Fall 2008 Courses

Courses for First-Year Students

GST 110  The Global Experience
Professor Steve Braye

Green Day's words, "Don't want to be an American Idiot," reflected contemporary America in important ways.  Yet how do we avoid this fate, being an American Idiot?  In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will think beyond the media, for ourselves, examining and re-examining our beliefs and assumptions in significant ways.  We will use our time together to get outside the lines, to question our views of the world in new and challenging ways.  What are your views on contemporary slavery?  Are we implicated in the death of Sudanese in the Sudan?  What do we think about such global issues, and, more importantly, how do we decide what to think about these issues?

So often, we concentrate on what we know, the accumulation of material, rather than the perspectives we bring to this material.  No matter how old we are, we tend to see things the same over and over, forgetting to recognize how different people, or just different perspectives, can lead us to enact different realities.  This course will challenge us to achieve something better.  We can gain new perspectives that enable us to change both the world around us and ourselves.  We can examine new ways of thinking and see what these ways can offer us.  Finally, we can decide what we want to accomplish in our world and use these ways of seeing to help us develop innovative ways of acting in the world. 

Team-Taught Course for second-year students

HNR 231: To Be a Sex Object: Representation, Gender, and the Body
Professors Ann Cahill (Philosophy) and Kirstin Ringelberg (Art) 

Meeting time: Tuesday-Thursday, 10:30-12:10
General Studies Distribution: Expression (non-literature) or Society

There are precious few instances of consensus in today's political climate, but one of them seems to be that our visual culture is overrun with sexually objectifying images.  Most people, whether conservative or liberal, seem to agree that such images are harmful; yet few can defend this position with clarity and coherence.  Perhaps this difficulty has its roots in the confusion surrounding the concept of objectification itself.  This course will explore the social, cultural, visual, philosophical, and ethical aspects of the phenomenon of sexual objectification.  As we explore images from a variety of sources, both classical and contemporary, as well as a diverse set of texts, we will also investigate questions concerning gender inequality, the relation of sexuality to identity, and the Western tendency to marginalize, ignore, or vilify the body.  We will wonder: who is sexually objectified, and why?  Is sexual objectification always ethically unacceptable?  Are there ways of representing bodies that do not constitute objectification?  Students will complete a variety of assignments, ranging from short daily papers to a semester-long research project, and will be expected to take a lively part in class discussions.

HNR 233 - An International Perspective on Substance Abuse: From Data Collection to Prevention and Intervention
Professors Resa Walch (Health and Human Performance) and
Jan Mays (Math)
Meeting time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:20-4:00

General Studies Distribution: Society or Math/Science (non-lab science)

While much scientific literature exists on substance abuse, interpretations of this literature to the general public are often oversimplified and inaccurate. The most effective safeguards from personal and societal disruption due to substance abuse are reliable scientific research and data collection, accurate interpretation of information, accessible and accurate education and ongoing research that addresses the myriad of controversial issues related to abuse, addiction, treatment, laws and public policy. This course will focus on investigating and exploring substance abuse issues both in the United States and abroad and teaching the skills to look critically at relevant research and how statistics can be used and abused in debating controversial issues. We will concentrate on abuse, addiction, prevention, treatment, policy strategies and continued good scientific inquiry.