Writing Fellows Courses - Fall 2012
Writing Fellows courses help students improve their writing skills by working with a Brown undergraduate who has been trained in composition and pedagogy. In a "fellowed" course, students receive detailed commentary on at least two paper drafts during the semester. Professors receive the first drafts, annotated by the Writing Fellows, along with the final papers, so that they may review the process of their students' work.
First-Year Seminars
ENVS0070C-S01 Transcending Transportation Impacts
CRN:14480
Primary Meeting: T 04:00 pm - 06:20 pm
Students will be engaged in interdisciplinary analyses of the life-cycle costs, environmental impacts, technical developments, and policy innovations at the local and regional level. We will discuss technical modifications in vehicles, such as plug-in hybrids, as well as policy and planning on intermodal systems, recycle-a-bike programs, intelligent transportation systems, and other innovations. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. Instructor permission required. FYS LILE WRIT
Instructor: Kurt Teichert
GNSS0090B-S01 Bodies Out of Bounds
CRN:14829
Primary Meeting: T R 09:00 am - 10:20
In this seminar we will examine what happens to bodies - and the world around them - when they refuse to stay within "normal" boundaries. We will focus our readings on literature, essays, and memoir from the past two centuries, and use film and contemporary cultural theory for comparison and context. Readings range from Jeannette Winterson's Written on the Body to fiction by Octavia Butler. Enrollment limited to 20 first-year students. FYS WRIT
Instructor: Gail E. Cohee
ITAL0751-S01 When Leaders Lie: Machiavelli in International Context
CRN:14472
Primary Meeting: W 03:00 pm - 05:20 pm This course examines the writing of Niccolò Machiavelli, a Renaissance author praised and condemned for his insistence on analyzing the realities of politics, rather than the ideals of political behavior. Machiavelli's view of the tenuous relationship of ethics to politics has cast him as the founder of political science and the proponent of "consequential morality" or the notion that the ends justify the means. We will also examine precedents for his ideas in the Greek and Islamic world and conclude by examining the relevance of Machiavelli's insights for understanding political practices and ethics in the twenty-first century. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. Instructor permission required. FYS LILE WRIT
Instructor: Caroline Castiglione
POBS0810-S01 Belonging and Displacement: Cross-Cultural Identities
CRN:15046
Primary Meeting: T R 09:00 am - 10:20 am
Focuses on the representation of immigrants, migrants and other "border crossers" in contemporary literature from Brazil and other countries. How do people respond to the loss of home and the shift to a new culture? Is "going home" possible? How do individuals deal with their dual or triple identities? Piñon, Lispector, Scliar, Rushdie, Salih, Cristina Garcia, V. S. Naipaul and others. Conducted in English. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS WRIT
Instructor: Patricia Sobral
SOC0300D-S01 Who Am I?
CRN: 26503
A study of self in contemporary society. We examine the structural and situational forces that shape the self and their impact on personal development, orientations to the world, and interpersonal behavior; we investigate the development of the self as a way of being in the world that makes everyday doings and, ultimately society, possible. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. Instructor permission required. FYS WRIT
Professor Gregory Elliott
Courses Open to All Students
ENGN1010-S01 The Entrepreneurial Process: Innovation in Practice
CRN:15710
Primary Meeting: T R 10:30 am - 11:50 am
Entrepreneurship is innovation in practice: transforming ideas into opportunities, and, through a deliberate process, opportunities into commercial realities. These entrepreneurial activities can take place in two contexts: the creation of new organizations; and within existing organizations. This course will present an entrepreneurial framework for these entrepreneurial processes, supported by case studies that illustrate essential elements. Successful entrepreneurs and expert practitioners will be introduced who will highlight practical approaches to entrepreneurial success. Enrollment limited to 35.
Instructor: Danny Warshay
HIST0510-S01 American Exceptionalism: The History of an Idea
CRN:15324
Primary Meeting: M W F 01:00 pm - 01:50 pm
For four centuries, the theme of America having a special place in the world has dominated American politics and culture, though many have questioned or challenged American distinctiveness. This course examines articulations and critiques of American exceptionalism, using sources from American history and literature, from comparative history and literature, and from modern American culture and politics. It is intended both as an introduction to American history and as a thematic class, focused on the U.S. in a global context, which is different from a traditional high school or first-year college American history class. WRIT E
Instructor: Michael Vorenberg
ITAL1580-S01 Word, Image and Power in Renaissance Italy
CRN:14483
Primary Meeting: M W F 01:00 pm - 01:50 pm 980 of 999 Seats Available
This class is designed to introduce cultural and historical perspectives on Italy from Siena in the Middle Ages to Venice in the High Renaissance. Taught by professors of Italian Literature, Art History and History, we will move across Italy and the centuries focusing on monuments of literature, art, architecture, and history through different disciplinary lenses. WRIT
Instructor(s): Caroline Castiglione; Evelyn Lincoln; Ronald L. Martinez
PHIL0080-S01 Existentialism
CRN:15032
Primary Meeting: M W F 11:00 am - 11:50 am 34 of 200 Seats Available
An introduction to philosophical thinking through the study of existentialist themes, including being oneself, loving others, the limits of morality, and the meaning of life in the face of suffering and death. Readings are drawn primarily from Schopenhauer, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Camus.
Instructor: Bernard M. Reginster
PHP1070-S01 The Burden of Disease in Developing Countries
CRN:15859
Primary Meeting: M W 08:30 am - 09:50 am
Defines and critically examines environmental, epidemiologic, demographic, biomedical, and anthropological perspectives on health and disease in developing countries. Emphasis on changes in the underlying causes of morbidity and mortality during economic development. Focuses on the biosocial ecology of diseases. Guest lecturers cover different diseases and public health perspectives. Enrollment limited to 80. Instructor permission required. Special application form available at the International Health Institute website: bms.brown.edu/ihi/ DVPS LILE WRIT
Instructor: Stephen T. McGarvey
PPAI0100-S01 Introduction to Public Policy
CRN:14466
Primary Meeting: T R 10:30 am - 11:50 am
An overview of policymaking and policy analysis in the contemporary United States. The course begins with an examination of traditional justifications for government action. We will then examine the discipline of policy analysis that has arisen to design and evaluate public policies. We will also consider critiques of the rational method and ask questions about how policy expertise fits into the political system. The course ends with classic works on organizations and implementation. Not open to graduate students.
Instructor: Valerie A. Cooley
RUSS1290-S01 Russian Literature in Translation I: Pushkin to Dostoevsky
CRN:14948
Primary Meeting: T R 10:30 am - 11:50 am
Survey of major works of Russian literature of the early and mid-19th century. Authors to be studied include Karamzin, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, Leskov, and Dostoevsky. Lectures and discussion. No knowledge of Russian required. Discussion sections to be arranged. WRIT
Instructor: Alexander Levitsky
SOC1430-S02 Social Structure and Personal Development
CRN:15992
Primary Meeting: M W F 02:00 pm - 02:50 pm
The relationship between one's place in the social structure and one's own personal growth. Investigates the social aspects of individual growth and change throughout the life course. Also examines social factors involved in the failure to find a meaningful place for oneself in society.
Instructor: Gregory C. Elliott