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| ALCOHOL, DRUGS, and NO ROCK AND
ROLL 208 Persson Hall Jane Jones, Staff Counselor, Counseling and Psychological Services During the course of this seminar, students will be presented with detailed information about common drugs of choice. Through the use of PowerPoint, lecture material and humor, individuals will come away with a sound appreciation of the effects of alcohol, marijuana and rave drugs. It will include understanding the way that alcohol and street drugs work within the central nervous system from both long-term and short-term perspectives. A review of the addiction process and the common defenses employed by chemically addicted individuals will be discussed. |
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The Middle East Today
108 Persson
Hall
The Middle East is home to three great religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity), seventy-five percent of the world's oil, and several of the world's most intractable conflicts. In this seminar, we will explore the major events and ideas that have shaped this region. We will dedicate one session to each of the following topics: Iraq – why did the US invade? How long will we be there?; the Arab-Israeli Conflict – how did it begin? Will it ever end?; and, Islam – what are the major features of this faith? What are the reasons for continued tension between the Islamic world and the West? |
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EXPLORING SCENE DESIGN
303 Dana Hall Marjorie Bradley Kellogg, Associate Professor of English and Scenic Designer When you go to see a play, do you notice the set design? The set for a play is not just a visual
background. It is also a source of vital information about the play, its
environment and its characters. In this seminar, we will look at what
goes into developing the scenic design for a play. We will read a one-act
play aloud in class and discuss what the set design can add to a
production of that play. We will talk about how the scenery can offer
information about the time period and literary style of the play, as well
as its social environment. We will also look at how to convey emotional
information in three-dimensional form. |
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DEFINING OURSELVES THROUGH MYTHS: 206
Lawrence Hall NARCISSUS, EROS AND PSYCHE, AND THE LABYRINTH Anne Ashbaugh, Professor of Philosophy We will examine and discuss three myths, which in addition to their rich content within the Greek Mythological tradition, have explicit psychological symbolism relevant to us today. As such, these myths serve as mirrors of our personal and interpersonal predicaments. We will explore through Narcissus the difference between seeking self-knowledge and becoming self-absorbed. In Eros and Psyche, we will examine how love may derail or guard our personal integrity. Through the Labyrinth, we will study patterns of conduct through which we imprison ourselves and ways to gain freedom. The Labyrinth is a particularly interesting symbol because it appears repeatedly in literature, in architecture, and in games. We will view some of those uses of the labyrinth in our final seminar meeting. |
| A HANDS-ON INTRODUCTION TO TELEVISION
PRODUCTION
Alton Lounge, 2nd floor, Student Union Eric Koleda, General Manager of CUTV Christine Naclerio, Development Director Lights…Camera…Action! Three words everyone has heard, but how much do you really know about what it takes to make a television show? This course, sponsored by CUTV, Colgate’s very own student-run television station, will take students through the steps to create their own television show from conception to broadcast. Students will be introduced to the art of camera work, graphics design, technical directing, and on-air presentation, and apply their skills in a live broadcast of their very own show. Stop watching tv, and start making it! Enrollment maximum = 14. Sign up for this seminar only if you can reliably attend all 3 classes. |
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EAST COAST SWING Hall of Presidents, 2nd floor, Student Union Cheryl Jonsson, Associate of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
This course will have you dancing the basic figures of East Coast Swing in
an enjoyable and social manner. During the course you will develop a good
knowledge and understanding of the musical requirements in relationship to
each step within a dance figure. These will include rhythm and character,
time signature, beat value and tempo. Other important aspects of dance to
be studied will be Dance Position, Footwork, Lead and Follow. |
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Foundations of Political Thought: Basic Vocabulary 109 Persson Hall Barry Shain, Associate Professor of Political Science When you glance at the front page of a major
urban newspaper or turn on the national news, almost immediately, you are
confronted by a range of political and economic terms that readers and
viewers must recognize in order to make sense of the news. But, too often,
it is an unwarranted assumption that these terms are understood correctly
. In this course, we will work together to become better consumers of the
news and, possibly, better citizens by coming to understand the terms that
are used to describe the American and European political landscape: left,
right, and center; liberalism vs. conservatism (including neo-conservatism
and libertarianism); democracy vs. elitism, and the social classes
attached to each; capitalism vs. socialism and Marxism; modernism vs.
pre-modernism and post-modernism; secularism vs. Christian religiosity
(both in its Protestant and Catholic forms), and the social groups
associated with each; and finally, individualism vs. communalism and
collectivism. At the end of the course, then, both political junkies and
novices should be able not only to read the paper, watch the news, or
engage in political debate with more confidence, but additionally, have
come to know themselves better through recognizing the political
commitments they hold. No prior political knowledge is needed for the
course, but a willingness to explore the familiar in unfamiliar ways will
be valuable. |
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CLIMBING THE WALLS
Angert Climbing Wall, Huntington Gymnasium |
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Have you ever wondered why people move their hands when they speak? One
possibility is that it makes communication clearer for the listener. Another
possibility is that it makes thinking easier for the speaker. It turns out
that both answers are correct. In this course, we will cover a wide range of
topics related to this issue. We will first discuss developmental research
suggesting that hand gestures may have a strong influence on how children
develop language skills. Then we will explore the role that hand gestures
play in how children and adults learn new information in educational
settings. Finally, I will present you state-of-the-art neuroimaging research
demonstrating that the human brain is specially designed to process hand
gestures along with speech. The course will finish with a demonstration that
shows this neuroimaging research in action. In the end, I hope to convince
you that your hands can have as much to say as your words.
(Enrollment maximum = 14) |
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CENSORSHIP: LIMITS ON
ARTISTIC FREEDOM
210 Persson Hall In this seminar, we will explore the
various arguments that have been given for and against censorship. As
part of this exploration, we will examine the attack on violence in the
media. This attack on violence in the media is the latest battle in a
campaign for “decency” that has been on-going for centuries and includes
attacks on novels, comic books, music, and cartoons.
Many argue that there is an urgent need for informed, dispassionate
debate about the perceived conflict between the free-expression rights of
young people and the widespread urge to shield them from expressions that
are
considered harmful. However, others argue that the age-old idea of
protecting children from “corrupting” influences, which can be traced at
least as far back as Plato’s Republic, has reached dangerous proportions
in the U.S. We are told that self-censorship is acceptable
because government has no role in enforcement. The appeal to Hollywood
says that allowing children to have unsupervised access to media “is the
moral equivalent of letting them go play on the freeway.” Many reject
this hyperbolic claim as unreasonable, uninformed, and misguided, because
we should not blur the line between thoughts and action. When we allow
individuals to apply responsibility for their actions on others,
proponents argue that we undermine the idea that we are responsible for
our own actions and open the path to violence. Finally, in this seminar, we
will attempt to answer the critical question concerning censorship. Must
we prove that direct harm exists before freedom of speech/expression can
be suppressed? |
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Comparative Health Care Systems 103 Olin Hall John Novak, Professor of Biology This course will examine the history of Western medicine from the ancient Asklepieia of Greece to the highly technological modern hospitals of today. Two alternative medical traditions will be considered, specifically traditional Chinese medicine and its approach to healing through "Chi" (the energy force) and Santeria medicine of Cuba. We will search for answers to some perplexing questions: How do emotions translate into chemicals in our bodies? How do thoughts and feelings influence health? How can we collaborate with our bodies to encourage healing? Additionally, select disease-causing organisms that still pose a threat to global health will be examined. |
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| THE CHEMICALLY DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY SYSTEM
208 Persson Hall Jane Jones, Staff Counselor, Counseling and Psychological Services This course provides a psychological overview of
the members of a chemically dysfunctional family system.
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AMERICA'S FOUNDING DOCUMENTS 109 Persson Hall
In this course, we will examine assorted American "founding" documents
selected from significant 17th and 18th century materials. The
intention is to understand better the initial nature, goals, and
self-understanding of Americans in their quest to create a novel form of
self-government. This might, even likely will, demand
reconsidering some of the more popular truisms concerning early America.
More particularly, we will try to assess whether Americans were
predominantly religious or secular in their view of government,
individualistic or communal, and democratic or something else.
Accordingly, we will read and discuss together the Mayflower Compact
(1620), Extracts from the Fundamental Law of West Jersey (1676/77), the
Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress (1765), America's First Bill of
Rights -- the Declarations and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
(1774), much of the Declaration of Independence (1776), one (of a dozen or
more) of the Continental Congress's Proclamations for Days of Fasting and
Humiliation (1777) and select features of the Constitutional Bill of
Rights as understood from 1791 to today.
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FINDING FASCINATION IN EARTH'S DAILY DOINGS
319 Lawrence Hall This will be an introductory course in creative nonfiction: the art and craft of transforming facts—the building blocks of truth—into art. We'll begin with definitions: What is creative nonfiction? And what is it not? We'll talk about the essentials of good writing, regardless of genre. Among these are a compelling story or idea, an engaging voice, fresh and surprising use of language, imagery that appeals to the five senses—and, above all, the energy and desire to revise. If you don't think you have anything to write about, don't worry: I'll suggest lots of ways to get started--in particular, how to look at the world the way writers so, seeing the extraordinary glowing within the ordinary. Students in the class will be asked to read several short pieces and have the option to write two five-page pieces of their own: a memoir and a personal essay. Enrollment maximum = 12. Please do not sign up for this seminar if you cannot reliably attend all 3 classes. |
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SEX, DRUGS, AND CHOCOLATE
221 Olin Hall Enrollment maximum = 16. Please do not sign up for this seminar if you cannot reliably attend all 3 classes. |
The Art of Jazz Improvisation 305 Dana Hall Glenn Cashman, Assistant Professor of Music This seminar will give you a look behind-the-scenes at the language of jazz, an American-invented and internationally practiced art form. We will talk about what actually occurs during a jazz performance, how the performers interact, and shed light on the roles of the rhythm section musicians. The discussion will detail the process players undertake in order to learn to improvise and offer a brief sketch of the major innovators, style periods & their evolution. Excerpts of important recordings will be presented and the instructor will perform live examples on piano and saxophone. The focus will be on music recorded from 1930 to the present."
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CLIMBING THE WALLS
Angert Climbing Wall, Huntington Gymnasium Enrollment maximum = 12. Please do not sign up for this seminar if you cannot reliably attend all 3 classes. |
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MODERNIST POETRY & THE RETHINKING OF THE HUMAN,
310 Lawrence Hall Michael Coyle, Professor of English This seminar will explore poetry by four of America’s most important modernist poets: Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, and Mina Loy. Each of these poets struggles to come to terms with what it means to be human, and to give form to human experience. What makes this struggle “modernist” is twofold. First, pursuing their work in the wake of Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud, these poets endeavor to find both meaning and truth but do so knowing these two things are not necessarily synonymous. Second, knowing that meaning and truth are not necessarily the same thing leads them to the conviction that experience can only be modeled in aesthetic terms. Students should leave this seminar with a clearer understanding of not just what these poems mean but also how they mean. You will also have begun thinking about why poetry matters—not just in the terms of the poets we read together but also in our own. |
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DREAMING BIG BY THINKING SMALL: The Emergence of Nanotechnology ,
116 Wynn Hall Rick Geier, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Imagine repairing your body without surgery, wearing clothes that never get dirty, driving a car that does not need gas, carrying a supercomputer in your back pocket, and taking an elevator to the moon. Such is the hope and the hype of nanotechnology—the study of materials and devices with dimensions on the nanoscale (1 x 10-9m, the realm of molecules and assemblies of molecules). This course will provide an introduction to the science and potential implications of nanotechnology. Scientific and sensationalist visions of nanotechnology will be explored through a combination of discussions and hands-on activities. We will attempt to forge an appreciation for the nanoscale, an understanding of the excitement, and an awareness of the challenges. Enrollment maximum = 12. Please do not sign up for this seminar if you cannot reliably attend all 3 classes. |
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The marketing of tobacco products has been highly successful despite a
general knowledge that smoking harms your health.
When did science have evidence that smoking caused cancer and
heart disease? The course
will review the history of cigarettes, the advertising campaigns to
entice the middle class, women, upper class, and finally, children. |
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THE FABLES OF JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, 206 Lawrence Hall John Gallucci, Associate Professor and Acting Chairman of Romance Languages and Literatures
This seminar will explore the diverse and colorful world of the Fables of
Jean de La Fontaine. These fables, written in seventeenth-century France,
use animals to entertain, instruct and satirize human society. We will ask
why these fables about animals are so enjoyable for human beings to read;
and why fables written in another era and in another country can have
universal appeal today. The seminar will also compare La Fontaine’s fables
with fables from other times and cultures, such as Aesop’s fables, and
examine what makes La Fontaine’s story-telling so unique and provocative. |
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CLIMBING THE WALLS, Angert Climbing Wall, Huntington Gymnasium |
| THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT,
103 Olin
Hall John Novak, Professor of Biology Using color slides and discussion, five topics will be covered: 1) adaptations of marine invertebrates to their environment, including principles of locomotion, feeding, coloration, etc.; 2) the coral reef, including the development sequence of a reef and the ecological relationships of its inhabitants; 3) examination of the crown of thorns, a predatory starfish that is attacking and destroying coral reefs throughout the Pacific Ocean; 4) the effects of the Santa Barbara oil spill on the intertidal zone and the general effects on the ecology; 5) identification, habitat and behavior of seals and penguins. |
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