valuable sources of scholarly inquiry. In physics the 20th century began by finally showing how the universe quite literally bent the rules the Elements set down so long before.

Combining an interdisciplinary approach to mathematics, relying on history, intersectionality, and active creation, with analyses of the “book” as artifact and object, this course will allow Honors students to explore cultural and intellectual development over millennia though one of the most frequently cited and complex textual odysseys in the world. The mathematics of Euclid was adopted into the foundation of Western civilization even though it was the work of the eastern Mediterranean. Students will seek to decolonise the historical assumptions about early mathematics and how they were understood or not understood, or willfully misunderstood.

Professors Edmund Harriss (Mathematics) and Joshua Young (Libraries), will lead this seminar. For more information visit the Euclid course web page.



Departmental Colloquiums and Past Colloquium Courses

*Departmental Colloquiums are typically only offered in the Fall semesters and require senior standing.

ACCT 4003H/ACCT 4853

Topic: Accounting Analytics

Instructor: Vern Richardson

The increasing availability of data and software tools is changing the accounting profession and the role of the accountant. Increasingly, accountants are asked to access, manipulate, and analyze data to address accounting questions. Throughout the course we’ll examine a number of data analytics techniques, which will culminate in a project addressing an accounting question of your choice.


ECON 4003H

Topic: Economics of Life

Instructor: Amy Farmer

This course is designed to give students insight into how economics affects their everyday life. Economics is much more than supply and demand, monopolies and investments; it is a way of thinking that can inform every decision you make. The goal of this class is to help you see the role of economics everywhere, including in decisions you make in your personal life as well as how it influences the world in which you live.

Specifically, we begin by examining fertility decisions such as how individuals choose when and how many children to have, and how this effects the overall economy and labor market. From there we move through one’s life cycle and address education, the economics of dating and marriage, work-life decisions, division of household labor, and ultimately retirement. Throughout the course we weave in larger issues that affects these decisions such as health care, discrimination, social security and other larger social and economic issues. In all of these, individual decision making is coupled with public policy and social and economic affects with a focus on efficiency and how economics can improve quality of life.


FINN 4003H

Instructor: Sergio Santamaria

FINN 4003H introduces students to the exciting area of behavioral finance and technical analysis. This course has three major objectives:

  1. To learn how and why psychology affects our investment decisions.
  2. Using technical analysis, to learn how to overcome and profit from the psychological biases that inhibit our ability to make good investment decisions.
  3. To help to prepare the CMT (Chartered Market Technician) level I exam


MKTG 4003H

Topic: “Executives in Residence”

Instructor: Steve Kopp

The goal of this course is to develop a feasibility and marketing plan for water purification devices in the rural areas of the Mekong Delta. In rural areas of Vietnam, clean water availability is limited. The purpose of the course is to provide undergraduate honor students with skills and experiences in research, decision making, and planning. The course will be project-based and will follow the general pedagogical agenda used for the Vietnam study abroad program. In past years, U of A students have worked in rural areas of Vietnam to help agricultural businesses to improve their operations. We will have a team of Vietnamese undergraduate students (English-speaking) as well as a multinational corporation as partners. Additionally, the course includes classroom discussions and extensive readings related to Vietnamese economic, cultural, and agricultural issues.


SCMT 4003H

Topic: “Executives in Residence”

Instructor: Donnie Williams

The focus of this course will be executive viewpoints in the field of supply chain management, particularly as it relates to relational skill development and growth. The growth of supply chain management throughout industry has led to an equivalent growth in the need for specific relational skills and capabilities for supply chain professionals. These new leaders in industry have unique insights into various supply chain management issues. The simple purpose of the course is to help students identify not only the current issues of the industry, but also gather various viewpoints about the topics.

The students will be expected to challenge themselves and the executives to broaden their understanding and critical thinking skills in supply chain management. Approximately once a week, an executive will speak with the students on a topic of his or her choice. The goal is to allow a broad collection of issues to be presented by and to the students. Both the executive and the class members should benefit from the interaction within the classroom and other outside settings. The goal is to help students to become better informed about the “real world” of supply chain management. This, in turn, should continue to prepare the students to be well equipped to launch a successful career in various supply chain management fields.


SEVI 4003H

Topic: Social Innovation Strategies

Instructor: Rogelio Garcia Contreras

Social Innovation Strategies is a hands-on, active-learning and project-based course focused on exploring the process through which social innovation strategies are designed, developed, and introduced to the market. Using the case of successful social innovation strategies at the grass root, small and medium social enterprises, multi-sector collaborations, and corporate levels, students will learn how new technologies, research-based innovation, and data science can impact our world by developing viable social innovation strategies and social business models around these innovations.


WCOB 3003H

Topic: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Class

Instructor: Barbara Loftin

The course will introduce a sense of belonging to students, employee resource groups, or select leaders within an organization that contributes to a sense of belonging. The class will discuss the importance of leadership and employees embracing DEI. as part of Key Performance Indicators (KPI's).

This course will expose students to the plethora of content related to D.E.I.'s emerging and cutting-edge concepts. In addition, the class will explore ideas related to the DEI.portfolio, such as Implicit Bias (I.B.). Implicit Bias has emerged as one of the leading topics being discussed in society today from a topical perspective. Implicit bias speaks to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions unconsciously. We are all part of this narrative, and these associations can be positive or negative. It is well documented that these associations are often a result of how and where we were exposed to during our developmental years. Moreover, we will dissect additional concepts in the DEI.space such as Micro- inequities, Cultural Humility, Allyship, Belonging, and many other Ism's ranging from racism, sexism, youthism, and age colorism, and ableism.