by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Harry Potter, renewable energy, science fiction and copyright law are some of the topics covered in next semester's University Honors Program classes.
The classes are meant to give students variety in their education, said Rosalie Otero, director of the program.
"The mission is to give students a breadth of understanding," she said. "We assume that they will get depth in their major, so we try to offer classes that aren't offered anywhere else in the institution."
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Student Larissa Thill signed up for the honors program because it would look good on her rÇsumÇ.
"That's originally why I was part of it," she said. "But I think breadth is a really good word. Having all the different experiences in different kinds of classes helps you put things together. It helps you make connections."
The classes are open to any student with a 3.2 GPA or higher.
Students who aren't part of the honors program can go to the office underneath the Student Health Center to register for classes.
Law professor Marsha Baum will teach a class about intellectual property law, including copyrights, trademarks and patents.
Students will learn about the history of intellectual property and how it is being affected by technology.
"Given all of the changes that are going on, I see this as a critical issue," Baum said. "With the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) suing anyone they can find, you need to look at the balance of the law and practice."
The class will examine the relationship between copyright law and Web sites like YouTube.com and MySpace.com.
The class isn't just for would-be lawyers, Baum said.
"It's really for anybody who's interested, whether they're breaking the law, or they want to learn about their rights over their own intellectual property," she said. "It's not necessarily that they're lawyers, but that this is something that they have a personal interest in."
Students in the class will do research in a law library, she said.
"The understanding is that you have no legal experience whatsoever, so we will cover all the basics," she said. "The expectation is that you have some research background so that you can feel comfortable going to the library and researching cases."
Thill said she is going to try to take a class about the Harry Potter series and its depiction of evil.
"It sounds like a good way to examine something like evil, because the books are so popular," she said. "It's not a lot of really intense reading. Of course, the class will probably fill up right away."
Sheri Karmiol, the instructor for the class, said she is using the books to make students think about an important issue.
"I teach classes on the Holocaust, so I have a really basic interest on the conflict between good and evil," she said. "I wanted to examine that in the context of the Harry Potter books. I'm basically disguising a very serious topic with books that students enjoy reading."
In another class, students will compare human and natural history in New Mexico and
Argentina.
The class includes a field trip to Argentina for $1,500.
Jason Marks, a member of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, will teach a class about renewable energy.
The class will cover market economics and how the U.S. has made decisions about energy use in the past.
It will also include a study of fuels for cars, including gasoline, ethanol and batteries.
