Course Schedule

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Course Listing for FIRST YEAR SEMINAR - Fall 2020 (ALL: 09/07/2020 - 12/21/2020)
Class
No.
Course ID Title Credits Type Instructor(s) Days:Times Location Permission
Required
Dist Qtr
3305 FYSM-105-01 Prohibitions 1.00 SEM Alcorn,John H. MWF: 8:40AM-9:45AM SH - N215 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This seminar tackles two questions: Why do we outlaw some consensual behaviors by adults? And should we? We will examine “vices” (alcohol, drugs, and gambling), “repugnant markets” (commerce in sex, organs for transplantation, and adoption), and prohibitions against guns, advertising, and open international labor migration. Students will learn fundamentals of social science and will practice constructing perspicuous arguments. To punctuate the course, students will conduct policy debates during Trinity’s Common Hour. This is an experimental First-Year seminar that mixes traditional seminar meetings, public debates, multimedia instruction, and workshops in which students will learn to create polished virtual presentations of their final projects.
3695 FYSM-106-01 Global Food Politics 1.00 SEM Lefebvre,Thomas X. TR: 6:15PM-7:30PM SH - S204 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This course investigates the fast-paced environment of global food politics, from the impact of states and international organizations on global food production and distribution, to international trade negotiations such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP). It also considers the roles of corporations and NGOs, and the dispute resolution mechanisms such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and arbitration of Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS).
3330 FYSM-107-01 How Microbes Rule the World 1.00 SEM Foster,Lisa-Anne MWF: 8:55AM-9:45AM LIB - 206 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Microscopic organisms have influenced the development of human culture more than any other class of organisms on the planet. While responsible for Ebola, Zika, and Malaria among a host of other horrible diseases, microbes are necessary for the production of bread, beer, wine, cheese as well as medicines and biotechnology that improve human life. This course will explore the political and social impact microbes have on human development by examining the history of plagues, the threat of bio-terrorism and the reasons for geographical distribution of various infectious diseases. A background in science nor the intent to major in a science is not required to be successful in this course. The only requirement is an interest in learning more about the unseen organisms all around us.
3371 FYSM-108-01 Passing 1.00 SEM Zhang,Shunyuan MW: 2:00PM-3:15PM SH - N129 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  What is your understanding of passing? What is the relationship between passing and identity? This course seeks to explore these questions through reading feminist writer Susan Faludi's biography In the Darkroom (2016), following her inquiry into her father's life, from his sex reassignment surgery in Thailand at his seventies to his youth as a Jew in Hungary during WWII. Supplementary materials, including films, podcasts, news articles, and academic texts will be assigned to further examine the diverse ways in which gender, sexuality, race, class, and religion intersect to complicate and trouble the understanding and practice of identity and passing through the theoretical lens of performativity.
3696 FYSM-111-90 A History of Parisian Shopping 1.00 SEM Kehres,Jean-Marc TR: 9:00AM-10:15AM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Described as "the City of Light," Paris is also hailed as the capital of luxury boutiques and prestigious fashionable shopping streets. Students will explore the urban, architectural, social and ideological development of commercial practices in the French capital through the reading of articles, literary texts, and films.
3332 FYSM-114-01 The Plot Thickens 1.00 SEM Rutherford,Ethan TR: 2:00PM-3:40PM SH - N215 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  In this seminar we will address two basic questions of storytelling: how does plot work, and why is it so essential? As Tolstoy points out, fiction thrives on interruption, and our investigation into plot will begin with his famous dictum that “all great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.” We’ll trace this theory through the close reading of short stories, critical essays, novels, and film. The questions we’ll ask—what makes a good story? How do you grab a reader’s attention, and compel her to turn the page? How does plot produce meaning?—will then inform our own creative work, a portfolio of which will be due at the end of the semester.
3331 FYSM-116-90 Friendship 1.00 SEM King,Joshua MW: 2:00PM-3:40PM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  What is friendship? From the era of the Homeric Epic to our own, this question has been critical to our understanding of what it means to be human in a shared world. In this course we will join this long critical interrogation. Our approach to the notion of friendship will be interdisciplinary. We will work from a broad survey of literary and philosophical texts across different eras in order to think critically about the meaning of friendship and its ethical implications in our world.
3348 FYSM-122-01 Ideation & Entrepreneurship 1.00 SEM Jee,Jo-Ann Y.S. MW: 2:00PM-3:40PM SH - S204 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This course examines the essential skills of extraordinary entrepreneurs that led to the innovative ideas and products in the market today. The concept of ideation – identifying a need or a problem- will be investigated throughout the course. Topics will include learning to fail wisely, the importance of grit, passion, networking, and how to bring bright ideas to the market.
3337 FYSM-125-01 China's Forbidden City 1.00 SEM Sena,Yunchiahn C. TR: 2:00PM-3:40PM AAC - 320 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 13 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-125-90
  As a political and cultural center in China since the mid-eleventh century BCE, Beijing is a site of numerous ancient remains and historical monuments. Now a mega city boasting a population of more than 21 million, Beijing is also known for its ultra-modern cityscape and futuristic lifestyle. How did this premodern Chinese capital become a contemporary international metropolis? This seminar examines the city's art and architecture in its rich historical, cultural and social context. From features commissioned by Chinese emperors in the past to those created by avant-garde artists today, we discuss the complex symbolism and underpinning ideologies that made the city and enable it continuing to be a unique locus for the intersection of political power, cultural ideals, artistic innovation, and the global market.
3437 FYSM-125-90 China's Forbidden City 1.00 SEM Sena,Yunchiahn C. TR: 2:00PM-3:40PM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 2 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 10 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-125-01
  As a political and cultural center in China since the mid-eleventh century BCE, Beijing is a site of numerous ancient remains and historical monuments. Now a mega city boasting a population of more than 21 million, Beijing is also known for its ultra-modern cityscape and futuristic lifestyle. How did this premodern Chinese capital become a contemporary international metropolis? This seminar examines the city's art and architecture in its rich historical, cultural and social context. From features commissioned by Chinese emperors in the past to those created by avant-garde artists today, we discuss the complex symbolism and underpinning ideologies that made the city and enable it continuing to be a unique locus for the intersection of political power, cultural ideals, artistic innovation, and the global market.
3336 FYSM-130-01 Physics in Science Fiction 1.00 SEM Branning,David TR: 11:15AM-12:30PM SH - N215 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 13 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-130-90
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Science fiction has a long history of presenting speculations on the physical laws of the universe and the consequences of these laws for our lives and our civilization. Many of these speculations have turned out to be correct, others have proved spectacularly wrong, and some are so forward-looking that the verdict may not be known for centuries. We will read stories mostly in the "hard SF" tradition of Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations" and Poul Anderson's "Tau Zero." Along with classic masters such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Larry Niven, we will explore modern award-winning authors such as Greg Egan, David Marusek, and Ted Chiang. We will discuss how their stories explore scientific concepts, and we will incorporate these concepts into original written works.
3559 FYSM-130-90 Physics in Science Fiction 1.00 SEM Branning,David TR: 11:15AM-12:30PM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 2 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 13 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-130-01
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Science fiction has a long history of presenting speculations on the physical laws of the universe and the consequences of these laws for our lives and our civilization. Many of these speculations have turned out to be correct, others have proved spectacularly wrong, and some are so forward-looking that the verdict may not be known for centuries. We will read stories mostly in the "hard SF" tradition of Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations" and Poul Anderson's "Tau Zero." Along with classic masters such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Larry Niven, we will explore modern award-winning authors such as Greg Egan, David Marusek, and Ted Chiang. We will discuss how their stories explore scientific concepts, and we will incorporate these concepts into original written works.
3349 FYSM-135-01 Why Trust Science? 1.00 SEM Byers,Clayton P. MWF: 12:40PM-1:45PM VC - 101 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  We are often told there are two sides to any story, so what do we trust? Why do scientists insist their findings are believable? This course will serve as an introduction and exploration of the broad topic of science, science literacy, and the social, political, and personal impact of science. The discussion will focus on a wide range of topics: the philosophies of science, how we trust it, examples of science going awry, the people involved in science, global warming, and acceptance of ideas and practices without solid scientific findings. Even flossing will be discussed! Themes of consensus, methodologies, evidence, values, and humility will underpin the course. There is no requirement of a scientific background to participate, engage, and contribute to this discussion.
3353 FYSM-144-01 Lat. Amer. Rev. & the Arts 1.00 SEM Melendez,Priscilla MW: 2:00PM-3:40PM LSC - 138-9 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Since the beginning of the nineteenth-century and the Wars of Independence, Latin America experienced numerous episodes of political turmoil. But it is generally accepted that independence from Spain did not constitute a radical change in its sociopolitical institutions. Therefore, it was not until the twentieth century that many Latin American countries looked inward and began to make radical changes in their antiquated institutions. Through the study of three twentieth-century Latin American revolutions-the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and Muralism, the 1959 Cuban Revolution and film, and the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1979 and poetry- we will examine the interdependence between art, history, and politics, that is, the way in which art, in its different forms, becomes a crucial language of expression in the midst of turmoil.
3335 FYSM-148-01 LatinX Legacy 1.00 SEM Aponte-Aviles,Aidali MW: 10:00AM-11:40AM SH - N128 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 14 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-148-90
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This First Year Seminar is an introduction to LatinX in the U.S. with emphasis on the distinctions and similarities that have shaped the experiences and the cultural imagination among different Latinx communities by critically analyzing works from a range of genres and cultural expressions including comics, fiction, memoirs, film, music, and performance, along with recent literary and cultural theory works. The course will explore some of the themes and issues that inform LatinX cultural production. Topics to be discussed include identity formation and negotiation in terms of language, race, gender, sexuality, and class; the colonial subject; diaspora and emigration; the marketing of the Latinx identity; and activism through art.
3552 FYSM-148-90 LatinX Legacy 1.00 SEM Aponte-Aviles,Aidali MW: 10:00AM-11:40AM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 1 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 10 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-148-01
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This First Year Seminar is an introduction to LatinX in the U.S. with emphasis on the distinctions and similarities that have shaped the experiences and the cultural imagination among different Latinx communities by critically analyzing works from a range of genres and cultural expressions including comics, fiction, memoirs, film, music, and performance, along with recent literary and cultural theory works. The course will explore some of the themes and issues that inform LatinX cultural production. Topics to be discussed include identity formation and negotiation in terms of language, race, gender, sexuality, and class; the colonial subject; diaspora and emigration; the marketing of the Latinx identity; and activism through art.
3333 FYSM-149-90 George Orwell and His Times 1.00 SEM Rosen,David T: 6:15PM-8:45PM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Novelist, journalist, soldier, social-critic, policeman, bum: more than sixty years after his death, George Orwell’s stature as an interpreter of modern life is as high as it has ever been. Whether analyzing the structures of totalitarian power, or recounting the experience of his own education, or giving advice about how to write a good English sentence, Orwell let few aspects of daily existence escape his discriminating gaze. In this seminar we will read Orwell’s fiction and nonfiction, as well as the work of authors in many of the fields Orwell claimed as his own (e.g. literature, economics, philosophy, and politics). We will treat Orwell critically, as both a model for our own work (as writers, as intellectuals), and as a cautionary tale.
3338 FYSM-150-90 Lights, Camera, Society! 1.00 SEM Andersson,Tanetta E. WF: 3:55PM-5:10PM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This course invites students to think about society from a sociological rather than individualistic viewpoint. For sociologists, society is more than a random collection of people all making individual choices, rather the field of sociology demonstrates that we participate in social systems--social structures that are larger than ourselves--which also shape us, simultaneously, in profound ways. First, students will explore this synergy of social life through the works of sociologists like C.Wright Mills, Marx, Durkheim, Mead, and Goffman. Second, they will apply these thinkers' work to films like Wall-e, A Bug's Life, Ex Machina, Black Mirror, Tootsie, and Friday Night Lights. By using techniques including peer-review and free-writing exercises, this course builds students' writing, scaffolding their thinking upwards from paragraph-length assignments into structured, well-argued papers.
3350 FYSM-162-01 Cryptology 1.00 SEM Syta,Ewa TR: 9:20AM-11:00AM AAC - GH Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  The quest for confidentiality, keeping information secret, is as old as any form of communication. Cryptology, the art and science of making and breaking ciphers, has a rich history reflecting the fierce rivalry between those making and breaking ciphers. This course will explore technical, ethical and social aspects of classical and modern cryptology by tracing the milestones from Ancient Egypt through World War II until today. Special attention will be paid to the role of women who contributed to breaking the code behind the Enigma machine extensively used by Nazi Germany. In addition to reading, writing and discussion activities, students will engage in hands-on problem solving.
3351 FYSM-165-01 The Science of Consciousness 1.00 SEM Grubb,Michael A. TR: 2:00PM-3:40PM ADMIS - 301 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  From the early pioneers of experimental psychology to modern day cognitive neuroscientists, we have learned a tremendous amount about the role that the brain plays in conscious experience. A rich literature on the philosophy of mind also continues to inform and refine our thinking on what consciousness is and how we might study it. However, there is much we still don’t know, especially in regards to how physical activity in your nervous system gives rise to the kinds of subjective experiences that constitute your waking (and dreaming) life. Through a variety of academic and popular books, articles, and podcasts, this seminar will introduce you to, and ask you to grapple with, foundational (and often unresolved) issues in the scientific study of consciousness.
3623 FYSM-167-01 Animal Tales 1.00 SEM Tomasso,Vincent E. MWF: 10:00AM-10:50AM VC - 101 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-167-90
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  In this first-year seminar, we’ll investigate tales about animals from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Such stories, often called “fables,” feature talking animals and moral lessons for the human audience. We’ll read collections of fables by the ancient Greek authors Aesop and Babrius and the Roman author Phaedrus. We’ll also look at how fables have (and have not) changed over time and place in the medieval narrative Renard the Fox as well as in modern Disney films, such as ZOOTOPIA. We’ll consider the historical and social contexts for these fables and analyze their ability for individuals with less power to speak to individuals with more power in society.
3691 FYSM-167-90 Animal Tales 1.00 SEM Tomasso,Vincent E. MWF: 10:00AM-10:50AM VC - 101 Y FYR  
    Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-167-01
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  In this first-year seminar, we’ll investigate tales about animals from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Such stories, often called “fables,” feature talking animals and moral lessons for the human audience. We’ll read collections of fables by the ancient Greek authors Aesop and Babrius and the Roman author Phaedrus. We’ll also look at how fables have (and have not) changed over time and place in the medieval narrative Renard the Fox as well as in modern Disney films, such as ZOOTOPIA. We’ll consider the historical and social contexts for these fables and analyze their ability for individuals with less power to speak to individuals with more power in society.
3354 FYSM-169-01 Get Over Yourself 1.00 SEM Ewegen,Shane M. TR: 9:20AM-11:00AM SH - N128 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  What does it mean to be a self? To be your self? How is your self different from other selves? Are you yourself because of genetics, education, cultural influence, or all of the above? And what are some of the moral / ethical consequences of understanding ourselves as ‘selves’? Through reading a number of philosophical texts, this class will explore the origin, development, and decay of the idea of the ‘self,’ while also seeking possible alternatives of ‘self’-understanding.
3356 FYSM-170-01 Dancefloor Bodies & Identities 1.00 SEM Figueroa,Luis A. MW: 3:55PM-5:35PM SH - S204 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This seminar examines dance music scenes and social dancing from the 1970s Disco Era to the present, with a particular focus on electronic dance music genres such as House & Techno. Since the late 1990s, scholars have increasingly demonstrated that dance music scenes are excellent microcosms for exploring a wide variety of social, historical, cultural, and psychological topics. These include, for example, gender, sexual, racial, ethnic, and political identities; globalization and transnational identities resulting from international migrations; the impact of new technologies for the production and consumption of popular music; the rise of DJing as an art form; and the expressions of spirituality and transcendence manifested on dancefloors through interactions between the music, the DJs, and the minds and bodies of dancers.
3357 FYSM-171-01 Trials of the Century 1.00 SEM Falk,Glenn W. MW: 11:55AM-1:15PM LIB - 206 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Using trial transcripts, newspaper articles, films and selected texts, this course will examine the social and political contexts and legal and public policy implications of some famous criminal and civil cases from the early twentieth century, including the Harry Thaw trials for the murder of architect Stanford White (1907-08), the Triangle Fire trial (1911), the official inquiries into the sinking of the Titanic (1912), and the Massie-Kahahawai trials, Clarence Darrow’s last case (1931-32). Topics include honor killing and the insanity defense, the role of race, gender and wealth in the justice system, and the relationship between law and culture. A field trip to New York City will be offered.
3358 FYSM-172-01 Witchcraft and the Occult 1.00 SEM Landry,Timothy R. TR: 9:20AM-11:00AM LIB - 206 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  The so-called "West" has long had thriving communities interested in those supernatural, mystical, and magical worlds, known collectively as the "occult." Students will examine the significance of a wide range of occult practices, including the New Age movement, Neo-Paganism, Wicca, and Satanism. By exploring the practices and beliefs of American Occultists students will begin to unravel the occult's hidden role in the formation of American society, especially as it relates to issues of class, race, gender, and nationality. In so doing, students will seek to answer the question: What does it mean to be religious in America?
3366 FYSM-173-01 Contemporary American Prose 1.00 SEM Ferriss,Lucy MW: 3:55PM-5:35PM ADMIS - 301 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 14 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-173-90
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  The last two decades have seen several mind-bending changes in the ways Americans look at themselves, at their history and possible future, at their relationship with the rest of the world. The prose we'll read in this class echoes those seismic changes. Beginning with Philip Roth's alternate history The Plot Against America and continuing through Emily St. John Mandel's dystopic Station Eleven as well as the most recent, searing, personal essays by American writers on race, climate justice, and inequality, we will find ways to keep our balance along this rollercoaster of style and substance.
3794 FYSM-173-90 Contemporary American Prose 1.00 SEM Ferriss,Lucy MW: 3:55PM-5:35PM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 1 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 10 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-173-01
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  The last two decades have seen several mind-bending changes in the ways Americans look at themselves, at their history and possible future, at their relationship with the rest of the world. The prose we'll read in this class echoes those seismic changes. Beginning with Philip Roth's alternate history The Plot Against America and continuing through Emily St. John Mandel's dystopic Station Eleven as well as the most recent, searing, personal essays by American writers on race, climate justice, and inequality, we will find ways to keep our balance along this rollercoaster of style and substance.
3367 FYSM-178-01 Short Stories 1.00 SEM Humphreys,Karen L. MW: 2:00PM-3:40PM ADMIS - 301 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 13 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-178-90
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Students study the short story as a literary genre and form of creative expression. We analyze the structural elements of the genre as well as the short story as a cultural product of industrialization and consumerism. Beginning with the gothic tradition in the 18th century, we trace the development of the short story through the socio- historical changes that gave rise to what is sometimes called "the second revolution of the book." Scrutiny of the tale of the supernatural and its specificity to the 19th Century is reflected in Tzvetan Todorov's The Fantastic, passages of which we will read and discuss together. Texts include, but are not limited to, selections from Edgar Allen Poe, Maupassant, Jorge Luis Borges, Angela Carter, Toni Morrison, and Ray Bradbury.
3535 FYSM-178-90 Short Stories 1.00 SEM Humphreys,Karen L. MW: 2:00PM-3:40PM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 2 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 10 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-178-01
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Students study the short story as a literary genre and form of creative expression. We analyze the structural elements of the genre as well as the short story as a cultural product of industrialization and consumerism. Beginning with the gothic tradition in the 18th century, we trace the development of the short story through the socio- historical changes that gave rise to what is sometimes called "the second revolution of the book." Scrutiny of the tale of the supernatural and its specificity to the 19th Century is reflected in Tzvetan Todorov's The Fantastic, passages of which we will read and discuss together. Texts include, but are not limited to, selections from Edgar Allen Poe, Maupassant, Jorge Luis Borges, Angela Carter, Toni Morrison, and Ray Bradbury.
3370 FYSM-180-01 Nature & Mindfulness 1.00 SEM Pitt,Amber L. MWF: 11:20AM-12:25PM
M: 2:00PM-5:15PM
SH - N215 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Research reveals that spending time in nature increases happiness, creativity, productivity, and confidence, while reducing stress and anxiety. Spending time in nature improves our ability to learn through enhancements to our brain health, memory, and reasoning ability. Immersion in nature fosters mindfulness by engaging our senses and focusing our attention away from everyday distractions and stressors. This seminar will help students practice mindfulness through the exercise of making natural history observations. Students will examine how natural history observations have inspired art and science through visits to local museums and galleries. Students will explore local green spaces where they will observe, sketch, and keep detailed notes on nature and wildlife. No artistic skill required. Requirements: Curiosity, a willingness to learn, and a sense of adventure.
3355 FYSM-181-01 The Beatles and the 60s 1.00 SEM Platoff,John MWF: 10:00AM-10:50AM LIB - 206 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  The Beatles were the most famous and influential musicians of the 20th century. Were they so successful because of their music? Their appearance? The rise of the “youth culture”? Or because of shrewd management? We will focus both on the Beatles’ music and on the group’s cultural significance. We will read about (and listen to) the Beatles, read their own words, and study the social upheavals of the 1960s in which their music played a part. Assessing the credibility of what we read will be central to our discussions. There will be a number of short papers and a final research project. No previous background in music is required; however, students choosing this seminar should already be familiar with the Beatles and their music.
3419 FYSM-188-01 Origins of Mathematics 1.00 SEM Mauro,David MW: 2:00PM-3:15PM MECC - 270 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  It is unfortunate that mathematical study is typically devoid of meaningful encounters with the individuals and their cultures from which mathematics sprouted and grew. Mathematics was not born already mature! Where and why was it conceived, and what societal forces influenced its development? What fields first emerged? Why do we know more about the mathematics of 4500 years ago than 2500 years ago? How did one simple statement about parallel lines, written over 2000 years ago, torment scholars through the centuries, only to inspire a shocking analysis by the first person in human history to send an electronic message? We will consider highlights of the rocky evolution of mathematics from its earliest times. Suitable for those who have taken a pre-calculus course or higher.
3428 FYSM-189-01 Predictive Fiction 1.00 SEM Evelein,Johannes F. MWF: 10:00AM-10:50AM ADMIS - 301 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 14 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-189-90
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Fiction, such as short stories and novels, conjures imaginary worlds. We tend to turn to literature not for its factual accuracy but because of the joy of reading and the promise that literature holds: the encounter with deep truths, about ourselves and the world. In this course, we will read a number of 20th century literary texts that imagine the future. While some of them may have little in common with today's world, others have proven remarkably prescient about our current social and political conditions. We will also turn to several "cli-fi" authors who imagine our own future in the age of climate change, and we will compare their literary designs with our own predictions, worries and hopes.
3454 FYSM-189-90 Predictive Fiction 1.00 SEM Evelein,Johannes F. MWF: 10:00AM-10:50AM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 1 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 13 weeks
    Cross-listing: FYSM-189-01
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Fiction, such as short stories and novels, conjures imaginary worlds. We tend to turn to literature not for its factual accuracy but because of the joy of reading and the promise that literature holds: the encounter with deep truths, about ourselves and the world. In this course, we will read a number of 20th century literary texts that imagine the future. While some of them may have little in common with today's world, others have proven remarkably prescient about our current social and political conditions. We will also turn to several "cli-fi" authors who imagine our own future in the age of climate change, and we will compare their literary designs with our own predictions, worries and hopes.
3621 FYSM-190-01 Reading the City 1.00 SEM Fitzpatrick,Sean M. TR: 3:55PM-5:10PM ADMIS - 301 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  "The City," as both a social phenomenon and an ideal of human collaboration, evokes questions that have long engaged scholars, artists, and critics. Trinity College's own urban setting has powerfully shaped its heritage and increasingly informs its mission. Recent events, from the COVID-19 pandemic to an accelerating cycle of urban protest movements, have only heightened our awareness of the paradoxes and inequities that persist in our cities. In this seminar, we will examine the idea and the reality of "the City" through readings from a variety of disciplines and viewpoints, exploring the promise and the perils of our urban centers.
3422 FYSM-191-01 International Intervention 1.00 SEM Lefebvre,Thomas X. MW: 6:15PM-7:30PM SH - S204 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This seminar will offer students the opportunity to explore the current academic and political debate on international intervention. The course will provide students with some basic concepts of international relations and international law. Who, when, under which circumstances, and under which legal framework is it legitimate for a state, a coalition or an international organization to intervene internationally? This seminar will provide students the opportunity to engage with this complex topic through a variety of learning experiments including group projects, building networks with activists/researchers, and presentations.
3620 FYSM-194-90 Histories of Medicine 1.00 SEM Mahoney,Mary M. TR: 2:00PM-3:40PM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This seminar will examine the stories we tell about medicine and its histories using the lens of disease. We will cover case studies from colonial understandings of disease in what is now the United States to our present moment and the stories used to frame Covid-19. In so doing we will explore narratives contemporaries created about disease and its causes and ask what work these stories did to assign blame, present solutions, instill experts with authority, and reflect larger narratives of social order and "dis-ease." To make sense of our findings, students will create virtual exhibits that will allow them to experiment with digital storytelling tools.
3694 FYSM-196-90 Chinese Global Cities 1.00 SEM Chen,Xiangming TR: 9:00AM-10:15AM N/A Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: Remote Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  This course exposes students to a broad treatment of China's large number and diverse type of cities with established or emerging global city status and influence. China not only has the most, fastest growing, and regionally most varied cities in the world but also steers them to be global in connectivity and capacity through top-down and decentralized policy and planning. In sequential sections, the course examines a set of general and China-specific conditions that favor or hamper global city building: scale and location, path dependency, state power vs. market dynamics, in-migration and incorporation, culture, and regional cooperation and integration. The course guides students to investigate the global attributes, connections, and functions of such diverse cities as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Chongqing, Xian, Yiwu, Ruili, and Horgos.
3304 FYSM-198-01 Read/Write Creative Nonfiction 1.00 SEM Papoulis,Irene MW: 3:55PM-5:35PM LIB - 206 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 10 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  Daily writing exercises, wide-ranging readings, sharing work aloud as well as on the page: this seminar is for students committed to taking themselves seriously as readers and writers. "Creative nonfiction" uses elements of literary writing--characterization, description, dialogue, experiments with structure--to explore “true” stories and ideas. We’ll examine the intimate relationship between subject and form in creative nonfiction, the role of "the personal," the nature of style and voice, the idea of “truth,”etc. In addition to reading and writing about a diverse range of published authors, students will generate their own creative nonfiction pieces, including a reflective research essay.
3306 FYSM-199-01 Networks, Historical & Contemp 1.00 SEM Regan-Lefebvre,Jennifer M. TR: 2:00PM-3:15PM SH - N128 Y FYR  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person Course Length: 13 weeks
  Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
  We use the word “network” to describe the structure of human connections in contemporary life. This course explores the way that the network has been a useful concept for historians, too. Students will read and learn to think about networks both in an abstract sense and through a range of historical examples. They will then get hands-on experience of using historical sources, working with archival material of business and personal networks from the nineteenth century. In parallel with our historical discussions, students will work closely with Career Development to think critically about networking and to start constructing their own professional networks.