New Courses
New Course Descriptions, Historical Perspectives, Honors, IDS Courses and Additional Course Descriptions
Spring 2011
as of Nov. 8, 2010
Please check class schedule for days and times.
ECON 350: HEALTH ECONOMICS
Natalya Shelkova
The goal of the course is to give students insights into the current healthcare system and equip them with economic tools to analyze it. The course surveys historical development of the healthcare system in order to understand why a market-based system (in the U.S.) has been established. Alternative healthcare systems are also surveyed. The analysis of the current healthcare system in the U.S. considers insurance, healthcare delivery, and the market for pharmaceuticals. Demand, costs and supply in each market are considered, as well as questions of market structure and market failures, and the role of government in addressing the failures. During the semester students pursue a research project in which they identify a current healthcare problem (in the U.S. or abroad), analyze it using the tools and knowledge of the course and, based on their analysis, suggest solution(s) to the problem.
ENGLISH 250: BRITISH DRAMA: EVERYMAN TO EVITA
Heather Mitchell
In this course, we will consider the ways that Britain’s cultural landscape is not only reflected in, but also shaped by, its theatre. Our study begins with late fifteenth-century morality drama, moves through some of the “greatest hits” of Renaissance, Restoration, Victorian, and Edwardian England, and concludes with the plays and musicals that populate London’s West End today. We will explore these plays through discussion, performance, and historical research, focusing on how each primary text captures its cultural moment, and chronicling the ways that theatre and its audiences have changed over time. Texts will include Marlowe, The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus; Sheridan, The School for Scandal; Shaw, Pygmalion; Webber/Rice, Evita; Churchill, A Number
GST 150: INTRO TO PEER TUTORING (1 credit)
Melissa Daniel Frink
The Intro to Peer Tutoring course provides students with the conceptual & experiential foundations needed to work effectively as peer-collaborators in student-to-student tutoring sessions. Tutors examine and analyze key theoretical & pedagogical approaches to peer-to-peer learning. They also practice & reflect on the wide range of tutoring strategies that develop from relevant theories & pedagogies. The primary goal of this course is to help peer-tutors develop the knowledge & experience needed to guide and support a diverse population of students seeking academic help in various courses. In order to serve as a peer tutor, students must have received an “A” or “B” in the course(s) they are tutoring and be recommended by the instructor.
GST 250: PEER WRITING TUTORING (1 credit)
Melissa Daniel Frink
This course provides students with the conceptual & experiential foundations needed to work effectively as peer-collaborators in student-to-student writing tutoring sessions. Tutors examine and analyze key theoretical & pedagogical approaches to peer-to-peer learning. They also practice & reflect on the wide range of tutoring strategies that develop from relevant theories & pedagogies. The primary goal of this course is to help peer writing tutors develop the knowledge & experience needed to guide and support a diverse population of students seeking academic help in their courses. In order to serve as a peer writing tutor, students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, must submit a writing sample to Melissa Daniel Frink and must be recommended by an instructor familiar with the student’s writing ability.
HIST 227: URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY: NEW YORK, CHICAGO AND LOS ANGELES
Damon Akins
This course uses New York, Chicago and Los Angeles as lenses to explore U.S. urban environmental history over the last three hundred years. By restricting the focus to the three cities which are, arguably, the most important built urban environments in the United States, we will explore the complex relationships between people, nature and cities in depth. The course will make extensive use of online resources such as Google Earth, museum and historical archive websites, and online map collections. Fulfills major and minor requirements for both the History and Environmental Studies programs, as well as social justice / environmental responsibility and humanities requirements.
JPS 250: HISTORY OF CRIME CONTROL IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Sanjay Marwah
This course examines the history and evolution of crime control in the United States in the 20th century. The 20th century American response to crime is interesting and useful to appreciate the system of social controls existing in our current society. The American criminal justice system is examined from distinctly historical, sociology, and political economy perspectives to understand and explain the significant changes in crime control and U.S. society’s responses to crime. Major trends in crime and violence, the federalization of criminal justice, professionalization and reform of criminal justice institutions, significant changes in regulatory and legal environments, and the changing culture of crime control are the main themes of the course. Students will also learn how to examine these trends and developments in policing, courts, and corrections through critical readings in multiple disciplines as well as written assignments, guided discussions, and learning of content knowledge and analytical tools.
HIST 350: SPECIAL TOPICS – WOMEN AND GENDER IN DEVELOPING REGIONS
Joy Coates
This course assumes no prior knowledge of the subject; however, it requires the student to master broad interdisciplinary debates regarding women in development (WID) and gender and development (GAD) in relation to women’s lived experiences specifically in Africa and generally in Latin America and Asia. As the course explores theoretical, methodological, and interpretive dimensions of these regions, students will read from a wide variety of disciplinary and historical perspectives. This course will explore themes such as the importance of theory, the role of work, reproduction, geography, domesticity, and the politics of globalization through several historical periods, specifically the post-war/post-colonial period. Prior experience in Africa, Asia or Latin American history is not required. The course fulfills the Intercultural and Humanities requirements. Enrollment limited to junior and seniors.
JPS 350: LAW AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Barbara Lawrence
Brown v. the Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Title 9 regarding women’s sports, the USA Patriot Act, Miranda v. Arizona and the 1964 Voting Rights Act all have something in common. Every society faces conflict and social change. The law and its related institutions enable personal and social conflicts to be resolved in a controlled and non-violent manner. If you are interested in investigating some aspect of law you consider important and relevant to your life and work or how civil rights and human rights have changed over time, consider enrolling in JPS 350 Law and Social Change. The course will survey the principal U.S. legal instruments and traditions to understand how more effectively to contribute to social change through these institutions.
MATH 250: NUMBER THEORY
Dan Katz
Number theory, the study of integers and other numbers derived from integers, is a widely studied area of mathematics that originated in ancient Greece and is still evolving today. This course will serve as an introduction to the topic, beginning with the key properties of integer addition and multiplication, and aiming toward the elegant result known as quadratic reciprocity. Topics explored along the way will include Diophantine equations, continued fractions, and applications to cryptography. The course has no formal prerequisites, as the only previous knowledge needed is basic arithmetic. However, the level of rigor and abstraction will be higher than in, for instance, an elementary statistics or calculus class. Students should expect to experiment and reason out problems rather than just applying mechanical processes, and students who have encountered proofs before may find the course more approachable.
MUS 250: WRITING MUSIC: BASIC TOOLS FOR EVERY GENRE (1 CREDIT)
Staff
Are you a singer song-writer who wants to increase your basic skills and knowledge in harmonic progressions, structural development, rhythmic options, etc? This class caters to all genres and levels of music. Students will develop ability, regardless of prior experience, to organize and express musical ideas in their own personal idiom using a variety of traditional and non-traditional compositional methods. Students will learn to use materials such as recording programs, notation software, as well as traditional musical manuscript. The class will include one weekly meeting and a one-on-one meeting with the instructor scheduled independently outside of class time. Course fee $175; time TBA
PHYS 150 ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS
Steven Shapiro
Ever wonder what’s inside electronic devices such as laptops, cell phones, and mp3 players? In this course, we will explore the fundamental components of these devices in the lab as well as the classroom. We will discuss both analog and digital electronics and experiment with such basic electronic building blocks as resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, operational amplifiers, and logic gates. Students will build, analyze, and troubleshoot circuits. As examples, students will construct circuits to (a) amplify desired signals and filter out unwanted ones, (b) perform simple calculations, and (c) control audio signals like volume and pitch.
We have designed this course to be flexible and student-centered so that it would be appropriate for all students, regardless of their science background. Exercises will be shaped to match student interest and background. Pre-requisite: Successful completion of the quantitative literacy requirement. Satisfies: Natural Science and Mathematics Breadth Requirement; CMIT Major; Physics Major / Minor
REL 250: MEN, MASCULINITIES AND RELIGIONS
Mark Justad
An introductory course on gender and religion that examines men’s ways of being and behaving and its collective influence on western religious thought and practice. Particular attention will be given to analyzing hegemonic forms of masculinity that support patriarchal gender ideologies and invest religions with androcentric biases. Course readings will touch on major theological conversations (god, human, etc.) and religious concerns (faith, ethics, etc.).
REL 450: 001 11310: MYSTICISM
Parveen Hasanali
What is “real” might be a question for metaphysics. If so, what is really real would be the question for mysticism, which grounds reality in the experience of the individual, in the inner, hidden recesses of one’s being, heart, soul or intellect. The various ways by which one discovers the “really real” makes up the mystic’s journey to transformation. In this course, we will primarily explore the story as the interpretive frame whereby we study the theoretical and conceptual motifs of mysticism. The story makes real or enacts the experience of metaphysical questions about truth, nature, knowledge, spirit and experience. It provides a frame for analysis in a discipline that grounds itself in experience. While we will be studying various examples from different religious traditions, we will use two major texts, “The Bhagavad Gita” from Hinduism and “Hayy ibn Yaqzan” from medieval Islam as the primary sources for textual analysis. Your major cumulative assignment would be to develop, write, present and ‘publish’ a paper in class modeled on an academic conference.
SOAN 450: CULTURE ON DISPLAY
Tom Guthrie
This course explores public interpretations of culture and heritage at tourist sites and in museums throughout the world. It addresses theories of tourism, various styles of ethnographic exhibition, the display of objects and bodies, cultural performances, conceptions of authenticity, and the memorialization of the past. The relationship among public culture, colonialism, and capitalism will receive special attention. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the culture concept in anthropology and practice cultural critique. We will divide our time between reading, field trips, and hands-on projects.
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Historical Perspectives Courses
ENG 151-004 & 007 HP: MYTHS OF THE SOUTHWEST, 1865-1895
Martin Arnold
In “Myths of the Southwest, 1865-1895,” students will explore various ways the Southwest has been depicted by historians, by politicians, by ideology (such as Manifest Destiny), through pulp fiction (dime novels), and through the biographies, letters, and journals of its inhabitants. We will begin by exploring the value of the Frontier through the work of Frederick Jackson Turner; we’ll then move on to discussions of how various ideologies came to rationalize and justify agendas for westward expansion. East of the Mississippi, many Americans came to embrace depictions of the Southwest as an unpopulated expanse of limitless resources, occasionally interrupted by a gunslinger in a brothel. Exploring myths of the Southwest, therefore, requires that we examine both the experiences and the stereotypes of the Native Americans and Mexicans who inhabited the newly established Territories of New Mexico and Arizona. We will investigate the shifting identities and nationalities of those inhabitants and the legacy of Spanish Colonization, as well as trace the development of American settlement in the region. Students will analyze these shifts by reading competing historical interpretations and primary sources of the time.
ENG 151-001: HP: FAIRIES, REBELS, CARIBS & WITCHES
Caroline McAlister
Shakespeare has often been taught as a great writer whose works are universal and timeless. However, in this course we will try to return Shakespeare to his time and place, reading him as a product and producer of a specific moment in history. We will cover four plays written between 1595 and 1611, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, Macbeth, and The Tempest, along with contemporary historical documents. We will read A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the context of representations of Queen Elizabeth 1. We will study Othello as a play that reveals English fears and insecurities as they came into contact with Africa and the Ottoman Empire. We will analyze Macbeth in conjunction with the gunpowder plot and the North Berwick Witch Trials. Finally, we will study The Tempest’s relationship to the discovery and colonization of America. My goal is for students to begin to question artificial distinctions between literature and history, text and context.
ENG 151-002 HP: KING ARTHUR—THEN & NOW
Heather Mitchell
This writing-intensive HP course will focus on the legends, folktales, romances, and epics of King Arthur– the mythical King of the Britons who will return to help his people in their moment of need. Beginning with the earliest mentions of Arthur in 6th-century Welsh texts, we will examine various points in the story’s development through time to modern filmic versions. Throughout, we will compare how the mythic stories of Camelot and the knights of the round table respond to, and help to construct, cultural and national identity and the development of law, systems of justice, and personal responsibility. Using King Arthur as our lens, we can also view how the island of Britannia developed from a conquered and invaded people to the British Empire of the late 19th century—and gauge global responses to this British hero. Please remember that this is a writing course, and although our historical topic is King Arthur, our main focus will be on advancing our critical thinking and analytical writing skills.
We will explore the course’s central questions from a variety of perspectives through our study of competing stories of kingdom-making, models of love, and theories of law, religion, and magic. While focusing primarily on British versions of the legends, we’ll also read medieval French additions to the myth (especially Lancelot and Merlin!), a Japanese response to Tennyson’s Arthur, a post-modern Italian retelling of ideal knighthood, and some American feminist retellings of the women in the King Arthur’s court. Be prepared to read some great literature and interesting historical documents, view some amazing art, listen to music inspired by and created for the legends, and to watch pieces of some fun film adaptations of the once and future king!
ENG 151-003 & 006: HP: HISTORY & LITERATURE OF NEW ORLEANS
Kaylene Swenson
The particulars of New Orleans’ history are fascinating: Jazz—an original American musical art form— emerged from the trumpet of Buddy Bolden, a barber from Storyville; a mix of races, free and enslaved, plantation or city-dwelling, created a “gumbo” of rich and varied customs; Voodoo mixed with Catholicism became Hoodoo and nurtured Marie Leveau, our most famous Hoodoo priestess; the oldest running trolley system in the US connects two of New Orleans’ most famous streets: Desire and Elysian Fields, streets that only seem to deliver the goods their names promise. The City has been flooded at least twice, in 1927 and of course in 2005 because of its precarious relationship with that Mighty Mississippi River, has had its share of corrupt political figures, hosts one of the largest Carnivals in the world, is home to this nation’s most diverse population, and has produced some of the richest literary works in our nation’s history. And yet, most people in the United States know very little about the crucial influence the city has had on the economy, culture, and geography of the rest of the United States. Our ignorance was illustrated writ large in our nation’s response after Katrina. We breathed a collective sigh of relief when we realized the French Quarter remained largely untouched by the floodwaters and then turned away from the destruction of almost every other historic (though poor) neighborhood in the city.
Our aim in the course will be to create a richer understanding of New Orleans by confronting multiple, and often conflicting, perspectives of it and its history. We will start by looking at the way your current beliefs about the city have been shaped by current media depictions of it. We will then look back and work to situate New Orleans in the social and political contexts of the turn of the 20th century in an attempt to understand just how the city became so diverse, how its power structures evolved, how its distinct neighborhoods were formed. We will also juxtapose your beliefs and the historical background, with those of the authors, poets, musicians, and filmmakers who have lived and worked in New Orleans in order to analyze the way art has created and sustained particular visions of history and place. We will examine how those visions of New Orleans and its mystique aid and perhaps harm the city and its inhabitants.
ENG 151-008: HP: BLACK WOMEN’S HISTORY & LITERATURE: RESISTANCE, RECONSTRUCTION, RENAISSANCE
Carolyn Beard Whitlow
In this history, literature and writing course, we will read/hear/view/discuss/write about the historical conditions affecting the empowerment of black women spanning the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries: via their own voices in audio-taped interviews, oral histories and a documentary history with pictures; via historical analysis in standard history texts, film, and essays on literary history; and via characters and omniscient narrators in modern historical fiction and two canonical novels in the African-American literary tradition, namely, Iola Leroy and Jubilee. We will stress black women’s perceptions of their own history.
HIST 104-003 HP: The United States Since 1877
Matt Andrews
This course will be a fast-paced, semester-long road trip that investigates the major issues in American history since 1877, an era of remarkable technological, artistic, social, cultural, and political transformations. As we zig-zag our way across the country—and to other parts of the world—a few themes will figure prominently in our travels. The major ones are: The United States’ growing presence in global affairs; the lives of workers in a rapidly changing industrial society; the relationship between the government and its citizens; the black civil rights movement and the fight against the color line; and, the role and power of the individual in society. As the subtitle of this course indicates, during this class we will also be seeking the meaning of the American Dream. Americans have not always been of one mind about the meaning of this dream, nor have they always agreed about the best way to realize their dream. In this course we will study how these different perspectives sometimes peacefully coexisted while at other times became the subject of immense public conflict and debate—disagreements that still reverberate today. In short, in this course I will introduce you to multiple perspectives, encourage you to construct your own well-reasoned interpretation of American history, and challenge you to defend the positions you take.
HIST 104-001 HP: THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1877
Damon Akins
This course is both an introductory survey of American history since the Civil War, as well as a practical workshop on the methods and skills of critical reading, thinking and writing expected of students at Guilford. The first goal of the course is to acquaint you with the narrative — that is the broad, superficial “story” of American history. I will do my best to present that through in-class lectures and activities. We will supplement that with readings including two novels, one historical monograph, and a few brief articles and primary sources.
Throughout the course, we will focus on a cluster of related questions: What does citizenship mean? What various meanings has citizenship had over the last 150 years of American history, and what has caused it to change? How do changing conceptualizations of citizenship allow us to see broad historical trends in the past? How have different groups within American society experienced citizenship differently?
HIST 264-002 HP: ASIA PACIFIC IN MODERN TIMES
Zhihong Chen
This course, which fulfills the Humanities requirement and either the Social Justice and Environmental Responsibility (SJER) or the Intercultural (ICUL) requirement, provides a historical perspective on contemporary Asia Pacific by examining important themes in the history of this region since about 1800. Course content includes both East Asia (China, Japan and Korea) and Southeast Asia (especially countries like Vietnam and Indonesia). It introduces such important themes as cultural legacies, colonialism, the rise of nationalism and communism, war and revolution, modernization, regionalism, as well as other contemporary issues facing the region. There are no prerequisites for this course.
HIST 150-001 HP: INDEPENDENCE IN COLONIAL AMERICA
Alvis Dunn
This Historical Perspectives course focuses on the movements toward independence from European colonizers of people in the American Hemisphere. From British North America, the French Caribbean and Spanish and Portuguese territories the concentration will be upon the intellectual impulses that underlay the creation of Enlightenment inspired governments. Primary documents of the period will be explored (in translation) and the ideological touchstones as well as dissimilarities of continental thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, Jose Cecelio del Valle, Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin will be compared and contrasted. Ultimately the question, “Do the America’s Have A Common History?” will be addressed.
HIST237-001&003 HP:WAR&PEACEIN20THCENTURYEUROPE
Phil Slaby
Rapid and intense change has characterized European history from 1914 to the present. In these decades, Europe experienced the unparalleled destruction of the First and Second World Wars and periods of often- uneasy peace; it endured economic disaster in the Great Depression and enjoyed decades of prosperity. Further, throughout such upheaval and developments, Europe served as the primary battleground in clashes between the ideologies of liberal democracy, socialism, fascism, and communism. This course examines the diplomatic, political, socio-economic, and cultural developments that defined and shaped Europe in the twentieth century. It will deepen the students’ understanding of this period through lecture, discussion, secondary readings, and through the analysis of primary documents.
This section of HIST 238 MAY also fulfill the Historical Perspectives requirement. In this writing-intensive course, students will hone the thinking, reading, and writing skills necessary for substantive and successful college-level writing. They will learn approaches to understanding, analyzing, and evaluating a variety of often challenging texts. Moreover, they will translate their insights, research, and findings into well- reasoned, well-supported, and well-written essays. Throughout the semester, participants will draft and revise papers both in class and outside of it.
MUS 152-001/ THEA 152-001 HP: AMERICA & ITS MUSICALS
David Hammond
Throughout its history, the American musical has embodied the ever-changing society that has produced it. The most collaborative of theatrical forms, the musical brings together teams of creative artists from many different backgrounds, all of them influenced by their own life experiences and by contemporary movements in their areas of artistic expertise. Any new development in any area of the arts will ultimately reveal itself in the collaborative process that creates a musical. More significantly, the social and cultural forces that shape the arts will manifest themselves as well, in the form and content of the script and score and in the physical realization of this material through production and performance. More than any other theatrical form, the musical is created in rehearsal, and, while the script and score may have an afterlife in subsequent productions, our sense of any new musical is inextricably linked to our impressions of its design, choreography, direction, and original performance. What we see onstage is a living distillation of our world, made manifest through the shared sensibilities of the artists who have created the work. In this course, we will examine seventy-five years of American musical theatre from many different perspectives – sociological, political, cultural, economic, and artistic. We will analyze the work of significant writers, composers, designers, directors,choreographers and performers on productions that have embodied elements of our changing national identity over a period of time. We will examine our evolving multicultural society and its interactions with the musical theatre that has reflected it, influenced it, and been shaped by it.
SPST 247-001 HP: SPORTS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Bob Malekoff
Sport has long played a significant role in American society, and has impacted the way people think about issues such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Students will be encouraged to examine the ways in which sport has interacted with various social constructs over the course of the 20th century, with special focus being placed on individuals, groups, and events that have played a particularly significant role in leading to cultural change. We will discuss how sports at various levels (youth/interscholastic, intercollegiate, and professional) have changed over time, and examine the relative utility – or lack thereof – of sport in a variety of contexts both in- and outside “the arena”. Finally, students will be asked to consider whether sport in the 20th century is more reflection of society, or is society a reflection of sport.
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Honors Courses
HONORS MATH 320: Section 001 (CRN 10197)/PHYS 320: Section 001 (CRN 10196) MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS
Don Smith
Introduces students to mathematical techniques of particular importance to scientists and engineers. Topics include: complex numbers, Fourier series and the solution of ordinary and partial differential equations (with special emphasis on harmonic oscillators). Both analytical and numerical methods are studied. Prerequisites: Honors program. MATH 225 or permission of the instructor; PHYS 122 strongly suggested.
HONORS RELIGIOUS STUDIES 318: TIBETAN &HIMALAYAN RELIGIONS, SECTION 001 (CRN 10861)
Eric Mortensen
Studies the religious traditions of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau as well as the effects of the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the effects of modernization and tourism on local religion and the recent internationalization of Tibetan Buddhism. One prior course in religious studies, history or philosophy is highly recommended. Fulfills humanities and intercultural requirements.
HONORS THEATER STUDIES 152: Section 002 (CRN 11468)/MUSIC 152: Section 002 (CRN 11467) HP:AMERICA AND ITS MUSICALS: 1900-1975
David Hammond
Traces development of the American musical theatre from 1900 to 1975 with a primary focus on the years of significant transformation that begin in 1940. Studies the art from sociological, political, cultural, economic, artistic and historic perspectives. Analyzes individual artists and productions that have influenced and been influenced by the evolving American national identity. Fulfills historical perspectives requirement.
HONORS PSYCHOLOGY 100: GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY Section 002 (CRN 10620)
Eva Lawrence
General Psychology is designed as a broad overview of the field of psychology. In it, we will study psychology as a systematic approach to understanding the human experience through a variety of key areas, including biology, consciousness, learning, memory, emotion, motivation, psychological disorders, therapies, personality, development, and social psychology. As an Honors course, students will be expected to be active learners both in and out of the classroom. Lecture and other forms of instructor presentation will be limited, so that class time may be devoted primarily to class discussions and activity-driven learning experiences. Forms of evaluation will include quizzes and exams for assessing mastery of basic concepts and weekly reflection papers and activity-driven research projects for assessing students’ abilities to apply those concepts to a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. Pre-req.: Honors program or permission of the instructor.
ENGLISH 342: AMERICAN ROMANTICISM Section 001 (CRN 10245)
Jeff Jeske
Study of Irving, Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville and Whitman as well as the pointing of the era. Prerequisites: ENGL 102 and Historical Perspectives.
CHEMISTRY 112: CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES II Section 001 (CRN 10033)
Gail Webster
Molecular and ionic equilibria, chemical kinetics and reaction mechanisms, intermolecular interactions, electrochemistry and introduction to organic and biochemical systems. Three hours lecture, one-hour problem-solving session and three hours lab per week. Prerequisite: CHEM 111. Fulfills natural science and mathematics requirement.
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New IDS 400 Courses (others are listed in the catalog)
IDS 401: INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A SOMETIMES UNEASY ALLIANCE
Bob Malekoff
A comprehensive and interdisciplinary study of how intercollegiate athletics operate at American colleges and universities. The course examines the impact sport has on the higher education experience for students, faculty, administrators, alumni, and external constituents.
Amid great debate about its appropriate place within the academy, intercollegiate athletics has played an integral and undeniably significant role in the American system of higher education since the mid-nineteenth century. This course will include an historical overview of college sport (1850 – present), and will focus on a variety of events and issues that speak to the impact of intercollegiate athletics at colleges and universities. Topics include–among others–the debate surrounding required academic standards for college athletes, athletic department relationships with corporate entities, the impact of sports programs on campus culture, the role of college and university presidents in intercollegiate athletics, and how college sports interacts with Title IX. Through readings and discussions we will consider various prescriptive alternatives for the challenges facing the contemporary college sports model.
IDS 450: PARIS
Maria Bobroff
Paris is known the world over as a city of romance, culinary delights, fine art, and haute couture. But what lies beneath this ornate exterior? And how did the myth of Paris come into existence? In this class we will study Paris, the so-called “Capital of Modernity,” in all its glory and grit. Our course will be organized both chronologically and thematically with special emphasis on the nineteenth century and Haussmanization, and the twenty-first century and the legacy of colonialism. We will investigate the events that have marked Paris, and in turn we will learn how to read the Western city as a product of competing cultural demands and social forces.
