One of many student-driven organizations at Brown, Writing Fellows work in a spirit of collegiality, helping to extend intellectual discourse beyond the classroom. Mutually engaged, Fellows and Fellowees ultimately do more than focus on writing; they shape their own and each other’s education, and in so doing they help to keep vibrant what is most unique and valuable about Brown. As peers, Fellows serve as sympathetic readers, providing informed, constructive criticism directed toward the argumentation, analysis, organization, clarity and style of papers. After drafts of papers are returned, Writing Fellows meet with each of their Fellowees in conference. These conferences provide a chance to discuss revision strategies and work through additional concerns.
FALL 2022 WRITING FELLOWS COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
BIOL1515/2015: Conservation in the Genomics Age
Professor Tyler Kartzinel
Course Description: The course will introduce students to the rapidly developing field of molecular ecology, emphasizing its importance for conservation biology. Students will explore key principles in evolutionary ecology based on readings, lectures, and discussions. Participants will also gain practical experience with ecological, genomic, and computational methods in the lab. This course is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.
LACA 1900 Preparation for Honors and Capstone Projects on Latin American and Caribbean Topics
Professor Erica Durante
Course Description: This workshop is designed for junior and seniors in any concentration who are researching and writing about Latin America and the Caribbean. It will help students to enhance their research and organization skills, refine their research or creative projects, and develop or complete a Capstone Project (e.g. honors thesis, honors project, substantial research paper).
COLT0510R: War and the Arts: Guantánamo, Twenty Years On
Professor Esther Whitfield
Course Description: In January 2002, the first captives in the so-called “War on Terror” were flown to the Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for indefinite periods of detention that for some lasted over twenty years. More than a century earlier, in 1901, the Platt Amendment was signed into U.S. law, enabling the lease “in perpetuity” that gives the U.S. military exclusive use of the forty-square mile naval station, despite the Cuban government’s objection. Participants in this seminar will assess the legal and political arguments that have structured “Guantánamo” as an exceptional space, of grave concern to human rights advocates and scholars. At the same time, however, and drawing on poetry, art and memoirs by detainees and military personnel at the base and by Cubans living near its border, we will consider an alternative Guantánamo of sympathies, solidarities and shared space.
ENGN 1010: The Entrepreneurial Process
Professor Danny Warshay
Course Description 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.
CSCI 2951E: Topics in Computer System Security
Professor Lileka Markatou
Course Description: This course explores advanced topics and highlights current research in computer security and privacy. Recent research papers will be presented and discussed. Also, projects will provide an opportunity for creative work. Class attendance is required and active participation in class discussions is essential. The course has two sections, each with a different focus and prerequisites. Section S01 (Networks, Software, and Systems) addresses computer security and privacy from the perspective of networks, software, and systems. Section S02 (Human Factors, Law, and Policy) addresses computer security and privacy from the perspective of law, policy, and human factors.
PHP0060: Complexities and Challenges of Global Health
Professor Nisha Trivedi
Course Description: Global health refers to the health and wellbeing of all of the world’s populations, regardless of geography, country, or citizenship. Many of today’s most pressing issues, from climate change to political conflict and population displacement, have profound implications for health. This course will introduce students to fundamental topics in global health, and it will encourage them to approach global health issues through a lens of equity and responsibility toward people and populations beyond United States’ borders. Students will develop a framework for understanding contemporary health challenges and learn how responses to these complex problems require collaboration across health and non-health sectors of society. This course will challenge students’ assumptions about world health while strengthening their skills in data literacy and critical analysis.
ENVS1920: Methods for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research
Professor Mindi Schneider
Course Description: This course provides an introduction to a wide range of research approaches in the social and environmental sciences. We will cover the epistemological and theoretical foundations of various research approaches and discuss implications of these foundations for what research questions are answerable and what evidence one can bring to bear to answer such questions. By the end of the semester, students will be able to write a clear and answerable research question, and know what methods are appropriate to use to answer such a question.
ENGL 1190M: The Teaching and Practice of Writing
Professor Charlie Carroll
Course Description: This course prepares students for their work as Writing Fellows. Course readings, activities, and assignments introduce students to: post-process writing theory and pedagogy; data-based investigations of the revision habits of experienced and inexperienced writers; and effective methods for responding to student writing and conferencing with student writers. Enrollment is restricted to undergraduates who have been accepted into the Writing Fellows Program in the preceding July. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval.
ETHN 0090A: The Border/La Frontera
Professor Evelyn Hu-DeHart
Course Description: We will examine the historical formation, contemporary reality and popular representation of the U.S.-Mexico border from a bilingual (English-Spanish), multicultural (U.S., Mexican, and Latino), and transnational perspective within the framework of globalization. We will explore the construction of border communities, lives and identities on both sides of the international divide, and pay particular attention to the movement of peoples in both directions. We will read materials, watch films, and conduct class discussions in English and Spanish. Comfort and reasonable proficiency in Spanish is required, but native command is not necessary.