FYS Course Descriptions 2013

First-Year Seminars strive to continue the communication skills, critical thinking, ethical reflection, and liberal learning goals of the FYP courses but with a specific focus on critical inquiry and research. Each of you will engage in a research project of significant depth over the course of the semester. Our learning goals for that research project include that you:

• Be introduced to ways of conducting productive and imaginative inquiry and research in order to become a part of the various conversations surrounding issues.

• Learn to differentiate among the various ways that information is produced and presented, between popular and scholarly journals and books, between mainstream and alternative publications, between primary and secondary sources.

• Learn how to evaluate and synthesize information, whether gathered from traditional sources, such as books and journals, or from websites or electronic media.

• Begin to develop the skills of critical analysis in the interpretation and use of information gathered from any source.

• Be introduced to the ethical obligations that scholars have to both responsibly represent their sources and inform their readers of the sources of their information, as well as learning, and being held responsible for the proper use of, the conventions of scholarly citation and attribution. 

• Present the results of your research through writing, speaking, visual elements, or other multimedia forms in such a way that you demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively using the rhetorical conventions of the chosen form.

For copies of FYS 2013 syllabi, please contact the First-Year Program office after classes begin Monday, January 21, 2013, e-mail fyp@stlawu.edu or call 315-229-5909.

The descriptions are categorized to facilitate the process of selection.  Here are the description categories in order:

• Current Social Issues
• Global Issues
• Popular Culture
• Culture and Cultural Practices
• Science and Science-Related Issues
   

Link to New Student Guide and Forms FYS instructions.

Current Social Issues

Amazing Grace: The Black Church in White America
in Current Social Issues
Instructor: Shaun Whitehead
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 12:40-2:10 p.m. and Thursday 2:20-3:50 p.m.

This seminar will explore the relationship between faith and freedom through the lens of the African American experience in the United States. The course is, in part, historical, as we find the origins of black religion within the experience of slavery. This seminar is also a personal and theological exploration of the sustaining faith of black people in a land where the Bible was used to justify slavery and continuing oppression. Through the oral tradition, black sacred music anchored the faith and sustained a strong sense of community among African Americans. They set the narrative of their struggle and their hope to music. We will study spirituals, call and response, meter hymns, congregational songs, freedom songs of the Civil Rights Movement, and traditional and contemporary gospel. We will also examine what has been called a "deep social conservatism" within the black church tradition. Is this true, or do moderate and progressive voices dwell there as well? As we combine historical sketches and biblical interpretation with the musical experiences of African Americans, we will learn by “doing” in this course. Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon says, “When we sing, we announce our existence.” Get ready to sing!

America’s Suburban Landscape 
in Current Social Issues
Instructor: Matt McCluskey
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Tuesday 2:20-3:50 p.m.

Why has America pursued a pro-suburban development policy over the past century, and what are the consequences of this societal preference?   Scholars from such diverse fields as economics, environmental studies, demography, engineering, government, and ethnography wrestle with these fundamental questions on a daily basis, and they will drive our research, discussions, and hands-on activities throughout the semester.  Of particular interest to our class is the impact that suburban bias has had on America’s transportation systems, popular culture, housing supply, and environmental health.   We will examine the effects of suburban bias upon families and children, aesthetics, local economies and communities, nearby core cities, and issues of race, class, and gender.   The course will trace the history of American suburbs, with an especial focus on the development of laws and policies dedicated to outward growth.   Students will observe land use policies in Canton, present a problem-based group memo on a metropolitan development issue, use GIS to calculate the individual costs and benefits associated with different land use decisions, and conduct a semester-length, process-based research project on a pressing suburban question.   We will conclude the course by considering the future of the suburbs.  In America, how will suburban communities respond to deep concerns related to increasing poverty, aging infrastructures, millennials seeking different built environments, and housing supply imbalances?  Beyond the US, how will developing countries meet the needs of the hundreds of millions of people expected to move to metropolitan areas over the next two decades?  And how will they apply lessons from a century’s worth of precedents in American development and planning?

As You Communicate, So Shall You Be
in Current Social Issues
Instructor:  Traci Fordham
Meeting Days/Times:  Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Tuesday 12:40-2:10 p.m.

This course explores the forms, functions, techniques, technologies, and institutions of human communication with the goal of enhancing understanding of the complex dynamics of social interaction. Topics include communication and meaning; language, thought, and communication; non-verbal communication; gender and communication; intercultural communication, and media.  This course also counts as PCA 127.

Framing Race in U.S. History
in Current Social Issues
Instructor: Mary Jane Smith
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:55 (note: longer class time) and Wednesday 9:40-10:40 a.m.

From Birth of a Nation (1915) to Crash (2004) and beyond, film has both mirrored and shaped racial tensions in U.S. society.  This FYS will focus on how film has represented and misrepresented pivotal moments and issues in U.S. history and U.S. racial mythology.  The course will be organized on a loose chronological basis, beginning with silent film and moving through more contemporary films.  However, the course will not be a history of race or a history of film in the U.S. but rather a snapshot of important historical moments in U.S. race relations.  While the course will consider various racial and ethnic groups, it will not cover all groups, and the earlier films will focus primarily on black/white racial relations.  

Know Your Rights: Constitutional Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
in Current Social Issues
Instructor: Diane J. Exoo
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Wednesday 6:30-8:00 p.m.

This course examines the history of the U.S. Supreme Court and its role as the interpreter of our fundamental rights.  What provisions of the U.S. Constitution allow us to live as we please, to worship flying spaghetti monsters if we wish, to hold and publicly express political and social opinions, to read and print whatever material we want, to be free from discrimination, to expect equal protection under the law, to have our vote count, and to keep government out of our personal and private lives?  Are these freedoms absolute or can the government regulate in ways that restrict our constitutional freedoms?  How have changing justices and changing times affected our civil liberties and civil rights?

This course is designed to develop critical thinking, writing, and speaking skills through legal analysis of U.S. Supreme Court cases. Students will be required to apply their research and writing skills by doing a written historical, political, social and legal analysis of a landmark Supreme Court case involving civil liberties/rights. Critical speaking skills will be honed by a mock appellate oral argument based on a hypothetical case designed to explore the tension between civil liberties and civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the need for government to regulate and maintain order.

Performing Diversity
in Current Social Issues
Instructor: Rebecca Daniels
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Wednesday 12:00-1:30 p.m.

Using research, creative writing, and personal experiences, this seminar will explore various issues of multiculturalism and diversity on the St. Lawrence campus and in America today. We will engage a variety of texts to investigate the links between identity and oppression by race, class, gender, sexual orientation, differing abilities, and religion. As part of a significant research project, members of the class will create performance texts (combining video presentations and live performance work) about specific research topic areas. To be a part of this seminar, you do not need prior experience in video production or acting/performance, but you must have a willingness to get involved with exploring both as part of the work of this class. This course also counts as PCA 106 and fulfills the DIV and AEX requirements.

Social Documentaries of The Great Depression
in Current Social Issues
Instructor: Kara McLuckie
Meeting Days/Times: Thursday 12:40-2:10 and 2:20-3:50 p.m. and Friday 1:40-3:10 p.m.

Using films, photos, and texts we will explore what 1930s artists, authors, and journalists experienced in the communities around them during the Depression Era.  Their impressions of social issues including poverty, class gaps, labor, government bailout plans, and a depleted agricultural landscape will form the backdrop for a critical discussion of the parallels between the Thirties and contemporary social issues related to today’s Financial Crisis.  Along the way each student will create a digital portfolio of research data from sources such as the Library of Congress’s photo archive and St. Lawrence University’s extensive collection of photographic prints from the era in order to produce their own short documentary project.  To accomplish this, students will learn how to closely analyze documentaries for their production and storytelling techniques, as well as how to engage with basic methods of field research.  Foundational readings for this class will include Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Timothy Egan’s The Worst Hard Time, Margaret Bourke-White and Erskine Caldwell’s You Have Seen Their Faces, and James Agee and Walker Evans’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.  

Theatre for Social Change
in Current Social Issues
Instructor: Ann Marie G. Halstead
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 12:40-2:10 p.m. and Wednesday 9:40-11:10 a.m.

Theatre for Social Change is a study of contemporary social/political theatre.  Students will examine plays significant to the development of the genre, such as The Laramie Project and The Vagina Monologues.  In addition to analyzing the elements of the script – setting, characters, actions, and themes – students will study each play’s production history and impact on theatre and on society at large.  They will research, write about, and present on applied theatre forms and a published play.  They will perform scenes from existing plays as well as write and perform original scenes about relevant social, political, cultural, economic, and interpersonal issues.  Throughout the course, students will reflect on the power of theatre and theatre artists to effect social change through their work.  This course also counts as PCA 213.

Global Issues

Canadian Environmentalism: Canadians’ Changing Relationship to the Natural World
in Global Issues
Instructor: Neil Forkey
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Tuesday 2:20-3:50 p.m.

Wealth vs. resource exploitation, development vs. sustainability, wilderness and Aboriginal land claims vs. dams and species depletion.  Using films, podcasts, and texts, we will explore these issues and many more as we probe the past 75 years of Canadian environmental history.  Natural resources were keys to the nation’s wealth; the long-held belief was that their exploitation was necessary to achieve economic success.  However, with the 1930s conservation message of Grey Owl (in reality, an Englishman posing as a Métis), protection of the natural world began.  Following the Second World War, the baby-boom generation (and subsequently their own children) took bolder steps to defend the environment.  They lived in an age of ecology and many wished to balance growth with environmental protection and sustainability. Canadians have sought to live affluently, yet define limits to growth so as to accord the environment more respect. They have dealt with wildlife depletion and overfishing, diminished water and air quality, the opening of new resource frontiers in the North, megaprojects that dammed or diverted rivers, and engaged in a debate over the Alberta oil sands project.  In this seminar, we will take up the multifaceted period of Canadian environmentalism.

Freedom Struggles in Southern Africa
in Global Issues
Instructor: Rosa Williams
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 8:30-10:00 a.m. and Thursday 2:20-3:50 p.m.

When Nelson Mandela was released from jail in 1990, he repeated the words he had spoken at his trial 26 years earlier: “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the violent suppression of resistance to colonial and white settler regimes in Southern Africa provoked international condemnation. The resilience of these resistance movements inspired human and civil rights activists across the world. What led people to risk their lives in the fight for freedom? What was it like to live through these years of struggle? Was Mandela’s dream of harmony and equality realized when he became South Africa’s president in 1994? In this seminar you will become acquainted with the scholarly debates on these questions and develop your own perspectives on them by examining a range of primary source materials, including political pamphlets, underground newspapers, films, short stories and oral testimonies.

Global Perspectives on Contemporary Moral Problems
in Global Issues
Instructor: Jennifer Hansen
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Wednesday 12:00-1:30 p.m.

This course is intended to introduce you to the study of philosophy by learning how to critically reflect and evaluate global moral problems, such as: human rights, cloning, abortion, environmental sustainability, racism and ethnic discrimination, biotechnologies, hunger, and war. Each of these issues will be examined from a variety of global perspectives and moral theories.  Among the many questions we will examine this semester are: How do we resolve ethical dilemmas in a global context? What are the most important values for leading an ethical life, and what is the role and responsibility of communities in ethical life? How should policy makers and law makers accommodate a variety of cultural ethical values?  The goal of this course is to help you develop your critical thinking, deepen your moral reflection, introduce you to global perspectives on moral positions, and help you defend a position on a global moral problem.

International Relations and Zombies 
in Global Issues
Instructor: Ronnie Olesker-Norminton
Meeting Days/Times: Monday and Wednesday 12:00-1:30 p.m. and Tuesday 10:10-11:40 a.m.

Because zombies can spread across borders and threaten states and civilizations, they should command the attention of scholars and policymakers. There are many sources of fear in world politics—terrorist attacks, natural disasters, climate change, financial panic, nuclear proliferation, ethnic conflict, etc. It is striking however, how an unnatural problem has become one of the fastest-growing concerns in international relations. If the dead begin to rise from the grave and attack the living, what international relations theory would—or should—guide the human response? How would all those theories hold up under the pressure of a zombie assault? These are some of the questions explored in this first year seminar.

Students taking this course should acquire a deep familiarity with the prevailing theories and major scholars explaining the functioning of the global system and its actors. Special emphasis is placed on development of critical thinking, writing, and communication skills, as well as how to conduct research in the social sciences so that you will be able to critically address global crises such as an impending zombie apocalypse. This course also counts as GOV 108 writing intensive and fulfills the SSC requirement.

Issues in Immigration Policy
in Global Issues
Instructor: Cynthia Bansak
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 2:20-3:50 and Tuesday 6:30-8:00 p.m.

This seminar helps students develop the economic tools needed to examine the impact of immigration and immigration policies over the past century. We will begin by surveying the history of immigration policy in the United States and then conduct in-depth analyses of the various economic issues that dominate the current debate over immigration policy. 

Throughout the semester we will focus on three aspects of immigration policy:  border enforcement, amnesty, and employer sanctions.  We will discuss the causes of immigration, the characteristics of the immigrants, the rate of economic assimilation, the extent of economic benefits generated by immigrants, and the impact on native US workers.  The course will include a comparative study of immigration policies in a number of immigrant-receiving countries and will consider the implications of these research findings for designing immigration reform in the US.

Race, Gender and Globalization
in Global Issues
Instructor: Martha Chew Sanchez
Meeting Days/Times: Monday and Wednesday 8:30-9:30 a.m. and Friday 8:30 to 11:00 a.m.

This course begins with the premise that race is a socially constructed category that affects and simultaneously is shaped by the dynamics of racial and cultural interactions. It is hoped that this course will help to increase self-awareness of our own cultural backgrounds, and the contexts (social, cultural and historical) in which we live and communicate. The course will also grapple with questions about how race affects experiences of globalization. How has globalization affected understanding of race and gender?  How, if at all, has globalization made specific identities (such as race, place and gender) less important, or there is a continuation of the centrality of these identities because of or despite globalization? This course also counts as GS 102 and fulfills the DIV requirement.


Popular Culture

From Ricky Ricardo to Liz Lemon: Sitcoms in American Culture
in Popular Culture
Instructor: Lorie MacKenzie and Val Lehr
Meeting Days/Times: Monday and Wednesday 12:00-1:30 p.m. and Thursday 2:20-3:50 p.m.

In this seminar, we will explore the ways American culture has been represented in popular television situation comedies from the 1950s through the present. Although we will explore multiple facets of American culture, gender will be a primary focus. We will examine popular series from various decades, as well as the scholarly analysis of situation comedies, to explore how these comedic portrayals of gender roles provide a window into each time period.  We will look at sitcoms as both a genre with characteristics that have lasted over time and as a genre for which the social/historical context of the time period matters.  We will ask why various shows appealed to viewers at the time of original broadcast and will examine how the changes we find in popular sitcoms over the years do or do not reflect societal change.  Individual student research into popular sitcoms from various time periods will culminate in group projects, where students will use the knowledge they have gained about sitcom as a genre and about the importance of addressing social context to work together to create and pitch an idea for a new sitcom along with providing supporting evidence to explain why their show would succeed with today’s TV audience. This course also counts as GNDR 148.

Rebels and Outcasts: American Individualism in Film 
in Popular Culture
Instructor: Kathleen Stein
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Thursday 8:30-10:00 a.m.

The United States was formed around Enlightenment ideas of freedom and the rights of the individual.  However, from the beginning, “freedom” has had many definitions and has been put to many uses in American political and social discourse; tension between the individual and the community has been central to Americans’ self-image in a way that has not been true of other nations.  From its inception, American film has been fascinated with rebellious loners and social outcasts: characters whose individualism is not only “front-and-center” but often “in your face.”  In this course, we will explore what these figures can tell us about certain aspects of the American self-image, in particular how this self-image relates to our evolving definitions of freedom, and also what these rebels and outcasts can tell us about the state of American society at the specific times when they have appeared.  We will, in short, consider American film as an artistic, emotional medium created in a particular national culture, and also as a barometer of reactions to economic upheaval, social change, gender and racial tensions, and wars (hot and cold).  This course also counts as FA/FS 248.

Reporter as Revolutionary: Narratives of Graphic Journalism
in Popular Culture
Instructor: Sid Sondergard
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 8:30-10:00 a.m. and Tuesday 10:10-11:40 a.m.

The classic conflict of objectivity versus subjectivity, of simply reporting facts versus shaping them rhetorically, has been the subject of a wide range of recent graphic novels that employ either the perspectives of contemporary investigative journalism applied to real events or the figure of the investigative journalist as the protagonist in fictional narratives.  We’ll examine the aesthetic of the graphic novel as a tool of journalistic writing, consider what elements of graphic storytelling particularly complement the aims of non-fiction subgenres like the biography and the travelogue, research the history and implications of the journalist as agent of change, and discuss the techniques that make this particular kind of visual narration most effective.

Technology and the Connected Self
in Popular Culture
Instructor: Peter Vere Warden
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 2:20-3:50 p.m. and Friday 1:40-3:10 p.m.

In today's world of Twitter & Facebook, text messages and email, humans use technology to connect with one another in unprecedented ways.  This course will explore how technological mediation shapes our relationships with one another, as well as with the animals and plants around us.  Particular attention will be paid to how the technologies we increasingly depend on to communicate our thoughts to others actually shape how we think.  While most of the course will focus on contemporary communication technologies, we will explore how earlier thinkers explored these same issues as they confronted one of the earliest technologies of communication—namely, writing itself.  
 

The Roots of American Popular Music
in Popular Culture
Instructor: Larry Boyette
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Wednesday 1:40-3:10 p.m.

This seminar will combine research and performance to explore the musical traditions that have shaped the development of American popular music. We will examine the styles and values of the Old and New World musics whose extraordinarily fruitful interaction produced the many branches of our contemporary music: blues, jazz, country, gospel, bluegrass, rock and roll, soul, hip hop and beyond.  We will learn research methods and apply those skills to research/writing projects about American music.  All seminar members will contribute to weekly performances that allow us to participate in the music that we study.   We will define “performance” very broadly as “some form of creative expression:” no prior artistic training or musical expertise is required or expected. The only prerequisite is a willingness to participate in some thoughtful and involved way in performances that deepen our understanding and appreciation of American music.


Culture and Cultural Practices

Contemporary Issues in American Education (CBL)
in Culture and Cultural Practices
Instructor:  Elvira Sanatullova-Allison
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday 12:40-3:10 p.m. and Thursday noon-6 p.m. (includes required weekly CBL placement activities at the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation) (CBL: Community Service Required)

This course is designed to serve as a vehicle by which students may explore the idea of entering the field of education in general and the teaching profession in particular. The course examines a spectrum of current educational issues from historical, philosophical, sociological, political, and cross-cultural perspectives, with a special emphasis on diversity in American society and schools as well as global, international, and comparative education. These issues are addressed through an interdisciplinary framework, using insights from a variety of fields and drawing on a range of pedagogical formats, including lectures, readings, discussions, presentations, group work, research projects, guest speakers, and field trips. The CBL component of this course will meet the New York State field experience requirement in the Education department. This course also counts as EDUC 203.

Eating Locally and Globally: Explorations of Food, Identity and Place (CBL)
in Culture and Cultural Practices
Instructor: Sandhya Ganapathy
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 and Tuesday 2:20-3:50 p.m.
(CBL: Community service required)

Food. We all eat it and it’s integral to our survival. But there is much more to food than simply sustenance. Our food choices are shaped by and reflect deeply held cultural ideas about taste, nutrition and sociability. What we eat is also determined by farmers, the media, multinational corporations, agricultural and international trade policies as well as our individual access to food. In this course, we will carefully examine contemporary American foodways to better understand how our food practices connect us with people and places, both locally and globally. We will explore the cultural, ecological, historical and geographic dimensions of various American food traditions. We will also consider matters of sustainability, food justice and food sovereignty.  To do this, we will utilize a range of sources including cookbooks, memoirs, documentary and popular films, and scholarly tracts. As well, CBL placements with local food-related agencies will serve as additional experiential research texts. Drawing upon these insights, students will conduct independent research projects exploring local and global aspects of foodways in Northern NY. Students will present their finding through written, oral and poster presentations.

Leadership in Action (CBL)
in Culture and Cultural Practices
Instructor: Deshaya Williams
Meeting Days/Times: Monday and Wednesday 10:50-1:05 p.m. (note: longer class time)
(CBL: Community service required)

Embark on a journey of leadership using research, examined personal experiences, and observational critiques of the world around you, to fully explore this complex construct. This seminar will explore various concepts of leadership in America today and on St. Lawrence campus through an experiential Community-Based Learning component. We will engage a variety of texts to investigate the links between leadership theory and leadership in action.  As part of a significant research project, members of the class will collaborate to create a campus-wide event to benefit the community.  To be a part of this seminar, you do not need prior leadership experience, but you must have a willingness to explore and investigate yourself as you search for the best way to execute effective, creative leadership.

Music, Image, Place
in Culture and Cultural Practices
Instructor: Michael Farley
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Tuesday 2:20-3:50 p.m.

Artistic expression is always influenced by the place in which it is situated, and it shapes the place in return.  Illustration: Grunge was an outgrowth of a number of conditions that existed in Seattle in the late 1980s.  As a result of a depressed local economy a large number of abandoned warehouses were available as performance venues.  Seattle looked like it sounded.  Even the climate contributed to the development of a focused style of music-making.  In the words of a local producer, “When the weather's crappy you don't feel like going outside; you go into a basement and make a lot of noise to take out your frustration." We explore the relationship between music and place through traditional research and through creative work in the Newell Center for Arts Technology.

Religion and Ecology
in Culture and Cultural Practices
Instructor: Laura Desmond
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Wednesday 1:40-3:10 p.m.

How does religion shape human understanding of, and participation in, ecological systems?  This course examines some of the diverse ways that people have developed for interacting with animals, plants, weather, water, air, and land, and how those behaviors work in tandem with religious ways of knowing.  Recognizing that current human interactions with the global ecosystem, and of the numerous ecosystems within it, are unsustainable, the class will have a substantial focus on environmental ethics. We will think deeply about how different religious systems might contribute to environmental degradation and solutions to environmental problems.  Traditions sampled will include Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Daoism, Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism, and a number of indigenous lifeways.  This course also counts as REL 103, ASIA 105, ENVS 103, and fulfills the HUM and DIV requirements.

The Healing Power of Poetry
in Culture and Cultural Practices
Instructor: Karyn Crispo
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Thursday 12:40-2:10 p.m.

In the days following 9/11, the only section of Barnes and Noble that had any traffic was the poetry section.  In times of personal and communal tragedy, people turn to poetry, tapping into its healing power.  This seminar will explore how a poem that begins as an individual experience morphs into an exercise in language that, at its best, expresses a collective grief altogether separate from the personal anguish with which the poet may have begun.  Much of the course will be the study of poems, but our content will necessarily lead us to explore some of the darkest periods in human history.  This seminar, designed to unearth poetry and show its relevance to human experience, will also give us the opportunity to craft our own poems.  No prior knowledge of poetry or experience writing poetry is necessary; all prior knowledge and experience is welcome.

Truth and Fiction
in Culture and Cultural Practices
Instructor: Karen Gibson
Meeting Days/Times: Monday and Wednesday 1:40-3:10 p.m. and Tuesday 2:20-3:50 p.m.

Have you ever found yourself wondering if a story is “true” or not?  Do you prefer “fiction” or “non-fiction?”  What do these terms mean, and why are they so important to us?  How does an author’s own presence within a piece of writing determine our reading of the piece, and why?  In this course we will read, write, discuss, and write about genres that explore the boundaries between “fact” and “fiction,” such as “creative non-fiction,” “literary journalism,” “documentary,” and “docudrama.” You will learn what these terms mean, a bit about their historical context and what they imply for readers, while also practicing these styles of writing yourself.


Science and Science-Related Issues

Energy and the Environment
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor: George Repicky
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Tuesday 12:40-2:10 p.m.

Is $4 gas here to stay? Should we still drill in the Alaskan wilderness after what we just saw happened in the Gulf of Mexico? What are the consequences of buying oil from OPEC? Why are there so many new wind farms in the North Country? Should we fund more nuclear plants or rely instead upon hydro-electric dams? Is there such a thing as “clean coal”? What about new technologies? Questions like these, and dozens of other energy-related issues, have figured prominently in American politics during the past few years. Decisions being made today about energy production and consumption will lead to economic, political, social, and environmental consequences that will remain with us for decades, maybe even centuries. As a result, thoughtful citizens across the country are demanding to be a part of the decision-making process. In this course, students will delve into aspects of the energy debate through their own research projects.

History Rebooted: Alan Turing and Understanding Artificial Intelligence
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor: Paul Doty
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 8:30-10:00 a.m. and Thursday 12:40-2:10 p.m.

Given that Alan Turing’s work breaking the German code was significant in defeating Nazi Germany in the Second World War, and given that you are likely reading this on a computer, Alan Turing is a part of your world.  The course is an exploration of the life and work of Alan Turing and a course that will ask you to consider Turing’s best known legacy: the concept of artificial intelligence. We will consider who Turing was through biographical, fictional, and film versions of his life.  Students will also create a significant research project on the implications artificial intelligence has for envisioning the future and understanding our relationship with technology.  This is a reading and writing intensive course that will introduce you to Alan Turing—someone you really ought to know. 

Medical Ethics
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor:  David Hornung
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:55 (note: longer class time) and Wednesday 9:40-10:40 a.m.

In this seminar we will examine topics such as the physician/patient relationship, medical assisted suicide, terminal sedation, cloning, genetic engineering, transplants, informed consent, elective surgery and reproductive ethics. The goal will be to examine the principals that guide individuals as they struggle with these increasingly complex issues.  Students will conduct a semester long research project on some aspect of medical ethics (broadly defined). The culmination of the project will include a written research paper and an oral presentation. It is likely that four or five of the Tuesday meetings will be with the SOAR (Stimulating Opportunities for Retired People) group which will allow the FYS students to interact around the common theme of medical ethics with a group of adults from the Canton area. We will also consider “alternative” healing, approaches to health and disease that many people in the world believe are superior to allopathic medicine.

Medicine and Nursing Today
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor: Elizabeth Becht
Meeting Days/Times: Monday 1:15-4:15 p.m. and Friday 1:40-3:10 p.m.

Medicine and nursing are disciplines at the intersection of illness, wellness, caregiving, and science.  In this course, we’ll begin by exploring the many ways that doctors and nurses make a difference in the world, through such diverse topics as cancer research, the organization Doctors Without Borders, and end of life care. Through a variety of texts and documentaries, we'll learn more about career possibilities in these disciplines.

We’ll also examine the challenges of our health care system, and the roles that chronic disease, an aging population, and financial inequality play within it, and ask and answer larger questions about what it means to be a human being with a body that is both incredibly resilient and incredibly fragile. Students will do individual research on a medicine or nursing related topic of their choice, and we’ll share our research with other interested members of the campus community at the end of the semester.

Notable Natural History of the North Country
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor: Amanda Lavigne
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Tuesday 12:40-2:10 p.m.

What sort of neighborhood did you just move into? The goal of this class is to provide you with a broader, regional understanding of the distinctive neighborhood you inhabit during your time at St. Lawrence and some insight into how human populations are impacting these one-of-a-kind places.

Consider this – while at SLU you are only:

~80 miles from the Great Lakes (specifically Lake Ontario), the largest group of freshwater lakes, holding 21% of the world's surface fresh water;

~20 miles from the St. Lawrence River, the longest river in North America and home of the St. Lawrence Seaway, one of the largest engineering projects ever undertaken;

~100 miles from Lake Champlain, sometimes referred to as the “sixth Great Lake” and a body of water with a rich history of exploration, military action, and monster sightings; and

~30 miles away from the Adirondack Mountains, hosting a unique environmental region of boreal ecology encompassed by the Adirondack State Park, the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States, greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park combined.

We will study the geographic/environmental significance of these unique features of the Earth, including their current “health.”  This course also counts as ENVS 101 and fulfills the SST requirement.

Scientific Reasoning and Communication
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor: Alexander Stewart
Meeting Days/Times: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:40-10:40 a.m. and Monday 1:40-3:10 p.m.

For the first time in human history, we are living in a world immersed in scientific communication.  More and more information (in all media) is based on science—from natural and human disasters and climate to deciding on your first home and a bottled water of choice.  In order to be a well-informed citizen, you should be competent in critically and scientifically examining information (and disinformation) that is pouring through these media (e.g., radio, TV, internet).  In this seminar, we will develop your scientific reasoning and communications skills, which will make you a critical, quantitative thinker.  The best way to turn your qualitative, interpretative and subjective mind into a science mind is to practice thinking, speaking and writing like a scientist—quantitatively (with numbers), descriptively (the what, not how) and objectively (without bias).  For example, you will stop seeing a cue ball; instead, you will see a white (#FFFFFF) sphere of phenol formaldehyde resin, 57.15 (±0.127) millimeters in diameter, weighing 158 (±2) grams!  With this foundation, you will hold the key to unlocking scientific rhetoric.  In this FYS, we will use physical science examples (i.e., geology, biology, chemistry and physics) in lectures (Mondays), practical exercises (Wednesdays), on-campus field excursions (Monday afternoon) and reading/writing/research exercises (Fridays) to begin developing a science-adept brain. This course fulfills the NSC requirement.

Spice, Sex, and Science
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor:  Khanh Lam (Tina) Tao
Meeting Days/Times: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 1:40-3:10 p.m.

Why are peppers spicy?  Did you know that the male and female sex hormones are almost identical in their chemical structures?  What do TNT and sunscreen have in common?   To answer these questions, we will take a look at the molecules that make up the everyday world.  These molecules have shaped history, started wars, and made some great meals.  In this seminar, we will also come to a better understanding of how much chemistry influences us and how to think scientifically about these interesting questions.  Students will learn the research skills necessary to tell the story of a molecule, tracing out its chemical nature and its impact on history, as well as general and basic organic chemistry concepts.  No prior knowledge is required.

The Influence of Ecology on the History of Environmentalism
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor: Jessica Rogers
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 12:40-2:10 p.m. and Wednesday 12:00-1:30 p.m.

In the life sciences there is always someone who was the first to describe the world we see around us.  In a world of increasing environmentalism, everyone experiences ecology, but most people know very little about how or why we know the things we do about the world we live in. In a globally connected world, understanding how these discoveries influenced our modern environmentalism is crucial to becoming an ecologist. The goal of this class is to learn about the founders of ecology and modern environmentalism—John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson, among others—and to understand what they discovered and how it influenced the sciences of ecology, evolution and conservation. Students will spend time reading primary literature as well as historical texts regarding the environmental movement.  Discussions will focus on how those works might have influenced our modern environmentalism and the changes in society.  The analysis of primary literature as well as reviewing the broader impacts of those works on the wider scientific field will be presented as short writing assignments and short individual and group oral presentations.  The semester’s work will culminate in a longer 8-10 page research paper on an individual scientist and his or her original contributions to the fields of ecology, evolution or environmental sciences.

The Many Sides of Happiness (CBL)
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor: Cheryl Stuntz
Meeting Days/Times: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8:00-9:30 a.m. (CBL: Community service required)

As a society, Americans have embraced the idea that happiness is an important goal in life. But what does it really mean to be happy? And what makes people happy? In this course, we will examine several historical and modern perspectives on what influences happiness, flourishing, and psychological well-being. By examining the relationship between happiness and such topics as the conflicted mind, reciprocity, social groups, money, trauma, virtues, and spirituality, we will understand how to enhance happiness. However, some believe that focusing too much on increasing happiness undermines the importance of negative emotions. Are we as a society overly focused on happiness? What would happen if sadness and melancholy were eliminated entirely, whether through medication or other techniques? We will consider the positive functions that melancholy, depression, and sorrow serve. By the end of the semester, students will complete a research project that involves examining the scholarly theory and research on specific techniques to enhance happiness. They will also put those techniques into practice both inside and outside of the classroom, in part through required weekly community service sustained throughout the semester.

The Psychology and Expression of Creativity
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor:  Jennifer MacGregor
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Tuesday 12:40-2:10 p.m.

What is creativity?  Is it an inborn trait parceled out to the lucky few, or is it a process that all of us can tap into and develop in a meaningful way?  How are the processes and products of science and art similar? This course will have both a rigorous intellectual component and a time-intensive experiential component.  We will examine the philosophical roots underlying current conceptions of creativity, as well as delve into modern psychological theories concerning its wellspring and expression.  Additionally, we will examine how structural elements such as gender, race, and ethnicity figure into the expression of creativity.  Class format will include readings, group discussion, writing, and your personal engagement in selected art forms (such as creative writing, painting, photography, ceramics, drawing, performance, music, movement, etc.).  You will participate in campus events and draw upon your own artistic experience as part of our collective inquiry into these issues.  Research projects may include the following: interviewing scientists and artists about their own creative processes; exploring the life and work of a creative person of your choice; investigating “subversive” art and how marginalized groups have used art not just to express cultural difference but also to effect social change; considering the effects of ancient theories of aesthetics on our current sensibilities; examining the mental health benefits of creative endeavors, both for individuals and communities; and more! This FYS requires a significant out-of-class time commitment.

The Science of Crime and Justice
in Science and Science-Related Issues
Instructor: Jennifer Schmeisser
Meeting Days/Times: Tuesday and Thursday 10:10-11:40 a.m. and Thursday 12:40-2:10 p.m.

If you are interested in crime solving and courtroom drama, this course provides the opportunity for you to live in the roles of crime scene investigators and forensic scientists who have worked on historical criminal cases ranging from violent crimes to art forgery. In class hands-on activities allow you to learn and apply the rules and modern scientific techniques of crime scene processing and forensic science.

The research project starts with you selecting a real life criminal case and then researching important aspects involved in the investigation and trial of the case. An important component of your work will be an assessment of the integrity of the work related to the crime scene processing and forensic analysis, how effectively the forensic evidence was presented to the jury, and whether or not the jurors understood what was presented to them. At the end of the semester, as an expert on this case you will present highlights of your research findings to the class. This course also counts as CHEM 107 and fulfills the NSC requirement.

 Sp2013/Courses/FYS Sp’13 Course Descriptions-FINAL.docx, 9/27/12; final update 10/9/12