College of Arts & Sciences
Fall 2020
| Department | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ANTH 090-010 (EES 090-010, ES 090-010) | Challenges of Sustainability |
| ART 090-060 | IPhoneography |
| ASIA 090-011 | Globalization in Asia Through Time and Space |
| BIOS 090-010 | Biodiversity in a Changing Earth |
| BIOS 090-013 | This is Your Brain in the News |
| COMM 090-010 (AAS 090-011) | Race and Media |
| EES 090-011 | Lands of the Midnight Sun |
| EES 090-014 | The Control of Nature |
| ENGL 090-010 | Shakespeare's Teenagers |
| HIST 090-010 | Prisons and Policing in Modern US |
| HIST 090-011 | Wild Wild West |
| HIST 090-013 (GS 090-013) | American Goes to the Mid East |
| HIST 090-015 (GS 090-015) | Origins of Modern Democracy |
| IR 090-010 | Political Censorship |
| IR 090-011 | US China Relations |
| JOUR 090-011 | From Stats to Stories: Introduction to Data Journalism |
| MATH 090-010 | Elementary Cryptanalysis |
| MLL 090-010 | Dreaming in Pre-Modern China |
| MUS 090-011 (ASIA 090-012) | Music and the Asian Diaspora |
| MUS 090-012 | History of Keyboard Instruments and the Music Written for Them |
| PHIL 090-015 | The Animal That Therefore I Am |
| PHIL 090-016 | On Knowing |
| PHY 090-010 | From Quarks to Cosmos |
| PHY 090-011 | From Black Holes to Strings: the Early Universe and the Nature of Space and Time |
| POLS 090-010 (ES 090-010) | Can the US Meet the Challenge of Climate Change? |
| REL 090-010 | Bioethics in the News |
| REL 090-011 | Religion and Contemporary Fiction |
| REL 090-012 | Religion and Hip Hop |
| REL 090-014 (ASIA, ETH, HMS 090-014) | Buddhism, Psychology, and Medicine |
| REL 090-016 | Race and the American Religious Imagination |
| SOC 090-012 | Sociology of "The Office" |
| WGSS 090-010 | Gender, Leadership, and Activism |
EES 090-010; CRN 43982
ES 090-010; CRN 44549
4 credits (NS)
Professors Bruce Whitehouse and Benjamin Felzer
MW 9:20 - 10:35am
CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABILITY
Humanity in the 21st century faces a number of existential threats. How will a changing earth (e.g. climate, biodiversity loss, changes in biogeochemical cycling, and land use and land cover change) affect human lives, and how can we mitigate and adapt to these changes? What environmental, economic, political, and social factors are placing our future at risk? What solutions must we consider to make our societies more sustainable? By consulting thinkers representing environmental science, social science, and the humanities, we will explore the problems confronting humanity as well as ideas for alternative ways of living on the planet. Nonfiction readings will include scientific studies of the climate and other environmental changes approaching the tipping points, systems of political and economic organization, and the origins of contemporary environmental crises. Speculative short fiction readings will also present visions for more sustainable futures.
Professor Bruce Whiteouse has been teaching courses in Anthropology, Global Studies and Africana Studies at Lehigh since 2008. His research examines dynamics affecting marriage and transnational migration in modern West African societies, and he is writing a book about why and how polygamy survives in African city life. Prior to becoming an anthropologist, he served three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali.
Professor Benjamin Felzer is a climate and biogeochemical modeler who studies terrestrial ecosystems. He received his B.A. in physics and astronomy from Swarthmore College in 1987, his M.S. in geology from the University of Colorado – Boulder in 1991, his Ph.D. in geology from Brown University in 1995, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. In 2001 he became a research associate at the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. He started his current position as Assistant Professor at Lehigh in August, 2008 and became Associate Professor in 2014. He currently teaches undergraduate courses in meteorology, paleoclimatology, and terrestrial ecosystems, and a graduate course in environmental modeling.
3 credits (HU)
Professor Anna Chupa
MW 11:15am - 1:25pm
IPHONEOGRAPHY
Learn to use your smartphone to take artistic photographs and edit them for print or social media. Use features available in the new Iphones to shoot long exposures, make adjustments to the background focus (depth of field) of your portraits, and make better panoramas. Participate in shooting field trips and exhibitions. Iphones XS through 11 will be needed. *There is a $100 additional lab fee.
Professor Anna Chupa is a Professor in the Department of Art Architecture and Design. She teaches Digital Photography, Textile Design, and Motion Graphics. She received her MFA in Photography at the University of Delaware and an MALS from Dartmouth College. Her quilts, silk wall hangings, photographs and installations have been exhibited internationally and throughout the United States.
4 credits (SS)
Professor Kyoko Tanniguchi
MW 1:35 - 2:50pm
GLOBALIZATION IN ASIA THROUGH TIME AND SPACE
Have you ever wondered about Asia? It covers a vast geographic territory; it is divided into East, South, and Southeast Asia and each sub-region contains numerous different ethnic groups, cultures and nations. The time span for these cultures is similarly vast going back to pre-history and continuing through modern times. This is a team-taught course with four professors. This semester, we investigate four interrelated topics: music, ceramics, religion, and horror film. Students will have a chance to learn East and Southeast Asian musical instruments, examine the Chinese ceramics collection at the Lehigh University Art Galleries, participate in a religious-symbol scavenger hunt, and simulate the ghost storytelling game from pre-modern Japan.
Kyoko Taniguchi is a Professor of Practice in Japanese and Asian Studies. She teaches Japanese language and contemporary/modern Japanese literature, film, and popular culture. She received her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. from Emory University. The courses she taught at Lehigh include “Japanese Storytellers: from Anime to Mythology” and “Ghosts, Monsters, and J-Horror.” (email: kyt213@lehigh.edu).
3 credits (NS)
Professor Santiago Herrera
TR 9:20-10:35am
BIODIVERSITY IN A CHANGING EARTH
Our planet is facing unprecedented changes caused by anthropogenic activities. These changes are threatening biodiversity at levels ranging from populations to ecosystems, as well as our own survival. In this class we will discuss past, present and future threats to biodiversity and their connections to human populations. Emphasis will be placed on the ocean environment, as this constitutes more than 95% of the habitable space in our planet and is its main life-support system.
Professor Santiago Herrera is an interdisciplinary researcher that studies the ecological and evolutionary processes that produce the biodiversity patterns in the ocean, focusing in the deep-sea. He received his PhD in Biological Oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He led or participated in more than 24 oceanographic research expeditions, totaling more than a year at sea. He has done more than 250 dives with remotely operated vehicles, to a maximum depth of ten kilometers. He has also dove in the submersible Alvin. His work has taken place in the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern oceans, the Mediterranean, Celebes, and Caribbean seas, and most recently the Gulf of Mexico.
4 credits (NS)
Professor Jennifer Swann
MW 1:35 - 2:50pm
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN IN THE NEWS
Neuroscientists are hard at work understanding our complicated brains. We will delve into their progress to identify who and what is behind the ‘top discoveries’ of last year. To this end, the class will examine the organization of the brain and its various connections, the techniques used, the researchers and the politics behind their work.
Professor Swann is an accomplished neuroscientist. Her work provides strong inference for the existence of multiple circadian oscillators, identified the sex-specific effects of gonadal hormones and has uncovered a novel role for growth factors in the expression of sexual behavior. She enjoys exploring science with undergraduates and often learns along with her students in the process.
AAS 090-011; CRN 44137
4 credits (SS)
Professor John Villanova
TR 10:45am - 12:00pm
RACE AND MEDIA
This course introduces the ways racial ideas and attitudes are embedded in various types of media, including news, information, social, and entertainments. Students will learn the stakes and politics of representation, unpack dominant stereotypes, and think through how difference in media informs the world around them.
Professor bio coming soon!
3 credits (NS)
Professor Joan Ramage Macdonald
TR 10:45am - 12:00pm
LANDS OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN
The Arctic and Antarctic regions are some of the most hostile environments on Earth, yet they have been the focus of human dreams for centuries. In Lands of the Midnight Sun, we will explore the geography and physical processes of these extreme and dynamic environments, as well as plant and animal adaptations, human exploration and modern communities, and environmental change. We will build a foundation of understanding the Polar Regions, and we will discuss major modern issues and the interactions among them including: global change, pollution, resource extraction, political boundaries, and indigenous cultures. Student interests can dictate which ones we focus on. (Fulfills Natural Science Requirement). The course will be a combination of discussion, lecture, writing/creating, and presentation.
Professor Joan Ramage Macdonald is an associate professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences. She uses satellites to study snow and glaciers around the world. She is especially interested in glaciers because of their immense beauty and their importance in documenting environmental change. She has research projects in Alaska, Canada, Chile, Peru, and Russia. Her regular courses include Lands of the Midnight Sun, Satellite Remote Sensing, and a graduate course on Microwave Imaging of the Earth. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, biking, raising chickens, ceramics, and being with her family.
For more on her research and pictures, see her website: https://www.lehigh.edu/~jmr204/
3 credits (NS)
Professor Kennth Kodama
MW 12:10 - 1:25pm
THE CONTROL OF NATURE
In this seminar we will learn how human attempts to control nature can disturb the natural system. To do this we will learn first about the natural system, then the strategies used by humans to control it, and finally the unexpected side effects of that control. We will also look at attempts to control nature at a larger scale, how human activities inadvertently control nature globally. The Control of Nature by John McPhee will be our central reading, but we will branch out into other topics with additional readings.
Ken Kodama is a professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department. He has taught at Lehigh since 1978 and teaches courses at the introductory level, the upper undergraduate level, and at the graduate level. He has an active research program studying paleomagnetism, the fossil magnetism of rocks which can be used to monitor the ancient magnetic field of the Earth. The paleomagnetism of rocks can also be used to determine the ancient positions of the continents. Ken Kodama’s research has focused on the effects of rock deformation on the accuracy of the paleomagnetism, the use of rock magnetics to detect ancient global climate cycles, and most recently the changes in the Earth’s ancient field intensity that may detect the time of inner solid core nucleation a half billion years ago.
4 credits (HU)
Professor Emily Weissbourd
TR 10:45am - 12:00pm
SHAKESPEARE'S TEENAGERS
There was no such thing as a teenager in Shakespeare's England; the word doesn't enter the English language until the 20th century. Yet present-day writers and filmmakers often cast Shakespeare’s young adults as teenaged characters, using adaptations to tell the story of today's teens coming of age. In this course, we’ll study several Shakespeare plays and current responses to them from a range of media: film, fiction, music and even YouTube and Twitter. Why do so many artists choose to represent present-day teen culture through Shakespeare? Can the notion of a “teen” protagonist productively be applied to Shakespeare’s plays? Assignments will include traditional academic essays, blog-style pieces for a general audience, and the chance to create a modern Shakespeare adaptation of your own.
Professor bio coming soon!
4 credits (HU)
Professor Emily Pope-Obeda
MW 1:35 - 2:50pm
PRISONS AND POLICING IN MODERN U.S.
The U.S. has the world’s largest prison population, with over 2 million people presently incarcerated. How did it reach this point of mass incarceration? This course explores the roots of the carceral state from the late-1900s to the present. It examines the relationship between prisons and race, gender, sexuality, and class, and covers topics such as convict labor, the war on drugs, prison activism, immigrant detention, and the “prison industrial complex.” We will read scholarship on incarceration alongside firsthand prison narratives, legal documents, literature, and more.
Professor bio coming soon!
4 credits (HU)
Professor Michelle LeMaster
MW 12:10pm - 1:25pm
WILD WILD WEST
Introduction to the American West as both region and process. Investigates the diverse populations living in the west, including Native Americans, Mexicans, American settlers, miners, and cowboys, and Chinese railroad workers. Explore the process of first Spanish/Mexican and Russian and then U.S. expansion into the region and the rise of the myth of the wild west. Themes includes the evolution of land use, immigration, cultural life, social communities and changing technologies.
Professor Michelle LeMaster is an Associate Professor in the History Department. She has taught a variety of courses in early American, Southern, women's, and Native American history. She hails originally from the Wild Wild West, having grown up in Washington state, and is looking forward to introducing students to the history of the region.
GS 090-013; CRN 44959
4 credits (HU)
Professor Ugur Pece
MW 1:35 - 2:50pm
AMERICA GOES TO THE MIDDLE EAST
Discusses the history of relations between the United States and the Middle East from the nineteenth century to the present through the stories of a diverse cast of characters from missionaries to marines. Topics include travel, food, migration, imperialism, war, and transnational appeal of American pop culture.
Professor bio coming soon!
GS 090-015; CRN 44963
4 credits (SS)
Professor William Bulman
MW 12:10 - 1:25pm
ORIGINS OF MODERN DEMOCRACY
This course considers the promise and perils of democracy by investigating the origins of modern democratic government in seventeenth-century England and America. Students will also discover the power of historical analysis in a rapidly changing world. History will emerge as a vital tool for understanding how societies are transformed. Skills acquired include causal analysis, empathy, interpretation, source criticism, information management, digital methods, and argumentative writing. This course can be counted as an equivalent of HIST 001 for History majors.
William J. Bulman (PhD, Princeton) is an Associate Professor of History and Global Studies. Before coming to Lehigh he taught at Yale and Vanderbilt. He writes about Britain and its empire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, an empire that included colonial North America. All of his research is concerned with the causes, nature, and consequences of the English Revolution, and the ways in which people in the early modern world confronted diversity. In his award-winning first book he advanced an original interpretation of the early Enlightenment. He is now completing a book about the origins of majority rule in Britain and its American colonies.
4 credits (SS)
Professor Kevin Narizny
TR 10:45am - 12:00pm
POLITICAL CENSORSHIP
Examines the suppression of political speech, media reporting, and academic research by governments, businesses, activists, and public opinion. Asks who supports censorship and why, how it works, and whether it is ever justifiable. Covers issues that are intensely controversial across the political spectrum, including laws against hate speech and blasphemy, regulation of speech by employers, cancel culture and self-censorship, media bias, and the reaction in universities against the discussion of ideas deemed to be sexist, transphobic, and racist.
Professor Kevin Narizny is an associate professor in the department of International Relations. His research focuses on democratization, political economy, and the domestic sources of foreign policy. He is a member of the Heterodox Academy.
4 credits (SS)
Professor Yinan He
MW 12:10 - 1:25pm
U.S. CHINA RELATIONS
The United States and China are the two most powerful countries in the world today, and their relationship is arguably one of the most complex major power bilateral relationships. How to manage this relationship has consequential impact on the future dynamics of international order and issues of global concerns. This course analyzes the historical context and contemporary developments of US-China relations.
Yinan He, Associate professor of International Relations, Lehigh University. Her research focuses on politics of memory and reconciliation, East Asian international security, Chinese and Japanese foreign policy, and national identity mobilization and nationalism in East Asia. Author of The Search for Reconciliation: Sino-Japanese and German-Polish Relations since World War II (2009). She is currently preparing a book-length investigation of China’s identity politics and its impact on foreign relations since the modern times.
4 credits (HU)
Professor Haiyan Jia
TR 1:35 - 2:50pm
FROM STATS TO STORIES:
INTRODUCTION TO DATA JOURNALISM
Data can help us reveal deep insights and enable us to tell a compelling story. This course will prepare students with an understanding of the new possibilities offered by the vast volume and scale of the data now available, as well as the data literacy for accessing, evaluating and making sense of the statistical information, in order to become an informed citizen in this digital world.
Professor Haiyan Jia's research interest focuses on how communication technology, such as social media, robots and the Internet of Things, affect our attitude, emotions and behaviors. She also investigates how people manage their privacy online in an increasingly connected world. Courses that she has been teaching include Data Journalism, Data Storytelling, Communication Technology Effects, Health Communication, among others.
3 credits
Professor Steven Weintraub
TR 1:35 - 2:50pm
ELEMENTARY CRYPTANALYSIS
We will study elementary techniques for making and breaking secret codes, and the mathematics (mostly number theory) behind them. We will both be doing mathematics and breaking codes.
LPLWO DPLWY TYLSI YGDLF LYSWD NANLF ADWYE LPLGD
NAUFL WWDNS EYUOY EFLWW DNSEL NDPAN DFDNP LSDSW
WOLSW ODYNE YWYEB DTLXE DWODQ LNDPL CDZYW OYCDL
EWODP LWODP LWYTY LSEFL WWDNS EIYGD WODFL YSWDN
EANWO DFADW EPXEW DBDBL XWYUX IWODY CDLEI YGDWO
DTAIA XNEAN WODZA NCEPX EWUYW WAKDW ODNYS LOLNP
ASYAX EZLQB DLXWQ YEWOD UYNEW WDEWW ODNDY ESAFD
NPLSD SWFIL TDYSW ODZAN ICUAN XKIQP LWODP LWYTE
Steven H. Weintraub is a Professor of Mathematics at Lehigh. He has interests in a wide variety of fields of mathematics, including number theory.
4 credits (HU)
Professor Constance Cook
MW 3:00 - 4:15pm
DREAMING IN PRE-MODERN CHINA
The novel, Dream of the Red Chamber, takes the readers into the bedrooms, dreams, and secret gardens of a large gentry family of the late 17th century in China. There are ghosts, goddesses, and scabby priests that thread their ways among the find ladies and not-so-honorable men. To add to the mystery is the supernatural origin of the main character who must relearn his true self through life among mortals (or semi-mortals). This text functions not only as the Shakespeare of China, the foundation of modern literature, but is known throughout Asia in multiple forms of popular cultural media.
Students will read a four-volume edition of the 120-chapter classic and prepare discussion points for class. After finishing each volume, there will be an in-class essay. Each student will prepare one 10-15 minute presentation researching some aspect of life at that time or of the novel. For extra credit, students can rewrite their essays or do a second presentation.
Professor Constance Cook is a professor of Chinese and Asian Studies. She teaches a wide range of subjects having to do with the language, culture, and history of China. She has led student groups to China and traveled throughout Asia. She loves to visit archaeological sites, hike, and paint. Her research is focused on interpreting excavated texts from the BC era and has published books and articles on ancient Chinese culture, religion, philosophy, history, and social practices. She considers herself a global citizen having lived and traveled outside the continental US for many years of her life since childhood. Prof. Constance Cook Prof. Constance Cook (email: cac8@lehigh.edu).
ASIA 090-012; CRN 44806
3 credits (HU)
Professor Tong Soon Lee
R 1:35 - 4:15pm
MUSIC AND THE ASIAN DIASPORA
Diaspora is a context in which movement of people and different globalising forces intersect to create new meanings and values of music. In this course, students will explore diverse musical traditions through lectures, seminars, and workshops to understand music in different Asian diaspora.
Professor Tong Soon Lee teaches musicology and ethnomusicology in the Department of Music, and is also the Department Chair. His primary area of research and teaching is East Asian and Southeast Asian music, and he is currently the General Editor of the Yearbook for Traditional Music, the flagship journal of the UNESCO-affiliated scholarly association, International Council for Traditional Music.
3 credits (HU)
Professor Eugene Albulecu
MW 10:45am - 12:00pm
HISTORY OF KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS AND THE MUSIC WRITTEN FOR THEM
A brief history of keyboard instruments and music written for them. From the early organs, to pianos, electronic synthesis and beyond, this course will trace the interaction between technological advances and creativity, with a bias towards piano music.
Professor bio coming soon!
4 credits (HU)
Professor Filippo Gabrio Edoardo Casati
TR 3:00 - 4:15pm
THE ANIMAL THAT THEREFORE I AM
"Don't be an animal!" This is what my mother used to yell at me when I forgot my good manners. But . . . aren't we all animals? And, if so, what's the difference between non-human animals and human animals? Do non-human animals have rights? Can we have immortal behavior towards them? Is eating them part of the repertoire of immoral behavior human animals might be guilty of? In this freshman seminar, we will try to engage with all these questions with the help of writers, poets and philosophers such as Cora Diamond, JM Coetzee, Raimond Gaita, Jacques Derrida and Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Professor Casati works in the Philosophy Department. Prior to moving to Lehigh, he was a JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Kyoto University, Japan. He was trained in the so-called analytic tradition, but his research interests center around Heidegger and Wittgenstein. He loves cinema, literature, animals and English football. Last but not least, he is a lifelong supporter of Internazionale Milano Football Club.
4 credits (HU)
Professor Ricki Bliss
TR 1:35 - 2:50pm
ON KNOWING
We are surrounded by an abundance of information in a way that no society has been in the history of human civilizations. Amazingly, one also has the sense that we are becoming less intelligent. One reason for this is that knowing how to process information, knowing how to reason well, and knowing how to think are skills that require serious cultivation - it is not enough to simply have information. In this course, we will explore some of the ways in which we can become better knowers - and not just peddlers of uninformed opinions, misguided feelings, unreliable 'facts', and knee-jerk responses to things that we don't actually know how to properly think about.
Professor Bliss received her PhD from the University of Melbourne in Australia. She is interested in Big Picture philosophical questions around the nature and structure of reality. She also has interests in aesthetics and ethics and how these two come together to inform our very ordinary and very human practice of reading.
3 credits (NS)
Professor Rosi Reed
MW 3:00 - 4:00pm
UNIVERSE: QUARKS TO COSMOS
We have entered the era of large scale physics, from Black Hole mergers measured by 2.5 mile long LIGO experiment to the discovery of the Higgs Boson by 17 mile long Large Hadron Collider. The fields of astrophysics, particle physics and nuclear physics have started to blend together in order to understand events like the merger of two neutron stars. We will cover how measurements are made from subatomic world of the quark to the furthest reaches of the universe. We will cover what is known, what is likely to be true and venture into what has been merely been proposed. This class will be from the experimental standpoint, so some time will be spent on the physics of accelerators and detectors of modern physics experiments. The format of the course will be discussions of weekly reading assignments from the text and from scientific articles published within the last couple of years, and a final project (presentation + short paper).
Professor bio coming soon!
3 credits (NS)
Professor Sara Cremonini
TR 3:00 - 4:15pm
FROM BLACK HOLES TO STRINGS:
THE EARLY UNIVERSE AND THE NATURE OF SPACE-TIME
In the early 20th century Einstein's theory of relativity drastically changed our understanding of gravity and the fabric of space-time. Despite its great successes, the theory of general relativity is incomplete. It does not take into account quantum mechanics and fails to describe fundamental properties of black holes and the very beginning of the universe.
In this seminar we will explore the key developments in modern physics and the challenges of unifying all the fundamental forces. We will introduce the main ingredients of string theory, the most promising framework for a quantum description of gravity, and discuss its consequences for space-time at the smallest scales. As we will see, string theory has given us crucial insights into the structure of black holes and the early evolution of the universe. The format of the course will be discussion of weekly reading assignments, and a final paper.
Professor Sera Cremonini earned her bachelor degree in Physics and Mathematics from The City College of New York and her PhD in Physics from Brown University. Before joining the Lehigh Physics Department, Cremonini was a junior fellow of the Michigan Society of Fellows at the University of Michigan. She then held a postdoctoral fellowship with the Cambridge/Mitchell collaboration between the Mitchell Institute at Texas A&M and the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology established by Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University. She works on various aspects of string theory, quantum gravity and early universe cosmology. Her research currently focuses on the holographic gauge/gravity correspondence and its applications to quantum phases of matter.
ES 090-010; CRN 44070
4 credits (SS)
Professor Albert Wurth
MW 3:00 - 4:15pm
CAN THE U.S. MEET THE CHALLENGES OF CLIMATE CHANGE?
Students in the course will examine the established science and potential impacts of climate change and investigate the range of possible responses that U.S. citizens can adopt through their political, social, institutional, and economic efforts. Special attention will be paid to the possibility of "win-win" initiatives, the impacts of the many decision-making entities in the United States (including institutions of higher education), and the economic and political obstacles to a viable transition to a stable climate future.
Professor bio coming soon!
4 credits (HU)
Professor Dena Davis
MW 10:45am - 12:00pm
BIOETHICS IN THE NEWS
This class is driven by student interest. Each week, students vote on which bioethics-related news stories they want to pursue. There are short writing assignments, but class participation is crucial. Topics in previous years have included vaccination refusal, "smart" toilets, "Body Worlds", and therapeutic memory erasure. Although this class is not cross-listed, it does meet the degree requirements for Ethics, HMS, and Philosophy.
Professor Dena S. Davis holds the Endowed Presidential Chair in Health. Dr. Davis has been a Visiting Scholar at the National Human Genome Research Institute, Arizona State University, the Brocher Foundation, and the Hastings Center. Her most recent book is Genetic Dilemmas: Reproductive Technology, Parental Choices, and Children’s Futures (Oxford University Press). She has been a Fulbright scholar in India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, and Sweden.
4 credits (HU)
Professor Benjamin Wright
TR 1:35 - 2:50pm
RELIGION AND CONTEMPORARY FICTION
Religion has consistently been a fascination of fiction writers. One can look at the history of modern literature and find that religion has been something of a preoccupation. In this course, students look at religion through the lens of several contemporary novels. How do these books picture religion? What kinds of religious issues do these books take up? We will encounter visionary experiences, gender construction, the need to fill in the blanks, together with a bit of insanity and inscrutability.
Professor Benjamin Wright is University Distinguished Professor in Religion Studies. His researches and writes about Judaism in the Second Temple Period and has published widely on early Jewish and Christian literature. He works on three areas in particular: (1) ancient Jewish Wisdom literature; (2) ancient translations and (3) the Dead Sea Scrolls.
4 credits (HU)
Professor Monica Miller
MW 9:20 - 10:35am
RELIGION AND HIP HOP
‘You in the presence of a King, scratch that, you in the presence of a God,’ raps Jay Z in the song ‘Crown.’ From humble beginnings to global ascendancy, hip hop culture relies on wide-ranging religious themes. Examining talk of devils, monsters, resurrection, gods, and even illuminati-styled suspicions of world domination, this course considers the ‘religious’ dimensions of hip hop culture, and the decidedly ‘hip hop’ expressions of religion, finding unlikely overlap between two of the world’s most powerful forces.
Professor bio coming soon!
ASIA 090-014; CRN 44064
ETH 090-014: CRN 44066
HMS 090-014; CRN 44065
4 credits (HU)
Professor Annabella Pitkin
TR 12:10 - 1:25pm
BUDDHISM, PSYCHOLOGY, AND MEDICINE
How have neuroscientists, Buddhists, and medical practitioners described what meditation does to the brain, mind and emotions? How have Buddhists described what enlightenment does to the mind and body? What are the historical relationships between Buddhism, medical practice, and psychology, in the US and in Asia? Students in this course explore these questions, by examining Buddhist philosophy, psychology, memoir, and art, together with recent research on how meditation and other practices affect brain function, emotional response, and other mental and physical processes.
Professor Annabella Pitkin is Assistant Professor of Buddhism and East Asian Religions at Lehigh. She researches and writes about Tibetan Buddhism, modernity, miracle stories, and Buddhist biographies. Her teaching includes courses on Buddhism and East Asian religions, environmental ethics, sexuality and gender, and new technologies. She has lived and traveled extensively in the Himalayan region, China, India, and Nepal, and is obsessed with Tibetan pop music trends. Professor Pitkin is completing a book manuscript titled “Beggar Modern: Renunciation and Longing in the Life of a 20th Century Tibetan Buddhist Saint."
4 credits (HU)
Professor Christopher Driscoll
MW 3:00 - 4:15pm
RACE AND THE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS IMAGINATION
From family dinners to first dates, race and religion continue to be among America’s most ‘impolite’ topics. How and why did these prohibitions come about? Where did the interest in these topics begin? Who wins or loses from such conversations? And, just what are ‘race’ and ‘religion?’ Covering key thinkers and writings from the American Revolution to civil rights and scientific revolutions, this course explores the profound role race has played in the American religious imagination.
Professor bio coming soon!
4 credits (SS)
Professor Danielle Lindemann
TR 1:35am - 2:50pm
SOCIOLOGY OF "THE OFFICE"
This class is an introduction to sociology, by way of the television show “The Office.” Michael, Dwight, Pam, and the rest of the gang at Dunder Mifflin may seem like simply silly characters, but they shed light on a variety of areas of sociology, including norms and deviance, small group interactions, gender, the economy, families, and – of course—the modern workplace. By watching episodes of the show, paired with key sociological texts, we will arrive at a better understanding of the major social forces that govern our own lives.
Danielle Lindemann is an Associate Professor of Sociology and core faculty member in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. She studies gender, sexuality, the family, and culture. Specifically, she looks at non-normative (“deviant”) behaviors and how they can shed light on core features of social life. She’s currently working on a book about the sociology of reality TV.
4 credits (HU)
Professor Rita Jones
MW 10:45am - 12:00pm
GENDER, LEADERSHIP, AND ACTIVISM
2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave a particular group of women in the United States the right to vote. Women were largely behind the movement to adopt the Amendment, and what have they and other underrepresented genders been doing lately? This course explores the role of gender in leadership and activism movements. We will look at the early 20th century, the mid-20th century, and the early 21st century, investigating what “gender” and “leadership” meant in those periods, and then apply that information to activist movements of the period. Who were leaders in the movement? What roles did gender play in mobilization and success? Topics may include the suffrage movement, the Temperance Movement, the Equal Rights Amendment, the American Indian Movement, the Civil Rights movement, #BlackLivesMatter, and #MeToo.
Dr. Rita Jones is the Director of the Center for Gender Equity and affiliate faculty in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies. She earned her Ph. D. in English from Washington State University and previously directed the Women's Studies Program at the University of Northern Colorado. She also teaches courses at Lehigh in English and Health, Medicine & Society. Using a praxis model, Dr. Jones approaches the classroom and the Center for Gender Equity as cycles of action and learning, giving participants opportunities to do and learn in a research-informed and active manner. Working with first year students during the Fall semester provides endless opportunities to imagine the future at Lehigh.
