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You will have the opportunity to discuss in more depth the academic goals of the various MOI classes with your registration counselor who will help you to choose your courses at Summer Orientation. Although some sections may already be full at the time you register, all sections of MOI will help with your successful transition to college. Computers in the Movies-FI __________________________________________________________ Computers in the Movies-FI Computers have been seen in movies for decades. The power that has been associated with the computers had a lot to do with what was going on in the world at the time. By watching movies that deal with computers, one has a clear view of what the world was going through and in many cases the fears of people concerning computers. In the movie Desk Set (1957) people worried that computers would take their jobs away. Sound familiar? And that was 50 years ago. Students will read various articles, critique movies from different periods of time to determine what was going on in the world at that time and determine if any of the movies predicted the actual future of computers. Some of the movies that will be critiqued will be 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), War Games (1983), and The Net (1995). The Beginning and Ending of Human Life-FI When does human life begin? When does it end? Easy questions, tough answers. Through case studies, debates and open discussions of both sides of these issues, students will generate questions and learn academic skills to answer them. We will learn about the biological, ethical and spiritual aspects of the beginning and end of human life. What does the Catholic Church teach about these events? What do other religions say? Should stem cells be used to help the born and unborn lead better lives? How can we be “ready” for death? What are definitions of a good “quality of life”? How can decisions be made that respect human life? This section is designed for those 1st year students who have future interests in science. Students will determine the most important questions to pursue. The class will bring specific controversial issues to light and try to learn what the issues are on each side of the conflicts. They will then try to get an up to date “status report” of the current situation and how it has changed, what the forces and opinions are that are shaping it now and what the future holds for birth and death. The Beat Generation: The Rhetoric of Rebellion-FI The Beat Generation has been described as fearless, angry, high risk, too smart, restless, and highly irregular. They took chances; made mistakes, made poetry, and made history. The Beat Generation has also been described as the beginning of the end of civilized civilization. This small, tightly connected group of young writers demonstrated a care-free, often reckless, and unquestionably unique approach to life as well as a rebellious social stance toward what was sometimes referred to as “The Establishment”. What was the Beat Generation? What was so unique about it? Who were the major contributors and how did they find each other? How was it that this movement was attributed to opening the door to the 60’s radical hippies? Was challenging the dominant culture in this way constructive? Through selected stories, poems, and films we will begin to answer these questions as well as many more generated by students throughout the semester. Microsoft Empire-FI How often do you use a computer? What would life be like without one? What is Microsoft, and how does its decisions affect our way of living? This course will look at the way computers have affected our lives and society. It will focus on what they are, how they work, and how they affect our day to day lives. It will look at the computer industry; the players and competitors; and what our future will hold. The World Without Us-FI Imagine the following scenario—tomorrow morning every single human being on the planet has suddenly disappeared. From some of you, this might be a frightening vision. For the Earth, this would be the start of a new day. In The World Without Us students will examine humanity’s long-term impact upon the planet as documented by author Alan Weisman’s best-selling book, The World Without Us. In the course, students will learn about the long-term ecological impacts of things from the large (like buildings and monuments) to the small (those plastic Starbucks cups and the little exfoliating beads in your facial scrub). In this course, students will gain a greater understanding of how humans have changed their environments, how the Earth holds enormous power for its own self-healing, and a number of practical ways that each person can lessen his/her environmental impact. Social Issues in Sport-FI With the increasing popularity of sport in America and around the globe we are bombarded with images of sporting events and sport heroes. More than 90,000 fans watched live as the US women’s soccer team captured the World Cup in 1999. More than a billion watched on television, and even more relived the winning moment in newscasts and newspapers in the weeks that followed. Baseball is considered the “national pastime;” the Super Bowl is viewed by billions worldwide; and elite level athletes from across the spectrum of sport serve as role models for children and adults. Newspapers, television, and movies bring the highlights and the disappointments of sport into our living rooms, and with that, bring a distinctive view of society’s most challenging and controversial issues. Sport provides a unique setting in which the issues faced by society are often mirrored and sometimes intensified. With sport as a backdrop, students in this class will critically examine topics such as race, ethnicity, social class, sexuality, gender, violence, criminal behavior, cheating, and the influence of mass media. Through the exploration of the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between sport and society students will gain insight into contemporary social issues and the ways in which these issues are reflected on playing fields and in gymnasiums across the country and around the world. Café Conversations-FI In this MOI course we will critically examine conversations that have taken place in cafés around the world regarding the following six questions: What is Good? Justice? Moderation? Virtue? Piety? And Courage? Students will have the opportunity to explore similar questions through their own café conversations. Throughout the course we will critically look at moral development at the individual, community, and societal levels, using examples from around the world. All of these discussions will be utilized as a foundation for a broader study of the question, “Is excellence still possible?” 1968-FI Beginning with an incident at My Lai, Vietnam, students will explore what happened to American life and culture in 1968 that made it such a pivotal year in history. Students will learn about the Vietnam War, and how U.S. involvement shaped a generation. This class will look at hippies and politicians, draft dodgers and real-life veterans, and interview parents, teachers and family friends to hear their stories of 1968. We will examine how Vietnam was different, from the media coverage, to the age of soldiers, to the unconventional warfare. We will learn about Kennedy and King, the Democratic Convention and the Tet Offensive. Using music, movies, and a novel written by a veteran, the class will be immersed in the culture of 1968. Jack the Ripper-FI ‘Jack the Ripper’ is the common name given to a serial killer who murdered a number of destitute prostitutes in London’s East End district, during the fall of 1888. This was long before the availability of modern forensic science, even finger printing. The only real way to prove that someone had committed a crime was to catch a perpetrator in the act or to persuade a suspect to confess. Neither of these happened in this case. Further, the deeds of the Ripper were reported daily in the London press at the time, creating an atmosphere of terror. As a result, the Ripper has become one of the most romantic criminal figures in history and attempts at solving the mystery surrounding his identity have been popular since. Many researchers have developed theories, but no one hypothesis has been proven conclusively. Who do you think Jack the Ripper was? Crash of 1929 Stock prices in the U.S. rose dramatically during the 1920s, reaching a peak at the end of September, 1929. In the words of John Kenneth Galbraith, who wrote the seminal book on the Crash, the run up in stock prices was the result of investors engaging in an “orgy of speculation”. However, the party soon came to an abrupt end. On “Black Tuesday” (October 29), there was frantic selling of stocks, by the very same people who had been buying stocks with gusto just a few weeks earlier. In a matter of a few hours, huge fortunes were lost. According to newspaper reports of the day, some investors chose to end their lives by jumping from the skyscrapers they worked in, rather than face the reality of financial ruin. Over the next months, the slide in stock values continued unabated, and it didn’t stop until June 1932, by which time stock prices had fallen by more than 90% from their peak. The purpose of this MOI course is to examine this momentous event in the history of American capitalism. There are many important questions about the Crash that we will address. What actually happened in 1929? What is fact and what is fiction? Can it be determined what caused the Crash? Was it the twin forces of fear and greed that brought down the stock market with such force? Did the actions of certain despicable individuals (“the villains”) play a key role? If so, what were their crimes and what happened to them? How did the Crash affect investors? How many investors were financially ruined? Was there, in fact, a spike in the suicide rate after 1929, or was this just part of the hype surrounding the Crash? How did the Crash affect American society in general? Did the Crash cause the Great Depression? Could 1929 happen again, say in 2009? The Leadership Challenge-FI Interested in changing the world? Have you ever wondered how various leadership styles impact individuals, families, social groups, and organizations? In this course students will define, explore and experience the multiple facets of leadership. Through various hands-on experiences, students will learn more about their personal values on leadership and will be challenged to expand their existing understanding of leadership and what it means to lead and follow. This class will be seminar-centered with an active learning environment geared towards the development of higher order thinking with an emphasis on problem solving. Students will be challenged to think critically, while employing analytical and practical tools necessary for discovering and molding their own leadership styles. Wildland Conservation-FI This course is for the student who wants to learn about the natural environment of Dubuque County and spend time working in natural areas. As we learn about wildlands conservation, we will explore Dubuque County, Iowa. Students in the course will learn about and practice conservation, management, and restoration of natural areas. You will have the opportunity to meet experts in the field and contribute to the work they do. You will read some good authors. You will get to work with interesting, dedicated, and hard-working people. No matter what physical and mental talents you assume that you have or don’t have, there’s a place for you in the course! Please note that you will spend a few Sunday afternoons August-October at different natural areas out in the county. Music and Community-FI Music, music, music!!! Music is sound, set in and shaped by time, and it’s everywhere, or so it seems! Music is also the end product of an informed and creative process, related to its setting, diverse in its significance, and can play a powerful role in the formation of community. Through exploration of recorded examples and attendance at “live music” settings in the Dubuque area, this class will unpack the basic technical elements of music, develop a common vocabulary to discuss those elements, and discover how such components might be creatively manipulated to produce music for a specified event or gathering of people – a community. “Soundscapes – the Musical – 2008!” Science Fiction in Literature and Film-FI Although often dismissed in literary circles as “genre fiction,” science fiction is rich in traditional literary foundations and often subverts those foundations as a form of social critique. For example, William Gibson’s Necromancer (1984) draws heavily on Victorian metaphors and imagery seen in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in order to subvert and reconstruct visions of the future as well as continuing themes begun by Shelley. Some literary critics argue persuasively that science fiction (a sub-genre of speculative fiction) is the only literary form which deals with the present in an allegorical form. In this class, we will read science fiction in literature and film as symptoms of popular culture, analyzing our cultural responses to science and technology, of course, but also how our attitudes toward science and technology shape our assumptions about subjectivity and identity (what humans are supposed to be and how they are supposed to act), war, race, gender, family structures, and economics. Through these examinations, students will develop a set of tools for researching and analyzing fictional texts in light of the conversations the texts construct. Let the Games Begin-FI The ancient Greeks competed with one another, both in the Olympic Games, which featured an array of physical contests, and in the Dionysian festivals, which featured performances of tragedies and comedies. We will initially focus our investigation of competition on these two ancient events, seeking answers to such questions as “Where and when did these competitions originate? Who structured them? Why were they taking place at all? What purposes did they serve? What was the nature of the competition at such events?” Students will then widen the focus and investigate various elements of competition from a variety of disciplinary approaches, seeking answers to such questions as “How do our bodies and minds react to and prepare for competition? Is there such a thing as “healthy” competition? What connections do competitions have with economics, or politics, or religion? Are some types of competitions more socially acceptable than others, and if so, why? Who should judge such contests, and how should we measure the results?” The global community still celebrates the Olympic games; the Loras community has its own Dionysian festivals. We will study how these events have changed from ancient to modern times and share the fruits of our investigation with the Loras community. Hitler’s Pope or Silent Savior?: Pius XII, The Catholic Church, and the Holocaust Many have criticized Pope Pius XII for his silence about the extermination of European Jews during World War II. Others, however, have argued that the Pope was doing a great deal behind the scenes to help the Jews in order to avoid provoking the Nazis’ wrath. Was the Pope justified in his actions? Did he do all that he could or did he have an obligation to do more? How responsible was he for the generous response of many other European Catholics to the Holocaust?
MOI SECTIONS FOR STUDENTS IN THE HONORS PROGRAM Genocide: When States Kill-FI (Honors Section 1)L.HON 100 01: 2:00-03:20pm, MW, Professor Mark Kehren This interdisciplinary first-year seminar will investigate the origins, emergence, and various ways of confronting and dealing with the phenomenon of genocide and other forms of mass murder and state-terror throughout the twentieth century. This course will explore the fundamental causes and definitions for genocide as well as the way in which state-sponsored terror has been countered through various counter-violence networks, human rights organizations, and judicial means. Case studies will be drawn from Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda), the former Yugoslavia, Latin America (Dirty Wars of Chile, Argentina, and Guatemala), Southeast Asia (Cambodia and Myanmar), as well as Germany and Japan during World War II. The course material will also consider the ways in which episodes of genocide and state-killings have been portrayed through film, literature, museums, memorials, and other forms of popular culture. The Manhattan Project-FI (Honors Section 2) MOI SECTION FOR STUDENTS IN THE CHRISTIAN THINKERS AND LEADERS PROGRAM Character and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition-FI (CLT Students only) |
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