I have a handful of guilty pleasures: Cosmo, Gossip Girl and Pirate’s Booty to name a shameful few. One of my top guilty pleasures however is perusing the Master Schedule. I’m a self-proclaimed schedule freak and never finalize my semester’s classes until a few days before the drop/add deadline. So, I’m pleased to present a list of the most eye-catching classes offered for the fall of 2011. Though I could never be completely objective in choosing, many of the listed classes are ones not regularly offered year round, or are simply classes that non-majors overlook but may enjoy. So whether you’re an undecided freshman or a senior looking to fill some credit hours, this list could help reveal departments you’ve never before considered.
American Studies
The American Studies department continually offers unique opportunities to learn about niche topics from a variety of interests. The goal for most classes in this department is to reveal and explore the diversity of identities in numerous cultures. I highly recommend glancing at all of them, though these courses stood out most to me.
AM-331 Critical Whiteness in the US
This semester has raised several questions about race in the Skidmore community, noted by its prevalence in The Skidmore News, the most recent teach-in, and several events addressing the issue. This class offers the opportunity for anyone with an interest in the topic to continue this important discussion into the fall. Also, non-majors, don’t be intimidated by the 300-level classes; American Studies students often succeed with a sincere effort and willingness to discuss openly in class. Here’s the course description:
An interdisciplinary examination of whiteness in U.S. culture and history. Explores the racial construction of whiteness, focusing on its changing legal, political, aesthetic, and cultural definitions over four centuries of American experience, with special emphasis on the concept of whiteness in contemporary ethnographic studies, memoirs, and essays. Students will examine the relationship between whiteness and other components of identity. The nature of white privilege and the conditions of access to whiteness will be investigated.
300-level courses in American Studies are not ordinarily open to first-year students except by permission of the instructor. (Designated a Cultural Diversity course.)
AM-360A The 1920s
Course Description:
An intensive examination of the “roaring twenties, with special attention to the impact of class, race, and gender on the development of American culture in the period. The course focuses on a series of controversies illuminating some of the conflicting forces at work in American society, including debates over immigration, Prohibition, evolution, sexuality, and the role of women in society. It will examine some of the major intellectual, social, and cultural issues of the era.
300-level courses in American Studies are not ordinarily open to first-year students except by permission of the instructor.
Art History
Art History offers an alternative way to understand world history—often from a more intimately human perspective. If you have an interest in art or museums, taking an art history course will completely alter your understanding and give you a critical and informed eye for art. Skidmore’s Art History department is no easy A, but well worth the gained perspective.
AH-107 The Domestic Interior
The department recently changed its rules from requiring Survey of Western Art to now considering every 100-level course as a pre-requisite to higher-level Art History courses. This move should attract more students to take the alternative 100-level courses including this one, taught by Mimi Hellman (who especially receives high praise from Art History students). Course description:
Introduction to the design history and cultural significance of domestic interiors in a range of places and periods. Students will investigate how the visual, spatial, and material aspects of living environments both express and actively shape changing values. Topics include aspects of planning decoration, and social usage; shifting conceptions of privacy and family; and the role of design in the formation of gender, class, and national identities. (Fulfills humanities requirement.)
Classics
Referenced in numerous pieces of great literature, the Classics have remained a foundational layer to modern culture. Though many of the classes offered in this department require knowledge of Greek or Latin, some are accessible to the wider student body while still offering valuable information and discussion to majors. Examples of these classes for the fall include:
CC-365 Sacred Places/Ritual Spaces
This class also counts towards an Art History degree. Course description:
Although the boundary between sacred and secular space was less rigid in ancient Greece, sanctuaries were areas set aside specifically for encountering the divine. This seminar will explore a number of questions associated with Greek sanctuaries from their inception in the 8th century B.C. through the Hellenistic period. Such questions include what physically constituted a Greek sanctuary, what sorts of rituals and religious practices occurred in the sanctuary, and what the social functions of these sites were. We will explore the fundamentals of Greek religion for the first few weeks and then focus on specific sanctuaries: two of the four Panhellenic sites, one of which also served as an oracular shrine (Olympia, Delphi), the healing cult of Asklepios at Epidauros, and the Eleusinian mysteries. In our examination of Olympia, Delphi, Epidauros, and Eleusis, we will discuss in detail the archaeological and art historical composition of the site as well as examine the particular types of religious practice associated with that sanctuary. In doing so we will gain a better understanding of the functions of the sanctuary and the central role it played in Greek society.
CC-265 Reading Rome
Note: no pre-reqs! Course description:
All roads lead to Rome. In Reading Rome students will explore the construction of the Eternal City: not only the geographical layout, layering, and the growth of the city over time, but also the reception of the city in the texts of ancient and modern authors. Every text about Rome — including stories of its foundation, praise of its buildings and monuments, and laments by those forced to leave it — creates a new Rome, which replicates, reimagines or even replaces the physical city. (Fulfills Humanities requirement). Prerequisite: None
Economics
A sense of economics, let alone a major in it, is useful in almost every career. Often, the Economics and the Management and Business majors are labeled as merely practical. But next semester, the department will offer a twist on the topic for its majors and minors.
EC-361/001 The Economics of Sports
Course description:
The development of Western economic thinking from Adam Smith to the present, stressing in its historical context the conflict between the mainstream of economic thought and important alternatives such as the Marxist, institutional, and anarchist traditions. Emphasis is on the works of a few major writers. Prerequisites EC236 and EC 237.
EC-361/002 The Economics of Heath and Healthcare
Course description:
This course examines the issues of health and healthcare from an economic perspective. Specific issues to be discussed are the relationship between health and healthcare, demand under conditions of uncertainty, the production and distribution of health services, the role of insurance the government as insurer and provider. We will also study the economics of various sub-markets such as the pharmaceutical market and the market of physician services. Primary focus will be on the United States, though alternative health care systems are also discussed. PrerequisitesEC236 and EC 237.
English
Here’s where I get totally biased as an English major. Regardless, the English department offers a substantial amount of classes each semester and for those who have a little (or a lot) of interest in literature or writing, can offer very specific topics for discussion.
EN-105/01 and 02 Writing Seminar II: Writing in the Tang
As a writing fan and an art fan, I’d be all over this seminar. In truth, all of the EN-105 courses are extremely interesting and specific as they are required for all students. This particular course is offered almost every semester and the presence of two sections of the course flaunts its popularity. However, if you still need to take the 105, I suggest checking out each class description to decide which topic most interests you. Course description:
The mission statement for The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery states that the purpose of the museum “is to foster interdisciplinary thinking and studying, to invite active and collaborative learning and to awaken the community to the richness and diversity of the human experience through the medium of art.” In this seminar, we will explore the various ways the Tang strives to fulfill this mission as we complete writing assignments that require careful investigation of the exhibitions on view at the museum. This course does not require any previous experience with art.
EN-105/17 Writing Seminar II: Food Literacy
A similar course has been offered in the past, but next semester’s will be taught by visiting faculty member, Sarah Breckenridge who is completing her Ph.D at Penn State. The reading list alone makes this one a winner (Tony Bourdain as an academic source? Yes, please), and could attract anyone with an interest in sustainability, or of course, food! Course description:
You already know how to interpret arguments, and how to speak in ways that are appropriate to specific audiences and contexts. This class will sharpen these skills, and teach you to write with skill, conviction, and grace. You will learn how to make an argument effectively, and how to decipher the arguments that surround you. You will also learn to analyze and produce verbal and visual texts. These skills will be developed through a series of readings and discussions on food: how it is produced, how people write about it, and how it has been popularized in the twenty-first century. Separate units will include hunting and gathering, farming, and food celebrity. We will read a collection of interdisciplinary essays, and consume other food media including blogs, television programs, and films. We will also read exemplary works in each unit, including Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It, Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, and Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.
EN-363 Special Studies: Jane Austen, Inc.
Speaking of guilty pleasures… Course description:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged” that Jane Austen’s books about life in Regency England are not in “want” of twenty-first century readers. In “Jane Austen, Inc.,” we will return to Regency England to learn about the life of an author whose work is rooted in her own time yet resonates in ours. Austen is a canonical novelist who has become a consumerist icon and a profitable literary brand. Janeites, a term for members of her fan club, consume sequels and spin-offs as readily as her fiction. Film adaptations of her six novels have increased her fan base and sparked a multi million dollar industry. Beginning with biography, we will examine Austen in her cultural context, focusing on her novels—such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion—alongside the adaptations they have spawned— including Pride and Promiscuity, Clueless, and Jane Austen in Scarsdale. Students will write cultural study reports about Regency times, an annotated bibliography about an aspect of the Austen industry, and frequent papers to illuminate Austen’s literary sensibility and the business sense that surrounds her today.
Counts toward Gender Studies Credit.
Government
In my opinion, Skidmore’s Government department does an excellent job of incorporating government (or political science) course material with a liberal arts education. Many 100-level courses are lecture style—a more traditional approach to teaching the subject—but higher-level courses produce debate and discussion due to the smaller class sizes. These 200- and 300-level classes often require one of the 100-level classes as a pre-req, but are otherwise fairly open to non-majors.
GO-239 Nationalism and Politics in the Middle East
Though it’s not a “special studies” topic and will likely be offered several times in a single student’s college career, I believe this class will experience a refreshed angle due to the current climate in Northern Africa. Not only should it be informative, but also even more relevant to current events by the fall. Course description:
Introduction to the basic problems and trends of the major “confrontation” and oil states of the Middle East, including leadership, instability, modernization, nationalism, and war. Covers Egypt, Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Turkey, and the Palestinians. In-depth coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Prerequisites GO 103 or permission of instructor.
(Designated a non-Western culture course.)
GO-319 What the US Does Wrong In the World: Views from India and Answers from Washington
Anyone who has studied abroad (or lived in multiple and opposing cultures) will tell you that going abroad not only taught them about the society they temporarily lived in, but also revealed to them previously overlooked aspects about their home country. It seems this course utilizes the same foil to examine American government, while also giving a perspective on India. Course description:
Outside the United States, and outside Western Europe, the role of the United States in the world is often called “dominant,” “hegemonic”, “discriminatory,” and even “trigger-happy.” One source for this critique is India, a democracy now seeking great power status in the world. Many informed Indian strategic thinkers believe that the United States will block the rise of new great powers by such means as preventing the international movement of high technology. Is there substance to these charges? Can the United States government make a persuasive reply? These are the central issues of the course. Prerequisites GO 103 or permission of instructor.
(Designated a Cultural Diversity course.)
Music
You’ve heard it a hundred times: Skidmore is known for its arts. Since the completion of the Arthur Zankel Music Center, the music department has been able to expand itself to offer more and better opportunities for majors and non-majors. In addition to the nearly endless list of instruments you can learn through a private tutor, the department even offers some cool courses for the not-so-musically inclined.
MU-106 The Beatles
Next fall, regular emcee for the popular, annual Beatlemania concert, Gordon Thompson will teach two courses on the Beatles: one at the 100-level and another at the 300-. A simple course description describes the two classes as follows:
A course focused on the music of one or two great composers. Recent offerings have included Mozart, Bach, Debussy and Ravel, and Schubert. (Fulfills humanities requirement.) (MU 106C is designated as a Cultural Diversity course.) This course may be repeated for credit at the discretion of the department.
MU-344B The Beatles
Course description:
Specialized studies in topics to be announced each semester. Primarily for juniors and qualified sophomores. Prerequisites MU 242 or permission of instructor. This course may be repeated for credit at the discretion of the department.
Physical Activity
Nothing could motivate me more to get out of bed and go to the gym than knowing that my GPA is dependent on my attendance. This incentive is the reason that I love how Skidmore offers fitness classes. There’s a nice variety of options from horseback riding to racquetball to weight-lifting, for anyone who wants to tone up, relieve stress, or just get out of the library.
PA-132B Beginning Mountain Biking
While most activities are regularly offered, I was pleased to see (or at least notice for the first time) this course. A chance to get off campus and enjoy the Adirondack region that we often miss as students is a great opportunity to catch fresh air before the harsher part of winter hits in the early spring semester. As a beginner-level course that only meets once a week, I’d treat myself to it.
Psychology
If you’ve taken Psych 101, you’ve probably found yourself referencing psychology fun facts ever since—at least that’s been my experience. Psychology is easily adaptable to several if not a majority of other departments in the college, and therefore fits nicely into a liberal arts education. For non-majors, I highly recommend Sheldon Solomon’s 101 course (and am not alone). It might be the largest class you take at Skidmore, but so worth it. Like the Government department, the Psychology department is not very accessible to those who haven’t taken the introductory courses. However, the major takes more interesting angles as you progress into higher levels. Just one example is listed below.
PS-333 Sleep and Dreams
Course description:
An examination of the little-understood phenomena of sleeping and dreaming. We will consider theoretical explanations from neuroscience and psychology, and empirical findings from neuroscience and experimental psychology. Students also will investigate a particular aspect of sleeping and/or dreaming through designing and carrying out projects. Prerequisites PS101, PS217; familiarity with statistics is helpful in reading the primary sources employed.
Hopefully this mini-Academic Fair revealed courses or departments you hadn’t considered and encouraged a thorough run through the Master Schedule for yourself. Best of luck for registration!