A theory and practice track is a group of 2 non-sequential courses that engage a single topic from differential methodological orientations. Collaboratively designed—often by a University of Maryland faculty member and an industry expert based in Washington, D.C.—each track is comprised of a theory seminar and a practice seminar. Together, this pair of seminars enables students to consider a given topic from both a scholarly and a pragmatic perspective.
To complete a theory and practice track, students must complete both the theory seminar (3 credits) and the practice seminar (3 credits), for a total of 6 credits. Most theory and practice seminars may be completed in any order and at any time during the track’s multi-year lifespan. Unlike clusters, tracks do not have prescribed lifespans.
Tempests, wildfires, melting glaciers, and rising oceans speak to the increasing vulnerability of our planet and its systems due to climate change. The United Nations calls this predicament a race we must win. But what kind of race is climate change and what form should our political and moral responses take? Is it more similar to smallpox and the coronavirus or to a looming catastrophic asteroid strike? How do we weigh our actions against our impact on nonhuman animals and biodiversity? We can be sure that changes in Congress will impact how we orient to these issues as a nation in the coming years. But what role can advocacy play in the form Federal policy takes? In this track, students will acquire the knowledge they need to evaluate crisis response and the advocacy skills they need to be part of the solution.
Cities are living monuments. They express the past, localize the present, and herald the future. Yet, more often than not, we move through them without paying attention to their material reality or how that materiality and our identities interconnect. This track invites students to take in the capital in their backyard, Washington, D.C., as a designer and as a critic. Who decides what a city looks like? How does architecture shape the lives lived in it? How do the needs and dreams that people bring to it alter a city’s personality as well as its façade? In these courses, you will walk about, listen to, draw, and even reimagine the structures that support everyday civic life in the District. Seeking out unbuilt areas and learning what it means to benefit or suffer from cityscape design, you will consider the hopes and dreams of D.C. past and present. Join this track to explore the built environments we inhabit, and how they inhabit us.
University Honors partners with the Federal Fellows and Global Fellows programs to offer a theory and practice track. This track combines a theory course, taken in Fall semester, taught by expert practitioners and leaders in their field with a DC-area internship, in Spring semester.
Global financial crises, increasing social divides worldwide, and deepening mistrust between business and government require a holistic multi-stakeholder approach that builds bridges among various research fields. This track explores the intersection of financial markets, politics, and the recent confluence of new technological, environmental, and geopolitical developments that has fundamentally altered the global operating environment. Its companion courses will help students grapple with fundamental questions of globalization. What are the social, political, cultural and economic impacts of globalization? Where are the fault lines in the financial world that could precipitate another crisis, and possible realignments, in the global monetary order?
Hosted by Exeter College, Maryland Honors in Oxford is a six-week summer study abroad program bearing UMD and UH credit. The aim of this opportunity is to challenge and inspire UH students through engagement with Oxford’s world-class reputation for academic excellence. Students will participate in Oxford’s distinctive model of undergraduate education with a talented and diverse cohort of students from around the world.
A central role of government is to protect its citizens from threats at home and abroad, but an enduring challenge is how to do so given the legal and moral constraints, as well as the practical limitations on the government’s powers. Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has sought to protect the nation from terrorism with extremely mixed results; in some cases, arguably stretching the bounds of its power. This track invites students to imagine themselves as decision-makers in government, seeking to protect the nation while grappling with the consequences of their choices. How have methods of protecting the nation succeeded and failed? Has the U.S. government overstepped its legal and moral limits in doing so? To what lengths are we willing to go to secure democracy—and who decides?
Institutions by their very nature are built to sustain their processes over time. Many of the ways we do things in government and higher education, for example, have evolved slowly over centuries. Recognizing untapped potential in a stable organizational structure requires insight. Identifying solutions requires ingenuity. In this track, students focus on the University of Maryland’s own institutional processes, identify challenges, and propose innovative solutions for improvement. After a semester of developing their theoretical understanding and honing their practical skills, students devote a semester to working in partnership with University leadership to effect real change on our campus.