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Course Descriptions 2011-12

Session I Session II Session III Session IV

Session I

Sept. 28, Oct. 5, Oct 12, Make-up Oct 19

Introduction to Radio Broadcasting

Alumni Hall
Kara Rusch, DJ/ Cadence/C.I.M.P. Records

This course will introduce students to the world of radio broadcasting. After a 10-second synopsis of the history of radio, we'll discuss FCC regulations, formatting options, and the importance of having an interesting radio persona. Ultimately we will make our way into the broadcasting studios of Colgate's WRCU. Interested students will have a hands-on opportunity to record (solo or with a partner depending on time available) a 5 to 10-minute broadcast.

Self Defense
Huntington Gym
Bob Pinney- chemistry instrument technician

Self-defense lessons are designed to build confidence during routine daily activities as well as during physical encounters or attacks. Situation awareness, safety strategies and avoidance is stressed. Communication skills, including dialogue and verbalization will be part of each session.

Build A Baby
238 Ho Science Center
Spencer Kelley- associate professor of psychology

If you were a highly developed, extraterrestrial scientist with advanced technology to engineer organisms from other planets, how would you build a human baby? What kind of brain would you design? What kind of social, emotional, and cognitive predispositions would you include? What kind of environment would you provide? To answer these questions, you must determine what is innate and what is learned in human development. Although this "nature-nurture question" can be traced back to ancient philosophers (right here on Earth!), modern-day science has made great strides in exploring (and reformulating) this question. In this seminar, we will first explore some pop-culture approaches to this issue. Then, we will briefly trace the history of the debate to its foundations in classical and modern philosophy. Finally, we will compare these philosophical and pop-culture perspectives to modern-day scientific approaches. In the end, it is my hope that you will discover that the answers to the nature-nurture question are not on a planet far, far away -- but rather, they are closer to home than ever before.

Architecture as Experience: Paul Rudolph's Dana Fine Arts Center
305 Dana Arts Building
Monika Burczyk- university lecturer

Beginning with a tour of the Paul Rudolph exhibition at the Picker Art Gallery, this course will feature a studio art/photo project centered on the Dana Fine Arts Center. Using disposable and/or digital cameras, students will explore how architecture (space, material, setting) affects their sense of place and self. Students will further research Rudolph's Art Brut movement as well as study how contemporary artists incorporate architecture in their photographic work. Combining these photos either individually or collaboratively, students will create large-scale collages inspired by their experience.

Rhetorical Speaking, History, Principles, and Practice of Public Address
002 Lathrop Hall
John Adams- director of the Colgate Speaking Union

This course introduces students to rhetoric’s history and principles and provides practical experience constructing and delivering speeches in accord with rhetoric's chief generic aims: informing, persuading, and entertaining. Students' speeches will be recorded on Flip-video, emailed to them, and critiqued. Students without access to email will be accommodated.

Everything About Alcohol and Other Drugs That You Didn't Really Know About
108 Persson Hall
Jane Jones- coordinator of alcohol and drug education

During the course of this seminar, students will be presented with detailed information about common drugs of choice. Through the use of PowerPoint, lecture material and humor, individuals will come away with a sound appreciation of the effects of alcohol, marijuana and other street drugs. It will include understanding the way that alcohol and street drugs work within the central nervous system from both long-term and short-term perspectives. A review of the addiction process and the common defenses employed by chemically addicted individuals will be discussed.

Session II

October 26, November 2, November 9, Make-up November 16

Hip Hop Dance
209 Ryan Studio
Yan Kit Pang- professional hip hop instructor, choreographer, guest hip hop teacher at Hamilton College and Colgate University

Explore the fundamentals of hip hop dance. Students will learn how to groove and dance to old school jams as well as to the latest beats. Instruction will include different dance styles such as break dancing, popping, locking, krumping, old school and video dance. This will be a fast pace high-energy class. Students will learn different styles, steps and choreography. No previous dance experience required. Comfortable exercises wear and sneakers suggested.

Studying Animal Behavior
302 Olin Hall
Krista Ingram- assistant professor of biology
In this class, we will explore the methods and techniques for studying animal behavior from both an ecological and evolutionary perspective. Following a brief introduction to the history and methods of studying behavioral ecology, we will discuss and practice techniques in analyzing behavioral studies as we explore the
main concepts of animal behavior. Using case studies from organisms as diverse as dolphins, birds, ants, and humans, we will discuss how scientists determine the mechanisms driving behavior and decipher the ecological and evolutionary consequences of individual and cooperative behaviors. The case studies have been selected to demonstrate the exciting variety of techniques involved in current behavioral research from observational studies to gene expression studies. The class will include brief lectures, exercises, games and, yes, even in-
class data analysis. These activities are designed to stimulate your interest in and understanding of the fascinating interdisciplinary field of behavioral ecology.

Climbing the Walls
Angert Family Climbing Wall - 3rd floor of Huntington Gym
Michael Savage, assistant director of outdoor education

Have you ever wanted to climb a wall like Spiderman? Take this course and learn how to tie knots, use ropes to belay (hold) other climbers and move up the wall using good technique. This class guarantees great fun and that you will be hungry for dinner!

*Limited enrollment- only sign up if you can reliably attend all three classes. Class operates under different schedule*

Forensic-Medical-Entomology
129 Olin Hall
John Novak, professor of biology (emeritus)
Are you a fan of the television show CSI? Are you considering a career in the health sciences? Or perhaps you just like bugs? This course is designed to familiarize students with the utility of arthropods in legal (death scene) investigations and to recognize various arthropods of medical and veterinary importance. Initial study will be made of generalized arthropods, mouthparts, life cycles, and the mechanism for transmission of pathogens. Discussion will include venomous arthropods, tick-borne disease, mosquitoes and myiasis.

Modernist Poetry & The Rethinking of the Human
310 Lawrence Hall
Michael Coyle, associate professor of English
This seminar will explore poetry by four of America’s most important modernist poets: Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot,Wallace Stevens, and Mina Loy. Each of these poets struggles to come to terms with what it means to be human, and to give form to human experience. What makes this struggle “modernist” is twofold. First, pursuing their work in the wake of Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud, these poets endeavor to find both meaning and truth but do so knowing these two things are not necessarily synonymous. Second, knowing that meaning and truth are not necessarily the same thing leads them to the conviction that experience can only be modeled in aesthetic terms. Students should leave this seminar with a clearer understanding of not just what these poems mean but also how they mean. You will also have begun thinking about why poetry matters—not just in the terms of the poets we read together but also in our own.

The Daily Life in the Historical Greek World
20 Lawrence Hall

Robert Garland - Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Professor of the classics

We will look at the Greek landscape and try to understand how it shaped Greek history and the Greek mentality.

We will look at the ways in which the Greeks went into battle, how they faced death, what they did for a living, what they believed in, how they worshiped their gods, what they did to relax. We will especially talk about those who are often overlooked in history, such as children, women, slaves, the poor, the sick, refugees, and the disabled. We will also talk about the ways in which the Greeks thought differently from ourselves - how they thought about foreigners, women, and slaves. The aim will be to put you in the sandals and the head of someone who was alive two and a half thousand years ago - to understand their physical circumstances and the way they look at the world and saw their place in it.

Session III
Feb. 1, Feb. 8, Feb. 15, Make-Up Feb. 29

Jazz Appreciation
310 Lawrence Hall
Kara Rusch, DJ/ Cadence/C.I.M.P. Records

Interested in Jazz but always felt you needed to “understand” it in order to appreciate it? Don’t be intimidated. A crash course in Jazz appreciation will be offered here. With toes tappin’ and heads bobbin’ we’ll chronologically explore Ragtime, Traditional Jazz, Swing, Bebop, Hard Bop and beyond. Jazz is one of America’s greatest artistic contributions to the world. This is not a dry boring music theory course-- this is an engaging course to introduce you to some fine music and give you the tools to start your own listening journey.

NYC History
20 Lawrence Hall
Graham Hodges- George Dorland Langdon Jr. Professor of History and Africana & Latin American Studies

This course will provide an overview, with lectures, powerpoint, film clips and music, of the history of New York City from original settlement in 1624 to the present. Part one will cover from the first Afro-European settlers in 1624 to 1783, when New York Becomes an American City. Part 2 will cover from 1783 to Consolidation of the City in 1898 and Part 3 will cover the twentieth century and the present.

Climbing the Walls
3^rd Floor of Huntington Gym
Michael Savage- Assistant Director of Outdoor Education, Climbing Specialist

* Limited enrollment- only sign up if you can reliably attend all three classes. Class operates under different schedule
* Schedule: 4-5:35pm- class; 5:45-6:30 dinner

* All participants must have a signed liability waver by parent or guardian to participate

East Coast Swing
209 Ryan Studio
Cheryl Jonsson- Associate of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing

This course will have you dancing the basic figures of East Coast Swing in an enjoyable and social manner. During the course you will develop a good knowledge and understanding of the musical requirements in relationship to each step within a dance figure. These will include rhythm and character, time signature, beat value and tempo. Other important aspects of dance to be studied will be Dance Position, Footwork, Lead and Follow.

Introduction to Italian Language and Culture
212 Lawrence Hall
Claudia Romanelli- Visiting Italian Instructor

This seminar will introduce students to the Italian language within a cultural context. Everyday spoken Italian will be used. Idiomatic expressions will be practiced. Structural aspects of the language will be explored while interweaving cultural content throughout the seminar by using authentic resources, such as films, literature, music, the Internet, newspapers, magazines and comic books. Possible topics of discussion will include Italian geography with a particular emphasis on Italy's art cities, namely, Rome, Florence and Venice, Italian arts, social customs and traditions, youth culture and stereotypes. Students will leave the seminar with a basic grasp of the Italian language and a better understanding of contemporary Italian culture.

Visualizing the Universe
401 Ho Science Center
Joseph Eakin- Senior Director of the Colgate Visualization Lab

We will start off exploring the origins of the universe and end up with our solar system.
Each session will comprise of a vis lab show and interactive demos. The first week we will look at the forces behind the big bang and the universe. The next week we will explore our local universe and our solar system. The final week we will look at leftovers of the solar system by exploring comets, asteroids, and meteoroids.

Session IV
March 21, March 28, April 4 Make-up April 18

Acting 01
Alumni Hall- Multipurpose Room

Simona Giurgea- Visiting Assistant Professor of English

The fabric of theatre is illusion, however, the transformations the actors go through are real, palpable, visible. Through games and exercises students have the opportunity to experience the process of creating and performing a role and learn about the task of acting.
*Wear comfortable clothes that allow you to move freely. Wear shoes that provide maximum contact between your soles and the floor.

Manifesting Modernity: Marx and the Poetry of Revolution
304 Lawrence Hall
John Connor- Assistant Professor of English

“Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.” So Karl Marx in 1845. But how? How to imagine and effect this desired change? How with words to write the revolution? The Manifesto is an attempt to broker this change, to intervene in the present and fashion the future. In setting out to provoke tradition and contest the status quo, the Manifesto harbors the secret dream of Modernity – that we might together wrest control of our fate and be the agents of our destiny. Reading from The Communist Manifesto and from subsequent (and somewhat sillier) manifestos, we will act out their demands, perform their poetry and analyse the power of their prose. We will write a manifesto of our own and commandeer the ears to hear it.

Watching TV and/or Taking a Walk
133 Perrson Hall
Mark Stern- Visiting Assistant Professor in Educational Studies

Description: With DVRs and websites like Hulu, Americans are watching more television than ever before. With brilliant shows like Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, and Parks and Recreation hitting the airwaves, who can blame them? But most Americans think about watching television as a "mindless" activity that we engage with for "entertainment." Audiences tend to think of themselves as passive consumers of a medium they control with a remote. We don't learn things from TV shows, we just watch them to pass the time or for enjoyment.

In this seminar, we are going to think critically about television as an educational space where viewers are engaged in various acts of learning. By taking a close look at a few television shows in particular, from Thomas The Train to Gossip Girl to NewsChannel 9, we'll think about what television teaches viewers about things like race, class, gender, and sexuality. In conversation with a variety of authors coming from feminist, queer, and critical race circles, we'll discuss how television is a productive technology in maintaining certain types of stories about certain types of people.

Last, and in conversation with Bill McKibben's now 20-year-old book, The Age Of Missing Information, we will venture out on snowshoes (snow pending) and think about the differences between what we learn from television as opposed to what we can learn from going outside and taking a walk/snoeshoe.

Existentialism
215 Lathrop
David Dudrick- Professor of Philosophy

In this course we'll engage with the philosophical movement known as existentialism. Jean-Paul Sartre, a leader of this movement, said that human beings are "condemned to be free." We'll consider what he meant by this, whether he is right, and what implications this idea has for how we should live, whether there is a God, and whether life has meaning.

Hip Hop Dance
209 Ryan Studio
Yan Kit Pang- professional hip hop instructor, choreographer, guest hip hop teacher at Hamilton College and Colgate University

!!Operates under a different schedule!!

Write what you DON’T know
345 Case-Geyer Library
Kate Klein, Director of the Colgate Young Writers’ Workshop

Do you ever wonder what life was like in a different time? See the world through the eyes of a whale? Imagine a fight from your enemy’s point of view? All these and more are possible with a pen and a piece of paper. In this course, your imagination will join forces with some outside research to create stories, poems and non-fiction based on facts and points of view beyond your personal experience. Each class will incorporate word games, multi-media prompts and free writing time to help you discover exciting new subject matter and fine-tune your own unique writing style.