PLEASE READ AND REVIEW ALL INFORMATION IN THIS PACKET PRIOR TO ORIENTATION AND BRING IT WITH YOU WHEN YOU COME!
Table of Contents 1
Welcome from the Director 2
Plan II Orientation Schedule 3
Pay Your Fee Bill 4
Placement Test Credit 5
Dual Majors and Degrees 6
The Plan II Degree 7 • Plan II Curriculum 8 – 9 • Plan II Four-Year Guide 10 • Plan II Sample Four-Year Plan 11
First-Year Course Descriptions 12 • World Literature 13 – 23 • First-Year Signature Course 24 – 35 • Logic/Modes of Reasoning 36 – 38 • Plan II Biology 39 – 40 • Plan II Math 41 – 42
1 ! !!!PLAN II HONORS PROGRAM THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
1 University Station G3600 • Austin, Texas 78712-0569 (512) 471-1442 • FAX (512) 471-7449 • http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/
! May 31, 2013 Dear incoming Plan II student,
We are looking forward to meeting you at Orientation this summer and to working with you during your time in Plan II. Academic advising is especially important in Plan II, embracing not only your course and degree planning but also broader questions about your life at the university and beyond. At the Plan II meeting on day one of orientation you will meet the Plan II Academic Advisors, Mary Dillman and Melissa Ossian. They will work closely with you to plan your first semester, assisted by orientation advisers (OAs) who know Plan II well from the inside.
In this packet we are sending important materials to answer some of your questions, and to get you thinking about others:
• Orientation schedule and important information, including the schedule of Plan II orientation events, tuition payment deadlines, and placement testing information.
• Curriculum and course information, including the Plan II Bachelor of Arts four-year guide and descriptions of the Plan II first-year courses. Read through these course descriptions and consider your World Literature and First-Year Signature Course options carefully.
• Worthington Essay Contest for 2013: Each year Plan II holds an essay contest for the Worthington Prize - grand prize $2500! First-year students are eligible for the grand prize, and there is an additional prize designated for a first-year student. Stay tuned for more information about this year's essay topic. We hope you will participate.
Also included in your mailing is a packet from the officers of the Plan II Students’ Association (P2SA), a group I hope you will become active in. P2SA hosts many important events throughout the year, and will kick off the fall semester with the Voltaire’s Coffees series. Start reading now! We will post the schedule for the Voltaire’s Coffees on the Plan II web site by the end of July. You also want to mark your calendars for two important fall events: Plan II Convocation on September 3 and the Freshmen Getaway on September 6. Convocation is required for academic reasons and Getaway will launch you into the Plan II social world. The registration form for Getaway is included in the P2SA packet.
Lastly, be sure to have bookmarked the “current students” section of the Plan II web site, as it should now become your go-to source for information about academics and upcoming events.
With all best wishes for a fine summer and a splendid future in Plan II,
Alexandra K. Wettlaufer Acting Director
2 Plan II Orientation Schedule for Students in Orientation Sessions beginning June 5, 10, 17, 24, July 1, 8*
Day 1: Check-In and Welcome Breakfast (mandatory) 8 - 8:30 am in the Plan II Office, CLA 2.102 Meet Plan II faculty, staff, and fellow students while you enjoy breakfast. Please pick up your Orientation packet and nametag in Jester as soon as you arrive - check in opens at 7:30 am. Once you are checked-in there, immediately walk over to the Plan II office at CLA 2.102 (Note: the breakfast and following meeting is for students only – no parents! Plan II staff will meet with parents at 11 a.m.).
Day 1: Departmental Meeting (mandatory) 8:30 – 10:30 am Presentation and discussion of the following with the Plan II Academic Advisors and Orientation Advisors: • The Plan II curriculum and degree requirements • What Plan II students take during the first year • Credit by exam & important university resources • Plan II Course Lottery: Read through the course descriptions in this packet ahead of time and bring it with you to orientation. Select your top five professor preferences for World Literature (E/T C 603) and the Signature Courses (T C 302). Students who miss this meeting will be assigned a World Literature and Signature Course based on availability.
Day 2: Academic Advising in the Plan II office (mandatory) Each student will have an individual academic advising session with a Plan II Advisor and Orientation Advisor on Day 2. Students will be given instructions for signing up for an appointment time at the end of Day 1. Students who miss academic advising will have a bar that prevents them from registering.
Day 3: Registration (mandatory) Each student will have an assigned registration time the morning of Day 3, and should plan to register for classes at the registration location designated in the UT orientation program (do not register in the Plan II office, where there will be no Orientation Advisors available to help).
* Students coming to the August orientation will have the schedule of meetings and locations emailed to them just prior to orientation.
Important Dates to Remember: • Tuition and fee payment due by 5 pm, Wednesday, August 14 • Fall classes begin Wednesday, August 28 • No classes September 2 (Labor Day) • Freshman Convocation, evening of Tuesday, September 3. Attendance required. • Freshman Getaway Friday, September 6! Details & registration form in P2SA packet.
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this is so important we devote an entire page to it...
For students in the June and July orientation sessions:
Fee bills will be sent electronically on July 23rd to the email address listed on your student record. If you do not receive an electronic notification by the first of August, call the Office of the Registrar, (512) 475-7675.
There are three ways to pay: - On-line via "My Tuition Bill" on UT Direct - In person: Cashier's Office in Main Room - By mail: University of Texas at Austin, Student Accounts Receivable, P.O. Box 7398, Austin, TX 78713-7398
Fee bill payment is due by 5 p.m. on August 14th. This is not a postmark date. UT must receive the payment on August 14th, 5 pm CDT.
You will be dropped from all of your classes and required to re-register in late August if the fee bill is not paid by August 14th, 5 pm CDT.
For students in the August orientation session:
Fee bills will not be e-mailed. Payment is due by 5 p.m. on August 27th. This is not a postmark date. UT must receive the payment on August 27th, 5 pm CDT.
You will be dropped from all of your classes and required to re-register on the first day of classes if the fee bill is not paid by August 27th, 5 pm CDT.
4 Placement Test Credit & the Plan II Degree
With the appropriate score (as listed on The Center for Teaching and Learning: Student Testing Services web site) some AP, IB, and SAT II tests can be used for credit towards the Plan II degree. Complete information regarding credit-by-exam scores accepted by UT Austin is available at: http://ctl.utexas.edu/studenttesting/welcome-to-student-testing-services/
AP English, any test, and SAT II Writing These do not fulfill any Plan II degree requirements, even elective credit hours. With the appropriate score, you can still claim credit for RHE 306 and/or E 316K. If you do, the credit hours may be used towards your class standing and registration time, but not your degree.
AP Biology If you earn a 5 on the AP Exam in Biology, you can be exempt from Plan II Biology (BIO 301E) with credit for both BIO 311C and BIO 311D.
AP Art History If you earn a 5 on the AP Exam in Art History, you earn credit for ARH 302 or ARH 303, which can complete either the Humanities/Fine Arts requirement for Plan II or the University Core Visual & Performing Arts requirement (but not both).
SAT II Math If you score high enough to earn credit for Math 305G (pre-calculus), it can count toward the total 18 hours of required math and science, but it does not satisfy the Plan II Math requirement.
AP Calculus The appropriate score on an AP Calculus exam can earn you credit for M 408C or M 408K & M 408L, depending on the specific exam and score. To finish your Plan II math requirement, you may take one more semester of calculus, or take the Plan II math course.
AP Chemistry or Physics, SAT II Physics Any credits earned through these exams may be used towards the total 18 hours of required math and science and the 6 hours from one science subject requirement.
AP European History The appropriate score on this exam can earn credit for HIS 309K and HIS 309L, which fulfills the Plan II non-US History requirement. AP World History credit will not fulfill the non-US History requirement and counts as elective hours only.
In addition, students may wish to take other placement tests for foreign language, American History, Government, or other common degree requirements. Some of these exams can be taken during orientation; all can be taken in the fall once on campus.
Remember, an advisor will answer any specific questions you have about your test scores at Orientation.
5 Plan II Students and Their Majors A Message from the Director
All Plan II students major in Plan II, but many have interests that range beyond our core curriculum. In some cases, these interests carry students into double majors or a second degree. You do not need an additional major for most career choices; being “Purely Plan II” allows you incredible flexibility to craft your education as you see fit. In addition, pre-med, pre-law, and pre-business students do very well with straight Plan II degrees. We do not advise you to encumber yourself with a large number of majors.
In a recent graduating class, approximately 35% of students were in dual degree programs — that is, they earned a BA in Plan II while simultaneously earning a second degree such as a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor in Business Administration. Of the remaining, 40% double- majored in Plan II and another Bachelor of Arts major such as History or Spanish, while about 25% were straight Plan II majors, all of them having done well in graduate school admissions or in the search for entry-level jobs.
If you have already been admitted to a college other than Liberal Arts, you should read the message below. If you have not been admitted to another college but would like to go this route, speak with an advisor. If you have doubts about the road you are taking, see an advisor. Rest assured you can (and most likely will) change your mind about second majors during the course of your college career. We tell most students to stay on that road for at least a year before making a decision to drop one major or another.
How to Register for Dual Degrees
As a Plan II first-year student, you will be able to be registered in two colleges or to declare two majors at the same time. During orientation, however, you will have only one major and one college listed. If you plan to register in two different colleges, you are a dual degree student and need to read this message.
If Plan II is your only major, you are in the College of Liberal Arts. If you have been admitted to another college (such as Business), that will be the only college and major listed for you during orientation. At orientation, a Plan II Advisor will help you complete the paperwork to be officially registered in two colleges. We will submit the paperwork to the Registrar and the update will be official by the twelfth class day in the Fall semester. A Plan II Advisor will also assist you should you have any trouble registering for Plan II classes.
Students admitted to the College of Undergraduate Studies will complete paperwork at Orientation to change them into the College of Liberal Arts, which will be official by the twelfth class day in the Fall semester. Plan II Academic Advisors will assist these students with registration for Plan II classes during Orientation.
This system of simultaneous major coding is fairly new at UT, and there may be some confusion about it in other colleges. If you have any questions about information you receive from other colleges or departments concerning this, please check with Plan II for clarification.
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PLAN
II The Plan II Curriculum
Established in 1935, Plan II is a challenging interdisciplinary honors major with a required core curriculum that includes the study of literature, philosophy, society, the arts, math and the natural sciences. Plan II courses are offered through multiple departments (such as English, Philosophy, History, and the sciences). "T C" (Tutorial Course) and "S S" (Social Science) are the course designations for Plan II's unique course offerings.
Composition & Reading in World Literature (E/T C 603 A&B) This year-long course is required of all Plan II first-year students and is of central importance in the curriculum. Students may not place out of this course. The course begins with classical literature, including epic, and moves in the second semester to modern literature and usually includes contemporary works. The course aims to provide a common background in literature, to develop critical reading skills, and to improve writing. It is conducted as a seminar, with emphasis on discussion, and is a writing-intensive course.
First-Year Signature Course (T C 302) All freshmen take a first-year signature course, either in the fall or spring. These are small seminar courses that emphasize discussion, critical thinking, and writing on interdisciplinary topics of contemporary importance. Plan II selects distinguished faculty from across the campus to teach these courses. Recent seminar topics include "Pathways to Civic Engagement," "Art, Sport & the Meaning of Life," and "Science & Religion in America."
Logic/Modes of Reasoning (PHL 313Q/T C 310) The Logic or Modes of Reasoning requirement is typically taken during the first semester and introduces students to the use of formal systems for representing arguments. Logic normally covers proofs in predicate calculus and includes some work in inductive logic or defensible reasoning. Modes of Reasoning topics can vary and has included courses on the use of statistics in science or social science and research methods across academic disciplines.
Philosophy: Problems of Knowledge and Valuation (PHL 610QA&B) This year-long course is taken in the second year. Using ancient and modern texts, students consider problems in ethics, political theory, metaphysics, and epistemology. Students will be encouraged to think for themselves, both about ethical matters and about more abstract issues.
Plan II Social Science (S S 301) This course is offered under several disciplines and is usually taken the second or third year, in either spring or fall. The content involves contemporary social issues, and students may select from topics such as economics, anthropology, psychology, or social science theory.
8 Non-U.S. History Two courses in the same geographical area are required. Many elect to take a Western Civilization sequence which is designed for Plan II students, but students are free to take history sequences from other non-U.S. geographic areas (e.g., Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East). A list of approved courses for each area can be found in the "Advising" section of the Plan II website.
Plan II Math (M 310P) Plan II Mathematics generally covers basic concepts of mathematics beyond the level of applying algorithms to solve problems, as in high school. The aim of the course is to let students feel the excitement of what mathematicians actually do in areas of research such as topology. It is typically taken during the spring semester of the first or second year.
Plan II Biology (BIO 301E) Plan II Biology explores current issues in molecular genetics and biotechnology, basic principles of evolution as revealed by plant and animal studies, and ecological issues such as human population growth and environmental degradation. It can be taken during any semester.
Plan II Physics (PHY 321) Plan II Physics covers the most important concepts of post-Newtonian physics, quantum theory and relativity. The content of the course is chosen to give students a science-based understanding of the triumphs of modern physics, as well as to hone their problem-solving skills from basic Fermi problems to fairly advanced questions about space travel. The course is typically taken during the junior year.
Humanities/Fine Arts A course in one of the following is required: art history, music history, or theatre and dance history; or an upper-division course in one of the following areas: classical civilization, literature, humanities or philosophy. In addition, all students must take a course in the visual and performing arts as required by the University core curriculum. A list of approved courses can be found in the "Advising" section of the Plan II website.
Junior Seminars (T C 357) Plan II students take two seminars in the junior year. Similar in format and approach to the first-year signature course, the junior seminars require term papers, oral presentations, and will prepare students for the research and writing they will undertake in their senior thesis project. Recent seminar topics include "The Veil: History, Culture & Politics," "Law, Ethics & Brain Policy," "Technical Change & Financial Crisis," and "Shakespeare in Performance."
Senior Thesis (T C 660HA&B) This year-long project is the capstone of the Plan II curriculum. The senior thesis represents significant research or creativity, providing students with highly specialized expertise in a topic of their choosing. Students work closely with two faculty supervisors to produce a roughly 60-page thesis. Senior thesis topics are often interdisciplinary and can be creative or traditional academic treatises. Students are also required to give an oral presentation about their thesis research at the bi-annual Thesis Symposium.
9 Plan II BA Guide, 2012-14 FLEXIBLE Core Curriculum Requirements REQUIREMENTS
These courses may be fulfilled These courses are restricted to Plan II Honors students only and have been during any semester, using approved by the Plan II Honors Advisory Council. concurrent enrollment, summer school (at UT or at another With few exceptions, these courses are taken during the semester and year institution), or AP, SAT II, IB or noted below and may not be fulfilled using other courses or test credits. CLEP test credits.
FALL SPRING Plan II Core Requirements First Year Biology 301E4 Math 310P (spring) 4 1 E/T C 603A World Literature E/T C 603B World Literature Social Science (S S) 301 3 T C 302 First-Year Signature Humanities/Fine Arts 3 Course (Fall or Spring) Non-U.S. History 3 Logic OR Modes of Reasoning Non-U.S. History (PHL 313Q or T C 310) University or College Requirements Second Year American History American History Government 310L Philosophy (PHL) 610QA Philosophy (PHL) 610QB Government 312L, P, or R
Additional Math/Science
Visual & Performing Arts Foreign Language (a complete lower division sequence) Third Year Flag Requirements Writing (TC 302) T C 357 Junior Seminar 2 T C 357 Junior Seminar 2 Upper Division Writing (typically Physics (PHY) 321 TC 660HB) (Fall or Spring) 1, 4 Global Cultures Cultural Diversity in the U.S. Electives Additional hours needed to meet Fourth Year minimum requirements; can vary by student and is often fulfilled T C 660HA Senior Thesis T C 660HB Senior Thesis with classes taken for a second major or degree.
1. Social Science 301 is typically taken in the second year, and Plan II Physics is typically taken in the third year, however these classes can be moved to different years as needed. 2. The timing of the two junior seminars, TC 357, can be adjusted to accommodate study abroad; completion of both TC 357 courses is required before starting the senior thesis course, TC 660H. 3. Chosen from approved lists (available on the Plan II website); the two non-US history courses must come from the same geographic region (i.e., Europe, Asia, Latin America, etc.). 4. See additional handout, Plan II Math/Science requirements, for approved substitutions and course options (available on the Plan II website). PLAN II STUDENTS SHOULD SEE AN Academic Advisor EVERY SEMESTER
10 PLAN II HONORS SAMPLE FOUR-YEAR PLAN
This plan to complete a Bachelor of Arts in Plan II Honors in four years assumes no credit-by-exam or additional dual major/degree requirements (classes required for a second major or degree may be used to fulfill elective hours in this plan). This plan also indicates how coursework could be adjusted to accommodate a full semester abroad, and it keeps summers free of coursework for students to focus on internships or other non-classroom experiences.
1st year - FALL 15 hours 1st year - SPRING 15 hours E/T C 603A 3 hours E/T C 603B 3 hours T C 302 (WR flag) 3 hours BIO 301E 3 hours PHL 313Q or TC 310 3 hours GOV 310L 3 hours Visual & Performing Arts 3 hours Non-US history (GC flag) 3 hours Elective 3 hours Elective 3 hours
2nd year - FALL 15 hours 2nd year - SPRING 15 hours PHL 610QA 3 hours PHL 610QB 3 hours Foreign language1 6 hours Foreign language1 6 hours BIO 301D or PHY 309K 3 hours M 310P 3 hours U.S. History (CD flag) 3 hours GOV 312L 3 hours
3rd year - FALL 15 hours 3rd year - SPRING 15 hours T C 3572 3 hours T C 357 3 hours Plan II fine arts/humanities3 3 hours S S 301 3 hours Non-U.S. history3 3 hours PHY 321 3 hours Elective / foreign language1 3 hours Elective / foreign language1 3 hours Elective / foreign language1 3 hours Elective (upper division) 3 hours
4th year - FALL 15 hours 4th year - SPRING 15 hours T C 660HA 3 hours T C 660HB (WR flag) 3 hours U.S. History 3 hours 3 hours natural science 3 hours Elective (upper division) 3 hours Elective (upper division) 3 hours Elective (upper division) 3 hours Elective (upper division) 3 hours Elective (upper division) 3 hours Elective (upper division) 3 hours
1Foreign language sequences vary in length and number of hours - this plan allows for the most commonly taken 2 or 3 semester sequences, consisting of 6-hour classes. Some language sequences consist of 4 semesters, which can still be accommodated through use of elective class spots. 2T C 357 could be swapped with an elective class in the Fall of 4th year to accommodate a full semester abroad. 3Plan II fine arts/humanities and Non-US history can often be fulfilled through Study Abroad programs, however they can also be swapped with elective classes to accommodate a semester abroad that consists of other coursework.
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• World Literature (E/T C 603 A&B) • First-Year Signature Course (T C 302) • Logic (PHL 313Q) and Modes of Reasoning (T C 310) • Plan II Biology (BIO 301E) • Plan II Math (M 310P)
During the Plan II meeting on Day 1 of orientation, a course lottery will be held for seats in World Literature and the Signature Courses. To prepare for the lottery, PLEASE READ these course descriptions carefully and identify your top five professor choices for both courses. Note: the descriptions provided, particularly text selections, are subject to change as the professors develop or update their courses over the summer; we recommend that you wait until the first week of class before you purchase books.
The Logic/Modes of Reasoning, Plan II Biology and Plan II Math courses are not part of the lottery but the course descriptions are provided here as many first-year students take these courses.
PLEASE READ THESE DESCRIPTIONS CAREFULLY AND BRING THIS PACKET WITH YOU TO ORIENTATION!
12 13 Course Number: E 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: Lance Bertelsen Time and Location: MWF 11:00am-12:00pm, CAL 419 Unique: 34885
Fall: Literary Relationships We will read a selection of poetry and prose with special attention to famous relationships within the texts (e.g. God and Satan, Adam and Eve, Lancelot and Guinevere, Darcy and Elizabeth) and the authors’ relationships to the texts.
Texts: John Milton, Paradise Lost Chretien de Troyes, The Knight of the Cart Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur (selections) Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice John Keats, The Eve of St. Agnes Isak Dinesen, Sorrow-Acre and Babette’s Feast (story and film) Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Assignments: Five 2 page essays (“memos”) and two 5 page essays. The first 5 page essay will be peer edited. You will also be a member of a teaching group that will lead class discussion on a segment of Paradise Lost.
Spring: Literary Voyages and Quests We will read a selection of voyages to imagined and real places and explore the relationship between such literature and the history from which it derives.
Texts: Homer, The Odyssey Anon., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Shakespeare, The Tempest Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels The Death of Captain Cook: selections from journals and A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean Film: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Jane Austen, Persuasion
Assignments: Three 2 page essays (“memos”), one 5 page essay, and one 8 page research paper. The 5 page essay will be peer-edited. You will also be a member of a teaching group that will lead class discussion on a segment of The Odyssey.
About the Professor: Lance Bertelsen specializes in eighteenth-century British literature and is the author of The Nonsense Club and Henry Fielding at Work. He has served five times as director of the Oxford English Summer Program and four times as faculty on the Normandy Scholar Program.
14 Course Number: E 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: Jerome Bump Time and Location: TTH 11:00am-12:30pm, PAR 104 Unique: 34900 Description: This version of E603 is for students who have already read many of the older masterworks of Western civilization and are ready to move on to masterpieces of world literature aligned with four of the six experiences required in the new core curriculum: writing, global cultures, American cultural diversity, and ethics and leadership. This version of 603 is also a leadership/ethics “flag” course, exploring those subjects through experiential and service learning. For example, in the second semester students to go out into the community and write a story to facilitate the adoption of a cat at an animal shelter. Our exploration of ethics will be supported by selections from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Successful People and Ram Dass’s How Can I Help? Our key theme is compassion for those different from ourselves, as seen in masterpieces by Native- , African-, Asian-, and Hispanic Americans, such as Black Elk Speaks, and The Bluest Eye, by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. To explore gender differences we will read some Dartmouth student essays and the graphic novel, Fun Home, by Alison Bechtel. This novel also exemplifies family dynamics, explored most explicitly in the movie, Dead Poets’ Society. In the second semester our ultimate ethics goal will be to “widen the circle of compassion,” as Einstein put it, to include other . We will begin with analogies between factory farming, slavery, and Nazi concentration camps made by various writers and philosophers, and especially by the shocking documentary Earthlings, which will challenge us to become more mindful of ethical decisions we make daily about food, clothing, entertainment, etc. Throughout the year, to prepare you for your college and later careers we will cultivate digital, information, and print literacy and practice college-level writing, speaking, listening, discussing, and analyzing ideas. Grades will be based in part on meeting the two expectations employers have of college graduates: time management, and the ability to read, analyze, and follow complex, detailed directions. Texts/Readings: We will begin with the medieval classic, Gawain the Green Knight, which we will relate to Hebraism, Hellenism, and perfectionism in college students. Then, Lewis Carroll’s Alice on Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass will prompt discussions of leadership, discovery learning, diversity, animal ethics, and the college experience. Elizabeth Costello by the Nobel Prize Winner, and U. T. alum, J. M. Coetzee, will initiate debates about the representation and treatment of animals, a topic explored also in Dobie's Longhorns and Mustangs, and many other works. Our awareness of global cultures will be increased by Coetzee’s novel, set in Africa, along with our journey to India via Hesse's German masterpiece Siddhartha. In response to the tragedy of 9/11 we will trace the history of compassion for all creatures in world religions, especially Indian mythology, religion, and ethics. Assignments: Your formal writing will be four multimedia autobiographical essays about your identity, your passion, your ethics (saving an animal’s life), and your leadership vision. Your goals will be to discover your identity and your beliefs and to learn how to articulate them in writing and class discussion. Informal writing will be blogs about the readings in preparation for class discussion. For more information see the detailed course description at: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/603A13/course.html About the Professor: Jerome Bump has been awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a N. D. E. A. Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, the Jeanne Holloway Award for undergraduate teaching, the Chad Oliver award for Plan II teaching, the Dad's Association Centennial Teaching Fellowship for instructing freshmen, and the Rhodes Centennial Teaching Fellowship for directing the Computer Writing and Research Laboratory.
15 Course Number: E 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: George Christian Time and Location: TTH 9:30am-11:00am, CRD 007A Unique: 34865
Description: Below is the reading list for both semesters of this course. During the fall we will read the epic poetry of Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Milton, Greek and Shakespearean tragedy, and the great anti-romance novel, Don Quixote. During the spring we will explore European Romanticism, represented here by Goethe’s Faust and Scott’s Waverley, and the protean genre of the modern novel in works by Dostoyevsky, Zola, Kafka, Bulgakov, and Thomas Mann. Texts/Readings: Fall Homer, The Odyssey Aeschylus, The Oresteia Virgil, The Aeneid (first six books) Dante, The Inferno Shakespeare, Othello An additional Elizabethan drama to be named later Milton, Paradise Lost Cervantes, Don Quixote (Part 1) Spring Goethe, Faust (Part 1) Scott, Waverley Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment Zola, The Debacle Kafka, The Trial Mann, The Magic Mountain Woolf, Three Guineas Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
Assignments: Although there may be occasional lectures to provide historical background, the primary method of instruction will be class discussion of the assigned reading. You must therefore come to class prepared to participate in discussions and will be asked periodically to lead them by posing two or three critical questions for consideration. No midterms or final exams will be given, but expect to write four or five essays (4-5 typed pages long) each term, plus occasional quizzes or brief (one-page) papers in class. No late papers will be accepted. Attendance is mandatory—no one absent more than five classes in a semester will receive a passing grade. Grading breakdown: Writing assignments (75%), Class participation (25%).
About the Professor: George S. Christian graduated from Plan II in 1982. He went on to the University of Texas School of Law and has practiced law in New York and Austin since 1985. He returned to graduate school in English at UT, receiving his doctorate in 2000. He is in his eighth year of teaching at UT, where he specializes in nineteenth-century British literature. He is an inveterate reader, an unreconstructed humanist, a father of four children, and a passionate follower of UT sports since childhood.
16 Course Number: E 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: Brian Doherty Time and Location: TTH 9:30am-11:00am, CRD 007B Unique: 34870
Description: Students may be surprised to see a Norton Anthology of World Literature on the reading list. Good. Surprise is good. The intention is to use this anthology as a foundation to the exploration of four literary cultures—Western, East Asian, South Asian, and African.
The first semester will cover some Western literature and South Asian literature. We will read some stories from Homer’s The Iliad, and then read two contemporary novels that use Homer as a jumping off place. We will read sections of the great Indian Epics, The Mahabharata and The Ramayana some stories from the modern tradition, and the very recent novel, The Lowlands, by Jhumpa Lahiri. Later in the year we will use the anthology to introduce both Chinese and African culture and literary foundations.
Along the way, we will have a mini-course on Shakespeare’s Othello to prepare for a visit from an actor from the London Stage, and will spend a few class days talking about work from author’s who are visiting the area, important film texts being released in the fall, and other theater pieces.
Finally, our last reading of the semester will be of work from whoever wins the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013.
Texts: The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Edited by Puchner, Martin, et al. Vol 1, A-B-C. Othello. Penguin Classics Edition. Malouf, David. Ransom. Wolf, Christa. Cassandra. Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Lowlands.
Assignments: Grading will be done on a variety of measures, short, informal written assignments, short, formal assignments, a more extended paper on either Greek Myth revised, Indian culture and literature, or the Nobel Prize writer. Papers subject to student revision, except the last paper. It is hoped that the numerous short assignments allow for growth and the development of good writing practices. We will also have in-class presentations on assigned topics, class discussion, and the occasional quiz on reading assignments.
About the Professor: Brian Doherty is a senior lecturer in the English Department. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1994. Courses taught in Masterworks of World Literature have led to an interest in the newly developing canon of global world literature. Currently at work revising some unconventional literary/critical pieces for publication.
17 Course Number: E 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: James Garrison Time and Location: MWF 11:00am-12:00pm, PAR 302 Unique: 34895
Description: This section of E603A-B will consider versions of epic narrative from ancient to modern times. The first semester will be devoted to the study of classical and medieval epic, which we will read in translation. The second semester will consider transformations of this literary inheritance in English literature beginning with the Renaissance and continuing to the twentieth century. The emphasis throughout will be on how these narratives engage in dialogue with one another, how this cultural heritage speaks across the centuries to us as a class and to each of us individually.
Texts: Homer, Iliad, trans. Stanley Lombardo (Hackett) Homer, Odyssey, trans. Stanley Lombardo (Hackett) Virgil, Aeneid, trans. Stanley Lombardo (Hackett) Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. Stanley Lombardo (Hackett) Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney (Norton) Das Nibelungenlied: Song of the Nibelungs, trans. Burton Raffel (Yale) The Song of Roland, trans. Glyn Burgess (Penguin) The Song of the Cid, trans. Burton Raffel (Penguin)
Assignments: 3 Papers 50% (papers 1 and 2 15% each, third paper 20%) Reading journal 20% 2 In-class essays 10% each Oral presentation 10%
About the Professor: James D. Garrison attended Princeton and The University of California Berkeley, receiving his PhD in English in 1972. He has taught at UT since 1973, serving as Chair of the English Department from 1994 to 2006. He is the author of two books on the poetry of John Dryden -- Dryden and the Tradition of Panegyric and Pietas from Vergil to Dryden – as well as articles on Dryden, Gray, and Gibbon. His book A Dangerous Liberty: Translating Gray’s Elegy appeared in 2009. In 2011 he received the Chad Oliver Award for Teaching Excellence in Plan II and in 2012 the Regents Outstanding Teaching Award. He holds the Archibald A. Hill Regents Centennial Professorship in English and American Literature and the title Distinguished Teaching Professor.
18 Course Number: TC 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: Karen Grumberg Time and Location: TTH 12:30pm-2:00pm, PAR 301 Unique: 43430
Description: What is world literature? What does it mean for a literary text to transcend particularity? The diverse texts we will encounter in this year-long course demand a confrontation with this question. From Homer, Virgil, and the Icelandic Sagas, through Shakespeare, Dante, and Goethe, and finally to Kafka's century, we shall consider the implications of literature's crossing of linguistic, geographic, and temporal boundaries and critique the conceptualization of "modernity" that is intricately intertwined with this process. We will also explore the manner in which adaptations of these texts into new forms, such as film, contribute to their continuing relevance in our world.
Assignments: The course grade will be based on energetic and engaged participation in discussion and several writing assignments.
Texts: Specific reading assignments to be announced.
About the Professor: Karen Grumberg earned her PhD in Comparative Literature from UCLA in 2004. She specializes in modern Hebrew literature but also studied twentieth-century American literature and French. Her first book, Place and Ideology in Contemporary Hebrew Literature, was recently published by Syracuse University Press. Currently she is writing a book on Gothic tropes in Hebrew literature, and is happy to have a legitimate excuse to spend time thinking and reading about vampires and melancholic castles.
19 Course Number: E 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: Neville Hoad Time and Location: MWF 11:00am-12:00pm, CAL 200 Unique: 34880
Descripton: Since the world is big and literature is long, the course is organized around thematic concerns—cosmology, collecting, travel, identity, diaspora—rather than claiming a representative sample of the literature of the world. Primarily, we will ponder the problem of worldliness in a variety of literary texts from diverging genres, places, and time periods, evaluating how writers have taken up the problem of representing the world from specifically local positions.
Texts/Readings: Fall Spring Ovid, Metamorphosis Columbus, Three Voyages The Arabian Nights, (Trans. Haddawy) Shakespeare, The Tempest Chestnutt, The Conjure Woman Melville, Typee Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray Conrad, Heart of Darkness Eliot, The Wasteland Gide, The Immoralist Packet of supplementary critical materials Kincaid, Lucy Packet of supplementary critical materials
Assignments: Although there will be occasional lectures, usually we will discuss as a group certain questions related to the assigned reading. Come to class prepared to participate in discussions. No midterms or final exams will be given, but expect to write four or five essays (4-5 pages each) each term, plus occasional quizzes or brief (one-page) papers in class. No late papers will be accepted. Attendance is presumed—no one absent more than five classes in a semester will receive a passing grade. Grades will depend largely on the writing assignments, with each major paper counting one-fourth or one-fifth (depending on whether there are four or five papers) of the final grade. Class participation will be taken into account and can affect your final grade by as much as a full letter (in extreme cases).
About the Professor: Neville Hoad was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from Columbia University. His areas of research include Victorian literature and culture, contemporary African literature, gender and sexuality studies, and postcolonial theory.
20 Course Number: E 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: Allen MacDuffie Time and Location: MW 11:00am-12:30pm, CRD 007B Unique: 34875
Description: About ten years ago, the poet Edward Hirsch published a book called How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry, and that title nicely captures the chief aims of this course. For an entire year, we will immerse ourselves in some of the most moving, strange, challenging, memorable, profound, and beautiful poetic works written in English. Spanning the English Renaissance to the modern day, the course will explore a number of significant forms and genres, including the sonnet, the ode, the elegy, and (everyone’s favorite) the dramatic monologue. We will also consider nonsense verse, experimental poetry, and lyrics from rock, hip-hop and other popular music genres. The class will emphasize the practice of “close reading” - i.e. sustained, careful attention to the form, structure, and language of literary texts - through a number of in-class exercises and creative/critical assignments. We will supplement our reading of poetry with essays from a number of scholars, including T.S. Eliot, Robert Langbaum, John Hollander, Helen Vendler, and Christopher Ricks.
Texts/Readings: Authors during the fall semester TBA but may include: William Shakespeare, John Donne, John Keats, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson.
Authors during the spring semester TBA but may include: W.B. Yeats, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, Philip Larkin, Derek Walcott, Anne Carson, Bob Dylan.
Assignments: Class participation will count as 20% of the final grade. Students are expected to participate actively in class discussions, which includes not just speaking but listening attentively to your peers.
There will be three essay assignments representing 70% of the final grade: Essay 1: 20% Essay 2: 20% Essay 3: 30 % In addition each student will give one in-class presentation representing 10% of the final grade.
About the Professor: I received my Ph.D. in 2007 from Harvard University, where I wrote a dissertation on science and the Victorian literary imagination. Portions of that work have appeared in the journals Representations and English Literary History. Currently I am finishing a book manuscript entitled The City and the Sun: Energy, Thermodynamics, and the Victorian Ecological Imagination, which expands upon my dissertation research.
21 Course Number: E 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: Wayne Rebhorn Time and Location: TTH 9:30am-11:00am, CAL 323 Unique: 34860
Description: This course aims to take students on a journey through Western literature from the Greeks up to the present. Along the way we will visit a wide variety of genres, or kinds, of literature, from epic, through tragedy and comedy, to novels, lyrics, and short stories. Our purpose will be to read a host of stunning works of art, and through them to gain some sense of the shape and depth of the Western literary tradition. In a sense we will be reading through what is usually referred to as the "canon," but we will be doing so in a way that emphasizes what might be called its anti-canonical character; that is, we will be examining great works of art not because they confirm our complacencies and our pieties, but because they encourage us to critique them. Our approach is that great literature is great not because it confirms some imagined set of eternal verities, but precisely because it makes us suspicious of such things. Great literature, in short, is great because it makes us think. The assumption of this course is that the students who take it are already good readers and writers, so that what we want to accomplish in the course of our year together is to make you better at both. To become better readers means to become more active readers, talking to—and talking back to—the texts we will be reading. This "talking" will take two forms, one of which will involve presenting reactions orally to the other members of the seminar. In other words, you will have several occasions each semester in which you will lead class discussion for at least a portion of a meeting. The "talking" will also take the form of writing essays about the readings, starting with slightly shorter papers at the start of the first semester and proceeding toward longer and increasingly more substantial essays during the course of the year. In this way, you will achieve both of the goals of the course, the goals of learning how to be better readers of literary texts, and of becoming more literate and sophisticated speakers and writers as well.
Readings: Fall semester: Homer's Odyssey, Aeschylus' Oresteia, Sophocles' Oedipus, Vergil's Aeneid, Dante's Inferno, Shakespeare's Othello (to coincide with the visit by the Actors from the London Stage), and Boccaccio's Decameron.
Spring semester: Machiavelli's The Prince, Montaigne's "Of Cannibals," Shakespeare's The Tempest, Molière's Tartuffe, Milton's Paradise Lost, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, a sampling of lyric poems by Blake and Keats, Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, and a sampling of short stories by post- World War II American writers such as Roth, O'Connor, Baldwin, Oates, and Erdrich.
Assignments: Fall semester: Two shorter papers (4 pages) during the first half of the course and two longer essays (5-6 pages) in the second half. Two oral presentations based on written work, one earlier and one later in the semester, both of which should lead the class into a general discussion of the text being studied.
Spring semester: Two essays (5 pages) during the first half of the semester; two longer essays (7-8 pages) during the second. Two oral presentations based on written work, one earlier and one later in the semester, both of which should lead the class into a general discussion of the text being studied.
About the Professor: Professor Rebhorn works on Renaissance literature, rhetoric, and culture in general. He holds a doctorate from Yale University in Comparative Literature and has written books on Castiglione, Machiavelli, and Renaissance rhetoric and literature as well as numerous articles on such writers as Boccaccio, Erasmus, More, Rabelais, Shakespeare, Jonson, and Milton. He has won fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim Foundation as well as the Howard R. Marraro Prize of the Modern Language Association for his book on Machiavelli. He has translated Boccaccio's Decameron and Machiavelli's The Prince—and the class will be using both of these translations. Among his hobbies are: classical music, movies, cooking, traveling, and watching good TV. 22 Course Number: E 603A & B Title: Composition and Reading in World Literature Instructor: Marjorie Woods Time and Location: MWF 11:00am-12:00pm, CRD 007A Unique: 34890
Description: Reading a book can change your life. For many, a book has provided a formative experience that shaped personality, led to a conversion experience, or provided guidance in a time of crisis.
During the first semester we will explore early classics of the western tradition that have enlightened or guided many readers—works that inspired extreme reactions almost immediately and for centuries afterward.
For the spring semester, the books will be chosen in consultation with the students. There will be some guidelines and an attempt to pick texts that work well together, continuing some of the themes developed during the first semester. However, the focus and specific works will be decided on by each class.
Texts/Readings: Fall Homer, The Iliad Hesiod, Theogony, or Euripides, Helen (student choice) Sappho, Poems and Fragments Plato, The Symposium Virgil, The Aeneid Augustine, Confessions (selections) Spring (selected works chosen by students in recent years) De Troyes, Arthurian Romances Pa Chin, The Family Kanafani, Men in the Sun Murakami, Kafka on the Shore Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies Müller, Land of Green Plums
Assignments: Students will be required to write three analytical or creative papers of 3-5 pages each during the first semester. The first two papers will go through rigorous peer review before submission, and the last one can be revised if turned in early. During the second semester, different kinds of papers of approximately the same length will be assigned; two will incorporate some research and reading of scholarly articles; the third will be an open topic, which can be an autobiographical essay on an important reading experience. Peer review will be conducted during the second semester as well. There will be NO extensions on paper deadlines. Classes will be conducted by discussion and close reading of texts. Each student will be responsible for one or two short informal oral presentations per semester as well as regular class participation. Attendance is required, but, I hope, enjoyable.
About the Professor: Marjorie Curry Woods is a medievalist specializing in school texts, especially literary works, and the history of teaching. Her wider interests include the history of reading and the transmission of knowledge, especially classical texts. Currently she is writing a book on the long western tradition of schoolboys writing and performing speeches in the voices of female characters from literature. For fun she likes to travel, watch sports, learn languages, and listen to live music, especially in Austin. Learn more about her from her UT website: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/english/faculty/woodsmc 23 24 Course Number: TC 302 Title: Emerging Selves: The Autobiographical Impulse in Women’s Writing Instructor: Carol MacKay Time and Location: TTH 12:30pm-2:00pm, CRD 007A Unique: 43405
Description: Writers have always employed an ingenious array of narrative strategies to construct and project their sense of an autobiographical self, but historically that task has entailed an additional cultural challenge--if not an outright psychological impossibility--for women writers worldwide. Although the male autobiographical impulse did not fully begin to manifest itself in Western culture until Rousseau (notwithstanding the anomaly of St. Augustine), women still tended to confine themselves to the less overt (and egoistic) modes of the diary, letter, memoir (often purporting to be about another subject), and fiction. It is the goal of this course to examine the autobiographical impulse in women's writing by exploring the concept of the individualistic self vs. the sense of self as a part of community (and duty)--and the ways in which that communal self can both partake of humankind and participate in self-actualization.
We will begin by reading Carolyn Heilbrun's Writing a Woman's Life (1988) and conclude with Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own (1929). In between, we will be tracing women's autobiographical writings from Sappho to the present, including some of the recently recorded experiences of the African American, the Chinese American, and the Chicana. Although members of the class may have read individual titles from the course list before, they will now have the opportunity to read them critically within the context of other women's writing--itself likely to be a first-time experience. Finally, each student will be responsible for introducing to the rest of the class a single work not on the reading list and "outside" its cultural curve; these titles will constitute a multicultural list for future (and I hope immediate!) reading.
Texts: Selections: Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (1373); Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe (1436-38); St. Teresa, The Life of Teresa of Jesus (1562-65) Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847) Harriet E. Wilson, Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper (1899) May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude (1973) Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts (1975) Sandra Cisneros, House on Mango Street (1983) bell hooks, Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood (1984) Elva Trevino Hart, Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child (1999)
Requirements: Writing and class discussion will constitute the primary activities of this course. Students will write three papers--the first two of approximately 4-5 pp. each (20% each of final grade), the last a more extended paper of about 8-10 pp. (40% of final grade)--and deliver two oral reports. All papers will receive extensive critical commentary and will be discussed in office-hour consultation. (This course fulfills the University Writing Flag requirements, and it is also a Signature Course in the College of Undergraduate Studies.) The remaining percentage points for the final grade will be satisfied by the oral reports and regular class participation/attendance.
About the Professor: With graduate degrees from Stanford University and UCLA, Professor Carol MacKay specializes in Victorian fiction, Women’s Studies, and autobiography. She is the author of Soliloquy in Nineteenth-Century Fiction and the editor of Dramatic Dickens , which grew out of her 1986 international conference here at UT on Dickens and the theatre. The winner of the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding New Teacher in 1981 and the Harry Ransom Teaching Award in 1992, Professor MacKay was elected to the Distinguished Teaching Academy in 2003. Her most recent book is entitled Creative Negativity: Four Victorian Exemplars of the Female Quest. She loves to swim at Barton Springs Pool, and she confesses to being an ailurophile.
25 Course Number: TC 302 Title: College and Controversy: The Histories, Purposes and Cultures of American Universities Instructor: Julia Mickenberg Time and Location: TTH 11:00am-12:30pm, CRD 007A Unique: 43400
Description: This course is designed to give incoming students the opportunity to reflect upon colleges and universities as institutions, imagined places, and sites of controversy in American culture. We will discuss the history and purposes of the university; fictional depictions of college life in literature and film; debates surrounding such topics as fraternities, sports and alcohol; the relationship between struggles for social justice and university curricula; and the tensions between ideals of disinterested learning and the pressures of the marketplace. Finally, we’ll study the ways in which larger issues in higher education have played out, and continue to play out, at the University of Texas.
Texts: Delbanco, College: What it is, Was, and Should Be Zadie Smith, On Beauty Murray Sperber, Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports is Crippling Undergraduate Education Christopher Newfield, Unmaking the Public University: The Forty Year Assault on the Middle Class Additional readings on-line or in packet
Films: The Freshman Animal House Berkeley in the Sixties When I Rise
Requirements: Paper 1: The purpose of college/goals for college—20% Paper 2: Discussion of fictional representations of College—20% Paper 3: Ethnography and critical discussion assignment 20% Paper 4: Final group research project (includes written work, collaboration, and presentation)—25% Participation: Includes quizzes, online and in-class discussion: 15%
About the Professor: Julia Mickenberg has been teaching in UT’s Department of American Studies since 2001. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and an A.B. from Brown University. She’s written or edited several prize-winning books dealing with children’s literature and cultural politics, and is currently writing a book about Russia in the American feminist imagination from 1905-1945. Her research has been supported by numerous grants and fellowships, including awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Spencer Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution. For fun, in addition to reading novels and watching movies about college, she does yoga, runs, and goes on adventures with her husband, two daughters, and their frisky yellow lab, Stanley.
26 Course Number: TC 302 Title: The Mind-Body Relationship in Modern Medicine Instructor: Rosa Schnyer Time and Location: TTH 2:00pm-3:30pm, CRD 007B Unique: 43415
Description: This course will explore the mind body relationship in sickness and health from an interdisciplinary perspective. The aim is to provide a contemporary critical overview of the many influences that shape our beliefs about what the role of belief and expectation in healing and the implications of these beliefs in health care access, delivery and choices.
Various perspectives from the fields of philosophy, neurobiology, anthropology, psychology, medicine and economics will be presented in this course.
A key goal in health care is to foster the ability of health professionals to critically appraise the best scientific evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. Although evidence is not limited to what we know through randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses, at the end of the day, the buck stops with the question of efficacy: is a treatment effective above and beyond the patient’s belief that it will work? But what do we know so far about the mind-body relationship? Is the elusive placebo a clinicians’ friend or a foe? What are the implications of the emerging field of mind-body medicine in our interpretation of clinical research data? How does culture influence our beliefs on why we fall ill, and how do our beliefs influence the course and duration of our illness? How will we decide which benefits to include in The Affordable Care Act?
Texts/Readings: Harrington, Ann. The Cure Within: A History of Mind Body Medicine Additional readings will be posted on Blackboard.
Assignments: There are a variety of assignments for this course. These assignments were chosen to provide you with the opportunity to learn some new skills and practice old ones that will be helpful for you as you begin your college career. Please seek guidance early and often as you work on these assignments.
There are three main categories of assignments for the semester (Quizzes / Exams, Oral Presentations, and Written Assignments). You are encouraged to personalize the assignments to areas that are of interest to you. It is much interesting to hear how the material applies to your life and your interests! Participation and keeping up with the weekly readings are essential components of the course. Specific assignments are subject to change and will be announced on the first day of class; overall grade distribution will remain the same.
Readings – (response and participation on blackboard and in class discussion) – 20% Writing – (weekly journal entries, two personal reflections 250-500 words, paper 500-750 words, final assignment search/bibliography/thesis statement/abstract) - 25% Oral – (two mini oral presentations, Debate/Discussion Argument presentation) - 25% Quizzes – (two based on on-line tutorials) - 5% Final Exam – 25%
About the Professor: Rosa N. Schnyer is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine (DAOM) and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing where she teaches and introductory course on Botanicals and Nutriceuticals and a course on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. She conducts research on acupuncture. Dr. Schnyer serves is former co-president of the Society for Acupuncture Research and maintains a private practice in Austin, TX. 27 Course Number: TC 302 Title: Art, Sport & The Meaning of Life Instructor: Tara Smith Time and Location: TTH 2:00pm-3:30pm, WAG 210 Unique: 43395
Description: This course will explore the meaning and value of two unusual human activities – the creation and contemplation of art and the playing and watching of sports – and aim to situate them in the larger framework of how human beings should lead their lives. What, in particular, is truly valuable in a human life? What is most valuable? And what might art or sport have to do with that? In different forms, both art and sport have been around for millennia. In part, we will address the question: why? “It’s just a story,” after all; “it’s only a game.” Both realms are artificial and even the finest displays in each stand removed from ordinary, practical concerns. Neither offers a utilitarian service, such as baking bread or curing the sick. Yet people devote countless hours and often care passionately about a work of art or a particular team. (Think about your favorite music, or a painting that you loathe, or the OU game.) Should they care so much about such … trivialities? Is interest in art or sport a matter of personal preference or taste, or does either speak to some sort of need in the human psyche? If so, what is the exact nature of this need? What is it a need for? Can we really have non-physical needs? People enjoy many forms of rest and less structured forms of play than those provided by art and sport. Nature offers considerable beauty and people’s lives (as well as history) offer plenty of stories to contemplate. Given this, what is it about the creation or contemplation of art or about being a spectator or player of sport that is distinctively gratifying? And what is the point of these activities? Is art valuable in order to teach lessons, for instance, or to convey a moral? Is sport worthwhile as a means of building character or developing specific skills or traits, such as discipline, persistence, or teamwork, as many have claimed? Is either art or sport simply an end in itself? What makes anything an end in itself? And what bestows value on anything, for that matter? By seeking to understand the unusual kind of value that art and sport offer (along with significant similarities and differences in their value), we will be led to consider the nature of values, as such. Correspondingly, by exploring the meaning of art and the meaning of sport, we will explore the age-old question of the meaning of life. And the meaning and value of things within a person’s life.
Texts/Readings: Susan Wolf, Meaning in Life & Why it Matters Additional readings will be required in the form of a course packet, PDF’s posted to Blackboard, and online articles.
Assignments (probable): Paper 1 and draft – 4 pages – 15% Paper 2 and draft – 4 pages – 20% Paper 3 and draft – 6-8 pages – 25% (this draft will be graded by the prof. & must be substantially revised) Final Exam (take home, all essays) – 25% Oral presentation, brief homework assignments, attendance, thoughtful participation – 15%
About the Professor: Professor Tara Smith’s main interests concern the nature of values, virtues, and the requirements of objective law. She is currently writing a book on objective law and its proper interpretation by courts. Smith is the author of Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics – The Virtuous Egoist (2006), Viable Values – A Study of Life as the Root and Reward of Morality (2000), and Moral Rights and Political Freedom (1995), as well as numerous articles spanning such topics as honesty, justice, forgiveness, friendship, pride, moral perfection, intrinsic value, the nature of objectivity, rights “conflicts,” judicial Originalism, and the Rule of Law. She holds the BB&T Chair for the Study of Objectivism and is a lifelong New York Giants fan.
28 Course Number: TC 302 Title: Roman Art and Society Instructor: Rabun Taylor Time and Location: TTH 11:00am-12:30pm, CRD 007B Unique: 43420
Description: This course will examine Roman social values by way of one of the most abundant resources surviving from antiquity, art. More widespread — and sometimes more honest — than the literature that has survived down to our own time, fashioned images and constructed spaces made cultural messages available to people of all classes, fortunes, and occupations. To the aristocratic connoisseur of Greek culture just as to the simple slave serving him dinner, to the gladiator and to his wealthy patroness, to the prostitute and the prefect, visual representation communicated the values of a complex and vibrant society. Sometimes the language of this communication is cryptic and puzzling. Students will work to find meaning in a diverse array of artworks aligned with a number of major themes. These may include politics and ideology; portraits and personal identity; death and commemoration; the roles and status of women and minorities; sexuality and eroticism; life in the private sphere; urban spectacle; and religious devotion.
Among the course activities will be included likely field trips to the Blanton Museum, which houses a collection of modern casts of Greek and Roman sculpture, and the San Antonio Museum of Art, home of one of the finest collections of original Roman art in the nation. Students will have the opportunity to give presentations, examine objects in depth, and formulate topics of discussion.
Texts/Readings: (Subject to change) M. Beard and J. Henderson, Classical Art: From Greece to Rome J. Clarke, Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans E. D’Ambra, Roman Art E. Mayer, The Ancient Middle Classes P. Stewart, The Social History of Roman Art P. Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus
Assignments: Oral communication. 20% Written exercises and papers. 40% Final evaluation. 20% Class participation. 20% Visit to San Antonio Museum of Art and attendance at University Lecture Series
About the Professor: Rabun Taylor specializes in the fields of Roman Archaeology, Urbanism, Roman Material Culture, and Greek and Roman Art. He has conducted fieldwork in Greece and Italy. His research and other work focuses on Greek and Roman art, architecture, archaeology, urbanism, social history, and material culture. His recent publications include Roman Builders: A Study in Architectural Process (2003); and The Moral Mirror of Roman Art (2008). He is currently the co-author, with Katherine Rinne, of a forthcoming book on the urban history of the city of Rome. 29 Course Number: TC 302 Title: What is Power? Instructor: Maya Charrad Semester: Spring 2014 Time, Location & Unique: TBA
Description: The seminar considers the many faces of power. With an interdisciplinary social science approach, we discuss how power is constructed and exerted in the public and private spheres. We start with politics in the public sphere with classic theories such as those of Karl Marx and Max Weber and continue with more recent formulations such as in anticolonial struggles. We explore forms of domination at the personal level and in social interaction. How the personal is political becomes a focus of the discussion. We use audiovisuals and short stories to illustrate points made in the social science literature.
Texts/Readings/Films: · Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto. · Max Weber, “Class, Status and Party” (Abbreviated, on Blackboard). · Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (Selections). · P. Berger and R. Neuhaus, To Empower People: The Role of Mediating Structures in Public Policy (45pp.) · Film: Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Masks. · Film: The Battle of Algiers
Assignments: Participation/posting questions 20% Class Presentation/Leading discussion 20% Papers (4 total) 60%
About the Professor: Mounira M. Charrad is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas in Austin. Her book, States and Women's Rights: The Making of Postcolonial Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco
30 Course Number: TC 302 Title: American Animals: A Cultural History Instructor: Janet Davis Semester: Spring 2014 Time, Location & Unique: TBA
Description: This course explores the central—if hitherto unrecognized—role that animals have played in shaping American history. This course is interdisciplinary, which means that we will use multiple methodological lenses throughout the semester. Topics of discussion include Native American animal cosmologies; wandering animals and concepts of property; animals in entertainment; hunting; vegetarianism; changing cultural attitudes about nature; animals and evolutionary theory; the rise of the animal welfare and animal rights movements; laboring animals and the nation’s move to a motorized economy; animals and war; the growth of pet keeping as a cultural practice and billion-dollar business today; factory farms; the rise of veterinary science; zoos; and more. We will explore Waller Creek, the Turtle Pond, and the Harry Ransom Center, among other rich campus environments and world-class library facilities at UT-Austin to enhance our examination of animals and the cultural life and history of the United States.
Texts/Readings: Hal Herzog, Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals Virginia DeJohn Anderson, “King Philip’s Herds: Indians, Colonists, and the Problem of Livestock in Early New England,” The William and Mary Quarterly, v. 51, n. 4 (October 1994): 601-624; pdf document Thomas Nickerson, Owen Chase, and Others, edited by Nathaniel and Thomas Philbrick, The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale: First Person Accounts Jennifer Price, Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America Robert Sullivan, Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants Donna Haraway, The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals
Assignments: Mandatory class attendance, attendance of University Lecture Series, completion of all reading and writing assignments, and in-class presentations. Each student will write 5 sets of study questions that address the reading and classroom material—students will be expected to integrate material from the University Lecture Series into select study questions assignments; On 2 separate class dates during the semester, students will give a 10-minute historical presentation on any American animal of h/her choosing. (Students must choose a different animal for each presentation.) Students will write a 5-page analytic essay on a topic of one’s choosing related to the history of American animals. Students will receive completion credit for the first draft of this essay, and then will receive a letter grade for the revised version. Lastly, students will write a 7-10 page take-home essay examination that will analyze the readings and select lecture/field trip/University Lecture material into a synthetic interpretation of animals and American history.
Grade Breakdown: Discussion: 20% Study Questions (5 total): 10% Class Presentations: 15% Animal Issue Paper (Draft Version—Credit Grade): 10% Animal Issue Paper (Revised Version—Letter Grade): 15% Final Take-Home Essay: 30%
About the Professor: Janet Davis is finishing a social and cultural history of the American animal welfare movement from 1866- 1930, paying special attention to ideologies of American exceptionalism, cultural pluralism, and Protestant reform in shaping the movement in the United States and abroad. She has taught courses on multiple subjects at UT, including American studies, history, and popular culture. 31 Course Number: TC 302 Title: Theories of the Theatre Instructor: David Kornhaber Semester: Spring 2014 Time, Location & Unique: TBA
Description: Theatre is one of the oldest artistries in the Western tradition, yet through the centuries there has been little agreement as to its nature and purpose as an artistic form or social practice. In this course, we will take a broad look at the ways in which philosophers, playwrights, directors and many others have tried to formulate theories of what it means, for the individual and for society, to write, produce, or attend a play—as well as plays that writers have crafted to reflect the viewpoints of each theory. Attention will be paid to each work in its particular cultural context and readings will be supplemented with select historical material to help students position works in their own unique time and place. But the primary goal of the course will be to look at these theories and plays across historical and cultural boundaries: to investigate the ways in which they build from, respond to, or challenge one another and to identify how and why certain ideas and plays retain intellectual traction and emotional impact long after their particular cultural milieu has disappeared. More than that, the aim of the course will be to engage directly with the selfsame questions posed in the texts being studied: What is the theatre? How is it best structured? How does it function in society? Why should it exist at all? Students should expect to leave the class with an understanding of how others have approached these queries through the ages but also with a clearer articulation of their own beliefs and viewpoints, enhanced through the study of past thinkers and artists. Texts/Readings: Theatre/Theory/Theatre: The Major Critical Texts from Aristotle and Zeami to Soyinka and Havel, ed. Daniel Gerould (New York, NY: Applause, 2000) o Aristotle, Poetics (excerpts) o Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy (excerpts) o Sidney, “The Defense of Poesy” o Brecht, “The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre” o Corneille, “Of the Three Unities” o Artaud, The Theatre and Its Double (excerpts) o Schiller, “The Stage as a Moral Institution” The Norton Anthology of Drama: Shorter Edition, ed. J. Ellen Gainor, Stanton Garner, Jr., and Martin Puchner (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2009) o Sophocles, Oedipus the King o Strindberg, Miss Julie o Shakespeare, Hamlet o Brecht, The Good Woman of Setzuan o Moliere, Tartuffe o Beckett, Waiting for Godot Assignments: Discussion - Participation in classroom discussion: 15% Presentations - Oral Presentations: 10% Writing - University Lecture Response Paper (2 pages): 15%, Short Essay – with one revision (6-8 pages): 25%, Research Essay – with one revision (10-12 pages): 35% About the Professor: David Kornhaber is Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D., with Distinction, from Columbia University and his A.B., summa cum laude, from Harvard College. His research interests center on Modern and Contemporary Drama and particularly the intersections of theatre and philosophy. He has published journal articles and book chapters on Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, and contemporary theatre in New York, and he is currently at work on a manuscript entitled The Birth of Theatre from the Spirit of Philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche and the Development of the Modern Drama. He also served as Assistant Editor of the academic journal Theatre Survey from 2007-2008. He is an avid theatre-goer and has worked previously as a theatre critic and arts journalist. He has served as an Affiliated Writer with American Theatre, as a theatre critic for The Village Voice, and as a contributor to the Theatre section of The New York Times. 32 Course Number: TC 302 Title: A History of the Self Instructor: Tracie Matysik Semester: Spring 2014 Time, Location & Unique: TBA
Description: What does it mean to say “I,” and where does that “I” come from? Does the self, or the I, exist in the body, or is it something purely mental and immaterial? Do I have one self that stays with me over time, or do I constantly generate a new self with all my actions and thoughts? What happens if I lose my self? Or if part of my self is unconscious or beyond my control? Importantly, why does it matter how we understand the self? That is, what implications does our conception of the self and its stability or instability have for our understanding of political, cultural, and historical developments?
This course examines these questions and their evolution throughout the history of European philosophy and social theory from roughly1600 to the present, with special emphasis on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It asks how and especially why people have thought about the formation of the self – and its dissolution – over time, and about the changing historical circumstances that have motivated thinkers to return constantly anew to the matter. While we will work primarily with European philosophical and social-theoretical traditions, we will also read and discuss more literary and historical texts that help us to see what the stakes have been in historically-specific approaches to understanding the self.
Texts/Readings: René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy Friedrich Nietzsche, selected excerpts and aphorisms Hedwig Dohm, Become Who You Are! Sigmund Freud, The Ego and the Id Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness (short excerpt) Jacques Lacan, “The Mirror Stage” Michel Foucault, Technologies of the Self (excerpts) Judith Butler, “Introduction” to Bodies that Matter Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” Nick Mansfield, Subjectivity: Theories of the Self from Freud to Harraway Requirements: Three short (3-4 page) papers 45% (each at 15%) One oral report (10-15 minutes, with text)15% Ten weekly response papers (1 page)10% Final Take-Home Exam 20% Class Participation 10%
About the Professor: As a European intellectual historian, my academic interests reside at the intersection of philosophy, social theory, public activism, and theories of gender and sexuality. I have recently completed a book entitled Against Morality: Subjectivity and Sexuality in fin-de-siècle Central Europe, and am now working on the history of materialism from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. I have also begun a project that is a direct product of a teaching need: a collection of writings by women on the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche from roughly 1890 to 1930.
After receiving my Ph.D. in European intellectual history at Cornell University in 2001, and before arriving at the University of Texas in August of 2003, I was the grateful recipient of two post-doctoral fellowships. The first was a fellowship from the Mellon Foundation and awarded by the German Studies Department at Cornell, and the second was from the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. Since coming to UT, I have enjoyed teaching courses such as “History and the Unconscious,” and “Marx and Nietzsche,” as well as staples such as “Western Civilizations in Modern Times.” When I am not teaching, I am usually researching in Germany, sometimes in Berlin and more recently in the culturally-rich towns of Weimar, Jena, and Gotha.
Of course I do take time off from teaching and researching once in a while. And when I do get a break from work, I like to run, bike, and play with my dog (who doesn’t like to run or bike). My favorite, more sedentary activity in Austin is to visit the Alamo Drafthouse, where I will happily view almost anything they are showing.
33 Course Number: TC 302 Title: Images of Hellenism Instructor: Glenn Peers Semester: Spring 2014 Time, Location & Unique: TBA
Description: This class examines the traditions of Hellenism in art and culture from the age of Homer to the twentieth century. We will focus on paradigmatic monuments of Hellenic culture (Mycenae, Parthenon, Venus de Milo, Hagia Sophia, and other less well-known monuments like late medieval Crete, the work of Makriyiannis and modern painting), all the while making connection to significant works of literary culture (Homer, Sophocles, Thucydides, Paul the Silentiary, the Patriarch Photius, Cavafy, Elytis and Seferis, for example). We will study these works of art and literature not only to appreciate the extraordinary achievement of Hellenism from the pre-historic to the modern period, but also to understand the dynamic relationship of art and literature in that tradition—and in our own. Objectives: 1. To gain a basic understanding of some key concepts concerning history of art and architecture. To do so, learning about styles and formal elements of art and architecture will be key, but further extracting meaning from those styles and elements will be the ultimate skill learned. 2. To learn to look at art works carefully and to articulate meaning from looking. 3. To have gained an understanding of – and appreciation for – the history of the Hellenic traditions and its meaning for our society and culture.
Texts/Readings: Virginia Woolf, “On Not Knowing Greek” Simon Goldhill, Who Needs Greek? Contests in the Cultural History of Hellenism (passages) Simon Goldhill, Love, Sex and Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives (passages) A. A Donohue, Greek Sculpture and the Problem of Description (passages) The Odyssey (passages) Sophocles, Antigone Mary Beard, The Parthenon (passages) Jennifer Neils, The Parthenon Frieze (passages) Judith M Barringer, Art, Myth, and Ritual in Classical Greece (passages) Cultural Responses to the Persian Wars: Antiquity to the Third Millennium (passages) Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War (passages) J. J. Pollitt, Art and Experience in Classical Greece (passages) Greg Curtis, Disarmed: The Story of the Venus de Milo (passages) Peter Fuller, Art and Psychoanalysis (passages) Christian Scripture and Apocrypha (passages) Anthony Kaldellis, The Christian Parthenon: Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens (passages) Cyril Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 312-1453: Sources and Documents (passages) Richard Brilliant, My Laocoon: Alternative Claims in the Interpretation of Artworks (passages) Ioannes Makriyiannis, Memoirs (passages)
Assignments: One take-home exam 30% Two papers (1000 words each) 60% (30% each) Attendance & Participation 10%
About the Professor: Glenn Peers, Department of Art and Art History - I came to Byzantine art history by way of ancient Greek literature: I was a Classics major who was moved during my junior-year abroad to look at Byzantine art. I work on theoretical aspects of Byzantine art, and on social and art historical ramifications of diverse faiths in the medieval Mediterranean. I always keep the Hellenic tradition in for foreground, and I teach this class as history engaged with the present and with this place--that is, Texas--through class visits to the Ransom Center, the Blanton Museum, the Stark Center, and to the Menil Collection in Houston. 34 Course Number: TC 302 Title: Pathways to Civic Engagement Instructor: Lee Walker Semester: Spring 2014 Time, Location & Unique: TBA
Description: The objective of this class is to inspire students to become civic entrepreneurs. We will investigate current issues in health care, education, transit, housing, food, water, and other domains. Students will be required to create a well-researched paper and give a year-end presentation that summarizes their findings.
Texts/Readings: Students will take primary responsibility for identifying relevant material during their research. Additional readings will be provided on the civic topics that are covered.
Assignments: Admission slips are required for all classes without exception. Thank you letters are required after all classes. Grades will be given based upon attendance, class participation, quality of admission slips/thank you letters, quality of research papers, and presentation day effectiveness.
About the Professor: Raised in Three Rivers, Texas, Lee Walker graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Physics (class of 1963) graduating Phi Kappa Phi (top academic 10% of his class), receiving NASA and National Science Foundation (NSF) funding for his post graduate work in nuclear physics (theoretical cosmic ray research). He was named Honorable Mention All Southwest Conference Basketball Team his senior year. Lee received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1967. He served as the President of Dell Computer Corporation through its formative years. After leaving Dell in 1990 for health reasons, Lee was asked to teach at the University of Texas at Austin. The success of his “Elements of Entrepreneurship” and “Not for Profit Excellence” courses in the Graduate School Business Management Department earned him best teaching award three times. Lee teaches freshman courses “Pathways to Civic Engagement” and “Civic Viewpoints” in the Plan II Honors Program. The Austin Chamber of Commerce recognized Lee as their 1998 Austinite of the Year. In 2000 Lee was a founder of Envision Central Texas. In 2004, Lee received the Texas Nature Conservancy Lifetime Achievement award. In 2006 Lee and his wife Jennifer Vickers received the AFP’s Outstanding Philanthropists of the year.
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Either Plan II Logic (PHL 313Q) or Modes of Reasoning (TC 310) is required of ALL Plan II students, except those seeking dual degrees in Architecture, Business Honors, Computer Science, Dean’s Scholars, Engineering, Nursing, Psychology, Sociology, and some Biology majors. These degree plans require a similar course (or courses) that will substitute.
These courses are not part of the lottery on Day 1. Students may register for these courses based on need and availability.
36 Course Number: PHL 313Q Title: Logic and Scientific Reasoning (A.K.A. Plan II Logic) Instructor: Josh Dever Time and Location: TTH 11:00am-12:30pm, WAG 101 Unique: 42985-43010 (see online course schedule for discussion times)
Description: This course is an introduction to the use of formal logical techniques in the analysis of arguments and texts, with an eye to the applicability of such formal techniques in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. We will study formal propositional logic as a tool for extracting information from definite information premises; modal logic as a tool for modelling reasoning situations involving multiple agents or information sources; probability and probabilistic decision theory as tools for reasoning under uncertainty; and game theory as a tool for making theoretical and practical decisions in multi-agent situations.
Texts/Readings: An Introduction to Non-Classical Logic, Graham Priest An Introduction to Decision Theory, Martin Peterson
Assignments: 1. Short Problem Sets: There will be eight short problem sets assigned over the course of the semester. Each will consist of two or three problems designed to test your understanding of the current material. 5% each (for a total of 40%)
2. Long Problem Sets: There will be two longer problem sets over the course of the semester. These longer problem sets consist of substantially more difficult problems that ask you to take the concepts and techniques developed in class and apply and extend them in novel ways to a variety of logical puzzles. You should expect the long problem sets to require a significant commitment of time and mental energy. 12% each (for a total of 24%)
3. Exams: There will be two in-class exams. These exams will cover the same sort of material as is covered in the short problem sets. The exams are open-book and open-note. 16% (for a total of 32%)
4. Class Participation: Primarily, attendance of and participation in the weekly discussion section. 4%
There is no final exam for this course. Late work will not be accepted. All work should be done individually.
About the Professor: Josh Dever received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley in 1998. He works primarily in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of logic, and is the author of Complex Demonstratives, Compositionality as Methodology, Binding Into Character, and other works. His recent interests include the semantics, logic, and philosophical applications of conditionals, and foundational issues in the nature of semantic values. When he's not doing philosophy, he's usually reading English Renaissance drama or watching movies without plots.
37 Course Number: TC 310 Title: Modes of Reasoning Instructor: Marc Lewis Time and Location: TTH 2:00pm-3:30pm, SEA 2.116 Unique: 43435
Description: This is a course for people who love creative problem solving. We first investigate normal modes of problem solving and why they go wrong in some instances. We then turn to novel methods for dealing with difficult problems, including creative approaches to both research and the real-world problems. Class time is evenly divided between lectures, in-class exercises, and a individual/team project.
Texts/Readings: Readings focus on works that give insight into the creative process and reading lists that you generate yourself as you pursue ideas for your classroom presentation.
Assignments: In-class exercises Individual/Team Project Classroom Presentation Classroom Participation
About the Professor: Marc Lewis is the winner of numerous teaching awards including the Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award, The Eyes of Texas Teaching Award, The Silver Spurs Fellowship, The Presidents Teaching Excellence Award, and University Dad's Association Centennial Fellowship. His research, which addresses the molecular biology of aging and the etiology certain rare diseases, is based on training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. His chief nonacademic interest is travel including India, Tibet, Krygystan, Nepal, Outer Mongolia and many other small and wonderful places along the way. His 2000 graduation address is ranked number 3 of the more than 700 speeches recorded at http://www.graduationwisdom.com/speeches/topten.htm.
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BIO 301E is a common course for first-year Plan II students, however it is NOT required in the first year. This course description is provided for those curious about the content of the course.
This course is not part of the lottery on Day 1. Students may register for this course based on need and availability.
39 Course Number: BIO 301E Title: Problems in Modern Biology (A.K.A. Plan II Biology) Instructor: Ruth Buskirk Time and Location: MWF 1:00pm-2:00pm, BUR 116 Unique: 48770-48785 (see online course schedule for discussion times)
Description: This class, designed for Plan II students who are not concentrating in the life sciences, introduces major principles in genetics, molecular biology, evolution, ecology and physiology. Our emphasis will be on human biology and its applications, as we are living in times of unprecedented expansion of information in biology and significant consequences of how we use that information.
Texts/Readings: Audesirk: BIOLOGY with Physiology, either 8th or 9th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall
Assignments: 100 points Exam 1 100 points Exam 2 100 points Exam 3 40 points Participation in activities during lecture and in discussion section 30 points Class Field Trip, Marine Science Institute (Port Aransas) 30 points Point Papers (three “making your point” papers on applied biology topics, 10 points each) 400 total points possible for Bio 301E
About the Professor: Professor Buskirk is distinguished senior lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences and interim director of the new Health Science Honors Program in the College of Natural Sciences. Her current research concentrates on spiders and dragonflies, as well as on how students learn science. An award-winning teacher, including the 2011-2012 recipient of the Plan II Chad Oliver Teaching Award, Professor Buskirk has taught Plan II biology for the last several years and also leads a Maymester Plan II Junior Seminar (TC 357) course in Costa Rica. She received her A.B. at Earlham College, M.A. at Harvard University, and her Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of California at Davis. She especially enjoys her family, music, and being outdoors in different places.
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M 310P is a common course for first-year Plan II students, however it is NOT offered in the fall semester (it is offered in the Spring only). Many Plan II students will complete their Plan II math requirement with a calculus sequence in lieu of Plan II Math; this course description is provided for those curious about the content of the course and is subject to change prior to the Spring 2014 semester.
41 Course Number: M 310P Title: Modern Mathematics: Plan II (A.K.A. Plan II Math) Instructor: Michael Starbird Semester: Spring 2014 Time, Location & Unique: TBA
Description: Mathematics has three important sides: it is a supremely useful tool, it has an intrinsic beauty and elegance, and it illustrates effective methods of thinking. To appreciate any mathematics, people must do it themselves. Students in this class will do some mathematical thinking and will enjoy seeing some unexpected consequences of abstract thought.
Topics will include: Infinity: More accurately, infinities. We will see how mathematicians have made a previously ethereal notion accessible to reason. Number Theory: Interesting theorems in number theory have unexpected applications to codes. Topology: Imagine that the world is far more elastic than reality permits. Insights about that imaginary world have consequences in our own. Chaos and Fractals: When simple processes are repeated, chaos and infinitely detailed beauty emerge. Fairness: Can you divide a cake for three people so that each person will get his or her favorite piece? A mathematical argument shows that the answer is yes. Proofs: Some of the most striking thoughts are elegant proofs of mathematical theorems. Proofs show the sometimes deep connections between seemingly disparate ideas. Mathematical Reasoning: The course will strive to let the students experience the exhilaration of mathematical thought. We’ll see how methods of thinking about mathematical ideas can help us think more effectively and creatively in all areas of life.
Readings: Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird, The Heart of Mathematics: An Invitation to Effective Thinking, 2nd edition. The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking, by Edward Burger and Michael Starbird, Princeton University Press, 2012.
Requirements: Grades are based on students' learning to think more creatively by understanding mathematical ideas and how they are discovered. Daily exercises 15% Workshop sessions 5% Two mid-term tests 40% (20% each) Final examination 20% Math as Metaphor 10% Creative Math Project 10% Attendance and participation are required
About the Professor: Michael Starbird is a professor of mathematics whose excellence in teaching has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Minnie Stevens Piper Professorship (awarded to ten professors each year in the state of Texas), the Jean Holloway Teaching Award, the Friar Society Teaching Award, and the 1996-97 Chad Oliver Plan II Teaching Award. Professor Starbird holds a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. He is the 1989 Recreational Sports Super Racquets champion—witnessing a misspent youth devoted to acquiring considerable skill in all racquet sports. He sings, plays the piano, and performs a moving rendition of The Jabberwocky in German.
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