Language is a living system. It grows and changes, despite efforts to preserve it. This course examines how slang participates in these changes. What separates slang from standard language, and who sets the standard? Through readings in linguistics and literature, this course examines how we use language to connect, create, and control. This class may be especially suitable for students who do not identify as native speakers of English.

The finest journalists are professors to the people. They educate citizens so as to facilitate reasoned, fact-based dialogue on subjects as diverse as politics, poverty, war, science, and the arts. We will look at journalism's role in the culture with a particular view to some of the profession's failings and foibles. Students are expected to leave the comfortable confines of the classroom as they try their hand at covering an event, writing a profile, and reporting on an issue of local significance.

This course examines explanations for the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) with an eye to identifying how to increase the participation of women in science. The course will address questions about gender differences in cognition and ability, the role of stereotyping, as well as the "leaky pipeline" issue, that is, the rate and timing of the departure of women from scientific fields. Course readings will explore the psychology of gender, as it relates to STEM.

What do the Nobel Prizes have to do with everyday life? Are Nobel Laureates extraordinary scientists, or singled out from others equally worthy? Readings will include essays, short fiction, and scientific publications, from Nobel Laureates to Beatrix Potter. Students will look through microscopes, correspond with practicing scientists, and try many styles of writing. When the 2016 Nobel Prizes are announced in October, we will read press coverage to study how scientific discoveries are reported. Our semester will end at the time of the Nobel Awards ceremonies with a celebratory banquet.

This course looks closely at short fiction of a number of American writers.

This First Year Seminar will discuss the impact of political and social change on the fashion and decorative art movements of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Students will study how and why fashions were created, explore the meaning and significance of style, and examine the role of design in the popular imagination and cultural memory of the period.

In an era where Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are ubiquitous, self-presentation is a constant concern and practice. What are the politics of self-presentation and -cultivation, if any? Do the choices we make about diet, how to dress, where to shop, and our friends have any political valence? To what extent can these choices be thought of as a form of resistance to popular culture in an era where rebellion is marketed to us?

This course focuses on the ways digital technologies are used to enhance learning in educational settings and personal spaces. Students will have the opportunity to gain a foundation for empirical study of young people and their learning in schools, assess the effectiveness of a range of mobile devices and apps to assist in the learning process, and create their own digital toolkits for learning.

Described by some as "...the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," and "the most important environmental issue of our time" by others, climate change has become a significant polarizing issue in our society. This course examines the science of climate change. How does the climate system work, what do we know about past (geologic) climate change and what is the evidence that humans are warming the planet? What are the implications of a warmer world?

Living things have been a part of the human experience from its beginning. In this class, we will look at biology from perspectives that we usually associate with the humanities. We will read Aristotle and Lucretius, and we will examine insects painted into the margins of illuminated manuscripts. We will compare the evolution of sacred texts, the evolution of languages, and the evolution of life.