Each First-Year Seminar offers an opportunity for entering students to develop skills in writing, reasoning, and research that will be of critical importance throughout their academic careers. Enrollment is limited to fifteen students to ensure the active participation of all class members and to permit students and instructor to concentrate on developing the skills necessary for successful college writing. Seminars typically focus on a current problem or a topic of particular interest to the instructor. First-Year Seminars are not open to upperclass students. They carry full course credit.

Winter 2000 First-Year Seminar Addendum Notes

General Education. One seminar may be used to fulfill the General Education requirement in humanities and history. In addition, designated seminars may be used to fulfill the complementary quantitative requirement

014. Slavery in America. This course studies American slavery from various perspectives. Attention is given to the roots of slavery and its emergence in the North American colonies in the seventeenth century; the economic, political, and social characteristics of slavery; and the effects of slavery on blacks and whites. Fall semester. J. Carignan.

084. Anatomy of a Few Small Machines. One can treat the products of technology as "black boxes" - plain in purpose but mysterious in function. A more flexible and exciting life is available to those who look on all such devices as mere extensions of their hands and minds - who believe they could design, build, modify, and repair anything they put their hands on. This course helps the student do this primarily through practice. Only common sense is required, but participants must be willing to attack any aspect of science and technology. Field trips are required. Fall semester. G. Clough.

135. Women in Art. The role of women in the fine arts has produced exciting new studies for art history. Ranging from ancient Egypt to the modern world, this seminar discusses women as the makers of art, the subjects of art, and the patrons of art. Fall semester. R. Corrie.

150.Hamlet. This course undertakes an intensive study of Shakespeare's play, with particular emphasis on the various ways it has been interpreted through performance. Students read the play closely, view several filmed versions, and investigate historical productions in order to arrive at a sense of Hamlet's changing identity and enduring importance. Winter semester. M. Andrucki.

161. Current Controversies in Economic Policy. Policy makers and informed citizens must understand many complex economic issues when dealing with policy decisions. This seminar examines the details of some current economic policy controversies. Issues studied are chosen from among the following: environmental protection, health-care costs and insurance, immigration, energy, imports, discrimination, anti-poverty and welfare programs, deregulation and consumer protection, government investments and productivity. Winter semester. A. Williams.

191. Friendship and Love in Ancient Greece and Rome. The ancient meanings of friendship and the ways in which friendship was distinguished from love are the subject of this course. Students read and analyze ancient theorists on friendship and love, such as Plato and Cicero, and also texts illustrating the ways in which Greek and Roman men and women formed and tested relationships within and across gender lines. The topics under discussion include: friendship as a political institution; notions of personal loyalty, obligation, and treachery; the perceived antithesis between friendship and erotic love; the policing of sexuality; and friendship, love, and enmity in the definition of the self. All discussions use the twentieth-century Western world as a reference point for comparison and contrast. Fall semester. D. O'Higgins.

193. WISE Women: Women In Science and Engineering. Imagine a future where women make up fifty percent of the scientific community. Would the practice or content of science be different in such a world? This course examines the status of women in science through an exploration of the lives, times, and works of women scientists, past and present. Fall semester. B. Shulman.

194. Music for the Dance. This seminar explores the temporal and formal aspects of music composed for the dance. The first part of the course examines the courtly dance forms of the early Baroque and their relationship to the emergence of the orchestral and keyboard dance suite in the late Baroque. Students analyze meter, tempo, and rhythmic pattern in relation to the actual dances. The second part of the course examines staged dances (ballet) by such composers as Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland. No technical knowledge of music is required. Winter semester. M. Anderson.

202. Representations of Mental Illness. What constitutes mental illness? This course explores mental illnesses and their representation in literature and other media. Three types of diagnoses are included: affective disorders (unipolar and bipolar depression), schizophrenia, and dissociative states (multiple personality disorder). Readings include research material on specific disorders and fictional and biographical accounts of illness, such as The Three Faces of Eve, Ordinary People, Crime and Punishment, Woman on the Edge of Time, and The Yellow Wallpaper. The course invites students to reconsider definitions of mental illness and to evaluate the contributions of media, culture, class, and gender to our understanding of psychopathology. Winter semester. K. Low.

224. Black Culture and Black Consciousness. The course aims to provide an anthropological framework for understanding cultural production and meaning through time in black communities in the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe. Distinctiveness as well as commonalities in social and cultural patterning among African diaspora peoples are discussed within the context of the historical and structural conditions that created and continue to engender a diasporic black consciousness. Illustrative material is drawn from popular culture, ethnographies of black family and community life, life histories, and other sources. Fall semester. C. Carnegie.

232. Human Nature and Perfectibility.This seminar looks at influential theories of human nature and different conceptions of the possibility of human perfection. What is the essence of human nature? Is the capacity to improve upon itself part of its essence? What is the best possible human life and why is it so difficult to achieve? The course considers a wide range of sources from ancient philosophical and religious texts to modern and contemporary scientific and philosophical theories of human nature. Winter semester. D. Cummiskey.

233. Religion and the Arts in Russia. "Beauty will save the world." These words belong to a character from a Dostoevsky novel, but many Russian writers and artists have felt the arts have a fundamentally religious role to play in human life and in society. This course examines Russian fiction, art, film, and music as a way of understanding how religious traditions and religious questions have shaped that country's artistic life. While the focus is on Eastern Orthodox Christianity as Russia's dominant religious tradition, students examine other traditions as well, Judaism in particular. Fall semester. J. Costlow.

234. The U.S. Relocation Camps in World War II. During World War II, the United States government interned over 110,000 American citizens of Japanese descent and resident Japanese in "relocation camps" far away from their homes. This course studies the history of Asian immigration to the United States; the political, social, and economic conditions of the United States prior to internment; the relocation camps themselves; and the politics of redress leading to the presidential apology over the wartime "mistake" a half century later. Fall semester. A. Hirai.

235. Einstein: The Man and His Ideas. An introduction to the life of Albert Einstein and to his special theory of relativity. The seminar begins with a study of Einstein's life, through biographies and his own writings. Next, his special theory of relativity is developed, and its seemingly bizarre predictions about time, length, and mass are discussed. The experimental verifications of these predictions are then studied. Finally, some of the philosophical implications of the theory are discussed, as well as some of its applications to nuclear weapons and modern theories of the universe. Fall semester. M. Semon.

236. Epidemics: Past, Present, and Future. The course covers principles of epidemiology, mechanisms of disease transmission, and the effects of diseases on society throughout history. Emergence of new diseases, drug resistance, and biological terrorism are discussed. Social effects of bubonic plague, typhoid, tuberculosis, smallpox, yellow fever, Ebola, Marburg, AIDS, hantaviruses, and Legionnaire's Disease are studied. Fall semester. P. Schlax.

237. Reinventing Politics. Can we change? Can political writings affect our ability to reimagine and reinvent our political lives? Through the reading and writing of diverse forms of political literature, students explore the central concerns of politics: human nature; how we interact with others; how we inherit, deliberate on, and choose our collective lives. Readings focus on three cultural areas: the West, China, and the Middle East, and include historical studies, political philosophy, personal essays, and fictional works. Students improve their own writing skills through work on the traditional linear research paper, the personal essay, and historical or science fiction. Winter semester. A. MacLeod.

238. The Autobiographical Impulse in American Literature. The impulse to tell one's own story has been a central theme and motive in much of American literature. The centrality of this autobiographical impulse is perhaps even more striking when we consider the literary traditions of women, and African Americans and other ethnic writers within that larger body of American literature. This seminar explores, through close readings and analyses of selected works, the distinctive ways in which various American writers have used this autobiographical impulse to fashion their literary texts. Fall semester. T. Chin.

239. Cruelty and Kindness. This seminar explores cruelty and kindness in human behavior with emphasis on social psychological perspectives. While aggression is the main focus, altruism is also explored. Topics addressed include developmental, personal, and situational factors contributing to aggressive behavior; the relationship of self-esteem to violence; bullying behavior; group aggression; and ways in which aggression can be controlled. In addition, issues such as why people fail to help in an emergency situation, whether helping is really selfless, and how prosocial behavior is encouraged are examined. Enrollment is limited to 15. E. Klein. Subject to adoption by the Faculty.

240. Walking Around the World. A survey of literature of the natural world from the ground up, drawn from a wide array of regions and cultures. The themes of walking and naming connect the readings chosen for the course, with its emphasis on the literature of direct experience. Readings may include the Epic of Gilgamesh, and works by Virgil, Basho, the Wordsworths, Thoreau, Chatwin, Abbey, and others. Not open to students who have received credit for English 215. Enrollment is limited to 15. G. Lawless. Subject to adoption by the Faculty.

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