After reading the descriptions below, please return to the Advising Questionnaire to list which seminars interest you the most. For an explanation of the ESP general education codes at the end of each description, please refer to the Education through Skills and Perspectives link. Please note that the meeting time for all seminars is Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30-12:00.
"Equations are just the boring part of mathematics. I attempt to see things in terms of geometry." -Stephen Hawking
This seminar will focus on how to adapt to and thrive in new settings. High school geometry accepts the parallel postulate* as a truth. By rejecting this postulate, we will explore and envision new worlds. In 1997, Daina Taimina (Cornell University) determined how to crochet a model of hyperbolic space. By using Taimina's brain coral model, Margaret Wertheim (the Institute for Figuring) demonstrates that "… the most famous postulate in mathematics is wrong." We will create models of hyperbolic surfaces and learn why they contradict Euclid’s parallel postulate. This seminar will connect hyperbolic geometry, a community crochet project, and leadership skills. Students will:
Several of Taimina's models
*The modern version of Euclid's Fifth Postulate (The Parallel Postulate) is Playfair's postulate. It states that given a line l and a point p not on line l, there is exactly one line through p that is parallel to l.
Instructor: Professor Diefenderfer
Student Success Leader: Caitlin Shipe
What do our clothes say about us? From togas to Lady Gaga’s meat dress, people everywhere have used clothing to create gender and class identity, as well as to protect themselves from the elements. In this seminar, we will look at the history of fashion in the western world from ancient times to the present, from Egyptian fashions to Alexander McQueen. We will be using the lens of art history to study clothing from the distant past, as well as fashion photography for the dress of more recent eras. We will think about fashion as a cultural industry. The core of our seminar will be student-led discussions and presentations, but we will also have hands-on activities involving the creation (by cutting, assembling, and sewing) of garments inspired by historical periods. (f, x, r)
Instructor: Professor Nolan
Student Success Leader: Caitlin Hoerr
The separation of church (faith) and state (politics) is a foundational principle for most liberal democracies around the world. But, as Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is." In countries throughout the world, the relationship between faith and politics is much more fluid and interconnected than it might seem on the surface. For example, politicians in the United States routinely discuss their religious faith publicly and attend rallies and fundraisers supported by religious organizations. How do politicians negotiate the tenets of their own faith while attending to the needs of a multicultural and interfaith constituency? As (post) modern societies, have we abandoned our moral and religious principles in favor of a cultural and social politics that is relativistic or is the exact opposite of this more correct, suggesting an interdependence of faith and religion worldwide that is on the rise?
In this course, we will ask many of these philosophical questions while we examine practical case studies of the intersections and interactions between religion and political life. As this is an American election year, we will focus a significant amount of our analysis on the rhetoric of "culture war" and evangelical faith during the 2012 fall elections. Students, working in both group and individual projects, will follow political issues in the United States and worldwide where religion is a major issue in the daily life of its citizens. In addition to US politics, we will have units examining religion and politics in France, new Arab Spring democracies, India, the UK, Uganda, and other international regions. We intend the course to be a critical space where we examine these controversial issues in a safe and accepting environment where we can learn from the different perspectives and experiences of our colleagues. (o, r)
Instructors: Professors Bohland and Schumm
Student Success Leader: Cecelia Parks
From Sam Cooke to Bob Dylan and from Rage Against the Machine to Public Enemy, music has provided the soundtrack for modern American history. Whether garage, pop, indie, southern, punk, grunge, metal, cowboy, or hip-hop, music says volumes about who we are as a people. While much of American culture has fought to wall itself off from foreign influences, the music has embraced those cultures from the British invasion to Bob Marley and from Shakira to German death metal. Music about race, war, poverty, gender, and social alienation has fed the social critique and engaged generations of Americans to work for a better world. This class will use that soundtrack as historical evidence to analyze recent American history. (DIV, f, x, r)
Instructor: Professor Coogan
Student Success Leader: Maria Latiolais
As the nation and the world watch the progress of the 2012 U.S. Presidential campaign and absorb the results, this course will step back from the daily "noise" of the 24-hour news cycle and examine just what goes on in a Presidential campaign and in the first months of a Presidential term. Students will "adopt" either a Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate (including candidates from a prominent third-party campaign, if there is one) and take part in a number of hands-on, collaborative projects designed to capture the essence and the spirit of trying to become President. These projects will include, but not be limited to, designing campaign materials, scheduling your adopted candidate in a key "swing state," counting likely Electoral College votes, and preparing for the first months of the new Presidential term. The course will also make comparisons with other nations' methods of choosing heads of government. Whether or not you'd like to be President yourself someday, this course will help you to understand the men and women who do enter that unique arena. (r)
Instructor: Professor Lynch
Student Success Leader: Meghan Brown
"Are you watching television or is television watching you?"
Neal Postman & Steve Powers, How to Watch TV News
"Man came by to hook up my cable TV
We settled in for the night my baby and me
We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn
There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on"
Bruce Springsteen, 57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)
Television is changing fundamentally. Cable and satellite systems now offer up to 300 channels, far exceeding the number in Springsteen's song. TV screens are getting bigger, with better images, and even 3-D capability, yet we increasingly watch our favorite shows on portable digital tablets and smart phones. On the other hand, much about television remains fundamentally the same. Popular programming remains formulaic and predictable. The television industry continues to be dominated by a few huge companies, and we continue to spend lots of time watching it—nearly five hours a day for the average American, according to the Nielson Company—and to structure parts of our daily lives around it. The overarching goal of this course is to change how you think about, talk about, and watch TV. In the process you will learn about the structures and aesthetics of television programs, how these are shaped by the television industry, the effects of television on individuals and society, and the changing nature of TV technology. You will also develop skill in video production and expository writing. (MOD, o, r)
Instructor: Professor Richter
Student Success Leader: Lachelle Roddy
"Gaia, the earth goddess, teaches justice to those who can learn; for the better she is served, the more good things she gives in return," (Xenophon, Oeconomicus V.12).
This quote from Xenophon, a Greek historian of the 4th century BCE, illustrates that humans have never existed in isolation but have an awareness of and live intertwined with the complex biotic communities that surround them. This is as true for the ancient societies in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and the Roman Empire, as it is for our contemporary world. What these ancient communities thought about nature can be found in ideas expressed in their mythology, literature, theology, and art. How they interacted with and altered their surroundings can be traced in the remains of their farmsteads, urban centers, religious sanctuaries...and garbage pits. This course will be an introduction to the environmental history of the ancient Mediterranean using many and varied ancient sources to discover the destructive and successful ways humans have lived in the natural world. (PRE, f, x, r)
Instructor: Professor Salowey
Student Success Leader: Catherine Hensly
Have you ever wanted to see if a myth was really true? This seminar explores the science and ingenuity necessary to identify, solve, and present findings on whether or not an urban legend or myth is true or false. Through required readings and using the popular television series, Mythbusters, as an example, students will be presented with a series of myths or urban legends and be required to prove them true or false by using the scientific method. Students will also be required to design and build, with instructor approval, small-scale experiments to prove their findings using the scene shop in the theatre. Students will then present their findings to the class in an oral presentation, as well as submit their research, findings, and conclusions in a research paper format for each myth. (o, r)
Instructor: Professor Forsman
Student Success Leader: Holly Milch
Power and passion are forces that have led human beings to act in extreme and extraordinary ways throughout history. While the feats of powerful and passionate men abound in the annals of history, many of the women whose actions are no less impressive have been written out of the so-called "official story." Nowhere is this more apparent than in patriarchal and third-world societies where women who have had a thirst for power or who have overstepped the rules for passion have been silenced, ostracized, imprisoned, or killed. This course will focus on a number of extraordinary women in Latin America who have, without receiving due credit, changed the course of history with their passion for life, love, and power.
In this course, you will learn about these extraordinary women and many others who, through strength of character, have managed to live freely and defy the rules of their day. We will study their lives through novels, movies, articles, and music. Do you have what it takes to become a passionate and powerful woman? You do not need to have studied Spanish to take this seminar. Open to anyone who is intrigued by power and passion! (GLO, f, x, r)
Instructor: Professor Ridley
Student Success Leader: Mollyemma Teague
The world of power politics is traditionally considered a man's world ... except. There have always been women holding and exercising power in their own right: Elizabeth I is the most famous, but examples can be multiplied almost limitlessly: the Pharaoh Hatshetsup, Queen Cleopatra, Empress Zenobia, Queen Urraca of Castile, on up to the present Elizabeth II and Beatrix. This course will look at women and politics and attempt to discover if female power is acquired and wielded in ways that are different from male power. (f, x, r)
Instructors: Professors Leedom and Nuñez
Student Success Leader: Emily Wood
"Taking the crooked road" is a phrase for playing a particular type of fiddle melody. These tunes are thought to be among the oldest in Appalachia. The tunes are surprising, breaking the "rules" of musical composition. In recent times, The Crooked Road refers to a stretch of highway that connects the Blue Ridge Mountains to the coal fields of the Cumberland Mountains. The music along this road speaks of every aspect of mountain life – coal mining, farming, dancing, describing love and loss, recounting the Civil War, enduring poverty, building railroads, and expressing spirituality and faith. We will explore this heritage through in-class lectures and research projects and by traveling on the Crooked Road to attend live performances, visit instrument makers, and interview musicians. (AES, o, r)
Instructor: Professor Krause
Student Success Leader: Jessica Newberne
The disconnect between humans and the natural world has become increasingly common. In his essay, Thinking Like a Mountain, Aldo Leopold ponders the meaning of wilderness and the disconnect humans have with wild things and wild places. More recently, in his 2006 book, The Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv refers to this disconnect as "Nature-Deficit Disorder." The goal of this course is to develop or reestablish the connections our students have with the natural world, converting nature from something abstract and ethereal to something tangible through experiential learning, discovery, and scientific inquiry. To give perspective and direction to this exploration of nature, conservation, and environmental sustainability, students will explore the writings of Leopold, Louv, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Annie Dillard, Rachel Carson, and others. Experiences will include observation of organisms in aquatic and terrestrial habitats, navigation and orienteering, and exploration of the natural environment through journaling, individual and group-oriented exercises, and ultimately the development of a personal environmental ethic. (SCI, r)
Instructors: Professors Wilson and Owens
Student Success Leader: Sarah Knox
Does Michael Scott's behavior in "The Office" reflect the reality of today's workplace? Is the bullying boss played by Meryl Streep more common than not? How accurate are the portrayals of work on the small and big screens? This course will explore mass media images of work and the workplace through the use of current and historical television shows and films. Applying basic mass communication and organizational communication theory and methods, students will analyze television shows such as "The Office," "Scrubs," and "Grey's Anatomy" and movies, including "Office Space," "The Devil Wears Prada," and "Working Girl." Issues to be investigated will include gender, sexual harassment, conflict, work-life balance, and leadership. Students' analyses of these artifacts will be facilitated through comparison to the "real" world of work as they read scholarly and popular press articles about work/working. Students will also interview those in the workplace. As a final project, students will be able to make their own short video depicting life in "the office." (r)
Instructor: Professor Joseph
Student Success Leader: Bethany O'Neil
