Dig deeper into your interests by taking Frederick Honors College courses, which are both more challenging and more interesting. In these courses, you will engage in the material with richer analysis, cutting-edge tools, and through the lens of culture and society. Frederick Honors College faculty fellows, specialists from across the University, design and teach our courses with the intellectual needs of our students in mind.
Enrolling in Honors courses
Use PeopleSoft/Campus Experience (CX) to find the list of all Honors courses being offered. On the Class Search page, select Frederick Honors Course in the Course Attribute pull-down menu to get the list.
If you do not meet the enrollment requirements for an Honors course, you must contact the professor teaching the course to obtain their permission to enroll in it. When you email the professor, explain why you're interested in taking the course and offer details about any skills/experiences you will bring to the course.
If the professor is willing to waive the enrollment requirements to allow you to enroll in the course, the professor can direct you to someone in their department who can issue you a permission number, or the professor can send an email message to David Hornyak (hornyak@pitt.edu) with the following information:
- The course department and number (e.g., HIST 1234)
- Your name
- Your email address
- Your PeopleSoft ID number
You will be emailed a permission number in return.
Honors Course Enhancement Contracts
Honors course enhancement contracts allow David C. Frederick Honors College students the opportunity to earn course credit for Honors Degree or Honors Distinction program requirements in an undergraduate course that does not already fulfill an FHC requirement.
Examples of courses approved for FHC requirements that cannot have a course enhancement include:
- Courses with the Frederick Honors Course attribute
- Courses with the High Impact Attribute Values of Undergraduate Research, Undergraduate Internship, and Capstone Course
- Courses with the Civic Learning and Civic Learning + Engagement attributes
- Courses used to fulfill honors-approved certificates/programs
- Courses that have an honors version of it available (e.g., introductory biology, chemistry, physics, etc.)
Additionally, undergraduate courses with the writing intensive course (w-course) attribute cannot have an honors course enhancement contract associated with them.
Instructors are not obligated to agree to a request from a student to create an honors course enhancement contract for their class.
The experience and subsequent product(s) must engage the student beyond a more passive requirement, such as adding one additional paper for the class, although a paper may be one component of the deliverable.
Instructors and students are encouraged to be creative in their approach by considering:
- Presentations
- Individual research projects or assistance with instructor research
- Using innovative technologies
- Producing creative works
- Community engagement or service-learning projects
- Preparing and presenting class lectures or designing and testing lab projects
- Reflecting on intellectual development opportunities related to the course, such as visiting museums, galleries, archives, or attending guest lectures or seminars
An honors course enhancement may be designed for an individual student, or several students may work together under one contract.
A contract form (PDF) is submitted to David Hornyak no later than the end of the add/drop period of the semester in which the course is being taught. The contract form includes details of how the course enhancement provides greater depth to the course and a description of the deliverable product(s). The contract form is signed by the student and the course instructor. If several students are working on the same enhancement project together, separate contract forms must be completed for each student, although the details about the enhancement project can be the same for all students involved.
At the end of the semester, David Hornyak will provide the instructor with an evaluation form through Qualtrics to assess the student’s performance and success in meeting the requirements of the contract. The evaluation is due when course grades are submitted.
The evaluation of the honors course enhancement contract is separate from the grading for the course. Failure to complete the contract’s requirements will have no impact on the grade the student receives for the course.
If the student successfully completes the requirements of the honors course enhancement contract, they will be given credit for an honors course requirement as part of the Honors Degree or Honors Distinction.
For questions or assistance in developing an honors course enhancement contract, students and instructors are encouraged to discuss possible ideas with the Frederick Honors College by contacting Assistant Dean David Hornyak at hornyak@pitt.edu.
SPIA courses for Frederick Honors students: 2025 spring term
Are you interested in public service and learning how our world works? Do you want to challenge yourself by taking a graduate-level course? Any Honors College student is welcome to cross-register and take a course from the Graduate School of Public & International Affairs.
To request a permission code that will allow you to register, please email rkidney@pitt.edu and specify which course you would like to take. You will receive a reply within 2-3 business days.
- PIA 0601 Ideas to Impact: Persuasive Communication for Public Policy
Professor TBA, Wednesdays & Fridays from 3 to 4:15 p.m.
This class is designed to enable students to develop the oral and written skills required to communicate effectively in public policy settings. The course introduces students to evidence-based communication tools, frameworks, and strategies necessary for crafting persuasive policy narratives for diverse audiences targeted by policy professionals. In addition to writing skills, students will develop proficiency in various forms of communication, including oral presentation, visual communication, and digital media. Students will engage in hands-on activities and receive comprehensive feedback on their written and oral communication to enhance clarity, conciseness, and persuasiveness in conveying public policy messages. Attendance and active participation in discussions are essential components of this course.
- PIA 0602 Ethics & Equity in Public Policy
Professor Marcela Gonzalez Rivas, Tuesdays & Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m.
In this course, students will gain knowledge and understanding of the motivations of various stages of policymaking and analysis. They will be able to identify and examine the ways in which moral and ideological values come into play in the policy process, including in how social problems are defined or framed, in the design of potential policy solutions, and in the policy analysis process. Topics include the tensions between ethics and politics, efficiency and equity, the common good and political feasibility. This course examines the nature and validity of vexing moral issues in policy, including the role of democracy. Students examine basic moral controversies in public life, focusing on different frameworks for policy as the means to an equitable end. An aim of the course is to provide each student with an opportunity to develop their ability to think in sophisticated ways about morally difficult policy issues.
- PIA 1103 Multinational Corporations & Global Policy Challenges
Professor Siyao Li, Tuesdays & Thursdays from 1 to 2:15 p.m.
Why and how do global corporations like Apple, Tesla, or Nike engage with international politics? How do businesses manage political risks and navigate crises like trade wars, sanctions, and wars? Why do they lobby governments, and how do their strategies influence-and get influenced by-global policymaking? In this course, students will explore the dynamic intersection between global business and international policy. Through compelling real-world cases and scholarly work, we'll investigate how businesses shape policy decisions, respond to cross-border challenges, and adapt to changing geopolitical environments. Students will gain practical insights into government regulation of international trade, corporate strategies for dealing with policy challenges, and the dynamic relationship between economic power and political influence. We'll start by tracing the historical evolution of multinational corporations and their influence on global politics. Then we'll dive into current issues, including international trade negotiations, financial crises, foreign direct investment, and the complexities of regulating digital technologies and cross-border data flows. Designed specifically for students with little or no prior knowledge of international business or policy, this course offers an accessible yet rigorous introduction. If you're curious about how global markets function, why international policies matter for businesses, and how multinational corporations become significant political players, this class is for you. No prerequisites are required.
- PIA 1107 Workers Without Borders
Professor Andrea Pena Vasquez, Tuesdays & Thursdays from 4 to 5:15 p.m.
Why do people move for work? How do governments decide who gets to cross borders? What are the economic and political impacts of labor migration on countries of origin and receiving countries? This course takes a global look at labor migration, exploring why workers migrate, what happens when they do, and how policies shape these movements. Students will dive into debates around immigration's impact on jobs, how money sent home (remittances) affects development, and how countries manage labor through guest worker programs, visa schemes, and even investment-based citizenship. Students will explore global challenges related to the cross-national movement of workers, evaluate real-world policy solutions, and develop essential research, analytical, and communication skills.
- PIA 1108 Global Sustainability Policy
Professor Marcela Gonzalez Rivas, Mondays & Wednesdays from 3 to 4:15 p.m.
Sustainable development is a core concept that has shaped the world for many decades, guiding global efforts to balance economic growth, social equity, and environmental protection. First introduced in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development, it emerged in response to a critical realization: development must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. Despite decades of international attention, significant challenges to sustainable development remain. Why has progress been so limited? What factors continue to hinder transformative change? This course examines these questions by exploring the intersection of sustainability, environmental issues, and development policy from a global perspective. It offers a foundational understanding of core development concepts, their historical trajectories, and the major environmental challenges shaping our world today. You will engage with key policy frameworks and international debates, analyzing how economic, social, and environmental priorities often compete or align. The course also explores the roles of international organizations, non-governmental organizations and other key actors, in advancing sustainable development. What makes this course unique is its integration of theory and practice. Through a combination of traditional classroom dynamic and interaction with practitioners from diverse sectors, you will gain the critical insights needed to address complex sustainability challenges in real-world contexts.
- PIA 2096 Capstone: Non-Profit Clinic
Professors Jacob Seltman & Anne Marie Toccket, Mondays from 3 to 5:50 p.m.
The intent of the capstone seminars is to provide students with a focused experience in working on a real world problem of policy and management in a team setting under expert faculty guidance. Each seminar is focused on a prescriptive question - what should a specified public official or institution do about a specified problem?
- PIA 2473 Strategies of Global Inquiry
Professor Lisa Alfredson, Fridays from noon to 2:50 p.m.
Global Studies is an expansive and dynamic interdisciplinary field that explores current and past transnational processes, such as migrations, human rights, ethnonationalism and imperialism, economic and institutional globalization, and transnational social movements. Within the academy, it is a meeting place or community of inquiry for scholars interested in topics that spill beyond temporal, political, disciplinary, ecological, geographical, and cultural boundaries. This seminar will hone graduate students' abilities to analyze issues and events through global and transnational research frameworks that incorporate various disciplinary perspectives, and to investigate linkages between global processes, social justice, and human well-being. The course is designed to complement each student's own disciplinary background and interests, and to foster preparedness for collaborative and inter-disciplinary global work. It will stimulate student abilities to think critically about a broad range of theoretical and methodological issues involved in global research, including ethics, the co-production of the global and local, the nature of "global" research questions, and research designs from different disciplinary perspectives. In addition to providing a framework for global thinking and learning, the seminar also intends to create a "community of junior global studies scholars" and thus places strong emphasis on attending regularly, participating actively, and presenting critical analyses in a scholarly manner. This is the core seminar for students in the Global Studies graduate certificate program (UCIS).
- PIA 2502 Environmental Policy: Local & Global
Professor Shanti Rabindran, Tuesdays from noon to 2:50 p.m.
This course explores the ways in which policy can protect people from environmental and health harms, on local and global scales, and the factors that cause such policy to succeed or fail. We discuss a variety of environmental challenges (e.g., stratospheric ozone depletion, e-waste management, plastic pollution, waste exports); attempted solutions with varying success (e.g., the Montreal Protocol and current efforts to draft an international plastics treaty); and the roots of these problems and barriers to solutions. Environmental issues are often borne from governance structures that enable the undervaluation of sustainable practices and their benefits while externalizing pollution costs. We explore how policies can change this, especially by making companies internalize their pollution costs, and how citizens' oversight of regulatory agencies, including NGO-led litigation, can lead to better policy and protections.
- PIA 2210 Race, Gender, Law & Policy
Professor Lisa Nelson, Tuesdays from noon to 2:50 p.m.
This course focuses on the definition, protection and conflicts of identity, gender, sexuality, race, religion, and ethnic, in law and policy in the United States. The course considers the historical and philosophical justifications that have been used to broaden the definition and protection of identity and engages in an analysis of how these efforts continue today. From desegregation of the past to race conscious admissions of today, the way we define and remedy racial discrimination involves complicated considerations of our legal definition of equality and the institutionalization of policy in the public and private sectors with Constitutional limits in mind. Similarly, policy guarantees against gender discrimination and the broadening of LBGTQIA+ rights once relied on biological justifications, but now claims of gender fluidity alter the kinds of legal and policy protections we are able to seek. The landscape of expanding legal and policy accommodation of emerging forms of identity also includes a consideration of conflicts and intersectionalities with other existing protections for identity. Religious exercise and practice, for example, can clash with those seeking accommodation of LBGTQIA+ rights, while law and policy struggles to strike a balance. This course will engage legal analysis, case based examples and structured student debates on emerging policy issues involving identity and its place in American society today.
