Young Scholars Program

This course covers the changing society and culture of the United States during the 20th century. It begins with American regionalism in 1900 and traces the rise of mass culture and economic depression in the period from WWI through WWII, followed by the changing conflicts of idealism, realism, and popular culture to the end of the Cold War, the rise of the internet, and the new problems posed by 21st century globalism. The course will emphasize the discussion and analysis of primary source materials, employing material culture, texts, and film as forms of evidence. The concept of culture enables us to treat the changing cultural context as the “natural” environment of Americans during the 20th century.

Human evolutionary studies is a composite product of the fieldwork of both Paleolithic archaeology and human paleontology (or what we refer to as "stones and bones"). This marriage of two subdisciplines of anthropology produces a unique set of data that is intellectually managed and driven by theories within anthropology as a whole and even beyond--to fields such as biology, psychology, and primate ethology--as we try to understand the origins of language, culture, and our unique physical characteristics. In this course, two archaeologists and one physical anthropologist will jointly discuss and debate the actual evidence of human evolution, describing what the actual evidence is and exploring how far can we take these interpretations.

This is a double introduction: to looking at the visual arts; and, to the ancient and medieval cities and empires of three continents - ancient Egypt, the Middle East and Iran, the Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age, the Greek and Roman Mediterranean, and the early Islamic, early Byzantine and western Medieval world. Using images, contemporary texts, and art in our city, we examine the changing forms of art, architecture and landscape architecture, and the roles of visual culture for political, social and religious activity.

This course is designed for students who have little or no previous exposure to Chinese. The main objective of the course is to help students develop their listening and speaking skills. The emphasis is on correct pronunciation, accurate tones and mastery of basic grammatical structures. By the end of the second semester, students will be able to manage many situations that have immediate concern to them, such as relating one's personal life and experiences, expressing preferences and feelings, ordering meals, purchasing goods, asking for directions. Chinese characters will not be taught.

Representations of war are created for as many reasons as wars are fought: to legitimate armed conflict, to critique brutality, to vilify an enemy, to mobilize popular support, to generate national pride, etc. In this course we will examine a series of representations of war drawn from the literature, film, state propaganda, memoirs, visual art, etc. of Russia, Europe and the United States. We will pursue an investigation of these images of conflict and bloodshed in the larger context of the history of military technology, social life, and communications media over the last two centuries. Students will be expected to write two papers, take part in a group presentation on an assigned topic, and take a final exam. The goal of the course will be to gain knowledge of literary history in social and historical context, and to acquire critical skills for analysis of rhetoric and visual representations.

Introduction to economic analysis and its application. An examination of a market economy to provide an understanding of how the size and composition of national output are determined. Elements of monetary and fiscal policy, international trade, economic development, and comparative economic systems.

A look at various manifestations of the gothic in fiction and nonfiction prose.
We’ll begin with Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights, both of which make us consider the relationships between monstrous behavior and family dynamics.  Moving across the ocean, we’ll look at American Gothic, which is dramatically different from its British parents. We’ll read tales by Hawthorne, Melville and Poe, and then venture into the ghost story with Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. We’ll meet another ghost in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, explore nonfiction prose with Capote’s In Cold Blood, then conclude with Dracula.   We’ll also see clips from the many film versions of some texts.
Requirements include brief weekly reading responses, a mid-term and a take-home final.
 
This course fulfills the Arts and Letters requirement in the College and in the School of Liberal and Professional Studies.
 

The oceans cover over 2/3 of the Earth's surface. This course introduces basic oceanographic concepts such as plate tectonics, marine sediments, physical and chemical properties of seawater, ocean circulation, air-sea interactions, waves, tides, nutrient cycles in the ocean, biology of the oceans, and environmental issues related to the marine environment.

A first semester elementary language course for students who have never studied Italian or who have had very little exposure to the language. Students who have previously studied Italian are required to take the placement test. Class work emphasizes the development of the oral-aural skills, speaking and listening. Readings on topics in Italian culture as well as frequent writing practice are also included. Out-of-class homework requires work with the Internet, audio and video materials.

An introduction to the Latin language for beginners. Students begin learning grammar and vocabulary, with practical exercises in reading in writing. By the end of the course students will be able to read and analyze simple Latin texts, including selected Roman inscriptions in the Penn Museum.

Introduction to concepts and methods of calculus for students with little or no previous calculus experience. Polynomial and elementary transcendental functions and their applications, derivatives, extremum problems, curve-sketching, approximations; integrals and the fundamental theorem of calculus.

Functions of several variables, vector-valued functions, partial derivatives and applications, double and triple integrals, conic sections, polar coordinates, vectors and analytic geometry, first and second order ordinary differential equations. Applications to physical sciences. Use of symbolic manipulation and graphics software in calculus.

We know that we like music and that it moves us, yet it is often difficult to pinpoint exactly why, and harder still to explain what it is we are hearing. This course takes on those issues.  It aims to introduce you to a variety of music, and a range of ways of thinking, talking and writing about music.  The majority of music dealt with will be drawn from the so-called "Classical" repertory, from the medieval period to the present day, including some of the "greats" such as Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, Berlioz, and Verdi, but will also introduce you to music you will most likely never have encountered before. This course will explore the technical workings of music and the vocabularies for analyzing music and articulating a response to it; it also examines music as a cultural phenomenon, considering what music has meant for different people, from different societies across the ages and across geographical boundaries.  As well as learning to listen ourselves, we will also engage with a history of listening.  No prior musical knowledge is required.

This course will cover basic skills and vocabulary for reading, hearing, performing, analyzing, and writing music.  Students will gain command of musical rudiments, including notation, reading and writing in treble and bass clefs, intervals, keys, scales, triads and seventh chords, and competence in basic melodic and formal analysis.  The course will include an overview of basic diatonic harmony, introduction to harmonic function and tonicization.  Musicianship skills will include interval and chord recognition, rhythmic and melodic dictation and familiarity with the keyboard.  There will be in-depth study of selected compositions from the "common practice"  Western tradition, including classical, jazz, blues and other popular examples.  Listening skills--both with scores (including lead sheets, figured bass and standard notation), and without--will be emphasized.  

The explosion of scientific knowledge in early modern Europe cast doubt not only on the medieval worldview but also on its assumption of a theological guarantee for the possibility of human knowledge. Thus modern philosophers had to begin the project of establishing standards and foundations for human knowledge without a divine guarantee. The Reformation and the growth of secular states in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries presented a similar challenge for modern moral and political philosophy, which thus faced the challenge of establishing norms for human conduct and their foundation without divine commands. We shall examine how the leading philosophers of modern times confronted these challenges, focusing primarily on the challenge for modern theories of knowledge but also considering at least some of the parallel developments in modern moral philosophy. Readings will include selections from Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and in the nineteenth century, the great American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce.

Written work will include several short papers and a final examination. Attendance at both lectures and discussion sections will be required, and participation in both can also count towards final grades.

The course will provide an introduction to models of human decision making. One of the primary purposes of the course is to provide a set of basic tools that will help the student translate qualitative uncertainty into numbers. A substantial amount of the course will deal with the theory of rational choice in the presence of objective and subjective uncertainty. Rational choice under uncertainty is by far the most used theory of decision making, and its applications are widespread in economics, finance, political science, law, managerial decision making, the economics of health care, and artificial intelligence. The course will use examples heavily from each of these fields (and also fun “paradoxes” such as the Monty Hall Puzzle) in providing an introduction to the basic foundations of decision making. We will also look at the shortcomings of the theory: both from intuitive and empirical perspectives. No mathematical prerequisites are necessary beyond high school algebra and arithmetic.

Introduction to the basic topics of psychology, including learning, motivation, cognition, development, abnormal, physiological, social, and personality.

This course develops elementary skills in reading, speaking, understanding and writing the Russian language. We will work with an exciting range of authentic written materials, the Internet, videos and recordings relating to the dynamic scene of Russia today. At the end of the course students will be comfortable with the Russian alphabet and will be able to read simplified literary, commercial, and other types of texts (signs, menus, short news articles, short stories) and participate in elementary conversations about daily life (who you are, what you do every day, where you are from, likes and dislikes).

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to provide a broad overview of the discipline of U.S. sociology including its history, theoretical approaches, methods, ethical concerns, major intellectual debates, and important figures such as Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Robert Park. We will read research articles about popular sociological areas of inquiry such as urban studies, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, the family, education, economic stratification, and housing. Some of the sociological articles address current affairs such as the subprime mortgage crisis and economic recession. We will also make connections between concepts and data patterns with sociological issues addressed in documentaries and class discussions. Students will also become familiar with aspects of the sociological research process and sources of data commonly used by sociologists as well as develop analytical and critical thinking skills.