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Spring 2003
FIRST YEAR SEMINARS ARE LIMITED TO
STUDENTS WHO ENTERED UMBC FOR THE FALL
2002 SEMESTER. STUDENTS MAY ONLY ENROLL IN
ONE FIRST YEAR SEMINAR. PLEASE SEE
INSTRUCTOR FOR PERMISSION TO ENROLL.
FYS 101A First Year Seminar (AH) Technological 3 credits
Disasters and their Causes
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GER: meets A/H. GDR: meets H. The
steamship Titanic, the space shuttle
Challenger and Tacoma Narrows Bridge are
disasters that should not have happened.
Were they caused by inevitable random
failure of technology or by human
disregared for known engineering facts?
This course will examine how engineering,
science, mathematical modeling, and
numerical computations relate to human
actions in technological disasters. We
will study several examples of recent
history and try to understand how these
tragedies resulted from human failure to
correctly apply engineering and
mathematical principles and/or to
communicate properly. Student will conduct
library and internet research, write
reports and give class presentations,
requiring everybody's active
participation. Final projects will be
performed by teams made up of two or three
students, working under the guidance of a
faculty mentor. They will culminate in
written reports published on the course's
webpage and in oral presentations in
class. We expect students to greatly
expand their skills in the analysis of
sources, their critical thinking, and
their communication skills. The course is
designed for student with an interest in
engineering, the physical sciences,
computer science, mathematics, or
statistics; however, no formal background
in any of these fields is required and all
students are welcome.
[2763] 0101 TuTh......10:00am-11:15am (MP 401) GOBBERT, M
FYS 101B First Year Seminar (AH) The Internet and 3 credits
the Humanties
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GER: meets A/H. GDR: meets H. Everywhere
we turn these days, we come upon mention
of the internet. What's all the fuss
about? And what, if anything, does the
internet have to offer people interested
in the humanities-in literature, history,
philosophy or the arts? The internet and
the Humanities will address these
questions. This seminar will introduce a
variety of technological tools, focusing
in particular on tools useful for studying
the humanities. Students will learn how to
find and participate in
humanities-oriented email discussion
forums or listservs; make effective use of
search engines and others information
tools; uncover and evaluate the rapidly
growing humanities resources available on
the World Wide Web and create their own
humanities-focused webpages. The course
will also consider some important issues
raised by these technological
developments: the promise and problems of
virtual communities; identity
construction; censorship and privacy; the
implications of hypertext in ficition and
non-ficition; the cyborg; copyright;
plagiarism and the future of books and
libraries. We will also give some
attention to fictional treatments of
cyberspace. The course is intended primary
for students to majors in the humanities.
[2764] 0101 TuTh......10:00am-11:15am (ECS 122) KORENMAN, J
FYS 102A First Year Seminar (SS) Sexuality, Health 3 credits
and Human Rights
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GER: meets SS. GDR: meets S. Who has the
right to access scientific information
about individuals' sexuality and sexual
health? What privacy rights do people have
in their sexual relationships? Who
controls when and if one has children? In
the last decade, scholars and advocacy
organizations have been asking such
questions that link sexuality, health and
human rights. Increasingly, these linkages
are made by human rights advocates, those
marginalized by their gender and/or
sexuality, feminists and professionals in
the health and family planning fields. In
this seminar, we will consider a number of
sexuality, health and human rights
questions: What are sexual rights? What is
meant by sexual health? How important are
sexual rights? What characteristics of a
society promote or hinder sexual rights?
What responsibilities are tied to sexual
rights? Do views on sexual rights conflict
with the general welfare of society? To
what extent do American have sexual
rights? What laws restrict sexual rights?
Students will become sensitized to issues
that have become increasingly important to
the international community in the areas
of sexuality, health and human rights.
They will also become familiar with steps
in the social science research process,
including background literature review,
survey construction, data collection and
analysis and reporting of findings.
[2765] 0101 TuTh.......2:30pm- 3:45pm (PHYS107) LOTTES, I
FYS 102B First Year Seminar (SS) What Should 3 credits
Government Do? Exploring the Interplay of
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GER: meets SS. GDR: meets S. Almost all
of us have read articles from pundits on
the op-ed pages or listened to the Sunday
morning talk shows. Most of the time, they
treat public policies either as blunt
exercises of political power or loudly
castigate the policies as begin "unfair."
The purpose of this class is to see if we
can do better, to go beyond politics and
self-interest and bring reason and
principle to bear. Economics offers one
way to assess when the private sector
fails and when the public sector needs to
intervene. Moral and polticial
philosophers complement and counter what
economists have to say regarding the role
of the state. Most of our time will be
spent reading, discussing, evaluating and
writing about how these perspectives
provide compatible or conflicting insights
into the role of government. As we delve
into specific, students will lead
discussions and prepare their own
interdisciplinary assessments of policy
issues.
[2766] 0101 MW.........3:30pm- 4:45pm (MP 105) BRENNAN, T
FYS 104A First Year Seminar (C) Stereotypes: How We 3 credits
Deal with Differences
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GER: meets C. GDR: not applicable.
Stereotypes-national, ethnic, racial and
religious-have existed for millennia and
are found in every part of the globe.
Groups of one kind or another often
develop a certain, commonly held
perception of other groups that resists
contrary evidence suggested by reason or
experience. Many conflicts in today's
world involve stereotypical views of
others and tend to make difficult problems
even more complicated and harder to solve.
In this course we will see how
stereotyping works by studying the
American stereotype of the French, as well
as the French perception of Americans.
(Knowledge of French is not required.)
Through readings, ads, commercials, movies
and television programs, we will consider
the misunderstandings and prejudices that
underlie these caricatures and
generalizations. Students will then
conduct their own analysis of a
stereotypes of their choice and will
present their findings to the class. They
will also submit a written report of their
findings at the end of the semester.
[2767] 0101 MWF.......10:00am-10:50am (ACIV014) ROSENTHAL, A