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 15-16 students) led or team-taught by UI faculty members. The courses do not offer credit you can apply to the General Education Program and you can't use these courses toward a major, but First-Year Seminars do offer you a chance to focus on unusual and interesting topics chosen by some of our most exciting professors.
First-Year Seminars are offered for 1 s.h. If you choose to take a First-Year Seminar please remember the College's guideline: student preparation time over the 15 weeks of a semester usually averages 2 hours of out-of-class work each week for every hour in class, or for every hour of credit earned. So a First-Year Seminar that meets all semester will probably require an average of 2 hours of work each week; one that meets for a shorter time will require more time each week.
First-Year Seminars use the A-F grading system. Instructors may also choose to use plus/minus grading. All of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 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.
(You may also want to look at the First-Year Students-Only sections offered for Spring 2005
First-Year Seminar: The Art of Exploration
01H:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: Christopher Roy
Course Meets: 12:30P - 1:20P on Wednesdays in W19 Art Building
The Art of Exploration: Illustrations from the Travelogues of the Great Explorers will be a very visual art history course in which we will examine the paintings, photographs, sketches, and published illustrations that accompanied the accounts of European and American explorers. Images will be discussed based on what they tell us about the artists who created them, about the explorers who commissioned them, and about the places and peoples represented.
Grades will be based on: Each student will be asked to lead one discussion of the required readings and will be graded on this activity, his/her other participation in class, and a few short quizzes.
Christopher Roy is a professor of Art History who specializes in African Art. He was a member of the Peace Corp in Burkina-Faso, and continues to do research in Ghana and Burkina-Faso. His CD-Rom collections of African Art are widely used.
First-Year Seminar: Conversations with Paintings
01P:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: Ron Cohen
Course Meets: 4:00P-4:50P on Wednesdays in W19 Art Building
The goal of this seminar is to introduce students to how art communicates. We will look closely at different works of art (from prehistoric cave paintings to Picasso and Matisse) and attempt to interpret the concepts presented by the artist through style, historical context and medium used. The skills of analysis and the ability to interpret and articulate ideas learned in this class will be applicable in many other disciplines. Activities will include discussion, note-taking and journal keeping, and visits to museums.
Grades will be based on: class discussion and the student's journal and a final paper responding to one or more of the works we explore.
Ron Cohen is an associate professor in the School of Art and Art History. He is an artist who has worked in many media, and currently teaches courses in drawing and painting. His work has been exhibited extensively, including in Chicago and New York.
First-Year Seminar: Living with a Communication Disorder
003:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructors: Toni Cilek, Sally Junkins, and Anne Wallace
Course Meets: 1:30P - 2:20P on Wednesdays in 329 Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center
This seminar provides the opportunity to explore the psychological and emotional issues faced by individuals who have various types of communication orders. Specific disorder areas addressed in class will include: speech and language problems; stuttering; and hearing impairments. Issues relative to adjustment to school, work, and daily life activities while dealing with a communication problem will be explored. The class will include readings (including David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty Someday, Everyone Hear Spoke Sign Language by Nora Ellen Groce, and Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin) as well as films and videos. There will also be multiple opportunities to engage in direct discussion with individuals who have communication disorders.
Grades will be based on: analyses of the readings and class participation in discussion, role-playing, and interviewing activities.
Toni Cilek, Sally Junkins, and Anne Wallace are clinical faculty members of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. They are excited about team-teaching this seminar, where each will bring a different perspective and expertise to the discussions and activities.
First-Year Seminar: The Drama of Medieval Manuscripts
008:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: Jonathan Wilcox
Course Meets: 11:30A - 12:20P on Wednesdays in 442 English Philosophy Building
Iowa is a surprisingly good place to study medieval manuscripts. The UI Center for the Book provides expertise in such hands-on skills of book creation as calligraphy and bookbinding (in addition to papermaking and printing); the Medieval Studies Program brings together faculty from a range of disciplines (and offers an undergraduate Certificate in Medieval Studies); while Special Collections in the University Libraries owns a fascinating and surprising range of medieval fragments and manuscripts. This course, taught by an English Department specialist in medieval manuscripts (and Coordinator of the Center for the Book), will make use of these resources to provide an introduction to medieval manuscripts - both academic and in the flesh. Class participants will learn to describe the parts of a medieval manuscript and to see how the material evidence can be crucial for interpretation. Throughout the semester we will also read an exciting novel written by a medieval scholar and semiotician that plays with the idea of the medieval library: Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose. (note--remember, First Year Seminars do not count toward any major)
Grades will be based on: responses to the readings, a short guided research project, and participation in the assignments/projects on medieval manuscripts.
Jonathan Wilcox is a professor of English and current Coordinator of the UI Center for the Book. He also participates in the Medieval Studies Certificate. In the last few years, he has edited two collections of essays, Humour in Anglo-Saxon Literature (Cambridge, 2000) and Naked Before God: Uncovering the Body in Anglo-Saxon England (Morgantown, 2003) as well as teaching courses in the language and literature of Anglo-Saxon England.
First Year Seminar: Being Young in Africa
016:049 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: James Giblin
Course Meets:2:30P - 4:20P on Wednesdays in 476 Phillips Hall
note: This course meets from January 18 through March 11
What is it like to be young in Africa? African children, teens, and young adults encounter many of the same problems -- uncomprehending parents, pressure to get good grades, anxieties about sexuality -- faced by young people in the United States. They also face situations which are utterly unfamiliar to most US young people -- like a devastating AIDS pandemic, incomes of less than a dollar a day, and catastrophic warfare in some countries. This course ill look at the familiar experience of being young in some unfamiliar social and cultural settings. By doing so, class members will learn how to ask the sorts of questions about culture and history which help us make sense of unfamiliar societies. We will view films and videos, read some short novels and brief social studies (all of which have been written or produced by Africans), and discuss what we learn.
Grades will be based on: participation in class discussion, brief response essays, and one short paper.
James Giblin is a professor of History, whose primary research interest is Tanzania and East Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He is currently working on a collaborative research project on the oral history of the Maji Maji war, a major rebellion against German colonialism in Tanzania during 1905-06.
First-Year Seminar: Dimensions of Visualization in Arts and Sciences
22M:014 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: Dennis Roseman
Course Meets:1:30P - 2:20P on Thursdays in 116 McLean Hall
This seminar is about an expanded vision for structure and pattern in the world, with applications to the arts and sciences. What is the shape of the Universe? What are the possibilities? How can we visualize these alternatives? What is the geometry behind M.C. Escher's drawings? How was Duchamp's work influenced by his studies of 4-dimensions? How many dimensions do we need to account for the physical Universe we observe? Our goal in this course is not so much to find answers, but rather to learn to ask more questions and have fun seeing how far we can get thinking about such things. Using visual arts, readings in science, science fiction and fantasy, as well as interactive computer graphics and computer-generated videos, we will explore geometries in 2, 3, and even 4 dimensions.
Grades will be based on: short projects, done individually or in groups, including readings and web-searches Project reports will be given in class.
Dennis Roseman is a Professor of Mathematics interested in knot theory (see some illustrations of the kind of problems he works on here). He is also interested in music, especially folk music, and gardening.
First-Year Seminar: Exploring Mt. Everest
028:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: Susan Birrell
Course Meets: 9:30A - 10:20A on Tuesdays in 332 Field House
At the highest point on the globe, Mt Everest occupies a lofty position not just topographically but culturally and symbolically as well. In this course, we will consider Mt. Everest as more than a site for adventure; we will investigate it as a cultural text and we will develop methodologies for critical analysis to help us explore the meanings that surround it. Using expedition accounts, excerpts from autobiographies, and contemporary journalistic accounts, we will explore four particularly famous expeditions to Mt Everest: the 1924 British expedition during which George Mallory vanished; the "conquest" of Everest in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay; the 1996 "tourist" expeditions detailed in Jon Kraukauer's Into Thin Air; and the 1998 discovery of the body of George Mallory. We will not be asking why people climb Everest (Mallory has already told us it is "because it is there"); we will be exploring how their exploits are framed for the rest of us. What is the effect of these stories, which are usually presented as tales of tragedy, courage, and heroism, and what sorts of cultural meanings are we supposed to take from them?
Grades will be based on: participation in class discussion, a brief report on contemporary accounts of the four expeditions, a journal of your responses to class discussions and readings, and a report tying independent reading to course materials.
Susan Birrell is currently the Chair of the Department of Health, Leisure, and Sport Studies. She has also been Chair of the Department of Women's Studies. She investigates many aspects of sport, and also the cultural meanings generated in and through the experience of "vacations."
First-Year Seminar: The Media vs. the Academy -- Interpreting Political Events
030:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructors: Fred Boehmke, Brian Lai, Ben Read, and David Redlawsk
Course Meets: 9:30-10:20 on Tuesdays in 21 Schaeffer Hall
This seminar will explore the different approaches that the media and academics use to interpret and explain political phenomena. Drawing on several sub-fields within political science, the class will examine media reports on controversial issues and compare them with academic research on the same questions. Topics will include current issues in US politics, international relations, and comparative politics. Students will gain a better sense of how to process media accounts and use a critical eye while considering what political scientists have to contribute to our understanding of current events. The class will involve reading newspapers, political blogs, and cutting-edge academic research.
Grades will be based on: participation in class discussion, short papers, and an in-class presentation
Fred Boehmke, Brian Lai, Ben Read, and David Redlawsk are all faculty members in the Department of Political Science. They will be working together on this class, with two faculty members attending each session, and each instructor bringing specific expertise in different areas.
First-Year Seminar: Anime and Manga
039:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: Robert Leutner
Course Meets: 4:30P - 5:20P on Thursdays in 317 Phillips Hall
The twinned Japanese arts of illustrated fiction (manga) and animated cartoons (anime) have had an explosive impact around the world on youth culture via broadcast and cable television and digital media.
This course will look at the manga/anime phenomenon from several perspectives, but it has two principle objectives: to show how this particular pop-cultural phenomenon can be understood and analyzed using academic methods without compromising its vitality and to put it in its historical-cultural context as a product of Japan in global media culture. Genre, authorship, and history will all be explored.
Grades will be based on: Attendance and participation (20%) and a final project (80%) developed over the course of the semester in consultation with the instructor
Robert Leutner is an associate professor in the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literature, specializing in Japan. He teaches a variety of courses about Japanese literature, both in English translation and in Japanese.
First-Year Seminar: The Social Roots of Academic Ability: Who is "Good" and Why
034:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: Michael Lovaglia
Course Meets: 2:30P - 3:20P Mondays in W113 Seashore Hall
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 the Chair of the Department of Sociology, where he teaches courses on Sociological Theory, the Sociology of Science and Social Psychology. He is the author of several textbooks as well as numerous papers. He has taught this first-year seminar a number of times, always to enthusiastic reviews.
First-Year Seminar: Listening to the World
036:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: Camille Seaman
Course Meets: 3:30P - 4:20P on Wednesdays in 320 Becker Communication Studies Building
From the first moments of conception, we spend our lives in an ocean of sound, but sight is still the privileged sense. In this seminar, we will reflect on the role of sound in our lives, paying particular attention to sounds that are fleeting in nature and/or disappearing. There will be readings and discussions about sound, and about the role of sound in media, particular moving image media, but the seminar will center around hands-on audio collection, with microphones and digital recorders.
Grades will be based on: attendance and participation and a variety of listening exercises and sound collecting projects.
Camille Seaman is a faculty member in the Department of Communication Studies. Her short films and videos have been exhibited in festivals and museums around the country, and have been recognized with several awards.
First-Year Seminar: Water Privatization and Water Justice
610:029 Section 001 1 s.h.
Instructor: Thomas E. Lewis
Course Meets: on Tuesdays from 9:30 am to 10:45 am in 114 Phillips Hall
NOTE: this course meets from January 18 to March 8.
This seminar will examine the growing crisis of clean drinking water and efforts to privatize water resources, including social movements that are working against water privatization. Supporters of privatization claim that it is necessary in order to insure inexpensive and abundant supplies of safe drinking water in the future, when the ongoing depletion and pollution of water resources will have made supplies scarce. Opponents of privatization claim that it contradicts consumer interests and conflicts with traditional practices and customs of many communities. They argue that water is -- and should remain -- a publicly owned and democratically managed natural resource. The course will include a variety of readings and also videos on this subject.
Grades will be based on: attendance and participation and oral and written reports.
Tom Lewis is a professor and current chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. He has taught previous first-year seminars on "Karl Marx, Dead or Alive?" and "Equality in America." In the Department of Spanish and Portuguese he teaches courses on 19th and 20th century Spanish literature. He is also an activist on issues involving civil rights, labor, and social change.
First-Year Seminar: Human and Non-human Animals
610:029 Section 002 1 s.h.
Instructor: Mary Trachsel
Course Meets: 11:30A - 12:20P on Tuesdays in 464 Phillips Hall
Human and Non-Human Animals will introduce students to an array of perspectives on relationships between human and non-human animals, including anthropomorphism, co-evolution, and genetic kinship through shared ancestry. Students will read a variety of texts and examine artifacts that illustrate and explain these relational theories. We will look at some animal stories for children, pet supply catalogs, sympathy cards for bereaved pet owners, and see a documentary on pet cemeteries, "Gates of Heaven." We'll also read some research articles and watch documentary films on the co-evolution of dogs and humans and on the linguistic competence of apes, dolphins, and grey parrots.
Grades will be based on: weekly reading journals and a small research study designed to answer a question about the cultural significance of animals, animal intelligence, animal behavior, or human-animal relationships. Students will present their project in class.
Mary Trachsel is the Chair of the Department of Rhetoric. She has taught other first-year seminars, including one in the first semester they were offered. She is also a teacher of other teachers of Rhetoric, and teaches courses on Feminist Ethics and the Politics of Literacy.