Course Descriptions Spring 2017
First Year Seminar
Honors 100-01: First Year Seminar (Kiser)
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Connections Courses
Honors 264-01: Journey Through Genius (Sparks)
William Dunham writes, “Like masterpieces of art, music, and literature, great mathematical theorems are creative milestones, works of genius destined to last forever." Using Dunham’s book, we will study the people and their great theorems “within its historical context and explore the very human and often turbulent life of the creator — from Archimedes, the absentminded theoretician whose absorption in his work often precluded eating or bathing, to Gerolamo Cardano, the sixteenth-century mathematician whose accomplishments flourished despite a bizarre array of misadventures, to the paranoid genius of modern times, Georg Cantor.” No mathematical background (other than high school experience) is necessary.
Honors 264-02: Cross Cultural Projections: Exploring Cinematic Representation (Kalinak)
This course introduces methods of critical inquiry which will allow students to analyze connections across cultures in film. Readings and films will focus on the ways in which filmic representations are produced within individual cultures and the relationship of those representations to history, ideology, and social change. This semester the course will consider the way American cinema has represented Japan on film and the ways in which Japanese cinema has represented itself and its relationship to America. Writing assignments include informal writing in the form of journal entries, a critical paper, an oral report, and a final exam. This course fulfills the old Gen Ed Core 4 requirement and the new Gen Ed Connections requirement. Sample films: THE CHEAT, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, MACARTHUR’S CHILDREN, BATAAN, RHAPSODY IN AUGUST.
Honors 264-03: Women, Crime, and Representation (Reddy)
This connections course examines representations--in fiction, non-fiction, film, and television--of women as criminals, as crime victims, and as detectives. We will consider texts of various national origins, paying close attention to the similarities as well as differences in their portrayals of women. Course format will be discussion, with occasional lectures by the professor and presentations by students. Each student will write two formal papers and will take a final exam. Probable texts include Paretsky, Blacklist; Woods, Inner City Blues; one season of Prime Suspect; and Kirino, Out, among others.
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Area Distribution Courses
(NS) PSCI 217H-01: Oceanography (Meyer)
(H) HIST104H-01: Europe in the World since 1600 (Hughes)
(M) MATH 139H-01: Contemporary Topics in Mathematics (Sparks)
This course introduces assorted topics in contemporary "real world" mathematics, with the idea of improving mathematical literacy and appreciation along with teaching certain specific areas of mathematical knowledge. Areas of mathematics to be covered include election fairness, mathematics of photography, city planning, and how to retire as a multi-millionaire.
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