Fall 2008
Principles of Food and Resource Economics
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: S
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 2539 | Evan Drummond |
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AEB 3103 is a comprehensive, introductory economics course with emphasis on the economics of agriculture, the food industry and natural resources in a global context. The course includes both microeconomics and macroeconomics. The microeconomic portion of the course emphasizes production economics and the theory of the consumer. The macroeconomic portion of the course deals with the role of government in a domestic and global environment with particular emphasis on agricultural policy and trade. The honors section of this course entails a weekly enrichment session that meets on Fridays at the regularly scheduled time slot. This seminar deals with current events, supplements to course topics, and a case study of a major agribusiness firm. There are no extra tests or exams associated with the seminar. Some extra reading is required. The grade from the seminar is based on attendance and participation. It constitutes 20% of the final course grade. Students in the honors section are expected to complete all requirements of the regular section.
Evan Drummond (a.k.a. The Food Dude) is Professor of Food and Resource Economics and Senior Associate Director of the University Honors Program. His areas of interest include food policy and international economic development. He teaches introductory agricultural economics and is co-author of a book for that course. In his second year at UF he was selected Teacher of the Year by the students of the College of Agriculture and in his first year of eligibility was chosen as the national Teacher of the Year (with more than ten years experience) by the American Agricultural Economics Association.
Seeds of Change
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: B
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1481 | Maria Gallo |
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Did you know that you eat a genetically modified plant probably every day? Seeds of Change is an introductory course that focuses on the role of genetically modified plants in agriculture, the environment, foods, and medicine. Basic concepts of DNA technology are introduced in a non-technical way as a foundation for studying the applications and implications of plant biotechnology. Students taking the course will be able to discuss the benefits and the risks of plant DNA technology, become better decision-makers regarding the role that genetically-altered plants should play in their daily lives, and more skilled at critical thinking and problem solving.
Maria Gallo is a Professor in the Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, and The Genetics Institute at the University of Florida. She is responsible for researching the molecular genetics of peanut, sugarcane and other agronomic crops of importance to Florida. Her biotechnology program is currently focusing on producing a more nutritious peanut that has low allergenicity and higher levels of the heart-healthy mono-unsaturated fats, and improving sugarcane as a bioenergy crop for our future fuel needs.
Fred's Food Factory
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: S, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1847 | Evan Drummond |
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Food. Essential for life yet taken for granted by most of us. Issues associated with the production, distribution and consumption of food will be examined from economic, social, political and ethical perspectives within a global context. Some typical issues will include: Why do we pay farmers to not produce? Should we save the family farm? Are we ready for genetically altered food? Do you want to eat irradiated food? Americans are overweight and Somalis are starving--why? Corporate governance in major agribusiness. The course will require regular attendance and participation in topic discussions. Grades will be based on class participation, two papers and two exams.
Evan Drummond (a.k.a. The Food Dude) is Professor of Food and Resource Economics and Senior Associate Director of the University Honors Program. His areas of interest include food policy and international economic development. He teaches introductory agricultural economics and is co-author of a book for that course. In his second year at UF he was selected Teacher of the Year by the students of the College of Agriculture and in his first year of eligibility was chosen as the national Teacher of the Year (with more than ten years experience) by the American Agricultural Economics Association.
Parasitic Diseases, Microbes, and Bioterrorism
Writing or Math Req: W - 2000
Gen Ed: B
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 2786 | Pauline Lawrence |
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NOTE: This class is located in the Entomology Building on Natural Area Drive near the Performing Arts Center. Please plan accordingly.
NOTE: THERE IS A PRE-REQUISITE OF AT LEAST ONE BIOLOGY COURSE. Malaria, onchocerciasis, plague ("black death"), Lysteria, ebola, smallpox, birdflu, West Nile virus, etc. have caused devastation, death, and misery to people in various parts of the world. Some of these parasites, bacteria, fungi, and viruses have developed resistance to drugs and have the potential to quickly evolve into more lethal strains, far outpacing our current ability to control them. These "emerging pathogens" and the diseases they cause are transmitted by insect vectors, contamination, or sadly, by terrorists who use them in silent warfare. How do these parasites and microbes develop? Where do they live? What characteristics do they have that make them a global threat or effective biowarfare agents? These topics and more will be addressed in this introductory course. We will study the life cycles, basic methods of transmission, and diseases caused by these agents. We will also discuss historical and potential new examples of microbes used in warfare as well as selected aspects of U.S. policy in the "War on Terror" as it relates to bioterrorism.
This is a very interactive class with lots of discussion and a strong philosophy of active learning in which students generate questions and with the Instructor's help, seek the answers. Attendance is essential. Students will be REQUIRED to (1) do literature and web searches of scientific information, prepare summaries, and present the findings to the class, (2) ACTIVELY participate in discussions, (3) prepare powepoint displays and make oral presentations in front of the class, (3) Write papers on specific topics as assigned, and (4) take short answer tests throughout the semester.
We will have invited guests who are specialists in various areas of infectious diseases and disease vectors. Come ready to participate in your learning! Active Discussion is REQUIRED!!
Dr. Pauline O. Lawrence has been Professor of Entomology and Nematology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) since 1994. Prior to that time she was Professor of Zoology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) where she taught a variety of courses including Cells, Organisms, and Genetics and Ecology and Behavior to non-science majors, Animal Parasitology to senior undergraduates, and honors courses in Parasite Biology.
Dr. Lawrence's major research interest is in host-parasite co-evolution. She uses state-of-the-art technology in her National Science Foundation-funded research to study the symbiotic relationship between a poxvirus and a parasitic wasp and their separate and combined interactions with their host. She is especially interested in host immune responses to infection, the relationship between viral gene expression and the regulation of host immune gene expression. The undergraduates in her lab conduct research on a variety of topics in host-parasite responses and immunity and utilize various molecular, biochemical, and cell culture tools to test their hypotheses. Students interested in research experience or short-term volunteer opportunities are welcome to contact her at pol@ifas.ufl.edu or call 392-1901, ext 127.
Some Like it Hot: a Discussion of Animal Thermal Biology
Writing or Math Req: W - 4000
Gen Ed: B
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1146 | Daniel Hahn |
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How do fish survive under the polar ice? What can live in the steaming waters of a hot spring? Are fevers helpful or harmful? These questions and more will be covered in this Honors course on Thermal Biology. This will be an introductory course using extreme examples from the animal world to illustrate basic principles in biology. We will survey a wide variety of behaviors and physiological adaptations that animals use to deal with heat and cold and make ties back to how our own bodies work. The course format will be small and informal combining short lectures, discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on experiments (many with insects which are my specialty). Grading will rely on a combination of participation, short assignments, scheduled quizzes, and a project/term paper. Please note that the Entomology and Nematology building (Bldg 970) is located on Natural Area Drive near the Performing Arts Center. Don’t worry, you will be allowed an extra 15 minutes to get there from your previous class (i.e., class begins at 3:15 and ends at the normal time of 4:55), and there is both plenty of available parking at the Entomology and Nematology building and frequent bus service from main campus to help you get to us.
Daniel A. Hahn is an Assistant Professor of Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida. His interests include understanding why animals vary so much in shape, size, and physiology (for example, why do rabbits have relatively big ears and mice small ones?) and using animals with unusual behaviors and physiologies to study basic processes in human diseases; especially diabetes, obesity, and infertility.
Imagining New World
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 4571 | Jon Sensbach |
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This course will explore the ways in which European colonists, Native Americans, and African constructed new worlds of meaning in America between the Columbian era of contact through the eve of the American Revolution. As a project in social and intellectual history, the course will investigate how Americans of that early modern period thought about themselves in a rapidly changing world, how they imagined other peoples with whom they interacted, and how they devised new conceptions of what America was, or should be. Through a combination of secondary and primary readings we will explore European and Indian perceptions of each other during the age of encounter; the influence of America on European literature and travel writing; the emergence of distinctive colonial societies in diverse regions; conceptions of nature and the environment; the evolution of the concept of race; and the emergence of “American” identities before the Revolution.
Jon Sensbach teaches early American history. His research has focused on religion and slavery in colonial America, and his most recent book, _Rebecca's Revival_ explored the life of an African-American female evangelist in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world.
Molecular Genetics and Evolution
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: B, N, D
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 7068 | Connie Mulligan |
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ANT3930 is an in-depth examination of the use of molecular genetic data to investigate the evolutionary history of humans. The completion of the human genome sequence has greatly facilitated the application of molecular genetic data to questions of human evolution. Over the past ten years, a wealth of genetic data has been generated on human populations worldwide and new statistical methods have been developed to analyze these data. These genetic data are currently being used in a number of investigations, such as the reconstruction of past migration events or the detection of admixture or gene flow in a population. Specific topics to be discussed include the relationship of humans to non-human primates, emergence of anatomically modern humans in Africa (out-of-Africa vs. multiregionalism), Neanderthal genetics (did we interbreed?), colonization of Europe, genetic ancestry in the public domain (National Geographic's Genographic Project), and the use of ancient DNA to study human evolution.
Application of molecular genetic data to human origin questions will be presented in two course textbooks (The Seven Daugthers of Eve by Bryan Sykes and Genetics and the Search for Modern Human Origins by John H. Relethford) while relevant journal articles (course packet) will provide current examples of questions being addressed in the literature. The course meets once a week for three hours and the course format is lecture plus discussion with substantial class participation. Evaluation of student performance is based on class participation, oral presentations, problem sets, regular quizzes, and exams. Although basic molecular biology concepts will be reviewed (first 2 weeks), knowledge of DNA structure, Mendelian genetics, and molecular biology is expected. See webpage for information on course in Fall, 2004. For questions about the course, contact Dr. Mulligan at mulligan@anthro.ufl.edu.
Connie Mulligan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology. Her lab studies human genetic variation in order to reconstruct the evolutionary history and relationships of human populations and human pathogens. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1990 in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. She held postdoctoral and research scientist positions at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the National Institutes of Health before coming to UF in 2000.
Anthropology of Modern Africa
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: S, N, D
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 7797 | Anita Spring |
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This course studies African cultures, focusing on rural and urban societies in the modern period in terms of contemporary problems and trends. The course covers the following topics:
• Conceptions and misconceptions about Africa
• Classification schemes old and new (geographic, Africanity, civilizations, triple heritage)
• Kinship and family
• Rural and urban economies
• Environment and natural resource management
• Gender issues, women in development
• Religious and philosophical systems
• Ethnic conflict and the new states
• Bureaucracies and corruption
• Refugees, human rights
• South Africa: end of apartheid and contemporary problems
• Health, sexuality, HIV/AIDS
• Entrepreneurship and business
• Interconectivity and gloablization
To benefit from this course, it is necessary that students become fully involved in it. The course will be taught using multimedia techniques, lectures, audiovisual materials, and student participation.
Anita Spring is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology. For information about her professional experience and research interests, please see her website at http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/aspring/
Dr. Anita Spring (Ph.D. Cornell University) is Professor of Anthropology and African Studies. She has carried out research in Botswana, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. She is the author of “Empowering Women in the African Entrepreneurial Landscape: Microentrepreneurs to Business Globalists in the Informal and Formal Sectors,” in Power, Gender and Social Change in Africa and the Diaspora (2008); “The New Generation of African Entrepreneurs: Changing the Environment for Business Development and Economic Growth” in Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (with B. McDade 2005); “Gender and the Range of Entrepreneurial Strategies: The Typical and the New African Woman Entrepreneur” in Black Business and Economic Power (2002); Women Farmers and Commercial Ventures: Increasing Food Security in Developing Countries (2000); African Entrepreneurship: Theory and Reality (with B. McDade 1998); The Tree Against Hunger: Enset-Based Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia (with S. Brandt et al. 1997); and Agricultural Development and Gender Issues in Malawi (1995), and many other articles and monographs.
Introduction to Forensic Science
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1208 | Jason Byrd |
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This course addresses the various disciplines within the forensic sciences. Specifically, this course will focus on the application of the medical and natural sciences to forensics. The development of the medical examiner, coroner, and crime laboratory systems within the United States will be discussed as well as the scientific and non-scientific methods used to establish human identity, and the pathological conditions commonly found in forensic casework. This is a three-credit course designed to familiarize the student with the application of science to law and the courtroom.
Dr. Byrd is a Board-Certified Forensic Entomologist and is a past Chairman of the American Board of Forensic Entomology. He has conducted over 100 workshops specializing in the education of law enforcement officials, medical examiners, coroners, attorneys, and other death investigators on the use and applicability of arthropods in legal investigations. He has published numerous scientific articles on the subject of forensic entomology, and has also published two books dealing with the use of insects in legal investigations.
Beginning Chinese I
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1889 | Cynthia H. Shen |
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As one of the most widely used languages in the world, Chinese is spoken natively by an estimated population of about 1.3 billion. This course teaches the standard Mandarin, which serves as the official language of China and Taiwan and is one of the four official languages in Singapore. In cultivating students' language ability the course will endeavor to integrate the four skills aessential in language acquisition: listening, speaking, reading and writing. While providing students with grammatical and structural analysis of language to facilitate a better comprehension, the course will create many occasions for students to communicate in the target language so as to expedite the command of their communication ability in Chinese. Since the Chinese language is intimately related to its culture, cultural implications of the language will be occasionally introduced to enrich the learning experience.
Cynthia Hsien Shen is a native Chinese speaker. She grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. She was awarded a B.A. degree from National Taiwan University. She pursued her graduate studies in the U.S. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Cornell University. She taught and served in various positions at the Gainesville Chinese School before she joined the Department of African & Asian Languages and Literatures as a lecturer.
One-Semester General Chemistry
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: P
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1953 | Staff |
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| 1956 | Staff |
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| 5636 | Staff |
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| 5638 | Staff |
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| 9475 | Staff |
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Students must have a good (AP, IB) high school chemistry background or an SAT II score of 630 or higher to enroll in this course. At Preview sessions, advisors will verify that these requirements are met.
This course is suitable for chemistry and biological science students including those intending medical, dental, and veterinary professions. Good mathematics skills and disciplined, focused study habits help.
Note:Engineering students whose majors require a total of eight hours of chemistry credit may enroll in CHM 2047 and its lab with the expectation of fulfilling the remaining four credit requirement with CHM 3120, Analytical Chemistry, and its lab or another approved Chemistry course. Engineering majors that require only one chemistry course (e.g., CHM 2045) [aerospace, computer, electrical, industrial and systems, and nuclear engineering] may enroll in CHM 2047 and its lab to satisfy the chemistry requirement.The course condenses the usual two-semester sequence of undergraduate general chemistry into a single semester consisting of this lecture course and a companion lab, CHM 2047L, for a total of 5 credit hours (instead of the usual 8 in the two-semester sequence). Although some fundamental knowledge of chemistry is assumed, the course covers most of the general chemistry topics in detail. It fulfills the general chemistry prerequisite so students can begin advanced courses (such as analytical, organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry) earlier than usual.
The course has four lecture days a week and a discussion period each Thursday run by the teaching assistant. The lectures cover the basic principles of chemistry (e.g., atomic theory, bonding, thermodynamics, kinetics, states of matter, etc.) and are supplemented with guest lectures by faculty involved in modern chemical research. The discussion sections are run in smaller groups to allow for more detailed consideration of the material. The course grade is determined by progress tests, a final exam, and homework assignments.
One-Semester Organic Chemistry
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 0808 | Nigel Richards |
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Prereq: CHM 2046, CHM 2047 or CHM 2051; CHM 2046L or CHM 2047L, or permission of instructor. Please contact Dr. Keaffaber in the chemistry department (Flint Hall room 251, jjk@chem.ufl.edu) if you would like to register.
CHM3217 is a relatively small class that focuses on problem solving based upon understanding of structure and reaction mechanisms. This course is the first part of a CHM 3217-3218 organic/biochemistry class. These two classes together satisfy both organic chemistry and biochemistry requirements for CLAS, IDS, and microbiology majors. It is not accepted by food science or pharmacy. It is accepted by the Junior Honors Medical Program, most Medical schools (State of Florida, Harvard, Chicago, Hopkins, etc.), graduate programs, Vet school, and Dental schools, except the Dental school at the University of Florida.
Nigel Richards is a professor in the Chemistry Department. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.
Bioorganic Chemistry
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 0809 | Staff |
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Prereq: CHM 3217 or CHM 2211, or permission of instructor.
An introduction to the basic concepts of biochemistry and molecular biology from the structural and mechanistic perspective of organic chemistry.
Women in Antiquity
Writing or Math Req: W - 4000
Gen Ed: H, D
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 8474 | Judy Ann Turner |
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Women in the ancient Mediterranean world (emphasis upon Greece and Rome) are the subject of the course. The topic remains controversial among ancient historians. Until recently historians did not question the preponderance of our ancient evidence which originates from ancient males (authors, artists, lawmakers) and often reflects a male-biased or vastly distorted view of females. Inscriptional evidence and careful analysis of archaeological and written texts offer a much different, less stereotyped depiction of ancient women. Our course goal is to attempt a more accurate understanding of females in ancient societies. Through use of film, slides, primary and secondary resource readings, and discussion the class will investigate ordinary and extraordinary women from Minoan Greek times through the fall of the Roman Empire. We will explore ancient females' expected and actual societal roles, occupations, and lifestyles. Special attention will be given to females in religion since religious involvement always was one notable way for ancient females to achieve the highest status (and occasionally great independence) and power in their societies.
Judy Ann Turner (Ph.D. in Ancient History, University of California) was the Andrew Mellon Research/Teaching Fellow at the University of Southern California '84- '85 and taught at Cal Poly State University '85-'89. In Florida, she taught at SFCC (Humanities, '90-'93) and at U.F. (Honors Program and Classics Dept.) since '93. She has been an officer in the Archaeological Institute of America, Gainesville Society for more than a decade. Her publications include articles on sacerdotal women in the Linear B tablets and and articles on Greek Priesthoods. She is writing a book on Greek priestesses and ancient cults.
Ancient Greek Medicine and Literature
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: S, H, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 8012 | Bruce Kraut |
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Ancient Greece, the birthplace of western civilization, gave us a foundation not only for democracy, law, mathematics and literature, but also for medicine. The medical treatises of Hippocrates offer a unique perspective on the emergence of rational medicine and are just now being fully appreciated as the great milestones of human thought which they represent. The literature of ancient Greece teems with material on death, disease, healing, and the human condition. The Hippocratic corpus helps to shed new light on these texts. This course will review some of the great literary works of ancient Greece, beginning with Homer, Hesiod, and Herodotus, then focusing on the fifth century B.C.E. (the Golden Age) with the dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Students will also be provided with numerous excerpts from other contemporary writers, including dramatists, philosophers and historians. Our discussions will navigate back and forth between the works of these literary masters and the medical treatises in elucidating ancient perspectives on health, philosophy and life.
Students will gain an understanding and appreciation of Greek literature as well as of various aspects of ancient medical thought and medical practice. There's no need to have any preparation in classical languages or in science and medicine, but each student is expected first and foremost to keep up with reading assignments and also to participate fully in class discussions. There will be periodic short presentations by each student based on material from the readings and a term paper of the student's choice at the end of the course.
Bruce Kraut received his Ph.D. in Classical Philology from Princeton University and his M.D. from Emory University. He is a former Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Georgia and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Classics at the University of Florida and a Pediatrician in private practice. His special interests include Greek drama, Greek papyri, and ancient medicine.
Latin American Politics
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: S, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 8157 | Philip Williams |
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The purpose of the course is to give the student a clearer understanding and appreciation of Latin American politics. The course begins with a general introduction to the historical processes underlying contemporary Latin American politics and the current challenges facing the region. Then we will focus on a number of selected themes through in depth country studies. These will include the issues of economic modernization without democracy, revolutions and negotiated transitions, the challenges of democratic consolidation, and the resurgence of the Left in Latin America.
Philip Williams received his D.Phil in Politics from the University of Oxford in 1986. His major research interests are religion and politics, democratization, social movements, civil-military relations, and transnational migration. He is author of The Catholic Church and Politics in Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Macmillan 1989), Militarization and Demilitarization in El Salvador's Transition to Democracy (University of Pittsburgh 1997), and co-editor of Christianity, Globalization, and Social Change in the Americas. Williams has received a number of prestigious fellowships and grants from Fulbright, North-South Center, United States Institute of Peace, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. Recently he received a major grant from the Ford Foundation to support a three-year study on Latino immigrants in the New South.
Fiction Writing
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: C
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1655 | Staff |
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Prerequisite: CRW 1101 or completion of 60 credits
This course will continue instruction in basic techniques of voice, plot and character, while also introducing advanced ones. Students read a lot of good stories and write a few themselves. Samuel Johnson said, "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money." Juniors or seniors who have not taken CRW1101 or 1301 must have strong composition skills.
Honors Poetry Workshop
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: C
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1657 | William Logan |
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No Prerequisite except a willingness to write poetry and knowledge of what a complete sentence is
“I suppose you want me to go to night school and read poems.”
—James Cagney, “The Public Enemy”
The University of Florida has one of the strongest creative writing programs in the country, and graduate faculty sometimes offer a beginning workshop for honors students. The best students will afterwards be eligible for upper-division workshops, always taught by graduate faculty. Poetry demands close attention to the meaning and music of language, to emotion and the structures of emotion, and to the burdens of the past. The best poetry has an understanding of psychology, botany, religion, philosophy, and how much French fries cost at the mall. No one can be a poet without reading. The beginning workshop is in part a course in poetic literature.
Poets will write one poem a week, which will form the basis of workshop discussion, along with poems of the past and present. No workshop can succeed without an inclination toward laughter and wry jokes. Field trips may be possible—no year in Gainesville is complete without a visit to the alligators. Students are not expected to have written poetry before, but must have strong language skills (you can't manipulate the language effectively without grammar and spelling). Please do not take this course if you don’t know the difference between an adjective and an adverb, or the correct usage of it’s and its, lay and lie, and who and whom. Student who don’t know what complete sentences are will be asked to drop the class.
Required reading:
Norton Anthology of Modern Poems
Four books of contemporary poetry
James McAuley, Versification
William Logan is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently Macbeth in Venice (2003) and The Whispering Gallery (2005). His criticism has been collected in four books, including The Undiscovered Country (2005), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. He has also won the Randall Jarrell Award in Criticism, the Corrington Medal for Literary Excellence, and the Allen Tate Prize. He has been called the "most hated man in American poetry" as well as the "best poetry critic in America."
Empirical Research in Economics Seminar
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 5574 | Larry Kenny |
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Prereq: ECO and ES majors with ECO 2013 and ECO 2023, or B or better in ECO 2013 and ECO 2023
This course develops skills in the development and empirical testing of economic models. Toward this end, each student will develop and test his or her own empirical economic model. The course is broken into three parts, which are described below.
We begin the first part with a discussion of how knowledge advances and a self-contained development of statistical testing of hypotheses with regression analysis. To gain some feeling for what constitutes good empirical economic research and for what constitutes mediocre empirical economic research, we then read and discuss several published papers in economics. We also examine how papers on positive economics are best written. Other sessions further hone statistical skills and provide some training in data transformation. Finally you will be shown how easy it is to run regressions on a PC.
In the second part, you present a proposal that develops the hypotheses to be tested and describes how they will be tested. You must ascertain whether the data that are required to test the hypothesis are available. Your proposal should describe your sample (e.g., all states in 1980, annual data from 1950 to 1990), the variables you will create, your predictions about the effect of each independent variable on your dependent variable, and from what sources your data will be obtained.
In the third part, you present a complete description and analysis of your results. In your handout, develop your predictions, describe your sample, indicate how your variables were constructed, discuss whether your results support or refute your hypothesis and whether your independent variables have a big impact on the dependent variable.
The final paper develops the predictions and discusses how the data were gathered and the hypotheses tested.
Larry Kenny was chairman of the UF Department of Economics for 7 years and serves on the editorial boards for the journals Public Choice and Education Finance and Policy. His research has dealt with inequality in school spending, adoption of school vouchers, the structure of taxes in different countries, the effects of a candidate's economic performance and voting record on electoral success, voter information and turnout, the effects of voter enfranchisement on government spending, term limits, the determinants of how efficient schools are and redistribution.
Introduction to Education
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1272 | Jeff Hurt |
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This course is intended to be an introductory exploration of the PreK-12 teaching profession. It presents issues and conditions currently relevant to teachers and the teaching profession, and examines standard practices, teaching environments, professional obligations and requirements, qualifications for entrance into the profession, certification, legal aspects of the profession, alternative and innovative programs, non-teaching educational positions, and the future of education. Students will participate in a variety of activities, including researching "current issue" topics, such as grades, classroom discipline, teacher tenure and promotion, extra-curricular activities and homework. As part of the requirements for successful completion of the course, all students will complete a minimum of 30 hours of volunteer work in a PreK-12 school system.
Dr. Jeff Hurt has been teaching for 35 years. He has been on the College of Education faculty at the University of Florida since 1985. He has experience in teaching and/or supervision at the elementary, middle school and high school levels. He has degrees in English Education, Social Science Education, Library and Information Science, and Educational Technology and Communication.
Public Health Engineering
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: P
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 7626 | Joseph J. Delfino |
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Prereqs: AP or college level science will be helpful.
Application of engineering principles to protect public health. Areas covered include water supply, waste treatment, air pollution, radiological health, occupational health, milk and food sanitation, vector control, solid wastes and housing hygiene.
This is a non-traditional engineering course. Class discussion is emphasized. In addition to topics in the catalog description, the course will cover public health aspects of current news events, to include natural disasters, environmental law, economics and eithics, contaminants in food and the environment, endocrine disruptor compounds and their environmental impact, environmental security and ways in which environmental and health threats are assessed.
Joseph J. Delfino is Professor and Graduate Coordinator of the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences (EES). He served as Department Chairman from January 1990 through August 1999, Interim Chaiman during 2002-2003 and has been on the faculty since 1982. Previously, he served on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin at Madison and other institutions, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he was concurrently a 1st Lt and Captain in the USAF.
Engineering Economics
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 7606 | Stanislav Uryasev |
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Stan Uryasev is an Associate Professor, of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He is director of the Risk Management and Financial Engineering (RMFE) Lab (see, http://www.ise.ufl.edu/rmfe/index.htm). He chairs an interdisciplinary PhD program in Quantitative Finance (see, http://www.ise.ufl.edu/rmfe/qf/ ). His research is focused, mostly on Financial Engineering applications (portfolio optimization, trading strategies, credit cards scoring), Risk Management (Conditional Value-at-Risk, credit risk), and military applications.
Speaking and Writing for Engineers
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: C
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 4908 | Staff |
|
|
Note: This course will substitute for ENC 2210, Technical Writing.
This course has been expressly designed for engineering students to equip them for speaking and writing assignments associated with undergraduate coursework and careers in the field of engineering. Students will learn valuable techniques and tools that will help them become effective communicators of technical material, capable of organizing and expressing ideas to satisfy the demands of both general and specialist audiences. Writing and speaking assignments will mirror actual tasks in school and in the field. In the process, students will learn how to become critical evaluators of their own communication skills by commenting on and evaluating the spoken and written work of peers in class. The primary writing assignments include a résumé and a cover letter, a procedural manual, and a final team design proposal. Oral assignments include an interview supporting the cover letter and résumé, a presentation of the team proposal, and role-playing as peer reviewers of other team projects.
Speaking and Writing for Premed Students
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: C
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 7858 | Staff |
|
|
Medical professionals have a special obligation to communicate without ambiguity, either in the written or spoken word; they depend on their communication skills to interact productively with other medical experts, their colleagues, clients and their families, and the public at large. This team-taught course will provide students with the opportunity to participate in a range of activities: researching, processing, and sharing medical information with others. Students will learn to do research using medical databases and other research tools, as well as discovering how best to organize and present their findings to other medical professionals or patients. The physician must often act as intermediary between the specialized world of scientific research and the more pragmatic world of the general public; consequently, we will also investigate how best to present technical medical information to the layperson. This course is predicated on the idea that the ability to write and speak clearly are learned skills, not innate talents, which means that better communication can be learned by practice. Students will experiment with a range of communication strategies in class: lectures will be followed by focused written and oral activities that allow students to put theory and strategies into practice. We will read and dissect examples of both good and bad writing in order to learn from them, in addition to examining several types of medical writings: written patient instructions, technical/research papers, case reports, and patient records. Students will also participate in a variety of speaking assignments in class, ranging from impromptu to prepared presentations. We will discuss techniques for improving public speaking, interviewing and listening skills, and patient-doctor communication.
History of Antisemitism
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 6528 | Mitchell Hart |
|
|
Antisemitism: The Role of Hatred and Hostility in History
This seminar explores the history of anti-Jewish discourse and images. It is largely a course in intellectual and cultural history, focused on the production of ideas and their role in the construction of individual and collective notions of the self. What role did anti-Semitism play in the self-conception of ancient Romans, early and medieval Christians, modern Europeans and Americans? The governing assumption here is that in studying anti-Semitism we learn very little or nothing about the way real Jews thought and lived in the world (though we will study, of course, the response of Jews to anti-Semitism and the way this, in turn, affected their own self-perception). Rather, we learn about the mental worlds of the antisemites themselves—their fantasies, their desires, their political and social goals, etc. We will begin in the ancient period and end in the early twentieth century. The course will not deal with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust directly, but certainly serves to familiarize students with the themes directly relevant to a study of the 1930s and 40s. Readings will consist of primary source material and secondary scholarly monographs.
Mitchell Hart is an associate professor in the Department of History. He studies and teaches modern Jewish history, and the history of racial thought in Europe and the United States.
Sensory Processes
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: B
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 4018 | Keith White |
|
|
Prereq: Any PSY course with grade of C or better.
An introductory survey of the human senses and their role in perception, consideration of how we sense the physical environment and what factors influence our perception of it. The capacities and the limitations of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell are explored from physiological and behavioral perspectives. Inasmuch as the phenomena under study can also be experienced, lectures are frequently supplemented with demonstrations and discussions. The aim is to improve understanding of how one's own perceptions may plausibly relate to structures and functions of the nervous system.
Keith D. White, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychology with joint/affiliate appointments in Ophthalmology, Clinical and Health Psychology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the McKnight Brain Institute. He also is a Research Scientist in the Brain Rehabilitation Research Center of the North Florida/South Georgia Veteran's Affairs Medical Center. His research concerns vision and visual perceptions, altered visual perceptions in individuals with psychiatric disorders, and the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging to study neuroplastic changes during rehabilitation of stroke patients.
Beginning German I
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 2387 | Christina Overstreet |
|
|
Discover German is unlike any other language course you may have had! All materials are presented online in VISTA. You need a Gatorlink account, a computer, and a head set to participate in this course. Since Discover German aims to teach the language from the beginning in the context of the German culture, we have many live links to German sites and pictures. Think of it as working with an e-book: each chapter has a dialog, grammar pages, exercises, and homework assignments. All homework is done online and may be oral or written. For example, you will read and listen to a dialog and questions about that dialog. Then you will record your answers, attach your soundfile to the assignment and submit it. For written assignments, you simply write/copy your word file into the submission area and click 'submit'. The instructor will provide individualized and immediate feedback.
The Discussion Board will be used as a springboard for conversation in class. For example, you "virtually" shop for furniture by going to IKEA (practicing numbers, vocabulary etc.) or you Google Ritter Sport Schokolade. When you come to class, you are prepared to tell your classmates in German what furniture you bought and what chocolate you like best.
Students also write, perform, and video record "Situationen". For example, you may go shopping for winter clothes with a friend, buy tickets for a theater performance in Berlin, or create a "Before" and "After" Commercial Spot (using the imperative mood and comparative and superlative of adjectives).
Yes, you are required to learn the grammar! Discover German grammar pages are written in English for you to study at home. Grammar exercises are interactive and you can practice on your own at your own pace.
For more information, please go to http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/overstre/
Christina Overstreet, Ph.D. is a senior lecturer in the Department of Germanic and Slavic studies. She is a native speaker of German and trained in Foreign Language Pedagogy and Second Language Acquisition. Dr. Overstreet has directed the Summer Program at the University of Mannheim and has extensive experience in teaching German language and culture on the beginning and intermediate levels. She has been instrumental in developing and implementing web-based courses that present language in the context of culture. Her research interests include the effective integration of new technology into the foreign language classroom. In her free time, Dr. Overstreet enjoys running, walking at the beach, and traveling.
Representations of War in Literature and Visual Media
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 5860 | Eric Kligerman |
|
|
This interdisciplinary course is designed to explore shifting cultural representations of war in the 20th century, focusing primarily on European history, culture and politics. Drawing upon poetry, drama, prose fiction, journalism, painting and film, we shall examine the crisis of representation surrounding war in the 20th century: World War One, World War Two, terrorism of the 1970s, Vietnam and the Gulf War. The primary objective is to critically analyze the rhetoric and representation of war through these shifting media. How does art capture, preserve or create the image of war? We will apply cultural and critical theories of memory to various texts in order to investigate the narrative strategies that soldiers, civilians and journalists use to represent their respective war experiences. Our goal is to explore how individual as well as national identities are constructed in the aftermath of war. How has the European landscape, in particular Germany, transformed politically, culturally, and socially in relation to the wars of last century?
Eric Kligerman is an Assistant Professor of Germanic and Slavic Studies. His field of work focuses on 20th Century German literature and visual culture, Holocaust Studies and critical theory.
Physical Geology
Writing or Math Req: W - 4000
Gen Ed: P
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 8923 | Raymond Russo |
|
|
Nature is sublime, and the Earth is central to the human experience of awe inspired by the physical world. Deducing Earth's structure; its workings as a set of interlocking physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms; and the long term evolution of these processes and structures, challenge the intellect and is magnificently beautiful. Come find out how our planet works -- in detail -- at all scales, and why it uniquely in the known universe supports abundant, complex life. Emphasis will be on
the processes that control the formation and modification of the Earth, especially plate tectonics and the evolution of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere from the time of Earth formation; sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks and minerals of the Earth's crust and upper mantle; interactions of the solid Earth with the atmosphere and hydrosphere (processes of weathering and mass wasting, groundwater flow, glaciation) and resulting geomorphology, and lacustrine, riparian, and eolian systems; evolution of life on Earth; and processes and effects of solid Earth dynamics: volcanism, seismicity, and crustal deformation.
Grading Method: Three in-class exams 50%, term paper 25%, weekly labs 25%.
Dr. Ray Russo, Assistant Professor geophysics at the University of Florida, works on the flow of the Earth's mantle and its relation to global surface tectonics. To figure out how the Earth's mantle flows in situ, he uses temporary field deployments of seismometers (most recently in southern Chile and the Romanian Carpathians), freely-distributed seismic data, and computer modeling of large-scale tectonics. He also
studies seismicity and seismic hazard in the Caribbean region, especially the Greater and Lesser Antilles and Panama, and has worked in Trinidad &
Tobago and Venezuela. Russo has taught undergraduate and graduate classes
in physical geology, structural geology, tectonophysics, terrestrial gravity and magnetism, time series analysis, and seismology. He also developed and taught a course aimed at examining connections between physical sciences and the arts, called "Science and Art in the Western World". Prior to working at University of Florida, Russo was on the
faculty at Northwestern University, where he got his MS and PhD, and was the Harry Oscar Wood Fellow at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism,
Carnegie Institution of Washington, and an NSF-NATO Fellow at the Université
de Montpellier in France.
Western Humanities 1
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: H, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 2637 | James Hodges |
|
|
This section of Honors Humanities is a survey of Western culture from ancient Greece through the Renaissance, with readings from literature, philosophy, and religion. In addition to selections from the Bible, the course includes The Iliad, plays from Sophocles and Euripides, Plato's Republic, The Aeneid, Dante's Inferno, Machiavelli's The Prince, and Shakespeare's King Lear. Readings about and viewings from classical, medieval, and renaissance architecture, sculpture, and painting are also part of the curriculum. There will be a series of reaction papers required on the assigned readings and a cultural event report.
James Hodges is a Professor Emeritus of English. In addition to his thirty-three years on the faculty at UF, Dr. Hodges has also taught at the Sewanee Military Academy (Tennessee), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and East Tennessee State University. He holds degrees from Vanderbilt University (B.A. and M.A.) and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Western Humanities 2
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: H, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 2638 | James Hodges |
|
|
This section of Honors Humanities is a survey of Western culture from the Eighteenth Century to the present, with readings from literature, psychology, and philosophy. The course includes Voltaire’s Candide, Goethe’s Faust, Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Dostoyevski’s Notes from Underground, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and other plays, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and other poems, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, and Sartre’s No Exit and other plays; also included are Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents and Jung’s Man and His Symbols. Readings about and viewings from architecture, sculpture, and painting are also part of the curriculum. There will be a series of reaction papers required on the assigned readings and a cultural event report.
James Hodges is a Professor Emeritus of English. In addition to his thirty-three years on the faculty at UF, Dr. Hodges has also taught at the Sewanee Military Academy (Tennessee), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and East Tennessee State University. He holds degrees from Vanderbilt University (B.A. and M.A.) and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Magic and Witchcraft
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: H, D
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1940 | Judy Ann Turner |
|
|
"Magic and witchcraft, the fear of daemons and ghosts, the wish to manipulate invisible powers--all were very much a part of life in the ancient world." --Georg Luck, Arcana Mundi, p. xiii. The occult, folklore, mystery cults, oracles, and superstition--the 'darker side' of religious experience--impacted the lives of average Greeks and Romans much more than did the Olympian or 'civic' gods. Yet this significant feature of ancient religious practices receives little attention in scholarship. This course is an effort to lessen the void in topics of ancient religion available to students. Through the use of film, lecture, reading of ancient (in translation) and modern sources, the course will examine origins and practices of ancient magic, witchcraft, mystery cults, demonology, astrology, alchemy, religious 'possession'and other occult subjects. We will explore continuity or resurgence of some ancient occult practices, and if schedules permit, there will be some guest speaker talks on course topics.
Judy Ann Turner (Ph.D. in Ancient History, University of California) was the Andrew Mellon Research/Teaching Fellow at the University of Southern California '84- '85 and taught at Cal Poly State University '85-'89. In Florida, she taught at SFCC (Humanities, '90-'93) and at U.F. (Honors Program and Classics Dept.) since '93. She has been an officer in the Archaeological Institute of America, Gainesville Society for more than a decade. Her publications include articles on sacerdotal women in the Linear B tablets and and articles on Greek Priesthoods. She is writing a book on Greek priestesses and ancient cults.
Spirituality and the Health Sciences
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: H
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 6532 | Lou Ritz |
|
|
This course is intended for undergraduate health science majors, particularly pre-medical students, who are interested in exploring the interface of spirituality and the health sciences.
Interest in the intersection of spirituality and health is rapidly growing in our society, as we seek deeper meaning in our lives and a more holistic approach to our health challenges and wellness. The instructors are founding members of the University of Florida Center for Spirituality and Health (for more information on this program, see
http://www.spiritualityandhealth.ufl.edu).
The course will consist of weekly presentations and discussions led by the course instructors and by members of the UF Spirituality and Health group. Student group dialogue and exchange will be emphasized. Topics typically include:
• Spirituality: Its Nature and Varieties
• Health: An MD's Perspective
• Health: Viewpoints from Religions
• Alcoholism and the AA Program
• Research on Prayer and Health
• Meditation and Wellness
• Mindfulness and Stress Management
• Wisdom in Aging; Death and Dying
• Care for the Soul: Living the Healthy and Spirited Life
• Stories that Heal
Students will write six 3-page papers chosen from the 7 different class topics. In addition, a final paper (5 pages) and a final class presentation (10 minutes) will reflect your understanding and appreciation of the relationship between spirituality and health sciences.
Dr. Lou Ritz is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience, within the College of Medicine and the McKnight Brain Institute. His research interests that have been funded by the National Institutes of Health are concerned with spinal cord injury and repair. He is the course director for Medical Neuroscience, taken by all first year medical students and is a member of the College of Medicine Curriculum Committee. Dr. Ritz is the Director of the University of Florida Center for Spirituality and Health and a co-director of the John Templeton Spirituality and Medicine Award for incorporating spirituality, cultural diversity, and end-of-life issues into the UF medical school curriculum. He has a longtime personal interest in meditation and spiritual development. Questions about the course can be sent to: ritz@mbi.ufl.edu
Age of the Blockbuster
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: H
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 3862 | Dana Peterson |
|
|
This course examines American popular culture in the Age of the Blockbuster. Beginning in the mid-1970s--Steven Spielberg released Jaws on June 30, 1975; Stephen King published his first novel, Carrie, in 1974; George Lucas launched Star Wars in May 1977--the Age of the Blockbuster heralded America's current obsession with bigger, louder, and richer. This section of IDH 3931 will ask students to think critically about American popular culture in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Students, therefore, should be interested in learning more about who "we" are, and in turn, be willing to consume as much "culture"--i.e., movies, books, TV, music, sports, advertising--as they can. Students will also be expected to share these experiences in classroom discussions and presentations. Course requirements include a series of reading responses/journals and a group project.
Dana H. Peterson is on parole for a variety of offenses committed on his (unfortunately under-publicized) nationwide 1985 crime spree that ended just outside Dollyland in Tennessee. He currently teaches at the University of Florida under his mother's maiden name, Staff. Highly regarded for the level of expertise he brings to a variety of subjects, Dr. Staff also directs the AIM Program, the university's initiative to help disadvantaged students succeed at UF. Though Dr. Peterson died at the end of 2004, he still continues to teach this course as part of his penance for how he lived his life. He also continues to answer e-mail, so feel free to contact him at peterson@clas.ufl.edu.
Chick Lit: Junk or Genre?
Writing or Math Req: W - 4000
Gen Ed: D
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 2825 | Mary Ellen Drummond |
|
|
A bonanza for the publications industry during the past decade, Chick Lit has forged its place in popular culture. Bridget Jones’ Diary, Sex and the City, and The Devil Wears Prada are Chick Lit classics that survived and prospered in their transition from the printed page to silver screens large and small.
Alternately acclaimed and reviled by literary and feminist commentators, Chick Lit novels with their twenty- and thirty-year-old conflicted and imperfect Everygirl heroines have become a sub genre of women’s literature, producing a host of sub genres of their own: Black Chick, Latina Chick and Hen (or Mommy), even Lad Lit. British and American authors were the mothers of Chick Lit, but their novels in translation around the world have caused an explosion of Indian and Polish and other national Chick Lit imitators.
Chicktion is hugely popular, fun to read, and here to stay. But are chicklits worth your time? That’s the major question to be addressed by this course.
Topics to be covered include:
Definitions of Chick Lit
Origins of the genre
Sub genres of Chick Lit
Chick Lit and feminism
Chick Lit and literary fiction
Chick Lit around the world
Basic texts for the course include two anthologies:
This is Chick Lit, edited by Lauren Baratz Logsted.
Benbella Books, 2006.
This Is Not Chick Lit, edited by Elizabeth Merrick.
Random House, 2006.
Students will be evaluated on the basis of reading journal entries, a class presentation, a term paper, and participation in classroom discussion.
Mary Drummond (Ph.D., UF) has been a teacher of Spanish and English for many years and a reader for even more. She loves to share her addiction to the printed page with students of all ages.
Disease and Society
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: S, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 7767 | Robert Kwong |
|
|
This course examines diseases and epidemics have affected society. Famous disease and known outbreaks discussed include leprosy, Black Plague, anthrax, HIV/AIDS and SARS. Discussions will focus on how fear, misperceptions and mass hysteria impact healthcare education, healthcare delivery and societal or cultural norms. It is the goal of this course to provide insight and awareness about why healthcare providers need to be better educated about the social effects disease have; it is the hope students will become compassionate and sensitive to those individuals who suffer from discrimination or ridicule because of the disease for which they are affected. This will course will require significant student participation, a research paper and poster presentation is required at the end of the term.
Robert Kwong graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a B.S. in Chemistry and a minor in Biology and continued to get his M.S. in Biomedical Science at Barry University in Miami, FL. He has taught pre-health courses in the Biology departments at National-Louis University, North Park University and Loyola University of Chicago since 1995. While at Loyola University he was a Learning Assistance Counselor helping students learn the "right" study strategies for science coursework. Robert is now the Chief Pre-Health Professions Advisor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida.
Engineering and Astronomy of the Ancients
Writing or Math Req: W - 4000
Gen Ed: H, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 4317 | Jonathan Walz |
|
|
Have you ever wondered how & why Egyptians constructed pyramids? Why the ancient Mayans and Chinese observed celestial events? Or, whether meaning or function empowers an Aboriginal boomerang? In this course we explore ancient technologies & ideologies through archaeology & other sources. Whether you’re interested in the Seven Ancient Wonders or the origins of tools 2.6 million years ago, this course seeks, quite explicitly, to challenge the technology/ideology dichotomy of our modern world. My intent is to force a reconsideration of the cultural roots of human technology, construction, travel, time-keeping & religion.
Jonathan R. Walz is a Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at UF. His current interests range from the archaeologies of Africa to the interface between ideologies and technologies and from ornithology to classical music. University studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, UF, and the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) inspired his passion for teaching and learning.
Ethics: Theory and Practice
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: H
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 0581 | Gayle Brown |
|
|
The aim of this course is to help you reason more clearly and effectively about moral issues. The subject matter of the course can be divided roughly into two parts. First, we want to explore general issues about morality: what is morality? Is there a systematic way of understanding our moral judgments? What principles should we use to decide difficult moral issues? The second part of the course consists of an examination of difficult moral problems. Specific topics include as abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and affirmative action.
Our focus shall be three-fold. First, we want to see how different moral theories may lead to different conclusions about what the right response is to these problems. Second, we shall aim to be as precise as we can about the arguments supporting these conclusions. Third, we want to critically evaluate these arguments--that is, we want to determine whether they are good arguments or bad arguments. It is important to realize that philosophy is not fundamentally about imparting information; it is about learning to reason more carefully and thoroughly. Thus, the main objective of the course is to improve students' skills in understanding and evaluating arguments.
G.M. Brown has taught a wide variety of courses in philosophy in both the Honors Program and the Philosophy Department at UF, including ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of science. She also teaches the popular Tao of Star Trek course. In addition to philosophy, her academic interests include poetry, literature, archeology, theology, theoretical physics and evolutionary biology.
Icelandic Sagas: The Sword and the Cross
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 2445 | Avery Cahill |
|
|
Trolls, dragons, battle and revenge, the very stuff of the Icelandic Sagas. This course is designed to give students an in-depth introduction to the myths and sagas of Icelanders. We will study the Icelandic sagas as literature written by Christians about their pagan ancestors, focusing on the cultural history of Iceland in the Viking era and the Middle Ages. It begins with an overview of Medieval Scandinavia with an emphasis on Iceland from its settlement to the end of the Viking Age. In light of the heroic ideal, the role of women, and the interplay between pagan codes of honor and Christian ethics, we will analyze a number of these blood drenched yarns, including the Vinland sagas-the first European discovery of America, Hrafnkel's saga-revenge and the pagan priest of Frey, Egil's saga-the murderous poet, Gisli's and Grettir’s sagas-Iceland’s most famous outlaws, and selections from the mythic stories in the prose and poetic Eddas. Emphasis will be placed on writing and thinking about the past.
Avery D. Cahill received his MA in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin in 2000. He has lived and studied abroad in Oslo and Tromso, Norway. After graduation, he was hired to teach Norwegian Language and Literature at Luther College in Decorah, IA. After capably teaching the entire Luther College football team to curse in Norwegian and to speak like the old fishermen he met in Norway, he came to the University of Florida in 2002, where he has taught, among other things, a course on Medieval Latin. When he is not teaching, you will most likely find him either in the library reading about Medieval Scandinavia or studying kung fu under the watchful eye of Sifu Des Jackson of the Gainesville Dojo.
Immigration, Race, Gender and Ethnicity in American Culture
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: S, D
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 5571 | Esther Romeyn |
|
|
The goal of this course is to introduce the student to various social and cultural issues related to the experience of immigration and the place of ethniciy within American culture. The primary focus will be on the period between 1880 and the present. The class is structured around the reading of four autobiographies. We will explore the meaning of such concepts as immigration, ethnicity, ethnic identity, Americanization, acculturation, globalization, and transnationalism by drawing on social and cultural theory. We will examine how ethnicity is experienced, in particular in relation to such factors as language, memory, race, and gender. We will also discuss the tension between ethnic diversity/pluralism and national unity, and the parameters of contemporary debates about such issues as bi-lingual education and affirmative action.
Required Readings:
Abraham Cahan, The Rise of David Levinsky; Piri Thomas, These Mean Streets; Maxine Hong Kingston, Woman Warrior; Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory
Esther Romeyn received her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. She taught in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program at Arizona State University from 1998 until 2005. Her main interests lie in Ethnic Studies, Cultural Studies, Performance Studies, Jewish Studies, Urban Studies, and cross-cultural psychology. Her publications are concerned specifically with immigrant acculturation as a process of cultural “translation” (or “mistranslation”); the performance of ethnic identity (in daily life, festivals, parades, and theater); and the shifting boundaries of “race” in American culture.
Introduction to Forensic Anthropology
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: S
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 4259 | Jason Byrd |
|
|
Forensic anthropology, an applied subfield of biological anthropology, is a science that utilizes methods developed in skeletal biology, archaeology, and other forensic sciences to solve cases of medico-legal significance. This course is a three-credit class designed to present how forensic anthropologists help resolve modern and historic crimes both in the laboratory and the field. Students will be introduced to the techniques that forensic anthropologists use to recover and identify individuals who died as a suicide, homicide, accidents and mass disasters.
Dr. Byrd is a Board-Certified Forensic Entomologist and is a past Chairman of the American Board of Forensic Entomology. He has conducted over 100 workshops specializing in the education of law enforcement officials, medical examiners, coroners, attorneys, and other death investigators on the use and applicability of arthropods in legal investigations. He has published numerous scientific articles on the subject of forensic entomology, and has also published two books dealing with the use of insects in legal investigations.
Multicultural Communication
Writing or Math Req: W - 2000
Gen Ed: S, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 4306 | Tim Fogarty |
|
|
Multicultural Communications is a participatory experience in understanding how ethnocentricity keeps us from communicating effectively with a large percentage of our fellow Americans, not to mention billions of others around the world. Our learnings will not be solely theoretical, but will include actual experiences of cross-cultural communication. The basic texts ( two required readings for the course) will be Intercultural Communication by Everett M. Rogers and Thomas M. Steinfatt (1999) and Readings in Intercultural Communication by Judith Martin, Thomas Nakayama and Lisa Flores, 2nd Edition.
Multicultural communication is not an optional skill in our pluralistic society and globalizing world; rather it may be the most important skill that a person can acquire both from the point of view of being a productive member of the economy and a productive national and world citizen. Lack of ability to communicate cross-culturally leads to such undesireable social outcomes as ethnocide, war, and so called "clashes of civilization". The diversity that we find in the classroom itself will serve as a microcosm of the campus, community and world around us. We will become personally involved in bridging differences of social class, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, etc. and in so doing we will be personally, emotionally as well as cognitively, changed. The theoretical fields that underlie the readings and class activities are those of socio-linguistics and anthropology, especially linguistic anthropology which has been applied to cross-cultural communication since the 1950s.
About Tim Fogarty: I have a BA in philosophy, an MA in Religion, and Ph.D. in Anthropology (2005 University of Florida). My research is in development anthropology, a sub-field of socio-cultural anthropology. My research program is to understand how solidarity forms between North Americans and Central Americans across national, social class, ideology and life style differences.
I have participated in over 20 different short term small group tours to Nicaragua and other countries in Central America, accompanied by North Americans who travel there to do something helpful in the midst of the second worst poverty in the Western Hemisphere. These trips have been hosted by small non-governmental organizations and often go to remote and isolated rural communities as well as the typical tourist attractions. I am planning to take UF honors students to Nicaragua for a summer experience of cross-cultural communication. Multicultural communication would be a good preparatory course for such a journey.
Music and Health
Writing or Math Req: W - 6000
Gen Ed: H, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 1008 | Miriam Zach |
|
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We will explore the relationship of music and medicine via readings, recordings, lectures, discussions, and musical experiences, investigating the history, theory, and practice of the creative power of sound and music in international health care settings. In addition to reviewing the work of musicians-physicians and music therapy research in the medical literature, we will study prevention of injury and maintenance of health of musicians, and medical challenges of performing artists and composers. Students are expected to listen to musical compositions of various styles and genres, be able to identify them by composer, historical context, and stylistic characteristics, and their potential use as treatment in clinical application. There will be two listening tests and a research paper/creative project presentation, and several brief essays on research experiences. The starting point for work in the course will be Kristine Forney and Joseph Machlis' The Enjoyment of Music, chronological version, 10th edition with 8 accompanying CD's; and Randall McClellan's The Healing Forces of Music.
Miriam Zach, Ph.D. (minerva@ufl.edu or http://www.womencomposerslibrary.org) is Assistant Professor in the Honors Program at the University of Florida. She holds degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. In addition to teaching courses on Music History, and Music and Health, she maintains her own studio in Gainesville giving lessons in piano, harpsichord, and pipe organ, and is a member of the Alachua Consort which specializes in Baroque chamber music. In 2003 she became co-principal with her husband Dr. Mikesch Muecke in the design/build architectural practice misumiwaDesign ( misumiwadesign.com), and in 2007 co-edited and published the book "Resonance" (http://www.cularchpress.com). In 2006 she published For the Birds: A Women Composers’ Music History Speller with Culicidae Press (http://www.culicidaepress.com). In 1998 she recorded the CD Hidden Treasures on the Princeton University Chapel organ, and plans to record future CDs of music by women composers on her new house organ, designed and built by A. David Moore in 2005.
Seafarers, Sultans, Slaves and Spices: The Indian Ocean in Antiquity
Writing or Math Req: W - 2000
Gen Ed: H, N
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 4329 | Jonathan Walz |
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The Indian Ocean lies at the crux of the ancient Afro-Asian world. Navigable seaways and monsoon winds channeled peoples, ideas, and resources across this vast space over three millennia. Imperial expeditions from Egypt foretell of later Portuguese, Dutch, and Omani duels of political ambition. Elites and religious pilgrims from Arabia to Thailand sought ideological converts while merchants traded heavily in ivory, pepper, and opium. Slaves from Ethiopia and India, embroiled in such contests, toiled as fieldworkers in Mauritius or served as concubines in Persia. All the while, musical, architectural, and philosophical ideas diffused across the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and beyond, creating countless variations on aspects of shared heritages. This course introduces the vibrant societies and rich histories of the Indian Ocean while questioning their silencing in standard world histories.
Jonathan R. Walz is a Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at UF. His current interests range from the archaeologies of Africa to the interface between ideologies and technologies and from ornithology to classical music. University studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, UF, and the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) inspired his passion for teaching and learning.
Jonathan R. Walz is a Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at UF. His current interests range from the archaeologies of Africa to the interface between ideologies and technologies and from ornithology to classical music. University studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, UF, and the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) inspired his passion for teaching and learning.
SKETCHBOOK/JOURNAL: Illustrating the Human Condition
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 7859 | Daniel Stepp |
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"Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one consciously, by means of external signs, hands on to others feelings that one has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them." --Leo Tolstoy
Artists have been regarded as consummate watchers and decipherers of the act of living. Through notes, sketches, studies, experiments, and skilled observations they have processed the human experience. Sketchbooks are prized tomes of knowledge that artists and readers alike turn to for inspiration and understanding. Sketching is the most immediate, responsive reaction to visual stimulus. A journal may be creatively complete or a foundation for future work. This class will challenge students to investigate the human condition through the vehicle of sketching. We will observe, record, and attempt to decipher behavior, social constructs, human interactions, and ways of living. Throughout the course we will look at sketchbooks and journals of other artists as a way to further our own notebooks.
Demonstrations, exercises, fieldtrips, readings, slide presentations, and guest lectures will be used as motivation for exploration. This class is not predicated on innate artistic ability but rather a desire to investigate and describe the world visually. Students are encouraged to be inventive, courageous, and prolific.
Daniel Stepp has taught painting and drawing at the University of Florida since 1998. He received his MFA from the New York Academy of Art and has exhibited in Florida, New York, and Canada. His current paintings have been described as American genre with a focus on tools and technology, sex roles in labor, corporate branding, initiation, ritual, the transference of myth and archetype onto genre activities, and the conflict created by contrived culture imprinted onto evolved, long-standing traditions.
Watching the Great Depression: American Films of the 1930s
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| 5984 | Casey Damme |
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The Great Depression challenged America’s confidence in a future of limitless prosperity. The iconic narrative of the Depression is the extraordinary crash of consumption that tested popular faith in the corporate liberalism of western democracies. The Depression not only devastated the U.S. economy. It also engendered a collective and individual sense of responsibility for the disaster, which, along with the attendant guilt, deeply affected how Americans coped with their fate.
The movies of the 1930s offer insights into how a society attempted to both regain its optimism and assuage its guilt. Hollywood released hundreds of movies that reflected the times, and most delivered messages about Americans surviving harsh conditions, about honesty triumphing over deceit, and about redemption through hard work and pluck. Even the escapist fare – musicals and screw-ball comedies – revealed similar tropes. Recognizable themes that are laced throughout the 1930s films include patriotism, class, ethnicity, gender, and, by virtue of its scarce and stereotypical representations, race.
In this course, the class will watch Depression era films in order to identify their themes, critique their methods, and uncover how audiences might have responded to them. The course’s primary historical focus is the Great Depression; however, this decade of movies offers glimpses of earlier times, including a residuum of Victorian sensibilities as well as post-Victorian liberation of the 1920s. In addition to in-class viewing, students will be required to watch a movie (on DVD format) each week and be prepared to discuss it in class. The instructor will provide the loaner DVDs.
Typical topics and films include: I. Girls Gone Wrong: (Torch Singer; Baby Face; Some Call it Sin; The Divorcee) II. College Days: (Finishing School; Sorority House; Huddle) III. Captains of Industry: (Skyscraper Souls; Female; The Millionaire) IV. Ladies & Gentlemen of the Press:(Five Star Final; Torchy Blane; His Girl Friday)V. Lawyers & Justice:(Lawyer Man; Nuisance; Night Court). Other topics: The Doctor Is In; Girl & Guy Detectives; Gangsters & Reformers; The Mysterious East; Musicals.
Grades will be based on class participation and a paper. Each student will write and present a paper focusing on one film. The paper will consist of an explication of 1) Depression issues and expressions of class, gender, ethnicity, race, or religion found in the movie, and 2) an analysis of those issues that will include primary sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, radio programs, or government [New Deal] documents), and 3) a comparison of the different “voices” – one artistic (conveyed in the film), the others journalistic or bureaucratic.
Readings for the course will be minimal, but may include portions of the following:
Bergman, Andrew, We’re in the Money (New York: Harper & Row) 1971
Denvir, John (ed.) Legal Reelism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press) 1996
Doherty, Thomas, Pre-code Hollywood (New York: Columbia University Press) 1999
May, Lary, Screening out the Past (New York, Oxford University Press) 1980
Casey Damme (B.A., Mount Holyoke; J.D., George Washington University; M.P.H., University of Texas School of Public Health), is currently finishing a Ph.D. in History at the University of Missouri. Before she started watching movies, she taught Medical Jurisprudence and Law and Genetics at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and was the compliance officer for the Institutional Review Board at the University of Missouri while she completed her coursework in history. She taught post-Civil War history at the University of Missouri as a Graduate Lecturer. Her dissertation centers on the intersection of fitness and fashion in late Victorian America. She and her husband moved to Gainesville in December, 2006.
Professional Development Strategies
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| DEP-X | Sheila Dickison |
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Planning to apply for a Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell, Gates-Cambridge Scholarship? Local application deadlines for the next cycle are late summer 2008 (eligibility: you will be in your seventh semester next fall and likely to graduate in spring 2009).
If you are thinking about competing for these highly competitive scholarships, it is essential that you get a head start and take this one credit class in the spring. By the end of the semester you will have a draft application and some suggestions about summer reading and how to prepare for these highly competitive competitions. Winning one of these is a career-maker!
For information on the scholarships go to www.honors.ufl.edu and click on Scholarships. You can also come into 29 Tigert and look at past applications.
To enroll in the class please e-mail Dr. Dickison at doctord@ufl.edu
Sheila K. Dickison was Director of the University Honors Program from 1996-2007. She is currently Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and continues to work with the prestigious scholarships program.
Individual Work
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| DEP-X | Your individual supervisor |
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If you have found a faculty member who is willing to do an independent study with you, you may sign up for this course. For approval you will need to provide a cogent plan of study and a faculty signature indicating approval of your course of study. Your project cannot duplicate a regularly offered course in the UF curriculum. You may use this course for elective credit. You will receive credit for IDH 4905, "Honors Individual Work" on your transcript if you undertake an independent project but do not participate in any documented research. You can get the application form in the Honors Office, 140 Tigert Hall, or on the Honors webpage (http://www.honors.ufl.edu/forms.html).
Note: For a list of UF faculty who have opportunities for undergraduates, please consult the Undergraduate Research Database (http://www.honors.ufl.edu/researchdatabase.html). Faculty are under no obligation to work with you or employ you under their grant. With perseverance you may find someone who is willing to have you get involved.
Introduction to Professional Development
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| DEP-X | John Denny |
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| DEP-X | Regan Garner |
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| DEP-X | Melissa Johnson |
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| DEP-X | Kris Klann |
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| DEP-X | Jonathan Ohlrich |
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| DEP-X | Melissa Johnson |
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Prerequisite: This course is restricted to students who entered UF during Summer B or Fall 2008.
In this course, students will work closely with an honors advisor and a current honors student leader to develop an action plan for university involvement. Students will learn how to find and apply for scholarships and awards, internships, study abroad programs, research opportunities, and leadership and service projects. Students will get to know the inner-workings of the university and discover available resources and opportunities, all while working with other highly motivated honors students. Finally, they will learn how to display the skills and experiences gained through these activities.
Students who have taken this course have successfully participated in many of the opportunities discussed in class. This course counts toward the Honors Program Certificate of Completion and replaces the previous course, SLS 1102: Honors Freshman Experience. For more information, contact Melissa Johnson at mjohnson@honors.ufl.edu
John is an alumnus of the University of Florida, earning his bachelors degree in Psychology in 1992. After working in community mental health for 2 years he attended the University of South Florida where he completed his Master of Social Work. John interned at the Moffitt Cancer Center after receiving a scholarship in Oncology Social Work from the American Cancer Society. He has 6 years experience in health care providing medical social work services. John came to the University of Florida in 2001 as an Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Disability Resources. He was instrumental in opening the Disability Resource Center at Reid Hall, the first-ever designated center for students with disabilities at the University of Florida. John is currently pursuing his Ph. D in Higher Education Administration. He is an avid music lover who enjoys playing guitar, hiking and travel.
Regan has a BA in Classical Studies and a M.Ed. in Social Foundations from UF. Her research interests are desegregation and the socioeconomic and racial components of the American public school experience.
Melissa Johnson is an Assistant Director of the Honors Program. Melissa has a BA in Classical Studies and History and an MEd in Higher Education Administration from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and currently is working on a PhD in Higher Education Administration at the University of Florida. Her research interests include first-year students' motivation to pursue undergraduate research and the experiences of peer leaders who co-teach first-year experience courses.
Jonathan Ohlrich is a Ph.D. student from the CISE department. His research interests include artificial intelligence and collegiate education.
Researching Internships
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| DEP-X | Sheila Dickison |
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This course is designed to introduce freshmen and first-semester sophomores to the process of finding and securing an internship. The course will focus on campus involvement, leadership skills, communication skills, intermediate resume writing, and search strategies.
The most valuable factor in obtaining an internship is a strong understanding of the process and its many facets. Through this course, students will gain a greater understanding of the level of competitiveness involved in certain programs, the application process, and most importantly- what interviewers are looking for.
This course is available to honors students via invitation only. If you are interested in taking this course, please e-mail Dr. Dickison (doctord@ufl.edu).
Sheila K. Dickison was Director of the University Honors Program from 1996-2007. She is currently Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and continues to work with the prestigious scholarships program.
Undergraduate Research
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
| Section | Instructor | Times | Locations | ||||||
| DEP-X | Your research supervisor |
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