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ANTH 179 LSIC: Anthropology for a Small Planet
- Heidi Kelley
ATMS 179 LSIC: Society and Weather - Doug Miller
BIOL 179 LSIC: Insects-The Small Majority - Tim
Forrest
BIOL 179. LSIC: Plants in Our World - David Clarke
CHEM 179 LSIC: Chemical Agents and Weapons of
Mass Destruction - Keith Krumpe
CLAS 179 LSIC: Ancient Gardens - Dorothy Dvorsky-Rohner
CLAS 179 LSIC: The Muse of Ridicule-Irony and
Satire - Brian Hook
CSCI 179 LSIC: 3D Modeling and the WWW - Rebecca
Bruce
DRAM 179 LSIC: The History of Clothing - Ida Bostian
DRAM 179 LSIC: Art, Combat, and the Way of the
Warrior - Robert Berls
ECON 179 LSIC: The Economics of Rock and Roll
- Chris Bell
EDUC 179 LSIC: Freeing the Natural Teacher - Brenda
Hopper
ENVR 179 LSIC: Environmental Leadership - Dee
Eggers
FREN 179 LSIC: Cultural Misunderstanding: The
French-American Experience Cathy Pons
HIST 179 LSIC: The Beginnings of Wisdom - Grant
Hardy
HON 179 LSIC: Technology and the Environment -
Kevin Moorhead
HON 179 LSIC: The Hero's Journey - Scott Walters
HON 179 LSIC: What We Talk About When We Talk
About Love - Merritt Moseley
HON 179 LSIC: Technology, Culture and the Myth
of Progress - Edward Katz
HWP 179 LSIC: 21st Century Health Care Careers
- Barry Fox
LIT 179 LSIC: What Is Israel? - Rick Chess
LS 179 LSIC: What About Race: Black and White -
Mary Alm
LS 179 LSIC: Four Great Minds: Bach, Franklin,
Jefferson, Newton - Noah Allen
LS 179 LSIC: Numbers and Sense - Pat McClellan
MATH 179 LSIC: [R]evolutionary Thinking - Ed Johnson
MATH 179 LSIC: Optimization: The Mathematical
Pursuit of Superlatives - Greg Boudreaux
MCOM 179 LSIC: Digital Photography in Journalism
and Commercial Media -Wade Hobgood
MGMT 179 LSIC: Managing Terrorism in Today's Environment
- Robert Yearout
MGMT 179 LSIC: Leadership Through Film - Brian
Schaffer
MGMT 179 LSIC: Critiquing the U. S. Health Care
System - Don Lisnerski
MMAS 179 LSIC: 3D Modeling and the WWW - Susan
Reiser
MMAS 179 LSIC: Decoding Visual Culture Mary -
Anna LaFratta
PHIL 179 LSIC: Philosophy: Love and Wisdom - Duane
Davis
PHYS 179 LSIC: Black Holes and Time Warps Randy
Booker
WMST 179 LSIC: Women and the Environment - Tracey
Rizzo
Course Descriptions:
ANTH 179 LSIC: Anthropology for a Small Planet
- Heidi Kelley
As citizens of the world, what draws us together? What forces divide
us? What we can do to engage in good world citizenship? Using the
insights of cultural anthropology, we will attempt to craft answers
to these questions. We will read ethnographies (descriptions of life
in other cultures) about the experiences of Shiite villagers in southern
Iraq, West Africans living with malnutrition, children dwelling in
a tunnel between Mexico and the United States, and a Hmong-American
family coping with the intersections of their indigenous belief system
and the American medical community's beliefs. We will also learn to
read popular press accounts and view documentary films with an anthropological
lens. Heidi Kelley is an associate professor of anthropology and the
Director of Liberal Arts Learning and Disability Services at the University
of North Carolina at Asheville. She has two main field sites: Galicia,
the northwesternmost region in Spain, and the United States, investigating
the culture of stroke. Her current teaching and research interests
include: gender, disability, psychological and medical anthropology,
family, religion, regional and national identity, Spain and Portugal
(and more widely, Europe), Latin America, and Latino communities in
the U.S. She is also interested in using the techniques of poetry
and fiction to express ethnographic truths.
ATMS 179 LSIC: Society and Weather - Doug Miller
This course will focus on Vilhelm Bjerknes, the so-called “Father
of Modern Meteorology”, and how political conditions forced
him to seek a career outside of theoretical physics and into the new
applied physics field of meteorology. We will follow his career as
an atmospheric scientist and focus on how the contributions of Vilhelm
and those of his students to the field of meteorology were shaped
by economic and political events within Norway, Europe, and the world.
The “backbone” of the course will be the book, “Appropriating
the Weather: Vilhelm Bjerknes and the Construction of a Modern Meteorology”
written by Robert Marc Friedman. Students will be responsible for
reading this book and for researching the economic conditions arising
from the agricultural, industrial, and technological capabilities
of the early 1900's as well as the political conditions in place that
were laying the foundation for the onset of World War I. It is hoped
that the students will gain a new appreciation for the link between
the conditions of a society and how society utilizes the sciences
to meet its needs arising out of these conditions. Doug Miller has
have been an Associate Professor in the Atmospheric Sciences Department
at UNC Asheville since July 2004. He received my M.S. Degree from
the University of Washington in December 1990 and his Ph.D. from Purdue
University in 1996. Other than teaching, he likes to spend time running
computer weather forecast models to learn more about interesting weather
events and how forecasts of these events might be improved. Outside
of life on the UNCA campus, he likes to “wrassle” with
his four children and teach himself new “chops” on his
drumset.
BIOL 179 LSIC: Insects-The Small Majority - Tim
Forrest
Insects are the most diverse group of animals on earth. They occupy
and dominate every terrestrial niche and their presence impacts nearly
every organism on the planet. Thus, their study is a venture into
understanding the biology of our world. This course explores the amazing
world of insects, investigates their ecology, examines their interactions
with humans and discusses the impact insects have on our science,
history, and culture. Tim Forrest came to UNCA in 1996 and is now
an Associate Professor of Biology. He received his MS and PhD from
the University of Florida in Entomology. Tim was a Postdoctoral Associate
at Cornell University in Neurobiology and Behavior and a Research
Scientist for the National Center for Physical Acoustics at the University
of Mississippi. He teaches courses in Animal Behavior, Entomology
and Invertebrate Zoology and his research Interests include insect
behavioral ecology and animal communication.
BIOL 179. LSIC: Plants in Our World - David Clarke
Students will be instructed in theoretical and applied topics in introductory
botany as an introduction to form, function, and process in biological
systems. Current issues, including environmental and ecological topics;
nutrition, biotechnology and agriculture; plant products such as herbal
medicines and drugs; and biological diversity will be presented from
a perspective that emphasizes fundamental concepts in science as well
as the method of scientific inquiry yet also stresses the social issues
that arise from our relationship to cultivated and native plants.
A lecture format will be supplemented by frequent outdoor activities
that take advantage of plant diversity on campus, at the Botanical
Gardens at Asheville, and in local, high quality natural areas of
the Southern Applachians. The course will also help orient new students
toward opportunities in both outdoor recreation and with community
environmental organizations. Clarke an associate professor in Biology
and has taught this course previously (fall 2004). It is similar to
Biology 110 (Plants and Humans), but is modified to serve the needs
of freshman colloquia students, rather than the general population
of students that enroll in Bio 110 to fulfill ILSN and Cluster requirements.
Clarke has extensive experience teaching biology to non-majors.
CHEM 179 LSIC: Chemical Agents and Weapons of Mass
Destruction - Keith Krumpe
Chemical Agents and weapons of mass destruction have become a routine
topic on the evening news. What exactly are they? How do they work?
How have they evolved? Answers to these and other questions will be
the focus of this course. Dr. Krumpe is Chair of the Department of
Chemistry. He has been a longtime leader in the Integrative Liberal
Studies Program.
CHEM 179 LSIC: Careers and Ethics in 21st Century
Health Care - Bert Holmes
This course considers the changing nature of careers in health professions.
Recent advances in medicine and science and the moral implications
those advancements have raised will be discussed. Dr. Holmes is the
Phillip G. Carson Distinguished Professor in Physical Science. He
has been a long-time participant in the Liberal Studies Introductory
Colloquium Program.
CLAS 179 LSIC: Ancient Gardens - Dorothy Dvorsky-Rohner
Students in this course will study and research of the household garden
as it supported the everyday needs of a family in Greece and Rome,
along other fabled gardens such as “The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.”
Students will also research plants used in antiquity for food, drink,
utensils, medicine, and beauty. They will consult with the Public
Grounds office for their appropriateness for our climate and placement
by New Hall. Individual research by students will provide a list of
plants, an appropriate layout based on ancient design, and plant the
garden under the guidance and direction of the Public Grounds office
and a master gardener from Asheville. Students interested in Botany,
Classical antiquity, ancient gardens, gardening in general, garden
art and design, and who like to work outside will enjoy this course.
The purpose of the course is to create a project which gives ownership
to the students of this campus in that their hard work and study will
have created a special place of beauty and interest. Secondly, the
students will find our common humanity with the ancients as they reflect
upon and study a universal and timeless occupation, gardening. My
interest in ancient gardens began with my research on frescoes of
Crete and the cultic practices of Dionysus, the god of wine. Gardens
are central to the domestic landscape of antiquity as well as civic
and public space. As an archaeologist and Classicist, plants, production
systems and uses of plant products have always been a part of my research
focus. Understanding the gardens and their products which the ancients
produced not only provides to us a new window through which to view
the ancients but also brings to us the universality of plant and garden
importance as it relates to our humanity no matter what age.
CLAS 179 LSIC: The Muse of Ridicule-Irony and Satire
- Brian Hook
Irony may be a method of writing, a critical approach to art, a world-view,
even an entire life (Socrates comes to mind). Irony may serve as an
essential part of cleverness and wit, but critics have seen irony
as something perverse, even dangerous: a culturally destabilizing
dynamic that undermines without any offering anything in return. In
such a view, irony serves as a wedge between ourselves and serious
conviction. Others are not so sure that destabilizing authority is
such a bad thing or that the critical distance of irony is unhealthy.
The “death of irony” was heralded after 9/11, and we will
examine the role, and the appropriateness, of irony and satire in
our current world. In this course we will talk about irony in its
simplest forms-in simple sentences-and in its more complex and ambiguous
extensions. We will pay special attention to one form that regularly
employs irony, namely, satire, and discuss it as a literary genre
and as an evaluative approach. Texts under consideration include:
Sophocles, Oedipus the King; Plato, Symposium; Juvenal's Satires (w/
Samuel Johnson's adaptions of 3 and 10); Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel;
Pope, The Dunciad; Swift, “A Modest Proposal”, Gulliver's
Travels; Flannery O' Connor, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”;
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49; David Foster Wallace; and others.
We will include film, TV, and music in our study: we will read The
Onion online and watch “The Daily Show.” I will also assign
attacks and defenses of irony in “culture.” There are
quite a few book length secondary studies of irony (Booth, Muecke,
Hutcheon) and satire (Kernan, Bogel) from which I will draw. Brian
S. Hook (Ph.D. Duke 1992) is assistant professor in the department
of Classics. His undergraduate degrees are in English and Greek. Dr.
Hook's current research is focused on Roman satire, particularly Juvenal.
He spends most of his other time with his family.
CSCI 179 LSIC: 3D Modeling and the WWW - Rebecca
Bruce
This course will introduce students to the 3D design and modeling
of physical systems. The material presented will be a synergistic
combination of computer graphics, engineering and information technology.
Students will create 3D models of Rube Goldberg machines, imaginative
but working machines created from an array of everyday objects. Students
will display their machines via three dimensional interactive websites,
simulations and animations. This is a "hands-on" course,
all concepts will be introduced in an interactive lab/lecture environment.
After working as a mechanical engineer in the aerospace industry,
Rebecca Bruce entered the Ph.D. program in Computer Science at New
Mexico State University where she began a research program in Natural
Language Processing, the application of computers to the understanding
of Human Speech. Rebecca Bruce began work at UNCA in 1998 where she
is an Associate Professor of Computer Science. She also serves as
Associate Director of the NCSU/UNCA Engineering Program.
DRAM 179 LSIC: The History of Clothing - Ida Bostian
This colloquium will explore the history of clothing from early man
to present day and how political climate influences clothing. This
will be Ida's third year here at UNCA in the Drama Department as the
costume designer. She comes to us from NC State University, where
she was the costumer for three years. Before that she worked in professional
theatre out of Nashville, TN. She is happy to be back in the mountains
of NC where she belongs.
DRAM 179 LSIC: Art, Combat, and the Way of the
Warrior - Robert Berls
Art, Combat, and the Way of the Warrior will take examples of philosophy,
art, armor, and weapons of several different cultures and compare
them to our lives today. The course will expand upon the unifying
themes of warrior philosophy and compare them with modern US, Western,
Eastern, and Global themes of war, honor and survival. The students
will be expected to participate in physical activity and training,
exploration of oneself, service to the community, and what the idea
of self means within their world view. Through exploration of many
different cultures, the student should gain an understanding of diversity
and how it expands one's view of the world. Robert Berls has an M.F.A.
from Michigan State University in Production Design and is currently
serving as the Scene Designer/Technical Director for the Drama Department
at UNCA. He has also spent 6 years training in many styles of combat
and is currently the stage combat instructor for the Drama Department.
ECON 179 LSIC: The Economics of Rock and Roll -
Chris Bell
An introduction to economics and industrial organization through study
of the rock & roll music industry. Topics include demand (by music
fans) and supply (by artists and recording companies), market structure
(including pure competition and monopoly), production (of recordings),
technological substitution (of DJ's for live bands), contracts and
contracting (between artists and recording companies) and issues related
to the internet, entrepreneurship and race & gender. Bell has
both a personal and professional interest in the Rock & Roll music
industry. His primary professional training is in industrial organization,
a subfield of economics whose focus is describing and understanding
the nature of the different types of firms, markets and industries.
He began listening to Rock & Roll music in 1967. By happy coincidence
he grew up in Albany, California, five minutes from Berkeley and twenty
from San Francisco. Among his paper route customers were Tom and John
Foggerty, key members of the band Credence Clearwater Revival. Sadly,
his band, Chris Bell and his Burned Out Shells, lasted only one gig!
EDUC 179 LSIC: Feeing the Natural Teacher - Brenda
Hopper
This course is designed to assist first-year Teaching Fellows into
the academic and social system of higher education. It provides an
opportunity to explore beliefs about teaching and learning with emphasis
on writing, exploration of self, school service and an introduction
to the field of public education. Learning opportunities are provided
through discussions, lecture/group interactions, teacher interviews,
research on current issues in public education and reflections on
readings and K-6 public school tutoring experiences. Brenda Hopper
is Director of the UNCA Teaching Fellows program and lecturer in the
Education Department. Her past experience includes work in the public
schools and with the NC State Department.
ENVR 179 LSIC: Environmental Leadership - Dee Eggers
This course is targeted toward students who are 1) interested in making
a positive difference in environmental quality and 2) want to develop
their leadership skills. We will engage in several activities designed
to stimulate reflective learning, personal growth, connection to environment,
team-building, and communication. Students will write informal reflective
pieces on an ongoing basis throughout the semester. As well, students
will write formal papers and engage in peer-evaluation of each other's
draft papers. This class will be demanding, fun and rewarding. Dr.
Eggers teaches introductory environmental science and advanced courses
in environmental policy and management, the greening of industry,
public speaking, and Humanities 414. She innovates frequently in class,
using many types of opportunities for learning and demonstrating knowledge.
FREN 179 LSIC: Cultural Misunderstanding: The French-American
Experience Cathy Pons
Americans and the French have much in common historically, culturally
and socially. Our countries have maintained close relations since
the time of the American Revolution, but sometimes those relations
can become strained. Raymonde Carroll, an anthropologist and a U.S.
citizen of French origin, offers a framework for understanding the
source of conflicts large and small between peoples of our two countries.
In this course we will examine various themes of everyday life –
friendship, the family, manners, privacy issues – and discover
how our learned cultural perspectives influence our cross cultural
interactions. Knowledge of the French language is not necessary to
enroll. Cathy Pons is Associate Professor of French.
HIST 179 LSIC: The Beginnings of Wisdom - Grant
Hardy
In this course we will investigate the opening chapters of sacred
texts from a number of world religions, including Judaism, Christianity,
Islam, Daoism, and Buddhism. Readings will include selections form
Genesis, Mark, the Qur'an, the Daodejing, and the Lotus Sutra. The
approach will be multidisciplinary, using the tools of history, literature,
and religious studies. Professor Hardy received his Ph.D. from Yale
in Chinese Language and Literature and has taught Asian history at
UNCA since 1994. He has long been interested in the study of religion.
His undergraduate major was Ancient Greek, he regularly teaches a
course on the history of Buddhism, and he recently published the first
academic edition of the Book of Mormon.
HON 179 LSIC: Technology and the Environment -
Kevin Moorhead
Technology has transformed our lives and the environment. The environmental
costs associated with technology are rarely considered during development
or distribution. This course will examine the environmental costs
associated with some of the most widely used technological advances
over the past century, including the automobile, telephone, television,
computers and genetic engineering. Kevin Moorhead is Professor and
Chair of the Department of Environmental Science.
HON 179 LSIC: The Hero's Journey - Scott Walters
Freshmen are beginning their own hero's journey, both as students
and as adults. In this course, students will learn the basic outline
of the hero's journey as described by Joseph Campbell, and also explore
the different hero archetypes as described by Carol Pearson. We will
then explore this structure and these archetypes as they appear in
films, novels, short stories, and plays. Students will also begin
to think about the shape and direction of their own journey. Dr. Walters
is Associate Professor of Drama and Director of UNCA's Arts and Ideas
Program.
HON 179 LSIC: What We Talk About When We Talk About
Love - Merritt Moseley
This class combines several different areas of study. It is a Liberal
Studies Introductory Colloquium, one of a large number of such classes
at UNCA which share common aims, all focused on providing successful
transition for new students to liberal arts study at the university
level. It is a colloquium: the name means “talking together”
or “conversation” and that is what we will be doing in
class. And in addition to these orientational and developmental aims,
it has a particular area of study, the nature of love; our attention
to this topic will, I hope, be interesting in itself and also serve
as an introduction to the kind of analysis and use of texts characteristic
of liberal arts study. Finally, it is writing intensive, which means
that you will do a considerable amount of writing, which will be assessed
and perhaps rewritten. Students read a home-made anthology of readings
about love, Plato's Symposium, a Victorian novel and a recent play;
in addition, they share their own ideas about love. We also attended
to the representation of love in popular music, films, etc. It is
a topic that is important; familiar (at least in theory) to everyone;
and productive of good analysis. I've been teaching at UNC Asheville
since 1978, teaching mostly in Literature and Language classes and
Humanities. Administrative: I've been Director of Humanities, chair
(one year) of Literature, Dean of Faculty Development, Director of
the University Honors Program and, now, Key Center Professor. I've
taught FYE classes (as they used to be called) and LSIC for about
six years, including What We Talk About When We Talk About Love three
times already. I'm committed to using the LSIC classes not only as
introductions to liberal study and academic enterprises, but as ways
to get my students engaged, in the broadest possible way, with the
university and the community, and each other. I like advising freshmen.
HON 179 LSIC: Technology, Culture and the Myth
of Progress - Edward Katz
This seminar will focus on the ways in which we understand, represent
and construct our ideas about technology and what it means to live
in a culture of progress. We will explore how technological and other
advances shape how we conceive of humanity and the human condition.
Using literature, non-fiction, film and other materials, we will examine
both the possibilities and problems that emerge out of a progress-oriented
and technological worldview. Dr. Edward Katz received his Ph.D. in
English from the University of Rochester. He has taught composition,
literature and the humanities at UNC Asheville since 1992. As an undergraduate
he studied Psychology, receiving his B.S. from Michigan State University
in 1980, and English, earning a B.A. from the University of Washington
in 1986. He is currently the Associate Vice Chancellor for University
Programs, in the Office of Academic Affairs. Katz has written articles
and presented papers on eighteenth-century poetry, enlightenment ideas,
and general education reform. He is excited about teaching this colloquium
because of his interests in technology and culture, and because he
enjoys working with freshmen. His other interests include long-distance
running, gardening, and spending time with his family.
HWP 179 LSIC: 21st Century Health Care Careers -
Barry Fox
This course will present freshmen students who have both expressed
and demonstrated a genuine desire to enter a health care profession
direct contact with various professions and professionals. Contacts
will be in the classroom and as possible, in health care settings.
The class will be scheduled so that students may attend the Hippocrates
Forum. The class will follow a similar pattern currently used in Pre-Health
Professions for advanced students gaining experiences for their health
career school applications. Other resources such as audio, video and
guest speakers will be used. My career, until beginning with UNCA
as an adjunct in the late 1990s was in public health and health education.
I received my MPH degree from UNC CH School of Public Health in 1983.
I had worked in public health in Memphis, Tennessee and Asheville
for about 15 years.
LIT
179 LSIC: What Is Israel? - Rick Chess
In this class, we'll study the modern State of Israel, from the beginning
of settlement by the early Zionists in the late 19th century to the
present. We'll consider a wide range of topics, including history,
religion, culture and arts, language, politics, and technology. We'll
read historical documents, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. We'll
view films and look at slides of works of visual art. We'll also have
guest speakers, including a workshop led by Josefa Briant, an Israeli
living in Asheville and a former dancer with Israel's premiere modern
dance company, the Bat Sheva Dance Company. We'll do a lot of writing,
scholarly and creative. Rick Chess is a Professor of Literature and
Language. He serves as the Director of both the Center for Jewish
Studies and the Creative Writing Program. Chess was the 2002 recipient
of Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.
LS 179 LSIC: What About Race: Black and White -
Mary Alm
LS 179- is offered as a Learning Community. Students enrolled in this
colloquia will also be enrolled in LANG 120-XXX. Student will encounter
the concept of privilege and use it when interrogating the role of
race in their lives. We'll look into diversity issues on the UNCA
campus and in Asheville. I plan to collaborate with Deborah Miles
and the Center for Diversity Education in planning and offering this
course. This course will be taught as a learning community with Dr.
Dee James's LANG 120 course: students should enroll in both courses.
Mary Alm is Director of the UNCA Writing Center. She has a long history
of teaching first-year students and has taught courses in composition
for many years.
LS 179 LSIC: Four Great Minds: Bach, Franklin,
Jefferson, Newton - Noah Allen
Rarely do creativity and genius collide. In the cases of the four
scholars, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson, Johann Sebastian Bach
and Benjamin Franklin, not only did creativity and genius collide,
but their synergy yielded a veritable explosion of art, science and
passion. The purpose of this course is to explore the events that
shaped the lives of the scholars, and to briefly examine their output
noting major historical events and their effect on the arts &
sciences of then and now. Dr. Noah Allen received his Ph.D. in chemistry
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a concentration
in biophysical and computational chemistry. While he has undergraduate
degrees in chemistry and biology, he also holds an undergraduate degree
in music from North Carolina School of the Arts where he was an organ
student and Kenan Fellow. He continued his studies in harpsichord
and organ at the Royal College of Musicians in London, studying harpsichord
and chamber music with Christopher Hogwood. Dr. Allen spent several
years touring with piccolo trumpet player Anita Cirba, and giving
masterclasses on baroque performance practice. He is still an active
organist, and harpsichordist, but due to his academic pursuits in
science, no longer has time for recitals.
LS 179 LSIC: Numbers and Sense - Pat McClellan
What is a number? How did different cultures develop numeration systems?
How do numbers and statistics affect modern culture and decision-making?
Using class discussions, projects, and presentations, this course
will examine these questions and other issues as we study the impact
of number systems on the evolution of ancient and modern cultures.
Pat McClellan is Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student
Services and Lecturer in Mathematics.
MATH 179 LSIC: [R]evolutionary Thinking - Ed Johnson
The objective of the course is to survey the effect of Darwin's theory
of evolution by natural selection on modern thought. The course will
begin by examining Darwin's discovery of the underlying algorithmic
nature of evolution within its historical context. Students will then
move on to selected topics exploring the implications of simple algorithm
as a creator of great complexity to the history of ideas. Topics could
include artificial intelligence, fractal geometry, complexity theory,
evolution of human intelligence or language, or the place for the
Creator within the context of this new paradigm. The students will
explore the topics through excerpts of original source readings and
classroom discussion. The students will have the opportunity to explore
wider implications such as social Darwinism and the creation-evolution
debate through individual writings. The course will be writing intensive
and interdisciplinary. Edward Johnson is an alumnus of UNCA, graduating
in 1996. He received an MS in Mathematics from the University of South
Carolina in 1998 and has taught at UNCA since 2000. His interests
outside mathematics are varied; likely due to the influence of his
undergraduate liberal arts education. He has long followed evolutionary
theory, its widespread applications, and its controversies.
MATH 179 LSIC: Optimization: The Mathematical Pursuit
of Superlatives - Greg Boudreaux
In today's society, we are inundated with messages that promise, if
you use a certain product, that you will obtain the highest grades,
have the smoothest skin and shiniest hair, lose the most weight, or
gain the most muscle. The manufacturers further claim that you will
achieve these results with the least amount of work and in the shortest
possible time. This is mirrored in mathematics, where this topic,
called optimization, often plays a central role. Requiring only a
high school background in algebra and trigonometry, this course will
be devoted to the mathematical pursuit of superlatives. I was born
and raised in New Orleans and received my B.S. in Mathematics there,
at Loyola University. I lived just outside New York City for almost
two years and in the Los Angeles area for over 6 years before returning
to Louisiana to pursue my Ph.D. in Mathematics (completed in 2001).
I like creating new mathematics, writing, growing carnivorous plants
and hiking. When I moved to Asheville in 2001, imagine my surprise
when I discovered a colony of carnivorous plants growing in the mountains
of North Carolina while hiking!
MCOM 179 LSIC: Digital Photography in Journalism
and Commercial Media -Wade Hobgood
This course will introduce students to the principles of photojournalism,
including the use of images as a research tool, basic aesthetics and
ethics. This is a Writing Intensive course and the writing assignments
will require students to produce essays illustrated with original
photographs. Wade Hobgood is a new faculty member in the Department
of Mass Communication, most recently having worked at the North Carolina
Schpool of the Arts.
MGMT 179 LSIC: Managing Terrorism in Today's Environment
- Robert Yearout
Students will become familiar with the three principal elements of
unconventional warfare (guerrilla warfare, physiological warfare,
and terrorism). This phase of the class will require selected readings
from principal source documents, film clips, and classroom discussions.
The second phase of the class will delve more deeply into terrorism
itself. The terrorist's goals and desired responses in modern environment
will include discussions on weapons of mass destruction. Other topics
such as the use of mass media and distinguishing what is and what
is not terrorism will be examined. Students will read selected portions
of classical terrorist cases that were successful and those that failed.
Selected assassination, specific selected targets of military importance,
and random indiscriminate attacks on the population at large will
be discussed in terms of desired response. Students will be evaluated
based on their journal entries, written assignments, quizzes, and
oral presentations. From time to time, we will join for discussion
with Dr Keith Krumpe's CHEM 179 class, which focuses on Chemical Agents
and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Dr. Yearout is Professor of Management
and Accountancy.
MGMT 179 LSIC: Leadership Through Film - Brian
Schaffer
Through the study of film, this course is designed to explore the
question, “What is it that makes someone a leader?” Students
will examine various leadership theories such as trait theory, behavioral
theory, contingency theory, charisma, methods of influence, and other
appropriate areas of leadership study. By examining the lives of various
leaders in film, students will develop an analysis of the key themes
and traits that capture the essence of the individual being studied.
Brian Schaffer is Assistant Professor of Management and Accountancy.
Gerry Goertz, from UNCA’s Office of Leadership Programs, will
serve as an assistant instructor for this course.
MGMT 179 LSIC: Critiquing the U. S. Health Care
System - Don Lisnerski
Viewing the US Health Care System's major deficiencies and discussing
possible alternative ways for improvement. Areas to be discussed will
include the effects of managed care,
accessibility to care, effects of health behaviors, financing and
other areas depending on time and the interest of the students. Don
Lisnerski is Professor of Management. He earned his BS in Business
Administration and Management from the State University of New York
at Buffalo, and both his MS and PhD in Public Health-Health Administration
at the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. He is the author of more than 20 journal and proceedings articles.
MMAS 179 LSIC: 3D Modeling and the WWW - Susan
Reiser
This course will introduce students to the 3D design and modeling
of physical systems. The material presented will be a synergistic
combination of computer graphics, engineering and information technology.
Students will create 3D models of Rube Goldberg machines, imaginative
but working machines created from an array of everyday objects. Students
will display their machines via three dimensional interactive websites,
simulations and animations. This is a "hands-on" course,
all concepts will be introduced in an interactive lab/lecture environment.
Susan Reiser has a private sector background in software development
and network support. In addition to her corporate work, she has developed
visualization applications for an electrophysiology lab at Duke. She
has a BS in Computer Science from Duke with a concentration in zoology,
and an MS in Computer Science from the University of South Carolina.
Her interests are in the fields of computer graphics, image processing,
visualization, and human computer interaction. Susan Reiser has been
an instructor of Computer Science at UNCA since 1994. She also serves
as the Assistant Director of the Multimedia Arts and Sciences program.
MMAS 179 LSIC: Decoding Visual Culture Mary -
Anna LaFratta
This course explores visual messages that are pervasive in our culture.
It examines the structure, presentation, and the interactivity of
the components of messages and their meanings. Design is presented
as an important vehicle for analyzing these modes of communication,
and provides the skills necessary to construct your own visual messages.
Course assignments are a combination of reading, discussion, writing
and creative project using the computer and imaging and authoring
software. No previous experience in computers, art or design is required.
Mary Anna LaFratta received her Master of Fine Arts in Design and
Visual Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University. Prior
to teaching at UNCA she taught art, design, computer graphics, digital
video production, and two-dimensional animation. Currently she is
an Assistant Professor in Multimedia Arts and Sciences and teaches
courses in design, web page and interactive design.
PHIL 179 LSIC: Philosophy: Love and Wisdom - Duane
Davis
Philosophy literally means the love of wisdom; but how are
love and wisdom related? There are surely many types of love.
What is this strange love we call philosophy? How is
it related to other kinds of love? What are the limits of this
love, or of any love? Who sets those limits and why? How
are the essential structures of culture and society related to love?
This course is designed as an introduction to philosophy through these
interesting and important questions. We will look carefully
at several texts from the history of philosophy to see how some people
have tried to answer these questions about love through philosophy
in very diverse styles and manners. Our readings will include
works by Plato, St. Augustine, Heloise and Abelard, Kierkegaard, Sigmund
Freud, Cynthia Willett, and Martin Dillon. There are no prerequisites
other than patience, intelligence, good will, a tolerance for different
perspectives, and a keen desire to encounter some interesting ideas
from some of the most important figures in Western thought.
These thinkers’ works will challenge our most important beliefs
and ideals, and demand that we offer explanations for our beliefs.
In this sense, this course is an introduction to thinking rigorously
about our own ideas about love more than an introduction to a bunch
of other people’s ideas, even though we will almost always be
speaking of them and their works. When we think along with them,
their ideas are very much alive. Likewise, we become animated
by seriously engaging with their thoughts. Philosophy, properly
approached, is not so abstract….
Dr.
Duane H. Davis is Associate Professor of Philosophy at UNCA.
He came to UNCA in 1998. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy
from The Pennsylvania State University in 1992. His publications
are mostly about contemporary French philosophy, existentialism, and
political philosophy in the Continental philosophical tradition.
He has been invited to lecture at universities in France, Italy, England,
Wales, Ireland, Denmark, Canada, and Throiughout the United States.
Dr. Davis is passionate about teaching. He has especially enjoyed
working with first year students throughout his career. He also
enjoys reading poetry and plays, fine food, fine wines, baseball,
NASCAR [yes, NASCAR!], and writing songs.
PHYS 179 LSIC: Black Holes and Time Warps Randy
Booker
This course investigates the most bizarre objects in outer space –
black holes. We will study how scientists have viewed black holes
over the past 100 years, from their prediction that they exist from
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, to being shown by Einstein
that they can’t exist, to their acceptance in theory, to finally
the experimental proof that black holes do in fact exist. We’ll
study the strange properties of black holes, all with no mathematical
pre-requisites needed for the course. We’ll ask what it might
be like to take a trip to a black hole or to live near one in a space
colony. Even more bizarre is the possibility of wormholes and time
travel as two black holes connect to form a time warp. Do time warps
really exist? Randy Booker received his Bachelor’s degree in
Physics from Rice University in 1979. He served in the Peace Corps
from 1979-1981, teaching high school math and science in Kenya, Africa.
He received his Masters degree in Physics from Duke University in
1983 and his Ph.D. degree in Physics from Duke University in 1986.
He has taught Physics and Astronomy courses at UNCA since 1986. He
received the UNCA Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992 and has served
as Chair of the Department of Physics at UNCA since 2000. His research
interests include a broad range, from studying the interstellar medium
of our galaxy using radio astronomy to investigating new sources of
non-polluting power in collaboration with Blacklight Power of New
Jersey.
WMST 179 LSIC: Women and the Environment - Tracey
Rizzo
In this interdisciplinary survey, students will be introduced to ecofeminist
philosophy in practice, locating theories of women's proximity to
nature in activist movements and back-to-the land communities. This
experiential course will include visits to Earthaven Ecovillage near
Black Mountain where students will perform service projects and participate
in workshops on wild plants and women's earth-based rituals. I taught
this course two years ago with great success which included a productive
on-going partnership with Earthaven (I was invited to serve on their
Learning Center board); a summer undergraduate research project with
one of the students; the ascendancy of one of the students to leadership
of the campus women's organization, Feminist Collective; and certainly
not least, a conference paper I presented at National Women's Studies
last June and which is now the basis for an article for The Journal
of Experiential Education.