Taking the Pulse of Montana | (HONR 200)

Students must be accepted into the MSU Honors College to enroll. This course will satisfy credits toward the Honors Degree.

Tony Hartshorn

Instructors: Tony Hartshorn, Douglas Fischer

Dates: July 4x4 (July 13 - August 7)

Credits: 3

Course Description

Science and policy are diverging on a number of critical public health concerns, from climate change to the coronavirus response. Recognizing this and charting a course forward may be the great generational challenge for the class of 2024. Working with scientific and political experts, as well as with MSU's Special Collections and Archives, students will take their first steps down this path, with the goal of documenting the journey for future generations.  

The class will meet three times a week via video conference, with small break-out groups as necessary.  

About the Instructors

Tony Hartshorn, Ph.D. (Univ. of California, Davis), is an associate professor of soils, with research and teaching interests in soil health and soil remediation. A current interest of his is how well sentinel surveillance of sewage could provide an index of the prevalence of Covid-19 across upstream communities like Bozeman, MT. 

Douglas Fischer

Douglas  Fischer, B.A. (Columbia Univ.), has worked as a journalist for 25 years and is currently executive director of Environmental Health Sciences, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news service focused on the science of our environment and health.  He has taught classes on science and policy at MSU's Honors College since 2013, winning, with Profs. Hartshorn and Scott Powell, the university's "Spirit of Discovery" award for teaching in 2018.

You may sign up for Kick Off summer classes now! Our advising team will register you for your summer classes.

Students are still required to attend an Orientation and Class registration session. You will not be able to register for your fall semester classes without attending a session. Learn more about available sessions on the Orientation website.