Spring '05 Schedule

Mary Alm is the Director of UNCA's University Writing Center and a lecturer in the Literature and Language Department. With a Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition, an M.S. in adult education, and a B.A. in French (and English), Mary brings an eclectic point of view to the matter of higher education. She lived in North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma before settling in Asheville in 1983, and has traveled in both Europe and Asia. Besides teaching, she has worked as a personal assistant to an interior designer and managed a curriculum improvement project in the area of criminal justice for the NC Community College System.

Dee James (Ph.D. South Carolina), associate professor of literature and language and director of the Writing Program, is happy to have the opportunity to share reading, talking and thinking. Her own passions are family, stories, people, reading, theatre, and the arts. She is a UNCA alum (1973) and has been a faculty member at UNCA for the past 20 years.

Liberal universalism is the idea that liberal democratic systems of government, free market capitalism, and the respect for universal human rights are global forces that are shaping the world. Since the end of the Cold War there has been renewed interest in liberal universalism as one of the dominant paradigms in the study of international relations. And yet there have been many (particularly, but not exclusively) in the non-Western world who have challenged this dominant paradigm on political, cultural and economic grounds. We will examine such questions as What is liberal universalism? What are its origins? Who are some of its critics? What are some of the criticisms leveled against it? and How do we evaluate these criticisms? The aim of this course is to gain a better understanding of the nature of the world in which we live today, and to make better sense of some of the current developments in international relations and world politics. In the wake of 9/11, do we need to change how we understand the world? Some of the readings in this course will include Samuel Huntington, John Gray, Francis Fukuyama, Amartya Sen, Bernard Lewis, John Esposito, Kishore Mahbubani, and many others.

Surain Subramaniam, assistant professor of political science, joined the faculty at UNCA in 2001 after completing his Ph.D. in international studies at the University of South Carolina. Malaysian-born and educated also in Singapore and Britain, he has conducted extensive research in Malaysia and Singapore, most recently as a visiting associate at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.

Dr. Uldricks earned his graduate degrees at Indiana University. He has taught in the History Department at UNCA for more than twenty years and he also serves as director of the MLA program. His published writings cover the Russian revolution, Soviet foreign policy, and World War II.

The course will be a study of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection in the context of the history of ideas. We will begin by examining Darwin’s discovery of the underlying algorithmic nature of evolution within its historical context. Some basic computer science and statistics is developed to enhance this exploration. After the class has sufficiently discussed the core concept of simple algorithm as a creator of great complexity, the class will move on to cover the theory’s implications, potential consequences, and ideological decedents. The students will explore the topics through excerpts of original source readings, secondary scholarly works, and classroom discussion. Students will have the opportunity either to explore wider implications not covered in class or to enhance their knowledge of discussed ideas through individual writings and class presentation. The course is intended to be writing intensive, interdisciplinary and collaborative.

This course explores the historical, cultural, philosophical, and scientific sides of the development of astronomy and cosmology. The course also considers how advances in the other natural sciences, such as biology, geology and chemistry, have shaped our understanding of how the universe has evolved. The course will show how our concept of our universe is both a product of society and social change and at the same time defines the society in which we live.

We will explore in depth the contributions and lives of Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, Dyson, and Hawking. We will discuss current topics in astronomy, including the origin of the universe; evidence for the Big Bang theory; the concept of galaxies; the evolution of stars; and quasars, pulsars, and black holes. This course does not require a science or math background.

Readings will include Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris, A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, Galileo, a play by Bertolt Brecht, The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, Disturbing the Universe by Freeman Dyson, The Whole Shebang by Timothy Ferris, and Masks of the Universe by Edward Harrison.

Randy Booker (Ph.D. Duke), chair and professor of physics, has published several articles on the microwave spectra of molecules found in the Earth's atmosphere and the interstellar medium. His current research interests are in the area of radio astronomy.

The course examines the historic roots of capitalism and democracy. It analyzes and discusses the relationship between both "systems" in cultural, political, economic, and social dimensions. Further examples will be drawn from contemporary cases, domestic and international, including religion, globalization, and alternative models to capitalism.

Volker Frank (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is an associate professor of sociology.

This colloquium surveys the way scholarship is done in the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. In the colloquium each student will do background reading and write a formal proposal to do a specific scholarly project or thesis for the MLA degree. It is best to come to this class with a specific thesis or project topic in mind. Readings will include Halpern, Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly; Leedy and Ormrod, Practical Research: Planning and Design; Lipton, Alias Olympia: A Woman's Search for Manet's Notorious Model and Her Own Desire; Manzarek, Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors; and Parry-Giles, Constructing Clinton.

Cathy Mitchell (Ph.D. Tennessee), professor of mass communication, is the author of three books and several scholarly articles. She won a Pulitzer Prize with the Point Reyes Light for reporting on the Synanon cult.

MLA 610: Tutorial as arranged Individual study under the supervision of a faculty member, or cross-listing with an upper-level undergraduate course for graduate credit (with graduate-level work). Submit form in advance of registration.