The dramatic decline in honeybees over the past several years related to Colony Collapse Disorder has raised the public's awareness to the importance of these insects in our everyday life. This seminar will use the popular book 'Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honeybee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis' by Rowan Jacobsen as a guide to examine the importance of bees in our society, the possible causes of declining honeybee health, as well as learn more about the biology and social society of bees.

What?s for dinner? We?ve asked that question since people lived in caves, but how we answer it today, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, may well determine humans as a species survive. What?s at stake in our eating choices is not only our health, but the health of the environment that sustains life on earth. This seminar will read selections and watch videos from Michael Pollan, Jerome Diamond and others who study the relationships between food and disease. We will talk about how our food system can produce diseases in us, and how diseases in our food may lead to future famines.

The rise of human civilization is marked by the development of ever more advanced materials: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. How will future historians refer to our time? The Silicon Age, or Perhaps the Age of Polymers? Polymers encompass a broad spectrum of our world from the mundane, such as plastics for packaging, to the cutting edge, such as the wings of advanced aircraft, or flexible electronic devices. The DNA that encodes the blueprints for life, and the proteins that build our bodies, are also polymers.

What is the nature of the self? What makes us really us? Do we create ourselves, or are we just the products of our environment? What does it mean to be an authentic individual as opposed to an inauthentic person living in `bad faith?? Is there even a true self at all? This course examines the ideal of `authenticity?. The main text will be Charles Guignon?s On Being Authentic, which offers an insightful survey of classical and modern views about authenticity.

Class will introduce students generally to Middle Eastern modern history and politics, with a particular look at the possible meaning and results of the uprisings that took place throughout the Arab world in 2011. The class will consider the role of the US in the region, Islam, Israel, Iran and Turkey, in addition to issues of Arab society, culture and politics. The course will include video discussions with groups of students in the Middle East, and serve as a good background for further coursework in Middle Eastern Studies.

Each week, students will read and discuss short examples of American nature writing in chronological order, and have the opportunity to write and share Rachel Carson, Wallace Stegner, Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams, and Gary Snyder.

This seminar will seek to explore the basic belief that comprehension is a reciprocal, or two-way process comprising the artist?s expressive desire, or wish to convey information, and the ability and willingness of the observer/reader/consumer to assimilate in some way the idea(s) that the artist wishes to convey. The cultural contexts of both the creator and the receiver (in this case, both the responding writer, and the students in the class) will also be examined as the class as a whole will consider both the original artistic work and the nature of the written response.

Learn science of cooking, food preparation, food supply and safety. This seminar series will offer basic knowledge of food science that you recognize from food on your plate. Learn traditional food science along with the latest food technology trends. Topics include all fatty foods, sweeteners, genetically modified foods, organic foods, food borne outbreaks, wine, chocolate, as well as consumer aspects of food development.

With today?s emphasis on globalization, many students have become interested in learning about culture and cultural diversity, thereby enhancing their understanding of their own cultural heritages and that of others. The course examines the unifying fabric of American culture, comprising socio-cultural values, attitudes, and traditions. To help students develop their intercultural competency for global contexts, the course offers units on the diversity of ethnicities, race, and religions that represent contemporary global worldviews; gender roles; and the issue of stereotyping.

Are you interested in fiction writing but don?t know where to start? In this course, students will participate in a professional-grade writer?s workshop geared for beginners. With the guidance of the instructor, an award-winning graphic novelist and ethnographic writer, they will read seminal short fiction and instructive texts and participate in group and individual writing exercises. Students will learn to talk about and analyze short fiction and will develop their own pieces through formal workshopping with peers and consultation with the instructor.