Bill Spellman, Ph.D

Wednesdays, 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Explores the historical evolution of concepts central to the development of civilization and of the human personality, including freedom and authority, aesthetic sensibility, a sense of self and of social relationships, and mastery over the physical environment.

(Required of all MLA students; must be taken at the first opportunity.  May not be repeated for elective credit.)

Instructor Bill Spellman: Incoming Director of the MLA Program and Professor of History, Bill Spellman is completing a six-year term as Dean of Humanities. He has been on the faculty of UNCA since 1988. A graduate of Syracuse University, he was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for College Faculty in 1989-1990, held a summer research fellowship at the University of California's Clark Library in 1995, and served as a visiting research fellow at the University of Utah's Tanner Humanities Center during 1995-1996. He is the author of John Locke and the Problem of Depravity (1988); The Latitudinarians and the Church of England (1993); John Locke (1997); European Political Thought, 1600-1700 (1998); Monarchies, 1500-2000 (2001); The Global Community: Migration and the Making of the Modern World (2003); A Concise History of the World since 1945 (2005); and Uncertain Identity: International Migration since 1945 (2008). He is also co-author of The West: Culture and Ideas (2003), a two-volume Prentice-Hall textbook for college freshmen.

Tommy Hays

Writers in the Backyard - Naturally North Carolinians tend to read and study North Carolina Writers.  That's true even in Western North Carolina, even though we are geographically much closer to Greenville or Spartanburg, South Carolina than to Durham, Raleigh or Chapel Hill.  In this class we will look southward across the state line, reading working writers of fiction and creative nonfiction, who live just down the mountain and who we might have overlooked.  Some of the writers we will study are fiction writers Mindy Friddle, Ashley Warlick and George Singleton of Greenville and nonfiction writer John Lane of Spartanburg.  We hope to arrange for a few writers to come speak to the class.

Instructor Tommy Hays: Tommy Hays' latest novel, The Pleasure Was Mine, has been chosen for the Amazing Read - Greenville, South Carolina's first community-wide reading of a single book. The Pleasure Was Mine was read on National Public Radio's "Radio Reader" hosted by Dick Estell and South Carolina ETV-Radio's "Southern Read" hosted by Walter Edgar. It was also a Finalist for the SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) 2006 Fiction Award. Tommy has written two other novels-Sam's Crossing and In the Family way, a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and winner of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, he received his B.A. in English from Furman University and graduated from the M.F.A. Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
 

MLA 560.001, Seminar on Science and Human Values: "A Sustainable Culture"

Gerard Voos, Ph.D.

The global population is predicted to climb to 9.4 billion by the year 2050 from the current 6.5 billion.  At current population levels, many of the world's inhabitants regularly experience shortages of potable water; nutritious food; adequate housing; and energy for cooking, heating/cooling, and transportation.  Many health problems result from these shortages and unsanitary environmental conditions.  It is expected that the earth's climate will warm significantly during the next century, further exacerbating these problems.  "A Sustainable Culture" will delve into the environmental and anthropogenic conditions that caused previous cultures to thrive and falter.  We will analyze how we, as an international society, can avoid catastrophic mistakes, improve life for the less fortunate, and sustain as a global culture.  The overarching goal of the course is to provide students a holistic view of the global environment, both human-built and natural, and what is required to make each sustainable.

Instructor Gerard Voos:   Dr. Gerard Voos is the instructor for the MLA course: A Sustainable Culture. He also is the Associate Director of the MLA Program, Program Director of the Environmental Quality Institute, and Director of the Office of Sponsored Scholarship and Programs at UNCA. He received his doctorate in soil ecology from the University of Rhode Island, a Master of Science degree in soil science from Colorado State University, and his BS in agronomy from the University of Kentucky. He also received a post-doctoral fellowship in biogeochemistry at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory in Aiken, South Carolina. At UNCA, he has taught Climate and Culture in the MLA program; and Environmental Literature, and Energy and Society in the Environmental Studies Department.  Dr. Voos is professionally and personally interested in sustainability issues. In addition to publishing and presenting research findings, he also has published general interest articles in web, trade and regional publications on subjects ranging from wine, fox hunting, golf, and the Vietnam War.
 

Holly Iglesias, Ph.D.

Wednesdays, 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Because brevity is at the heart of poetry, one well-chosen detail can convey a constellation of ideas in just a few words.  Through the use of metaphor, image, associative language, emotional intensity and emphasis on the five senses, poetry draws a reader in.  Because it manifests experience rather than describes it, poetry is a unique tool for understanding history.  Through the works of a variety of contemporary poets, the course will examine major topics in U.S. history:  the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War, immigration and labor unrest, Jim Crow segregation, the flu epidemic of 1918 and the Great Depression.  Students will read poetry collections focused on these themes by Rita Dove, Lucille Clifton, Frank X. Walker, Diane Gilliam Fisher, Martha Collins and A. Van Jordan.  In addition, attention will be given to critical works that address documentary art and the politics of voice by Eavan Boland, Ben Shahn and Muriel Rukeyser.

Instructor Holly Iglesias: Holly Iglesias holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities from Florida State University and a M.A. in History from the University of Miami. Among her works are Hands-on Saints, a poetry collection; Boxing Inside the Box: Women's Prose Poetry, a critical study; and a recent manuscript on the 1904 World's Fair. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Edward F. Albee Foundation. Her teaching interest include American studies, film studies, and a creative/scholarly workshop format that approaches history through poetry and poetry through archival photographs and ephemera.

MLA 690.001, The Thesis

Prerequisite:  By Permission ONLY.