American Studies 308, Section 1 American Studies Program, Penn State Harrisburg Fall Semester 2015 Days/Times: MWF 10:10-11 am Location: TBD Instructor: Caitlin Black Primary Email: [email protected] Primary Phone: (717) 948-6020 Office Location and Hours: TBD Course Description This course examines the styles, structures, and concepts of American architecture from Native American roots to modern “green” buildings. Through readings, images, and film, students will learn to identify major architectural styles and will become familiar with important buildings, communities, and movements in American architectural history and material culture. Students will consider the social and political connection of architecture to American experience and ideas. When possible, this course focuses on local examples to illuminate national trends over time. Course Objectives 1. Students will be able to identify key buildings, movements, and figures in American architecture. 2. Students will be able to interpret primary sources (such as maps, photographs, and drawings) used to understand American architecture. 3. Students will learn to understand and use architecture as form of evidence when analyzing themes and events. 4. Students will develop the tools to analyze aspects of American architecture in their social and political contexts and interpret changes over time. Required Texts The following texts are available at the Campus Bookstore. Mark Gelernter, A History of American Architecture (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1999). ISBN: 978-1584651369. Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (New York: Crown Publishers, 2003). ISBN: 978-0375725609. (Ebook also available) Daisy M. Myers, Sticks’n Stones: The Myers Family in Levittown (New York: New York Heritage Trust, 2005). ISBN: 978-0971810846. Recommended Texts (These are texts that we will be referring to throughout the semester, and students may wish to purchase individual copies. Readings from these texts will also be available via PDF on the course site) Virginia and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1984). ISBN: 978-0394739694. Lindy Biggs, “The Rational Factory:” Architecture, Technology, and Work in America’s Age of Mass Production (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). ISBN: 978-0801852619. *The instructor will post additional readings on Angel. Please see course schedule below* Course Assignments Students will complete a series of graded assignments, including an exam, a presentation, three short essays, a final paper, and several research assignments. Students are required to submit all assignments (exam, presentation and outline, final paper, short essays, research assignments) and cannot pass the course without doing so. Short Essays Students will complete three short writing assignments (300-500 words each). For each essay, students will respond to one of several questions, which will relate to the previous weeks’ readings and class discussions. A handout with sample questions, tips for strong responses, and a grading rubric will be provided prior to the first essay submission. Architectural Style Exam Students will sit for one exam, which will test students’ understanding of the architectural styles studied in class. For the exam, students must identify the architectural styles represented in a series of images. Students will complete the exam during the class period. The instructor will provide a handout detailing the specifics of the exam, including study suggestions and a grading rubric, closer to the exam. Presentation In the second half of the semester, students will investigate a topic in American architecture. Prior to submitting a final paper (see below), each student will provide a brief presentation on his or her topic. This assignment will allow students to pursue areas of interest to them while also broadening the entire class’s knowledge of buildings, themes, and architects in American architecture. Students will determine topics in consultation with the instructor. Presentations will be evaluated on content, use of images, and delivery: a more detailed rubric will be provided in advance of the presentations. Final Paper The culmination of this class is a research-based final paper on a topic in American architecture. Students will choose their own topic in consultation with the instructor. The final paper will provide students with the opportunity to explore an area of interest to him or her and to apply the ideas and methods we have looked at in the class to a new area of study. Students will be required to submit a proposal and outline in advance of the final document. The instructor will provide a handout with a grading rubric in advance. Research Assignments Students will work on a series of practical projects that will give them a taste of the kind of work and analysis architectural historians perform. The focus of these assignments includes maps, census data, photography, surveying, and a site visit. Through these tasks, students will gain awareness of the tools and techniques used to study the built environment. Thorough descriptions of each assignment will be provided in advance of each due date. The short essays, final paper, and each research assignment must be submitted on time through the appropriate dropbox on Angel. Please see below for policy on late work. Grading Prior to each assignment, the instructor will provide a handout with a rubric detailing the grading criteria. The exam, presentation, outline, and final paper will be graded on a letter scale. Research assignments and short essays will be graded on a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the highest score. The weight of each assignment is as follows: Assignment Percentage Short Essays 15% (5% each) Exam 15% Presentation 15% (5% outline, 10% presentation) Final Paper 20% Research Assignments 25% (5% per assignment) Participation 10% Revisions Mastering the skills required by each assignment is an important part of this class; accordingly, students will be permitted to revise the short essays and research assignments, though they are not required to do so. Revisions must be resubmitted no later than one week after the instructor has returned the initial submission. Late revisions will not be accepted. Revisions will be reviewed and graded based on the same rubric as the initial assignment, and students will keep the highest awarded grade (if the student were to receive a lower grade on the revision than on the original, the original grade would stand). Late Work Submitting work on time is an important part of being in a classroom community, as it enables the instructor to provide prompt feedback to all students in the class. Late research and short essay assignments will receive a 1-point deduction for each day they are late: a 10 becomes a 9, a 9 becomes an 8 and so on. For each day that the exam, final paper, outline, and presentation are late, the instructor will reduce the awarded grade by 1/3: an A would become an A-, and A- would become a B+, and so on. In order to pass the course, students must submit each research assignment, three short essays, the exam, a presentation, an outline, and a final paper. Make-Up Policy At times, illness or family emergencies can prevent students from attending class on the date of an exam. In those situations, students should contact the professor as soon as possible to arrange to take the make-up exam. The make-up exam will follow the same format but contain different questions than the original exam and will be administered at a time agreed upon by both the instructor and student. Classroom Policy Statements 1. Academic Freedom: According to Penn State policy HR64, “The faculty member is expected to train students to think for themselves, and to provide them access to those materials which they need if they are to think intelligently. Hence, in giving instruction upon controversial matters the faculty member is expected to be of a fair and judicial mind, and to set forth justly, without supersession or innuendo, the divergent opinions of other investigators.” See http://guru.psu.edu/policies/OHR/hr64.html. 2. Academic Integrity: According to Penn State policy 49-20, Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception and is an education objective of this institution. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating of information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. For more information, see http://www.psu.edu/dept/ufs/policies/47- 00.html#49- 20. The instructor can fail a student for major infractions and reserves the right to use Turnitin as a plagiarism detection tool. 3. Attendance: Students are expected to complete every lesson in the course and are held responsible for all work covered in the course. A student whose irregular attendance causes him or her, in the judgment of the instructor, to become deficient scholastically, may run the risk of receiving a failing grade or receiving a lower grade than the student might have secured had the student been in regular attendance. Participation by students in the course should not be disruptive or offensive to other class members. See http://www.psu.edu/ufs/policies/42-00.html#42-27. I interpret this policy to mean that students who miss more than two weeks worth of classes (6 classes) can fail, even if they maintain a passing grade on other assignments. 4. Personal Digital Devices: Personal digital devices such laptops, tablets, and e-readers can assist students in academic settings, but these devices can also distract from learning. As a matter of policy, cell phones must be turned off or silenced; texting and other communication on the cell phone are strictly prohibited in class.