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.

BUSI 300H3 and Departmental Colloquiums

(ACCT 400H3, ECON 400H3, FINN 400H3, ISYS 400H3, MKTG 400H3, SEVI 400H3, SCMT 400H3)

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 (BUSI 300H3) that is open to all business students and a departmental colloquium course with their major (ACCT 400H3, ECON 400H3, ISYS 400H3, FINN 400H3, MKTG 400H3, SEVI 400H3, SCMT 400H3).

 

Examples of Honors Colloquium Courses

BUSI 300H3

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.

 

BUSI 300H3

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.

SEVI 400H3

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.*

Departmental Colloquiums

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

FINN 400H3

Instructor: Sergio Santamaria

FINN 400H3 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

SCMT 400H3

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 400H3

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.