Here’s an update to LAS Blockbuster Course posting I made recently: The Campus General Education Board has approved general education credit for both courses on a pilot basis for SP13. That means ALL students, regardless of college affiliation, will automatically receive general education credit when they register for either of these great courses.
LAS blockbuster courses for Spring 2013
HIST 314/ARTD 499, section AD2: Material Culture—The Design, Culture & Engineering of the Automobile
The automobile has enabled a powerful global network that supports freer circulation of goods, maintains family
contact, enhances leisure activities, and is a vital component of global economies. But it’s also seen as a
device that has routinized labor, stunted technological creativity, increased class difference, and degraded the
environment. Co-taught by Professors Rayvon Fouché (History) and David Weightman (Art & Design), students
will learn how the automobile impacts social and cultural issues, and contemplate a post-automobile future.
All students taking HIST 314 or ARTD 499, AD2 will receive General Education credit in two categories: Humanities & the Arts (Historical & Philosophical Perspectives) and Cultural Studies: Western/Comparative Culture(s).
PS 300/ENGL 380: Environmental Change and the Midwest—Mapping the Past,
Modeling the Future
Environmental management in the era of ecosystem depletion, overpopulation, and climate change will be an
increasingly urgent concern in our lives. This course provides a systems-based study of the environmental history of the Midwestern U.S. with a view to its future management, preservation, and sustainable development, focusing on the fate of the Indiana Dunes region in the coming decades. Students will engage with a wide range of information: historical literature, demographic data sets, landscape art, scientific papers, environmental policy documents, and computer models projecting the future impacts of climate change. Co-taught by Professors Robert Pahre (Political Science) and Gillen Wood (English), students will gain practical experience in environmental assessment and management. Group research projects in a capstone field study will focus on modeling environmental policy options for the area.
All students taking either PS 300 or ENGL 380 will receive General Education credit in two categories: Humanities & the Arts (Literature & the Arts) and Social & Behavioral Sciences (Social Science).
About LAS Blockbuster Courses:
21st-century problems are increasingly multidimensional and will require expertise from multiple disciplines to solve.
LAS blockbuster courses are exciting, co-taught, multidisciplinary courses for students who want to learn how to apply knowledge in humanities, social science, and science to address real-world problems. Students will work with other highly-motivated students and outstanding professors from outside their majors to gain the kinds of skills that employers are looking for: the ability to deal with a deluge of information and distinguish fact, fiction, and opinion; articulate a position; critically assess counterarguments; and successfully engage in logical, reasoned, rigorous debate.
