The First-Year Seminar Program is a special opportunity for first- and second-semester students to take a small seminar class. First-Year Seminars are open only to first and second semester students. Each course is a small seminar (no more than 15 students) led or team-taught by UI faculty members. The courses do not offer General Education or major credit, but they do offer you a chance to focus on unusual and interesting topics chosen by some of our most exciting professors.
Some First-Year Seminars are offered for 1 s.h., others for 2 s.h. If you choose to take a First-Year Seminar, please remember the College's guideline: student preparation time usually averages 2 hours of out-of- class work each week for every hour of credit (that is, you should expect to do 2 hours of study/work each week outside of class time for a 1 s.h. course; 4 hours out of class for a 2 s.h. course).
First-Year Seminars use the A-F grading system (plus/minus at the choice of the instructor). All of the College of Liberal Arts rules on adding and dropping apply to these courses. Talk to your adviser if you decide not to complete a course.
REGISTRATION: All First-Year Seminars are open only to first and second semester students. No special registration numbers are needed, simply add the course when you register. Be sure to check your course-and section number-very carefully. All First-Year Seminar courses are listed as First-Year Seminar on your printed schedule, the "subtitle" will not appear.
610:029:001 2 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Reading and Writing About the College Scene
Instructor: Mary Trachsel, Department of Rhetoric
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:30pm to 2:20pm
Location: 216 English Philosophy Building
Description:
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This two-semester hour course invites students to investigate university life through readings, guest speakers, and first-hand observation and to reflect upon their own college life experiences in writing and discussion. Topics we'll cover include:
- Residence Hall life
- Greek Organizations
- Student-Teacher Relationships
- The Ethics of Academic Life
- Grades
- Alcohol and Campus Life
- The Purpose of Higher Education
Readings will include Jane Tompkin's autobiographical account A Life in School: What the Teacher Learned; one of David Lodge's comic novels about academic life, Changing Places, and several short readings on the topics listed above.
Grades will be based on weekly informal journal entries on assigned or self-chosen topics and two short (fun!) essays as well as on class participation (attendance and discussion).
Mary Trachsel is an associate professor in the Department of Rhetoric. She has taught other sections of First-Year Seminar and recently taught a graduate course on Feminist Ethics.
610:029:002 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Leadership--in the University and in Life
Instructor: Jon Whitmore, Provost
Time: Wednesdays, from 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: 230 Schaeffer Hall (the Liberal Arts Conference Room, enter through 240 Schaeffer Hall)
Note: Enrollment in this seminar is limited to 10 students
Description:
This seminar explores leadership of all kinds-including but not limited to political leadership, university leadership, athletic leadership, artistic leadership, and business leadership-as well as how individuals develop as leaders and as team-members in communities and organizations. Through discussion, reading, and interaction with campus and community leaders, students will learn how education and experience combine to produce leaders. Throughout the semester, students will learn some useful skills--interviewing techniques, library and electronic research, and how to read critically and analytically.
Grades will be based on participation/discussion and a final paper in which students will provide a synthesis of course readings and discussion and their own research to define one aspect of leadership.
Jon Whitmore came to the University in 1996. He is a Professor of Theatre Arts and serves in the administrative position of Provost (chief academic officer of the University.)
610:029:003 2 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Ideas of the University
Instructor: Frederick J. Antczak, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, the College of Liberal Arts
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: 207 English Philosophy Building
Description:
Since the first Carnegie report, there has been lots of controversy about education in the public "research-1" universities like the UI. Some people say that institutions like ours neglect undergraduate teaching, others claim there is no comparably broad or effective system in the world. This course explores how education works at Iowa. The required "text" is the University General Catalog, although there also will be other readings used to guide discussion.
We'll talk about many different topics including: the purposes of a college education, characteristics of effective and less effective learning, the different kinds of good (and not so good) teaching and what to do in response, the impact of technology on learning environments, and how to get the most out of a course. Class members may also lead us to topics like the integration of research and teaching, tenure, academic freedom, even how administrators like me go about making decisions.
Grades will be based on class participation; an introductory presentation introducing "a student-oriented aspect of the University you didn't know about--but should"; a team project on learning at the university (details to be discussed in class); and an individual project including two short class presentations (a "project proposal" and a "project update," both of which will be scheduled during the first class period) and a 5 page "project report" due on the first Monday morning of exam week.
Fred Antczak came to the University in 1987 after having taught at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Virginia. He is a Professor of Rhetoric, and does his research on American political rhetoric; you may have heard him on NPR's All Things Considered. He has won two teaching awards, and has served the University in a variety of administrative positions, including currently serving as the College of Liberal Arts' Associate Dean for Academic Programs.
004:029:000 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Visualizing the Nearly Infinitesimal
Instructor: Louis Messerle
Time: Tuesdays from 11:30am to 12:20pm
Location: 303 Chemistry Building
Description:
This seminar will explore the history, philosophy, art, and technology underlying mankind's attempts to visualize atoms and molecules, from the time of Democritus and the Greek philosophers to the present. We will examine the development of the molecular perspective for understanding the behavior of matter; the experimental methods which have been developed to aid molecular visualization by indirect, and recently, direct means; the contributions of computer technology to visualization of small molecules up to large biomolecuecules; and molecular visualization in contemporary culture. The class will tour a variety of research facilities on campus (the High Field NMR; Mass Spectormetry; Image Analysis; Electron Microscopy; and X-Ray Diffraction labs, for instance) and explore course topics with the use of the library and on-line resources.
The entire class will meet once each week for a 50 minute session. Students will also meet once every two weeks in small groups for 25 minutes with the instructor.
Grades will be based on student involvement in the classroom an small group discussions and two short papers on topics of mutual interest to the instructor and the student that are related to molecular visualization.
Louis Messerle is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, where his research interests include organometallic chemistry and inorganic chemistry applied to diagnostic medicine. He has won the Burlington Northern Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching.
06E:029:001 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Smoke and Mirrors: the Secrets of Big Tobacco
Instructor: John Solow
Time: Wednesdays from 1:30pm to 2:20pm
Location: C208 Pappajohn
Description:
Cigarettes are at the same time mankind's most common self-destructive instrument and its most profitable consumer product. Today, Big Tobacco is reeling. Fifty year ago it was a respected industry, now the cigarette companies are being sued by smokers, flight attendants, and State and Federal governments; regulated by the Food and Drug Administration; subject to increasing taxes; barraged by anti-smoking advertisements; and even the subject of a Hollywood movie. What has Big Tobacco done to deserve this? How have they managed to survive? By looking at government reports, industry statements, and secret internal company documents that have been revealed through recent litigation, we will look behind the scenes to learn what the tobacco companies knew about their products, when they knew it, and how they responded.
Grades will be based on three short writing assignments, attendance, and participation in class discussions.
John Solow has taught Economics at Iowa since 1981, specializing in antitrust economics and economic analysis of the law. He likes motorcycle riding and playing the drums and does not wear socks if at all possible.
07X:029:001 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Chicanos and Popular Culture
Instructor: Heriberto Godina
Time: Wednesdays from 7:00pm to 8:20pm
Location: N207 Lindquist Center
Description:
What does it mean to be a Chicano in the United States? This seminar will explore the philosophical and historical foundations of the Chicano Movement that inspired the literary and artistic contributions of contemporary Chicanos. We will examine the presence and influence of Chicanos in popular culture: film, music, dance, television. As we explore these topics, we'll also examine the recent controversial topics of migration to the Midwest and bilingual education. All first-year students interested in learning about Chicano culture are invited to enroll.
Grades will be based on class participation and seven short (1-2 page) 'response' papers.
Heriberto Godina describes himself as a "Chicano." He participated in the educational reforms inspired by Chicano activists in the 1970s. An assistant professor in the College of Education, he teaches courses in language and literacy for future school teachers.
008:029:001 2 s.h. First-Year Seminar: The Vampire in Literature and Film
Instructor: Rob Latham
Time: Mondays from 12:00noon to 1:20pm
Location: 215 EPB
Description:
The figure of the vampire, originating in classic myth and medieval folklore, has become a staple of contemporary popular culture, due largely to its literary appropriation, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, by the British Romantic poets. For these writers, the figure was a complexly expressive emblem, combining themes of immortality, of bodily and psychic metamorphosis, of exploitative sexual and social relationships, of transfiguring desires and unquenchable hungers-themes that subsequent authors of vampire texts have inherited and built upon. Indeed, thanks to Victorian and modern treatments, the figure has become a rich and subtle icon, condensing into a single resonant image all manner of personal and social obsessions and anxieties. This class will survey representative vampire texts from the past two centuries, from the poetry of Keats and Coleridge and Bram Stoker's Dracula to recent films such as The Lost Boys. We will look at both the developing complexity of the image and to its evolving capacity to address issues of our time, especially issues relating to race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Note: Class will meet once each week for 75 minutes, but there will also be 3-4 required, out-of-class film screenings.
Grades will be based on attendance and participation, a weekly reading journal that will be circulated to the class as a springboard for discussion, two short papers, and a collaborative research project that will culminate in a series of oral reports (and a 10-12 page discursive summary) at the end of the semester.
Rob Latham is an associate professor in the Department of English. He is is currently writing a book on vampires (the fictional variety, that is).
008:029:002 2 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Shakespeare's Hamlet and Early Modern England
Instructor: Douglas Trevor
Time: Wednesdays from 1:00pm to 2:20pm
Location: 218 English Philosophy Building
Description:
This course will minutely explore perhaps the most influential work of English-and European-literature: William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Endlessly performed and scrutinized (over eight hundred scholarly articles have been written on the play over the last decade), Hamlet nonetheless stubornly resists interpretation. What is it about the play that so fascinates and "puzzles the will" (as Hamlet himself asks)? In this course we will begin by reading the play closely over several weeks and then re-consider the work from a variety of perspectives, including Renaissance performance history, medical theories of the day, the political context of the late-Elizabethan era, and the complicated textual history of the play (Hamlet exists in three different versions, all published on three different occasions). We will also screen a number of cinematic treatments of the play.
Grades will be based on class participation, a memorization exercise and-most importantly-a final project developed by each student in consultation with Professor Trevor.
Douglas Trevor joined the Department of English at the University of Iowa in August, 1999. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University, and has published a number of articles on Renaissance literature. He has recently co-edited a collection of essays on early modern culture, and is working on a book titled, The Reinvention of Sadness that explores melancholy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He has taught courses on Shakespeare, Spenser and Sidney, Renaissance Tragedy, Milton, and the Literature and Culture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England.
018:029:001 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: The Italians in America
Instructor: Deborah Contrada
Time: Fridays from 1:30pm to 2:20pm
Location: 219 Phillips Hall
Description:
When you hear "Italian," do you think only of pizza and the Mafia? Do you think Sacco and Vanzetti were a vaudeville act and that Al Dente is a guy who makes spaghetti? Is Christopher Columbus a villain or a victim? You've probably heard of Al Capone, but what about Francesca Cabrini, Amedeo Obici, A.P. Giannini, and the Grucci family? Maybe you don't know that an Italian signed the Declaration of Independence. And that an Italian immigrant living on Staten Island invented a "telephone" before Alexander Graham Bell. Or that in 1942, the federal government enacted a relocation program that forced the internment of thousands of Italians and their families. Let's set aside the stereotypes and separate the legends from the legacies. In this course, we will explore the fortunes and misfortunes of Italian immigrants to the New World, through readings and video.
Grades will be based on home work assignments, class participation, short "reaction" papers, and a final project.
Debbie Contrada teaches Italian Language and Literature, writes about medieval poets no one else has ever heard of, and secretly dreams of teaching courses on Baseball, Hoaxes, and the Mystery Novel.
019:029:001 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Coolies, Commies, and Spies--US Perceptions and Representations of China
Instructor: Judy Polumbaum
Time: Wednesdays from 12:00noon to 1:00pm
Location: W322 Seashore Hall
Description:
This seminar explores how Americans have viewed China and the Chinese people over the last two centuries, and the historical and social contexts of these changing perceptions and representations. We will use a range of primary and secondary sources, including legal documents, news and other media accounts, movies, cartoons, memoirs, works of fiction, and historical scholarship. W will examine myths and realities of Chinese society as well as stereotypes and misconceptions about the lives of Chinese sojourners and immigrants to the U.S. from railroad workers of the nineteenth century to garment workers, scientists, and students today.
Grades will be based on class preparation and participation, individual or team presentations on readings and other assigned materials, and short reaction essays.
Judy Polumbaum spent most of Spring 2000 in China. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her research interests include newsroom decision making, news coverage of the environment and women's issues, journalism and freedom of expression in cross-cultural perspective, and East Asian media systems. She teaches feature, freelance, and magazine writing; international communication; and other courses. She has taught several times in the First-Year Seminar Program, including courses on sports in the media.
22C:002:001 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Computation as Deduction
Instructor: Arthur Fleck, Department of Computer Science
Time: Wednesdays from 12:30pm to 1:20pm
Location: 205 MacLean Hall
Description:
This seminar explores the link between analytical thinking and computer-generated solutions to problems. Specifically, we will be looking at how computation can be conceived of as logical deduction performed by a computer. We will discuss the elements of precise logical thinking, and reveal how logical assertions can effectively serve as a computer program. During the first part of the semester students will learn how to use the University's computing facilities and get specific training in the use of the Prolog programming language. Each student will learn to read, write, and analyze small Prolog programs.
Grades will be based on use of computer software tools and projects involving reading and writing small Prolog programs.
Arthur Fleck has a special interest in alternative programming language designs. Logic programming attracts him because of the directness it provides for progressing from conceptual solutions to computer programs. More information is available on his web page: http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~fleck
22M:014:001 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Mathematics and the Real World
Instructor: David Manderschied
Time: Tuesdays from 11:30am to 12:20pm
Location: 114 MacLean Hall
Description:
You may have heard that mathematics is useful: parents and teachers say this often. But you may not have believed it. In this seminar, we will discuss how mathematics can help us understand the world around us. We will do this by looking at specific problems from a number of different real world areas, including medical testing, games of chance, and computer security. You'll find that often "common sense" and intuition won't help you find a solution to these problems, but that mathematics can, and that in fact, there are often multiple, equally correct, solutions, that can be developed from different approaches. There are no special prerequisites for this class: if you have completed two years of high school algebra and a year of geometry you have enough background.
Grades will be based on class participation and bi-weekly homework assignments.
David Manderscheid's special research interest is in number theory, which has recently become important because of its usefulness in the development of "unbreakable codes." He has won many teaching awards, including the Collegiate Teaching Award in the College of Liberal Arts.
030:029:001 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: The (Mis)Information Society
Instructor: Douglas Madsen
Time: Tuesdays from 9:30am to 10:20am
Location: 137 Schaeffer Hall
Description:
American Society is awash in misinformation-much of it flowing through the mass media and dressed up in what appears to be scientific (and numerical) clothing. Such misinformation gets incorporated into public discussion (and fears) and, in the worst cases, into public policy. This course focuses on claims found in the mass media on topics ranging from public opinion to health risks. Students in the course will learn some basics of how to evaluate research, with particular attention to quantitative evidence and the inferences derived therefrom. Each student will take one published report for an independent assessment and present the assessment to the class.
Grades will be based on class participation and the independent assessment and presentation.
Douglas Madsen is a professor in the Department of Political Science, where he studies political behavior and its causes.
030:029:002 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Lawyers in the American Political System
Instructor: Tim Hagle
Time: Wednesdays from 12:30pm to 1:20pm
Location: 251 Schaeffer Hall
Description:
This seminar will introduce students to several topics and issues related to the roles of lawyers and the legal community in the development of the law and, more generally, the American political system. We will look at legal education, the "legal culture," types of lawyers and legal jobs, how different types of lawyers influence the law in different ways, and how lawyers influence public policy and political institutions. Students will learn how to use internet resources to find information on legal developments -- court decisions, advocacy projects, and so on.
Grades will be based on class participation and a few short essays and class presentations.
Tim Hagle is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science. He is also the prelaw advisor for Political Science. More information about this course can be found at his web site, http://www.uiowa.edu/~030116/
034:029:001 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: The Social Roots of Academic Ability: Who is "Good" and Why
Instructor: Michael Lovaglia
Time: Tuesdays from 2:00pm to 2:50pm
Location: W113 Seashore Hall
Description:
This course investigates the reasons for academic ability and performance. Students will learn why so much importance is placed on academic achievement and its relationship to success in our society. They will learn how opportunities for success are structured in the dominant culture, and investigate the fairness of current practices that decide who gets those opportunities. Through discussion, short essays, and group activities, students will learn social-psychological techniques that can increase or inhibit individual academic performance.
Grades will be based on participation in class discussion (based on assigned readings), contributions to group activities, and two short essays.
Michael Lovaglia is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, where he teaches courses on Sociological Theory, the Sociology of Science and Social Psychology. His book Knowing People: The Personal Use of Social Psychology was published in 1999; his textbook on Social Psychology (written with Jeffrey Lucas) will be published in 2000.
035:029:000 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Hispanic Culture on the Web-Diversity and Distinction
Instructor: Philip Klein
Time: Mondays from 3:30pm to 4:20pm
Location: 218 Phillips Hall
Note: A solid background in Spanish, either from high-school study or Hispanic heritage, will be very helpful for this class.
Description:
There exists a world of internet sites published in Spanish, offering the same dizzying array of content (from insipid to inspired) that we are used to on domestic sites. Persons of Hispanic heritage and others familiar with the Spanish language have special reason to explore this alternate universe and its treasures of cultural uniqueness. But many Anglos (for example, a UI professor named Klein) also enjoy discovering attractive and informative gems or a thought-provoking new twist on a topic thought familiar tucked into Spanish-language web sites [some of which publish a parallel English language version for surfers with limited Spanish].
In this seminar, we will divide the Internet into interest areas and try to separate the grano [wheat] from the paja [chaff]. Then we will share with each other what we've found, rate the sites along parameters we've decided are relevant, and maybe even create a new UI site with our favorite links.
Grades will be based on attendance and participation; three web-based seminar presentations; a "surfing log"; and a four-five page final paper.
Phil Klein has lived in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico & Spain. At the UI he teaches courses in Spanish grammar and Hispanic linguistics. His research involves computer modeling of Spanish (natural language processing) in Prolog.
036:029:001 1 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Disasters and Catastrophes
Instructor: Randy Hirokawa
Time: Thursdays from 1:05pm to 2:20pm
Location: 205 Becker Communication Studies Building
Description:
The recent crash of Egypt Air Flight 990 and the bonfire accident on the campus of Texas A&M University are grim reminders that man-made disasters and catastrophes are an ever-present aspect of everyday life. This seminar focuses on man-made disasters and catastrophes to promote an understanding of why they occur and what, if anything, can be done to prevent similar occurrences in the future. We will examine video and written accounts of a number of man-made catastrophes and disasters, and analyze their causes.
Grades will be based on a written and oral presentation of research that describes and analyzes a particular man-made disaster or catastrophe. Students will work independently or in pairs.
Randy Hirokawa is a professor in, and Chair of, the Department of Communication Studies. His research interests include group decision making, organizational communication, and interdisciplinary health care team education. In all of his research, he asks the question, "how does a group's decision-making communication affect its decision-making performance?"
042:029:001 2 s.h. First-Year Seminar: Gandhian Solutions: Can They Solve Today's Problems?
Instructor: Tom Walz
Time: Mondays from 10:30am to 12:20pm
Location: 206 North Hall
Description:
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as Mahatma Gandhi, was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. The independence of India from Great Britain might not have occurred without his efforts, and he influenced both Nelson Mandela's approach to South African apartheid and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy of non-violence during the United States civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
This seminar will explore the experiences that shaped Gandhi's thinking and introduce students to the core concepts of his philosophy. We will discuss whether Gandhi's ideas are still relevant and whether they could be applied to current social problems.
Grades will be based on class participation, a book review, and a short paper.
Tom Walz recently retired and is now professor emeritus in the School of Social Work. He is an international traveler and a former director of Peace Core Operations in Honduras. He was the first North American social worker to teach social work students in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.