The statistics sections of biology articles have become so technical and jargon-filled that many biologists feel intimidated into skipping them or blindly accepting the stated results. This course will connect statistics to biology and will help develop a gut instinct for experimental design and analysis with an emphasis on understanding rather than formulas. We will review methods and assumptions for the most common approaches with examples from current biological literature and discuss how we can apply these tools to increase our understanding of our own research and of the world around us.

'Ocean ecosystems are of tremendous ecological importance and provide many billions of dollars worth of services annually, yet our marine systems face serious threats due to overfishing, climate change, ocean acidification, pollution, and the spread of invasive species. Conservation and management strategies aim to protect our remaining marine resources and restore those that have been lost or damaged. In this course, we will study the scientific evidence documenting the most pressing threats to marine ecosystems and examine available strategies for mitigating these threats.

'Ocean ecosystems are of tremendous ecological importance and provide many billions of dollars worth of services annually, yet our marine systems face serious threats due to overfishing, climate change, ocean acidification, pollution, and the spread of invasive species. Conservation and management strategies aim to protect our remaining marine resources and restore those that have been lost or damaged. In this course, we will study the scientific evidence documenting the most pressing threats to marine ecosystems and examine available strategies for mitigating these threats.

'This course explores the modern literature of Japan and Korea in a cultural and historical context, beginning with the genesis of their first modern novels, passing through left-wing literature and modernist experimentation of the 1920s and 1930s, colonialism, WWII and Korean War accounts, student democracy activism in the 1960s, and ending with the rise of women writers in the 1970s and 1980s. While parallels between the two national literatures are assumed at the outset, we will also discuss important differences and the cultural and historical factors that may account for them.'

'Since the mid-nineteenth century, Americans have viewed Japan as the Orients most exotic and mysterious recess, alternately enticing and frightening in its difference. Intense economic relations and cultural exchange between Japan and the U.S. have not dispelled the image of Japanese society and culture as fundamentally different from our own. In this course, we will strive for greater understanding of shared experiences as well as historical particularities. Issues covered may vary from one semester to another, but frequently focus on work, women, minorities, and popular culture.

'This course introduces students to major religious and spiritual traditions, with a special focus on miracles, healing, and the end of life. These themes have been the subject of both fascination and fear among human beings for thousands of years. Within each tradition, we will examine miracles, healing, and death/afterlife from three different lenses: a) major doctrinal developments and debates throughout history, b) ritual practices, and c) selected scriptural texts and literature.

'This course examines Islamic ritual practices from a ritual studies methodology, focusing on the meanings of the basic rituals as well as rituals which are performed in minority Islamic groups, like Shi'a and Sufis. Studies include a variety of media. Students engage with the emotional levels of Islam and religion generally, how meanings shift over time and space, as well as issues of audience and participation. No prerequisites.'

'This course examines the lived experiences of Muslims brought to North America against their will, modern African-American uses and adaptations of Islam, including the Nation of Islam, as well as the ideas of Muslims who have voluntarily immigrated or converted here in the US. The course examines issues of race, gender and the status of women, and includes discussions of American Muslim youth cultures, including music, film and novels. Students acquire a familiarity with the history of Islam in the US as well as the diversity of the many American Muslim cultures.'

'This seminar examines experimental cinema made by women from the early 1950s, during the earliest years of the movement known as the American Avant-Garde, through the 1990s. While the class will read feminist film theory and see the work of such well-known filmmakers as Yvonne Rainer, Sally Potter, and Chantal Akerman, we will also examine the less familiar but highly influential films of women working in the home movie or diary mode, with particular emphasis on the work of Marie Menken.'

'This course examines the various ways first- through fifth-century Christians addressed questions regarding human sexuality. We will concentrate on the rise of sexual asceticism and pay particular attention to the relationship between sexuality and issues of gender, culture, power, and resistance. Primary readings will include letters, narrative accounts of female and male ascetics, monastic rules, and 'heretical' scriptures. These will be supplemented by modern scholarship in early Christian studies and the history of sexuality.'