"It's a great place to make mistakes and grow."

          Gretchen Nagel, Love and Exile in Literature and Film

ANTH 199

Be an Anthropologist!

Diane Baxter

To study human beings within social contexts, cultural anthropologists do fieldwork in which they spend time with the group of people they want to learn more about. In this course, you will conduct fieldwork in Eugene. After reading about a specific microculture, you will become a fieldworker observing, participating with, taking notes on, and conducting interviews with community members. You will develop a research question about your community and use it to guide your fieldwork. Possible microcultures may include religious groups, community centers, health clinics, businesses, and even specific university spaces such as dorms or cafeterias.

BI 199
Anatomy, Physiology, and Weight Training
Pat Lombardi and Janice Radcliffe

Which weight training exercise techniques are best for developing specific muscles? What do muscles look like in a human cadaver and under a microscope? How do muscles, bones, and other organ systems adapt to different modes of exercise? What do the American College of Sports Medicine and Centers for Disease Control recommend for heart-lung endurance, strength, and health-related fitness? In this seminar, you'll learn practical applications from studies of muscle structure-function and weight training, as well as guidelines for lifelong fitness from two specialists who have worked in lecture, laboratory, and field settings. In addition to workouts in the weight room, seminar activities will include lecture-discussions, anatomy lab visits, thematic poster presentations, and peer-reviews.

CIS 199

Making and Breaking Codes

Eugene Luks

Throughout recorded history, cryptographers (code makers) have been engaged in a fierce rivalry with cryptanalysts (code breakers), and the cracking of supposedly “unbreakable” codes has determined the course of wars. Today, the demand for secure communication in the information age has further intensified the challenge to cryptographers: for electronic commerce, the means of encoding is assumed to be public, yet only the authorized receiver knows the secret for decoding.  This seminar will trace the history and structure of codes from ancient times through the Internet, including the societal issues that arise as governments seek to control encryption technology. Students will design codes of various forms, challenging their classmates, while learning how to break codes that were long considered secure.

ENG 199

Romancing the T(w)een: A Critical Look at Romantic Love, Sex, and Gender Ideology in Popular Young Adult Literature

Tina Boscha

J.K. Rowling became the world’s first billion-dollar author. Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, earns screams from her devoted fan base. In the last decade, young adult literature has exploded in mainstream culture, becoming one of the most potent forces in publishing. As might be expected in literature written for youth ages 12-18, romantic love is often the driving force in the lives of the book’s characters. But is this young love as innocent as it appears? What is upheld as the romantic love ideal? In what ways is sex depicted? How do these constructs inform the treatment of gender roles? In this course, we will closely examine contemporary young adult literature, searching for ways that authors reinforce or challenge traditional ideas about love, sex, and what it means to be a girl or boy in American culture.

ENG 199

Grow Up Already: Teenage Life in Literature and Film

Miriam Gershow

The trials and tribulations of adolescence have long served as the central focus for authors and filmmakers. In this course, we will closely analyze contemporary literature and film made for adults but concerned primarily with the teenage experience. We will read a novella two novels, as well as watch two feature films. We will examine why the teenage years serve as such a preoccupation for so many authors and auteurs, and also look at what these depictions tell us about not only our culture’s view of adolescence but also of itself, as a whole.

GER 199

Fairy Tales on the Move

Dorothee Ostmeier

What can fairy tales tell us about civil rights, child abuse, or gender struggles? Crossing cultural and genre boundaries, fairy tales have always been vibrant sources for exploration of controversial issues. In this course, students will focus on the cross-cultural connections between French and German versions of well-known fairytales and then discuss their revisions in contemporary Hollywood media. Tracing the revisions of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood in popular films, students will also learn to write their own fairy tale.

INTL 199

Study Abroad in the US

Magid Shirzadegan and Shun Yanagishita

This course provides U.S. and international students the opportunity to understand the concept of “Studying Abroad” without physically leaving their space. Now more than ever, we need to work together and form friendships across our cultural boundaries. Often times, by assuming that crossing “cultural boundaries” takes place only outside of our surroundings, we do not take advantage of the domestic and international opportunities already present in our neighborhoods. This seminar provides students with a theoretical understanding of the role of culture in shaping interpersonal exchanges, while emphasizing active learning and "intercultural dialogues." 

J 199
Magazine Back Page
Mary-Kate Mackey

Many magazines have a “last page” essay on a variety of subjects. In this course we will explore how to create these short essays and revise them in a workshop situation. Student essays will be critiqued in class, with an emphasis on positive feedback and productive evaluation. Students will also write editorial comments each week. We will have guest speakers, including a professional essay writer, and end the course with our own edition of The Back Page magazine.

LIB 199

History and Art of the Book

James Fox and Marilyn Reaves

This course introduces students to the flourishing fields of book history and book arts. Defining the book as both physical object and transmitter of culture, the course examines the material and intellectual importance of the book from medieval and Renaissance times to our ever-changing electronic era. With access to illuminated manuscripts and printed rare books in the Knight Library’s Special Collections, students will study scribal culture, analyze manuscript texts, and respond to critical books and essays in order to comprehend the historical and cultural significance of the book. Hands-on practice in writing historical scripts, binding a book, looking at book structures and design, setting type and printing provides a foundation for appreciating the physical properties of the book. Students will learn to view the book from many perspectives and deepen their understanding of the evolution of the book.

RL 199

The Making of Metaphor

George Moore

What is the origin of creativity? The Greeks called it poiesis or making, which meant not verse but poetry in the widest sense. A painting, a conversation, a building, a life could reveal “poetry.” Simply (but boldly) comparing one thing to another is the key to inventing new perception, new objects, and new truths, revealing the essence from which we make the world new. Our class will read great poetry, practice writing and editing it, experiment with public speaking and voice (intonation), and eventually hold poetry readings as performance art, in a class dedicated to being original. Rather than convention, imitation, or conformity the world needs to “Make it new!” as Ezra Pound once said – by making metaphor, by creating poetry. We will seek inspiration from the works of authors such as Rimbaud, Apollinaire, Whitman, Eliot, Rilke, Célan, Williams, Plath, Ginsberg, Baraka, and Ashbery.