Instructor: Susan K. Hess, Writing Specialist, CTL
This spring, new and continuing members of Honors/MAT Readers' College can explore the hidden side of individual scholarly work: perfecting written professional discourse, articulating ideas for both a disciplinary and interdisciplinary audience, and managing a document of singular complexity and length. Preparation for the Honors Oral exam and Senior Symposium will also be a focus. Readings begin with Reichard and Obenzinger's "Interior Monologue with a Panic Attack,” and continue using instructor- and participant-selected shorts.
Restricted to students in the Honors and MAT programs (permission of the instructor required)
Meeting place: CTL Lounge, 2nd floor of the Library
Meeting time: Thursdays beginning 1/26, 5-6 p.m.
Contact: Susan K. Hess
Instructor: Jack Harris, Professor of Sociology
We will learn about the social world of Vietnam through its varied and complex history, culture and social relations. This includes geography and geographic location, social institutions such as kinship, village, religion, economy, education, and arts, tribal and ethnic history, and the diversity of its urban and rural regions. All of these aspects shape the life world of Vietnam, and the modes and meanings of what it means to be Vietnamese. We will also learn some basic Vietnamese phrases.
Meeting time/place: Monday evenings, 7-9 p.m. in Stern Hall
Contact: Jack Harris
Required for students going to Vietnam on the Fall 2012 Off-Campus Program. All students are welcome.
Instructor: Dean David Mapstone
For many, Wales is often an afterthought, a quiet member of the United Kingdom, an unassuming country dwarfed by its superpower neighbor, England. While historically, Wales (Cymru) has been invaded and conquered by peoples from the Romans to the Normans, the Celtic Welsh have been able to preserve their culture through music, literature, art, and language. The story of Wales is in part a story of resilience - an active resistance through the patient preservation of Welsh culture.
This course will introduce students to the history and culture of Wales in preparation for participation in the Summer Outdoor Education Program in Wales. Students will also spend significant time working through experiential and adventure education theory and putting these theories to practice in a variety of outdoor activities. Students can expect to spend at least half of the course in the field engaging in experiential learning activities and reflective writing processes. The rest of the course will focus on grasping a better understanding of the history and culture of Cymru.
This course is only open to students enrolled in the Summer 2012 Wales Outdoor Education Program.
Meeting time/place: TBD
Contact: David Mapstone
Instructor: Brooks McKinney, Professor of Geoscience
Before music was a commodity that came out of wires, it was something people enjoyed doing. This Reader’s College will practice the tradition of singing and playing for personal enjoyment, alone or with a group. Our focus will be tunes and songs from English, Celtic and American traditions. Weekly meetings will alternate between group sessions and lessons and discussions with faculty leaders Susanne McNally (singing), Charlie Temple (guitar and clawhammer banjo), Brooks McKinney (flute, pennywhistle, anglo concertina), and John Marks (fiddle, mandolin, tenor banjo). Experience is optional, desire to learn and participate is mandatory. Have questions, don’t have the instrument you’d like to learn, or don’t see your instrument listed here? Contact Brooks McKinney. There will be an organizational meeting before the end of Fall Semester.
Meeting time: A weekday evening, TBA
Enrollment cap: 24
Contact: Brooks McKinney
Instructors: R. Chip Capraro, Ph.D., Brian J. Mistler, Ph.D., and Warren Hamilton, Ph.D.
Together we will explore the experience of wealth, the nature of family and family businesses, and the human struggle to acquire and keep money, power, and love. What has guided the historical quest for wealth, how has it evolved, and what personal influence do wealth and the quest for wealth have on people today? What do we believe about wealth, and how does this fit with what media, religion, friends, family, or professors tell us about it? What is it like to have wealth from a personal/emotional/phenomenological perspective? How do communities and families organize to deal with the opportunities and challenges of wealth and succession?
Typical readings include Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family by family business consultant James E. Hughes, Jr., historical novels such as The Celebrant by Eric Rolfe Greenberg, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, selected journal articles on topics related to masculinity, psychology, and family business, as well as critical analysis of films like "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" and "Big Night."
Enrollment Cap: 25
Meeting time/place: TBA
Contacts: Chip Capraro; Brian Mistler
Instructor: Meghann Wraight-Steinmetz, Ph.D., Center for Counseling and Student Wellness
In this Readers College course, students will learn about and practice of personal empowerment. This course will assist students in learning key emotional intelligence skills by developing greater awareness of and mastery over their internal selves through studying developmental processes such as moving from seeking immediate gratification to investing in the future, from fleeing or fighting to understanding skills for negotiating conflict, and from lashing out at others to specific competencies for successfully regulating emotions. This course will also examine how attaining greater personal empowerment may lead to more accurate self-perception, more enduring personal and professional success, and improved responsibility and accountability across domains.
Enrollment cap: 60
Meeting Time: Students in this course will meet once per week beginning the third week of the semester. Each week, all students will also attend a 1 hour coaching session.
Meeting place: TBD
Contact: Meghann Wraight-Steinmetz
Instructors: Richard Salter, Religious Studies, James McCorkle, Africana Studies, and Chris Annear, Anthropology
Our course will examine various perspectives—that of the west and the United Nations, of African writers responding through fiction, and of African autobiographies—to the genocides in Darfur and in Rwanda. Tied to the speakers coming during the spring semester for the Genocide Symposium, the course seeks to develop our awareness of the complexity of these events and to more fully engage in discussions about genocide and such related concerns as human rights, conditions of refugees, and legal ramifications of reconciliation and prosecution.
Typical readings may include Andrew Clapham’s Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction, Roméo Dallaire’s Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Brian Steidle’s The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur, Boubarcar Boris Diop’s Murambi, The Book of Bones, Tierno Monénembo’s The Oldest Orphan, Marie Beatrice Umutesi’s Surviving the Slaughter: The Ordeal of a Rwandan Refugee in Zaire and The Theatre of Genocide: Four Plays about Mass Murder in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, and Armenia, edited by Robert Skloot.
Enrollment cap: 15
Meeting time/place: TBA. We will meet once a week with our discussions focused both on the texts and the scheduled speakers.
Contacts: Richard Salter, James McCorkle, and Chris Annear
Instructor: Joel Helfrich, Ph.D, Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
This course examines animal rights, more specifically the relationships between humans and animals. Topics will include plant-based diets (vegetarianism and veganism), the human/animal divide, historical and contemporary animal rights activism, plant-based diets and environmental protection, and the emerging discipline of Animal Studies. A portion of this class will investigate opportunities in New York to strengthen animal rights laws, for example, a ban on veal and gestation crates, the sale of foie gras and of live animals (for example, lobsters) in grocery stores, and battery cages for laying hens.
Typical readings include: Peter Singer, Animal Liberation; Diane L. Beers, For the Prevention of Cruelty: The History of Animal Rights Activism in the United States; and Dara Lovitz, Muzzling a Movement: The Effects of Anti-Terrorism Law, Money, and Politics on Animal Activism.
Meeting Time: Monday 6-7 p.m.
Meeting Place: TBA
Contact: Joel Helfrich
Instructors: Amy Forbes, Associate Director, and Jerry Wohletz, Leadership Fellow, at the Centennial Center for Leadership
The HWS Leads Reader's College is the gateway into the HWS Leads Leadership Certificate Program. In this course students will study, read, and discuss various components and practices of effective leadership. Students will learn how to lead with an inclusive, ethical, and values-based approach. Exposure to a wide variety of contemporary leadership theories and models along with experiential activities add depth and breadth to the content. Course readings are chapters and articles drawn primarily from the leadership, sociology, education, social justice and diversity, and business literature. Instructor permission.
Meeting time/place: Mondays, 3-4:30 p.m. (CCL Seminar Room)
Contact: Amy Forbes
Instructors: Amy Forbes, Associate Director, and Jerry Wohletz, Leadership Fellow, at the Centennial Center for Leadership
Communication fills our days and the ability to speak and present with confidence is an essential leadership skill. The CCL Reader's College in Public Speaking will introduce students to the basics of public speaking and presentation skills. This course will provide students with a practical opportunity to become better presenters and public speakers. Topics covered include: critiquing a speech, analyzing an audience, exploring a topic, arranging a speech, and the use of the language and the performance of speech through the voice and body. Instructor permission.
Meeting time/place: Tuesdays, 3-4:30 p.m. (CCL Seminar Room)
Contact: Amy Forbes
Join a Reader's College and meet new friends over great readings. Taught by faculty and staff, Reader's College courses typically involve reading books, joining in discussions and some writing. Students who satisfy the leader's requirements receive ½ course credit.
To sign up for one of the reading groups below simply contact the leader or enroll online through PeopleSoft.
Instructor: Instructor: Susan K. Hess, Writing Specialist, CTL
Honors candidates from all disciplines and MAT students can join together to explore and exchange best practices for managing the hidden side of their work: maintaining a focus, managing the process, exploiting campus resources, and writing the thesis. Readings will include Foss's "Asserting Agency" and Reichard and Obenzinger's "Interior Monologue with a Panic Attack"; discussion topics will include strategies for managing independent work and expectations and norms for professional discourse; guest speakers include members of the Honors committee and other HWS resources. Please note: This Readers College is designed to facilitate the research/creation, writing, and thesis processes, not overburden the Honors or MAT workload.
Restricted to students in the Honors and MAT programs.
Meeting Time: TBA
Place: TBA
Contact: Susan K. Hess, 781-3787
Instructor: Chaplain Lesley Adams
Each week, pairs of students will plan, purchase and cook a sustainable meal for the Readers College. As we eat, we will share and discuss our written reflections on the week's readings. The readings will cover food justice, hospitality, environmental stewardship, health, community, ritual and spiritual practices. We will also have guests from various religious traditions to help us explore how what one believes and values influences what, how, when, where, why and with whom we choose to eat. The final project will be a personal food manifesto.
By permission only. Limit 12 students.
Time: Thursdays from 6:30-8 p.m.
Place: The Chaplain's Residence, 630 S. Main St.
Contact: Chaplain Adams, 781-3671
Instructor: Sean M. Conrey, Professor, Writing and Rhetoric
From rock’s early days it has never been just about music. What it sounds like is simply the most obvious part of it. Keith Richards said it well, claiming rock ‘n’ roll was “music for the neck downwards.” The ragged contradictions and brutal beauties of it are why we love it. This readers college will explore ways of writing about rock ‘n’ roll. As we go, we’ll listen to a ton of music, trace out the history of rock ‘n’ roll, watch a few movies and read some writers who got it right. This course meets in conjunction with the HWS Men’s Writing Group, and particularly invites men on the HWS campus to participate, although women are welcome, too. Books will likely include: Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick; The Aesthetics Of Rock by Richard Meltzer; Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman.
Films will likely include: Gimme Shelter; Sid and Nancy; Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey; Dig.
Time/Place: Tuesday nights at 6 p.m. in Demarest Hall Blackwell Room
Contact: Sean Conrey
Instructor: Lorinda Weinstock, Director of the Abbe Center for Jewish Life
We will look at holidays, customs and beliefs, with a concentration on Judaism as practiced in the United States. Readings will include, but not be limited to, All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor, K'Tonton, by Sadie Rose Weilerstein, The Castle on Hester Street, by Linda Heller and The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Wisdom and Wit in the Wild West, by Steve Sheinkin. To quote from Marjorie Ingall in Tablet Magazine, "Isn't it clear that values and culture aren't transmitted only through ritual and religious practice, but also through stories?" This course will use stories to illuminate Jewish life.
Registration by permission of instructor only.
Meeting time and place: Meetings will be in the Abbe Center for Jewish Life. The first meeting will be Monday, September 12 at 5 p.m.
Contact: Lorinda Weinstock, 781-3385
Instructor: Jeffrey VanLone, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs
In this Readers College course, students will learn about and practice personal empowerment. This course will assist students in learning to develop greater awareness of and mastery over their internal selves through studying developmental processes such as moving from seeking immediate gratification to investing in the future, from fleeing or fighting to understanding skills for negotiating conflict, and from lashing out at others to specific competencies for successfully regulating emotions. This course will also examine how attaining greater personal empowerment may lead to more accurate self-perception, more enduring personal and professional success, and improved responsibility and accountability across domains. Reading List: a custom workbook that contains a list of required readings.
The enrollment cap is 60.
Meeting time: Students in this course will meet two times each week for the first 10 weeks of the semester. Each week, all students will attend a 2 hour class meeting as well as a 1 hour individual mentoring meeting.
Place: TBA
Contact: Jeffrey VanLone
Instructors Susan Pliner, Director, Centennial Center for Leadership
The HWS Leads Reader's College is the gateway into the HWS Leads Leadership Certificate Program. The program is based on the assumption that leaders are not born but are developed. In this course we will study, read, and discuss various components and practices of effective leadership. Students will learn how to lead with an inclusive, ethical, and values-based approach. Invited speakers and experiential activities add depth and breadth to the content. Course readings are chapters and articles drawn primarily from the leadership, sociology, education, social justice and diversity, and business literature. For more information on the requirements for the Leadership Certificate Program and application process, visit the CCL website or request information via email.
Instructor permission required. Application required.
Meeting Time: Once per week for 1.5 hour. Days and times TBD based on applicant preferences (Monday and/or Tuesday likely).
Contact: Caitlin Caron, 781-4552 or Susan Pliner, 781-3354
Instructor: Caitlin Caron, Coordinator of Leadership Programs, Centennial Center for Leadership
Communication fills our day and the ability to speak and present with confidence is an essential leadership skill. The CCL Reader's College in Public Speaking will introduce students to the basics of public speaking and presentation skills. This course will provide students with a practical opportunity to become better presenters and public speakers. Topics covered will include (but are not limited to): critiquing a speech, analyzing your audience, exploring a topic, arranging a speech, the use of the language and the performance of speech through the voice and body.
Instructor permission required. Course open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
Meeting Time: Monday nights from 7:30-9 p.m. Location TBD.
Contact: Caitlin Caron, 781-4552
Past Reader's College courses include:
Feminist Poetry
Tolkien's Middle-earth
The Art of Ukrainian Easter Eggs
Golf Course Architecture: History and Theory
Don Quijote
2006 Mid Term Elections
Conflict Resolution and Community
