June 24, 2005
Literature courses--comment from Gavin
I'll be on sabbatical during fall 2005, so I can't help much when the committee considers curriculum then, but I wanted to add some ideas now, before my sabbatical work swamps me.
First, why I'm writing: I was hired in 1999 as a prof in 20c British lit w/ a secondary area in Postcolonialism. In the past six years, I've taught numerous upper-division classes in British, Irish (and other) literature (see teaching links). Because I teach some of the courses Carol cited in her earlier email, I wanted to clarify some potential problems -- which can be fixed, provided the department is cooperative (never a guarantee), but do need to be considered before curricular proposals are made.
Specifically, enrollment may become a serious problem, especially for ENG 206 and 325, both of which I teach. Ultimately, it depends on how many students choose to major in I.S., but those classes to tend to close early already. Similarly, and sticking with the enrollment theme, LING 210 tends to close often, as it's a core service class for our major, as is ENG 206.
Additionally, there's no reason to stipulate ENG 206 alone without adding its complements, ENG 204 and 205, which cover earlier centuries but are equally international in scope, especially if one lists ENG 108-109 as a sequence. 204-205-206 are similarly sequential. There are also a number of other 300-level courses in British lit that didn’t make Carol’s list. I'd have to verify the numbers in the catalog, but ENG 323 and 324 (18th and 19th century Brit lit) would certainly belong. I'd also add ENG 107, as it is the first in the 107-108-109 sequence. The 100-level lits tend to have comparatively low enrollment, especially vs. the 200s. Again, that’s because 204-205-206 are part of the English major core, and we have many majors.
Finally, and this Carol did note, many of our upper-division courses come with a string of important prerequisites attached, usually ENG 223w (which is already offered every term and is usually filled) and one 300-level lit course. So, although the subjects of our 400-level offerings would work perfectly, they won't always work conveniently. ENG 206 is a pre-req for ENG 325, for instance.
What I think would work far better -- and this is something that Carol and I have discussed; actually I think it was her idea -- is to create a number of new courses with, say, the HUM designation. I could offer some wonderful courses in British, Irish, and Indian (Indian subcontinent, not Native American) literature that I could restructure without our major's prerequisites. I'm doing something similar next year for my Junior Honors Seminar on 20c Irish lit, for instance. Nor am I the only prof who could happily do so. Then again, that brings up a new series of questions, but those have more to do with departmental staffing.
Anyway, I just wanted to give you a heads-up about some of the issues with the literature courses. They're not impossible problems, but they also aren't minor ones, either.
Happy to answer any questions,
Gavin
Posted by khes at 10:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 19, 2005
Course syllabus set
Folks, I have finalized the syllabus and requirements for the course. Please make sure that you visit the course webpages. If you checked them out earlier, and even printed them out, please revisit them and make note of the changes (that is why until now they had the word "tentative").
Posted by khes at 06:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
About the Texts
Two of the three textbooks required for this course are not the conventional ones for the subject; in fact, there is a good chance that some of you are wondering what "Nathaniel's Nutmeg" and "The Silk Road" have to do with international trade and transportation.
Well, hold your horses right there! If you have scanned through the pages of those two books, you may have already found immensely rich and historical discussions related to trade and transportation. Yes, they are historical--the silk road stories going back quite a few centuries.
I chose these books not only because they are very well written but also because of the short, six-week nature of summer school. I suppose that exciting stories are needed to truly engage summer school students.
It will also be an extremely interesting view of international trade and transport--even today we talk about "globalization" as if it is entirely new, while Milton and Wood tell stories of international trade that are centuries old.
Allen Scott raises some interesting questions regarding the future--particularly the prospects for poorer regions. Scott's book is a "traditional" academic textbook, with all the usual academic language. But still, you can't find that many academic texts in the social sciences that are only 160 pages long, eh!
It is essential that you keep up with the assigned chapters from these texts.
Posted by khes at 05:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Welcome to GEOG 418 Online
Folks:
I suppose you are all set to start the online course? Well, ready or not, here we are :-)
Scanning the roster, I notice three familiar names: Tony, Francesca, Jen. I think I have met/talked with Andrew; I recall remarking that he looks very much unlike the politician Andrew Young, and apparently almost everybody tries the same (lame) joke! Is it the same Andrew Young that I had talked to?
Anyway, to kind of ease all of us into a "cyberclassroom" mode, will each of you please introduce yourselves by emailing the class at geog418@wou.edu?
BTW, remember that geog418@wou.edu will distribute your emails to all of us; if you want to email me specifically, then email me at khes@wou.edu.
Posted by khes at 05:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 14, 2005
Fulbright Scholar @ WOU
It appears that the Fulbright scholar, Said, will NOT be coming to WOU. In fact, he will not be coming to Oregon (this project was a collaboration that involved WOU, Chemeketa, and Clatsop?). The Fulbright folks have sent us info on two other possibilities. We are working on that now.
The following text is from an email from Joe Sendelbaugh, who was coordinating this project:
"I have not heard anything for several months. The basic issue is that when Said applied to be a Fulbright scholar he committed to being available for four weeks of consultation at a time. It appears that at the most he will be granted a leave from his school for up to two weeks. These leaves were also limited to times his university is not in session which also did not fit well with our schedules. Until he can meet his four-week commitment to the Fulbright Commission, the commission will not sponsor him. I believe we are left with finding a new candidate in the fall."
Posted by khes at 03:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
New geography faculty
Jeff Baldwin will join us in September for a one-year period. Jeff earned his Phd in 2003 from the U.of Oregon. For the last two years Jeff taught at Willamette U.
We are working on finding office space for him; any room to let? :-)
Taught in the Environmental Science Department at Willamette University from 2003-2005. Research: interested in developing analytic perspectives and conceptual tools that work to dissolve human/environment dichotomies and allow more integrated understandings of society as a sub-category of our biosphere. In addition to this more philosophical work, has done extensive research on tourism geographies, the effects of range cattle on stream habitat and channel form, and the political economies and ecologies of development. Regions of interest include the Caribbean and Latin America, Pacific Asia, and the insular tropics
Posted by khes at 03:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 03, 2005
Grant for French Films on Campus
Tournees is a program to organize French Film Festivals on campus, and applications for a grant are invited. Deadline is end of July.
URL: http://www.facecouncil.org/tournees/index.html
This may be of value to International Studies and Film Studies.
Posted by khes at 11:32 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Max's recap of the meeting on May 31, 2005
Here is a report on the ad-hoc meeting that we held, regarding the International Studies program last Tuesday (May 31) to discuss necessary revisions to the international studies program and major, and to explore strategies for managing advisement of students in this program.
These are in the category of preliminary planning for more formalized program changes that will be put forward in Fall 2005, thorugh the normal curriculum review process. For now, please review these ideas, ponder them over the summer, and get back to me with any concerns or comments. I will shedule another meeting of this group early in fall so that we can plan next steps.
1. Advisement for Fall 2005:
interested faculty will be sharing the advisement load (there will not be one, single director for the program, but rather a group of cooperating advisors, as detailed below)
Advisees should be directed to the following faculty, depending on the student's specific area of specialization within the major:
French Studies: Dr. Chris Ferraris and/or Dr. Narasingha Sil
German Studies: Dr. Gudrun Hoobler* and/or Dr. David Doellinger
Asian Studies: Dr. Sriram Khe and/or Dr. Bao Hua Hsieh*
Latin American Studies: Dr. William Smith, Dr. Maureen Dolan, and/or Dr. Gianna Martella
(note: those faculty marked with an "*", above, are on sabbatical/leave in Fall 2005)
2. Proposed Changes to the Core (thanks to Carol for summarizing these):
instead of Anth 312, now use Anth 216; 4cr rather than 3cr
Add Hist 470 as an option to 492
Add PS 481 and 477 to the PS options
3. Specific changes to the *Current* structure for regional specializations (again, thanks to Carol for noting these details):
Instead of Anth 216, a choice from ANTH 370,384,388 (all 4-credits)
4. Proposed major revisions to the structure of the major (these are preliminary ideas, only):
re-strucuture the "regional studies" to include a wider array of options, and re-name "regional studies" to allow a more flexible approach that would allow more integrative groupings, such as British Commonwealth studies, post-colonial studies, etc. (various terms, including "area" or "options" were floated without resolution)
Specific listing of proposed "area" or "option" concentrations (building beyond current offerings):
French Studies
German Studies
Asian Studies
Latin American Studies
African Studies
Canadian Studies
British Commonwealth Studies
Postcolonial Studies
re-structure the current language specialization to allow for a more flexible use of "language arts" options that would support an area option where an obvious "second language" is not available at WOU, or where there is no single, second language uniquely appropriate to the area (as in Asian studies, African studies, Canadian studies, commonwealth studies, or postcolonial studies, above)
Include a package of options for each "area" that would include the possibility of study-abroad in place of other requirements, and link that to specific study-abroad sites, depending on the "area" of study (particularly in cases where no obvious second language is available)
possible language arts courses that might be included in a restructuring of this nature include (thanks to Carol for this listing):
Eng 108,109 Literature of the Western World {108=Medieval through 1750ish, 109=1750ish through modern)
Eng 206 Victorian thru Modern Brit Lit (survey course)
Eng 325 Modern British Lit (offered eoy)
Eng 421 Studies in Brit Lit (topics vary; offered eoy)
Eng 341 World Lit after 1700 (topics vary; offered eoy)
Eng 441 Studies in World Lit (ditto)--note:
UD English courses usually have pre-reqs, like intro to literary study
FR 110, GL 110 - French/German lit in translation
Hum 328 Intro to Chicano Lit
Hum 340 Civ of Mexico
Hum 342 Chicano Culture
(note: These three Hum courses are offered sporadically due to staffing
issues; they are offered regularly as Spanish (with lang. req.)
Ling 210 Intro to Linguistics
Ling 312 Language and Society (pre-req Ling 210 and 215, or consent; offered eoy)
Phil 314 Modern Euro Philosophy (topics vary)
Phil 316 Contemp Philosophy (topics vary)
Rel 201/204 Intro East/West religions (offered eoy)
Rel 460 Comparative Religion (offered eoy)
Sp 325 Intercultural Communication
4. Recruitment of additional courses/instructors:
we agreed to contact other members of the faculty inviting proposals of courses that may be relevant to this major
faculty present at the meeting expressed concern that the program should remain focused on Social Science and Humanities offerings
5. Other proposals from communication outside the meeting:
a capstone experience that would be linked to program assessment/outcomes assessment (thanks to Sriram)
SP 325D: Intercultural Communication course (thanks to Emily) and a follow-up, 400-level Communication and Culture course could be integrated into the program in various ways, depending on the concerns of this committee.
internships linked with the program could be coordinated through the new International Students Director to focus on programming, publicity, and outreach (again, thanks to Emily)
Please let me know if I have left out anything important from our meeting that should be included in this listing, which is intended as a discussion paper that will help us focus on developing a more concrete curriculum proposal in the Fall.
Thank you all for your work on this project, and for your continued interest.
Posted by khes at 08:30 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 01, 2005
Info from Carol on courses
I took a look at our Humanities courses, and the following might be considered as options for a non-FL international focus. I've also noted issues tied to some
I took a look at our Humanities courses, and the following might be considered as options for a non-FL international focus. I've also noted issues tied to some (eoy=every other year). Basically, the only "dependable" yearly courses are Eng 108&109, Eng 206, FR & GL 110, Ling 210, and SP 325, for a total of 27 hours and only 3 UD.
Eng 108,109 Literature of the Western World {108=Medieval through 1750ish, 109=1750ish through modern)
Eng 206 Victorian thru Modern Brit Lit (survey course)
Eng 325 Modern British Lit (offered eoy)
Eng 421 Studies in Brit Lit (topics vary; offered eoy)
Eng 341 World Lit after 1700 (topics vary; offered eoy)
Eng 441 Studies in World Lit (ditto)
UD English courses usually have pre-reqs, like intro to literary study
FR 110, GL 110 - French/German lit in translation
Hum 328 Intro to Chicano Lit
Hum 340 Civ of Mexico
Hum 342 Chicano Culture
These three Hum courses are offered sporadically due to staffing issues; they are offered regularly as Spanish (with lang. req.)
Ling 210 Intro to Linguistics
Ling 312 Language and Society (pre-req Ling 210 and 215, or consent; offered eoy)
Phil 314 Modern Euro Philosophy (topics vary)
Phil 316 Contemp Philosophy (topics vary)
Rel 201/204 Intro East/West religions (offered eoy)
Rel 460 Comparative Religion (offered eoy)
Sp 325 Intercultural Communication
There will, of course, be sporadic seminars and special courses. carol
Posted by khes at 11:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack