Spring Courses 2008
The following list consists of 10 really interesting classes that the DAB thought might be overlooked by College students when choosing their schedules for next semester. We tried to cover a wide spectrum of disciplines and include classes that would appeal to all. These classes will provide students with relevant information that can be applied to current events or simply contribute to a multi-dimensional liberal arts curriculum that is the foundation of a Penn education. Still, we encourage all students to take a closer look at the Course Register – explore departments and disciplines that you wouldn’t normally explore, and take advantage of the wide range of options that Penn offers.
• ARTH002- The Rise of Modern Visual Media. Arts & Letters Sector.
We live in a world inundated with media and saturated with images. What might be reported through television, documentary films, or magazines was once presented via illustrated texts and prints or else commemorated in public murals or statues. This course will follow the emergence of modern media - culminating in photography, film, and digital media - in an increasingly public and democratic sphere of art. Social changes in courts and cities, especially in the wake of the Industrial and French Revolutions, resulted from increasing capitalism and democracy. Artists had to adjust to new roles, media, and means of support. This course will introduce students from diverse backgrounds to visual media in culture and society, providing both critical and historical tools for visual literacy in the modern world.
Lec. MW 1-2pm Recitation Needed; Taught By: Silver/Leja
• CIS112- Networked Life. How does Google find what you're looking for? Why do real estate values rise or plummet in certain neighborhoods? Do people act rationally in economic and financial settings? Are you really only six friends away from Kevin Bacon? How does the stock market actually work? What do game theory and the Paris subway have to do with Internet routing? Networked Life will explore recent scientific efforts to explain social, economic and technological structures -- and the way these structures interact -- on many different scales, from the behavior of individuals or small groups to that of complex networks such as the Internet and global economy.
Lec. TR 12-1:30PM; Taught By: Kearns M
• FNAR261- Clay Wheel Throwing I. The purpose of this beginning level ceramics class is to learn the skills needed to use the potter's wheel as a tool for object making. Traditional ceramic techniques such as centering the clay, pulling walls and trimming pots will be a focus. A variety of glazing and slip decoration methods will be covered. Slide discussions, field trips and readings will supplement the studio work.
STU MW 9-12, 1-4 or TR 5-8; Taught By: Greenheck, Maeshima, or Courtney
• HCMG203- Clinical Issues in Health Care Management. This course will explore the effects of the changing health care environment on the physician, patient and health care manager. It is intended for any undergraduate with an interest in how 1/7th of the American economy is organized as well as those planning careers as health care providers and managers. The course complements other health care courses (that take a societal perspective) by focusing on the individuals who participate in the health care process as well as on the process itself. The course will be divided into modules that focus on the participants of the health care process and the process itself. We will analyze the patient, the doctor, and manager in light of the patient-doctor interaction, the turbulent health care marketplace, expensive new technologies, resource allocation, and ethics.
Lec. MW 3-4:30PM; Taught By: Asch
• HIST117- Science and Literature. Arts & Letters Sector. This course will explore the emergence of modern science fiction, the ways it has reflected our evolving conceptions of the universe, and its role as the mythology of modern technological civilization. Topics include: "Science & Utopia", "The Discovery of the Future", "Imagining Mars", "SF, Robots, & the Class Struggle", "Superman & the ubermensch", "The American Hero", "The Golden Age", "Cold War SF" and "Gods, Aliens & Destiny".
Lec. MW 11-12, Rec. needed; Taught By: Adams M
• MUSC021-Introduction to the History of Music Arts & Letters Sector The student will learn to listen analytically to music from the Middle Ages down to the present day. A range of genres such as plainchant, opera, orchestral music and chamber music will be covered. The course will aim to teach fundamental skills for listening to music and for talking about music, skills that will help to deepen your appreciation of music in the future. No prior musical knowledge is required.
Lec. TR 12-1:30 or MWF 11-12; Taught By: Mondelli or Kelly D
• NURS112- Nutrition: Science & Applications. For Non-Nursing Majors. An overview of the scientific foundations of nutrition. The focus is on the functions, food sources and metabolism of carbohydrate, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals. Effects of deficiency and excess are discussed and dietary recommendations for disease prevention are emphasized. Current issues and controversies are highlighted. Students will analyze their own dietary intakes and develop plans for future actions.
Lec. M 4-7PM or R 5-8PM; Taught By Griehs or Volpe
• PHYS016- Energy, Oil, and Global Warming. The developed world's dependence on fossil fuels for energy production has extremely undesirable economic, environmental, and political consequences, and is likely to be mankind's greatest challenge in the 21st century. We describe the physical principles of energy, its production and consumption, and environmental consequences, including the greenhouse effect. We will examine a number of alternative modes of energy generation - fossil fuels, biomass, wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear - and study the physical and technological aspects of each, and their societal, environmental and economic impacts over the construction and operational lifetimes. No previous study of physics is assumed.
Lec. TR 1:30-3PM; Taught By: Lande K
• PSCI211- Contemporary Middle Eastern Politics. This course is an introduction to the most prominent historical, cultural, institutional, and ideological features of Middle Eastern politics. Typical of the questions we shall address are why processes of modernization and economic change have not produced liberal democracies, why Islamic movements have gained enormous strength in some countries and not others, why conflicts in the region--between Israel and the Arabs, Iran and Iraq, or inside of Lebanon--have been so bitter and protracted; why the era of military coups was brought to an end but transitions to democracy have been difficult to achieve; why Arab unity has been so elusive and yet so insistent a theme; and why oil wealth in the Gulf, in the Arabian Peninsula, and in North Africa, has not produced industrialized or self-sustaining economic growth.
Lec. TR 3-4PM Recitation Needed; Taught By: Vitalis R
• URBS206- Public Environment of Cities: An Introduction to the Urban Landscape Distribution Course in Arts & Letters (Class of 2009 & prior only). This course will explore the role of public spaces--streets and boulevards, parks and squares--in cities and their social uses. With the University of Pennsylvania campus and the City of Philadelphia serving as our laboratory, we will critically examine the evolution of the movement corridors, open spaces and buildings of the urban landscape and their changing uses. Case studies of social spaces on campus and public open spaces in Center City will help inform our understanding of how the public environment serves, well or poorly, the varying needs of diverse users. While graphic skills are not required, graphic means as well as writing will be employed to communicate critical thought, ideas and conclusions.
SEM W 2-5PM; Taught By: Nairn M
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