FRESHMAN SEMINARS  2009

 

A sound liberal arts education should enable students to participate as quickly as possible in thought-provoking academic discussion.  Freshman Seminars are intended to facilitate this process by providing students a setting for intellectual and creative engagement.  These seminars introduce and support our institutional value of academic achievement through close student-faculty relationships.  Seminars are designed to foster a lively and respectful interaction, both among students and between students and faculty, around a topic of the faculty member′s choosing.

                Open to freshmen only.  Enrollment limited to 16 students per seminar.

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  109A  POPULAR CULTURE IN THE SPANISH-SPEAKING WORLD  (IN SPANISH)  Pop culture reflects the daily interactions, interests, and cultural "moments" that make up the lives of everyday people in their communities.  It includes many practices or beliefs on subjects such as music, religion, myth, dance, race, food, gender, clothing, consumption, mass media, entertainment, sports, politics, community action, and literature.

                Open to intermediate through advanced speakers, readers, and writers of Spanish.  J. Kushigian

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  109B  COUNTRIES OF THE MEKONG  An exploration of the recent histories of Cambodia and Vietnam and the economic, environmental, and social forces that affect the Mekong regions of the two countries.  R. Jensen, D. Peppard

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  109C  MICROBES, MOLECULES, AND MORE  Students will design and conduct their own experiments on plant compounds and their potential for antibacterial activity.  Students will explore uses of these compounds in different cultures, and will evaluate their own use of such compounds in their daily lives.  Seminar is open to freshmen NFS Science Leaders only.  A. Bernhard and C. Kaczmarek

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  109D  THE SEARCH FOR LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE  An examination of how humans scientifically search for extraterrestrial life.  Questions include;  What is the universe made of?  What is life?  What constitutes a habitable planet?  What is the Drake Equation?  Where and how might we search for life in this solar system?  What would be the societal impacts of finding extraterrestrial life?  L. Brown

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  109E  WALKING IN THEIR SHOES:  EARLY AMERICAN INHABITANTS OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT  Native conflict and displacement, religious radicalism, revolutionary fervor, slavery, abolitionism, and whaling are all part of the heritage of New London and the history of the United States.  Using the example of New London and the methodology of microhistory, this course will illuminate the colonial and antebellum history of the United States.  L. Wilson

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  109F  PSYCHOLOGY AND CRITICAL THINKING  Introduction to the principles of critical thinking and logic and to the psychology of reasoning, decision-making, and choice.  Current controversies (e.g., evolution vs. creationism, belief in the paranormal) will be used as test cases to evaluate the evidence and arguments supporting differing positions. S. Vyse

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  109G  SPORT IN AMERICA:  AN EXAMINATION OF SPORTS CULTURE  The nature and history of sport in America, a critical analysis of sport that leads to the understanding of social problems and social issues associated with sport in our society, and sport as a social phenomenon.  A community learning experience through Project K.B.A. (Kids, Books, Athletics) is encouraged.  E. Kovach

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  119A  MODERN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY  The fundamental ideas that underlie the physical technology of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.  Topics include relativity theory, nuclear physics, some modern electronics technologies, and energy applications.  Basic historical developments in physics will be discussed.  In addition to the textbook some media reports will be a reference.  Students may not receive credit for both this course and Physics 111.  T. F. Ammirati

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  129A  SOUND, MUSIC, DIGITAL AUDIO, AND PROGRAMMING  An examination of sound analysis, synthesis, and processing through computer programming.  Topics include the physics of sound, musical instruments, analysis tools, and sound perception.  Students will learn the fundamentals of digital audio and programming to analyze, mix, change, and create sounds.  O. Izmirli

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  139B  THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF UTOPIAS AND ANTI-UTOPIAS  Throughout Western history, writers have envisioned perfect societies (utopias).  Fearing the implications of modern trends, twentieth century writers created anti-utopias.  Each work attempts to answer the central questions of political thought:  inherent human nature; individual or communal property ownership; the purpose of the State, its organization, and whether resistance is legitimate.  D. James

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  139E  IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES  An investigation of immigration to the contemporary United States.  Consideration of film, literature, and sources from the social sciences will address topics such as family and gender, language and education, employment and entrepreneurship, identity and the second generation, borders and symbolism, and politics and conflict.  J. Cole

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  139F  Conquering Adversity:  The Development of Human Resilience  An investigation of the ability to survive or thrive in the face of adverse circumstances, such as biological, economic, or social disadvantage.  Students will consider complexities in interpreting levels of risk and critically analyze factors that affect the diverse paths taken by individuals confronted with challenge.  Community service learning is required.  C. Akai

 

Freshman Seminar  139G  THe Best Years of Our Lives:  The History of AMERICAN Education  A critical examination of the history of American schooling as seen through film, autobiography, biography, and other texts. Themes include differing representations of democracy, gender, race, and class as sorting mechanisms, and the millennial proposition that public education can end poverty.  M. James

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  139H  GENDER AND SOCIETY  An exploration of the social construction of gender categories.  The course considers the variety of ways in which we learn to ″do″ gender.  Who and what shapes our ideas regarding gender roles?  What are the consequences of these categories and how do these differ across cultures?  A. Jafar

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  149A  CRIME AND DETECTION IN POPULAR FICTION  An exploration of three related figures:  the police detective, the private detective, and the criminal who evolves from villain to victim.  Writers include Dickens, Collins, Norris, Wright, Poe, Stevenson, Doyle, Christie, Hammett, Higgins, Rendell, and P.D. James.  P. Ray

 

Freshman Seminar  149B  The Artist and the Scientist:  From Michelangelo to Galileo (IN ENGLISH)  A study of the interplay of art, religion, and science in Medicean Florence and Papal Rome. Special attention will be given to Michelangelo′s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel and to Galileo′s discovery of the moons of Jupiter.  Students may not receive credit for both this course and Italian 409.  R. Proctor

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  149C  WOMEN, MADNESS, AND POWER 

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  149D  REMEMBERING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION  This seminar introduces a post-Mao generation of Chinese writers and artists and their different representations of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) through personal memoir, fiction, film, poetry, and popular culture, and examines how collective cultural memory is constructed, presented, and constantly revised according to contemporary needs.  Y. Huang

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  149E  China:  Music and Politics in the Twentieth Century  During the twentieth century, Chinese political debates about music were sometimes undergirded by deeply rooted notions of music as a technology of power and control.  This course explores how historical understandings of relationships between sound and power structure in Chinese thought influenced the politics of music making in twentieth-century China.  J. D. Wilson

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  149F  AMERICA POLARIZED  This course explores how American literature articulates, responds to, and engages with some of the polarized visions of American culture.  Topics include 1) Nature and the Environment and 2) Gender, Ethnicity, Race, and Age.  Selections from various genres may include Walden, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Street, Ceremony, and Beloved.  M. E. Ellsworth

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  149G  GOLDEN OLDIES  A review of some of the major figures in English literature from the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century.  For students declaring the English major, this Freshman Seminar will count as the equivalent of English 120.  Students may not receive credit for both this course and English 120I.  J. Gordon

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  149H  THEM AND US:  REVISITING THE AMERICAN DREAM  This course examines the ways 20th century literature from the mainstream and margins of American life focuses on and explodes the myth of the melting pot through its presentation of issues of race, class, gender, and ethnicity, and provides new perspectives on the meaning of the American dream.  T. P. Ammirati

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  159A  MAKING THEATER:  FROM PROCESS TO PERFORMANCE  An exploration of the process of creating a theatrical performance from the perspectives of the different artists involved, including actors, designers, the director, and the playwright.  The class will culminate in a public performance created collaboratively by the students in the class.  L. Lowe

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  159B  BASIC CONCEPTS IN DESIGN  Basic elements of visual language using traditional and electronic media.  Investigations will be in two-dimensional form and time-based media.  A. Wollensak

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  159C  MOVING THROUGH GENDER AND RACE  Through embodied practice and theoretical analysis, this course focuses on choreographies of gender and race both on and off the stage.  The course considers how female bodies, in particular, have been rehearsed, produced, and deconstructed by choreographers in recent history.  Students will be asked to collaborate on and perform a final project.  A. Myers

 

Freshman Seminar  169A  The Meaning of Life  A philosophical consideration of what makes life worth living.  Topics include God, wisdom, pleasure, and the absurd.  Readings from classical and contemporary sources.  S. Feldman

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  169B  THE HOLOCAUST IN ART  How does art address the catastrophe of the Holocaust?  Can artistic expression accurately reflect and/or record the event?  This course will examine how various artists represent the Holocaust and the ways in which their representations change and challenge its reality.  Poems, stories, films, paintings, and monuments will be considered.  S. Portnoff

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  169C  MYTH AND FOLKTALE  A study of the narrative forms through which man has conceived of his world and its causes.  M. Despalatovic

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  169D  SEMINAR ON SOCRATES  An examination of the philosophy of Socrates as portrayed by Plato and other ancient writers.  The life and thought of Socrates will be seen in the context of the social, political, and intellectual conditions of Fifth Century Athens.  The importance of this paradigmatic philosopher in the 19th and 20th centuries will also be examined.  D. Held

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  179A  FOR GODS′ SAKE  Hindus, Muslims and Jews.  Religious conflict in South Asia and the Middle East from World War I to the present.  E. I. Brodkin

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  179B  UNDERSTANDING THE BURIED CITIES OF VESUVIUS  An interdisciplinary investigation of Pompeii and Herculaneum, using methods from archaeology, geology, art history, and literary analysis to understand daily life in ancient Rome, the natural history of the volcanic eruption of 79 C.E., and the cultural meaning of these sites since their discovery in the 18th century.  J. Alchermes

 

FRESHMAN SEMINAR  179C  CASTRO, CHE GUEVARA, AND FIFTY YEARS OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION  Fidel and Raúl Castro, Guevara, and Vilma Espín shaped a movement that seized power in Cuba and inspired generations of revolutionaries.  Guerilla warfare proved only the first step in changing attitudes about class, gender, and race.  An examination of the Revolution from 1959 to the present using period writings, biographies, and film.  Students may elect to enroll in History 450f, a foreign language section which will meet for an additional hour each week in order to discuss supplemental readings in Spanish.  Students participating in this section will receive one additional credit hour, pass/not passed marking.  L. Garofalo