UA Honors College to offer covid-19 class

FAYETTEVILLE — A University of Arkansas honors course on the covid-19 pandemic will begin May 11 and be open to all who register to sit in on the virtual sessions.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson on May 22, the last day of the class, will discuss the state’s response to the covid-19 outbreak.

“We are going to be talking about covid-19 for a long time, and the leadership at the [UA] Honors College is right to start the thoughtful discussion now,” Hutchinson said. “The pandemic is a historic event. No area of life has escaped its touch.”

The course, over two weeks, will have medical professionals and UA faculty members from various disciplines discuss public health, supply chain management and economic effects of the pandemic, among other topics.

Honors students at UA and also students enrolled in honors programs at other colleges in the state may take the course for one hour of credit.

Anyone interested in auditing the course must register at honors@uark.edu. They will not receive academic credit but there is no fee.

Recordings of 90-minute class sessions, to be held daily Monday through Saturday, will be posted online to the website for the UA Honors College and be accessible to the public, spokeswoman Kendall Curlee said.

Lynda Coon, dean of the UA Honors College and a history professor, said many honors students have seen study abroad or other summer opportunities wiped out because of the coronavirus.

“We have a large cohort of gifted students that were looking for an academic challenge,” Coon said.

A course outline lists daily topics that range from mathematical and geographic modeling one day to a historical discussion on “medieval apocalypse” another, with the latter session to be co-led by Coon.

“I’ve taught a lot and researched the bubonic plague of the 14th century,” Coon said, adding the current day has historical parallels to past pandemics when it comes to the language used to describe illness and contagion.

“I think the most important thing is the interdisciplinary nature of the course. Instead of approaching the virus or a pandemic from only one discipline, we’re zooming in on this one from multiple disciplines,” Coon said.

“The pandemic is a historic event. No area of life has escaped its touch.” — Gov. Asa Hutchinson

Coon said making the course content accessible is part of the university’s flagship and land-grant mission as an institution.

“It just seems so important that we wanted to get the message out to anyone who wanted to partake in the class,” Coon said.

Medical experts participating are set to include Dr. Mark Thomas and Dr. James Newton with Washington Regional Medical System. Thomas is a vice president and medical director for the health care organization’s unit on care for patients moving from the hospital to the community, and Newton is an infectious disease specialist.

Hutchinson will be joined in his talk by Dr. James Bledsoe, chief physician specialist for the state.