Course Schedules and Descriptions: Spring 2012

FALL 2012 - Course Descriptions can be found under the schedule or Click on Course Title

 Great Issues in Science
Animal Communication
HSP 124H CRN
M W F 10:30am – 11:35am
Instructor: Dale Kennedy

Course Description:

In Animal Communication, we will start with the question, what is communication? We will examine some of the diverse systems of communication among animals from an evolutionary perspective. Animal communication involves a minimum of three components: a signaler (sender), a signal, and a perceiver (receiver). We will explore different types of signals in animal communication (including acoustic, visual, chemical, and tactile), and ask how environmental factors and other features, such as signal reliability and signal cost, affect signal selection in non-human species. We will address a variety of other questions, including whether signals are honest and accurate from the perspective of the sender and the perceiver, whether signals work among different species (interspecific), and what (if anything) distinguishes non-human animal communication from human language.

Great Issues in Science
8 Big Ideas That Shaped Science
HSP 124 CRN 6492
1:00 – 1:50pm
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Observatory

Dr. Mark Bollman

This course will examine eight major scientific ideas, each one of which has had a revolutionary impact on a particular area of science.

Astronomy: Big Bang theory
Biochemistry: DNA structure
Biology: Evolution
Chemistry: Periodic Law
Computer science: Information theory
Geology: Plate tectonics
Mathematics: Non-Euclidean geometry
Physics: Atomic structure

In several cases, students will read the original papers that reported the discovery. Laboratory work with Geometer's Sketchpad will be used to explore the world of hyperbolic geometry. Evaluation will be based on a sequence of short papers, a collection of laboratory reports from Sketchpad, and a substantial final project.

The reading list will include:
The Discoveries, Lightman
The Canon, Angier
A Well-Ordered Thing, Gordin
The Non-Euclidean Revolution, Trudeau
The Double Helix, Watson
The Origin Of Species, Darwin
Fortune's Formula, Poundstone
Plate Tectonics, Orestes

Great Issues Issues in Fine Arts
Ceramics and the Industrial Revolution
HSP 172 CRN 6493
Monday & Wednesday
1:00 – 3:20pm
Ceramics Annex

Ceramics and the Industrial Revolution will be a course that engages students in producing handmade pottery while tracing the history and commerce of the ceramics industry from pre-industrial times to the 1920s. Students will learn to make and fire clay objects in the studio, starting with hand forming techniques and later using plaster molds, while at the same time take part in discussions from readings on how the industrial revolution changed many aspects of the world. Each student will find a research topic related to ceramics or other forms of commerce that changed during the Industrial Revolution and present their findings to the class. Emphasis will be placed on student-facilitated learning, exploration, discovery, and collaborative processes.

Students will have hands on experience making clay objects and learning about various firing techniques, thus learning the specific language, techniques, and methodology used in the ceramic arts. Using an historical approach and timeline, students will be able to see how forms and content of works made in clay changed with the times. The class will participate in critiques of their work, therefore encouraging them to reflect on their own culture, and become introspective about their experiences

NO CERAMICS EXPERIENCE NEEDED

Great Issues in Fine Arts
KUBRICK
HSP 175 CRN 6494
Dr. Geoffrey Cocks
Monday 7:00-10:00pm - Bobbitt 113
Thursday 2:15 – 4:04pm Observatory

An intensive and critical study of the cinema of Stanley Kubrick in the context of twentieth-century Western history and culture. Students will view all thirteen of Kubrick's feature films and read three of the novels on which Kubrick based screenplays. Required readings include: Cocks et al, Depth of Field; Nabokov, Lolita; Burgess, A Clockwork Orange; Begley, Wartime Lies.

Great Issues in Humanitites
Dr. Ronny Mourad
HSP 135 CRN 6258
Monday, Wednesdays & Fridays
2:15 – 3:20pm

Observatory

This course will examine some of the institutional, legal, and ethical dimensions of the relationship between religion and politics. In seeking to understand this relationship, we will draw on political theology, history, philosophy, and political science. We will look at some classic Christian models for the relationship between church and state in their historical contexts, trace religious responses to the emergence of modern secularism, and examine some contemporary theological prescriptions regarding the role of religion in liberal democracies. Class material will emphasize theoretical approaches to the topic, but student papers may apply these approaches to issues such as school prayer, the reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance, or the display of religious symbols in government buildings.

Great Issues in Social Science
Models of human relationships:
    Why do they matter in science, society, and everyday life?
HSP 154 CRN 6061
9:15 – 11:05am
Observatory
Jeremy L. Osborn, Communication Studies

At a general level, this course will examine the fundamental differences among various disciplines and research areas within the social sciences by analyzing one phenomenon that is critical to all of them—human relationships. While the human relationship represents one of the fundamental units of analysis in the social sciences, it is not a phenomenon that possesses a unitary conceptualization (let alone operationalization) across disciplines and lines of research. The various models of human relationships that have emerged provide excellent lenses through which to see the fundamental differences among these lines of research at the core level of philosophical assumptions regarding social life and activity.

Different models offer different explanations for the motivations underlying social action and the structural elements that define an association as a "relationship." Social scientists and lay people alike utilize particular models of human relationships to both make sense of their experience and to make behavioral decisions. The models chosen can have serious implications for both scientific inquiry and personal decision-making. From a scientific standpoint, these models reflect several "great issues." First, they highlight the diversity, complexity, and richness that define the social sciences. The differences among them illustrate different fundamental philosophical and methodological approaches to understanding the social world. Second, by highlighting these differences, the models help illustrate one of the reasons that true "interdisciplinary" social science research is often difficult. If differences exist at fundamental levels that are then manifested in the conceptualization of key terms and phenomenon, researchers can often have difficulty coordinating interdisciplinary research that could yield important insights. Beyond the scientific level, examining the models provides insights into the values and beliefs that were dominant at different points in history and/or were advanced either intentionally or unintentionally by researchers with particular agendas. Therefore the reflexive relationship between scientific knowledge and cultural meaning is explored. Finally, examining the models offers individual students a set of tools to examine their own perceptual biases, the biases of others, and the biases of particular, dominant groups in society.

Great Issues in the Social Sciences
U.S. and International Health Policy
HSP 154H, Section 2M, CRN 6283, Fall 2012
Monday & Wednesday 2:15 – 4:05 PM, Norris 104
Dr. Al Pheley and Dr. Greg Saltzman

Course Description:

Health policy in the U.S. and selected foreign countries. This course addresses contemporary issues related to health insurance, racial and social class disparities in health outcomes, and public health problems that require behavioral changes and not just medical treatment.

Insurance - The U.S. has a patchwork quilt health insurance system: many people covered by employer-sponsored plans, the elderly covered by a federal government program (Medicare), some of the poor covered by a federal-state program (Medicaid), some covered by individual insurance, and some without insurance. In contrast, Britain, Canada, and Taiwan have government-run health insurance systems covering everyone in a given geographic area (Britain having separate systems for England, Scotland, and Wales; Canada having a separate system for each province). How do these different insurance systems affect access, cost, and health outcomes?

The 2010 Obama health insurance law may be a major issue in the 2012 Presidential campaign. What is the likely impact of this law, if it remains in effect, on the U.S. insurance system? To what extent does this law differ from the 2006 Romney health insurance law in Massachusetts?

Racial and Social Class Disparities - In the U.S., blacks and Native Americans have substantially shorter life expectancies than whites. To what extent does the disparity stem from racial differences in housing, employment conditions, and exposure to environmental hazards? To what extent does it stem from genetic differences, lifestyle, or attitudes towards medical treatment? To what extent does it stem from racial discrimination by health providers?

Providing universal access to health services can reduce disparities in health outcomes, yet Britain has substantial disparities based on social class despite the British National Health Service. What other public policy measures, besides providing universal access, can reduce disparities in health?

Public Health - Childhood obesity, smoking, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases have significant adverse effects on health. Medical treatment can help mitigate these adverse effects, but behavioral changes are needed to prevent illness. What policies have the U.S. and other countries adopted to address public health challenges such as these?

Assignments (tentative)
Three short papers
A PowerPoint presentation in which a team of 2-3 students makes a health policy proposal
Participation in class discussion, including helping to lead the discussion for one assigned reading.

Great Issues in Social Science
After the Melting Pot: Issues in 20th-Century U.S. Immigration
HSP 155 CRN 6299
Mondays & Wednesdays
11:45 – 1:35pm
Dr. Deborah Kanter

The role of immigrants in the U.S., a "nation of immigrants," has been debated since the founding era. This seminar looks both at the experience and myths of immigration, as well as the debates over immigration's place in the 20th-century U.S.

How has immigration changed since the arrival of the predominantly European "huddled masses" of a century ago? Ellis Island holds a strong place in our national consciousness, but many American families first entered the U.S. in the past century at Angel Island, El Paso, JFK, or LAX. The U.S. population currently includes an all-time high number of foreign-born individuals, mostly from nations well beyond Europe: what does this hold for the future? How have attitudes toward immigration changed with the rise and fall of different notions of race?

The class will consider immigration through history, ethnography, demography, literature, film, and sociology. Amidst our general readings, the seminar will focus on three main immigrant groups: East European Jews, Mexicans, and South Asians. Students will have the opportunity to research other immigrant groups.

Readings (tenative list):
Israel Zangwill, "The Melting Pot"
Ernesto Galarza, Barrio Boy
Rubén Martínez, Crossing Over: a Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
Vijay Prashad, The Karma of Brown Folk
Jane Ziegelman, 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement

Films:
The Sixth Section
Hester Street

Great Issues in Humanities
Moby Dick
HSP 131     CRN
Tuesday & Thursday
2:14 – 4:05pm
Dr. Jess Roberts, Department of English

In this course, we will set about the ambitious project of coming to understand the sense and nonsense, the portentousness and power, the history and wonder of what is arguably the most important novel ever written by an American—Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Class discussions as well as formal and informal writing will provide opportunities for us to discover what the novel has to teach us about language, form, history, intertextuality, truth, fate, our selves, and, yes, whales. Because coming to understand one text is always a matter of coming to understand many texts, we will also read and discuss some of Melville’s sources (the Bible and Macbeth, among others) as well as later revisions of his novel (such as Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou).

Course Goals. By the end of this course students will…

1.      have grappled with the form and content of what is arguably the most important novel ever composed by an American

2. have come to a fuller understanding of the legacy of Melville’s work and what accounts for that legacy
3. understand the nature of intertexutality and how it can help us generate increasing nuanced ideas about literary works and about ourselves
4. be able to generate and explain insights regarding a piece of literature in compelling, cogently written, and logically sound literary analysis
5. be able to recognize the difference between paraphrasing, summarizing, and analyzing
6. be able to perform textual analysis; that is, identify the meaning(s) of a text and the strategies through which it creates that/those meaning(s)
7. be able to engage in a reasoned exchange—that is, to articulate their own ideas clearly and logically, to listen attentively to others as they do so, to seek out the strengths and weaknesses in their classmates’ logic and their own, to ask real questions, and to emerge from an exchange not necessarily in agreement with the other person/people but with a better understanding of their classmates’ idea and their own
8. be able to cite literary works according to the MLA format

Required texts (students must have paper copies; no ebooks)

Herman Melville, Moby Dick (Norton) 978-0393972832

Andrew Delbanco, Melville: His World and His Work (978-0375702976)

William Shakespeare, Macbeth (Folger edition; ASIN B002B72QAC)

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Great Issues in Fine Arts
Historic Parallels in the Arts
HSP 175   CRN
Tuesday & Thursday
10:30 – 12:20pm
Clayton Parr, Music Department
(; (224)436-0415

The course will examine a number of points in European cultural history and look at how changing aesthetic ideals were manifested in music, painting and architecture.  Students will gain a basic historical familiarity with the important movements in Western artistic thought while developing the ability to compare examples of these ideas in different artistic genres.

Possible weekend class trip to Chicago for students to get some direct experience of the things we will be covering in class --- visit to the art museum, an architectural walking tour, the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Oak Park, take in a concert.

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SPRING 2012 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:

Great Issues in Science: Biodiversity, conservation, and Development

HSP 123 CRN 1443 & 1444 (lab) Wednesdays 7:00-10:00pm Tuesdays 1:00 – 4:00pm (Lab)

Dr. Dean McCurdy

Description

The notion of biodiversity encompasses the unique attributes of all living things. This concept goes beyond simply counting and naming organisms (although that’s a good place to start), and includes the role each species plays in the environment, and even the amount of genetic diversity within populations of organisms. At present, the earth’s biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and we have only begun to explore the consequences of this loss. As difficult as it can be to define and measure biodiversity, it is perhaps even more challenging to comprehend human attitudes toward nature. In this course, students will work together to address how biodiversity relates to development at several scales - from harnessing biodiversity for global economic development, to the development of our individual attitudes toward the environment. Through extensive readings, writing assignments, discussions, field trips, and research projects, students will use an interdisciplinary approach to investigate topics that include: conservation of endangered species, containment of invasive species, the role of renewable energy sources in the world economy, prospects for biodiversity as a tool for economic growth, and the psychology surrounding our sense of place in nature. Research projects will include studies on species-at-risk and approaches used to study biodiversity.

Great Issues in Science: Mysteries of the Brain

HSP 123 CRN 1445 Mondays & Wednesdays 2:15 – 4:05pm Dr. Mareike Wieth

Much of how the brain works remains a mystery. This course is designed to explore what we know about the brain and what we have yet to learn. We will focus on how the brain, a 3 pound organ, determines our reality and who we are. Using a variety of sources (e.g. books, empirical journals, movies) we will examine the relationship between the brain and a variety of topics such as neurons, brain plasticity, consciousness, and memory. We will also spend some time discussing the tools used to study the brain and the relationship between brain activity and our perceptions. At the end of this course you should have a good understanding of some of the major issues in neuroscience and you should be able to evaluate and think critically about research presented.

Great Issues in Humanities: Moby Dick

HSP 131 CRN 1446 Tuesday & Thursday 2:14 – 4:05pm Dr. Jess Roberts

In this course, we will set about the ambitious project of coming to understand the sense and nonsense, the portentousness and power, the history and wonder of what is arguably the most important novel ever written by an American—Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Class discussions as well as formal and informal writing will provide opportunities for us to discover what the novel has to teach us about language, form, history, intertextuality, truth, fate, our selves, and, yes, whales. Because coming to understand one text is always a matter of coming to understand many texts, we will also read and discuss some of Melville’s sources (the Bible and Macbeth, among others) as well as later revisions of his novel (such as Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou).

Course Goals. By the end of this course students will…

1. have grappled with the form and content of what is arguably the most important novel ever composed by an American

2. have come to a fuller understanding of the legacy of Melville’s work and what accounts for that legacy
3. understand the nature of intertexutality and how it can help us generate increasing nuanced ideas about literary works and about ourselves
4. be able to generate and explain insights regarding a piece of literature in compelling, cogently written, and logically sound literary analysis
5. be able to recognize the difference between paraphrasing, summarizing, and analyzing
6. be able to perform textual analysis; that is, identify the meaning(s) of a text and the strategies through which it creates that/those meaning(s)
7. be able to engage in a reasoned exchange—that is, to articulate their own ideas clearly and logically, to listen attentively to others as they do so, to seek out the strengths and weaknesses in their classmates’ logic and their own, to ask real questions, and to emerge from an exchange not necessarily in agreement with the other person/people but with a better understanding of their classmates’ idea and their own
8. be able to cite literary works according to the MLA format
   

Great Issues in Humanities: God’s Country, Spring 2012

HSP 135 CRN 1448 Monday, Wednesday & Friday 2:14-3:20pm Nels Christensen

DESCRIPTION

God’s Country is an interdisciplinary course focused on the relationship between religious belief and the environment. By combining the skills and sensibilities of literary criticism, religious history, and ecology, we will seek to understand the ways in which religious and spiritual beliefs (or the lack of them) have influenced—and could influence—how people think about the natural world and how they interact with their environments. Our primary focus will fall on the Christian tradition and North-American landscapes. But we will also spend considerable time and energy exploring other religions and systems of belief—including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Native American spirituality (and also agnosticism and atheism). The class is past, present, and future oriented; its guiding principles will move beyond the merely academic to the personal and pragmatic. That is, I hope that by exploring and interrogating major world religious and spiritual belief systems alongside our own (or the lack of them), we might come to some insight about how our beliefs shape—or could or should shape—the ways we think about nature and the ways we impact the environment.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

By the end of the semester, you should be able to

· demonstrate a complex understanding of the ways in which the Christian religious tradition has influenced human impacts on the environment

· demonstrate an awareness of the ways in which Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Native American spirituality have influenced human impacts on the environment

· express a nuanced understanding of how your own religious beliefs (or the lack of religious beliefs) have—and perhaps should—influence the ways you think about nature and the ways you impact the environment.

Great Issues in Social Science: The History of Food and Eating in the United States

HSP 155 CRN 1488 Monday & Wednesday 11:45 – 1:35pm Dr. Marcy Sacks

Course Description/ Course Goals

Anthropologists and folklorists have long considered documenting foodways to be an important part of their attempts to understand the inner workings of various cultures. More recently, historians have begun to pay serious attention to the relationship between foods and food practices and our understanding of the past. Like everything else, food has a history. Some recent studies have concentrated on the way that various food items—salt, oysters, and potatoes among others—have shaped the course of history as these items were sought after, transplanted, and consumed.

In this course, we will pay some attention to the specific histories of various food items—when and where they were produced and eaten. However, our primary emphasis will be on the relationship between food and culture. Our perspective will be interpretive as we look for meanings embedded in various food practices, using the culinary sphere as a lens for gaining a better understanding of the cultural history of vanished times and places.

The overarching theme of this course will be that of “identity.” Nineteenth century French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat‐Savarin confidently declared, “Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are.” Food practices are used to denote racial, ethnic, and regional backgrounds; class positions and aspirations; and political and religious ideologies. As we survey American food history from the colonial era through the present, we will pay particular attention to what food practices can tell us about evolving ideas about American identity.

Our examination of the history of food will inevitably also lead us to the present and to the future. Students will be encouraged to think critically about their own food practices and what their behavior tells them about their own values and individual histories. We will use our knowledge to look to the foodways of the future. What changes do we see in American consumption patterns and in attitudes towards foods over time? What challenges, dangers, and exciting promises do we see in the future of American food and eating?

Great Issues in Social Science: Negotiation and Dispute Resolution

HSP 154 CRN 1450 Monday & Wednesday 2:15 – 4:05pm Dr. Greg Saltzman

An introductory study of the theories and concepts related to negotiation, and dispute resolution developed in such fields as microeconomics, psychology, labor relations, and international relations. Includes many role-playing exercises to provide students with practice in negotiation.

This course will include somewhat more material on international negotiation, to make the course of interest to students whose interests lie more in political science than in economics and management.

Great Issues in Social Science:

Understanding Conflict: What Can We Learn from the Israelis and Palestinians

HSP 155 CRN 1452 Monday, Wednesay & Friday 11:45-12:50pm Dr. Len Berkey

Course Description: This seminar will focus students’ attention on a particular subject, in this case the complexities

of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This course is also designed to satisfy the Historical and Cultural Analysis Mode for the Core

by: including material significantly removed from your experience either by virtue of cultural or historical distance; directing you to investigate your own cultural and historical moment from a perspective informed by your study of culture and history; and requiring you to explore the specific cultural context of artifacts from different cultures and different historical periods.

The core goals for this seminar are:

1) to introduce you to the basic rudiments of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – its historical, political, social, ideological, and religious dimensions;

2) to encourage you to think critically about this particular conflict and its relevance to your understanding of human conflict in general; and

3) to work together with others in the seminar to formulate a plan for a just resolution of this conflict.

While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fascinating in its own right, it also raises questions that go to the heart of a liberal arts education. How does one properly frame a subject like that in order to examine it intelligently and/or rationally? What is the relevant history here, for example; and how do you determine the appropriate historical context for analyzing any particular conflict – when does “the history” begin and end, in other words? How do conflicts over resources differ from those based upon narratives of identity? Are conflicts grounded in either ethnicity or religion, or both, special cases that may be managed but never effectively resolved? Is it possible to investigate these conflicts from a rational/legal perspective that avoids emotional entanglement? Would that be desirable? What role does the media play in shaping our view of the conflict? Is conflict, by definition, lamentable, or are some conflicts justifiable? What are the real prospects for conflict resolution in the modern world? And what role do educated citizens (like you!!) play in this process? These questions constitute the fundamental purpose of this seminar. Though some of you may enter this seminar with considerable knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the course structure doesn’t assume that you do. You will be asked to read about the history, politics, and culture of both Israel and Palestine; and this material will be supplemented with a series of videotapes. As you accumulate information and become more comfortable with the material, we will concentrate more heavily on the theoretical questions that are outlined above concerning the importance of history, the nature of identity conflicts, and possibilities for effective conflict resolution. The final two weeks of the semester will involve a simulated peace negotiation in which you will be asked to offer substantive proposals based upon your research.

Great Issues in the Social Science: Gender, Sex and International Politics

HSP 155 CRN 1453 Tues & Thurs 10:30-11:20 Carrie Booth Walling

In this course, students will explore how gendered norms and assumptions shape global politics and they will learn to look for links between the personal and the international. We will first try to make feminist sense of international politics by asking questions like “where are the women” and “how do women experience international politics differently than men because of their biological sex?” Then, we will examine and critically evaluate the “gendered hierarchies” of international relations – gendered expectations of individuals, states and other actors. We will explore the gendered character of the global economy, international security policy, and the regulation of national communities and national borders. Specific topics will include, among others, the gendered dimensions of war and militarization, sexism and tourism, nationalism and masculinity, human trafficking, women’s human rights and policies of gender mainstreaming.

The course is divided into four parts. In part I students will explore different answers to the question of why gender matters in international politics. This overview section will introduce students to the role of gender in the global economy and gender and the state. Part II of the course introduces students to the connections between private violence and violence against women in international politics. In Part III we will examine the ways that nationalism and war are gendered. We will study how militarization relies on beliefs about masculinity and femininity and how these constructions are destabilized when women become warriors. Finally, in Part IV students will explore current efforts at social change by studying transnational movements for women’s human rights, policies of gender mainstreaming and the creation of economic empowerment projects targeting women.

Great Issues in Fine Arts: “From the Ballroom to Hell” – Schubert’s Vienna ca. 1815

HSP 172 CRN 1454 Monday & Wednesday 2:15-4:05pm Maureen Balke

This course will look at Vienna around 1815—its background of Napoleonic war, politics, censorship, secret police, and rapidly changing society, as well as the diversions young people sought out to “escape” from unpleasant reality.

These diversions ranged from grand public spectacle (major concerts, opera, the theatre, grand balls, celebrity virtuosos) to the intimate salon and Schubertiade, held in private homes and including poetry, song, and tableaux.

To counter the horrors and chaos of war and the battlefield (where men reigned), the ballroom in particular became the dominion of the ladies, including the development of elaborate rituals and games concerning costume, etiquette and dance. In tandem with dramatic and rapid changes in dress from the French aristocratic model to the more free and form-revealing “Josephine” style, new and scandalous dances (such as the Waltz—but not at all the sedate version we know today!) developed. Ballroom “games” for choosing one’s dance partner, including “The Mirror” and “Whips and Reins”, frequently resulted in embarrassment and great hilarity. Secret messages could be sent to a lover through glove and handkerchief flirtations. All these activities were a form of “escape” within “safe” societal boundaries.

This class will study the political, social, and musical context in which all these reactions to the times developed. We will study the Congress of Vienna and read the diary of a Napoleonic footsoldier. We will read etiquette and dance manuals from the period, and look at historical costume and hairstyles. We will listen to music of Schubert and his contemporaries, and look at some of the poetry Schubert chose to set to music.

We will present our findings in a combination Schubertiade/salon/ball in a public performance near the end of the semester. The evening will contain music, historical skits, dance, costume, games, and all will participate/contribute, each according to interests and abilities.

You do NOT have to be a dancer, singer, actor, poet, or musician in order to contribute. You do NOT have to be a historian or a political scientist. But if you have special interest or ability in any of these areas, that contribution will be welcome!

Great Issues in Fine Arts

Artists, Prints and Process: A History of Printmaking

HSP 172 CRN 1455 Monday-Wednesday 1:00 – 4:00pm

Dr. Bille Wickre & Professor Anne McCauley

Course description: An art form that is both expressive and accessible, printmaking has been among the most popular mediums since its development in the 15^th century. With the examples of prints from the College collection before us, including works by Rembrandt , Hogarth and Rauschenberg, we will study the history, techniques and processes of woodcuts, intaglios and monoprints. Students will learn through creating prints themselves, while at the same time studying works from the College’s exceptions print collection, and engaging with texts on the history of printmaking. Students will begin to understand how the potential and limitations of various traditional techniques enable particular types of visual communication and expression. Emphasis will be placed on student-facilitated learning, exploration, discovery, and collaborative processes.

Below you will find descriptions for the Fall 2011 courses

Great Issues in Science: The Quantum Enigma

HSP 124 CRN 8409

MONDAYS, TUESDAYS, THURSDAYS & FRIDAYS 10:30 – 11:35 Putnam 253

Dr. Aaron Miller

One third of our nation's economy is based on products that were developed using quantum mechanics. For eighty years quantum theory has been proven repeatedly and is arguably the most successful predictive theory in the history of science. Unfortunately, no one really understands it and its deeper implications for our sense of what is physical reality. In this course we discuss the nature and practice of modern science which leads to a study of the essential mysteries of the "quantum" world. We look at quantum mechanics in non-technical, but physically accurate, terms in an effort to explore the bizarre physical and philosophical implications of the fundamental quantum nature of the universe.

Great Issues in Science: Nanoscience.

HSP 123 CRN 8411 & CRN 8411 Lab

Tuesday & Thursday – Lecture 10:30 – 12:20pm Wednesday – Lab 1:00 – 4:35pm

Dr. Kevin Metz

Nano is a prefix indicating one-billionth. Nanoscience is science based on the nanometer scale, or the one-billionth of a meter scale, which is the size of individual atoms. Nanometer scale (nanoscale) science is one of the fastest growing research areas in science at the moment. Scientists from all disciplines, including biological, physical, and chemical sciences, engineering, and medical science, are taking part in nanoscale research. In the nanoscale new properties emerge in substances that differ greatly from their large scale counterparts. For example, nanoscale gold is bright red, nanoscale silver has antibacterial properties, and nanoscale carbons are stronger than steel. Many companies are interested in taking advantage of these properties to improve their consumer products. Currently there are over 1,000 products on the market that contain nanomaterials. This nanomaterial market is expected to break the trillion dollar a year point in the very near future. At the current, however, nanoscale materials are not regulated in any fashion. Thus, the consumer and the environment upon disposal of the products are not protected in any secure fashion from toxicity, or other negative impacts. It is easy to imagine that the same unique properties that make nanoscale materials attractive for use in consumer goods could make them a nightmare for the environment. This course will begin with an examination of scientific methods and knowledge. We will then briefly review the basics of chemical and physical sciences, as relevant to nanomaterials. Then the course will build a framework for understanding nanoscale science. From there we will examine the current state of the art of nanotechnology through primary literature. The laboratory portion of the course will synthesis nanomaterials, characterize them, and then develop experiments to model the environmental impact of nanomaterials. The outcomes of these experiments are unknown and could have significant impacts on our understanding of the impact of nanoscience on the environment.

Great Issues in Science: Mysteries of the Brain

HSP 124 CRN 8412 Tuesday & Thursday 2:15 – 4:05pm

Dr. Mareike Wieth

Much of how the brain works remains a mystery. This course is designed to explore what we know about the brain and what we have yet to learn. We will focus on how the brain, a 3 pound organ, determines our reality and who we are. Using a variety of sources (e.g. books, empirical journals, movies) we will examine the relationship between the brain and a variety of topics such as memory, consciousness, and sleep. We will also spend some time discussing the tools used to study the brain and the relationship between brain activity and our perceptions.

Great Issues in Humanities: The Literature of Horror

HSP 135 CRN 8415 Tuesday & Thursday 10:30 – 12:20pm

Dr. Sally Jordan

In this class, we will read and analyze horror fiction from the late-eighteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. One issue we will examine closely is the connection between horror literature and social history. For instance, the genre which inaugurated the literature of horror, the gothic novel, arose in England during the late eighteenth century. Is it merely a coincidence that this genre exploded in popularity just as England was struggling with a major societal unraveling? How did the real-life fears of riot and revolution intersect with the invented fears of crumbling castles and ghostly apparitions?

Other questions we will consider include the making of monsters: from what or whom does a culture shape its monsters? Why? What is the function of monsters within the larger culture? Is monster-making a way to police social norms, or does it allow a space for the forbidden to flourish and the repressed to return? We will also study theories of the sublime to begin thinking about the aesthetics of horror.

The course work will include reading, discussion, written assignments, and research projects. The texts we will read include the first gothic novel, Horace Walpole's bizarre Castle of Otranto; another gothic work by the most popular writer of her day, Anne Radcliffe; Mary Shelley's story of science gone wrong, Frankenstein; several stories by the ever-morbid Edgar Allen Poe; Sheridan Le Fanu's intriguing tale of a female vampire, Carmilla; Robert Louis Steven's meditation on the monster within, The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde; Bram Stocker's tale of the fearsome foreigner, Dracula; Henry James's uncanny story about possibly possessed children, The Turn of the Screw; some of H.P. Lovecraft's deeply disturbing short stories; and Shirley Jackson's comic yet creepy novel The Haunting of Hill House.

Great Issues in Humanities: Funny Women: Humor and Satire in U.S. Women's Writing

HSP 131 CRN 8414 Monday & Wednesday 11:45 - 1:35p.m / Vulgamore 202

Dr. Judy Lockyer

Students in this section will begin with discussion, followed by individually designed research, about several crucial issues: what is humor and why do women in particular need it? ? What is satire and how do we know good satire when we read or hear it? To what ends do women use wit and satire? Our subjects of study will come from film, poetry, fiction, essays, and editorials. Included on the syllabus are the Seneca Falls Declaration of 1848, Dorothy Parker's stories, essays by Dorothy Allison and Katha Pollitt, and fiction by Flannery O'Connor, Sandra Cisneros, Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, and Nanci Kincaid.

List of texts

Among the course pack selections are "The Seneca Falls Declaration," Welty stories, Dorothy Parker stories and poems, poetry by Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Lucille Clifton, and readings on humor and satire. We will study some of the great funny women on film and television, including Lily Tomlin, Amy Sedaris, Gilda Radner, and Tina Fey. Our purpose will be to analyze visual humor and satire.

• Fran Ross, Oreo
• Zora Neale Hurston, The Complete Stories
• Sandra Cisneros, Caramelo
• Nanci Kincaid, Balls
• Flannery O'Connor, The Complete Stories
• Dorothy Allison, Trash

Great Issues In Humanities: Perspectives On Gambling

HSP 135 CRN 8416 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 11:45 – 12:35pm

Putnam 253

Dr. Mark Bollman

This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to the study of gambling, considering the topic from historical, philosophical, and mathematical perspectives for a balanced look at this multifaceted and increasingly important subject. Evaluation will be based on 5-6 essays of varying lengths, computer laboratory work, and some mathematical exercises. Students must be 18 years old no later than November 1, 2011.

Texts under consideration:

History:

• Roll The Bones: The History of Gambling, David Schwartz
• The Unfinished Game, Keith Devlin

Mathematics:

• Practical Casino Math, Robert Hannum & Anthony Cabot
• The Mathematics of Games and Gambling, Edward Packel

Philosophy:

• The Logic of Chance, John Venn

Literature:

• The Literary Companion to Gambling, Annabel Davis-Goff

Great Issues in Humanities: Mystery, Manners, Modernisms and me

HSP 131 CRN 8413 Tuesday & Thursday / Vulgamore 204 2:15 -4:05pm

Dr. Mary Collar

This course will explore multiple understandings of and responses to the impulse toward the transcendent (or the universal or Truth or mystery) within the literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. Students will read, discuss, and write on a variety of texts from literature and from orientations provided by literary theory, philosophy, and religious thought. Some topics include Christian vs. nihilistic existentialism, good and evil, history as oppression, soul-making, inwardness and identity, humanness, beauty, the function of art, the problem of language, and re-visioning.

Great Issues in Social Science: Social Science Theory: A Critical Look

HSP 154 CRN 8417 Tuesday & Thursday 2:15 – 4:04pm Observatory

Dr. Paul Hagner

This course introduces students to the ways in which social science theory explains, predicts, and, in some instances, progresses. The process starts with an overview of social science theory building moving from conceptual understandings to theories and. perhaps, paradigms. The majority of the course will then be devoted to the critical analysis of social scientific theories moving from macro-theories (such as systems theory) to micro-theories such as socio-genetics. Along the way the student will, hopefully, be surprised, and a bit frightened, by the explanatory and predictive power of modern social science theories.

The proposed course offers students critical insights into meta-theory: theorizing about theory. The goal is to improve the students' abilities to describe, evaluate, and predict using established social science paradigms. The ability of students to make comparisons between explanatory and predictive models when applied to commonly identified social problems will be a highlight of this course's goals.

Great Issues in Social Science: Classicism and the West

HSP 155 CRN 8418 Monday & Wednesday 9:00 – 11:00am

Dr. Chris Hagerman

Description: This seminar investigates the historical and continuing impact of classical antiquity on western civilization. Ancient Greece and Rome have long been valorized as the fons et origina of western art, architecture, law, government, poetry, city-planning, drama, philosophy, and even a particular style of warfare. More recently scholars have begun to unearth the darker elements of this legacy, including its contributions to racism, sexism, and imperialism in later ages. In addition to investigating the full spectrum of classical antiquity's legacy, good and bad, from antiquity to the present, this class pays special attention to the individuals and institutions by which it has been passed down, and the theoretical frameworks scholars have used to make sense of its influence as well as its exploitability in the service of an astonishing array of agendas.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will gain a deeper and more critical understanding of classical antiquity's contributions to western civilization in the past and present.
• Students will gain a deeper understanding of how historical knowledge is made and remade in light of 'present' sensibilities, and how this knowledge shapes subsequent history.
• Students will improve their critical reading, research, and writing skills.
• Students will improve their impromptu and formal speaking skills.

Historical and Cultural Analysis Mode

Great Issues in Social Science: After the Melting Pot: Issues in 20th-Century U.S. Immigration

HSP 155 CRN 8419 Mondays & Wednesdays 11:45 – 1:35pm

Observatory

Dr. Deborah Kanter

The role of immigrants in the U.S., a "nation of immigrants," has been debated since the founding era. This seminar looks both at the experience and myths of immigration, as well as the debates over immigration' s place in the 20th-century U.S.

How has immigration changed since the arrival of the predominantly European "huddled masses" of a century ago? Ellis Island holds a strong place in our national consciousness, but many American families first entered the U.S. in the past century at Angel Island, El Paso, JFK, or LAX. The U.S. population currently includes an all-time high number of foreign-born individuals, mostly from nations well beyond Europe: what does this hold for the future? How have attitudes toward immigration changed with the rise and fall of different notions of race?

The class will consider immigration through works of history, ethnography, demography, literature, film, and sociology. Amidst our general readings, the seminar will focus on three main immigrant groups: East European Jews, Mexicans, and South Asians. Students will have the opportunity to research other immigrant groups.

Readings (tenative list):

• Israel Zangwill, The Melting Pot
• Abraham Cahan, Yekl the Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories
• Ernesto Galarza, Barrio Boy
• Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We?: The Challenges to America's National Identity excerpt
• Rubén Martínez, Crossing Over: a Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail
• Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
• Vijay Prashad, The Karma of Brown Folk

Films:

• The Sixth Section
• Hester Street
• Farmingville

Great Issues in Social Science: U.S. Foreign Policy Since 1945

HSP 151 CRN 8423 Monday & Wednesday 2:15pm – 4:00pm

Associate Professor of International Studies, Midori Yoshii

This course analyzes U.S. foreign policy from 1945 to present through documents. Students are required to participate in class discussions and write a research paper based on the State Department documents, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS). The methodology used in this course includes reading official documents, memoirs, analyses of contemporary media coverage, and film analysis. Special attention is paid to the Kennedy and Johnson administrations in the 1960s and more recent Middle Eastern policies under Reagan and Bush Sr. in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The grade policy is as follows: attendance (10%); discussion participation (10%); presentations (30%); small writing assignments (20%); and a 15-page research paper (30%).

Fulfills Text Analysis Mode

Great Issues in Fine Arts:

HSP 172 CRN 8421 Tuesday & Thursday 2:15 – 4:05pm

Dr. Lia Jensen-Abbott

This class will explore the relevance of all the arts in society, culture, and education. As a microcosm of trends nationwide, the course will assess Albion's lack of funding for arts programs and perhaps try to come up with some ideas for this community. The course will have three components: 1. individual exploration of students' own needs, appreciation, etc. for the arts; 2. We will read/research aesthetic philosophy/theory as well as some statistical research and analysis, and bring in speakers. The final component will involve working in this community—the class will brainstorm a project with the ultimate goal of putting into place some new arts initiative. We may travel to see plays, museums, music performances, etc., along with speakers. The course will involve different types of writing—journals, research based papers, and a final project.

Great Issues in Social Science: Models of Human Relationships

Why do they matter in science, society and everyday life?

HSP 154    CRN 2636
Tuesdays & Thursdays
1:10  –  3:00pm
Location TBA
Jeremy L. Osborn, Communication Studies

At a general level, this course will examine the fundamental differences among various disciplines and research areas within the social sciences by analyzing one phenomenon that is critical to all of them—human relationships.  While the human relationship represents one of the fundamental units of analysis in the social sciences, it is not a phenomenon that possesses a unitary conceptualization (let alone operationalization) across disciplines and lines of research.  The various models of human relationships that have emerged provide excellent lenses through which to see the fundamental differences among these lines of research at the core level of philosophical assumptions regarding social life and activity.

Different models offer different explanations for the motivations underlying social action and the structural elements that define an association as a "relationship."  Social scientists and lay people alike utilize particular models of human relationships to both make sense of their experience and to make behavioral decisions.  The models chosen can have serious implications for both scientific inquiry and personal decision-making.  From a scientific standpoint, these models reflect several "great issues."  First, they highlight the diversity, complexity, and richness that define the social sciences.  The differences among them illustrate different fundamental philosophical and methodological approaches to understanding the social world.  Second, by highlighting these differences, the models help illustrate one of the reasons that true "interdisciplinary" social science research is often difficult.  If differences exist at fundamental levels that are then manifested in the conceptualization of key terms and phenomenon, researchers can often have difficulty coordinating interdisciplinary research that could yield important insights.  Beyond the scientific level, examining the models provides insights into the values and beliefs that were dominant at different points in history and/or were advanced either intentionally or unintentionally by researchers with particular agendas.  Therefore the reflexive relationship between scientific knowledge and cultural meaning is explored.  Finally, examining the models offers individual students a set of tools to examine their own perceptual biases, the biases of others, and the biases of particular, dominant groups in society.