Fall Semester 2008 Courses |
| | Anthropology | Asian
Studies | Chemistry | | Classics | Comparative Literature | Drama/Dance | Economics | |English | Environmental Science | Feminist & Gender Studies | | General Studies | Geology | History | Mathematics | Music | | Physics | Political Science | Religion | Russian| Sociology | |Southwest Studies| |Studies in the Humanities| See courses from 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000 |
| The "First Course" is intended to provide a stimulating introduction
to Colorado College, to enhance the research and writing skills important
to academic success, and to reinforce excitement about learning, rigorous
analysis and creative expression. First Courses include a substantial writing component and a research project. The seminar format and class size encourage active student involvement. The First Course also introduces students to the CC Library, the Learning Commons , other academic support systems, and the Honor system. The courses are only a part of the first year; the entire first-year experience includes interaction with FYE mentors and student-organized events, such as speakers, films, performances, and workshops. The offices of Student Life, Residential Life and Center for Service and Learning will work with first-year students throughout the academic year. Find out about picking courses with the point system. Winter Start Program Approximately 30 students are expected to enter the freshman class in Spring 2009. These students are free during the fall for work, travel, or off-campus study, and begin their studies in January. Although it will not be required, winter start students will be encouraged to stay for the college’s impressive Summer Session so that they can start the following fall with sophomore standing. Click here to read more on the program from our admissions office. Anthropology Anthropology: AN101/AN102 Blocks I and II: Mario Montaño and Christina Torres-Rouff, AN101/AN102, Introduction to Biological and Cultural Anthropology Fulfills one unit of Critical Perspectives: Diverse Cultures and Critiques credit; one unit of Critical Perspectives: Scientific Investigation credit Students completing this First Year course will receive credit for two required courses in the Anthropology major. This course introduces students to the foundations of Anthropology by exploring humanity from multiple viewpoints. Team-taught by an ethnographer and a biological anthropologist, this course will examine issues from both a cultural and biological perspective. We will focus on several themes of great importance for humans in both a historical and modern context. Students will explore topics including the origins of modern humans, social order and conflict, food production, and treatment of the dead from cross-cultural perspectives. All of these will help to demonstrate the holistic approach anthropology takes to the study of humanity. This year’s incarnation of this FYE will take the role of food in human culture as one of its structuring themes, exploring topics such as cultural traditions around food and the importance of diet in health, evolution, and human prehistory. Students will be introduced to the study of cultural anthropology through the examination of basic concepts, research methods, and theories. This course will address several important characteristics of anthropology: (1) the concept of culture and its multiple meanings; (2) people as social and cultural beings; (3) linguistics and how it relates to the construction of cultural meaning; (4) ethnographic research and how people make sense of their way of life; (5) comparative analysis and how it helps us to understand human behavior in different periods and places. At the core of biological anthropology are several issues. Students will learn about the scientific theory of evolution by means of natural selection and how it applies to all living organisms including humans. We will come to understand our own status as a primate and witness the physical and behavioral similarities among the living primates. There will be exploration of those traits that make us uniquely human and how they have developed throughout time including the cultural record of modern Homo sapiens. The course will directly engage students in anthropological practice and teach the methods used by anthropologists in their fieldwork, be it ethnographic or biological. This includes primate observation at the Cheyenne Mountain and Denver Zoos in order to explore the relationship between humans and the non-human primates, our closest living relatives. Additional fieldwork will occur throughout Colorado, where students will investigate folk art of the Southwest, food production, mortuary practices, and different native and modern traditions. A team-taught two-block course; one grade will be given for the
course as a whole.
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Asian Studies Asian Studies/Art History: JA101/JA130 Blocks I and II: Joan Ericson, JA101/JA130, Japanese Language and Culture
This course explores the intersection of Japanese language with the concepts that inform Japanese culture, both traditional and modern. Through an introduction to Japanese, you will have easier access to the underlying aesthetics of literature (from classical poetry and drama to manga) and art forms (from calligraphy and gardens to anime). By the end of the two blocks, you will be able to appreciate recent anime such as "Princess Mononoke" or "Spirited Away" through a better understanding of the cultural and historical referents, as well as catch the excitement through sections of the original dialogue. Equal time will be spent on learning language (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) and discussing readings and videos about the history, literature (including portions of The Tale of Genji, the world's first novel), and other aspects of Japanese culture. You will have many hands-on opportunities, including calligraphy sessions and cooking Japanese meals. Readings, discussions, and writing assignments on the cultural component will be in English. Students of this course can continue their language studies by enrolling in the second block of JA101 "Beginning Japanese" in Block 4. This two-block sequence (JA101 in Blocks 1 & 2 and in Block 4) will fulfill the college's language requirement. You will also be able to continue practicing your language skills by enrolling in the Japanese language adjunct course. A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together,
with a single instructor; separate grades will be given for the language
portion and the cultural portion of this class. |
Chemistry Chemistry: CH107 and CH100 Block I: Nate Bower, CH107, General Chemistry I. Block II: Murphy Brasuel, CH100, Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic
Science. This linked and integrated course combines General Chemistry (CH107) and an Introduction to Forensic Science (CH100). By linking these two courses, some of the basic science foundation used in the rapidly growing fields of forensic science can be introduced in a context with broad applications. A mix of historical and fictional case studies of crimes, evidence collecting from crime scenes, and methodologies employed in the forensic sciences will be used to introduce basic chemical principles in the first block. Library and laboratory research coupled with written and oral presentations will be used to develop observation, critical thinking, and forensic reporting skills. The distinction between rules of evidence allowed in court, in science, and in the popular media will be developed. If you are a fan of CSI and murder and mayhem mysteries, and are always wondering if they have gotten the science right, then this is the course for you! Prerequisite: Two years of high school algebra and one year of high school chemistry or consent of instructor. A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together, with one instructor in each block; separate grades will be given for each block. |
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Classics Classics: CL/HY114 Block: I Marcia Dobson, CL 114, Goddesses, Heroes, Sages and Statesmen: An Introduction to Greece and Rome Block II: Patricia Fitzgibbon, HY 114, Goddesses, Heroes, Sages and Statesmen:
An Introduction to Greece and Rome This course offers an introduction to ancient Greek and Roman cultures through readings of original sources and some study of the original languages. The ways in which human beings conceived the order of nature and culture and the sacred and secular in these periods constitutes the common inheritance of western culture and predisposes the views of self and individual in contemporary western thought. The emphasis in this course is upon how these cultures understood the destructive and creative powers of chaos and what forms of order they thought best for human beings. Block 1 will include selections from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod's Theogony, the Presocratics, the ancient Greek dramatists Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, Aristotle's Poetics and Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus. Block 2 will include selections from the statesmen Cicero and Caesar, the historians Sallust and Livy, and lyric and epic poetry of Lucretius, Catullus, Vergil, Horace and Ovid. A two-block course with one instructor in each block. |
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Comparative Literature Comparative Literature: CO100
Block II: William Davis, CO 100, Introduction to Comparative Literature:
Literary Metamorphoses What is literature? What are genres? How should they be read, interpreted
and evaluated? What social and personal functions does writing have? How
is writing related to oral tradition? How do writers compare themselves
to others (admiration and imitation, rejection, transformation)? Why are
so many authors obsessed with the morphic qualities of the human and of
language? An exploration of literature as a venue for experiences of transformation
and recognition such as Odysseus’ return in Homer’s Odyssey,
Satan’s mutation from angel to serpent in Milton’s Paradise
Lost, Shakespeare’s exploration of performative selves in The Taming
of the Shrew, Blake’s poetical account of the transformation of
spirit into matter, and Gregor Samsa’s awakening as a bug in Kafka’s
The Metamorphosis. As the course texts suggest, we will also look at the
morphic capacity of genre itself. Emphasis on close reading of literary
texts as well as critical research, analysis, and writing. Fulfills the
entry course requirement for the Comparative Literature major.
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Drama/Dance Drama/Dance: DR/DA100 Block I: Tom Lindblade, DR/DA100, History of Performance Block II: Lián Sifuentes, DR/DA100, History of Performance This class surveys performance in Western Tradition, starting with the
beginnings of sacred ritual and ending up with cutting-edge performance
art. The class will proceed chronologically, thematically, and theoretically,
covering Greek theatre and Roman spectacle, the medieval performance tradition
of masque and revelry, the combination of Lully's ballets with Moliere's
plays, and Renaissance burgeoning of public forms of performance. Further,
we will consider the notions of class, genre, industrialization, and expression
represented in 19th century traditions of dance and drama, including the
birth of realism and revolt against established forms. The late 19th and
early 20th centuries, respectively, introduce the elements of technology,
reproduction, and multimedia forms as central to the history of performance.
As a result, we will consider film, installation, and early performance
art as critical additions to performance in general. Creative projects
and field trips augment the course.
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Economics Economics: EC150 Block I Esther Redmount and Pedro DeAraujo, EC 150, Principles of Economics Block II: Esther Redmount, EC 150, Principles of Economics Economics is the study of how we make choices among options. Economic decision-making weighs preferences over outcomes against the resources available to realize those desires. In most, if not all, instances, we face a scarcity of resources, of time, of skills, or of knowledge that restrict what we can have or can accomplish. Do we want health care for all? Does the environment matter to us? Is there fairness in trade and employment contracts? All of these are questions economists engage everyday. The Economic toolkit comes to us from the social sciences – as they are practiced world wide – and the mathematical sciences. From mathematics, we get a logic and a statistical method of analysis that enables us to formulate and answer questions about choice in a pretty, precise way. From Anthropology, History, Sociology and Political Science we get a world view that values diversity of method and outcome. Economics is not done in a vacuum and if its intellectual product is to be useful, it must make sense in the context of social and historical realities. This First Year Experience course uses as its foundation a long-standing two-block course in the Principles of Economics, a course that explores the economics discipline by developing analytical techniques and conceptual approaches. Building upon this understanding of the "fundamental axioms" in the field, several "current challenges" are explored, including: 1) the benefits and costs of technological progress; 2) the impacts of international trade and migration; 3) pollution and environmental disruption; 4) poverty and wealth on a community, region, national and international scale; 5) the formulation of tax, welfare and health policy while balancing competing objectives. At its core, this is a two-block introduction to economics, the study of how individuals, businesses and governments make decisions about resource allocation: what they buy, when they work, what they produce, how they produce, and what policies to pursue. We also explore and evaluate the impact of those choices and policies, using our own experience, current events, and historical data. EC 150, as an introductory course, will touch briefly on many topics, providing a foundation for (and hopefully whetting your appetite for) future courses in microeconomics or macroeconomics. Students completing this course will receive credit for two required courses in the Economics major. A two-block course with one instructor in each block; one grade will be given for the course.
Blocks I and II: Judy Laux, EC160/110, Principles of Financial Accounting
& The Economic Novel The two linked courses from the Economics and Business curriculum that make up this First Year course offers contrasting perspectives on the allocation of scarce resources in our society. The first half of this course will introduce you to the principles of accounting while helping you master the business and economics vocabulary. We will focus on the operating, investing, and financing activities that give rise to accounting data, how these data are reflected in financial statements, and how accounting data are used to make resource allocation decisions. In addition, we will discuss the historical development of accounting and debate the quality of information produced by accounting systems. Upon completing this part of the course, you should know and understand: • the major operating, investing, and financing activities of business
firms The last half of the course includes a brief look at economic history and economic ideas as revealed in several major novels, including the impact of the Industrial Revolution, the effect of depressions, revolutionary movements, abuses of developing and unrestrained capitalism, problems of modern corporate relations, and the development of the labor movement. We look at how economic ideas (poverty, capitalism, people’s reactions to work, the quest for profit, entrepreneurial drive, corruption of power, etc.) are portrayed in novels such as The Jungle and The Grapes of Wrath. This portion of the course has a writing emphasis component and is designed to help students achieve proficiency in writing critical essays, gain confidence and ability in classroom discussion, and improve critical thinking. Students completing this course will receive credit for one required course in the Economics major. A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together,
with a single instructor; separate grades will be given for each block. |
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English English: EN203 Block I: Lisa B. Hughes, EN 203, Tradition and Change: Athens, Rome, and Hollywood Block II: Lisa B. Hughes and Barry Sarchett, EN 203, Tradition and Change:
Athens, Rome, and Hollywood English: EN203 Block I: George Butte, EN 203, Tradition and Change: The Voyage Out and Back Block II: Laura Padilla, EN 203, Tradition and Change: The Voyage Out
and Back The first block will begin with Homer's The Odyssey, and include at least one ancient Greek play, Sire Gawain and the Green Knight, one Shakespeare play, among other texts, and conclude with Shelley's Frankenstein, as a culminating example of both kinds of voyage. In the second block we will investigate how literary journeys change in the absence of landmarks, in worlds where the distinctions between "home" and "away" become less and less clear. Works read may include Castillo's The Mixquiahuala Letters, John Rechy's City of Night, as well as short stories by Edgar Allen Poe and Oscar Wilde. The block will conclude with a viewing of Richard Linklater's rotoscoped film of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly, at which point we will return to themes of uncanniness, otherness, and Shelley's definitions of monstrosity. The course is one two-block class, with a separate instructor
for each block and one final grade. Meets one unit of Critical Perspectives: Diverse Cultures and Critiques. The first block will introduce students to the works of African writers and the issues they deal with in these writings. The writers will be broadly selected from across the continent and will likely include Ama Ata Aidoo from Ghana, Camara Laye from French Guinea, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from Nigeria, and Susan Mann from South Africa. The focus of the course is mainly on the novels and critical responses to them. The course will provide a cultural and physical overview of Africa as we try to answer the questions: What is Africa? Who are the Africans? We will explore these questions while dealing with the central question of the course: What is African literature all about? The second block of the course continues the literary conversations begun in the first block with the inclusion of additional sub-Saharan writers. In some instances, you may become reacquainted with authors from Block 1 by reading and analyzing different works by them. Though we will continue the discussion of the range of styles and themes of African fiction, we will also read works by African playwrights. One purpose here is to expose students to a diversity of written literary productions and practices as well as the traditional cultural and social concepts that may inform them, and the issues they generate for African writers. We will also consider, then, questions such as those related to language, audience, gender representation, nationalism and postcolonialism as we attempt to discover what African literature is all about. A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together; separate grades will be given for each block. |
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| Environmental
Science Environmental Science/Geology: EV128/GY140 Block II: Paul Myrow, GY 140 Physical Geology The first block will be an introduction to the contemporary Earth climate system and evidence of near-future changes, focusing on the role of the atmosphere, oceans and land surface. This course includes the use of mathematical models to describe complex systems and the role of policy, economics and ethics in mitigating the human impact. Close reading of scientific articles and texts will be used in a critical examination of popular literature. Fieldwork will include measurements of carbon cycling, and radiation balance. Field and laboratory data analysis and an introduction into complex systems modeling will enhance student analytical skills. The course will include a substantial writing component consisting of a critical review of scientific climate change research on student’s topic of choice. The second block will introduce the fundamentals of geology, making use of the local Rocky Mountain setting as a natural laboratory in which to investigate the record of the Earth’s history preserved in the rocks, the dynamic earth processes in effect in the mountain environment, and how human activities relate to these processes. GY140 will continue the first-block focus on development of scientific observational and analytical skills and on written and verbal presentation of scientific material. We will devote time to learning the language of geology and to developing skills for identification of the origins and uses of earth materials, in the classroom and the field. A substantial portion of the class will be devoted to field projects and to lab/computer analysis of samples and data collected in the field. Field/lab projects may range from geological mapping of faults and folds to aid in understanding mountain building processes, to study of sedimentary rocks and fossil assemblages for paleoenvironmental interpretation, to measurement of stream flow and stream chemistry for environmental hazard assessment. Fieldwork will include both local day trips and multi-day trips in the Colorado mountains. The latter will involve camping out in occasionally less-than-optimal weather conditions! Block I counts towards the Environmental Studies/Science major and toward the Geology, Environmental Science and Environmental Policy majors. Block II Counts towards the Geology and Environmental Science majors and may count towards the Biology major. A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together,
with one instructor in each block; separate grades will be given for each
block. |
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Feminist and Gender Studies Feminist and Gender Studies: FG110/FG200 Block I: Tonja Olive, FG110, Introduction to Feminist and Gender Studies |
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General Studies General Studies: GS101 "Freedom and Authority" was the first interdisciplinary course at Colorado College and has been taught here for over 40 years. It is a two-block course focusing on the conflict between individual freedom and the limits imposed on this freedom by the state and its laws, by religious institutions and scriptures, and by attitudes of the society in which we live. As an interdisciplinary course, it studies literary, philosophical, religious, historical, and scientific texts in a thematic context. It focuses on four main themes: personal authority, social authority, political authority, and religious authority. Behind all of these themes are questions: What constitutes personal identity? What are the sources of our individual values and commitments? How much of what we are can be traced to ethnic and cultural background? What should one do when conscience and laws conflict? How does the individual relate to the group? How do authority and power work to constrain and mold individuals? How do sources of authority legitimate themselves? Through reading, writing, discussion, and critical thinking we will grapple with these and other questions surrounding the human condition. Section 1: GS101-1212, Freedom and Authority Block I: Bill Hochman (History) and Sam Williams (Religion) A two-block course with two instructors in each block; one grade will be given for the course as a whole. Section 2: GS101-1222, Freedom and Authority Blocks I and II: Dennis McEnnerney (Philosophy) Block I of this section will begin with a brief consideration of differing contemporary perspectives on freedom and authority and then turn to a study of ancient Greek beliefs and practices, with a focus on how the Athenian attempt to balance freedom and authority by means of democratic action may offer a useful critical perspective on modern society and government. The course then will examine the question of whether modern peoples, lacking the traditions of earlier eras, can in fact develop moral perspectives that could frame or inspire meaningful and autonomous lives. Here the focus will be on the cultural and religious forces that offer individuals direction and meaning in their lives. Next, the course will turn to the modern social and economic structures that both promote a sense of individuality and limit actual autonomy. Block II will begin with a critical examination of enlightened rationality, scientific progress, and technological society. Finally, the course will seek to unpack some dilemmas of governing for freedom, particularly as large-scale quasi-democratic states become absorbed in global orders. Here we will concentrate on developments that corrode critical engagement with others and the broader civil order, and on the ambiguities of power. Our question will be, how can democratic freedom be made substantive in an age of manipulative political marketing, inhumane struggles for power, and elusive global structures? GS101-1222 will likely spend 2-3 days away from Colorado Springs, either at the BACA campus or at the Colorado College cabin. A two-block course with one instructor in each block; one grade
will be given for the course as a whole. General Studies: GS204 Blocks I & II: Keith Kester, GS204, Spirit & Nature, Religion
& Science
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Geology
Geology/Anthropology: GY140/AN103 Block II: Richard Wilshusen, AN 103, Introduction to Archaeology Geologists and archaeologists both study the past, often using the same scientific approaches to piece together a series of events or to describe a set of ancient relationships. Furthermore, both geologists and archaeologists rely on evidence obtained from materials found at, or below, the surface of the earth. What differs for geologists and archaeologists is the exact focus of their research: the former study 'natural' events and processes that have taken place over billions of years, while the latter seek to understand 'anthropological' changes associated with past societies and cultures. The two blocks that make up GY140/AN103 will introduce students to both
geology and archaeology. In the first block students will learn how to
make geological observations, and will use them to create their own record
of the rise and fall of mountains and oceans and the life that occupied
these environments. During the second block, students will focus on three
transformative moments in the human past: the emergence of fully modern
humans, the invention of agriculture, and the rise of ancient states.
Although these topics will be taught separately in different blocks, the
courses will be linked by a constant set of study areas and themes. In
particular, students will focus on their study on the southwest (Colorado
and New Mexico) region, often visiting the same areas multiple times in
order to view them from the differing perspectives of a geologist and
of an archaeologist. This integrated course will explore the role of mathematics and geology in understanding the natural and human development of the Western United States, (historically named the "Great American Desert"), including what this means for our future. The course is based on the geologic, water resource, and human development of the Western United States, centered on the Colorado River, the Yellowstone Caldera, and the Ogallala Aquifer. We will combine readings, field work, and mathematical modeling to study the effects of both natural and human development. We will study sedimentary rocks, canyons, dams, and aquifers and the use of resources related to each. In particular, we will take two major week-long field trips during the course: one to the Grand Canyon and one to Yellowstone National Park. Both of these field trips will include projects that combine field work and modeling and which are designed to prepare students for their final project on the Ogalla Aquifer, a major water source in the West that is rapidly being depleted. This course is a unique opportunity to learn mathematics in the context of geology and to model geologic processes. Students will also complete readings that place our studies in historical context. Projects throughout the course will teach field skills, scientific inquiry, mathematical modeling, critical reading and technical writing. Prerequisite: High school algebra and trigonometry. A two-block course taught by one instructor; one grade will be given for the course as a whole. |
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History: HY104 Blocks I & II: Mark Johnson, HY104, Culture, Society and History: Global Foundations of Education
This course will introduce students to key theories and methods in world and comparative history through the prism of the history of education. We will analyze the origins of various approaches to education in the context of the great religious traditions, and consider how those ideas and practices were influenced and shaped in the pre-modern world through cross-cultural contact and patterns of conquest and conversion. We will then analyze the emergence of educational systems in the early modern world, with a special focus on the role of Western colonialism and the ways in which modern ethnic, religious, gender, and national identities were influenced through those cross-cultural encounters. Finally, we will consider how the contemporary globalization of education has grown out of those deeper historical processes of contact, conflict, and collaboration. This course will be of interest to students considering majors in history or education. A two-block course taught by one instructor; one grade will be given for the course as a whole.
History: HY105 Blocks I and II, Carol Neel, HY 105, Civilization in the West: Cultures
of the Book This two-block course will explore the ways in which ancient Mediterranean and subsequent European peoples read, copied and used texts from the origins of writing to the contemporary electronic book. Its core reading list will be major primary sources in the development of western civilization. Attention to all these works from the deep and more recent pasts—including Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Hugh of St. Victor’s Didascalicon, Voltaire’s Candide, and Kundera’s Book of Laughter and Forgetting—will stress the ways in which they reveal and critique the power of the manuscript and printed word. Further studies by modern historians and critics—including Eisenstein’s Printing Revolution and O’Donnell’s Avatars of the Word—will establish a context for these primary materials in the history of book-making technologies. Students in this course will write individual
critical essays on the respective common readings and collaborate to choose,
research, and print in limited edition a manuscript text from Colorado
College’s Special Collections. Although the faculty coordinator
of this course will be a member of History Department, Special Collections
and Humanities librarians as well as the letterpress printer who oversees
the Press at Colorado College will participate actively in all aspects
of the course, especially in the special final publication. Class members
will collaborate with these non-departmental experts in handling historical
manuscripts, researching those manuscripts contents and contexts, and
producing hand-set and hand-printed editions of their chosen text and
historical commentary.
History: HY120 What is American history? Is it an extension of European
history? Or a history that is unique unto itself, maybe even exceptional:
the historical manifestation of the Hegelian philosophical ideal of human
freedom? This course has us search for the meaning of America, from its
distant past in medieval England through our current position as global
leader. The first part of this class goes to the heart of the course by
asking the question of whether colonial American history is an extension
of English history or whether it is the pre-history of the United States.
In this regard, it asks the question of whether the American Revolution
was truly a revolution as a political, social, and cultural break from
its European roots, or whether it was an affirmation of an independent
society and culture that was moving inevitably towards political independence.
The second half of this course picks up the theme of "Searching for
America" by looking closely at its formative ideology: liberal democracy.
Can a liberal democracy remain stable and prosperous over a large geographic
space with a large population? This classic Madisonian question has been
put to the test numerous times throughout our national history since 1776,
and this class will look at the ways the emergence of the United States
as a liberal democracy both affirmed Jeffersonion and Hamiltonian ideas
of independence and prosperity and the ways the ideology of Lockian liberalism
endured the challenges of racial slavery, geographic expansion, civil
war, industrialization, and globalization. Is the United States truly
exceptional in its achievement of Lockian liberalism, or can it be a model
for modern liberal democracies throughout the world? If so, can we, or
should we encourage the development of democratic societies? This last
question has been the central idea behind American foreign policy since
Woodrow Wilson's presidential administration, and has become more pressing
as we remain the most powerful industrial democracy in an age of integrated
political, cultural, and economic globalization.
History: HY224 The class will move on to the nineteenth and twentieth century histories
of four countries: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Chile. Topics will include
caudillismo (strong man, charismatic rule), the late 19 th-century export
economies, the sometimes overt and sometimes covert presence of the Catholic
Church, the military and the United States in the course of events, and
the causes, controversies and legacies associated with industrialization,
populism, bureaucratic authoritarianism, neo-liberalism and the re-emergence
of populism in the 21 st century. Finally we’ll look at issues of
gender and at the remarkable interplay between race and class over the
centuries in Latin America. |
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Mathematics Mathematics: MA202 Blocks I and II, Jonathan Bredin, MA110/Cp122, Bits,
Bots, and Bugs: Introduction to Computing and Its Societal Impact In this First Year Experience course, we will look at the role of the computer and information technologies in our society, and also learn programming in the modern object-oriented language Java. The course will involve an exciting mix of reading, writing and computer programming. Over the past fifty years, information technologies have presented many conundrums to society, which we will encounter and discuss in this class. What are and have been the promises of artificial intelligence? What does it mean for a machine to exhibit intelligence? How have and how should humans and computers interact? How can we protect privacy though cryptography or other security measures? How do businesses conduct secure transactions? The course will interweave the discussion of these important questions with a careful introduction to computer programming in the Java language, where we will consider such topics as control structures, arrays, files, searching, sorting, and string processing. Students who complete the two-block course will receive credit for CP122 and MA110. Prerequisite: High school algebra. A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together,
with one instructor in each block; separate grades will be given for each
block
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Music Music: MU104 Blocks I & II: Elizabeth Macy, MU 104, World Music This course explores the role of music in the fascinating cultures of Bali, Native North America, Africa, Ireland, India, and Japan. Students develop an appreciation of the rich and meaningful musical traditions the members of these cultures have developed and learn to interpret music and performance events using interdisciplinary methods. Working with musicians from the cultures represented, students learn to perform songs and instrumental music from Bali, Ireland, and Zimbabwe and perform a public recital of world music on authentic instruments. Students further enhance their musical skills through creative, analytical, and research projects. The course addresses both historic and new musical repertories, including popular music. No prior musical background is necessary. This course meets the ethnomusicology requirement for the Music minor. A two-block course taught by one instructor; one grade will be
given for the course as a whole. Music: MU191 Block II: Nilanjana Bhattacharjya, MU 191, Great Hits in American Music:
From Plymouth Rock to Rock This course will examine selected highpoints in American music and their cultural roots in American society. Both popular and classical music traditions will be studied with special attention given to the social and political circumstances in which they developed. In the first block, the emergence of innovative U.S. musical traditions in the19th Century (such as civil war songs, Sousa’s band music, the Boston School of the late 1800s, and Tin-Pan Alley) will be seen as the foundations for subsequent developments in jazz, musical theater, the nationalistic works of Ives, Copland and others, and the avant garde of the mid 20th Century. The second block will focus mostly on popular music of the 20th Century through the present, with special attention given to African American contributions; traditions including the blues, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, and hip hop will be examined in terms of their sound and style and relation to the music industry, technological developments, race and gender relations, and other cultural issues. A two-block course with one instructor in each block; one grade
will be given for the course as a whole. |
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Physics Physics: PC123/PC124 Block I: Dick Hilt, PC123, Scientific Revolutions: The Copernican Revolution Block II: Stephanie DiCenzo, PC124, Scientific Revolutions: Relativity The course as a whole meets Critical Perspectives: The West in Time (2 units) or Scientific Investigation (SI.) 'Tis all in pieces, all cohaerence gone; All just supply, and all Relation: Prince, Subject, Father, Sonne, are things forgot, For every man alone thinkes he hath got To be a Phoenix, and that there can bee None of that kinde, of which he is, but hee.' —John Donne, 1611 In 1543 Copernicus took the Earth from its central position in the world and replaced it with the sun. By 1611 Galileo had turned his telescope to the heavens and found them as changeable and imperfect as the Earth. Because the structure of the universe was intimately woven together with religion and social structure, these changes in the physical world shook the foundations of our relations with each other and with God. John Donne's poetic response illustrates the disorientation of losing your place in the world. Just what was the world in 1611, and how was it changing? We will read from Plato, Copernicus, Galileo and Newton to sample the way thinkers have thought about the heavens from the ancient Greeks to the 18th Century. Newton's mechanical universe, with its particles moving through a Euclidian three-dimensional space, exerting forces on each other, and marking time with a universal clock, dominated physical thought for more than two centuries. However, early in the 20th century questions about the propagation of light spurred Einstein to revise our ideas of space and time radically. In his theory, moving clocks tick more slowly than stationary clocks, and moving objects measure short, at least in their direction of motion. Even the sequence in which events occur turns out often to be unsettled. If our instinct about the flow of time is wrong, what does this do to our belief in cause and effect? We will study the physics that drives these questions and then consider some of the impact of physics on the culture of the last century or so. A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together, with one instructor in each block; separate grades will be given for each block. |
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Political Science Political Science/History: PS103 Block I: Tim Fuller, PS103, The Western Political Tradition in Global
Perspective Political Science/History: HY200 and PS203 Blocks I and II: Robert Lee, HY200 & PS203, The Search for Islamic
Order: Yesterday and Today Block II: Tania Cronin, MU 227, Topics in Music: Music and Society |
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Religion Religion: RE200 Block I: David Gardiner, RE200, Topics in Religion: Religious Responses
to the Challenge of Suffering, Part I Block II: Dan Shaw, RE200, Topics in Religion: Religious Responses to
the Challenge of Suffering, Part II This course will examine ways in which various religions provide a context for understanding and transcending suffering. While not a comprehensive survey of world religions, we will explore how Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Daoist and other traditions identify fundamental forms of suffering in life and the methods they present for healing suffering. The course will emphasize the role of stories in these traditions, both specific tales and legends that convey significant historic and symbolic meaning, and broader meta-narratives that provide a general ethos and worldview. Key questions we will address include:
Course materials will include readings from the scriptures of various traditions and secondary writings by contemporary scholars that examine these questions from various perspectives. The first block will introduce some theories about how stories (in both the specific and general senses noted) function to provide humans meaning, and will investigate stories about suffering mostly from Eastern traditions. The second block will focus primarily on stories about suffering from within Western traditions. A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together, with one instructor in each block; separate grades will be given for each block.
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Russian Russian: RS200/RU101 Blocks I and II Alexei Pavlenko and David Finley, RS200/RU101, Russian and Russian –American Relations Fulfills one unit of Social Science credit, one unit of Humanities; fulfilling one unit of Critical Perspectives:Diverse Cultures and Critiques, one unit of foreign language requirement. This course is an introduction to Russia through the study of the Russian language, literature, and film, as well as an introduction to the history of Russian-American relationship. The questions underlying our investigation are: What were the aspirations and fears on each side that drove the two nations into the Cold War confrontation? What were the cultural and political grounds of these aspirations and fears? And how have these popular sentiments been manifested in literature and film? What are the prospects for Russian-American relations in the second decade of the 21st century? In answering these questions, we will draw broadly on the humanities and social sciences to gain an insight both into Russia itself and its complex relationship with the USA. In our first block Professor Finley will explore "visions of order": images and perceptions of the other during 19th century historical parallels and contrasts, on to 20th century revolutions, two World Wars, crises of the Cold War, and eventual transformation of the Soviet Union—all legacies and prologue to the uncertain current era of our relationship. With the Cold War at the center of attention, we shall consider what led to it, its course and nature and consequences. We will examine how this confrontation expanded to engulf all international relations and left us many premises of today's challenges. We will rely on history and social sciences and also see some of their limits. Concurrently, Professor Pavlenko will introduce the class to the Russian language. Our second block will draw on language, literature and film to introduce American students to Russian culture in greater depth. What's to be done? Who is to blame? What is the Russian soul? These are the "cursed" questions over which the Russian writers, film directors, artists and intellectuals, intelligentsia, have been debating since the beginning of the 19th century. Why and how do these questions relate to us today? Russian culture has been perceived by the West as the Other and often simultaneously as a repository of the West's most cherished values. From Christianity to Marxism to post-modernism, Russian history and art has embodied crucial conflicts which characterize contemporary consciousness. In spite of the Bolshevik Revolution and Cold War, much of the European and American intellectual landscape has been shaped by Russian writers, film directors, artists and composers. Some of the most defining trends in 20th century European cultural history are inconceivable without Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Mayakovsky, Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, Nabokov and others. In this block we shall integrate study of the Russian language with the great tradition of Russian literature and film, on the premise that each discipline infuses and cross-fertilizes the other. Taken together, we hope the two blocks of our course will illuminate
an important intercultural relationship and also demonstrate how multiple
academic disciplines may be integrated to achieve a greater understanding. |
Sociology Sociology: SO100/SO235 Block I: Kathy Giuffre, SO100, Thinking Sociologically Block II: Gail Murphy-Geiss, SO235, Sociology of Family Families in Social Context The first block will explore sociological thinking in general, with a focus on understanding inequality. Basic theory, methods, and an introduction to the terminology and themes in the field will be covered, culminating in a final paper summarizing original student research involving data collection and sociological analysis. The second block will focus specifically on sociology of family, especially cutting edge issues of our time, such as same-sex marriage, surrogate motherhood/sperm & egg donation, and international adoption. There will also be significant attention to domestic violence. Assignments will include classic and contemporary readings, class debates over controversial issues, poster presentations on research topics of interest, as well as data collection in local family courts. A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together, with two instructors; separate grades will be given for each block.
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Southwest Studies Southwest Studies: SW175 Block I Anne Hyde, SW175, The Greater Southwest: An Introduction Block II: Eric Perramond, SW175, The Greater Southwest: An Introduction This course introduces students to our fascinating backyard by using diverse perspectives on the region's physical settings, histories and cultures. We will develop a set of interdisciplinary and intercultural approaches to answer important questions. How can we give context to current debates over immigration and the border? How can we both protect and use distinctive landscapes and cultures? How do water, altitude, and atmosphere shape the region? How does the past influence the present and future? Taught by a historian and a geographer, the course explores the complex place we call the Greater Southwest and the varied peoples who have lived, fought, traveled in, written, raised families, farmed, and survived there. We will examine the strands of culture, both indigenous and imported, that intertwine in this place beginning in the fifteenth century. The course asks how people have constructed and articulated a sense of place over time, and explores the implications of this for the relationships people develop between themselves, the environment, and others. The course will start with an examination of the deep past by looking at historical and anthropological records and the debates over whose voices get to define the region. We will then use a series of primary texts to examine the artistic and literary traditions of the region and assess the enduring impact of conquest. Our work will often consider the relationships between indigenous nations, the large Hispanic/Latino population in the region, and various Euro-American groups. Conflict, cooperation, and cultural blending among these groups, the various ways each group understands and affects landscape, and the ways in which land/nature has forged relationships within and between these groups are central concerns. The course includes an extended, off-campus, field component during Block 2 to a few significant sites. Students will do research, on issues of concern to the region, which they will include in a final 12-15 page essay. The course is a two-block course with a different instructor in each block; one grade will be given for the course as a whole.
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Studies in the Humanities
Studies in the Humanities: HS120
Block I: Re Evitt and Rebecca Tucker, HS 120, Form and Function in the Arts: Embodying the Renaissance Block II: Richard Hilt and Michael Grace, HS 120, The Worlds of Music and Science in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early Baroque The course as a whole meets Critical Perspectives: The West in Time (2 units).
During this block, we will examine the re-ordering of European culture through the lenses of literature and art from the 13th through 16th centuries. We will consider changing representations of the human body, sacred and profane, in both literary and visual texts as a means for exploring the authority of classical antiquity and the correlated functions of love and political power. We’ll examine how art and literature operated in the Renaissance: for patrons, for civic and religious institutions, and for different types of audiences. In literature, our readings will cover a range of genres important to the Renaissance. Selections include Plato (Symposium), Dante (Vita Nuova, Commedia), Petrarch (Rime Sparza), Chaucer (The Pardoner's Tale), The York Crucifixion [anon.], Ficino (Commentary on Plato’s Symposium), Machiavelli (The Prince, Mandragola), Castiglione (The Book of the Courtier), Shakespeare (Sonnets, Measure for Measure). In the visual arts, we will look at a variety of works from the period in Europe, with a focus on in-depth study of crucial paintings, sculpture, and architecture by artists ranging from Giotto, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, and Michelangelo to Dürer and Pieter Bruegel.
Block II -The Worlds of Music and Science in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early Baroque. The course will spend the second week of Block 2 at CC's Baca Campus in the San Louis Valley.
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, music was considered a “mathematical” art. Its principles were best understood through number, which served as link between music and the order of the universe which it sought to represent, or to “mirror.” On the other hand, music has always been an art in which composers and performers attempted to express human feelings and to move the hearts of their listeners without regard for number or mathematics. We will examine music from these two perspectives at important phases of its development, including 1) the Gothic Era of the 12th Century, 2) the era known as the Ars nova in the 13th Century (coincidentally the age of Giotto and Dante, 3) the emergence of Humanism in the 15th Century, 4) the High Renaissance and Mannerism in the 16th Century, and 5) finally the dawn of a modern world in the early Baroque. We will relate music to readings undertaken in the block, as well as art history studied in Block I. During each of these historical eras our scientific world view was also developing. In the middle of the 16th Century Copernicus argued that the Sun rather than the Earth was the center of the universe, and by the early 17th Century, Galileo used his telescope to see the moons of Jupiter, the mountains on our Moon, and Saturn’s “ears” (rings). The science we take for granted today was new and exciting (or threatening) then. We will explore some of the ways the “new science” influenced the literature and life of the Renaissance. During our week at the Baca Campus, we will see for ourselves astronomical phenomena that won Galileo a position at the Medici court and later led to his conflict with the church. Throughout the block, we will look for intersections between science, music, and literature. A two-block course with two instructors in each block; with separate grades given for each block.
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Biology/Psychology Block V: Ralph Bertrand, Science and Ethics of Biotechnology Block VI: Lori Driscoll, Science and Ethics of Biotechnology Readings and discussion of social, medical and ethical issues associated
with contemporary biotechnology. The course will cover basic concepts
in genetics, neuroscience, and cell biology with discussion on the current
and future impacts of biotechnology. Students will improve their critical
thinking, presentation, and writing skills through writing exercises,
individual and group workshops, and hands-on data collection and analysis.
General Studies:GS101 Blocks V & VI: Tonja Olive (Feminist &
Gender Studies), GS101, Freedom & Authority "Freedom and Authority" was the first interdisciplinary course at Colorado College and has been taught here for over 40 years. It is a two-block course focusing on the conflict between individual freedom and the limits imposed on this freedom by the state and its laws, by religious institutions and scriptures, and by attitudes of the society in which we live. As an interdisciplinary course, it studies literary, philosophical, religious, historical, and scientific texts in a thematic context. It focuses on four main themes: personal authority, social authority, political authority, and religious authority. Behind all of these themes are questions such as: What constitutes personal identity? What are the sources of our individual values and commitments? How much of what we are can be traced to ethnic and cultural background? What should one do when conscience and laws conflict? How does the individual relate to the group? How do authority and power work to constrain and mold individuals? How do sources of authority legitimate themselves? Through reading, writing, discussion, and critical thinking we will grapple with these and other questions surrounding the human condition. A two-block course taught by a single instructor; one grade will
be given for the course as a whole. History: HY131 Blocks V & VI: Jane Murphy, HY130 Civilization in the Middle East As the Cold War came to an end, political scientist Samuel Huntington
foresaw a Clash of Civilizations, positing an Islamic Civilization in
conflict with Western ideals. Was he hauntingly prescient or did he misdiagnose
the current conflict and its longer history? Can we make historical sense
of struggles that are all too often presented as timeless? As we move
through the pre-Islamic period and the emergence of Islam in the seventh
century, to the height of Ottoman power in the sixteenth century, and
the global problems of modernity, we’ll work together for some answers.
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The Point System for Bidding on Courses at Pre-registration Students pre-register for the following year's courses during the Spring semester. Each student receives 10 points per block and a total of 80 points to bid on their courses during pre-registration. Every student has the same number of points to work with. This allows every student to have the same chance to bid on a course. If the number of points bid on a course does not lead to the enrollment of the student in the class, the student will be placed on the waiting list for the class. Things to remember about the point system and pre-registration:
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