University Seminar - Fall 2011

Religion & Culture: Localizing the Global - Dr. Swasti Bhattacharyya

Have you ever watched Outsourced, The Simpsons, or Bruce Almighty? Have you seen the Buddhist or Hindu temples, Greek Orthodox churches or Jewish synagogue in and around Iowa and the mid west? Have you been to a Mass in Spanish or gotten into a conversation with a Muslim from Bosnia? Interested in exploring the interface of religion, culture and globalization? Join us in this course as, through an examination of a variety of religious texts, biographies, novels, films, and even a fieldtrip or two, we explore the depths to which religion permeates our culture and localizes the global.

What Customers Want - Dr. Scott Anderson
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Knowing customers and knowing what customers want allows companies to out maneuver competition and provide superior customer value. This course will explore the fundamental ingredients of a successful business and successful person. We will focus on "knowing and satisfying customers" with an emphasis on customer research and strategy development. Group projects and guest speakers will complement lectures providing additional learning about internal and external customers. Development of a personal mission and vision statement will support the development of a powerful resume and strong interviewing techniques that will ultimately lead students to successfully sell themselves in many situations throughout their lives.

Buyer Beware: Globalization and Consumer Culture - Professor Jamii Claiborne
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Where did your iPod come from? No, the answer isn’t “my parents” or “Best Buy.” Where did it really come from? Chances are the hot pink or cobalt blue keeper of your music was assembled in China. But that’s just the beginning. The tiny parts inside that make your iPod hum came from all over the world, likely Japan or the Philippines or Korea. Many if not most of the products we own have traveled a global path and therefore connect us to the world. This course will explore those connections. We’ll examine not only an American consumer culture that overflows with globally linked products because of off-shoring and outsourcing, but also the growing consumerism in other nations where the American way of mass production, distribution and consumption has spread. The course will focus on the ripples that occur each time we buy, the consequences of consumption, and the influence of the media, especially marketing and advertising, on this process. We’ll debate the cultural and moral ramifications of global consumption including accusations of homogenization and cultural imperialism. We’ll wrestle with tough questions about the role of consumerism in our own lives and the lives of our global counterparts, considering the way consumption simultaneously empowers and disenfranchises, includes and excludes, grows and damages.

Do you live to serve or serve to live?- Director of Community Service Ashley Farmer-Hanson
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As we explore globalism, we will focus our efforts around volunteerism, civic engagement, and social entrepreneurship. This course will take you on a journey of self reflection and analytical thought about volunteerism around our country and the globe. We will explore what volunteerism and giving of yourself is and why people give up their lives to help others. We will try to explain why global societal problems can be solved through common efforts. Special emphasis will be given to the local community and exploration of how the various cultures give back to make our city a better place to live and be. We will compare local, national and international service organizations and see how they develop global volunteerism of tomorrow. From small nonprofit to large worldwide agencies we will discover what helps keep our world turning during trying times.

Deviance, Crime, and Globalization – Dr. Stephanie Hays
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Globalism affects us in many ways. This course will examine deviance and crime both in the U.S and in various countries throughout the world. We will take a critical approach to explore how deviance is socially constructed across cultures and what behaviors become labeled as “deviant” within a given society or culture. We will integrate college transitional issues when discussing certain “deviant” behaviors such as alcohol and drug use, eating disorders, and sexuality. We will also examine the impact that globalization now has on transnational crime including drug trafficking, organ trafficking, human trafficking, weapons trade, money laundering, and corruption. We will use a major text, Transnational Crime and the 21st Century, along with other resources and articles.

You Versus the World: Thinking about Education in a Global Age - Dr. Kline Capps
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Have you ever considered that in a global world you almost literally compete with every high school and college graduate for available jobs in the new knowledge economy? No longer is an American or American jobs protected by geography, political borders, and trade policies. The global information, transportation, and exchange systems place all of us on the competitive world stage. This course raises the question: What does the professional literature argue are the primary qualities of an education that prepares one to be competitive in a global age? Through reading, writing, researching and critical thinking, we will come to understand how we and some of our competitors are doing in preparing students for the job market of the global age. Ultimately, you will be asked to consider how your educational experiences can best be enhanced to help ensure that you will be on the cutting edge and hold a competitive advantage as you prepare to enter the world of full-time employment.

Perspectives on Family Communication in a Global Society – Dr. Elizabeth Lamoureux

Our specific course deals with the important and very practical topic of family and how it’s conceptualized across the globe. Issues that will be addressed include: types of families, family culture and traditions, family stories, family roles, power and intimacy in families, family conflict, the role technology plays in family functioning, as well as the implications of social issues on family structure and interaction. This course will also involve a service component. Within the class, we will focus on skills such as writing, public speaking, collaboration, research and critical thinking as we apply a cross-cultural approach to our understanding of family.

Coming of Age: How Stories Help Us See and Connect with the World - Dr. Bethany Larson
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Theatre and its cousin, the cinema, are lenses through which we see who we are and who we might become. In this seminar we will explore the issue of globalism as it relates to the way children and young people are presented in theatrical and cinematic storytelling from Pakistan, South Africa, Uganda, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, South America, and the United States. Our purpose is twofold: to build a better appreciation for the experiences of people from differing backgrounds by watching relevant films and reading play texts, and to connect our own childhood and coming of age experiences to those of children from around the world through writing and sharing stories.

Media & Popular Culture – Director of Intercultural Programs Yorgun Marcel
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What is the media’s influence in creating definitions of the world around you and the multitude of cultures that exists worldwide? In thinking about the role of globalism in our daily lives, to what extent do the media define our understanding and to what extent do we shape what the media reflects? With the advent of modern technologies and trends, consumers have been given unparalleled access into shaping the messages that the media convey about popular culture, as well as various social, racial and ethnic subcultures. Together, we will explore the fundamental question, do the media define our popular culture(s) and subcultures, or are we, the consumer, defining what the media delivers? We will examine the role that television, the internet, films, music, and print media play in shaping the realities and misconceptions of our world through the use of case studies that will illustrate some of the methods and theories that seek to make sense of contemporary American popular culture, and its effects on the global economy and political spectrum. From The Jersey Shore, and last week's overnight internet celebrity, to the Twilight and Harry Potter sagas, and the advent of social networks these are just a few of the popular culture vehicles that this class will examine.

The Role of Women in the Global Community – Dean’s Fellows and Honors Program Coordinator Jennifer McNabb
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While women make up half of the world's population, their power and status is anything but equal. This course will explore the idea of globalization and its significant effect on women and gender. Together, we will look at issues such as prostitution, the wage gap, sex trafficking, child brides, female genital mutilation, division of household labor, and much more. In addition to discussing the impact of globalization on women, we will also look at the ways in which women are impacting the global community. Using readings, class discussions, videos, and selected web sites, we'll consider both the advantages and the disadvantages of being a women in the 21st century.

Copycats: Globalization and Imitation – Dr. Matthew Packer

"The internet's a copy machine," says tech guru Kevin Kelly, and it runs, he argues, not on greed but on love. Is he right? Just what are digital culture and globalization revealing about humans' imitating one another? Today's trends in creativity and innovation in so many fields prove that people copy, but in ways more profound and disturbing than recent premiums on originality suggest. Not only are other people's styles and ideas inspirational: even human desire, long understood to be pure and unique, itself is imitative, which causes conflict when people's desires converge on the same thing, secretly or openly. This section of University Seminar will explore how technology worldwide is amplifying the role of imitation in creativity, international relations, competition and conflict. We’ll read classic and modern authors, watch innovative film, and cover topics from neuroscience and modern marketing, to coolhunting, international rivalry, and all sorts of fads, bubbles, and crashes. University Seminar is a writing intensive course: sign up especially if you enjoy writing and reading.

Can’t We All Just Get Along? - Dr. Stan Ullerich
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Why do members of our nation’s two major political parties seem to disagree, in principle if not in action, on matters of taxes, spending, trade policies, immigration, and dealing with an economy’s booms and busts? And does buying a Honda, Toyota, or iPhone, for instance, really damage our nation’s, well being? As the world’s developing economies grow, how should we respond? As if being threatened, as an opportunity, or with benign neglect? We disagree often within our nation’s borders, as consumers, as voters, as investors, and as family members. Yet billions of international transactions are completed daily, to the satisfaction of both buyers and sellers. We’ll investigate mechanisms and/or conditions that promote such striking economic interdependence, the global-wide benefits of trade, as well as constraints and impediments to further integration.

Life on Earth - Dr. James Hampton
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This class takes a global perspective on creatures that share our planet by considering the stunning variety of organisms, large and small, that creep and crawl, ooze and sprawl along the dirt or squirm and swim beneath the waves. Through discussing the relationship between humans and the microbes, plants and animals we have domesticated we ponder the question “How did Homo sapiens get to be in charge?” Considering failures in our dominance, the spread of disease in human populations and other ways that our growth is inhibited, we will compare several social systems by examining the ways that societies function much like an organism with public utilities and private companies acting as the organs of civilization. Some knowledge of biology and science and a willingness to consider new ideas as we work hard together is important. Class activities will emphasize active learning and student engagement and will include student presentations, small experiments, debates, outside speakers, lectures, discussions, a field trip and group projects.

Understanding Global Warming from a Global perspective – Dr. Shawn Stone

Daily some aspect of global warming appears in news sources be it with print media, television, or web sources. Given that global warming is one of the most pressing problems that the world faces today, it needs to be of concern to all citizens. Despite all that is available on global warming, so much remains to be done to understand it and to address its effect. Together we will investigate global warming from the scientific and political perspectives considering such topics as the greenhouse effect, the carbon cycle, energy usage, and the study of climate change models as we seek to understand how it affects the ecosystems throughout the planet today and into the future.

The Real Cost of Products We Consume – Dr. Robert Blodgett
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Americans are among the world’s most gluttonous consumers, irritated when our favorite products are temporarily vacant from our store’s shelves. The cost of products we use cannot be gauged by the price tag alone. A long trail of costs precedes the “cha-ching” at the cash register. Millions of workers in developing nations live in abject poverty and work in deplorable conditions to harvest and refine raw materials, to manufacture, to assemble, to transport the myriad of nonessential items we take for granted and deem essential. A long trail of toxic waste flows onto arable land, spills into ground water, and billows into the air, the long-term health costs of which loom menacingly in our not so distant futures. Working cooperatively as a community of learners we will explore the real costs of some of our favorite products from apples to Zippos. More importantly, we will discover the size of our own global footprints and explore strategies for educating consumers about ways to reduce our global impact. Our resources will include a textbook, selective websites, lessons in films, stories, and songs from indigenous cultures who live sustainably, and excursions to observe and interview consumers.

Feathered Serpent: Seeing the world through different eyes—Dr. Scott Richey
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The Feathered Serpent is known by many names in the cultures of the Maya and Aztecs, but in each of his legends, he suddenly departs but promises to return one day and bring great changes. In this class, we will explore the clash of cultures through the eyes of those who welcomed them into their world. This story of Cortes being sent to the island of Cozumel and Mexico to explore, but not to conquer, is known by many. The class will explore the mythology of the feathered serpent from the point of view of those who wondered if these strange bearded men were gods. With this new perspective, we’ll try to gain further understanding of issues that are current today, such as immigration, and the clashes of religion and cultures, and how this relates to our modern American culture.

The Earth: The Promise and Threat of Globalism—Professor Kathy Kapitan

Nature inspires the writer, and writer explores nature in seemingly paradoxical ways by being both deeply personal yet universal. Through creative writing, we will develop an environmental imagination exploring the connections between the individual, nature and society. Pushing beyond our own comfort zones, we will research the complex relationships between nature, culture, politics, and economics examining Native American, Russian, German, Japanese, Indian, Mexican, African and other cultural views on the natural world. The Earth needs our creativity to imagine nature in a globalized world. Can we protect endangered species, habitat, and develop a sustainable strategy for clean, safe, food, water, and air?