ECN 199H
Presidential Economics?
Instructor: Dr. Woody Hughes

Credit: GEP (General Education Program), major, minor, elective.

Description: This course examines the economic platforms and plans of the 2008 candidates for the Presidency of the United States. Projected topics include taxes and the budget; Federal Reserve policy; foreign trade and foreign exchange policy; job creation, outsourcing, minimum wage and labor union issues; Social Security, Medicare, and welfare; health care; environmental policy; energy independence; education policy; farm subsidies; and anti-trust policy. Economic terminology and theory will be discussed early in the course using illustrations and examples from the candidates’ positions on economic issues.

HST 199H
Political Violence and Genocide
Instructor: Dr. Jan LeFrancois

Credit: GEP, major, minor, elective.

Description: Political violence and genocide are hardly new, but the explosion of world communication makes them harder to ignore than in previous eras. Still many in this nation have managed to turn their heads from these heinous events. This course will address some horrific experiences, both historical and contemporary. One objective is to bring attention, but more importantly we will attempt to discern comparative aspects and to analyze these events. A very important question will be the moral responsibility of the international community and/or the major powers and what they should or can do in these situations.

POL 199H:
Global Warming and the Politics of Climate Change
Instructor: Dr. John Theilmann

Credit: GEP credit, major credit in politics.

Description: The course will deal with the issue of global warming from an interdisciplinary base grounded in political science. Although global warming is an issue based on science, how we cope with it is a political issue that merits examination. The primary focus will be on U.S. politics, but will have a strong international component, as this is a global issue.

IDC 150H-151H
Honors sections of Ideas and Culture

Credit: GEP.

Description: Honors sections of the required one-year sequence on the great ideas that have shaped different cultures; one section offered in fall and spring.

HON399H
Junior Honors Seminar

Credit: Required to complete the Honors Program.

Description: This one-credit course helps students to plan ahead for life after Converse. We discuss topics such as the liberal arts, undergraduate research, career planning, writing strong graduate school applications, evaluating job offers, balancing family and career, and finding Plans B and C when life throws us a “curve ball.”

PHI/REL 299H
Hymnody
Instructors: Couch/L. Brown

Credit: ENG 299H: GEP credit in literature, major, minor, and elective credit. MUH 299H: GEP credit in fine arts, elective in music history for music majors.

Description: English poet George Herbert wrote in his poem “A True Hymn” about the challenges of combining poetry and music to come together in a way acceptable to a perfect God. Recognizing the true difficulty of the hymn-writer’s task, in this course we will cover the basics of combining music, poetry, and theology in hymns. We will first survey roots of hymnody in the Western church and highlights of religious poetry in English, with specific focus on examples from the Anglo-Saxon, medieval, early modern, and contemporary periods. The course will also introduce students to the craft of hymnwriting. The course’s final project will involve creating a hymn with another student and helping to arrange for its public performance. 4.0 credits.

PHI/REL 299H
Philosophy of Religion
Instructor: Keefer/DeLapp

Credit: GEP, religion or philosophy major.

Description: Is there a god? What happens to us when we die? If there is a god, what is this god like? Is the existence of such a being compatible with all the suffering in the world? What is the role of reason and rationality—as opposed to faith—in the structure and justification of religious belief? This course is designed to address issues like these through the resources and methodology of philosophy, and by examining the variety of religious (and non-religious) conceptions offered by different cultures and time periods. Topics include arguments for and against the existence of God, the nature and possibility of miracles, the epistemic status of revelation, the relationship between faith and reason, the character of religious experience, the relationship between religion and science, the challenge of religious pluralism, and the analysis of concepts such as “sacred.”

BIO/THR 299H
Science Theatre: The Case of the Heywood Brothers
Instructor: Erturk/Glenn

Credit: GEP, elective. Not accepted for major or minor credit.

Description: This unique course allows students to experience the clash of ideas by assuming the roles of key players in a staged reenactment. It is modeled after the Reacting to the Past curriculum, pioneered at Barnard College and now offered throughout the country. Students are assigned a role and a team and must stay true to their respective characters’ beliefs in the given game. Students will actively engage scientific material and distill it into dramatic text for the purpose of producing a staged living reenactment of the belief systems encountered within the scientific data. The enactment will be a unique piece of Science Theater indigenous to Converse College

ENG/WST 299H
Quest of the Female Hero
Instructor: Rose/Berry

Credit: GEP.

Description: This interdisciplinary course will examine the motivations and journeys of the female hero in classic and canonical literature and art alongside the narrative of Buffy the Vampire Slayer-- a popular television series that ran for seven seasons in the 1990’s. “BtVS” employed mythical motifs and a portrayal of a female hero who was clearly gendered feminine, and not, as so many female “heroes” are, simply a male hero in disguise. Students of archetype and myth have noted that the female hero has different psychological “work” to do in her quest, and the stories of these quests are necessarily fundamentally different. “BtVS” embodied this in a clever, humorous, literate, and entertaining way. A study of popular television can reveal the seriousness of purpose that can lie beneath good and thoughtful popular culture.

HST 491H
From Colonial Goodwives to Martha Stewart: Domestic Advice and Experience in America
Instructor: Walker

Credit: GEP, major, minor, and elective.

Description: This course will examine the nature of domestic life at various moments in American history as well as the advice about the proper conduct of domestic life.  You will use both primary and secondary sources to explore the dimensions of domestic life, focusing on four themes:  cooking, cleaning, childrearing, and creating domestic space.  In the process, you will hone your skills in synthesizing and analyzing information as well as skills in writing and speaking about that information. This course is suitable for students who are not history majors.  All students who enroll in the course should be hard-working, self-disciplined, and willing to work in a team.

PSY 490H
Intelligence and the Brain
Instructor: Keen

Credit: Psychology elective.

Description: This course will allow students to explore the one issue that is central to all areas of psychology: the brain. We will broadly explore all areas of the brain, such as how neurons communicate, specialization in different areas of the brain, brain organization, etc., while focusing on how the brain and intelligence are intertwined.