Course Descriptions
The listing below displays the First-Year Colloquia that are proposed to be offered in Academic Year 2008-2009. The two academic disciplines combined in each colloquium are given below the course title.
FYEC 113-114 - Identity: Me, Myself, and I; We, You, and Them – In this course students will examine the nature of theatre and acting and study the psychology of the self in social contexts. Students will survey dramatic literature, explore mask work, perform scenes, and study how individuals think about, influence, and relate to one another. In a culminating project, the students will be challenged to come to terms with the origins and nature of identity. Professor Joe Mattys, Department of the Arts (Theater) and Professor Klaaren, Department of Psychology. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirements met: one drama course under Art and Literature area and one psychology course under the Social Sciences area.
FYEC 155-156 -The Great Epic Drama of the 20th Century: Connections between History and Theatre - This course examines the connections and intersections of the disciplines of History and Theatre as vehicles for understanding the most dramatic historical events, issues and personalities of America from 1898 until 2001. The twentieth century is defined as the period from the Great Exposition in Chicago in 1898, which showcased technology and promoted significant change in many facets of American life and culture, to the defining moment of the events of September 11, 2001. It is in this 103 year period that the nation’s character experienced major transformations which fundamentally altered every aspect of American life and the nation’s sense of itself and its place in the “global village.” The major culminating exercise will be a series of staged readings (with music and costumes, if possible) selected from the dramatic works that we have examined during the year. In addition, we will hold a “Talk Back.” The campus community and the general public will be invited to these activities. Several students will present synopses of the major historical events of the twentieth century. We will also have the entire body engage in a spirited question and answer session and debate. Professor Marilyn Mattys, Department of Fine Arts, and Professor Jefferson, Department of History. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirement met: one history course under the Civilizations area and one drama course under the Arts and Literature area.
FYEC 159-160 - The Stranger - Friend or foe? How do you know? Human beings have always lived in groups based on cooperation and mutual aid. Yet they are also strongly inclined to draw lines around their own groups and to treat those on the other side differently. Why? While in-group and out-group labels are often based on categories such as ethnicity, nationality, or socio-economic class, they are often arbitrary, and change from place to place and time to time. This FYE will examine the historical and cultural context in which categories of Us v. Them, Self and Other, Citizen and Foreigner take shape. Relying on cultural comparisons and literary texts, we will explore how friends and strangers are defined and how they are (mis) treated based on those definitions. Examining historical processes such as colonialism, we will discuss how different peoples have come into contact and the clashes, oppressions, and accommodations that have resulted. Taking a contemporary view of globalization, we will explore how the economic, political, and cultural shrinking of our world shapes cross-cultural (mis) understanding. Along the way, we will grapple with challenging questions about power and prejudice, war and peace, and the capacity of the human race to create a more harmonious world. Specific issues will include: immigration, racism, and human rights. Professor London, Department of Sociology, and Professor Hilliard, Department of Romance Languages. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirements met: one sociology course under the Social Sciences area and one literature course under the Arts and Literature area.
FYEC 169-170 - Gauging the Randolph-Macon Footprint: Steps toward Environmental Sustainability. Recently the architectural term “footprint” has been used to describe the environmental impact of human activities on natural ecological systems. Determining such a footprint is carried out by converting estimates of resource consumption and waste generation into a footprint area in square meters or square miles. Academic enterprises such as Randolph-Macon College offer a useful laboratory for investigating the footprint of a somewhat self-contained human institution, and offer students the opportunity to explore their collective and individual footprints on their own environment. In this course over both fall and spring terms, students will investigate the sources of the Randolph-Macon ecological footprint, estimate the magnitudes of the contributions from each of these sources to the footprint, and develop a reasonable plan to reduce the footprint. In doing so, students will also assist the College in developing a workable campus-wide environmental management system. May be used as an EVST course towards the natural science laboratory requirement, and counts on the EVST major as a substitute for EVST 105. 4 hours each semester. Professor Dunkel, Department of Sociology, and Professor Moores, Department of Chemistry. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirements met: one sociology course under the Social Sciences area and one natural science course with lab under the Natural and Mathematical Science area.
FYEC 171-172 - Foretelling and Forecasting Your Future: Prophetic Inspiration vs. the Dismal Science - Everyone has a History course in college but not everyone gets a Future course. Why not? History is very important but it seems that the Future might matter as well. But how does it matter and why does it matter? What will it look like? Our course on the Future of things will attempt to get at just these questions from two very different starting points – Economics and Literature. The dismal science, Economics, will begin with some mechanics on mathematical and economic forecasting, primarily using linear regression and excel spreadsheet trend lines. Once we have a foundation in basic forecasting, we will move on to examine a wide range of literatures which attempt to forecast all sorts of human behavior. The range will include world demographic trends, stock market returns, the future of social security and Medicare, education attainment, technological innovation, Virginia and U.S. budget and economic trends, your retirement accounts at various interest rates and of course, the Presidential winner in 2008 and the likely policy implications of such a win. Now all of this might be exciting but it could also be depressing, especially after you see your retirement projections. So in order to balance the course a bit, we also offer more creative accounts of the future as well. Utopia and Dystopia, promise and admonition, potential and disillusion—these are all the stuff of prophecy and the subject of some of our greatest works of art and literature. Artists as different as Sir Phillip Sidney and Percy Bysshe Shelley tell us that art is meant to tell us not how things are, but how they could be. Jeremiah (the Prophet) and George Orwell warn us of the dire consequences of our actions—or our failures to act. We will explore the specifically didactic and persuasive features of prophetic writing and consider the way humanity continues to blunt our anxiety about the unknown by contending to know it. Welcome to the future. Professor Scott, Department of English, and Professor Brat, Department of Economics and Business. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirement met: one economics course in the Social Science area, and one literature course under the Arts and Literature area.
FYEC 173-174 - The Sound of Numbers - This course is dedicated to the dynamic relationship between music and mathematics. The course is open to all freshmen regardless of musical or mathematical background. In this FYE, we will explore these two disciplines through five overarching themes: perception (math, music, and the brain), number (pitch and frequency), pattern (rhythms and permutations), symmetry (phrasing, tuning, and group theory) and variation (chance music and probability). In the mathematics portion of the course, students will learn about periodic functions, permutations and combinations, modular arithmetic, group theoretic topics related to the symmetries of regular shapes, probability and fractals. They will learn how these mathematical concepts arise naturally in music and use them to describe, analyze and compose music. In the music portion of this course, students will learn basic music theory, as well as the listening skills necessary to interpret music of varying origins and time periods. We will study how math relates to the musical concepts of pitch, rhythm, meter, timbre, and form. Through critical listening and simple music composition, students will also explore how sound and numbers intersect in the creative process. Professor Doering, Arts Department, and Professor Bhattacharya, Mathematics Department. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirements met: one mathematics course under the Natural and Mathematical Science area, and one arts course under the Arts and Literature area.
FYEC 175-176 - How’d they do that? Chemistry and Technology in Early Art - Students will explore the co-evolution of chemical technology and art in various cultures of the world from the Paleolithic through the early Renaissance. Students will learn not only what art was created by ancient peoples throughout the world, but also how it was created. The focus will be on seeing how technological innovation and intellectual creativity were instrumental in the making of art and at the same time were celebrated through works of art. In the Arts portion of the course, illustrated lectures will be enhanced by “hands-on” creative projects, selected readings, videos, and museum visits. In the science portion students will re-create ancient techniques in the laboratory and rationalize the experiments with a modern, scientific understanding of the chemistry. Experiments will include making fire, making charcoal, flaking arrowheads, spinning fibers, molding plaster, firing ceramics, brewing mead, extracting potash, smelting copper, manufacturing glass, dying fabrics, pressing paper, preparing inks, making soap, distilling alcohol, and painting frescos. Professor Fisher, Classics and Arts Departments, and Professor Thoburn, Chemistry Department. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirements met: one natural science with lab course under the Natural and Mathematical Science area, and one arts course under the Arts and Literature area. Cross-area requirement met: one course in Western culture.
FYEC 177-178 - Three Gorges Dam -China's Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric project in the world, bringing electricity to a growing economy, opening central China to navigation, and providing flood control for millions of people downstream. However, it requires millions of Chinese to leave ancestral homes, submerges important cultural sites, and disrupts the ecology of the longest river in Asia. Is the dam worth the cost? In this course we will examine how the people and the fish of the Three Gorges area lived before the dam, and the changes the dam brings. We will look for connections between the people and the fish and will consider what is gained, lost, and retained as the reservoir fills and the river is changed forever. The course will culminate with a project that assimilates this information to answer the question, “What are the parallels between what is happening to the fish and what is happening to the people, and what does this teach us about our own, industrialized lives?” Professor Gowan, Environmental Studies Program, and Professor Huff, Department of Philosophy. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirements met: natural science course with lab under the Natural and Mathematical Science area, and one Philosophy course under the Civilizations area. Cross-area requirement met: one course in non-Western culture.
FYEC 179-180 - Physics and Economics of Sport – Should public funds be used to subsidize sports stadiums? Why are salaries for pro athletes so high? Should monopolistic sports leagues be exempt from anti-trust laws? Modern professional sports are a complex mix of physics and economics. Students in these courses will be introduced to principles of microeconomics in the context of popular sports, including the supply and demand model, labor market theory, the theory of market structures, and public choice theory. These principles will be applied to a variety of social issues that arise from the prominence of sports in our culture. Students will also study the underlying principles of science that influence various physical games and sports. Units intended include timing, distance relationships, material science influencing equipment possibilities, strategies, and limitations on achievement by participants and officials. Professor Lang, Department of Economics, and Professor Franz, Department of Physics. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirements met: natural science course with lab under the Natural and Mathematical Science area, and one Social Science course in Economics.
FYEC 181-182- Coming to Life - Animals develop from a fertilized egg to adults in a carefully-controlled program unique to each species. How do individual cells and groups of cells grow, differentiate and acquire the complexity of an adult? Are there basic rules of cell-cell interactions and movements that govern the more complex patterns of adults? A better understanding of these rules could contribute to our understanding of birth defects and could provide useful insights towards the use of stem cells in regenerative medicine. Interestingly, computer scientists have been able to use basic software like NetLogo and StarLogo to develop models that help identify and define some of the basic decisions cells make as an organism develops greater complexity. In this class students will learn to manipulate a computer modeling tool to test their ideas as they work on projects to understand the basic decisions cells make along the way from a simple fertilized egg to a complex adult. Professor Rabung, Computer Science Department, and Professor Foster, Biology Department. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirements met: one computer science course without lab under the Natural and Mathematical Science area, and one natural science course with lab under the Natural and Mathematical Science area. Cross-area requirement met: one computer course.
FYEC 183-184 – Medieval Muses – Literature and art in the Middle Ages form a busy intersection for a host of human preoccupations: love, adventure, war, family life, commerce, the natural world of plants and animals, politics, philosophy, religion, and beauty, to name some medieval concerns that have persisted into the twenty-first century. Medieval Muses will explore this intersection. The literature course will focus on the romance, a popular and flexible form in the Middle Ages both for both Arthurian and classical legends.
The art history course will explore certain themes that were central to the experiences of peoples in Europe and the Byzantine Empire from the 4th to the 13th century. By analyzing the visual evidence in the high arts of painting, sculpture and architecture, as well as the lesser media of manuscript illumination, stained glass design and embroidery, we will venture to understand the impact of saints and devils in daily life and afterlife, the education and social position of men and women, the function of rulers, priests and the church, the lives of the rich and famous, but also of everyday peoples, all of whom contributed to the remarkably diverse expression of the Middle Ages. Primary and secondary texts will be central to our investigations as they provide us most valuable context through which we can reconstruct fully the period.
Professor Goodwin, Literature and Professor Terrono, Art History
FYEC 185-186 - Madness, Death, Action! On-Stage and Off –
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts…
—Wm Shakespeare, Jaques in AS YOU LIKE IT, Act 2, Sc.7
Every performance, if it is intelligible as such, embeds features of previous performances: gender conventions, racial histories, aesthetic traditions—political and cultural pressures that are consciously and unconsciously acknowledged. Whether the performance of one’s gender on a city-street, an orientalist impersonation in a Parisian salon, or a corporation-subsidized, "mediatized" Broadway show, each performance marks out a unique temporal space that nevertheless contains traces of other now-absent performances, other now-disappeared scenes. Which is to say. . .it is impossible to write the pleasurable embodiments we call performance without tangling with the cultural stories and political contestations that comprise our sense of history.
—Elin Diamond, Performance and Cultural Politics
This course will examine theatrical representations and sociological explanations of personal crisis and/or relationships through reading about and watching scripted and unscripted social life both on and off stage. By analyzing action and interaction from a theatrical point of view, we will learn about theme and purpose; additionally, from the point of view of a sociologist, we’ll get a sociological overview of contemporary social issues related to problems of living in society. Along the way we’ll discuss the social structures in which theatrical works are created and interpreted, considering both historical and contemporary perspectives while also looking at basic theatrical practice and the responsibilities of theatrical collaborators. How, for example, could a scenic designer imagine an environment to support “madness and death,” or how might a costume communicate crisis? In what social and cultural context is madness manifested or is death negotiated? We’ll find out that crises, such as death and madness, are socially constructed and negotiated both on and off stage.
This course will incorporate lectures, group discussions and activities, and audio-visual materials through an emphasis on critical thinking and communication skills. Active participation in class discussion and activities is expected. The out of class assignments for this course are designed to give students an understanding that performance is a reflection of culture and many of the social issues and problems in living being discussed in the class are currently, or have been, the themes of visual and performance art. The field trips/excursions will help improve their observation and analytical skills as well as give them the opportunity to make a connection between theory and their experience.
By the end of the course, students should have:
1) An understanding of sociological perspectives of problems of living in society.
2) An understanding of the nature and impact of social relationships on the individual.
3) Recognition of developmental stages and social change.
4) A familiarity with the nature of crisis and loss, from individual and societal perspectives.
5) An understanding of the role of formal and informal social control.
6) explored the causes and consequences of social adversity.
7) explored dramatic structure and its relationship to communicating theme.
8) Connected character and action in their relationship to theme.
9) gained an understanding of theatre as a collaborative art and an appreciation of the jobs of various artists and technicians who contribute to it.
Professor Gill, Sociology Department, and Professor Hillmar, Theatre Arts Department. Four hours each semester. Area of Knowledge requirement met: one Sociology course in the Social Sciences area, and one Drama course under Arts and Literature Area.