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The General Education Program

The First Year Seminar and the interdisciplinary programs constitute an imaginative and dynamic general education curriculum for Hiram College students. The First Year Seminar, a four-semester-hour course, focuses on developing each student’s ability to examine an important issue from new perspectives and to acquire and integrate new knowledge. Each first year seminar incorporates substantial writing instruction and practice into the course.

The interdisciplinary programs include collegia, interdisciplinary courses and interdisciplinary minors. All three are designed to provide students with an integrative educational experience which brings different disciplines’ perspectives to bear on a substantive intellectual topic.

In the upper-class collegia, two or more faculty members from different disciplines focus on a substantial intellectual idea or issue. Each collegium is a coherent, integrated three-course sequence completed during one academic year.

Each interdisciplinary course offering examines an important intellectual issue or problem from the perspective of different disciplines. These courses can be taught by one faculty member or team-taught by two faculty. The course design serves as a model format for understanding the interrelationships among disciplines. The interdisciplinary minors are designed to draw on different departmental perspectives and provide added depth and breadth to the integrative experience.

The collegia, the interdisciplinary courses and the interdisciplinary minor provide students with discipline-based knowledge and a clear sense of the interconnectedness and interdependence among disciplines. Hiram’s general education curriculum always emphasizes the development of student skills in critical thinking and effective writing and speaking. The First Year Seminar places particular emphasis on effective writing skills during the freshman year.

The Collegia Program

The upper-class collegia are learning units, created by two or more faculty from different disciplines, focusing on a substantial intellectual idea or issue. Like the First Year Seminar, the collegia will give attention to developing students’ skills in critical thinking, effective writing, and speaking. Descriptions of the courses in each collegium can be found in the respective departmental course listings. Successful completion of one (1) upper-class collegium meets the Interdisciplinary graduation requirement for all students.

Collegium: African American Perspectives

Faculty:
Justin Kelly, Music
Ellen Summers, English
Vivien Sandlund, History

This collegium will focus on the interrelationships among history, music, and drama in the African American past and present. The collegium places African American aesthetic sensibilities within their historical context, thus demonstrating the interdependence of knowledge in different fields. The study of Africa and African American drama, for example, requires a working knowledge of Africa and African American history just as the study of history is enlivened by theatrical example, for the stuff of drama reflects a people’s social and political experiences over time. Consideration of African American music is also of key importance, because music may be seen as a linchpin for African American culture as a whole.

Courses

Music 210 African American Music
History 266 African American History to 1867
English/Theatre Arts 210 Africa and African American Drama
History 266 counts toward the history major or minor.
English/Theatre Arts 210 counts toward the English major or minor.

Collegium: The British Frame of Mind

Faculty:
Kirsten Parkinson, English
Janet Pope, History
Rodney Hessinger, History
Ellen Summers, English

This collegium considers British cultural developments from historical, literary, and cultural viewpoints. Through extensive field trips, Britain is used as a laboratory to illustrate and integrate what, on the surface, appears to be different approaches by the two disciplines participating. Efforts are made to relate the lessons of Britain ’s rise and fall to our role in the world today, and, of course, to emphasize the overwhelming role of our British inheritance. (Offered off-campus only.)

Courses

History 220 Studies in British History
INTD 305 The Artistic and Architectural Monuments of Great Britain
English 428 Special Topics in British Literature
English 428 counts toward the English major. History 220 counts toward the History major. (Offered off-campus only.)

Collegium: Development and Change in an African Setting

Faculty:
Mary Ann Brockett, Communication
Gwen Fischer, Psychology
Kim King, Sociology
Stephen Zabor, Economics

The purpose of the collegium will be an examination of the impact of development and change in sub-Saharan Africa from a sociological, psychological, communication, and economic perspective. Primary emphasis will be given to the effect of the colonial experience with particular reference to societal structures and individual identity. The earliest contact between African peoples and other cultures and the basic reason for colonization was economic. Understanding the traditional economic system as well as a more recent economic development is crucial to understanding modern African nations. With economic development have come dramatic technological changes particularly in communication patterns affecting all aspects of society. The psychological and societal impact on the day-to-day activities, the dramatic alteration of social relations, the changes in economic influence and the availability of information all illustrate the collegium’s theme of development and change. (Includes an off-campus component.)

Courses

INTD 368 From Colony to Nation State: Communication and Identity in the Zimbabwean Experience
Sociology/Anthropology 160 Cultures of Africa
Communication 250 Communication Between Cultures
Economics 214 Economic Change in Sub-Saharan Africa

Students who take the African collegium on campus must take Communication 250, Sociology/Anthropology 160 and Economics 214. Students who take the EMS trip as part of the collegium must take INTD 368, Economics 214 and Sociology/Anthropology 160. Communication 250 counts toward a Communication major/minor. Sociology/Anthropology 160 counts toward a Sociology/Anthropology major. Economics 214 may be used to fulfill requirements for an Economics major/minor, a Management major/minor, or International Economics/Management minor.

Collegium: Exploitation in Mesoamerica

Faculty:
Craig Moser, Economics
Jane Oyarzun, Spanish
Matthew Hils, Biology
Linda Rea, Communication
Katherine Feather, Education
Debra Rodriguez, Spanish

The collegium focuses on the theme of exploitation of Mesoamerica as viewed from different perspectives and disciplines, including ecology, history, literature, language, and civilization. Students will examine alternative ways of interpreting events from a perspective gained at a distance in the United States and from personal experience in Mexico and Costa Rica. (Includes an off-campus component.)

Collegium: Israel and the Middle East: Ancient and Modern

Faculty:
Dixon Slingerland, Religious Studies
Glenn Sharfman, History

This collegium will study the origins and development of Judaism and Islam from a religious and historical perspective. It will discuss present political, religious and cultural problems in Israel and the Middle East by examining the roots of these issues. We will concentrate on the similarities and differences between Judaism and Islam as well as their relationships to the Christian World.

Courses

Religious Studies 245 Old Testament Literature and Interpretation
History 255 Israel and Palestine
History 250 Modern Jewish History and the Formation of Israel
INTD 348 People and Cultures of Israel .

Religious Studies 245 counts toward a Religious Studies major or minor. History 215 and 250 count toward a History major or minor.

Collegium: The Russian Experience

Faculty:
David Fratus, English
Craig Moser, Economics
Glenn Sharfman, History
Edward Smerek, Mathematics

Russia has remained an enigma to Americans. Its sheer size, volatility, and position as a “Great Power” pose difficult questions for those seeking to understand Russian decisions. This collegium will acquaint students to the complexities that Russian civilization presents. Russian authors like Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov write not only of the diversity of the 19th century Russian society but probe more deeply into the dilemmas facing their country and the human condition in general. Russian Economics provide a case study in how the Marxist-Leninist ideal of Communism can be applied in a modern society. The history course will attempt to understand the extremeness of Russian politics, analyze the causes and effects of the Russian revolution, look at the Cold War from the Soviets’ view, explore Stalin’s brutal reign, and discuss the significant changes that Gorbachev has instituted and the turmoil of the Yeltsin years. In alternate years, the collegium will include the INTD 331: Landmarks of Russian Civilization course as a three-week session course in Russia. This will provide students with first hand experiences in Russia.

Courses

Economics 326 Soviet Economics in Transition
History 245 Modern Russia and Eastern Europe
INTD 322 Literature and Film: Russia
INTD 331 Landmarks of Russian Civilization (offered off-campus only)
English 280 Seminar: Russian Literature

English 280 will count toward the English major or minor. Economics 326 counts as an elective toward an Economics major and International Economics and Management minor. History 245 counts toward an upper level history course for a History major.

First-Year Colloquium

As the first course in our First Year Program, the Freshman Colloquium has two major goals – to orient the student to the institution, college life, and collegiate academics, and to facilitate transition to college level composition. The first goal seeks to provide a smooth transition to life in the Hiram Community. The second, curricular goal, while embedded in a discipline, provides opportunities to write in varied genres, to various audiences, given varying rhetorical situations. Colloquia teach the process of writing, and emphasize writing as a tool for ‘inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating’ (K. B. Yancy, College English, 63(3):321-325. 2001).

120 Stories Behind Everyday Things
4 hours  
The necktie does not have a single practical purpose. So where did it come from? And why is it still worn?  Why are baseballs laced together in red? Why do brides wear veils and take care to have with them “something borrowed” and “something blue?” Why is a bad play called a “turkey?” Our lives are filled with “everyday things.” Where did they come from? What human need do they fulfill? Does it matter? Maybe.

In this course we will find ways to discover the answers to life’s little mysteries. Through research, creative writing, storytelling and field trips we will look for the meaning beneath the mundane. Perhaps when we end our search we can amaze our friends with our knowledge of the trivial. But perhaps, too, we will have learned something about ourselves and what it is to be human. We will look at the ways in which these everyday things were advertised. How do they appeal to our preoccupation with our bodies and our images of ourselves? What do the movies and TV shows we watch say about us? Or the music we listen to? The toys we play with? Our choice of food and drink? Cartoons and comic books . . . beer and brassieres . . . chairs and chocolate . . . vitamins and vacuum cleaners . . ..  Let’s look at the familiar from a new vantage point. Perhaps we shall see how far we have come. Or find we are back where we started . . .

125 Music in a Changing World
4 hours
Music symbolizes a people’s way of life and expresses the most deeply felt aspects of human experience. It is the language of remembrance, celebration, courtship, protest, and prayer. In this class we will explore the wide variety of musical traditions in North America, many of which originated in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Nowhere in the world is there a greater range of musical styles. We will listen to and write about classical, folk, and popular music. We will closely examine the cultural contexts of music making in a multiethnic society.  Students will be expected to research and write thoughtfully about music, to make oral presentations, and to participate in occasional “hands-on” activities such as dancing and drumming. There will be at least one field trip to an ethnic restaurant.

128 The Good Life
4 hours
"Psychology is not just the study of weakness and damage; it is also---or should be---the study of strength and virtue. Treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is nurturing what is best within ourselves" (Seligman, 1998).  Traditionally, definitions of, as well as guidance and direction towards, “The Good Life” have been the purview of religion or philosophy. Aristotle observed that we all seek happiness and the good life, but may not agree on its definition. As a result, people make vary different choices in life. In this course we will examine the question of whether science can inform our pursuit of the good life. With some cross-cultural comparisons, we may hope to discover whether there are universal definitions of happiness and how it can be achieved. Some of the topics we will examine are:

• Flow or optimal experience
• Emotional Intelligence
• Optimism and Pessimism
• Social support and friendship
• Love and work
• Creativity and play
• Human characteristics such as courage, forgiveness and wisdom

In exploring these topics and issues, we will examine the research to discover whether science can tell us what personal characteristics, external circumstances or life pursuits are most likely to contribute to our happiness. Class will be devoted to discussion of readings, films and other works to help us understand how we might choose a good life.

135 Solving the Crime
4 hours
It all looks so easy on TV. The detectives arrive at the scene of the crime, poke around a bit, pick up some evidence, drop it off at the lab, and within the 1-hour timeslot the crime is solved. On TV and in detective novels the crime lab is often a black box, a place where the evidence is dropped off and the desired answers are retrieved some time later. So what actually goes on in the lab?

We’ve all heard about fingerprint analysis, and most of us have heard about DNA evidence, but forensic scientists also have a wealth of other tools at their disposal. In this course we will look at detective fiction from Sherlock Holmes to Kay Scarpetta, and detective TV from Quincy M.E. to CSI. In analyzing the literature and film, we will explore how the science of detective work has changed over the years. For example, blood analysis has evolved tremendously since the time of Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1875, forensic specialists were able to determine that a spot of red was indeed blood and not a drop of paint. By 1910, those in forensic medicine were able to distinguish between human blood and blood from other sources, as well as to divide the human blood into one of four groups (A, B, AB, and O). Now, forensic scientists, using genetic analysis, can often link a blood sample to one specific individual. Along with blood analysis, we will cover other analytical techniques we read about in detective novels or see in detective shows on TV. We will talk about how the different techniques can be used, the science behind the techniques, and the limitations of each technique. During the course of the term, each student will be expected to write four papers, give two oral presentations, and participate in a variety of discussion sessions and quick labs.

138 Wolves and Civilization
4 hours
By surveying the representation of the wolf in history, myth, folklore, literature, natural history, and popular culture, this course seeks to examine the complexities of the natural and political relationship between humans and wolves. During the term we will screen a werewolf movie (yet to be determined) in order to understand more completely the human fascination with the power of this animal. We will use these varying fields to analyze the ideology that now constitutes our understanding of the wolf. We will examine the virtual extinction of the wolf in the lower 48 states of America and why some people want to re-introduce the wolf. Wolves have been re-introduced in Yellowstone, and they have also been reintroduced in the Southwest.

As human development has spread and wolf populations expand to include a tiny of fraction of their original territory, there is now a tremendous amount of interest in wolves and wolf reintroduction. The readings also demonstrate how the lives of humans and wolves are deeply connected to the margin and the mainstream of our society. For hundreds of years our country engaged in a sometime organized campaign to exterminate the wolf. The ferocity and sadism of hundreds of years of wolf slaughter calls out for intellectual inquiry. With wolves now making reclaiming some former habitat in the lower 48 states, we now ask why this mysterious yet social animal has provoked such violence, compassion, and interest.

140 Against the Gods: The Mathematics of Gambling
4 hours
Involvement in gambling and games is of a great interest of many today. Large numbers of people regularly play the lottery prizes while the NCAA March Madness basketball pools have never been more popular. Land based and riverboat casinos have become an “Economic IV” to many struggling economies. Although lotteries, casinos and sports betting are generally considered entertainment, we essentially gamble with our retirement dollars when we invest in a particular stock or mutual fund or deposit the amount in an insured saving account. We can consider the current congressional discussion as to whether or not to allow oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness a game of chance. Is drilling and the benefits we may derive worth the possible environmental impact?

Although these instances are quite diverse, the have one commonality. They each involve uncertainty. In no circumstance are we guaranteed what will happen, and hence we generally reach a decision by examining the possible outcomes along with the probability of the outcome.

This colloquium looks at some of the significant and elegant mathematics that is available to consider questions involving uncertainty. Topics will include basic classical and elementary probability theory and its application to decision making under uncertainty. We will study elementary logic, elementary set theory, partitions and counting, mathematical expectation, probability theory, the law of large numbers, and the gambler’s ruin. In particular, the gambling forms to be studied will include dice, poker, roulette, blackjack, craps, lotteries, and perhaps backgammon. The primary emphasis of this course will be on understanding and applying the mathematics behind these activities. It is important that each student in the colloquium have four years of high school mathematics.

Merely understanding these calculated probabilities are no guarantee that you will make the correct decisions, although you will make better decisions. We learn that a good decision can yield unfavorable results while a poor decision might, on occasion, result in surprising benefits. Your decision making in life, as well as in games of chance, ought to improve if you can make good assessments of the various outcomes. Probability describes a degree of belief in these outcomes. The stronger the degree of belief in an outcome, the larger the probability associated with it. In examples concerning dice, cards, etc., there is widespread agreement about the appropriate model and little disagreement about the probabilities derived. In others, such as the gain or loss of a stock price, there will be honest differences of opinions. Discovering whether these differences have a serious effect on our decisions is a vital part of any analysis.

143 All Flesh is Grass: So, Are People Just Plants?
4 hours
From the moment we start our day with juice, coffee, tea or hot chocolate, then on to dressing in cotton clothing, eating our meals, reading and writing on paper, and finally enjoying evening relaxation with a glass of juice, wine, or beer, plants and their products are with us. In this colloquium we will explore our dependence on the botanical world both for survival and pleasure, how some plants are essential in commerce and culture, even in our “modern” world, and how certain species changed history. We will read about and discuss how we came to know about these useful plants, how we have “improved” them over the millennia (including with genetic engineering), and how we manipulate and use them today. We will read, talk and write about foods, fibers, poisons, medicines, and hallucinogens. Many current and important issues today, such as genetically modified foods and medical marijuana, are centered on what organisms we use, how we use them, and how we obtain them. In our work, we will be especially concerned with how important and useful plants affect culture and society.

Our time will be devoted to readings and discussions about a wide range of topics regarding plants used by people. Some of this will be directed by me at the start of the term, but many later topics will grow out of the early readings and discussions and will be determined by the students participating in the colloquium. We will do at least one field trip to Malley’s Chocolate Factory and the West Side Market in Cleveland. There will be several assignments to practice different forms of writing (e.g., journaling, informative writing, persuasive prose) and to practice speaking to a group (e.g., formal and informal classroom discussions and formal presentations).

146 Whistle While You Work — A Study of Corporate Scandals
4 hours
Last year, Time magazine persons of the year were three whistleblowers. These individuals saw wrongdoing and spoke out against the actions, even in the face of criticism and loss of popularity.

In this colloquium, we will study the recent financial scandals involving high flying corporations like Enron and MCI, as well as the financial scandals involving socially responsible corporations like Freddie Mac. We will analyze why and how the scandals happened, the reforms that have been implemented to reduce the future risk of scandals, and the impact scandals have had on the individuals responsible, employees, creditors and investor.

Most of the course will be spent studying the actions of the individuals who spoke out against the scandals. We will analyze how they were treated, their motives and their life afterward.

150 Society and the Arts
4 hours
The study of people and the world of aesthetics are crucial to the process of self-reflection. The fine and performing arts present us with new and exciting opportunities for this reflection. Art, music, theatre, dance, film, and architecture each provide us with avenues to look at ourselves in relationship to today's ever-changing society. The aim of this colloquium is to examine the arts and, by doing so, discover how and why they influence us.

We will explore the effects that the arts have on us as a part of today's society as well as individuals. We will study how the arts have been, and currently are, changed by our heritage and our culture. Selected readings will be chosen from topics which include: appreciation of the arts, film, television, writing in the arts, censorship and the arts, cultural institutions, arts beyond the classroom, and government and the arts.

Field trips will play an integral part in this colloquium. We will take trips throughout the course to experience first-hand the fine and performing arts that are available in northeastern Ohio. A field trip fee of $350.00 is necessary to cover the cost of tickets, admissions, transportation, etc. Approximately 10 to 12 field trips are planned during the Twelve-week session. The field trips will usually be scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday (afternoons or evenings) or Sunday afternoon.

Students will be expected to write four papers, maintain a weekly journal, make two oral presentations, and actively participate or lead in the class discussions.

154 Spiritual Autobiography
4 hours
Life is a wonderful journey, described in cultures around the world in spiritual terms, and presented over and over again as story. Contemporary religionists and ethicists talk of the importance of narrative in understanding ourselves and our roots. We understand who we are through the stories we are told and there is a sense in which we are constructing our own lives in narrative form. In this context it is illuminative to study the narratives given us by others in the many spiritual traditions.

We will look at several of these, some of them written by people from our own continent, some not. We will ask about the similarities and differences between a Vietnamese Buddhist nun and an American Catholic priest, a Chinese traditionalist and an American seeker, a Hindu yogi and a civil rights leader.

And along the way we will share from our own stories. We look at the world we were born into, and we tell stories from our families.

Some of what we uncover will be archetypal; all of it is particular. Some of it will appear to us as particularly strange; some of it will be comfortable. We will discover much of ourselves here, sometimes in the telling and sometimes in contrast. I hope that none of it will be familiar.

157 Politics and Power, Public Issues and Private Lives
4 hours
This Colloquium will be for those of you really interested in closely following and debating issues and elections and discussing politics during this 2004 Presidential Election year. The year 2001 was a provocative, tragic and thought provoking year. It brought us a national tragedy 9/11 , a War on Terrorism, the Axis of Evil, Enron and Campaign Finance Reform, increased patriotism and U.S. flag sales and airport security, an economic recession, and a search for a new normal as we try to balance our security and our liberty in a post 9/11 world. These issues still resonate today.

In 2003 US forces with our allies successfully deposed Saddam Hussein in Iraq. We have had an uneasy military occupation of Iraq since May 2003. However, we have not found weapons of mass destruction, a major reason for going to war. Domestically, we are running record deficits in the Federal budget and have enacted temporary tax reductions, which have helped our recovery from the 2001 recession, however, to date; the recovery has been largely job-less. The Democratic Presidential Primaries are under way, with a number of candidates in the running. Who will the Democrats nominate as their candidate to run against the incumbent President Bush in November 2004?

My goal for teaching Decision 2004 is simple. I want you to experience being an active involved and informed citizen. We will discuss presidential politics and issues in theory and practice as we critically evaluate debate and analyze the national and global political and economic issues, which continue to swirl around us.

The year 2004 is also an important election year for all Congressional representatives and a third of the Senators. Remember, elections determine who holds political power at this critical time.

We need to learn what the candidates stand for. What are their different positions on important issues? What are their values? What do they stand for? Do they deserve our trust? Do they deserve our vote? How do we follow a political campaign? How do we do our homework and become an informed voter? How do we decide whom to vote for in November? Whom do you trust? Why?

162 Ghouls and Goblins: The Cultural Meanings of Monsters
4 hours  
From Beowulf to Sesame Street, monsters haunt our cultural imagination. As children, we imagine them under the bed at night. As adults, we ostensibly reject their existence but nevertheless are fascinated by the stories of Frankenstein’s monster or Bigfoot. In this course, we will look at various representations of monsters from early literature through modern-day serial killers as a way of examining the social value of monstrosity. Why do we create monsters? What cultural fears or anxieties do monsters reflect? How do they allow us to displace such fears onto an cultural outsider? How do monsters help us to understand or complicate concepts such as good and evil, human and non-human? We will also set each monster in its cultural context to understand how it reflects a particular historical time or issue. For instance, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein both drew on and fed early 19^th-century anxieties about the role and scope of science in human lives and pushed readers to ask themselves what characteristics made one human.

165 You Are What You Eat, Or Are You?
4 hours
The preparation, serving, and eating of food are common features of all human societies. Factors influencing food-related behaviors have been the focus of study of numerous scholars from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives. This course is specifically designed to introduce a broad spectrum of ideas from different disciplines and apply them to the complex behavior of acquiring, preparing and consuming human food. More broadly, my goal for this course is to provide students with a comfortable and supportive setting in which to practice their writing and speaking skills, as well as expand their “comfort zone” (or willingness to try new things).

Specific topics to be addressed in the course include the history of food preparation, the basic sensory properties of food, how learning and the brain affect food-related behavior, how we develop food preferences and disgust, and the social factors that influence food behavior. We will end the term by discussing psychopathology and food, or abnormal food-related behavior (such as eating disorders).

168 The World According to You: What’s Your Point and Why?
4 hours
Race, gender, class, culture and generation are five significant factors that influence the way we see the world and form our opinions. In this course we will explore the origins of individual perspective and human differences and we will use a number of academic disciplines as tools to examine human experience, including our own. We will read (approximately 150 pages per week), write (weekly essays, papers, or in-class exercises), view films, attend campus presentations, complete a service learning project, do class presentations, have a mid-term and final exam, and interact with each other in class. We will also have fun as we come to understand the differences between fact, opinion, and belief, and as we practice using critical thought skills in understanding our selves and others.

Learning outcomes we expect to achieve in this class include improved skill and comfort in expressing ourselves (orally and in writing), success in making the transition from high school to college-level academic work, experience in the application of basic critical thought skills (e.g. differentiate major from minor points, recognize the difference between fact, opinion and belief, use multiple perspectives, etc.), an introductory understanding of several academic disciplines, and increased understanding of the complexity of major social issues and how our points of view are shaped and influenced.

171 Cross-Cultural encounters in Life and Literature
4 hours
The cross-cultural encounter is always a two-way street. Not only is the other person a strange and foreign creature, but so, too, are we. Though some of us crave foreign travel, embrace the global village, or long for the exotic and the unknown, the comfortable and familiar surroundings of home suit others just fine. Yet, there are important reasons for learning about other cultures, both romantic and practical ones. Did you know that employers frequently list multicultural or international experience as one of the skills they are looking for in new employees? So, while we might be basically uninterested in the foreign, getting a break in today’s job market does interest many of us.

This two-way cross-cultural street is an important meeting place. To view ourselves as others see us is an amazing experience. So is the ability to see others as they see themselves and to comprehend the logic behind their culture. For that reason, in this colloquium we will examine the joys and difficulties of the cross-cultural adventure, the experience of being foreign, and the understanding needed to empathize simultaneously with self and other. In order to do this, we will be studying the concepts of culture and acculturation, of ethnocentrism, and of cultural adaptation.

We will read and analyze at least one novel and a number of short stories about the experience of crossing cultural and linguistic barriers. We will also discuss some films on the subject. Our texts may include works (depending on availability) such as the short stories in On Being Foreign, a novel such as The Joy Luck Club about the experience of immigrants in the United States, and a film about international students’ culture shock in the U.S.

175 “I Will Be Heard!” Rebels and Reformers in U.S. History
4 hours  
In 1831, the young abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison declared in the first issue of his newspaper, "I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice....I am in earnest - I will not equivocate - I will not excuse - I will not retreat a single inch - AND I WILL BE HEARD." Garrison was true to his pledge; he went on to lead a movement against slavery that would shock, offend, and inspire different groups of Americans. His struggle would help to change America forever. Garrison was not alone in his commitment to make America perfect. The urge to remake society, to perfect democracy and humanity, has inspired people to action throughout U.S. history. This course will introduce students to leading American activists and reformers. We will explore the ideas, the struggles, and the social impact of various rebels and reformers who led different movements for social change in the United States. We will pay specific attention to several reform movements, including the antislavery movement in nineteenth-century America, religious fundamentalism in the early 20th century, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the anti-war movement of the 1960s and 70s, and the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

179 The Lord of the Rings and its Literary Roots 
4 hours
The recent three-film sequence, The Lord of the Rings, has become a world-wide success, and behind that success lies more than the art of the cinema. J. R. R. Tolkien’s book of the same name is one of the most widely-read in twentieth-century literature, yet English majors rarely find it on academic syllabuses. How is it that this modern literary masterpiece emerged from such an unlikely writer, an Oxford philologist who detested much of the modern world? Why is it that the book does not resemble any other major work of modern fiction, yet has spawned a host of imitations and has not become dated in the fifty years since its composition? How did Tolkien’s enormous learning contribute to what he never expected to create but what will undoubtedly make his name survive?

The purpose of this course is to attempt to answer these questions by excavating Tolkien’s process of creation by tracing the roots of his reading, his scholarship and invention of languages, and his love of nature. For Tolkien, the heroic tale is a slow growth out of name and place, a distillation of deep, great stories from the past, not a demonstration of an author’s “originality.” We shall read (in translation) parts of the great northern mythic tales from Old Norse, Old English, and medieval German tradition, as well as retellings of the Arthurian material, as sources for Tolkien’s fiction. We shall also become acquainted with Tolkien’s fascination with language, his translations, and his development of such fictional tongues as Sindarin and Dwarvish from Welsh and Old Norse. Finally, we shall pay special attention to Tolkien’s maps, which grew out of his invented Middle Earth tongues and preceded his plotting, and to the descriptions of places in his books. As one of his critics put it, his strongest belief was probably in “the identity of man and nature, of namer and named.”

183 Good Science and Controversial Politics
4 hours  
Election years bring public debate on issues that Americans consider important for the pursuit of happiness and the good life. In this election year, many political topics center on issues related to biology, the environment and science. We will use the library to explore the popular press for the 10 most important issues being discussed, issues that have a biological, ecological or environmental basis. Students will be introduced to technological software and hardware used for scientific analysis of these issues while at the same time exploring techniques for developing critical thinking skills and learning practices useful for students in classes as well as by citizens in making public decisions of great importance. Likely topics for exploration include energy policy and personal energy use, transportation and living issues at the national and individual level, clean water and clean air policies, endangered species and wetland preservation, gay marriage and the biology of homosexuality and heterosexuality, science and the assault on the integrity of science in setting public policy and other topics to be determined by students.

190 The American Mosaic, Part I
4 hours
The course is an examination of contemporary American culture, designed for ESL students, using SIGNS of LIFE in the USA as a primary textbook. Particular aspects of culture may include consumerism and advertising, popular books and film, race and gender. The topic will be presented through readings, videos, field trips. Class time will be divided between discussing course material and improving students’ skills of writing in English.

First-Year Seminar

Each First-Year Seminar is focused on developing students’ critical thinking skills in a writing intensive seminar examining a substantive intellectual issue. These seminars are designed to continue the development of college level reading, writing and speaking skills begun in the Colloquium program. Each seminar encourages students to analyze, value and synthesize the perspectives of important thinkers in the field. Students are challenged to develop and clearly express their own understanding of a significant problem within the topic area of the seminar.

120 Finding Our Roots
4 hours
A survey of literary and musical treasures of the West, beginning with the contribution of the Greeks and ending with works from our own time. The material is discussed in terms of the social, political, and philosophical underpinnings, with emphasis on questions of ethics.

122 Speaking Out: New Voices in the American Literary Canon
4 hours
For years the American literary canon mainly consisted of Caucasian male writers. Literary scholars have just recently added some new and distinct voices to the American literary canon. These works are not necessarily modern works; many of these writers are from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Racial and gender issues often kept these works from being widely recognized at the time that they were written. By the late twentieth century, the immense value of this forgotten group of writers had become apparent, and new editions of literary anthologies began to include this forgotten and noteworthy group. This semester we will study prose, poetry, non-fiction, and orations from some of these newly rediscovered voices. Texts will include the works of Kate Chopin, N. Scott Momaday, Zora Neale Hurston, Amy Tan, Charles W. Chesnutt, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Langston Hughes, Cochise, and Maxine Hong Kingston, among others. We will examine and discuss the unique contributions that each writer has added to the canon. Students also will be introduced to the basics of literary criticism and will include several critical texts in their readings. The course will require four expository essays, a research paper, and a reading journal. English majors or minors may use this course as credit for English 206.

123 Economic Issues
4 hours
Through the study of contemporary socioeconomic issues such as pollution, resource depletion, poverty, discrimination, monopoly power, inflation and unemployment, the student will be introduced to the field of economics. Students will learn how to use economic theory and data for the purpose of understanding and explaining what is happening in our society and what policies should be developed. In addition, required assignments will introduce students to writing in economics and the variety of resources available to support research in the field of economics. The course is an alternative to Economics 200.

124 Bread, Barricades and Bombs: Modern Europe, 1450-Present
4 hours
This course will survey the most important trends in Europe from the 17th century to the present. We will focus on crucial junctures in the past (the French, Russian and Industrial Revolutions, the two world wars, the Nazis, the Cold War, and finally the new European order) in order to make connections between major events and ordinary people. The course is an alternative to History 122.

125 Voices through the Ages—The Role of Oral Discourse in the Western Intellectual Rhetorical Tradition
4 hours
Rhetorical studies have been an important part of humanity’s education since before the time of Plato and Aristotle. To the ancient Greeks and Romans, rhetoric was a vitally important subject to study because it formed the basis of people’s ability to live and function in their society. Today, rhetorical studies are no less important. Human speech is still the primary vehicle by which people seek to influence one another whether it be George Bush justifying war in the Gulf, Gorbachev urging the acceptance of Perestroika, peace demonstrators chanting “no blood for oil”, or Carl Sagan warning of the environmental effects of modern weapon systems. In this course, students will discover persuasive speech as both a method and a mechanism through which people reason together to solve their common problems. Students will enter into a dialogue to discover the functions of oral discourse in the Western tradition through writing, speaking, and discussing the materials they examine in the course. A student cannot receive credit for both FSEM 125 and COMM 101.

127 Twentieth Century West African and African American Literature
4 hours  
The character, values, and culture of a people are preserved in their literature – their stories about their history, their leaders, and their relationship to place. This course looks at two novels and an autobiography from West Africa, showing people trying to keep their sense of who they are in the face of colonial powers imposing new religions, laws, technologies. We will examine the conflicts between some traditional African cultures and those imported along with Islam and Christianity. In the second part of the course we will read three major African-American novels by writers who look at the problems of slavery and its legacies. We will compare and contrast the issues faced in West Africa with those in America, as people struggle against oppression and sometimes find ways of compensating or overcoming. Along with discussing the issues in these novels, we will pay attention to the quality of the writing, in order to appreciate the artistic merit that makes them prize-winning works. This course is an equivalent to English 206. A student may not receive credit for First Year Seminar 127 and English 206.

128 Ethics and Gender
4 hours  
So many issues we read and hear about every day involve ethical questions having to do with gender: reproductive technology, employment equity, domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence, pornography, to name just a few. In this course we will explore the ethical dimensions of these controversial questions and try to place each issue that we discuss in a historical context for better understanding.

130 Surfacing Canadian Women Writers
4 hours
Students will examine texts by Canadian women, ranging from Native American writers to modern novelists and poets. Among the topics covered will be regional identity and the post-colonial inheritance. Major figures studied will include Margaret Atwood, Marie-Clair Blais, Mavis Gallant, Margaret Laurence, and Alice Munro.

134 Home, Sweet Home? The History of the Family and Childhood in America
4 hours
This course will look at wives and husbands, fathers and mothers, and children too. Our topic will be the history of childhood and the family from the age of European colonization up to our own times. Starting with a look at Native American family life, we will consider the varieties of family experience across geographic and cultural boundaries. Were gender roles within the Indian family different from those brought by the English? We will explore the colonists’ notion of childhood. Why have historians said that colonists thought of children as “miniature adults”? As we move out of the colonial era into the era of the American Revolution we will consider the impact of the philosophies and political events of those times. Were adolescent children granted the freedom to follow their own hearts in courtship and marriage? Was there sexual freedom in the wake of the Revolution? In considering the history of the American family in the nineteenth century we will discuss the impact of capitalism, industrialization, and Southern slavery on family structures. Did the emerging notion that women’s place was in the home bear any relation to changes in the American economy? What family forms and practices did immigrants bring with them to America? How did the growing prominence of Catholicism in the American urban landscape affect family life? The twentieth century will present other questions. Were families crushed under the pressure of the Great Depression? As wives moved into the workforce to help support World War II did they shed their homemaker roles? We will also explore the impact of the Cold War on the family. Did fears of Communism shape family life? Did the youth protests of the 1960’s create a “generation gap” within families? What direction is the family taking as we enter the 21^st century? This course is an equivalent to History 237. A student may not receive credit for First-year Seminar 134 and History 237.

135 Diversity, Deviance and the Educated Person
4 hours
This course initially will explore the history and philosophy of education from classical times through the 19th century. Views of what it has meant to be an educated person will serve as the focus for this study. Subsequently, this course will examine the sociology of education via issues facing 20th-century schooling that have emerged from attempts to deal with human differences. Students will be encouraged to develop a critical perspective toward educational practices, policies and reforms by interpreting theories of education across various academic disciplines.

137 Thinking about the Environment Sustainable Development
4 hours
We will examine Western thought on the natural world and the role of humans, consider the changing concept of property rights and the rights and obligations of individuals to others, and examine the evolving critique of liberal political economy and the resulting definition of economic development. By the end of the course each of us will have a better understanding of policy responses which will yield sustainable development.

138 The Writes/Rights of Women
4 hours
In this course we will explore a wide range of diverse writings by women from the fourteenth century to the present: letters, poems, essays, fiction and autobiography. We will consider the relationship between what women have been writing throughout these centuries and the actual socio-economic conditions of their lives. We will also discuss ways in which women have attempted to analyze and change their lives through their writings.  Among others, we will look at: Margery Kempe, Aphra Behn, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Bronte, Virginia Woolf, Zora Neale Hurston, and Margaret Atwood.

139 -Toni Morrison Seminar
This course will focus on the fictional works of Toni Morrison, supplemented with selected Morrison essays and interviews to enrich (and complicate) our understanding of authorial intent, interpretive possibilities, and other inquiries. An organizing theme will be the quest for identity as explored by Morrison in The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. In many ways, these novels are kaleidoscopes through which we may view the complex and shifting nature of race, gender, and class which black women’s literature seeks to re-present. Each novel will be situated in a specific social and historical moment through the use of media (film, magazines, music etc.), and students are encouraged to bring relevant material to class that will illuminate or broaden our discussion. Students are encouraged to think creatively, read carefully, and actively participate in classroom discussions. Course requirements include one oral presentation, a reading journal, and several papers. Regular class attendance and active student participation are required.

140 Christianity: How It Began
4 hours
The origins of Christianity take us back to the very interesting period of first century Jewish life in the Roman province of Judaea. Because Jesus himself was a Jew, as were his disciples and the apostle Paul, we begin our search for Christian beginnings by introducing ourselves to the history, way of life, hopes and expectations of the Jewish community at the time of Jesus’ birth. We then explore the implications of the specific claim which distinguished the earliest Jewish-Christian community from other Jewish communities of faith, and then turn to the figure of the historical Jesus and the process by which the same claim transformed him into the Christ of the earliest church. We then examine further fundamental transformations which Paul brought about at least in portions of that church, and finally look back on how imperial Rome responded to the rise of this new superstition.

141 Christianity: Its Development Through Western History
4 hours
This course will study some of the key issues and “classic” works of Christianity. We begin with Augustine’s Confessions to study human nature and sin. Julian of Norwich and Anselm write about the meaning of Christ to Christians. Other issues include the Church, missions and liberation movements.

142 Turbulent Decade: The Cultural Revolution in China
From 1966 to 1976 the People's Republic of China underwent one of the most chaotic and disastrous events in modern history. This class provides an up-close, insider’s look at a traumatic period little understood outside of the world's most populous nation.

Students will get to hear and read first person accounts of the multitude of chaotic, often tragic, events that led to the complete disruption of society, economy and culture in China. For most in the West, knowledge of this period is limited to things like Mao's Little Red Book, the rise of so-called "Maoist" revolutionary groups and images of huge rallies cheering for Mao Zedong. The full scope of this decade of upheaval goes far beyond this and resulted in, among many other things, the wholesale destruction of ancient treasures, the persecution of many of the leaders that fought to create the People's Republic, the shutdown of the entire educational system and the sending of millions of college and high school students as well as teachers and intellectuals to the countryside (where many of China's brightest lights spent years in manual labor) and the deaths of untold tens of millions of people.

144 Science and Religion
4 hours
Sometimes it seems to us that science and religion are contradictory, or that they accept mutually exclusive ideas. Is this true? Is it necessary to believe one but not the other? We will approach several of the basic concepts of religion and science to ask how the different ideas speak to each other. How are belief and faith related to Science and Religion? What about scientific methodology? Do religion and science approach knowledge differently? Is there scientific faith or religious experiment? What is the relationship between creation and evolution? The Big Bang and God's end for the world? The uncertainty principle and predestination? Is a unified theory possible? We will pay attention to historical interaction between organized religion and science, but attend mostly to current material interested in these questions. Readings will be selected from books like Serious Talk, by John Polkinghorne; The Meaning of Creation, by Conrad Hyers; and The Mind of God, by Paul Davies. These books all approach questions surrounding "the scientific basis for a rational world" (Davies), and "interpreting and misinterpreting" religious texts (Hyers).

145 Language and Identity
4 hours  
Language is a complex and wonderful phenomenon. We use language to express our ideas, our emotions, and, often unconsciously, our very identity. In this course we will consider various aspects of language that allow us to do this; we will also examine several works of literature to see how different authors exploit the powers of language to express their own identity and that of their characters.  Our study of language structure will consider, among others, the following questions: How are words in English and other languages put together? How do we form new words? How do we make the sounds of English, and how do they relate to the spelling system? How do we combine words when we make sentences? (And this is not the grammar you learned in high school.) What do your pronunciation and use of language tell about who you are and the community you come from?

146 Evolution, Creation, and Literalism
4 hours
The end of the Twentieth Century marks a time when western science dominates not only Western Civilization, but also increasingly other civilizations tied by a growing global economic system with its prevailing values. This course looks at the major theory integrating all of our understanding of the Biological World: The theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, examining closely what scientists have to say about the creation and development of the world as we know it today. We then move to examine an alternate theory—that of Scientific Creationism, based on a literal interpretation of creation accounts in the Bible. The class will explore the issue of literalism (in reading theories in both science and religion) and how it can be and has been used and abused for political purposes of advancing personal views about the world held by various groups including scientists. We also examine pseudoscience and its pervasive influence in today's world and why it is so dominant.

147 Visions of God: Apprehending the Sacred East, West, and Beyond
4 hours
Encounters with a personal God, experiences of "pure consciousness," and a variety of other apprehensions of the sacred will form the focus of this course. We will read original descriptions of experiences by primary religious figures, and also study the analyses and evaluations of these descriptions by famous historians of religion and philosophers in their attempt to understand religious experiences and their fantastic variety. By using examples from Eastern, Western, and small-scale religious traditions and looking at scholarly analyses of these phenomena, we will expand our understanding of the meaning of religious experience. We will attempt to answer the following questions: Are all religious experiences simply different apprehensions of the same Ultimate Reality? To what extent, if any, do language and culture influence religious experience? Do we find any patterns underlying the variety of visions of God and the models to which they give rise? What, in fact, does "experiencing Ultimate Reality" really mean?

148 Voices from the Hills
4 hours
This course will begin with a look at the stereotypical way Appalachia has been portrayed from the time of William Byrd’s History of the Dividing Line (composed 1729) to recent films like Fire Down Under and media coverage of the flight of fugitive Eric Robert Rudolph into the mountains of western North Carolina. Through the authentic voices of poets, filmmakers, historians, and novelists who have lived in or studied the region, we will try to understand Appalachia on its own terms. The course will also include such subjects as the industrialization of the mountain South; coal camps and Battle of Blair Mountain; the out migration to northern factories (such as those to Akron, Ohio, and Ashtabula County); Appalachian history and geography; mountain music, crafts, and religion; Cherokee, Melungeon, and Appalachian culture in the hills; and balancing change and tradition.

149 Women and Narrative: Readers, Resisters, and Revisers
4 hours
Women have always told stories—to children, to each other, to themselves. Only since the nineteenth century, however, has women’s writing come into its own. For women, written stories—narratives—are existentially important; for a woman’s traditional domestic role tends to generate fragmented, anecdotal, easily trivialized kinds of experience. Narrative helps women to pull together pieces of experience into meaningful wholes, in order to preserve their lives and visions of life from being misrepresented, undervalued, and forgotten.

In one of her poems, Emily Dickinson advised, “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.” For the woman who resists orthodox narratives defining what shape her life should take, the tasks are many. First, she must read her culture’s texts with a different eye, so as never passively to accept narratives that position her as an outsider or an object. Second, she must write her own narratives so that she need not have her story told for her. The variety of strategies engaged by writers of the last century and a half to redefine women’s life stories will be sampled in this course.

We shall operate first as readers of texts written by women from a variety of cultural perspectives, and then respond as writers of texts ourselves. Starting with Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel Jane Eyre, we shall examine that book on its own terms and on those of Jean Rhys, whose twentieth-century retelling of the story of the first Mrs. Rochester so well exemplifies the “resisting reader.” Novels, short stories and memoirs by Danish, Mexican, Chinese-American, and African-American women will offer a range of solutions to cultural and biographical predicaments faced by their writers. In each case, we shall investigate how women writers provide samples of productive lives that rewrite the predicted “plot.”

We continue our quest with an account of 18th century liberalism espoused by Jefferson, Locke and Adam Smith. They developed a concept of justice different from Aristotle’s. We will examine how liberalism has developed several opposing responses such as Fascism, Marxism, egalitarianism, socialism and Freudianism.

152 Interpreting the American Experience
4 hours
This is an introduction to various modes of thinking about fundamental issues in American history and culture. Addressing selected themes and major events in the American experience, such as the emergence of a republican political economy; the tension between the desire for individual freedom and the search for community; and the impact of public policy choices on social life, the course explores the underlying patterns in the historical development of American politics, society, the economy, and belief.

153 The Power of Don Quixote, or Literally Questing for Meaning
Considered by many to be the first modern novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was written four centuries ago and in Spain of all places. What possible use could we have for it today? Why does this work continue to attract so many readers? Why, for example, does a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business teach Don Quixote to his MBA students? Just what is the power of the Quixote?

In this seminar, we will read and discuss a recent English translation of Don Quixote, both Part One from 1605 and its continuation from 1615 (about 800 pages in eight weeks plus critical articles in the later weeks). We will examine several other texts of various types (films, at least one short story, music), which are based on Cervantes’ original. We will also discuss some of the many topics he presents that continue to intrigue his readers; for example, the writer's dilemma, or how to make a work of art seem real; the material and the ideal; the power of the state and the power of the imagination; the literary context of the Quixote; the "Quixotification" of Sancho and the "Sanchification" of Don Quixote; and the scrutiny of Don Quixote’s library as a parody of the Inquisition.

In this seminar, grading is based on four categories: class participation (20%); one oral presentation on your research (10%); three essays, probably a movie review, a summary and thematic analysis of an episode, and a personal essay, using the process writing stages of prewriting, writing, and substantive revision (30%); and an investigative writing project (40%), that is, a research paper written in various stages, including reading log, annotated bibliography, peer edited first draft and final revision.

154 The Rites of Passage in Literature and Film
4 hours
We will explore the universal preoccupation of passage from child to adult as envisioned by writers and filmmakers as diverse as Sophocles (Antigone) and Jamaica Kincaid (Annie John). We will also view films from a number of very different cultures--among them Canadian, Bengali, American Indian and Cuban--each film exploring at least in part, the same phenomenon. We will begin, as a group, to formulate our own individual definitions of a "rite of passage" or "coming of age." The course will emphasize practice in approaching literature, and film, as art, and to that end you will be writing extensively, with a literary essay due every week and a term paper on a selected topic due by the tenth week. You will also get practice in presenting your papers to an audience of your peers.

156 A Focus on the Middle East: Its Peoples, Politics, Religions, and Cultures
4 hours  
Through books, films, videos, and documentaries, this course will take you in a highly informative, yet quite interesting symbolic journey to visit the Middle East in an attempt to enable you to see for yourself the different cultural, political, social and religious systems of this diverse area.

158 The American Mystery
4 hours
Read closely the title of this seminar, and you have a good idea of its focus. “American Mystery” describes the reading matter: crime stories written by Americans, some of the stories focusing on the puzzle aspect of the crime, others focusing on the terror, even the thrill of the crime and chase sequence. But more: these stories point us toward historical, psychological, sociological aspects of what it means to be “American.” They also point us away from certainty about American identity, toward paradox and ambiguity; in short, they make American identity a “mystery.” Our readings span urban and rural experiences, male and female experiences, and ethnic and regional experiences. In other words, we’ll be using American mysteries to plumb the “American mystery”: who are we, and can we describe who we are?

The course will concentrate on your acquiring tools to read in an informed and critical way. You’ll study writers' craft, the decisions they make and the paths they discard. You’ll learn to make judgments about their uses of idiom and the settings they employ. You’ll work with their plot structures and the strategies they use to create intensity, confusion, and closure. You’ll worry about the characters’ disabling flaws, especially those of the detectives. All these will give you the ability to talk and write convincingly about parts of the “American Mystery.”

160 Jane Austen, Then and Now
4 hours
The year 1995 saw an explosion of films based on the works of Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, Clueless, Pride and Prejudice. Since then, Jane Austen has continued to permeate popular culture. Film adaptations of Emma (2 of them), Persuasion, and Mansfield Park have graced TV and movie screens. At least five sequels to Pride and Prejudice have appeared in print in the past decade, and Helen Fielding draws on both Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion in her best-selling Bridget Jones stories. Jane Austen even plays detective in a new series of mystery novels. What’s up with Austen-mania? Why is Jane Austen so popular? Why do her stories resonate with the modern reader?

We will explore these questions through an examination of Austen’s novels, written and film adaptations, and critical reception of Austen’s work spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will consider the way both Austen and her disciples draw on and manipulate the conventions of the marriage plot, comedy and satire, and their cultural and political positions to create complex narratives and social commentaries. We will use differences between Austen’s works and their adaptations to ask questions about historical context and about the process of borrowing from the writing of another. By studying Jane Austen in a range of historical contexts and generic frameworks, we will gain a clearer understanding not only of Austen’s place as a literary and cultural icon but also of the ways in which textual analysis and reception reflect the historical and cultural contexts of readers and viewers as well as authors.

161 Individual and Society
This course addresses a wide range of issues concerning the nature and relationship of individuals and society. The most fundamental among these issues are: What is a good life? What is a good society? How should individuals and society be related? How are people best brought to living good lives in good societies? In considering the preceding questions, the course will address a wide range of topics, including: freedom and authority, emotion and reason, the nature of human development, and the possibility of knowledge and certainty.

The course will engage these topics through a concentrated examination of two books, Plato’s Republic and John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. Plato’s Republic is probably the single most famous and influential book in all of western philosophy during the 2,500 years since it was written. Mill’s On Liberty is generally regarded as the classic work setting out a modern perspective on individuality, morality, politics, and knowledge. Through contrasting these two approaches (ancient and modern, conservative and liberal), we will gain perspective from which to critically formulate our own ideas and to work toward more profound understanding.

As to the mechanics of the course, readings are first-rate philosophy. The readings are hard, but students will be given considerable assistance in learning to read and interpret difficult texts. The emphasis in writing is on interpretation, analysis, and critique, with the aim of enriching one’s own thinking through the insights of great philosophers. The course is carefully constructed to progressively develop skills of good thinking and good writing.

This First-Year Seminar also counts as an introductory (100-level) course in Philosophy for purposes of majors, minors, and prerequisites in Philosophy.

164 Sports and Literature
4 hours
Through the study of fiction, non-fiction, and autobiography, this course seeks to expand our cultural understanding of the importance of Sports. The Highlight and the Celebrity Profile, which are the primary sources of sports information, minimizes the complex social dynamics between different sports, athletes, and fans. At an immediate level we see sport as entertainment or an actual pastime that is a pleasant diversion from our regular routines. However, we will also look at the darker side of Sports as well. The violent nature of some physical sport has been an important element of what sports that we consider as ‘mere’ entertainment. We will also discuss race, class, and gender in relation to our fondness for violent and non-violent entertainment. Analyzing the history of Sport will help us understand our cultural attachment to competition’s violent nature.

166 Europe in Conflict
4 hours
Unfortunately, we live in a world where warfare remains common and armed conflict between nations is (arguably) the greatest single threat to human life and happiness. By studying Europe's persistent encounter with war, we can gain some insight into this age-old problem. This class tackles the issue by exploring three major topics. First, how have armed forces reflected and affected the states, societies, and economies that created them? Second, how have Europeans justified and explained their resort to armed violence? Finally, what was the actual experience of war for both soldiers and non-combatants (particularly women)? The course addresses these questions by focusing on specific conflicts of very different eras--for example, the Hundred Years War of the Later Middle Ages and the First World War--thereby revealing how Europe's experience of war has changed over time. Throughout, our focus will be on the connections between warfare and society; we will not concentrate on strategy, tactics, or logistics, as would a course in military history.

The class combines lectures with frequent discussions, which students will help to lead. Readings include works by modern historians, first-hand accounts of military experience, government records, and literature concerned with war. Like all freshman seminars, the course involves a considerable amount of writing, both in-class essays and formal papers. Composing these essays and discussing them will help hone your writing ability, as well as giving you practice in making and evaluating arguments based on evidence. All of these are skills useful in many fields beyond history.

168 Winners Tell History, Spinners Tell News: Who Creates Your Point of View?
4 hours
Do you wish you had more time to find out what is going on in the world outside Hiram? Do you believe everything you read? Nothing that you read? Only those things that you already agree with? Or do you remain uncomfortably on the fence?

Using ideas of theorists from classical (Plato) and contemporary (Kenneth Burke, Richard Weaver, Claude Shannon & Warren Weaver, Paolo Freire) rhetoric and communication and from studies in journalism and mass media (Neil Postman & Steve Powers, Joe McGinnes, Howard Kurtz), students in this seminar will examine the shifting nature of the “true” story. The accepted version of an event usually evolves, whether the event is important to an entire nation or to a single family or community. Cultural and other filters can make even truthful observers, reporters, and audiences understand the same event in very different ways. The modern notion of the “spin” describes deliberate manipulation of a story so that an audience will interpret it a certain way.

Our central text will be Signs of Life in the U.S.A.; Readings on Popular Culture for Writers,Iedited by Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. This text will provide us with over seventy-eight short essays through which we will discuss popular cultural thoughtfully and critically Maasik and Solomon make explicit their interpretive approach, semiotics, which will guide our analyses of popular culture. As the editors note, the conceptual framework of semiotics will teach us to formulate cogent, well-supported interpretations. It emphasized the examination of assumptions and the way language shapes our apprehension of the world. We will also examine theories of audience reception, including the competing view of selective perception versus mass inoculation. These theories will help us in our analyses and critiques of selected music, video, and film productions. We will recognize the need for becoming and will work toward being more sophisticated and reflective users of media and cultural artifacts.

This class will include structured lectures, discussion, and student presentations/interpretations of selected popular culture works for class critique and reflection. Student writing assignments will include in-class reflections and critiques as well as more formal writing analyzing examples from the various popular culture art forms.

172 Africa through African Eyes
4 hours
This course introduces students to the history, culture and current developments in Africa as perceived by Africans themselves. The objective of the course is to introduce the students to an overwhelming, diverse and vibrant part of the world. Africa, the world’s second largest continent is four times larger than the United States and has twice as many people. Students will develop a deeper knowledge of and appreciation for the diverse cultural traditions and heritage of Africa has inherently influenced the United States, human and cultural disposition through the participation of the black race in American life.

174 The West and the Rest: A New View
4 hours
Through Legacy, a film series, and readings from Western and other world cultures, explores the nature of our Western culture and its relationships, old and new, with the rest of the world. Frequent short writing assignments cultivate personal and informal, but also crisp and substantive, essays.

175 The Humanities in Western Civilization
4 hours
Great ideas, great books, and great art have shaped the development of civilization. This course features some of the great ideas and books of Western civilization, as well as selected examples of Western art, music, sculpture, and architecture. The course examines the interrelationships of art and ideas, and also focuses on expository writing for the college student. This course is an alternative to English 206.

180 The Literary Quest for Meaning
4 hours
From the earliest stirrings of human civilization down to the present day, people have told each other stories of high adventure: memorable and meaningful journeys in exotic realms. Often these narratives feature famous heroes or heroines; sometimes they tell of ordinary persons caught in extraordinary circumstances. They may even describe equally heroic psychological journeys into the self, the seeking of significance in human existence. In all these tales, as mythographer Joseph Campbell points out, no matter how widely they vary in time and place and culture, there is an underlying pattern by which we can see people surprisingly like us struggling to make sense of the universe and our role in it. As these literary characters meet a series of obstacles on their quests, whether actual dragons or ethical dilemmas, we are often amazed, excited, angered, or amused. We see change and growth in these intrepid (but often flawed) questers, and find ourselves hoping they will find their personal holy grails and bring their adventures to a happy ending. In fact, by reading, discussing, and writing about some of these fascinating stories, whether ancient or modern, we will join these heroic humans ourselves and, like them, we will also be changed by the journey. The course is an alternative to English 206.

182 American Gardens and Gardening
4 hours
Gardens play an important role in creating landscape in urban and rural environments. What comes as a surprise to many is the unnatural effort required to make nature conform to the ideals we create in our mind's eye view of nature. In this seminar we will look at the practical aspects of gardening by making new garden designs for the Hiram Public Gardens, examining the role that microclimate and habitat play in bringing species from exotic places to local environments (as seen in American Alpines in the Garden). Students will write guides to the gardens that they help to create using current design software. We will consult classic works like America's Garden Book as well as current information for gardeners available on the web. We will create through the seminar a website for the seven Hiram Public Gardens.

In addition to getting to know plants and gardens from a botanical view of the world, we will also look at the role gardens play in developing part of the American psyche by examining the historic role of gardens in America from Colonial times through the present. We will look take a look at classic gardens in our area including those at Stan Hywet Hall and talk with important landscape architects in our region. Readings in this area will include selections from Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens; British and American Gardens in the 18th Century, and Earthly Pleasures: Tales from a Biologists Garden.

184 The Invasion of North America: Colonial Outposts and the Contest of Cultures in the New World
4 hours
This course will consider the history of the mainland and Caribbean colonies settled by the British, as well as French and Spanish incursions into the territories that now comprise the United States. A variety of peoples will populate this course. The story of colonization incorporates a wide range of experience from Iroquois peoples forging alliances in New York and Canada to Africans cultivating rice in South Carolina. The British colonists themselves would bring a wide diversity of cultures. Righteous Puritans tried to erect a metaphorical “City on a Hill” in New England, while planters scrambled for profits from tobacco in the Chesapeake. Quakers tried to create a peaceful coexistence with Indians in Pennsylvania, while the Scotch-Irish strained such harmony as they flooded into the backcountry. How did such a diverse set of colonists form a single nation? Did they, in fact, form a single nation? We will follow the history of the colonies through their settlement in the seventeenth century, their growth and transformations in the eighteenth century, until their political break from Britain in war.

186 Reading Between the Lines: Language in Circulation through Space and Time
4 hours
Knowing how to write a well composed letter is practically a lost art today. Rarely do we receive hand-written missives; those “letters” we do get often come in the form of email. Reduced to a few encoded words sent rapidly to another in an informal manner, the electronic letter is more often than not bland and stylistically indistinct.

Fortunately however we can still enjoy reading a good letter! The epistolary form has been used historically in a variety of contexts and has consequently played an important role in our literary tradition. There are love letters, correspondences between parents and their children, letters of a satiric or political nature addressed to entire nations, letters that purport to educate, inform or instruct, and correspondences constructed as puzzles to unravel. In this course we will read and examine some of the illustrative examples of the epistolary form and in so doing attempt to define what exactly constitutes a letter. What distinguishes the letter from a journal, memoir or diary? What specific properties of the letter warrant its classification as a distinct narrative form?

187 Bioterrorism and Biowarfare
This course will concentrate on the scientific aspects of biological weapons, but will also focus on epidemics in general, the human immune system, and the biology of bacteria and viruses.

The current US administration is openly concerned with the possible creation of biological weapons in Iraq and other areas of the world. What’s the big deal? How bad can a few germs really be? How easily could a biological weapon to be released by a few skilled individuals, and how skilled would they have to be to cause any significant harm? Were the letter bombs of 2001 an anomaly or a harbinger of further terror, and what did they tell us about Anthrax and our preparedness in dealing with such a disease?

Following the text Germs by New York Times reporter Judith Miller and her colleagues, we will begin the course with an overview of the US and Soviet bioweapons programs of the Cold War era and will explore their influence on the current state of bioweapons proliferation throughout the World (including within the US). The course will then explore more basic topics that relate to the biology of diseases and disease prevention.

Writing assignments will focus on presentations of evidence and arguments, and will require fairly extensive research on the parts of the students.

190 The American Mosaic, Part II
4 hours
In this course, international students will have the opportunity to explore the concept of what constitutes an American. Furthermore, if Montesquieu’s theory is valid, students will also gain a deeper understanding of their own culture and consequently of themselves. Our course readings will center on the diverse and complex experiences of a wide selection of past and contemporary American writers, philosophers, politicians, educators, and social scientists. Students will also be required to participate in several fieldwork experiences. (Open only to International Students)

Interdisciplinary Courses

An interdisciplinary course is one in which the methodology and perspectives of different disciplines are brought to bear on a single topic or on a series of related questions. Interdisciplinary courses are often team-taught by two instructors. These courses may deal with topics that are contemporary and timely, or with the timeless. The questions and issues in an interdisciplinary course may be historical, scientific, mathematical epistemological, ethical, aesthetic, philosophical or literary; abstract or concrete; local, national or global.

In an interdisciplinary course the objectives are: to arrive at an understanding of a subject as a result of successive shifts of position, changes in vantage point, and inspection from a number of different angles; to realize that there may be many possible approaches to a subject, many ways of looking at the same thing; and to point out the differences between the various disciplines themselves, to help clarify their nature, to show how they can be in conflict with one another as well as in harmony.

225 Humans and the Environment
4 hours
The impact of humans on the environment is examined, relating patterns of natural ecosystems to human ecosystems, their functions, inter-relationships, problems, and limitation. The global perspective is studied; population growth, resource use patterns, food production, wildlife and other natural resource depletion, climate change, and economic, theological, and legal issues related to environmental problems and solutions. This course is required for the Environmental Studies Major.

301 Human Evolution and Its Human Implication
4 hours
This course has at least two major purposes: first, to acquaint students with the fundamentals of the theory of evolution as it was put forth by Darwin and as it has since been modified and revised; second, to demonstrate some of the ways Darwin’s work and subsequent modifications have exerted an influence on intellectual history and on our day-to-day lives. The goals of part of the course include acquainting students with the basics of genetics and studies of pre-historic man in the light of evolutionary principles (including contemporary studies of recombinant-DNA). The goals of the rest of the course include illustrating Darwin’s influence on philosophy (especially Dewey and Huxley), on religion (from the 1850s through the Scopes trial and contemporary textbook censorship), on Herbert Spencer’s “social Darwinism” and O’Sullivan’s “Manifest Destiny,” on literary naturalism, etc.

302 Narrative Bioethics
3 hours
his course offers a narrative approach to issues in bioethics. It focuses on stories (case studies, fiction, biographies) as starting points for moral interpretation in bioethics, with special attention to issues in health care. The course will help students recognize and evaluate conflicting perspectives about how ethical dilemmas should be addressed.

303 Sustainable Agriculture
3 hours
Human civilization and culture are based upon our agricultural achievements. Agriculture is described by David Orr as “a liberal art with technical aspects.” Since the turn of the century, scientific, social, economic, and political inputs have influenced agricultural development in the United States, producing dramatic change on the farm. Conventional agriculture is extremely productive, and Americans enjoy abundant and cheap food. Yet, there are increasing questions about the sustainability of our agriculture. In this course, we examine past choices that guided agriculture into the future. The roles of farmers, consumers, industry, government, and agricultural scientists in the process will be explored

304 Public Policy Making
3 hours
Public Policy Making takes an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of several areas of government policy that definitely affect the society and the economy in which we live. Using the perspectives of both Political Science and Economics, the course will cover a series of topics. They will include the analysis of the federal government’s budget decision making process; the process of taxation, including its economic impact and political justification; an analysis of the government’s increased regulatory activity; an overview and critique of cost-benefit analysis as an analytical technique that permits an evaluation of the government’s efficiency; and a discussion of current policy issues that are of present concern.

305 The Artistic and Architectural Monuments of Great Britain
4 hours
History and literature are brought to bear on monuments of Great Britain in different ways. For example, Compton Wynyates, a great house built during Henry VIII’s reign, will be treated in terms of its historic importance — both Henry and Queen Elizabeth were frequent visitors, and the place is important for the Civil Wars and for its emblematic relationship to literary development, i.e., the literature of the 1540’s was like that house in its stages of architectural development. The manor house will be shown in terms of its own architectural features. Subject matter will be determined by trips to include close studies of cathedrals (Ely, Westminster, Lincoln, St. Paul’s, and Canterbury), castles (Edinburgh, Wynyates, Longleate, East Barshal Manor, and Audley End). (Offered off-campus only.)

306 The Sky is Burning: The Advent of the Nuclear Age
3 hours
The events of August 1945 saw the birth of The Doomsday Clock. The dropping of the hydrogen bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki catapulted science into a new era filled with ethical questions that forever changed society. This course will examine the development of the bomb and the repercussions including environmental, ethical, political, social, scientific, and present day fiction.

307 Disease and History
3 hours
This course will examine the history of diseases, epidemics, public health, and social policy from an interdisciplinary perspective. Our approach will draw upon the insights and explanatory frameworks both of microbiology and of social history. We will explore how societies have thought about and combated diseases in the past, and we will examine the implications for current medical thought and practice. Thus, we will consider not only “disease” in itself, but also the political, social, and cultural issues that diseases raise and embody.