Blazing a Trail: On the Basis of Sex
Students will investigate the scientific, sociological, and historic differences between men and women as it applies to ultra-endurance events such as trail running, Ironman triathlons, fastest known thru hikes, and swimming. Students will answer the bigger question of are women better ultra-endurance athletes then their male counterparts. By breaking the larger question down into a series of other questions. How did women go from not being allowed to run, to winning ultra- endurance events? Scientifically, is there a reason that explains why women could be better ultra- endurance athletes? Statistically, are there any differences between male and female endurance performance? Have women started transitioning to being leaders in ultra-endurance events? They will gain insight through reading texts, (hopefully with interviews with female ultra-runners and record holders), journal articles, and film. Students will then determine if there is enough evidence to support that women are better ultra-endurance athletes by synthesizing the materials learned from the course.
Beyond Boundaries
We create these barriers, these nonexistent lines that separate one thing from another, but at the atomic level, it would be hard to say exactly where one ocean ends and a ship begins. This course will serve as an investigation of boundaries, including but not limited to geographical, physical, mental, spiritual, and religious. We will explore traditional and non-western arts, and examining the marginal spaces of Western tradition. We will be utilizing a multimedia approach, viewing and discussing works of art, literature, performance, music, and more.
Crime & Punishment
This course addresses two related big questions: what causes crime and how should we deal with it? We will look at different theories of crime associated with disciplines like law, political science, psychology, sociology, economics, etc., and how they might help explain several kinds of crime. Also of interest is how the U.S. went from incarcerating people at a similar rate to other developed democracies in the 1970s to today having the world’s highest incarceration rate, and whether it might be appropriate or possible to reduce what some have called America’s “carceral state.” The course will follow a discussion format with lecture kept to a minimum.
The Disappearing Body
If we live long enough, we all end up disabled. This is a truism in disability studies. Despite this fact, and the fact that we are all born weeping, dependent, and, yes, lacking ability, we are for the most part incapable of looking at our bodies as the fragile, mortal things that they are. This course addresses how and why we refuse to look, really look, at bodies as bodies. We will examine this question through close readings of Frank Miller’s 300, Rudolph-the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Pixar’s Toy Story, Octavia Butler’s Kindred, Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man, Genesis, and many, many secondary readings in sociology, history, and cultural studies. Our larger ethical goal will be to refocus our attention on the human body, as one body among many others in a complex, interdependent ecological world.
Do the Right Thing
This course is centered around the question, "What's the right thing to do?" To that end, students will explore different approaches, components, and considerations related to decision making, particularly in light of mathematical reasoning, moral and religious reasoning, and creative expression. No prior exposure to collegiate-level mathematics, philosophy, or religion is required for this course.
Evil & the Holocaust
The mission of this course is to use philosophy, history, art, literature, video, film, and other relevant and interesting avenues to connect the timeless issue of the problem of evil to the dark horrors of the Nazi Holocaust of the Second World War. The big question of the course is how to comprehend the Holocaust as an event verging on incomprehensible evil, diametrically opposed to human respect and dignity. This class goes deeply into the paradox of comprehending the incomprehensible. It asks the question: What kind of a turning point in history does such a grotesque mysterium tremendum of darkness signify?
Health Law & Ethics
Legal an Ethical Issues in Healthcare is an interdisciplinary course that looks at the complex challenges that arise in the provision of care to patients, and in the operational, regulatory, legislative, and administrative spaces of healthcare systems. Issues explored include: public health, end-of-life care; patient autonomy; surrogate decision-making; and mental health and substance use disorder. The course will also explore the impact that broader moral issues such as healthcare reform, diversity, and social justice have on healthcare.
Journalism in Film
An in-depth examination of how journalists and journalism have been portrayed in film and what these images tell us about the public’s perception of the journalist’s role in liberal democratic societies. While watching and critically analyzing, using fundamental elements of formal film analysis, movies focused on journalism, students will seek answers to the question: how does the portrayal of American journalism and journalists in films shape our understanding of the role of “the press” in our democratic society, especially relating to particular climates/events in history? The course will include frequent in-class discussion and critical writing assignments.
More than Just a Head Count
The U.S. Census is the most relied upon source of population data in the U.S. But is that reliance justified? Throughout its history, the U.S. has made numerous adjustments in its definitions and use of race and ethnic classifications depending on the political, social, economic, and demographic realities of a particular time. These adjustments have been made because of situations such as slavery, large-scale immigration, the emergence of multiracial identity. The recent controversy over the "citizenship question" is evidence that identity classification in the census will remain vulnerable to change for years to come. These changes in racial and ethnic classifications are not readily detectable, yet they are significant enough to warrant investigation into their rationales. By closely examining changes to racial and ethnic categories used by the U.S. Census over time, one discovers that they are influenced by several forces - politics, public policy, social perceptions & attitudes, law, and even pseudoscientific belief. The purpose of this course is to look at the reality "behind the numbers" from political, social, legal and other perspectives.
My Happy Place
What Connects People to Places? Why do certain places feel like home, speak to our souls, or inspire a sense of stewardship? Students will read, write, and conduct research about the human connection to place and about their own special places in order to develop skills in information literacy, communication, and integrative learning, and to develop a greater understanding of their responsibility toward their special places.
The Nature of Expertise
In The Nature of Expertise, students will examine the meaning and significance of expertise. We will use a range of cases to wrestle with the following questions: How do we decide if one is an expert or generalist? What does it mean to be an expert in a given area? Why is having specialized knowledge important, particularly if experts are not always certain in their determinations? Can expertise in a particular area transfer to other areas? Can expertise make us less flexible, “outside the box” thinkers and problem-solvers, and if so, are there methods we can employ to help counter this?
Neurodiversity
This course has three primary objectives. First, students will be introduced to the main philosophical and historical ideas surrounding mental health particularly as it relates to social justice and our understanding of “normal.” This course will provide you with the tools to understand the major social issues and cultural themes which have defined concepts of normal, disordered, functional, and so on as related to mental health and illness. The second main objective of this course is to attempt to answer the question “how are scholarly questions in the liberal arts addressed?” by introducing students to different disciplinary approaches to the same overarching questions through the analysis of a variety of primary and secondary source readings. Finally, the third objective of this course is to strengthen the critical reading, thinking and writing skills for students. To this end students read several primary source documents and complete several writing assignments over the course of the semester. Scholars in the liberal arts are writers, and the bulk of student grades will be based upon performance on writing assignments.
Reefs in Time & Space
Reefs have a history going back more than 3.3 billion years and have been heavily studied in the ancient and the modern as the heralds of evolutionary innovation, mass extinction, and climate change. We understand ancient reef ecology by comparing them to modern reefs, while vice versa, the ancient can also inform us about past climate fluctuations to help us understand processes going on now. This course will address these issues by looking at both modern and ancient reef communities, understanding the controls on their growth and community structure, reviewing mass extinction events, and looking at the modern crisis in reef communities under the strain of eco-tourism, pollution, and global climate change.
Religious Freedoms
Students will learn the origin of the religion clauses in the First Amendment of the US Constitution and trace the developing meaning of these clauses over time through famous Supreme Court cases, which deal with issues that range from polygamy to public schools to peyote; from wedding cakes to contraception to travel bans. For the culminating project, students will present and argue for their own positions regarding some of the most recent Supreme Court decisions dealing with church/state issues and religious freedom.
Risky Business
How can we manage our business ventures or projects to reduce risk? All projects are inherently risky because they are unique, constrained, based on uncertain assumptions and forecasts, performed by people, and subject to internal and external influences. The tools and techniques of risk management introduced prepare us to manage proactively the uncertainties, opportunities, and threats. The course explores iterative steps of risk and uncertainty identification, qualitative and quantitative assessment, communication, and mitigation. It integrates probability, statistics (data analytics,) economics, and cost / schedule estimation with risk analysis to provide proven methods of communicating and managing risks across all disciplines represented in “the project.” Examples from diverse industries will illustrate risks, uncertainties, and the value of the risk management process.
The Wellness Iceberg
Do you actively pursue choices, activities, and lifestyles leading to a state of holistic health? This course challenges students to reflect upon and personalize their active pursuit of wellness. Much like an iceberg, our wellness extends much deeper than what we can physically observe. Students will explore the multidimensional facets of wellness (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, etc.) linked to holistic health. We will learn that our current state of wellness is only the tip of our iceberg. While we may attempt to chisel away at unwanted ice (stress, weight, relationships, etc.), we are disappointed to find that more of the same iceberg rises to the surface. To achieve whole-person life balance and wellbeing, we will explore the deepest realm of our iceberg. Wellness is an individual pursuit shaped by the physical, social and cultural environments in which we live. Students will critically reflect upon and analyze their wellness continuum in an effort to set measurable wellness goals. Personalized wellness plans will be developed to guide choices, behaviors and lifestyles leading to an active pursuit of our best self.
Who are You? - Identity
This course invites students from varied disciplines, majors and personal backgrounds to explore their own answer to the timeless Big Question posed by the iconic rock band The Who - Who Are You? Students will identify themes and messages from self-selected classical, popular, and alternative music, literature, poetry, visual, dance, and dramatic arts.
Utilizing these identified themes and messages as springboards, students will then analyze, compare, and contrast multiple theories and perspectives through critical reading and synthesis assignments (verbal and written) which explore the emergence of an individual' s sense of self.
In addition, students will identify and actively engage aspects of their own intersectional identity, as well as the emerging identities of their peers on a weekly basis. Ongoing integration will be explored through the creation and sharing of students' own multimedia/artistic expressions through music, poetry, narratives, visual art, video and movement, reflective class processing and discussion, and weekly journaling.
Who Makes History?
The questions of who/what makes history or owns knowledge may seem preposterous—but the fact is that the narratives regarding Marietta College education, ca. 1969 to the history of medicine, from the understanding of the most popular novels to labor uprisings, depends on what records are kept or maintained, what are accessible…and which are read, studied, and deemed worthy of value. Thus, the questions of “who makes history” and “who owns knowledge” extend to others, including: If history is stories, who gets to tell the stories? Whose voices get heard, and how do we hear them? Further, how can we hear voices and stories and truths for those whose voices have been marginalized, muted, or even silenced? Why does it matter? In this class, we will ponder these “big questions” on a small scale, through experiential learning labs and reflections informed by guest speakers, theoretical readings, and primary and secondary research about physical and digital archives. We will focus especially on newspapers, literary journals, and periodicals in general, and will examine them as both literature and as history. Students are encouraged to bring their own interests and disciplinary lenses to the course as they recover, edit, and interpret an archival document of their own.
World War II Science & Technology
World War 2 was a period of rapid development in science and technology connected with the war effort. Noteworthy examples involve the development of RADAR and the Manhattan Project. This course explores the science of several of these major advances, the historical context in which they occurred, their impact on the war effort, and their impact on the post-war period. This course will involve interdisciplinary study of science, literature, film, and history.