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Spring 2004
FYS 102 First Year Seminar (SS) hiversity, Ethics 3 credits
and Social Justice
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GFR/GER:Meets SS. GDR:Meets S. Defining,
defending and spreading human rights has
become an important social, political and
cultural project around the world.
Although governments are charged with
deepening this projects, it is often
governments that violate rights.
Unfortunately, recent years have seen too
many cases of governments that violate
rights. Unfortunately, recent years have
seen too many cases of governments
systematically violating the rights of
groups and individuals. In this class we
will read about how people in different
contexts have organized "truth
commissions" in their attempts to stop
governments from committing violence
against people, determine who is
responsible for committing these crimes,
establish how justice can be achieved and
recommend how these actions can be
prevented in the future. We will discuss
what human rights mean where they come
from and how they are defended. We will
also have the opportunity to speak with
human rights activists either on campus or
by visiting them in their offices, to get
a better sense of the kinds of work
entailed in promoting human rights in
concrete situations. Students will be
asked to do two kinds of research:
investigation of a particular case of
human rights violations and the mechanisms
used to resolve those cases, and
evaluation of the kinds of information
available through the internet about human
rights and human organizations. Finally,
in the spirit of contributing to a broader
discussion of human rights, the class will
develop a website that highlights links to
human rights information as well as
students' own findings about their
research cases.
[2781] 0101 TuTh.......1:00pm- 2:15pm (MP 012) STOLLE-MCALLIS
FYS 102A First Year Seminar (SS) Sexuality, Health 3 credits
and Human Rights
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GFR/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 Americans have sexual
rights? What laws restrict sexual rights?
Students will become sensitized to issues
that have become increasingly important to
the inter-national 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.
[2782] 0101 TuTh.......2:30pm- 3:45pm (FA 530) LOTTES, I
FYS 102B First Year Seminar (SS) What Should 3 credits
Government Do? Exploring the Interplay of
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GFR/GER:Meets SS. GDR:Meets S. In
thinking about how our society works, have
you ever asked yourself questions like?
What should be "left to the market" rather
than handled by government? Should
government be able to take money from one
person and give to another? Do we "rights"
to service, health care or education,
which the public is obliged to provide?
Can there be justified government-imposed
limits to privacy or freedom of speech?
When should the government be able to tell
us what to do, and when should we be able
to do whatever we want? Why should we obey
the law? When judges decide cases, are
they just playing politics? Cable news
channels, network talk shows, op-ed pages,
and othe media outlets are full of
opinions from pundits and politicans. Too
often, their assertions are either blatant
responses to political clout or gut
reactions that public policies are "just
unfair." Our purpose is to go beyond
politics and self-interest, to apply
principles from economics and moral
philosophy on policy questions. Our goal
is not to provide answers, but to
understand what facts and values go into
forming our judgements about "what should
government do." Most of our time will be
spent reading, discussing, evaluating and
writing about how these perspectives
provide sometimes compatible, sometimes
conflicting perspectives. Students will be
expected to think critically about what
government does and does not do, and share
their insights with the class.
[2783] 0101 MW.........3:30pm- 4:45pm (PHYS201) BRENNAN, T
FYS 103 First Year Seminar (MS) Issues in 3 credits
Biotechnology
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GER:Meets M/S. GDR:Meets M. Almost every
newspaper issue today has one or more
articles about how our society is being
affected by new advances in biotechnology,
and how its impact is controversial. Some
of these issues include: cloning, genetic
engineering of plants and animals, DNA
analysis as a means of determining
parentage or involvement in criminal
events, development of new medicines and
vaccines, the emergence of drug-resistant
bacteria, the human and other species'
genome project, the origin and genealogy
of human groups, etc. For our society to
discuss these issues in a rational and
thorough manner, it is important to
understand the scientific basis for the
methods used, their limits and
uncertainties, and their relationship to
other areas of life sciences, medicine,
public policy, and bioethics. Through
directed readings, class discussions, and
student presentations, this seminar will
focus on understanding these various
aspects of modern biotechnology with an
emphasis on its scientific basis.
Practical demonstrations and visits to
UMBC labs using biotechnological
techniques will be an important part of
the course to illustrate how methods are
theoretically discussed in class are
actually done.
[2784] 0101 F..........2:00pm- 5:00pm (BIOL004) CRAIG, N
FYS 105A First Year Seminar Fermat, Uncle Petro and 3 credits
Pi
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG The cult film Pi and the
Oscar-winner A Beautiful Mind are two
recent examples of popular works revolving
around mathematicians. Other examples
include the Pulitzer-winning Broadway play
Proof, the international bestseller
Fermat's Enigma and the acclaimed novel
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture. In
all of these works, some mathematical idea
has been used as a starting point to
create an absorbing story that has
captured the public's imagination. In
this course we will examine the above
interaction: how technical ideas can be
combined with narrative techniques to
create works of broad appeal. Can
mathematics be packaged in story form to
be made accessible to non-technical
audiences? What cultural role does does
mathematics play in our society? We will
first gain a perspective on contemporary
mathematics by examining the actual
mathematics behind the above works. We
will study the extent to which this body
of knowledge has been communicated (e.g.
by comparing the film and book versions of
a Beautiful Mind). Next, we will find
original ways to use this knowledge - in
writing assigments and other creative
endeavors that students might propose. We
will try our hand at mathematical fiction
and exposition, always keeping in mind
that we are speaking to a non-mathematical
audience. Field trips (such as to
appropriate films, readings and perhaps a
mathematical conference) will be included.
Students interested in writing as well as
those interested in mathematics will find
this class appealing. The goal will be to
broaden horizons through mutual
interaction.
[2785] 0101 MW.........5:30pm- 6:45pm (ITE 237) SURI, M
FYS 106 Diversity and Pluralism: An 3 credits
Interdisciplinary Perspective
(PermReq) Grade Method: REG
GFR/GER:Meets SS or C. GDR:Meets S.
Issues of diversity and pluralism are the
utmost importance in the US and abroad.
Businesses and corporations list these
among their five top focus areas.
Educational institutions at all levels
have also been struggling with them. A
deeper understanding of pluralism and
diversity will enable students to have a
better understanding how and why our
society acts the way it does-economically,
politically, and socially. It is also
important for students' personal and
professional success in the 21st century.
In this course we will look specifically
at diversity in terms of both social
identity and social conflict. We will
focus on the areas of race, class, gender,
and sexuality orientation. We will explore
how each areas is socially constructed
rather than being based in biology or
natural laws. We will examined the
dynamics of privilege and systematic
biology or natural laws. We will address
ways in which our society can change in
order to come closer to the American ideas
of equality and democracy. NOTE: Students
who register for this course may not
recieve credit for Sociology 204 at UMBC
nor can this course be paired with another
Sociology or Anthropology course to
complete the "2 in one discipline"
requirement in the "S" area.
[2787] 0101 TuTh.......1:00pm- 2:15pm (MP 105) PINCUS, F