Courses in this cluster examine the complex relationship between humans and non-human organisms, including plants and animals with emphasis on the ecological, ethical, social, and cultural dimensions of interspecies relationships.

Associated Course Pairings:

Course Descriptions

CC103: Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Diseases

Instructor: David Brown
Learning Across the Liberal Arts Designation: Formal Reasoning & Logic
CRN# 15380
Block: 1

Mathematical models have been used to explain, predict, and control the dynamics of infectious diseases for nearly a century. Beginning with early attempts to explain cholera outbreaks, mathematical epidemiology grew rapidly during the global spread of HIV in the 1980s. In 2020, the spread of novel coronavirus made phrases like "basic reproductive number" and "SIR modeling" part of our everyday discourse. This class will explore the construction, analysis, and application of mathematical models of infectious diseases. We will study the relationships between model assumptions and conclusions and learn about what mathematical models can and cannot tell us about the spread of infectious diseases, and about the course of an infection within an individual.

CC120: History of Medicine: 1500-Present

Instructor: Jane Murphy
CRN# 15381
Block: 2

Beginning with conceptions of the body, health and medicine from the sixteenth century Mediterranean world, this course explores changing medical practices in historical contexts. What constituted medicine and who had medical authority? What role did exploration and colonization play in the economic and intellectual development of medical practices? How might we think about our own moment in conjunction with the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic? We’ll share our findings and collectively work to develop research questions and techniques for future study in this field. In so doing, we will critically engage ethical dimensions of the study and uses of medicine and history. In this writing course, we will use the history of medicine to practice and reflect on the role of reading, drafting, revision—that is to say, all the elements of writing—in developing our own thinking and understanding and also communicating effectively to an audience. Your engagement and reflection on this process is a vital component of the course.

Some local half-day field trips.

CC104: The Animal-Human Boundary

Instructor: Carol Neel
Learning Across the Liberal Arts Designation: Historical Perspectives
CRN# 15382
Block: 1

This course will explore the relationships between people and animals across time. Among readings will be Pliny's *Natural History* (first century C.E.) and CC alumna Donna Haraway's *The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness." Discussion and writing assignments will focus on historical and contemporary understandings of how animals lends insight into human nature, behaviors, and relationships. Although the course will emphasize classical Mediterranean and European traditions, a major group project will address the tenth-century Muslim *Animals' Lawsuit against Humanity* with the medieval Christian bestiary tradition as exemplified in the *Aberdeen Bestiary*, an online digitized manuscript. Students in this course will visit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo as part of final consideration of the role of zoos in constructing the animal-human boundary.

There will be two afternoon films and one morning/early afternoon field trip.

CC120: Primate Narratives & Multispecies Ethnographies

Instructor: Krista Fish
CRN# 15424
Block: 2

Primatology, a specialty within biological anthropology, has a rich history of storytelling. From documentaries that highlight the challenges of surviving in a rainforest to books such as Jane Goodall's earliest account of her research with chimpanzees, many people have gained an understanding of our close relatives through narrative. Students will explore primate narratives that are presented in documentaries, books written for the general public, and the scientific literature. In addition to comparing differences in storytelling between these different narrative formats, we will also examine "multispecies ethnographies", an emerging line of inquiry from cultural anthropology. Students will investigate how these different ways of studying and interacting with nonhumans add to our understanding of ourselves and the world that we inhabit.

1-2 field trips to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

CC105: Nutrition's Role in the Pursuit of Health

Instructor: Eryn Murphy
Learning Across the Liberal Arts Designation: Scientific Analysis
CRN# 15383
Block: 1

Nutrition is unique in that we have been consuming nutrients for our entire lives- we all come to this course with varying beliefs, experiences, and backgrounds in the field. Students will be guided through the current nutritional literature in the process of becoming a critical consumer of nutrition information. Emphasizing an exploration of the current literature investigating the links between nutrition and the spectrum of physical and mental health, students will build the skills necessary to interpret the research and reflect on the application of the findings to their lives.

CC120: Primate Narratives & Multispecies Ethnographies

Instructor: Krista Fish
CRN# 15425
Block: 4

Primatology, a specialty within biological anthropology, has a rich history of storytelling. From documentaries that highlight the challenges of surviving in a rainforest to books such as Jane Goodall's earliest account of her research with chimpanzees, many people have gained an understanding of our close relatives through narrative. Students will explore primate narratives that are presented in documentaries, books written for the general public, and the scientific literature. In addition to comparing differences in storytelling between these different narrative formats, we will also examine "multispecies ethnographies", an emerging line of inquiry from cultural anthropology. Students will investigate how these different ways of studying and interacting with nonhumans add to our understanding of ourselves and the world that we inhabit.

1-2 field trips to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

CC105: Plants & People

Instructor: Shane Heschel
Learning Across the Liberal Arts Designation: Scientific Analysis
CRN# 15384
Block: 1

Plant biology or botany is the study of how a plant functions and how a plant interacts with, and persists in its environment. A subfield of botany is agriculture and is the study of how plants can be bred to optimize yield, in other words how a plant species’ physiology can be altered to improve the plant as a crop. During the next 3 1/2 weeks, you will have the opportunity to: 1) learn basic concepts and principles of plant biology and physiology 2) learn basic concepts and principles of plant breeding and agriculture 3) learn about the history of agriculture as it pertains to plants 4) view agricultural issues from an evolutionary and conservation perspective.

Field trips to a hydroponics farming operation in Pueblo and to the Denver Botanic Gardens.

CC120: Sport, Media, and Society

Instructor: Taylor Nygaard
CRN# 15385
Block: 4

This course examines the ways in which discourse surrounding sports influences culture, politics, and identity. Using the tools of media and cultural studies students analyze the discourses surrounding topics such as the rhetorical construction of the athlete, sporting events, athletes as racialized and gendered bodies, the commodification of the athlete, athletes and activism, as well as fandom and identification. This isn’t a class about the rules or the appreciation of sport. It’s about how sport is commemorated, how its heroes and villains are constructed and represented, and most importantly what that tells us about how contemporary popular culture values different racial, gendered, and class identities. The aim of the course overall is to introduce students to the kinds of questions scholars ask in studying sport and to enable students to improve their writing by learning to assess and analyze sources more carefully, and to position their own perspective among others in a way that is informed, critical, and civil.

Optional afternoon group screenings.