Â鶹´«Ã½ÍŶÓ

Instructor: Beth McCoy (English & Creative Writing)

Meeting Times: MW 12:30-2:10

Description: Guided by our course epigraph "If we're not your animals, if these are adult things, accept the risk. There is risk, Gatoi, in dealing with a partner," we'll read Octavia Butler's famous short story "Bloodchild" and apply that story to thinkING about learning how to do new things, finding one's stake in a complicated institution, and reflecting upon the complexities of educational risks, rewards, and what Butler calls "rent-paying." We'll place great emphasis on *process* as indicated by my constant highlighting of -ing: thinkING, conversING, considerING, reflectING as necessary preconditions for medical school, law school, activism, beING human. You'll work within frameworks that will enable you to understand the world as it has been and is and to imagine the world as it could be. You'll receive guidance and feedback so that you can take control of your own learning and thinkING. You'll get to talk with each other in large groups and small groups. You'll get to write anonymously. You'll get to write publicly. You'll get to write collaboratively as well as independently. Above all, you will be thinkING.

Instructor: Lisa D'Angelo (English & Creative Writing)

Meeting Times: TR 10:30-12:10

Description: Using Braiding Sweetgrass as the central text for this class, and recognizing writing as conversation which involves the writer, the reader, and additional outside voices, students will examine, respond to, and reflect upon the messaging of Robin Wall Kimmerer through her use of anecdotes from her life as an indigenous person, educator, mother, and child, along with the rhetorical devices she uses to effectively engage her audience and convey her experiences. Using Kimmerer’s writing as a model, both in content and form, will then guide and encourage students to implement these rhetorical techniques within their own writing.

Instructor: George Goga (English & Creative Writing)

Meeting Times: MW 4:30-6:10

Description: What is a witch? Today, witches evoke images of the Halloween industry—on page, screen, and in costume—but as an identity, the witch is much more complex. Historically, this question involved the European witch hunts of the early modern period. This course introduces students to the witch as an identity that can be created, traded, discarded, and destroyed to suit a variety of needs. Together, we will chart the evolution of this identity from its historical birth until today and predict its future as a potentially lasting feminist icon.

Our main goal in Writing Seminar, however, is to become stronger academic writers. This is no easy task. As such, this course will involve a considerable amount of critical writing in pursuit of the learning goals set out by the College. These include: (1) The ability to read significant texts carefully and analytically, recognizing and responding to argumentative positions. (2) The ability to write sustained, coherent, and persuasive arguments on significant issues that arise from the content at hand. (3) The ability to write clearly, following the conventions of Standard English. Writing will be both individual and collaborative, putting into practice the belief that writing is an activity best completed, tested, and shared as a community. As a result, this class will require you to be comfortable having productive discussions about your strengths and weaknesses as academic writers with your colleagues and with me. You will also be asked to actively participate in workshops. Be comfortable asking for help when you realize you need it, and you are half of the way there.

Instructor: David Levy (Philosophy)

Meeting Times: MW 12:30-2:10

Description: An introduction to the discipline and practice of Philosophy-its main areas, problems, and methodology. You will build skills in reading philosophical texts, identifying and responding to arguments, and writing and revising argumentative and reflective essays as you develop an understanding of fundamental and enduring problems concerning knowledge, existence, and value.

Instructor: David Hahn (Philosophy)

Meeting Times: TR 2:30-4:10

Description: Conspiracy Theories, Misinformation, and Skepticism; This course is an introductory writing course. The focus is to teach the student the ability to write essays at the college level. We focus on the phenomenon of conspiracy theories and misinformation as a way to introduce critical thinking and argumentation.

Instructor: Timothy Carapella (History)

Meeting Times: MW 12:30-2:10

Description: What comes to mind when you hear the word monarchy? Perhaps it's the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland screaming "off with her head!" or Thomas Jefferson maligning King George III as a tyrant in the Declaration of Independence. Maybe it's Henry VIII executing two of his six wives or Louis XIV strolling the gilded halls of Versailles. Do you think monarchy is a "bad thing" that belongs in the wastebasket of history, or does it still belong in the world of the twenty-first century?

Instructor: Thomas Barden (Philosophy)

Meeting Times: TR 6:30-8:10

Description: This course examines how the rise of American partisan politics began in the 1790s with its viciousness and turmoil and how it compares with the partisanship and polarization of today's current politics.  This introductory writing course teaches students to read and research academic-level texts and write and revise argumentative and reflective essays.

Instructor: Jonathan Auyer (Philosophy)

Meeting Times: WF 10:30-12:10

Description: This writing-intensive course introduces first-year students to college-level persuasive writing and analytical reading through an exploration of philosophical questions at the intersection of technology and ethics. Students will engage with ethical issues connected to technology by investigating how technological advancements shape and challenge our values. Through sustained writing practice, students will develop their ability to construct clear, well-supported arguments, analyze complex texts, and engage with multiple perspectives.  

Students will explore how we evaluate and respond to technology’s impact on values such as freedom, individuality, progress, work, and communication. Special attention will be given to the role of social media in shaping public discourse, the spread of information, and personal identity. Readings and discussions will provide a foundation for critical analysis, but writing will be the primary mode of inquiry. Over the semester, students will complete a series of writing assignments, including analytical essays, argumentative pieces, and revision-based projects, culminating in a final research-driven essay in which they develop and defend their own position on a contemporary technological ethics issue.  

The course is structured around topical modules, including: How can we apply ethical theories to issues in technology? Is technological progress always a good thing? Has technology improved our lives? Should we genetically enhance ourselves? How has technology impacted free speech? Is technological surveillance such a bad thing? Is technology biased? How do social media platforms shape communication and influence public perception? What is AI and should ethical standards constrain its development?  

In addition to formal writing assignments, students will engage in peer review, reflective writing, and revision workshops to develop their writing skills. By the end of the semester, students will be better prepared not only to analyze and write about ethical dilemmas in technology but also to approach academic writing with confidence and precision.

Instructor: Lisa D'Angelo (English & Creative Writing)

Meeting Times: TR 8:30-10:10

Description: Using Braiding Sweetgrass as the central text for this class, and recognizing writing as conversation which involves the writer, the reader, and additional outside voices, students will examine, respond to, and reflect upon the messaging of Robin Wall Kimmerer through her use of anecdotes from her life as an indigenous person, educator, mother, and child, along with the rhetorical devices she uses to effectively engage her audience and convey her experiences. Using Kimmerer’s writing as a model, both in content and form, will then guide and encourage students to implement these rhetorical techniques within their own writing.

Instructor: Ken Cooper (English & Creative Writing)

Meeting Times: MW 8:30-10:10

Description: This course will consider nature writing from at least a couple of perspectives. The first is that, regardless of your interests, everything has an ecology: all the material world surrounding you, including the food that metabolizes to become your body. Writing becomes a process of discovering ecological connection. The other perspective is that the modern genre of nature writing emerged as a response to industrialization, and now is in desperate need of rethinking for our own era of climate change, online spaces, and biotechnologies. Your work will contribute to that endeavor. Readings and projects for the class aim to make you a more innovative, rigorous, and self-reliant writer; regardless of major, there will be ways you can transcend the dire logic of paper assignments.

Instructor: Kristi Krumrine (Anthropology)

Meeting Times: WF 10:30-12:10

Description: This course explores controversial topics in anthropology, including circumcision, the study of human skeletal remains, and the use of alien explanations in the study of past human societies. Many of these issues evoke debate within the field and also make their way into mainstream society. A common theme linking all of these topics is the role of science in anthropology. The primary goals of this course are for students to develop critical thinking and reading skills and the ability to clearly express their ideas in writing. Course material will be presented through readings and films, and processed in class discussions and written analyses.

Instructor: Maria Lima (English & Creative Writing)

Meeting Times: TR 2:30-4:10

Description: As the first nation in the Americas to both abolish slavery and declare its independence from a European power, Haiti has been paying the price for such audacity since. Both history and natural disasters would have been enough to stifle the creativity of a people, but Haitians have continued to create at home and across the diaspora, despite the horrors that have driven many away from their homeland. Many Haitian writers across the diaspora have resorted to the noir genre to represent such realities - we will try to understand some of their choices.

This course is a writing seminar designed to give you many opportunities to practice your critical thinking, argumentative and writing skills.  We will read each other's writing, collaborate on presentations, and revise our work to almost perfection. With this class, I hope, we'll see writing as both work and play, understanding that if language creates reality, whose language prevails makes all the difference in the world.  Yes, we are talking about power--about writing to persuade more often than not. The first argument you will be making is about yourself, in the shape of an autobiographical essay—more on this on the first day of classes :)

Instructor: Mark Broomfield (English & Creative Writing)

Meeting Times: TR 10:30-12:10

Description: This course uses film and written text to examine the study of black masculinities in African and African American culture of the twentieth and twenty-first century. Through writing and film, students will examine issues of race and gender in black masculine representation, its performance, and perception in contemporary society and culture. Students will develop skills in reading, writing, visual, aural, technology and digital content applied to black masculinities. This class bridges theoretical perspectives and lived experiences to think about how stories of black masculinity enters the popular imagination.

Instructor: Amy Sheldon (Geological, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences)

Meeting Times: TR 10:30-12:10

Description: This course will explore the critical role of water in shaping our world and future. We will dive into the challenges of water availability, quality, and sustainability, and discover how these issues impact societies and ecosystems. Whether you're interested in environmental science, politics and power, or sustainability, this course will empower you to think critically about water's importance and the complexities to building a resilient future. 

Instructor: Atsushi Tajima (Communication)

Meeting Times: TR 10:30-12:10

Description: Our contemporary life is saturated with mass media messages. Mass media consumption is our second-largest activity after sleeping, or some even spend more time with mass media than sleeping. This course explores the role of mass media in our lives, especially how they construct our knowledge and worldview. We critically examine-more precisely ""decode""-various media texts, messages, formats, and beyond. Note that while studying texts in various forms is a major part of media studies, it is also the primary learning aim for this writing course. Thus, the course simultaneously devotes much time to exploring how we effectively use and craft our texts, messages, and arguments in an academic manner. We learn the effectiveness of communication both through exploring mediated texts and our own. As for academic writing style, the course employs social science writing practices (e.g., APA Style).

Instructor: Justin Behrend (History)

Meeting Times: MW 2:30-4:10

Description: The Underground Railroad is a popular story about American history and identity. At the core of this story is the movement of people from slavery to freedom. It's a story that we celebrate. We teach it in our schools because, in part, it is a story about redemption, triumph over injustice, and ordinary people acting in extraordinary ways. But does the history of the Underground Railroad match this story? Does the popular version of this story obscure other, more difficult, aspects of our past? To better examine these questions, we will read several accounts of the Underground Railroad and write about its meaning. This course will focus on writing, particularly the basic structures and forms of academic writing. No matter your major at Â鶹´«Ã½ÍŶÓ, writing is a valuable skill and an important communication tool. While this course will not turn you into a professional writer, it will help you think, develop persuasive arguments, and write with clarity.

Instructor: Catherine Adams (History)

Meeting Times: TR 10:30-12:10

Description: This writing seminar explores how material culture and artifacts can serve as windows into the past. From ancient pottery shards to modern consumer products, the physical objects humans make and use offer valuable insights into history, society, and the human experience. In this course, students will learn to analyze material artifacts through close observation, historical contextualization, and interdisciplinary lenses. We will investigate how artifacts reflect and shape cultural values, social structures, economic systems, and technological development over time. Students will also consider the complex relationships between the material and the immaterial - how objects embody and communicate intangible ideas, beliefs, and knowledge. Through a series of close reading, research, and writing assignments, students will develop skills in critical thinking, historical analysis, and persuasive argumentation. By the end of the seminar, students will be able to apply material culture studies to ask and answer compelling questions about the past, present, and future of human civilization.

Instructor: Michael Masci (Performing Arts)

Meeting Times: MW 12:30-2:10

Description: This seminar examines the development of the modern soundscape from the industrial cities of nineteenth-century Europe and America to the virtual soundscapes of today, considering how our interactions with these soundscapes, particularly in the form of changing listening practices, constitute our sense of self. Course topics include: the malleable category of noise and its vicissitudes in the modern era; the modern practice of silent concert listening; the growth of soundproofing materials; the impact of the development of recorded sound on listening practices and more.

Instructor: Kurt Fletcher (Physics & Astronomy)

Meeting Times: TR 12:30-2:10

Description: What kind of future do we want? What makes us human? How will current technological, biological, political, or social trends play out? What kind of life do we want to lead? Authors often use science fiction to examine these questions. As readers, how do we respond? In this class we will read and discuss short stories by various authors related to specific themes. By wrestling with this material, students will improve their reading, listening, analyzing, and writing skills. Students will be encouraged to adopt a growth mindset about their own writing and about learning in general.

Instructor: Joe Cope (History)

Meeting Times: TuTh 2:30-4:10

Description: This section is restricted to students in the Social Justice and the Humanities LLC.

Instructor: Mary Toale (Communication)

Meeting Times: MW 4:30-6:10

Description: Communication skills are among the most sought-after by employers. This interactive course explores the dynamic landscape of communication in contemporary society. We will explore how people generate meanings, examine the communication we create and receive, and enhance our communication processes and abilities. We will also cover methods of study and research that are used across the communication discipline. Writing projects will include collaboration, reflection, analysis, persuasion, and revision to create and deliver strategic communication materials.

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