Mar 28, 2024  
Course Catalog 2008-2009 
    
Course Catalog 2008-2009 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Oberlin College Courses


 
  
  • ENVS 295 - Practicum on Organic Farming Part I


    Semester Offered: Second Semester, Second Module
    Credits (Range): 1 Hour
    Attribute: 1 EX

    New Course added 10.18.2008.

    This course will focus on the technical aspects of organic farming. The course will include guest lectures from area experts in combination with hands-on field work at the George Jones Farm. Topics to include: composting, soil development, plant propagation, water and drainage, insect and disease control, fertility, companion planting, harvest, post-harvest handling, marketing, and financial planning. This course follows the growing season. Students are highly encouraged to take both spring and fall modules
    Instructor: B. Masi
    Prerequisites & Notes
    ENVS 101 or BIO 102

  
  • ENVS 308 - Biodiversity and Human Futures


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 1 Hour
    Attribute: 1 EX

    New Course Added 05.22.08.

    The preservation and restoration of life-support provided by biodiversity is a central challenge facing civilization. This course considers eight major environmental issues —pollution, species preservation, agriculture, local living, population, economics, climate change, and education—through the lens of biodiversity and life support. The course aims to foster new perspective by exploring the interrelatedness of all human activities. Students will write one page reflection papers on each topic in preparation for weekly class meetings.
    Instructor: C. McDaniel
    Prerequisites & Notes
    ENVS 101, Bio120 (now 102) and at least one upper level course in either ENVS or BIO

  
  • ENVS 310 - Ecological Design


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3SS

    An upper-division seminar for seniors on ecological design, i.e. the intersection of human intentions with the ecologies of particular places. This course will include a broad survey of ecological design strategies from different cultures along with special emphasis on recent work in architecture, community design, energy systems, landscape management, and ecological engineering and the work of Carol Franklin, John Lyle, William McDonough, Sim van der Ryn, and John Todd. Enrollment Limit: 12.
    Instructor: D. Orr
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Note: Restricted to ENVS majors.
  
  • ENVS 311 - Seminar in Environmental Justice


    Semester Offered: Second Semester, Second Module
    Credits (Range): 2 Hours
    Attribute: 2SS

    We will use case studies, focused on Ohio and Nigeria, to examine environmental problems faced and addressed by low income persons, people of color, and indigenous peoples. Key topics include: power, race/class/gender, environmental racism, human rights, environmental justice, environmental equity, and land and resource rights. Class will be a mix of lectures, guest lectures, student-led discussions, and presentations of research projects (papers or posters) as part of a class mini-conference open to the public. Enrollment Limit: 12.
    Instructor: C. Fortwanger
    Prerequisites & Notes
    ENVS 101, at least one upper level course in ENVS and Junior or Senior status
  
  • ENVS 312 - Campus Sustainability: A Practicum


    Next Offered: 2009-2010
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 Hours
    Attribute: 3 SS

    A practicum focused on campus environmental impacts and sustainable solutions. The course complements a larger effort to implement the college environmental policy adopted in 2004 and a commitment to achieving carbon neutrality made in 2006. The course will include lectures and discussion but will primarily engage students in various aspects of solving real problems related to energy, water, materials, food, transportation, and waste as well as metrics for analysis and strategies to promote organizational learning.  Enrollment limit: 13.
    Instructor: Staff
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Restricted to junior and senior ENVS majors. Consent of the instructor is required.
  
  • ENVS 316 - Systems Ecology


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS

    The ecosystem concept provides a framework for understanding complex interactions between life and the physical environment and the role of humans as dominant agents of biogeochemical change. We will apply systems concepts to understand the flows of energy, cycles of matter and control mechanisms that operate in ecosystems and will compare the structure and function of a variety of natural and human dominated ecosystems. Students will explore primary literature, will learn field and laboratory methods for analyzing local ecosystems, and will propose, execute and analyze group research projects.  Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: J. Petersen
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Systems Ecology counts towards biology and environmental studies major requirements. Prerequisites: BIOL 120 or BIOL 102 and either CHEM 101, 102, 103 or 151.
  
  • ENVS 322 - Energy and Society


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3SS

    Energy issues are often characterized as problems we can ‘supply’ our way out of by changing the resources we rely on. Less frequently, energy issues are treated as a problem of consumption. This course adopts a sociotechnical perspective, regarding energy as an issue shaped by both technical factors and social patterns. The first part of this course explores physical, political, and economic aspects of energy supply through the examination of different energy sources (biomass, fossil fuels, electricity, renewables, nuclear). The second part of the course addresses social and political aspects of energy consumption in the industrial, commercial, residential and transportation sectors. Enrollment Limit: 25.
    Instructor: M. Shammin
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: ENVS 101.
  
  • ENVS 331 - Natural Resource Economics and Policy


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3SS, QP-H

    For description, please see ‘Economics’ in this catalog. Enrollment limit: 20.
    Instructor: J. Suter
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisites: ECON 253 and MATH 133. ENVS 231 recommended.
    Cross List Information
    This course is cross-listed with ECON 331.
  
  • ENVS 340 - Systems Modeling


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3NS

    Computer simulation models are powerful tools for organizing information, gaining insight into underlying dynamics, and predicting the behavior of complex systems. Students will design and construct models as a means of building understanding of a variety of biological and environmental phenomena. Models developed will cover topics ranging from physiology to community dynamics to large-scale flows of material and energy. These examples will provide students with systems-thinking skills and a library of analogies that can be broadly applied to problems in the natural and social sciences. Credit can be counted towards either biology or environmental studies majors. Consent of the instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 16
    Instructor: J. Petersen
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisites: Biology 120 or BIOL 102, at least one college chemistry course, comfort using algebraic equations.
  
  • ENVS 341 - Systems Modeling Workshop


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 1 hours
    Attribute: 1NS

    This mini-course will take place in conjunction with ENVS340, Systems Modeling. During a series of sessions held on afternoons evenings and Saturday 2/19-2/21, Dr. Bruce Hannon, an internationally recognized modeler and teacher of modeling, will lead students in developing a variety of simple models. Students will gain a greater appreciation for the diversity of ways in which simulation modeling can be used as a tool for scientific research and management.
    Instructor: J. Petersen
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Concurrent or prior registration in ENV340, and consent of the instructor
  
  • ENVS 380 - Seminar on Leadership


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3SS

    This course will focus on understanding the difference between leadership and management; development of vision, and styles and practice of leadership. Emphasis will be given to leadership in environmental affairs across a variety of fields including science, advocacy, policy, value change, business, and organizational transformation. The course will include conversations with leaders drawn from local and national organizations. Student will develop one case study and initiate a project of their own choosing. Consent of the instructor required.  Enrollment limit: 12.
    Instructor: D. Orr
  
  • ENVS 431 - Seminar: Topics in Water Resource Economics


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3SS, WR

    The seminar will cover issues related to the economics of water use, focusing on theory and policy implications. Enrollment Limit: 10
    Instructor: J. Suter
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisites: ECON 253 and ECON 255 or consent of instructor. ECON/ENVS 231 or 331 recommended.
    Cross List Information
    This course is cross-listed with ECON 431.
  
  • ENVS 490 - Introduction to the Black River Watershed


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 2 hours
    Attribute: 2EX

    An interdisciplinary examination of the local Black River Watershed, through a combination of lectures, field trips, and discussions. Principles of place-based, interdisciplinary watershed education will be introduced, and students will work with a teacher in the local public schools. Consent of instructor required.Enrollment Limit: 24.
    Instructor: C. Wolfe-Cragin
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Notes: This course is required for enrollment in ENVS 491. Restricted to juniors and seniors. Preference given to Environmental Studies majors.
  
  • ENVS 491 - Practicum in Environmental Education


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 1-2 hours
    Attribute: 1-2EX

    Students will apply what they learned in ENVS 490 by working intensively with a selected teacher in one of the local schools to develop curricula centered on the local watershed. Students will continue to learn about the dynamics of the Black River Watershed as they gain first-hand teaching experience. Discussion group format. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 16.
    Instructor: C. Wolfe-Cragin
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: ENVS 490 or equivalent. Note: CR/NE or P/NP grading.
  
  • ENVS 501 - Research in Environmental Studies


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 1-5 hours
    Attribute: 1-5HU

    Research.
    Instructor: T. S. McMillin, T. Newlin
  
  • ENVS 502 - Research in Environmental Studies


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 1-5 hours
    Attribute: 1-5HU

    Research for HU Credit.
    Instructor: T. S. McMillin, T. Newlin
  
  • ENVS 503 - Research in Environmental Studies


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 1-5 hours
    Attribute: 1-5NS

    Research: NSCI Credit.
    Instructor: M. Elrod, M. Garvin, D. Hubbard, R. Laushman, J. Petersen, M. Shammin
  
  • ENVS 504 - Research in Environmental Studies


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 1-5 hours
    Attribute: 1-5NS

    Research for NSCI Credit.
    Instructor: M. Elrod, M. Garvin, D. Hubbard, R. Laushman, J. Petersen, M. Shammin
  
  • ENVS 505 - Research in Environmental Studies


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 1-5 hours
    Attribute: 1-5SS

    Research for SS Credit.
    Instructor: C. Frantz, D. Orr, J. Petersen, M. Shammin, J. Suter, H. Wilson, C. Wolfe-Cragin
  
  • ENVS 506 - Research in Environmental Studies


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 1-5 hours
    Attribute: 1-5SS

    Research for SSCI Credit.
    Instructor: C. Frantz, D. Orr, J. Petersen, M. Shammin, J. Suter, H. Wilson, C. Wolfe-Cragin
  
  • ENVS 995 - Private Reading


    Semester Offered: First Semester, Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 0.5-3 hours
    Attribute: 0.5-3EX

    Signed permission of the instructor required.
    Instructor: M. Blissman, M. Elrod, C. Frantz, M. Garvin, D. Hubbard, R. Laushman, T. S. McMillin, T. Newlin, D. Orr, J. Peterson, M. Shammin, J. Suter, H. Wilson, C. Wolfe-Cragin
  
  • ETHN 100 - Introduction to Musics of the World


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    LATS
    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 Hours
    Attribute: CD

    As musicians, we often think weknow what defines the subject of our study: “music.” Using selected case studies from around the world, this course will challenge the ways you think about music, how it is structured, and what it means to the people who make and otherwise engage with it. We will examine music in both historical and contrmporary contexts and encounter musical styles ranging from indigenous practices to classical traditions and pop genres. Through interactive performance activities, critical listening, and musical analysis, we closely examine the diverse ways people think abourt and sttructure music, building a sophisticated vocabulary of musical concepts relating to melody,rhythm, texture, timbre, and form as we go. We will also examine music as an inherently social act, illustrating how music is informed by - and conversely informs - historical, political, cultural, and economic processes, and how these processes result in the transformation of sounds and their meanings. Finally, we will explore the variety of ways people make music, taking into account not only performance context, but also who gets to make music. Enrollment Limit: 40.
    Instructor: J. Fraser
    Prerequisites & Notes
    This course presumes considerable prior knowledge of muisic and the ability to read staff notation.
    See CMUS 103 for a comparable course that does not presume this knowledge.
  
  • ETHN 209 - Music of the Balkans and Middle East


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3
    Attribute: CNDP, 3HU, CD

    Situated at the juncture of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the Balkan region is a fascinating place to explore the confluence of musical styles. This course begins with an introduction to the Middle Eastern practices (especially Turkish) most influential in the Balkans, including Islamic genres and practices; rhythmic and melodic modes; and instruments. We will then move on to a survey of the musical practices of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, and Bulgaria in historical and contemporary contexts, tracing out importnat changes to social and aesthetic dimensions in the last century.Students will master the dominant musical characteristics that stress musical unity of the region and explore themes pervasive throughout the area, including ways musical practice have been impacted by socialism, ethnic nationalism, war, gender, repressive policies against ethnic and religious minorities (including the “gypsies”), democratization, and orientalism.
    Instructor: J. Fraser
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Enrollment Limit: 30
    Consent of Instructor required
  
  • ETHN 210 - Music and the Politics of Identity


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    GSFS
    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3
    Attribute: CNDP

    This class examines music as a poweerful means for the construction and articulation of identity around the world. We will explore how individuals and groups negotiate and project who they  are (and what matters to them) through music and related arts - as a strategy for both unification and differentiation, along wih the ways these identities are regulated, mediated, and framed by others. A series of case studies in both historical and contemporary contexts will take into account the ways gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nation, class, and community - and their intersections - become inscribed and ecoded within musical practice. We will also examine the ways these articulations are read and interpreted by others, i.e. discourses of racism, sexism etc. Topics considered will include the forging of musical styles as articulations of emergent identities; music as resistance to hegemonic policies; music in diasporic communities; and the politics of representation (e.g. minorities in multicultural/postcolonial states).
    Instructor: J. Fraser
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Enrollment Limit: 20
    Consent of instructor required.
  
  • FREN 101 - Français élémentaire I


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 5 hours
    Attribute: 5HU, CD

    This first semester of a year-long sequence is to build proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing, with special emphasis on meaning and the functional use of language and on understanding French-speaking cultures. The interactive multi-media approach requires extensive work in the language lab and one hour of small group work beyond the five hours of regular class time. Enrollment Limit: 22.
    Instructor: Staff, L. Thommeret
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisites: No previous French is expected for FREN 101.
  
  • FREN 102 - Français élémentaire II


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 5 hours
    Attribute: 5HU, CD

    This is the second semester of a year-long sequence designed to build proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with special emphasis on meaning and the functional use of language and on understanding French-speaking cultures. The interactive multi-media approach requires extensive work in the language lab and one hour of small group work beyond the five hours of regular class time. Enrollment Limit: 22.
    Instructor: M. Senior, L. Thommeret
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisites: FREN 101 or the equivalent is prerequisite for FREN 102. Students with previous study of French must present an SAT II score or take the departmental placement test.
  
  • FREN 103 - Français élémentaire accéléré


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CD

    Designed for students with previous work in French not yet qualified for FREN 203 or FREN 205, this intensive course covers all basic grammatical concepts and vocabulary while building skills in listening comprehension, speaking, writing, and reading. To reinforce both class and individual work, students will participate in two hours per week of small group oral practice. Enrollment Limit: 18.
    Instructor: Staff
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: Some previous French with an SAT II score under 550 or appropriate score on placement test. Successful completion of FREN 103 qualifies students for FREN 203 and FREN 205.
  
  • FREN 203 - Français intermédiaire accéléré


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CD

    This is a one-semester intensive course equivalent to FREN 205, 206. Review of the essentials of French grammar. Continued development of reading using a variety of texts, practice in composition, and speaking. In addition to the three hours per week of class, students are required to attend two hours in small group practice. Enrollment Limit: 18.
    Instructor: A. Yedes
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisites: Appropriate SAT II score (550-625), appropriate score on placement test, FREN 102 or 103 or the equivalent.
  
  • FREN 205 - Français intermédiaire I


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CD

    This first semester of a year-long sequence includes review of the essentials of grammar, continued development of reading skills using both literary and cultural texts, and practice in composition and speaking. In addition to the three hours per week of class, students are required to attend one hour of small group practice. Enrollment Limit: 22.
    Instructor: G. An, A. Yedes
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisites: Appropriate SAT II score (550-625), appropriate score on placement test, FREN 102 or 103 or the equivalent. FREN 205 is prerequisite for FREN 206.
  
  • FREN 206 - Français intermédiaire II


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CD

    This second semester of a year-long sequence includes review of the essentials of grammar, continued development of reading skills using both literary and cultural texts, and practice in composition and speaking. In addition to the three hours per week of class, students are required to attend one hour in small group practice. Enrollment Limit: 22.
    Instructor: G. An
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisites: FREN 205 is prerequisite for FREN 206.
  
  • FREN 301 - Expression orale et ecrite


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CD

    Through compositions, readings, film viewings, discussions, and independent grammar review, students expand their vocabulary, strengthen their critical reading and writing skills, increase their knowledge of the Francophone world, and develop their speaking ability. Grammar review integrates practice of spoken and written French. One hour of weekly oral expression practice also required. Enrollment Limit: 15.
    Instructor: E. Murphy
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisites: Appropriate SAT II score (625-675), appropriate score on placement test, FREN 203 or FREN 206 or the equivalent.
  
  • FREN 309 - Plaisir de lire


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD

    This course is designed to help students enjoy reading comfortably in French. We will read from a wide variety of literary and non-literary texts: newspaper articles, travel guides, web pages, bandes dessinées, and detective novels. Presentations and exams will solidify reading comprehension and vocabulary enrichment. Frequent and varied writing assignments–pastiches, creative writing, and personal responses–will be submitted as journal entries. Enrollment Limit: 15.
    Instructor: E. Murphy
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: FREN 301 or the equivalent.
  
  • FREN 321 - Pratiques de l’ecrit


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3-4 hours
    Attribute: 3-4HU, CD

    This course focuses on the relationship between writing and reading, and on ways to improve one through the other. Topics include: analysis of stylistic models; comparison of French and American text building; techniques of contraction and expansion; recognition and correction of mistakes; differences between English and French modes of expression. Taught in French. Enrollment Limit: 15.
    Instructor: M. Senior
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: Appropriate SAT II score (675-800), appropriate score on placement test, FREN 301 or the equivalent. FREN 321 is prerequisite for FREN 441. Note: Fourth credit available only for remedial work.
  
  • FREN 350 - French Non-Fiction Film


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD, WR

    This course addresses documentary and ethnographic cinema from France, from the invention of the Lumière cinématographe in 1896 to digital filmmaking at the beginning of the 21st century. As we study nature documentaries, early city symphonies, films made in the name of ethnology and anthropology, war documentaries, and biographical and autobiographical films, we will investigate the structures, techniques, and ideologies that identify these practices as non-fictional, and, when applicable, uncover their poeticity and artifice, particularly in narrative films that play with these representational strategies and test the limits of claims to truth and/or objectivity.  Enrollment limit: 25.
    Instructor: G. An
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: FREN 250 or CINE 101.
    Cross List Information
    This course is cross-listed with CINE 350.
  
  • FREN 360 - Colloquium: Ancien Régime Women Writers


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD, COLQ

    When literary critics wrote literature textbooks in the 19th century, they inlcluded only such obligatory and iconic figures as Madeleine de Lafayette or Marie de Sévigné, omitting a great number of women writers. While literature was then generally assumed to be a man’s business, contemporary critics have exhumed many important works from the 16th to the early 19th centuries, such as those of Pernette du Guillet, Hélisenne de Crenne, Catherine Bernard, Villedieu, Olympe de Gouges, etc. This course will examine texts by these and other women authors. Enrollment Limit: 15.
    Instructor: L. Thommeret
    Prerequisites & Notes
    This colloquium is designed for freshman and sophomores with strong preparation in French (SAT-II score above 675, AP credit in French, FREN 301, or the equivalent).
  
  • FREN 361 - Colloquium: Faces and Spaces of Paris


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD

    This interdisciplinary colloquium will be an imaginary and literary journey during which you will discover the Paris of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through readings of literary texts you will explore the transformation of urban space (Haussmannization) and of society. You will study different facets of the French capital city: its history, architecture, neighborhoods, monuments, and people While discovering the city, you will also discover literary movements such as realism, naturalism, symbolism, surrealism, and modernism. Conducted in French.  Enrollment Limit: 15.
    Instructor: A. Tworek
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: FREN 301 or the equivalent.
  
  • FREN 371 - Littérature française I: du moyen âge à la Révolution


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD

    This course studies the development of French literature, from its origins in the chanson de geste, a male dominated genre celebrating war, through the ‘invention’ of romantic love in courtly love literature, to the lyric voice of Renaissance poetry and the analysis of the passions in baroque and classical literature. All readings, lectures, and discussion in French.  Enrollment Limit: 15.
    Instructor: M. Senior
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: FREN 301 or the equivalent.
  
  • FREN 372 - Littérature française II: de la Révolution à nos jours


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD

    Perspectives on a selection of authors, literary works, and movements shaping the character of French literature from the French Revolution to the present. Emphasis will be placed on generic specificity, historical contextualization, and critical approaches to texts studied within a particular thematic framework developed each year. All readings, lectures, and discussion in French. Enrollment Limit: 15.
    Instructor: E. Murphy
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: FREN 301 or the equivalent.
  
  • FREN 373 - Intro à la littérature francophone


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD

    Entirely devoted to literary works by Francophone writers from North Africa, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Vietnam, this course will also study the socio-historical context that gave rise to such literature. Readings will include poetry, fiction and drama from writers that express varied cultural backgrounds as well as the impact of French culture on them. Approaches to these literatures will be linguistic, thematic, and cultural. Enrollment Limit: 15.
    Instructor: A. Yedes
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: FREN 301 or the equivalent.
  
  • FREN 375 - Students at the Barricades: Paris, May 1968


    Semester Offered: First Semester, Second Module
    Credits (Range): 1 Hour
    Attribute: 1 HU, CD

    New Course Added 05.29.08.

    In May 1968 students in Paris occupied public spaces and battled the police while ten million workers went on strike. The “May Events,” part of an international effervescence of protest and possibility, occupy a unique place in French cultural memory. This one credit, second module mini-course (Oct. 27-31) will be taught in English by faculty from NYU, the University of Chicago and Oberlin and will include readings, lectures, film screenings and a special exhibit at the AMAM.

     
    Instructor: K. Ross, K. Bredeson, G. An, L. Murphy

  
  • FREN 413 - Le merveilleux littéraire du moyen age aux Lumières


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD

    Derived from the Latin mirabilia, the marvelous designates that range of phenomena between the natural and the supernatural that cannot be explained by human reason: talking animals, werewolves, and phantom ships in the lais of Marie de France; strange races of men in the travel narratives of Marco Polo; Mélusine, the fairy-wife who becomes a serpent one day a week; deformed infants who show God’s wrath or the excessive imagination of the mother in early modern medical texts. Enrollment limit: 12.
    Instructor: M. Senior
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: FREN 301 or the equivalent.
  
  • FREN 419 - La Chine et le Japon dans l’imaginaire français


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD

    In this course students will examine French representations of East Asia from the late 19th century to the present. Through close readings of films, paintings, comic books, and literary texts, students will expand their sense of the visual/verbal literacy with which one “reads culture” through these different literary and artistic media. Topics addressed will include “chinoiseries” and “japonisme,” literary exoticism, French Maoism, travel literature, war documentaries, and the challenges of cross-cultural exchange.  Enrollment limit: 12.
    Instructor: G. An
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Two courses at the 300-level beyond 301
    Cross List Information
    This course is cross-listed with CMPL 474
  
  • FREN 424 - Théâtres révolutionnaires


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 Hours
    Attribute: 3 HU, CD

    We will study the major moments, movements, and masterminds behind modern and contemporary French theater, considering at every step the formal evolution of French theater in the 20th century, the political implications of theater as a public medium and the changing relationships between theater and other media and institutions. Readings will include works by Jarry, Rachilde, Artaud, Camus, Genet, Ionesco, Beckett, Mnouchkine and Koltès, among others. Enrollment Limit: 12.
    Instructor: E. Murphy
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Prerequisite: Two 300-level courses beyond 301.
  
  • FREN 478 - The Algerian Camus


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3HU, CD

    Albert Camus’ socio-cultural belonging in Algeria was different from his relation to Metropolitan France. The Algerian space and society to which he related was constituted of a mosaic of European races and a huge indigenous majority. Algeria, according to him, remained his source of inspiration, while the “Metropole” was a place of exile. This course will examine selected essays and fiction of Camus to show that in order to come to grips with his personality and work, a full understanding of his “Algerianity” is essential. Enrollment Limit: 25.
    Instructor: A. Yedes
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Two courses at the 300-level beyond 301
  
  • FREN 505 - Honors


    Semester Offered: First Semester, Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 2-6 hours
    Attribute: 2-6HU

    Consent of instructor required.
    Instructor: G. An, E. Murphy, M. Senior, A. Yedes
  
  • FREN 995 - Private Reading


    Semester Offered: First Semester, Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 0.5-3 hours
    Attribute: 0.5-3HU, CD

    Signed permission of the instructor required.
    Instructor: G. An, E. Murphy, M. Senior, L. Thommeret, A. Yedes
  
  • FYSP 102 - Peace, Conflict and Violence


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi

    The course aims to address different sources of violence and conflict, as well as ways to reduce conflict and promote social justice and peace. Although the psychological literature will be highlighted, historical, environmental, sociological, religious, and cultural factors will also be considered. This interdisciplinary course, then, will examine the psychology of war and peace from a variety of different perspectives. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: S. Mayer
  
  • FYSP 103 - Bridging the Body/Mind Divide


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    GSFS, DANC
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    Before Rene Descartes arrived at his famously statement, ‘I think therefore I am,’ he systematically cut himself off from all his embodied senses of sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. This allowed him ‘to be’ without ‘being-in-the-world.’ This course will team philosophical inquiry (thinking and writing) with somatic exercises (developing our bodily knowledge) in order to ask: ‘How can we learn from our bodies’ and, ‘How do we learn with our bodies?’  Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: A. Cooper-Albright
  
  • FYSP 104 - Sonic Revolutions & Revelation


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CNDP, DDHU, WRi

    We often hear but we rarely listen. The aim of this seminar is to develop critical skills for listening to and writing about contemporary music. Students will listen actively to recent compositions from a variety of genres and write about their experiences. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: B. Alegant
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Note: students do not need prior musical experience or the ability to read music.
  
  • FYSP 106 - Animal Minds & Human Morals


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    SOCI
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    An interdisciplinary examination of the ethical status of non-human animals. Because they are sentient, animals seem to matter more than chairs or vegetables: they seem to have interests in the sense that things can go well or badly for them. What, precisely, are the psychological capacities of animals? Do the psychological capacities of animals make them appropriate objects of ethical concern? Enrollment Limit: 14
    Instructor: T. Ganson
    Prerequisites & Notes
    .
  
  • FYSP 107 - Making Sense of Science


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 2NS, 2SS, WRi

    Few would dispute the importance of science in contemporary society. Yet there are differing ideas about what science is, what it can do and whether it can be trusted. This course will discuss the following questions: What is science? How does it progress/evolve/work? How is science similar to and/or different from other disciplines? What is the origin and extent of the intellectual divide between the science community and humanities? (And does it matter?). Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: A. Matlin
    Prerequisites & Notes
    P/NP only.
  
  • FYSP 110 - Black Women and Liberation


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    AAST, GSFS
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi, CD

    This seminar investigates the various ways that Black women of the 1960’s and 1970’s in the United States and South Africa have led their communities and their freedom movements (e.g., civil rights, anti-apartheid) with an important array of skills, resources and vision. Students will be asked to think critically about the properties of women’s leadership and political consciousness. We will use autobiographies and other secondary sources, develop research skills, and explore the bridge between community-based activism and intellectual life. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: P. Brooks
  
  • FYSP 111 - Words that Matter


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    Through intensive study of poetic language - language, that is, at its most concentrated, deliberate, and artful - we will seek to become more critically aware of language in general. How do words matter? How do they shape our sensory, emotional, and social experience? What is literary language ‘for?’ Readings will be mainly in lyric poetry, but will also include some essays and novels. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: J. Bryan
  
  • FYSP 113 - Recent Russian Cinema: In kino veritas?


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    RUSS
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CD, WRi

    Through an examination of films that reflect upon vital issues in Russia today (crime, the super-rich, Chechnya, rural life, the Soviet past), we will explore how filmmakers shaped new images of and for a ‘New Russia.’  How innovative is post-Soviet cinema and how broad is its appeal? Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: A. Forman
    Prerequisites & Notes
    P/NP grading.
  
  • FYSP 114 - Origins & Treatment of Cancer


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS, WRi

    This seminar examines the science underlying cancer research and treatment. An understanding that cancer is the result of a series of mutations has emerged from a quarter century of successful cancer research. We will assess the strengths and weaknesses of this description of the origins of cancer, and we will examine the impact of this description on the treatment of cancer. Chemical and biological principles will be developed as needed. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: W. Fuchsman
  
  • FYSP 116 - Field-Based Writing


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    GSFS, Rhetoric and Composition
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 2HU, 2NS, WRi

    This course will examine the natural processes of autumn on the Vermilion River watershed. We will focus on the changes that occur on the Vermilion River through frequent field trips and research into its history and the ecology of the organisms that live there. Writing and sketching will be our means of recording our observations. Weekly writing assignments will be discussed in class and with the instructors during individual appointments. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: J. Cooper, M. Garvin
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Note: P/NP grading only.
  
  • FYSP 118 - Through the Looking Glass


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi, CD

    In order to better understand the relationship among social statuses (race, ethnicity, gender), social class, and everyday life experiences, this course will focus on social demography and theories of identity formation and group interaction. We will employ current empirical data to investigate the demographic and social portraits of the United States in the new millennium. Emphasis will be placed on how demographic and social factors are entwined and how they interact to affect individual lives and identities. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: C. White
  
  • FYSP 122 - Contested Sites: The Politics of Public Art & Space


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    This seminar examines controversies over art in public spaces. We will consider memorials and museums and discuss how they present different narratives of the same historical event. In particular, we will consider how personal, political, or economic agendas merge in these public sites and can inform the appearance and interpretation of art. Sites will include the Vietnam Veterans Memorial & Holocaust Museums, and we will incorporate literary and historical readings. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: B. Cheng
  
  • FYSP 128 - Media & Memory


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    Beyond offering different sorts of content and engagement for their audiences, various artistic forms and techniques can be understood to provide alternative models for individuals and groups to filter and process experience in general. This course will look at multiple artistic forms (e.g., painting, photography, film, literature), in light of their own technical developments and contrasts with each other across time, in order to develop a greater sense of the many ways medium matters. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: J. Pence
  
  • FYSP 129 - Coming of Age in African Literature


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    AAST, Rhetoric and Composition
    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi, CD

    This course focuses on African writing, examining a non-western body of work from a non-western perspective. A major theme is the challenges facing youth in colonial and postcolonial Africa: the struggle to balance tradition and change; the quest for education; the development of political awareness. Several books offer an African approach to what in the west is called a ‘Bildungsroman,’ or novel of youth’s coming of age. Texts include Laye’s L’Enfant Noir, Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, and Achebe’s No Longer at Ease. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: L. Podis,
  
  • FYSP 132 - Searching for Utopia: Episodes in American History


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    HIST
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi

    How have Americans envisioned more perfect worlds, and what have they done to bring their ideas to life? This course examines such thoughts and experiments, with special attention to the optimistic heyday of nineteenth-century communal utopianism. We explore how reformers thought about individualism and community, gender and sex, charisma and faith, work and leisure, technology and nature, to create environments that they believed would allow human beings to best flourish. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: C. Lasser
  
  • FYSP 133 - Science and the Mind


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    NSCI
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS, WRi

    The study of the brain and mind has become one of the most exciting frontiers of science. In this seminar we will discuss some fundamental aspects of science, including reasoning and experimental design. We will also review the basic principles of evolution and the basics of brain structure and function. We will then use these foundations to further explore some of the exciting areas of research in brain and mind. Among the broad topics we will explore: How does the brain work? How do we know what we know? What can brain damage tell us about the mind and how it works? How much of what we perceive is ‘real’? Is there a mind separate from brain? Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: J. Thornton
  
  • FYSP 134 - Crossing Borders: The Mysteries of Identity


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    In Western cultures, identity has tended to be defined in binary terms: an individual is either black or white, male or female, straight or gay, and so on. This seminar will seek to explore the nature of identity by focusing on fiction, essays, and films in which categories of identity - specifically those of race, gender and sexuality - are represented as fluid and ambiguous rather than as fixed and polarized. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: D. Walker
  
  • FYSP 135 - North African Women and Islam


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CD, WRi

    This seminar examines the condition of women in societies torn between tradition and modernity. We will explore literary as well as socio-cultural works particularly in terms of the distinction between the archaic Arab/Berber tradition and Islam as a religion, the evolution of the status of women in North African societies and Western representations of Muslim cultures. Assignments include in-class reports, presentations, research exercises, and papers. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: A. Yedes
  
  • FYSP 137 - Brain is Wider than the Sky


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    NSCI
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS, WRi

    This seminar explores the human mind from the perspective of neurobiology. What are the evolutionary origins of the mind? How are our minds, our brains and our behavior related? To what degree is the mind a product of genes or of culture? Topics such as sensory processing, language, memory, thinking, emotion and consciousness will be explored in lecture, discussion, writing, coloring, library research, student oral presentations and individual and group experiments. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: M. Braford Jr.
  
  • FYSP 140 - Pakistan: A New Nation’s Identities


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    HIST
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi, CD

    Emerging from nationalist struggles against British imperialism, in 1947 Pakistan became a ‘new nation-state’ by and for Muslims. Yet, the identities of the women and men of Pakistan and their state itself have been continually reframed. Reading works of history, literature, politics, and religion, gender, and environmental studies by and about Pakistanis, we explore how people conceived their country from its origins to the present. Short cumulative papers and one term paper required. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: M. Fisher
  
  • FYSP 141 - Women and Their Writings in Japanese Culture


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    EAST, GSFS
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CD, WRi

    This course traces the changing position of women in Japanese history through their literary and other writings. In classical times, narratives and poems by women were among the ‘bestsellers’ of their day. In later centuries, women’s literary voices were muted even as their social roles proliferated. In modern times women in Japan have again figured prominently in the creation of literary and political writing, including essays, novels and manga. Class format is discussion. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: S. Gay
  
  • FYSP 142 - What’s in a Name?


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi, CD

    The course provides an introduction to the study of place names and what they reveal about our histories, cultures and societies. Students will conduct original research about place names in two contexts, one in the United States and the other abroad. In the course of the semester we will discuss issues such as colonialism, multi-lingual settings, monuments, historical memory, the politics of cartography, PC (political correctness), and indigenous rights among others. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: B. Pineda
  
  • FYSP 143 - The Nature of Electronic Materials: Deconstructing the Computer


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    Physics
    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS, WRi

    This seminar will explore the making and measuring of materials used in the common computer. Questions to be addressed include: What sets computer speed and memory? How do you store data? What makes the screen light up? The underlying materials science will be developed as needed through readings, internet resources, and in-class workshops. Students will write and present a series of short papers.
    Instructor: Y. Ijiri
  
  • FYSP 146 - HIV/AIDS in America


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    CAST, GSFS
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi

    What is the state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States? Why has HIV infection disproportionately affected particular groups and localities? What is the role of the United States in the global AIDS pandemic? This interdisciplinary course answers these questions by considering perspectives from the sciences, social sciences, public policy, education, medical care, media and the arts, and activism. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: M. Raimondo
  
  • FYSP 147 - Genesis of Controversy


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    Religion
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    The biblical book of Genesis narrates the opening drama of a divine/human encounter. Foundational to Jewish and Christian scriptures, this ancient text has generated centuries of interpretation and appropriation. This course will examine the Genesis narrative through progressive historical lenses: its relationship to ancient Mesopotamian mythology, its place in ancient Israelite religion, its appropriation and transformation within early Jewish and Christian interpretation, and finally its place within political, legal, and social disputes in the modern U.S. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: C. Chapman
  
  • FYSP 154 - Freud’s Vienna


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    GSFS, HIST
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi

    The Vienna where Freud penned the founding texts of psychoanalysis was the site of unprecedented intellectual and cultural ferment. It was also the birthplace of modern anti-Semitism and the home of the dictator who would destroy much of Europe: Adolf Hitler. How do we connect this political turmoil and intellectual and artistic creativity? In this class, we will explore the politics, culture, and intellectual life of this extraordinary city at this extraordinary moment in history. Enrollment Limit: 14
    Instructor: A. Sammartino
  
  • FYSP 155 - Information, Knowledge and the Internet


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    CSCI
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS, WRi

    This course will look at ways in which technology is making, or is reputed to be making, fundamental changes in the way we think and learn. Along the way we will look at techniques for evaluating information, and for presenting it clearly and effectively, both on paper and electronically. Students in this course will develop web pages, write papers and undertake research projects using both print and electronic references. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: R. Geitz
    Prerequisites & Notes
    No prior computer experience is necessary for this course.
  
  • FYSP 157 - The Sense of Time & Place


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    We often treat time and place as background, focusing on characters and actions rather than their context. In this course we will read and view works that put time and place in the foreground to explore the relationship between our sense of self to time and place. We will also explore how artists characterize the relation between time and place. A second concern in this course is the nature of reading and viewing. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: W.P. Day
  
  • FYSP 159 - Historical Perspectives of Contemporary Central Asia


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    HIST
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: CD, 4SS, WRi

    What are the roots of the conflicts that today stretch across Iraq and Iran to Afghanistan and post-Soviet Central Asia? This seminar focuses on the socio-economic, political, and cultural factors that shaped the region, not the foreign policy dimensions of this history, and pays particular attention to the 19th c ‘Great Game’ between Russia and Britain and its transformation into the Cold War rivalry of the Soviet Union and United States. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: H. Hogan
  
  • FYSP 160 - Satire & the Uses of Laughter


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    Why do we laugh? Are some things just plain funny? Does someone always have to be the butt of the joke? Is laughter an effective means of inspiring self-awareness and bringing about change? In this course we will explore various philosophies of laughter in order to think about its relationship to satire. Our investigation of satire will focus on the question of how satire works both negatively, as a critique of social ills, and positively, to supply, however indirectly, solutions to the problems it delights in exposing. We will work with novels, essays, philosophical writings, film, and television to explore these issues. Enrollment Limit 14.
    Instructor: L. Baudot
  
  • FYSP 162 - Cold War in Asia


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: CD, 4SS, WRi

    The collapse of the Soviet Union brought the Cold War to an abrupt end. This course investigates the cultural, social, and political history of the Cold War in Asia. While we will be examining the ideological and security dimensions of U.S.-Soviet relations in detail, the emphasis will also be to explore the political, economic and ideological impact of the Cold War on Asian societies, with a particular focus on China, Japan, and the two Koreas. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: S. Jager
  
  • FYSP 165 - Feeding the World


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 Hours
    Attribute: 4 NS, QP-H, WR

    This course examines issues of population and food production. World population structure, the history of agriculture, global impacts of the green revolution, and genetically modified foods will be discussed. The intent of the class is to raise profound issues that we will study while practicing skills associated with research including interpreting and manipulating data. The results of these projects will be presented to the class through papers and organized discussions. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: M. Laskowski
  
  • FYSP 167 - Who Was a Jew: Boundaries of Identity


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    HIST
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi, CD

    ‘Jew’ is a far more an ambiguous term than many assume. This course explores cases from antiquity to contemporary times where the content of Jewishness and the boundaries of group identity were ambiguous or contested; criteria used in deliberating identity; and ways that inclusion or exclusion was decided. Cases include: people who became Jews during Graeco-Roman antiquity; Jewish Jesus-followers; Jews in China, India, Africa, South America; identity decisions in the State of Israel, and others.Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: S. Magnus
  
  • FYSP 169 - Campaigns and Elections


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi

    This first-year seminar engages students in a careful analysis of the 2008 campaign, from congressional races to the presidential contest. Students will analyze and interpret campaign events to get a sense of what candidates are doing, how the media covers the race, and how voters react. Through a combination of group projects, short assignments, and essays, we will learn what makes a campaign effective, and what can be done to improve campaign quality. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: M. Parkin
  
  • FYSP 176 - Utopian Thought


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi

    This first-year seminar will read and discuss several works of utopian and dystopian (‘negative utopian’) literature. Emphasis is on utopian thought more than actual utopian communities. The reading list will include some of the following: Plato, More, Fourier, Morris, Gilman, Bellamy, Skinner, Huxley, LeGuin, and Callenbach. Critical thinking will be encouraged through discussion of assigned texts, with frequent writing assignments. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: H. Wilson
  
  • FYSP 179 - Symmetry


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 2HU, 2NS, QP-H, WR

    Both the natural world and the man-made world are rife with symmetry. We will investigate a number of places where symmetry is found. Topics will come from biology, chemistry, and physics on the one hand, and visual art, music, and architecture on the other. We will also discuss the philosophy of aesthetics and its connection to symmetry. To be able to talk coherently about these concepts, we will discuss precise mathematical notions of symmetry, and we will explore the rich world this mathematics opens up.
    Instructor: K. Woods
  
  • FYSP 181 - Selfishness or Altruism?


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS, WRi

    This course explores the ability of evolutionary theory to explain social behavior in humans and other animals. Can natural selection favor cooperation in non-human animals in spite of their ‘selfish genes’? Perhaps so, but can evolutionary theory account for elaborate social phenomena that seem restricted to humans - for example, religion, economic exchange and political alliances? We will explore these issues through discussion, writing exercises and independent projects. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: K. Tarvin
    Prerequisites & Notes
    P/NP Grading only.
  
  • FYSP 184 - Don Quixote Against Reality


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    HISP
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, CD, WRi

    Don Quixote’s strategy for handling reality is one of the keys to understanding modernity in Western society. The novel has served as a model for many interactions between an individual’s idea of the world and the world he/she would like to impose it on. In the light of these thoughts, this course proposes a close reading of ‘Don Quixote’ in the historical context of the different Early Modern medical, magic and aesthetic theories that might have affected and influenced the most widely read work of fiction ever written. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: V. Perez de Leon
  
  • FYSP 188 - Non-Violent Strategies of Conflict


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi

    Examines the ethical and strategic utility of nonviolent forms of action. Through readings of classic literature, modern political theory and case studies, the course explores issues including the concept and utility of violence; moral and strategic arguments for nonviolent forms of action; and practical methods of applying nonviolent action. Examines cases of successful and unsuccessful use of nonviolent resistance in Nazi-occupied Europe, India, the United States, and recent democratizations in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: K. Mani
  
  • FYSP 189 - Tragedy, Comedy, and the Meaning of Life


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    What does it mean to be a creature who knows it must die? Why do we learn by living someone else’s life as a holiday from our own? Intensive study, mixing literary analysis with performance, of representative tragic and comic plays from Classical antiquity and later realizations in Shakespeare’s plays and modern films, with the aim of exploring issues relating to the meaning of life. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: T. Van Nortwick
  
  • FYSP 191 - Social Justice in the United States


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    SOCI
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi, CD

    This course introduces students to theories and sites of social injustice, including education, racial segregation, the growth of low-wage work, and more. Students will analyze these topics from many angles and will find scholarly material that challenges assigned texts, which in turn encourages critical thinking and debate. Students will write regularly on course themes and other topics. They also will have the opportunity to become involved in local social justice organizations. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: P. Dhingra
  
  • FYSP 194 - The Sixth Extinction: Problems and Prospects in Biodiversity Conservation


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    BIOL
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS, WRi

    We will explore the challenges and opportunities surrounding the conservation of biodiversity, using readings from a wide variety of sources as well as several required Sunday field trips to sites of local conservation interest. Among the topics we will discuss are the value of biodiversity, current threats to biodiversity, the impacts of legislation and conservation management decisions on biodiversity, the feasibility of saving species and restoring degraded habitat, and ways to encourage participation in biodiversity conservation. Enrollment limit: 14.
    Instructor: M. Moore
  
  • FYSP 195 - Studying Performance


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    Russian
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4HU, WRi

    What is performance, and how can we, enjoy, analyze, and study it? Using the performance theories of Russian theater innovators Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vsevolod Meyerhold as starting points, we will explore a variety of theorists and practitioners of performance, using the campus and its enormous variety of performances (music, theater, dance, circus) as our laboratory, with a special focus on writing about performance. Enrollment Limit: 14.
    Instructor: T. Scholl
  
  • FYSP 197 - Cats, Cattle, and Corn: On the Origin of Domesticated Species


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS, WRi

    Have you ever wondered what makes wild rice wild? Or why dogs bark but wolves don’t? This course will cover the domestication of species by humans, from cattle and corn to dogs and cats. We will discuss the process of domestication and how it has influenced the evolution and spread of humans. Other possible topics include genetic engineering and the meaning of ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ with respect to species.
    Instructor: A. Roles
  
  • FYSP 198 - I Knew It All Along


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4SS, WRi

    Sometimes what we know, what we think we know, or what we think we would have known biases our interpretation of events. We will examine some of the biases that we bring to our reasoning about the world and the methods that psychological scientists use to eliminate biases in data collection, interpretation, and knowledge construction. We will be designing experiments, collecting data, interpreting findings, writing reports, and presenting results in class. Enrollment Limit: 14
    Instructor: P. deWinstanley
  
  • GEOL 110 - Weather and Climate: Past, Present, and Future


    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 Hours
    Attribute: 3 NS

    New course added 05.13.08.

    We are fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate, to be living in a period of climate change. In this course, we will explore how the climate system works, the proxy records used by scientists to understand past climate, natural climate cycles through geologic time, and the current and predicted climate changes due to human-induced global warming. How fast does climate change? What are the effects of climate change? How do human societies react to changing climate? Enrollment limit: 30.
    Instructor: K. LaBlanc

  
  • GEOL 111 - Glaciology, Ice Ages and Climate Change


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    ENVS
    Next Offered: 2009-2010

    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 Hours
    Attribute: 3 NS, QP-H

    Changing climate causes glaciers to grow or shrink. Advancing ice sculpts Earth’s surface, whereas retreating ice deposits rock debris. Moreover, the ice in glaciers contains a detailed record of climate changes. This course uses glacier dynamics and glacial geology to examine the factors that control climate change, to determine how climate changed in the past, and to analyze natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change. To earn quantitative proficiency, students must complete six problems sets. Enrollment Limit: 60.
    Instructor: S. Wojtal
  
  • GEOL 115 - Coral Reefs: Biology, Geology and Politics


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    ENVS
    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 hours
    Attribute: 3NS

    Coral reefs are dynamic systems that boast the greatest diversity on Earth. Paradoxically, they are among the most efficient but fragile marine systems. This course considers the development of modern and fossil reefs over length scales from millimeters to miles and time frames of minutes to millennia. It examines recent reef decline against the backdrop of long term natural processes in order to understand human stresses on reefs and ways we might mitigate those stresses. Enrollment limit: 50.
    Instructor: D. Hubbard
  
  • GEOL 117 - Meteorite Impacts in Space and Time


    Semester Offered: Second Semester, First Module
    Credits (Range): 1 hours
    Attribute: 1NS

    Enormous amounts of energy are released when meteorites, asteroids, comets, and planets collide at ‘cosmic velocities.’ Serious collisions create impact craters, which occur in abundance throughout the solar system. Topics will include: Did an asteroid kill all the dinosaurs? Do meteorites from Mars contain evidence of extraterrestrial life? Could a large impact end human civilization? Enrollment Limit: 60.
    Instructor: B. Simonson
    Cross List Information
    This course is cross-listed with ASTR 117.
  
  • GEOL 120 - Earth’s Environments


    This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
    ENVS
    Semester Offered: First Semester, Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 4 hours
    Attribute: 4NS

    A survey of Earth’s internal and external features, emphasizing the unifying theory of plate tectonics as well as the study of geologic hazards and Earth resources. Labs and field trips explore Earth materials. local field sites, landforms, and interactions between humans and Earth’s surface. The course is intended for both non-majors and prospective geology majors. All students must enroll in the lecture section plus one lab section in the same semester. Enrollment Limit: 50.
    Instructor: B. Simonson, D. Hubbard, F. Page
    Prerequisites & Notes
    No prerequisites, but high-school chemistry recommended. Note: May not be taken for credit in addition to either GEOL 160 or GEOL 162
  
  • GEOL 122 - Natural Disasters


    Semester Offered: Second Semester
    Credits (Range): 2 Hours
    Attribute: 2 NS

    “Civilization exists by geologic consent, subject to change without notice” is a quotation often ascribed to historian Will Durant. In this course we will explore the various ways in which Nature can partially or wholly revoke this consent. Emphasis will be placed on the geologic origin of natural hazards such as volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and meteorite impacts as well as their impacts on society. Enrollment Limit: 30.
    Instructor: K. LaBlanc
  
  • GEOL 128 - Headlines from the History of Life


    Semester Offered: First Semester, Second Module
    Credits (Range): 2 Hours
    Attribute: 2 NS

    The history of life is punctuated by major changes and governed by diverse processes, and these are reflected in the fossil record. Topics include: the life and demise of the dinosaurs, evolutionary patterns in the fossil record, causes and consequences of mass extinction, and the evolution of mammals, including humans. Did dinosaurs have feathers? How do major adaptations such as flight evolve? Why do human beings have big brains? Enrollment Limit: 100.
    Instructor: K. Hubbard
  
  • GEOL 161 - Marine Science


    Next Offered: 2009-2010
    Semester Offered: First Semester
    Credits (Range): 3 Hours
    Attribute: 3 NS

    An investigation of geological, physical, chemical and biological processes operating in the oceans and ocean basins, emphasizing interactions among them. We examine marine geology, plate tectonics, ocean circulation, sea water chemistry, waves, tides and coastal processes in the modern oceans. We also explore the geologic history of ocean basins. The final third of the course covers marine life, including plankton, coral reefs, deep sea life, and marine mammals, and explores human interactions with the oceans. Enrollment Limit: 60.
    Instructor: K. Hubbard, S. Wojtal
  
  • GEOL 182 - Field Practicum


    Next Offered: 2009-2010
    Semester Offered: Second Semester, First Module
    Credits (Range): 2 Hours
    Attribute: 2 NS

    This course uses readings and field observations to examine the tectonic evolution of the Appalachian Mountains and modern sedimentary environments of the Carolina coastline. In weekly meetings during the first module, we survey primary literature on the region. Students and faculty will present and discuss papers in a seminar format. The course culminates with a required week-long field trip run during spring break to visit localities covered in the seminar.
    Instructor: K. Hubbard
    Prerequisites & Notes
    Requirements: Geol 120 and permission of instructor.

     

 

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