Freshman Seminar - IDC 101

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The Body	Race Poverty & Violence
Planet in Peril	You are What You Eat
Introduction to Pop Culture & History	Economic and Race Discrimination in Literature
Creativity and the Arts	The Holocaust
American Visual Culture	Music in Louisville
Leadership in the Community	Mind and Body
Introduction to Animal Studies	Dissecting Medical Science
Young Adults in Literature	Virtues, Values and the Contemporary Experience
African American Experience Told Through Poetry	Exploring Multiculturalism
Storytelling to Graphic Novels	Gothic Fiction

The Body                    Nicole Moro                                        MWF, 9-9:50

Course description: What is a body? What is its relationship to the self? What social influences shape human bodily experience? How do these forces vary in different societies and historical periods? How are differently-sized, differently-abled bodies perceived, valued and treated? What role does the body play in the formation of identity?  What constitutes the perfect body?  Bodies—both female and male—are privileged, liberated, restricted and prohibited.  They are culturally accepted and rejected.  This course will examine the body as the product of complex social arrangements. We will study the body as a container and expression of the self.   We will explore the body’s relationship to race, gender and sexuality. Throughout the course, we will examine the ways that the body informs identity by studying the various ways it is defined and handled in literature (narratives, poetry), film, music, and art.

Planet in Peril            Valerie Timmons-Ellis                        MWF, 9-9:50

Course Description: Climate change, dwindling energy and food supplies, deforestation, and increasing poverty are just some of the environmental issues facing the world, and these issues affect us all.  This course will explore these topics, among others, focusing considerable attention on the solutions thereto.  Ultimately, this course is about you and your reaction to the imminent environmental dangers confronting this planet and its inhabitants.  Topics will include:

• the world beyond peak oil
• energy and transportation alternatives
• rising sea levels and the associated effects on populations (environmental refugees)
• endangered species and habitats
• the rise of China and India as world powers and the associated environmental, food supply, and population concerns
• cooperation among nations to curb climate change
• the spiritual considerations involved in caring for the Earth

 

Introduction to Pop Culture and Philosophy    Brian Barnes            MWF 10-10:50

Course Description: We will critically examine popular culture’s marriage with Philosophy. Students will learn how traditional philosophical issues from all over the world appear in everyday contexts. Particular attention will be paid to the phenomena of 1) philosophical essays offering analysis of fiction, 2) television series built around traditional philosophical positions, and 3) movies requiring traditional philosophical premises. Particular attention will be paid to the ways these fictional realities are constructed in order to develop tools for critically assessing real experience. Students will be evaluated through lively discussions, critical response essays, and one formal paper.

Creativity and the Arts            Kerri Horine                                     MWF, 10-10:50

Course Description: Many people would like to learn about the arts and also experiment with the tools and techniques of various forms in a supportive environment.  Creativity and the Arts allows students to learn about art in traditional and experiential ways.  We will gain an academic understanding of the vocabulary and foundational concepts of art forms like painting, film, literature, sculpture, drawing, and drama.  Students will become adept at writing about these forms in critical and insightful ways.  Because we cannot really comprehend without first-hand experience, we will also sample some tools and techniques in workshop settings.  Students will bring to the class their own knowledge of particular art forms, and they will have opportunities to share these with and teach the class from their own expertise.     

American Visual Culture        Kerri Horine                                    MWF, 11-11:50

Course Description:  We live in a culture permeated by images, but we rarely think about these images or even take much notice of them.  American Visual Culture investigates how these images are produced, what meanings they are intended to convey, and how they are actually received, or “consumed,” by viewers.  The radical cultural philosopher Guy Debord believed that a culture of images, the society of the spectacle, meant something negative for future generations; however, we use images not just for entertainment but to aid in the process of learning and working.  Images exist in a plethora of ways: film, television, advertising, fine art, illustration and design, and even graffiti.  We will examine images in terms of construction, interpretation, cultural situation, and also views that critique ocularcentric western culture.

Leadership in the Community    Winnie Spitza           MW, 12-1:15 (Brown Scholar’s Section)

Course Description: This class will examine the concept of community and leadership.  The class will address such questions as:  what makes something a community?  What resources do communities need to develop and survive?  What makes some communities closely linked and others dysfunctional?  how does leadership in a community work?  What do leaders do? What do constituents expect from leaders?

Introduction to Animal Studies        Tami Harbolt-Bosco                        MW, 3-4:15

Course Description: This seminar teaches reading, presentation, and research skills, while introducing them to the role of domesticated animals in society. Although the content includes a general survey of the history of animal rights and welfare, it specifically requires students to face issues of personal responsibility regarding issues of animal suffering and responsible stewardship. By connecting animal rights to other social movements, it also provides a gateway for extending their concern to others historically disenfranchised, including women, persons of color, various socio-economic classes, and immigrant workers. The course accomplishes these goals by introducing students to the philosophies underpinning a “welfarist” perspective in the animal rights movement, and then provides them with modern examples that compromise those philosophies, such as animal experimentation, organ transplant, food production, entertainment, and hunting and fishing. Louisville is a local site of production for a variety of animal uses; including pork rendering, horse racing, and fast-food. It has a politically vocal community of hunters and breeders, as well.

Young Adults in Literature                Jennifer Sinski                                    MW, 4:30-5:45

Course Description: A Study of Young Adults in Literature will explore the real world difficulties and issues as represented in young adult fiction and nonfiction.  The class will read paperback novels such as "perks of being a wallflower" and autobiographies including "A Long Way Gone" that deal with tough, real world issues that teens and twenty- somethings must face as they come of age in a modern society. Book discussions, text analysis and writer’s workshops will form an integral part in the learning process.  Projects/Writing Assignments/Exams will be used as student assessment.

Gothic Fiction                                        John Schuler                                        M, 6-8:45

Course Description: Gothic literature is no longer confined to haunted castles, crumbling mansions, and molding catacombs.  Today’s writers set their fiction in the suburbs, the inner city, or the ethereal domain of cyberspace.  The main focus, though, has remained the same: questioning man’s ability to live in a world populated by creatures, either natural or supernatural, that lie, steal, cheat, and commit atrocities against mankind.  In this course students will learn the basic history of the genre and its origins, read texts from Robert Louis Stevenson, Toni Morrison, and Joyce Carol Oates, and understand how historical and cultural developments have influenced the genre.  Through research, discussion, workshops, and a final group project students will learn to respond to gothic literary texts and films. 

African American Experience Told through Poetry: The Civil Rights Movement

Nickole Brown            W, 6-8:30

Course Description: A look at black experience in America, told through the voices of poets.  From Jim Crow to the Civil Rights movement, this seminar will examine the trials and triumphs of this history, with a focus on the challenges still to be faced in modern day society.  We will explore the personal details of events through narrative verse, but in dialogue with coverage of the time period, including news articles, documentary footage, and historical documents.  Readings will focus mainly on contemporary writers, including Frank X. Walker, A. Van Jordan, Afaa Michael Weaver, Jake Adam York, Elizabeth Alexander (featured poet at the inauguration for President Obama), and Natasha Trethewey, among others.

Storytelling to Graphic Novels            Gary Watson                        TTh, 8-9:15

Course Description: Generations of peoples in all races and cultures have a rich history of storytelling used to acculturate and educate their offspring.  This course examines the current culture of storytelling through the genres of children’s big books, graphic novels, and emerging technology (such as digital storytelling and e-movies).   Students will analyze multiple examples in each genre, produce storytelling media of their own, and learn how the genres can promote fairness through greater traditional  literacy as well as visual and technological literacy.

Race, Poverty, and Violence                    Page Curry                            TTh, 8-9:15

Course Description: Poverty, Race and Violence will explore the various aspects of society that underlie and connect these issues, as portrayed in literature and film.  In the U.S. as well as Europe and colonial societies, gender, ethnic background and other differences have contributed to the establishment of systems that oppress those at the bottom. This class will analyze the historic influences and explore what we can do to create a more positive future for all.  Foreign and American films will give us glimpses of situations abroad as well as closer to home; novels and some non-fiction articles will also provide different points of view to consider.

You are what you Eat                                Erin Burke                                TTh, 9:25-10:40

Course Fee: $30

Course Description: Carnivore? Herbivore? Omnivore? Locavore? Are you an active consumer of this fast food culture?  Do you even know there is a Slow Food culture? In this seminar we will seek to understand how what we eat determines who we are as individuals and a society. We will explore how our daily food choices affect our health, politics, environment, and economy.  As part of that exploration we will plant a small garden, visit a local farm and farmer's market, serve food to the hungry, and eat at least one "local' meal together.

Economic and Race Discrimination Exposed in the Literature of Toni Morrison

Bonnie Johnson                                                                                        TTh, 9:25-10:40

Course Description:  With Abraham Lincoln’s 200^th birthday anniversary, the election of Barack Obama, and America’s economic downturn, the country takes another look at its discrimination practices, historical and contemporary.  Two of America’s finest authors, Morrison and Twain, address the injustices of racial and economic discrimination divided by a century, yet joined by ideology. Students will read and discuss Morrison’s work, including two short novels (Sula and her most recently published, Mercy) and compare the historical context of her work with Twain’s. Brief excerpts from other writers such as Jamaica Kincaid, Bessie Head, Alice Walker, John Steinbeck, Roy Hoffman, Ha Jin, Frank McCourt, and current media sources will supplement class discussions as students explore contemporary economic and racial issues.   While an intellectual understanding of the inherent worth of all persons is tantamount to finding peace and justice, inclusion must be more than a mindset among the interested. After studying diverse literary perspectives and current events that illuminate discrimination, students will work together to raise awareness in the community of discriminatory practices. Students will interact outside the classroom in the form of a poster display, panel discussion, friendship-building exercises or other student-directed activity(ies). Equal emphasis of the course will be class discussion, reading, and writing.

The Holocaust                                    Daniel Penner                            TTh, 12:15-1:30

Course Description: The Holocaust will be investigated in detail and substance.  We will look at German culture and history and how it was a factor in its occurrence.  We will see how conditions in early 20th century Germany, as well as impacting world events, were major factors in the establishment of an environment that allowed Hitler and the Nazi Party to take over the government. Anti-Semitism will be explained and explored. Hitler will be a major topic . . . why and how he was able to convince the German people to accept his ideas and follow a path of hate and destruction. The role of the world during the Holocaust, including the United States, will be addressed..  Relevant to the Holocaust as well as events of today, we will examine the role of the bystander. The course will study, research and compare similar events of the past and present where man has been inhumane to man.  We will look at hate, and try to learn how we as individuals can help fight this cancer of society, and pass the message of acceptance to others.   There are other lessons one can learn from the study of the Holocaust relevant to events of today.  The class may very well change one's way of thinking and how one treats others in a diverse society.

Music in Louisville                                AT Simpson                                    TTh, 1:40-2:55

Course Fee: $100

Course Description: Music in Louisville is a Freshman Seminar designed for music-loving freshpersons who wish to be introduced to the wealth of musical offerings presented by professional, semi-professional, collegiate, and amateur arts organizations in the Kentucky-Indiana-Ohio region.  The aesthetic mission and vision of these groups are analyzed and discussed (in the context of their contributions to and importance for the community in which we live), along with selected examples of repertoire from the organizations’ 2009–2010 offerings.  As a principle component of class activities, live performances will be:

1)                  attended (individually, in small groups, and in all-class groupings)

2)                  discussed in class (in both pre-performance, introductory dialogues and in post-performance analytical evaluations), and

3)            previewed and reviewed (in the form of both informal and formal essays)

Students are, additionally, required to become ‘actively involved’ in some aspect of the ‘music scene’ in Louisville (either off-campus and/or on-campus).  The level and type of involvement can take many forms, including, but not limited to, performance, administrative, and volunteer components of the production of an artistic event.

Mind and Body                                        Amanda Wyrick                                TTh, 3:05-4:20

Course Description: This course offers an introduction to mindfulness and other contemplative practices to enhance students’ understanding and compassion for the self and others. The course will lead to a rich understanding of how the student’s thoughts influence psychological and physical health, relationship to others, and impact on the overall global climate. Students will experience mindfulness practices including but not limited to mindful eating, breath work, and a range of meditation activities such as moment to moment awareness, silent meditation, and non-judgmental interactions. Students will use these activities to increase personal awareness, reduce stress, and attune to how their thoughts correspond to a level of connection that brings together all aspects of being.  By the end of the course students will be familiar with the concept of mindfulness and the link between thoughts, relationships, and well-being. Students will experience the impact of mindfulness practices on their everyday lives. Students will understand and apply mindfulness practices to care for themselves, improve interpersonal functioning, and understand how their lives, actions, and thoughts are connected to a broader climate that affects all aspects of being.

 

Dissecting Medical Science                        Michelle Draper                                TTh 4:30-5:45

Course Description: This course will investigate medical science as it is and has been depicted in television and movies.  The course will view, discuss and research television shows such as “Dr. Kildare”, “Marcus Welby, M.D.”, “Doogie Howser, MD”, “St. Elsewhere”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “House”, and others from the past and present.  With regard to movies, the class will view and analyze productions such as “Bloodwork”, “Outbreak”, and “Lorenzo’s Oil” to name a few.  The course also addresses the way in which pharmaceuticals are marketed to the general public and the credibility of internet information that is available to the general public.  

 Virtues, Values, and the Contemporary Experience: Developing a Conscience

Kevin DeCoste                                W, 4:30-7:00

Course Description: The subject matter that we will use to drive our efforts this semester will be the virtues. These are Self-discipline, Compassion, Responsibility, Friendship, Courage, Perseverance, Honesty, Loyalty, Faith and Work. We will primarily utilize the course text and contemporary films, along with other media and readings as assigned, as our starting point for our discussion of the virtues. We will also examine people’s lives, both past and present, to look for their individual outlook on virtue. As we examine the virtues, we will endeavor to form our own viewpoints as to the usefulness and even relevancy of these ideas, both in conceptual and practical contexts. Lastly, we will look at the virtues as a possible basis for making decisions.  In other words, can the virtues contribute to the formation of a useful and reliable decision matrix: a conscience in other words?

Exploring Multiculturalism                            Hannah Clayborne                         TTh 5:00-6:15

Course Description: Living in an environment that is culturally diverse increases the need for individuals to engage in educational activities that examine and often expand their personal worldviews. To ensure that students are aware of the array of opinions, ideas, assumptions and values present in a campus community and the larger society, this course will explore issues such as gender, ethnicity, religion and socioeconomic issues from a local, regional and international perspective. Additionally, students will learn what we do to encourage and/or discourage acceptance of difference, and why it is important to take a proactive approach in preparing for existence in a fluid, dynamic and progressive world.