Junior Seminar

Junior seminars are typically taken during junior year. This will give you an opportunity to learn more in your major, so you can bring your experience and knowledge to the junior seminar.

The topics vary from semester to semester, but junior seminars are opportunities to look in-depth at a topic, issue, or problem, often in ways that allow a student to view the subject through the lens of her or his own major, and to see how students in other majors provide different perspectives on the same subject.

Spring/Summer 2012

HNR 312 01 and 02: Literary Explorations of Medical Controversies

Schedule: Online (Meets 5/10–6/23)
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity

Professor Sue Swartzlander, Professor of English

This junior seminar focuses on ethical, cultural, and controversial issues in medicine today. Through fiction, poetry, memoirs, film, and essays, we learn not only about people’s experiences with illness, but also how cultural differences shape our interactions with the healthcare system. Our analysis of texts elucidates attitudes toward race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation, which have been implicit in “objective” medical science from the Victorian period through our contemporary experience. Topics include research/experimentation, aging, women’s health issues, AIDS, depression, cancer, and end-of-life concerns. Students are encouraged to use course assignments to explore their own areas of specific interest.

HNR 311 02: SWS You & Global Development

Schedule: Class is taught as a hybrid: class meets June 25, July 9 and August 6 from 3:00-8:50 in HON 219. The rest of the class will conducted online.
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspectives

Professor Paul Lane, Professor of Marketing

Your generation has a chance to change the world. In this interdisciplinary course, you will study and discuss major changes in the developing world and how analysis can lead to intelligent use of resources for improved quality of life. The fundamental questions are what is development, who benefits from development, and how do peoples achieve sustainable development? To discuss those questions, you investigate the health, history, politics, economy, geography, culture, and technology of a people. Other topics include gender relations, infrastructure, education and, health delivery. You will have the opportunity to choose a country and/or problem and propose a solution.

Fall 2012

HNR 300 01: Classical Mythology

Schedule: MW 3:00–4:15

Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspectives

Diane Rayor, Professor of Classics

This course examines ancient Greek and Roman myths in their cultural and historical contexts, to explore their cultural relevance then and now. Myths are an attempt to order and understand human experience, grounded in a particular time and place, and mutable to new circumstance. We study myth as a product of a particular culture, but also as a product of human insight and exploration of our common human situation. These myths continue to influence modern literature and thought; through their study, we can better understand our own past and present. Classes consist of discussion, acting, writing, service learning, and lecture.

HNR 313 01: SWS Das Kapital

Schedule: MWF 11:00–11:50

Gordon Alderink, Associate Professor of Health Professions

For most, the fall of the Berlin Wall signaled the triumph of a “free market” (capitalism) over central planning (communism) and democracy over totalitarianism. However, the Great Recession of 2008 suggests that the neo-liberal model of capitalism is not what it “appears;” explanations for the recession superficially credit de-regulation and greed as the primary faults. Karl Marx’s research and scholarship in the middle 19^th century contrasted, what he called, the “appearance” with the “essence” of capitalism, which may provide more profound clues to our most recent economic crisis. In this course students will: 1) examine the history of capitalism; 2) explore the life and philosophy of Karl Marx as a backdrop to reading Capital (Volume 1); and 3) pursue a critical reading and analysis of Capital.

HNR 313 02: Stoicism and the Happy Life

Schedule: W 6:00–8:50

Peter Anderson, Associate Professor of Classics

HNR 312 01: Literary Explorations of Medical Controversies

Schedule: TR 10:00–11:15
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity

Professor Jane Toot, Professor of Physical Therapy

This junior seminar focuses on ethical, cultural, and controversial issues in medicine today. Through fiction, poetry, memoirs, film, and essays, we learn not only about people’s experiences with illness, but also how cultural differences shape our interactions with the healthcare system. Our analysis of texts elucidates attitudes toward race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation, which have been implicit in “objective” medical science from the Victorian period through our contemporary experience. Topics include research/experimentation, aging, women’s health issues, AIDS, depression, cancer, and end of life concerns. Students are encouraged to use course assignments to explore their own areas of specific interest.

HNR 312 02: Literary Explorations of Medical Controversies

Schedule: Online
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity

Professor Sue Swartzlander, Professor of English

This junior seminar focuses on ethical, cultural, and controversial issues in medicine today. Through fiction, poetry, memoirs, film, and essays, we learn not only about people’s experiences with illness, but also how cultural differences shape our interactions with the healthcare system. Our analysis of texts elucidates attitudes toward race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation, which have been implicit in “objective” medical science from the Victorian period through our contemporary experience. Topics include research/experimentation, aging, women’s health issues, AIDS, depression, cancer, and end of life concerns. Students are encouraged to use course assignments to explore their own areas of specific interest.

HNR 312 03: Culture and Aesthetics

Schedule: TR 4:00–5:15
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity

Professor Kurt Ellenberger, Associate Professor of Music

This course will examine music as it intersects with and helps define culture in present-day America (where culturally-diverse genres coexist and cross-pollinate in a surprising manner), and contrast this with similar developments during pivotal points in the last 500 years. We will look at “art music” and popular music in many of their forms and examine them through readings from scholarly and popular writings. Aesthetics will function as a means of identifying embedded cultural values that transcend genre, thus illuminating our understanding of music in a broader societal context.

HNR 312 04: Intercultural Communication

Schedule: MW 1:30–2:45
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity
Professor Joe Helgert

This course examines communication in an intercultural setting, both domestic and international. The course focuses upon (a) how culture influences the communication process and the development of relationships, and (b) dynamics of intercultural encounters. Special emphasis will be given to diversity in the workplace. Class activities include presentation of materials, guided discussion and analysis, exercises, simulations, and group problem-analysis.

HNR 312 05: Remembering 9/11

Schedule: MW 4:30-5:45 PM
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity

Professor Robert Franciosi, Professor of English

How have the attacks of September 11, 2001 entered our cultural and political memory? The tenth anniversary last year of what is often described as the defining moment of our times, the day when “everything changed,” presented a unique opportunity to assess 9/11’s place in our national memory. What had been a steady stream of books, films, and commemorations became a torrent.

The seminar will be built around three major units. First, we will begin with contemporary and historic accounts of the September 11 attacks. Besides reading a version of the 9/11 Commission report, we will consider newspaper and magazine accounts, as well as archived minute-by-minute coverage from the various television networks. Second, the seminar will engage a wide range of responses to 9/11 during the ensuing ten-year period, including films (both documentary and Hollywood treatments), reportage, literature, graphic novels, websites, as well as discussions of the event’s political and journalistic implications. This second unit will culminate in a consideration of the memorial plans for the Ground Zero site itself. Finally, the seminar will conclude with a unit devoted to some of the controversies surrounding the events of September 11: the political influence of 9/11 families; the persistent belief in 9/11 conspiracies; the designation of the World Trade Center site as “hallowed ground;” and the controversy over the proposed Muslim center nearby.

HNR 312 06: SWS Games in the Circumpolar World

Schedule: MWF 9:00–9:50
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and US Diversity

John Kilbourne, Professor of Movement Science

A historical and philosophical study of the games of indigenous Artic people, including an overview of the cultural attributes that inform the above. For more information please contact kilbourj@gvsu.edu

Winter 2013

HNR 311 01: Problem Solving for Sustainable Solutions through System Analysis

Schedule: TR 1:00–2:15
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspective

Professor Jane Toot, Professor of Physical Therapy

This course will examine a variety of problem solving techniques which can be used across disciplines and which support a sustainable approach to seeking solutions. The range of professions will included business, education, health care, and politics. Participants will learn how to identify, use, and develop isomorphic strategies and tools to address presented problems.

HNR 311 02: Biotechnology and the World

Schedule: TR 10:00–11:15
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspectives

Professor Osman Patel, Assistant Professor of Biology

Biotechnology has been practiced by human society since the beginning of civilization. However, the discovery of the structure of DNA and the function of cells has advanced biotechnology to unprecedented levels. Twenty-first century biotechnology, armed with genetic engineering and the deciphered codes of life (genomes), is affecting every facet of human existence and has brought about radical changes in technological approaches to the world’s problems of food, health, global warming, energy production, and environment. The purpose of this course is to examine the evolution of biotechnology paralleled with the economic and societal dilemmas created around the world by the advances in biotechnology.

HNR 312 01: American Pop Culture 1880–1945

Schedule: TR 6–8:50
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity

Professor Steve Tripp, Professor of History

This course explores American cultural traditions, paying particular attention to issues involving class, race, sexuality, and gender. As befitting a course on American culture, readings and class discussions will emphasize shared values and ideals, as well as places of conflict and tension.

HNR 312 02: Literary Explorations of Medical Controversies

Schedule: TR 10:00–11:15
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity

Professor Jane Toot, Professor of Physical Therapy

This junior seminar focuses on ethical, cultural, and controversial issues in medicine today. Through fiction, poetry, memoirs, film, and essays, we learn not only about people’s experiences with illness, but also how cultural differences shape our interactions with the healthcare system. Our analysis of texts elucidates attitudes toward race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation, which have been implicit in “objective” medical science from the Victorian period through our contemporary experience. Topics include research/experimentation, aging, women’s health issues, AIDS, depression, cancer, and end of life concerns. Students are encouraged to use course assignments to explore their own areas of specific interest.

HNR 312 03: Literary Explorations of Medical Controversies

Schedule: TR 8:30–9:45
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity

Professor Gordon Alderink, Professor of Physical Therapy

This junior seminar focuses on ethical, cultural, and controversial issues in medicine today. Through fiction, poetry, memoirs, film, and essays, we learn not only about people’s experiences with illness, but also how cultural differences shape our interactions with the healthcare system. Our analysis of texts elucidates attitudes toward race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation, which have been implicit in “objective” medical science from the Victorian period through our contemporary experience. Topics include research/experimentation, aging, women’s health issues, AIDS, depression, cancer, and end of life concerns. Students are encouraged to use course assignments to explore their own areas of specific interest.

HNR 312 04: Sex, Power, and Politics

Schedule: TR 11:30-12:45
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity

Professor Karen Zivi, Honors College

This course is designed to help students understand the processes by which “sexuality” (understood broadly to include gender and sexual difference) is constituted through relations of power and comes to shape the lives of everyday citizens in both positive and negative ways. To that end, we will consider questions such as how do theories of sexuality inform social practices, laws, public policies, and one’s sense of self? How do these theories, and the policies and practices they engender, perpetuate or minimize relations of subordination and domination? In other words, how do our gender norms undermine or enable human flourishing and freedom? And what, if anything, can or should be done in response?

This course brings the works of feminist, political, and social theorists together with the study of contemporary public policy controversies. Students will have the opportunity to explore competing theories of sexuality and consider questions such as Are men and women born or made, determined by their biology or the socially constructed? Is the male/female dichotomy enough to capture the complexity of human identity and sexuality? And what difference does difference make? These questions will be taken up in the context of philosophical and political debates over the role of women in and outside of the home, the norms of masculinity, reproductive freedom, pornography, and gay rights.

HNR 313 01: Lost Generation

Schedule: Online
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar

Professor Sue Swartzlander, Professor of English

"It was a place where the very air was impregnated with the energies of art."
— Thomas Wolfe

"Was it fun in Paris? Who did you see there and was the Madeleine pink at five o'clock and did the fountains fall with hollow delicacy into the framing of space in the Place de la Concorde and did the blue creep out from behind the Colonades of the Rue de Rivoli through the grill of the Tuileries and was the Louvre grayand metallic in the sun and did the trees hang brooding over the cafes and were there lights at night and the click of saucers and the auto horns that play DeBussey — I love Paris. How was it?"
— Zelda Fitzgerald

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris . . . then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
— Ernest Hemingway

If you were a writer, artist, or musician in the roaring 20's, Paris was *THE* place to be. Sign on for a journey back in time to a magical city that inspired such creative geniuses as James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Andre Breton, Jean Cocteau, ee cummings, Gertrude Stein, Man Ray, Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Sergei Eisenstein, Josephine Baker, and Isadora Duncan. We will read a variety of literary texts and "little magazines," view contemporary photographs, paintings, and films, and listen to music of the jazz age.

If you have an interest in modern literature, music, art, dance, film, photography, literary cafes, or the roaring twenties, this is the junior seminar for you. So, don't be a flat tire, be a darb and learn more about this ritzy time in this swanky city. Twenty-three skiddoo now to sign up for this whoppee that will be not only the bee's knees, but the cat's meow as well!

HNR 313 02: Cosmology for Poets

Schedule: MW 4:30–5:45
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar

Professor Ed Baum, Professor of Chemistry

In every age, humans have puzzled over the origin, nature, and fate of the universe. The ancients debated philosophical issues concerning its existence. In the Middle Ages, natural philosophers were preoccupied with theological and mystical issues. Now that the Hubble telescope and other powerful astronomical instruments give us an unprecedented view of the cosmos and the means with which to test our theories, cosmology has become a scientific endeavor. This course is a survey of the fundamental scientific, philosophical, and religious issues in cosmology. It explores current understanding of the nature of the universe and the connections between past and present ideas on the subject.

HNR 331 01: Culture and the Holocaust

Schedule: MW 3:00–4:15
Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspectives

Professor Robert Franciosi, Professor of English

In “Culture and the Holocaust” we will consider the event from within and without — survivors’ responses as well as those of non-witnesses. We will first study selected European literature, art, film, and philosophy. Then, we will consider specifically American responses, from popular culture to the Holocaust museum in Washington, in order to engage the implications this event holds for our culture, what Richard Rubenstein terms the Holocaust and the “American Future.”

Glenn A. Niemeyer Learning and Living Center • Allendale MI 49401
Phone 616-331-3219 • honors@gvsu.edu