Forum: Trump 365
FORUM: TRUMP 365/HNRC 300VH
MONDAYS, 5-6:15 P.M., SPRING 2018
This course will track the first year of the Trump Administration. In the first few weeks we will lay the groundwork by focusing on the American presidency, including its constitutional underpinnings and the evolution of the executive branch. We will then explore developments in the Trump administration over the past year, examining key members of the White House staff and important changes in personnel. The primary focus of the course will be domestic and foreign policy issues that have been debated during the first year of the administration, including:
- What should President Trump do about North Korea?
- What’s the future of the United States’ relationship with Russia?
- What progress has the President been able to make in regard to his domestic agenda?
All honors students, regardless of their place on the political spectrum, are invited to apply for Trump 365. Class discussion will be the foundation of the course. The semester will culminate with students acting as external political consultants for the White House, making group presentations in which they will provide a recommendation on how President Trump should address a specific policy issue and what effect that particular stance could have on his chances of reelection in 2020.
Are you an honors student interested in taking Trump 365 during the Spring 2018 semester? Sorry, this course is closed. Watch for the Fall 2018 Forum on Midterm Elections!
What's in it for you:
- Experience history as it's being made
- Delve into important policy issues of the Trump administration
- Adopt an insider's perspective on the current political climate by assuming the role of a political consultant
What's required of you:
- Come to class prepared for discussion each week
- Apply what you learn with projects outside of the classroom
- Conduct interviews with voters from both sides of the political spectrum
- Integrate and apply the cumulative knowledge you have gained in the course in a final group presentation
About Noah Pittman:
Dr. Noah Pittman currently serves as the assistant dean of recruitment and retention
for the Honors College. He is also the director of the university's Advanced Placement
Summer Institute, an annual training workshop for AP and Pre-AP teachers from Arkansas
and the surrounding region. Dr. Pittman earned a B.A. in political science, summa cum laude, from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., where he was active in a number of campus
groups and won numerous awards, among them the Yerger Hunt Clifton Scholarship for
British Studies at Oxford, the Seidman Award for Most Outstanding Senior Political
Science Major and the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for Senior Male Student. During
college, Dr. Pittman also interned at Congressman Steve Cohen's Ninth District Office
in Memphis. At the University of Arkansas, Dr. Pittman completed a M.Ed. in higher
education leadership and a Ph.D. in public policy. Dr. Pittman's dissertation on the
Arkansas Scholarship Lottery and its effects on college participation in the state
earned him the William Miller Dissertation Award from the university's public policy
program. Dr. Pittman currently serves on the executive committee of the Alpha of Arkansas
Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa along with the Provost's Enrollment Advisory Committee.
His previous teaching credits for the Honors College include the Fall 2016 Forum,
Tracking Trump & Hillary, which followed the most recent presidential election. He also served as a teaching
assistant for the Spring 2017 Forum, Flagship U!, a course that Chancellor Joe Steinmetz taught on American higher education.