Courses

EDUC 117 - First-year Seminar: Diversity in Education (1.0)
Hong
This course will introduce students to the complex, multifaceted issues shaping diversity in educational settings. Students will examine various multicultural frameworks that shape and inform how educational institutions address diversity. We will discuss diversity across multiple perspectives—race, class, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, and disability—promoting broad and expansive conceptions of diversity. We will also analyze diversity as it relates to the distinct dimensions of individual experiences, interpersonal interactions, and social determinants. This analysis will explore the interdisciplinary nature of studying diversity. Student learning will be facilitated through the incorporation of a digital storytelling project, reinforcing the use of digital media as a tool for effective learning, teaching, and communication. Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: None. Open to first-year students only. Permission of instructor required. Distribution: SBA

ENG 150 - First-Year Seminar: Reading Poetry in a Culture that Doesn't Know How to Read Poetry (1.0)
Frank Bidart
Why read poetry?  The best answer is to look at poems that matter--matter not in some vague thematic way, but as something made on the page, words cut into lines on the page, words that move, engage, words that work because they are art, this art made out of words. So we will begin with poems that compel attention, from Louise Glück to Shakespeare.  We'll look at how they are put together, the ways they work or don't work.  Why is one poem that forces us into seeing something that is complicated and seems real, better than another that is "sentimental"? The question from the beginning will be why art, this art.  Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: Open to first-years only.

ES 103 - FYS: Environment and Society:  Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability (1.0)
Turner
Where does our food come from?  Is the way we grow, distribute, and consume it sustainable?  What is the difference between organic and conventional agriculture?  Are technologies, such as genetic modification, ethically defensible?  How does our assessment change if we consider agriculture in a developing country in Africa?  To answer these questions, students will take an interdisciplinary approach to environmental studies that draws on economics, politics, history, ethics, and the sciences.  Students will actively investigate these questions through activities such as hands-on research on a long-term agricultural research plot on campus, fieldtrips to investigate practices at nearby farms, and policy-relevant debates in class. This course fulfills the 100-level interdisciplinary course requirement for the Environmental Studies major.

Prerequisite: None

EXTD 111 - FYS: Product Creation for All (1.0)
Amy Banzaert
This hands-on first-year seminar will explore how products are created, including an exploration of ideation and brainstorming, reverse engineering, and the product development process. An emphasis will be placed on the role of human factors engineering, including usability successes and failures of specific products. Students will learn about these topics through two approaches: 1) disassembly and study of existing products and 2) creation of simple product prototypes for specific, local non-profit organizations serving populations such as those with developmental or physical limitations. By the end of the semester, students will be able to comprehend and independently apply both the product development process and specific human factors engineering approaches used in the design of many everyday objects; they will also have developed their own creativity and better understand how to further develop and apply that skill.  Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: fulfillment of the basic skills component of the Quantitative Reasoning requirement

HIST 115 - First-year Seminar: Routes of Exile-Jews and Muslims (1.0)
Malino
This course will examine exile—both internal and geographic—through contemporary memoirs, let­ters, novels and films. Our primary focus will be on Jews and Muslims living in North Africa and the Middle East. Questions to be asked include: How was community defined? What provided the author with a sense of belonging? What prompts his/her exile? Is the homeland portable? If so, how, and on what terms? Each week we shall explore a different expression of exile. Discussion will include comparisons and contrasts with previous readings. Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: None. Open only to first-year students. Distribution: HS

ITAS 104 - First-year Seminar: The Cities of Italy: An Introduction to Italian Culture (1.0)
Parussa
This seminar is dedicated to the representation of Italian cities in Italian literature, art, and cinema from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. By presenting cities as spatial narratives, we will introduce students to some of the most important moments in Italian history and will invite them to examine the representation of urban landscape as a privileged vantage point to understand Italian culture. The seminar is designed to introduce students to the field of Italian Studies and to provide them with a solid background in Italian history and culture.  Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: None. Open to first-year students only.  Distribution: LL

MATH 223 - Number Theory (1.0)
Trenk
Number theory is the study of the most basic mathematical objects: the natural numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). It begins by investigating simple patterns: for instance, which numbers can be written as sums of two squares? Do the primes go on forever? How can we be sure? The patterns and structures that emerge from studying the properties of numbers are so elegant, complex, and important that number theory has been called "the Queen of Mathematics". Once studied only for its intrinsic beauty, number theory has practical applications in cryptography and computer science. Topics include the Euclidean algorithm, modular arithmetic, Fermat's and Euler's Theorems, public-key cryptography, quadratic reciprocity. MATH 223 has a focus on learning to understand and write mathematical proofs; it can serve as valuable preparation for MATH 305.

Prerequisite: MATH 116, MATH 120 or the equivalent; or CS 230 together with permission of the instructor. The fall section of MATH 223 is a First-Year Seminar, reserved for first-year students. Distribution: MM

PHIL 110 - First-year Seminar: Mortality and Immortality (1.0)
Corinne A. Gartner
This course will examine some fundamental philosophical questions that arise when one reflects upon the fact that all of us will die. After comparing differing conceptions of death and differing views about whether we continue to exist after we die, we will consider whether death is bad for the person who dies. We intuitively think that our deaths are bad for us, but, as Lucretius famously points out, most of us do not lament that we were not born sooner.  Is it problematic that we tend to hold inconsistent attitudes towards prenatal versus postmortem nonexistence? Is immortality desirable or valuable?  How might our thinking about these issues surrounding mortality and immortality inform our thinking about the value of human existence and what makes a life worth living? Mandatory credit/noncredit.

Prerequisite: None Distribution: REP

Registration in this section is restricted to students selected for the Wellesley Plus Program.

PHYS 118 - First-year Seminar: Physics of Music and Musical Acoustics (1.0)
Ducas, Music Faculty
The connection between music and physics is both deep and wide. It extends from the mathematics underlying scales and musical structure to the physical basis of instrument design, our perception of sound, concert hall acoustics, and the digital production of music. This first-year seminar will provide opportunities for students to explore these connections in a variety of ways. In addition to seminar discussions there will be laboratory sessions with acoustic measurements and characterization of musical instruments, demonstrations and performances by the music faculty and staff, projects involving the construction of musical instruments, and a field trip to the Fisk Organ Company to learn how Wellesley College's own Opus 72 Fisk organ was designed and built.

Prerequisite: Open to first-year students only. Fulfillment of the basic skills component of the Quantitative Reasoning requirement.  Distribution: NPS; MM

POL 103 - First-year Seminar: Mexico-Revolution, Democracy and Drugs (1.0)
Wasserspring
Mexico is a country of remarkable contradictions.  Unleashing one of the great revolutions of the twentieth century in 1910, the revolutionaries and their heirs then ruled Mexico for 71 years.  Developing a genuine multi-party political system only since 2000, Mexico's democracy now faces an array of daunting challenges, including the increasing power of drug cartels whose tactics of violence and intimidation threaten the entire nation.  Our seminar will aim to make sense out of the fascinating puzzle that is Mexico.  We will focus on its 20th century Revolution, its distinctive political system (including the return to power of the PRI in 2013), and its current social, economic and political challenges.  We will examine its complex relationship with the United States, emphasizing the dual issues of immigration and drugs.

Prerequisite: None. Open to first-year students only. Distribution: SBA

POL 109 - First Year Seminar: Democracy in America (1.0)
Thomas Burke
The premise of this course is that Alexis de Tocqueville’s 19th Century masterpiece, Democracy in America, remains a useful starting point for understanding democracy, America, and politics across nations in the 21st Century.  Students in the course will read excerpts from Democracy in America alongside contemporary works in social science that take up some of the themes and concepts Tocqueville developed in his book.   These themes and concepts will provide the fuel for class discussions and debates, and for student research that probes the contemporary relevance of the questions about democracy and America that Tocqueville raised so provocatively two centuries ago.  Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: None. Open to first-year students only.

POL 110 - First-year Seminar: News and Politics: Reading Between the Lines (1.0)
Just
Today the lines have blurred between straight and opinionated news, hard and soft news, and professional journalists and everyone else. New media formats, such as blogs and "The Daily Show" and new media platforms, such as YouTube and Twitter, expand news choices. Which sources should citizens trust? In this course students will evaluate evidence, arguments, and quality of news content in this rapidly changing environment. To appreciate the challenges of news, students will engage in different kinds of political news writing, including news stories, interviews, commentary, and investigation.  Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: None. Open to first-year students only. Distribution: SBA

SOC 114 - FYS: So, You Want to Be a Doctor? (1.0)
Jonathan B. Imber
This course is not intended to persuade you to, or dissuade you from, choosing a career in medicine.  It will introduce you to medical sociology, focusing on who becomes a doctor, the doctor’s socialization in medical school, and the life of medical practice in a changing health care system.  It will also consider whether a life in medicine is a spiritual vocation and the implications that such a “calling” has for the relationship between doctor and patient. Attention will be given to thinking and writing about the meaning of work in other than financially remunerative ways.

Prerequisite: None Mandatory credit/noncredit

SOC 137 - First-Year Seminar: Reading Sociology: Using Literature as a Sociological Window (1.0)
Levitt
What can we learn about class, race, and gender by reading fiction? What difference does it make when we engage with these ideas by reading about them as opposed to seeing them on the silver screen? This course treats different types of fiction writing as sociological texts. We will use novels and short stories as opportunities to learn about sociological concepts. Works will be chosen to highlight a range of sociological questions and to provide students with a broad introduction to the discipline. Writing assignments will include book reviews, author interviews, and an original short story. A third class session each week will be devoted to the technical aspects of research and analysis including additional research and computing support from the Writing and Quantitative Reasoning Program faculties and Clapp Library staff. The course will provide extra academic support to students who desire intensive preparation for the demands of college level study. Mandatory credit/noncredit.

Prerequisite: None Distribution: SBA

Registration in this section is restricted to students selected for the Wellesley Plus Program.

SPAN 110 - FYS:  Spanish for Heritage Speakers. (1.0)
Veronica Darer
This course is for students who have learned Spanish through an immersion experience abroad or at home.  Participants in the course will have the opportunity to improve their written and oral Spanish language through the examination of cultural assumptions and values.  Content is based on a variety of topics such as legends, differing historical perspectives, religious traditions, family values, and others.  The review of language structures and grammar will emerge from students’ language levels, needs, and interests.  Participants will read novels, short stories, plays, essays, and articles. They will listen to music and examine videos illustrating experiences of Spanish language learners in the United States and abroad.  By the end of the semester, students will gain an understanding of how their culture influences their language learning and how their language learning affects their perspective of Latino/Spanish culture.

WGST 100 – FYS:  The Body:  From Reproduction to Fashion (1.0)

This course explores the ways in which the body, as a reflection and construction of the self, is tied to social and political relations. The body is also a surface upon which we inscribe cultural norms. Through this examination of the role that our bodies play in daily life we will delve into the study of gender, sexuality and power. We focus on three major areas: (1) the medicalization of bodies (such as contraception and abortion), (2) the discipline of bodies (cosmetic surgery, fitness) and (3) the use of the body as a vehicle for performance, self-expression and identity (drag queens, fashion, sports). Throughout the course we will look at how ideas about bodies are transported across national borders and social, sexual and class hierarchies. Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: none

Spring 2014 Courses

ASTR 103 - The Story of Mars: The Red Planet in the Scientific and Literary Imagination (FYS) (1.0)
Wesley Andres Watters
Students will learn about Mars through the history of the science that mapped its surface and revealed its remote watery past.  We'll consider the early debate about a doomed Martian civilization, and the state of knowledge about Mars at the dawn of the space age.  Then we'll examine the picture of the red planet that emerged through the golden era of space exploration (1960s-1970s), through to the recent findings by rovers Opportunity, Spirit, and Curiosity.  In parallel, we'll read and discuss popular notions of Mars in science fiction literature, from the fantasy stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs to the hard science fiction of Kim Stanley-Robinson.  Students will learn about how science works from exploring how the modern portrait of Mars was pieced together. Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: None Distribution: NPS

CHEM 106 - Think like a Scientist, Act like an Artist: How to Appreciate and Communicate Science (1.0)
Didem Vardar Ulu
Even though curiosity, creativity, and the desire to benefit the society lie at the heart of scientific research, scientists are rarely recognized as “creative” people, who can connect to their communities.  That characterization is typically reserved for the “artists”.   The goal for this course will be to create an opportunity for any first year student to experience how a scientist approaches real world problems using the scientific process and effectively communicate their understanding to general public through the power of artistic representation.    The students will compare and contrast the scientists and artists approach problems and discuss effective strategies scientists can borrow from artists to better communicate their data driven understanding of the world around them to the general public while show casing their inherent creativity. Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: none Distribution: NPS

EDUC 110 - First-year Seminar: Play, Literacy, and Democracy (1.0)
Beatty
Play and literacy are central to academic achievement, socialization, and citizenship. With mandated testing of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and proposals for national education standards, longstanding tensions between play and early literacy have intensified. We will examine the origins of and modern trade-offs between play and literacy, paying attention to the influence of social class, race, and gender on the construction of changing societal norms for young children. What is driving panics about the disappearance of play? Has Kindergarten become the new First Grade? Are there conflicts in parents', teachers', and experts' expectations about what children should do in preschool and the early grades? What roles have play and early literacy played in how American children are taught and learn to participate in a democratic society? Includes some field observations.  Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: None. Open to first-year students only.  Distribution: SBA

ENG 103 - First-year Seminar: Reading/Writing Short Fiction (1.0)
Sides
A very popular contemporary form of the short story is the short short story (includes flash fiction and microfiction). Our work together will move back and forth between reading examples of this form of short short fiction from around the world and writing our own short short fiction. Reading in a writerly fashion means reading for craft: How does an author shape a scene? What can you do and not do with a first-person narrator? What are the different expectations a reader has of realistic fiction as opposed to historical fiction or science fiction? Writing with a rich fund of this kind of craft knowledge will help us advance quickly as we draft and revise our own stories. Overview of current print and online opportunities for publishing short fiction.  Mandatory credit/noncredit

Prerequisite: Open to first-year students only  Distribution: LL