HU 3900-E02 INQUIRY SEMINAR: LITERATURE: STUDIES IN THE GOTHIC IMAGINATION

Ljungquist, Kent P.

CRN #: 35050

With his novel The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole initiates literary Gothicism, a tradition in English and American literature that stresses mysterious or unexplained happenings, eerie atmosphere, and strange characters. The reach of this seminar will be broad to include fiction by both British and American practitioners in the supernatural genre. Students will read recognized landmarks of Gothic horror (e.g., Bram Stoker's Dracula) alongside works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Stephen King, and Patrick McGrath. Students will explore the diverse manifestations of the Gothic-affective, symbolic, and psychological-via discussions, reports, and a series of related writing exercises and formal essays.

HU 3910-E01 PRACTICUM: DRAMA/THEATRE

Sands, Jessica T.

CRN #: 35052

This Inquiry Practicum will allow students to focus on a specific area of interest in Drama/Theatre. Typically, students collaborate on the rehearsal and staging of WPI's annual summer theatre production. The majority of the term is spent conducting laboratory work in the Little Theatre and Design Studio, with the following few weeks devoted to assembling a project portfolio that documents the results of the study. Students may enroll in this practicum for design, technology, stage management, acting, directing, dramaturgy or other production and performance areas with the approval of the professor.

HU 3900-E01 INQUIRY SEMINAR: EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY

Bullock, Steven C.

CRN #: 35049

This Inquiry Seminar in History focuses on Mason Locke Weems's Life of George Washington, the most popular early biography of America's first president and the book that introduced the story of the young Washington chopping down the cherry tree. Students will write papers on both the volume itself and on the larger Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary worlds in which it was written. They will also consider more broadly how to think, discuss, and write about the past.

HU 3910-E02 PRACTICUM IN HUA MUSIC

Delorey, John F.

HU 3900-E03 INQUIRY SEMINAR: PHILOSOPHY AND FILM

Sanbonmatsu, John

CRN #: 35051

This seminar examines the philosophy of cinema (aesthetic theory, narrativity and representation, film style and technique, etc.), as well as the use of film as a medium for expressing philosophical ideas (alienation, spiritual transcendence, ontology and consciousness, gender and sexuality, labor and class struggle, etc.). What makes a film "philosophical"? What is gained, and lost, when an artist expresses ideas in the imagistic language of film or video? Can philosophers write good film criticism? Students will be expected to watch and write critically about two films per week, in dialogue with short essays by such philosophers as Benjamin, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Sontag, etc., and such filmmakers as Eisenstein, Sayles, Lanzmann, and Brecht. At the end of the course, students will be graded on the quality of their "portfolio" of collected philosophical meditations.

HU 3900-x INQUIRY SEMINAR: Archives, Manuscripts, and Rare Books Cocola, Jim

CRN #: 11339 This inquiry seminar will focus on archival materials, enabling students to engage with manuscripts, rare books, and other holdings in the special collections department at WPI, in local archives such as the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, and in regional archives housed at various colleges and universities throughout New England. Students may also elect to explore digital collections featuring manuscripts and other materials drawn from websites affiliated with archives across the country and around the world. Readings may include relevant works of history, literature, literary criticism, and theory. Project options may include digital humanities pursuits, interpretative essays, and research reports.

HU 3900-A02 INQUIRY SEMINAR: REALITY LIT.

Dempsey, James

CRN #: 10723

This is an approach to literature that examines the relationship between documentary materials and creative literary work. We will examine how those original materialsnews stories, journals, reference works, videos, and official and unofficial documents of every kind both inspire and are transformed by the writer. The field of study is wide and the forms we may study numerous, including biography, documentary, historical fiction, science

study numerous, including biography, documentary, historical fiction, science fiction, the New Journalism, and Modernism, to name a few. Students may choose to: Investigate the documentary sources behind a work of literature (for example, Melville's use of cetology in Moby Dick, T.S. Eliot's employment of Eastern and other myths and philosophies in "The Waste Land," or Kurt Vonnegut's treatment of the fire-bombing of Dresden during World War II in his novel "Slaughterhouse Five.") Write a creative piece of work based on documentary materials. I have many ideas for such projects in the Worcester area.

HU 3900-A05 INQUIRY SEMINAR: SCIENCE FICTION AS THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

deWinter, Jennifer

CRN #: 10839

Ursula LeGuin introduces her award winning novel with a manifesto concerning science, science fiction, and the nature of philosophical inquiry, concluding thusly: "All fiction is metaphor. Science fiction is metaphor. What sets it apart from older forms of fiction seems to be its use of new metaphors, drawn from certain great dominants of our contemporary life - science, all the sciences, and technology, and the relativistic and the historical outlook, among them. Space travel is one of these metaphors; so is an alternative society, an alternative biology; the future is another. The future, in fiction, is a metaphor." She speaks of science fiction as thought experiments -- what will happen to us as human beings if such-and-such ran its full course. This inquiry seminar embraces philosophic inquiry in the form of fiction. We will work together to take the aspects of the scientific world that you know of and care about and write philosophical fiction. The end goal is to engage an audience with complex ideas about the nature of what it means to be human in a scientific age dominated by Futurists (interesting group, the Futurists) and the mythology of progress. You will leave this class with a 20-40-page publishable piece of science fiction writing that explores contemporary concerns and aspirations.

HU 3900-A04 INQUIRY SEMINAR: LITERATURE: STUDIES IN THE GOTHIC IMAGINATION

Ljungquist, Kent P.

CRN #: 10838

With his novel The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole initiates literary Gothicism, a tradition in English and American literature that stresses mysterious or unexplained happenings, eerie atmosphere, and strange characters. The reach of this seminar will be broad to include fiction by both British and American practitioners in the supernatural genre. Students will read recognized landmarks of Gothic horror (e.g., Bram Stoker's Dracula) alongside works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Stephen King, and Patrick McGrath. Students will explore the diverse manifestations of the Gothic-affective, symbolic, and psychological-via discussions, reports, and a series of related writing exercises and formal essays.

HU 3900-A06 INQUIRY SEMINAR: EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY

Bullock, Steven C.

CRN #: 10840

This Inquiry Seminar in History focuses on Mason Locke Weems's Life of George Washington, the most popular early biography of America's first president and the book that introduced the story of the young Washington chopping down the cherry tree. Students will write papers on both the volume itself and on the larger Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary worlds in which it was written. They will also consider more broadly how to think, discuss, and write about the past.

HU 3900-A07 INQUIRY SEMINAR: HISTORY OF SPORT

Hansen, Peter H.

CRN #: 10841

This Inquiry Seminar will focus on the historical and cultural studies of sport. Students will give presentations and research and write about a topic related to the history of sports. This seminar is appropriate for students with a background in any area of U.S., European, or world history.

HU 3910-A01 PRACTICUM: GAME DESIGN DOCUMENTS

O'Donnell, Dean M.

CRN #: 11168

This seminar will look at the various styles and ways of writing game design documents, both for internal use, and as "vision documents." Students will create a vision document, then break it down into team design documents.

HU 3910-A02 PRACTICUM: ANIMATION SHORT FILM

Rosenstock, Joshua

CRN #: 10843

This inquiry practicum in Visual Art/IMGD focuses on the production of short animated films. Students will write scripts, draw storyboards, build characters, animate scenes, and edit soundtracks. They will also consider more broadly topics such as visual storytelling, artistic style, character design, and physical acting. Students should have taken AR 3000 (Art of Animation), or have equivalent experience in 2d or 3d animation techniques.

HU 3910-A03 PRACTICUM: MUSICAL THEATRE (SOUTH PACIFIC)

Delorey, John F.

CRN #: 10844

Students may audition for an on-stage part, audition for a seat in the orchestra, or with permission, be part of the backstage support team (live sound reinforcement, costuming, make-up, lighting, scenic design, ushering).

HU 3900-A03 INQUIRY SEMINAR: PHILOSOPHY AND FILM

Sanbonmatsu, John

CRN #: 11169

This seminar examines the philosophy of cinema (aesthetic theory, narrativity and representation, film style and technique, etc.), as well as the use of film as a medium for expressing philosophical ideas (alienation, spiritual transcendence, ontology and consciousness, gender and sexuality, labor and class struggle, etc.). What makes a film "philosophical"? What is gained, and lost, when an artist expresses ideas in the imagistic language of film or video? Can philosophers write good film criticism? Students will be expected to watch and write critically about two films per week, in dialogue with short essays by such philosophers as Benjamin, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Sontag, etc., and such filmmakers as Eisenstein, Sayles, Lanzmann, and Brecht. At the end of the course, students will be graded on the quality of their "portfolio" of collected philosophical meditations.

HU 3900-B03 INQUIRY SEMINAR: BRITISH LITERATURE

Brattin, Joel J.

CRN #: 10726

Charles Dickens's first, best, and most popular Christmas book, A Christmas Carol (1843), had a profound effect on the culture of Victorian England, and continues to exert a strong influence on our own. Participants in this Inquiry Seminar in British Literature will study the book itself, and also its context, examining Dickens's manuscript for the book, and his adaption of the book for the Victorian stage. Students will explore the rich collection of materials in WPI's Robert D. Fellman Dickens collection, and will conduct and present original research on topics related to A Christmas Carol.

HU 3900-B04 INQUIRY SEMINAR: WRITING (PROSE STYLE)

Higgins, Lorraine D.

CRN #: 11172

Style refers to the way writers use and combine words to achieve different effects. In this seminar, students will learn about prose style by reading and analyzing a variety of non-fiction texts. We'll pay specific attention to writing at the sentence and paragraph level, considering these questions: How do sentences and paragraphs "work"? What elements of style can improve the clarity, concision, and gracefulness of our writing? How might writers employ different prose styles for different contexts and purposes? Students will produce a portfolio demonstrating their ability to write in different styles and to revise their writing at the sentence level.

HU 3900-B02 INQUIRY SEMINAR: AMERICAN LITERATURE AND SENSE OF PLACE

Ljungquist, Kent P.

CRN #: 10725

There is a respected tradition in American Literature--from Thoreau to Cather, Wharton, Frost, Steinbeck, Austin, and Faulkner-of writers who endowed their works with a strong sense of place. This seminar will explore literary works that highlight local, regional, and cosmopolitan settings. After reading brief nonfiction sections that set forth the value and importance of "sense of place" in American literary history, students will examine works by Henry James, Willa Cather, Wallace Stegner, and Wendell Berry. In a series of readings, discussions, writing exercises, and essays, students will analyze and assess Berry's provocative statement affirming the value of being a "placed person": "If you don't know where you are, you don't know who you are."

HU 3900-B06 INQUIRY SEMINAR: PLAYWRIGHTS' WORKSHOP

O'Donnell, Dean M.

CRN #: 10845

Each student will write either a 30-minute one act, or three 10 minute plays. Students will be assigned various plays to read that tackle the same problems as one of the plays in the workshop. Students will also read and critique each others' work.

HU 3910-B02 PRACTICUM: THEATRE TECHNOLOGY

Sands, Jessica T.

CRN #: 10730

This Inquiry Practicum in Theatre Technology will involve participants in the rehearsal and staging of the annual Humanities and Arts, Drama/Theatre, and Masque collaborative production. This practicum is part of the academic theatre program. The Drama/Theatre professors work together every year to stage a play chosen for its high regard from world dramatic literature. The production opens in the fourth week of the term, with the following three weeks devoted to assembling a project portfolio which documents the results of the study. Students may enroll in this practicum for design, technology, stage management, or other production areas with the approval of the professor.

HU 3910-B01 PRACTICUM: DRAMA/THEATRE PERFORMANCE

Vick, Susan

CRN #: 10728

This Inquiry Practicum in Drama/Theatre Performances will involve participants in the rehearsal and staging of the annual Humanities and Arts, Drama/Theatre, and Masque collaborative production. This practicum is part of the academic theatre program. The Drama/Theatre professors work together every year to stage a play chosen for its high regard from world dramatic literature. The production opens in the fourth week of the term, with the following three weeks devoted to assembling a project portfolio which documents the results of the study. Students may enroll in this practicum for acting, directing, dramaturgy, or other performance areas with the approval of the professor.

HU 3900-B01 INQUIRY SEMINAR: EUROPEAN HISTORY

Addison, W. A. Bland

CRN #: 10724

This Inquiry Seminar in History will focus upon economic, political, and cultural aspects of social struggle during the French Revolution. Students will prepare an analytical research paper on an appropriate topic.

HU 3900-B08 INQUIRY SEMINAR: STUDIES IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Hanlan, James P.

CRN #: 10847

This Inquiry Seminar is intended as the culminating experience in Humanities and Arts for students who have completed five courses in Humanities and Arts, including at least two courses in American History (one at the 2000-level or higher). It is also suitable for students with interests in American Studies. The class will focus on a particular theme in the American experience to be chosen by the instructor, and students will write individual papers broadly centered on that theme. Students will develop the ability to think, discuss, and write about American history and American Studies.

HU 3900-B07 INQUIRY SEMINAR: AMERICAN NATURE THROUGH TIME

Robertson, Thomas B.

CRN #: 11173

History is too often the study of political figures and legislation. In this seminar, students will use the tools of environmental history to conduct in-depth research of a particular place –@a neighborhood, city block, park, road, dam, farmhouse, or stream. You will trace this place through time, analyzing the three or four most important events in its history, and thereby shed light on much larger historical patterns and processes. You can pick any place from around the U.S., although you are encouraged to pick a place that you already know or have some intellectual or personal connection to. Writing about a part of Worcester would also work very well. It will be important to pick a place for which source materials are readily available. The seminar will begin with a common set of readings about doing environmental history, after which our time will be devoted to research skills, writing workshopping, presentations, and peer feedback sessions.

HU 3900-B09 INQUIRY SEMINAR: INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND NET.ART

Farbrook, Joseph H.

CRN #: 10848

This seminar will be a survey of the history of interactive media including many of the most recent developments in digital art. The primary focus will be on fine art and the use of computers and the Internet as an artistic canvas. Political and social ramifications of electronic media and network

delivery systems will also be explored. Students will be able to write a research paper, create their own interactive artwork, or a combination of the two.

HU 3910-B03 PRACTICUM: MUSIC PERFORMANCE

Falco, Richard G.

CRN #: 10851

Students will meet in a class setting to both discuss music performance techniques and to prepare for a performance. A portion of the class time will be spent performing and critiquing for each other. At the conclusion of the term, students will present a final recital.

HU 3910-B04 PRACTICUM: ARRANGING

Weeks, Douglas G.

CRN #: 10852

Students will use previously acquired skills to arrange works for instrumental or vocal ensembles. The works will be performed at the conclusion of the course and students will evaluate each other's arrangements.

HU 3900-B10 INQUIRY SEMINAR: RELIGION AND AMERICAN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL MOVEMENTS

Eddy, Bethel L.

CRN #: 11174

In this seminar we will learn how religion has helped to shape social thinking and politics in America. We will read a short amount of material in common to spur individual interests, and then each student will focus their research on the particular aspect they select and will pursue an independent research project focused on some aspect of that subject. Students will share their research and writing with the rest of the seminar group. Possible subject choices to examine might include both overtly political groups such as the abolitionists, the civil rights movement, pacifist movements, feminist movements, Native American resistance movements, liberation theology, environmentalism, the Social gospel movement, the Nation of Islam, or contemporary Christian Right politics. Other possibilities might include social groups that were less overtly political but still socially experimental such as various utopian religious groups, some of the made-in-America religions, the transcendentalists, etc. Students should expect to do independent research and writing on a major writing project which they have helped to define.

HU 3900-B11 INQUIRY SEMINAR: INDIVIDUALLY INITIATED TOPICS IN RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, AND RHETORIC

Smith, Ruth L.

CRN #: 11175

Students have the opportunity to initiate topics, in consultation with the professor, to develop an aspect of religion, philosophy, or rhetoric of your particular interest. A wide range of possibilities and ways of thinking can be considered, in relation to research. Topics emerge from conversation about previous courses or an issue you're invested in knowing more about. Seminar sessions involve group discussion across topics along with exploration of some shared reading. This approach emphasizes constructing questions, working with multiple views, and shaping your own critical thinking in relation to a topic of your choice.

HU 3900-C04 INQUIRY SEMINAR: METHODS OF THE HISTORY OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Samson, M. David

CRN #: 20659

Progressive (or "modern") architecture is both exciting and challenging for art historians to discuss. It involves radical new ideas of society, culture and art theory with implications far beyond architecture alone. It cannot be understood, like other architectural periods, as a "style" succeeding other "styles," but it is much more than the reduction of architecture to functional engineering. This Inquiry Seminar offers a range of research topics in this exciting field, and presents readings on engineering, art and society as they shaped the new architecture in the years just before 1900 and on into our own time.

HU 3900-x INQUIRY SEMINAR: TOPICS IN FILM AND MEDIA Cocola, Jim

CRN #: 21296 This inquiry seminar and practicum will provide students with opportunities to analyze and develop a wide range of film and media forms. Possible areas of focus in film include comedies, dramas, documentary films, film adaptations, horror films, science fiction films, silent films, thrillers, and westerns. Possible areas of focus in media include comics, digital media, photography, popular culture, radio, television, and video games. Materials for examination may include foreign films and global media instances along with critical selections from relevant areas of film, media, and visual studies. Project options may include digital humanities pursuits, interactive media enterprises, interpretative essays, game demos, and short film productions.

HU 3900-C14 INQUIRY SEMINAR: THE LITERATURE OF FACT: A DOCUMENTARY APPROACH TO POETRY AND PROSE

Dempsey, James

CRN #: 21175

This seminar/practicum will provide a forum in which students may examine the relationship between reality and literature. This may take the form of an investigation into the documentary sources behind a particular work or in the student, working from examples in the literary canon, producing a creative piece of work based on reality. (This will not include Memoir, which is treated in another seminar.) Other possible avenues of study include the New Journalism, Literary Journalism, Biography, Documentary Poetry and the use of documentary materials in Modernist and other literatures.

HU 3900-C15 INQUIRY SEMINAR: SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY

Ephraim, Michelle K.

CRN #: 21176

This Inquiry Seminar focuses on the texts and contexts of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. Students will be required to write one 20-30 page paper analyzing literary texts, English history, or cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare. Students may also choose a "creative writing" option (for example, an original adaptation or collection of sonnets) to fulfill the seminar's writing requirements. This course is for students who have taken at least one Shakespeare course or The Literature of Sin. During the draft writing process, students will read each others' work and provide verbal feedback in a "writing workshop" format.

HU 3900-C06 INQUIRY SEMINAR: MEMOIR WRITING

Higgins, Lorraine D.

CRN #: 20784

In this seminar, students will read about the art of memoir writing, discussing a variety of sample memoirs and experimenting with various styles and strategies as they write from their own experiences. Weeks 1-3 will focus on reading and discussion; the latter part of the term will be devoted to significant writing and revision. Student drafts will be "workshopped" by the group in later meetings. The final product will be polished memoir of 20-50 pages.

HU 3900-C07 INQUIRY SEMINAR: AMERICAN STUDIES: LITERARY UTOPIAS

Mott, Wesley T.

CRN #: 20785

This inquiry seminar in Literature is appropriate for students interested in American Studies (e.g., courses in history and/or philosophy/religion as well as American literature). Literary utopias pervade American literature, expressing visions of the good life and the ideal society. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance, a semi-autobiographical novel about the Brook Farm community at West Roxbury (1841-1847), provides the base for our exploration of tensions between individual and communal values, and conflicts between perfectionism and pragmatism. Students will write papers on the novel and on its social and historical contexts.

HU 3900-C16 INQUIRY SEMINAR: LITERATURE IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Nikitina, Svetlana

CRN #: 21177

This Inquiry Seminar in Literature will focus on the analysis of modern authors whose work in some ways integrates or foreshadows the use of the digital medium. Students will consider the changing relationship between the author and the reader in the interactive computer medium. They will look at hypertext fiction, experimental writings by Borges and Nabokov, Queneau and Michael Joyce as well as the most recent works of electronic literature. Narrative strategies used in computer games and in film will be critically assessed and considered. What are the limitations of the digital media in delivering a story? What are the opportunities? How could a computer enhance the most ancient craft of storytelling? How and why does it currently fall short of the standards of high print culture? The seminar takes you to the cutting edge of literature and offers opportunities both for creative work and critical analysis. For a Final Project, students could choose a) to develop a creative fictional/poetic piece that integrates a digital element; or b) write a more traditional critical essay looking at one of the existing works of experimental literature.

HU 3900-C08 INQUIRY SEMINAR: AMERICAN HISTORY

Baller, William A.

CRN #: 20786

This seminar will examine some aspect of recent American social history, perhaps race, sports, or the experience of the common soldier. Students will write a paper on a common text and a longer research paper, using primary sources, on a number of possible social history topics related to the seminar topic.

HU 3900-C01 INQUIRY SEMINAR: HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Clark, Constance A.

CRN #: 20789

This Inquiry Seminar in the History of Science and Technology will explore the roles of transportation technology in shaping the environment in which we live. We will examine in particular the roles of private and public transportation in the United States, looking especially at the influence of trains, mass transit and the automobile on American culture, on the landscape and on the built environment. We will look at landscape as part of the built environment, and as a palimpsest on which traces have been left of our history, our culture, and our values. Students will choose focused aspects of this larger issue to research, drawing on primary source materials, and will write and rewrite papers analyzing what they have found. This will be a writing-intensive course, including a "workshop" setting in which students will help each other improve their writing and revising skills.

HU 3900-C09 INQUIRY SEMINAR: EMPIRE IN HISTORY

Hansen, Peter H.

CRN #: 20787

This Inquiry Seminar will focus on empire in history with an emphasis on recent comparisons of the British and American empires. Students will give presentations and research and write about a topic related to the theme of empire in history. This seminar is appropriate for students with a background in any area of U.S., European, or world history.

HU 3900-C11 INQUIRY SEMINAR: URBAN HISTORY

Rudolph, Jennifer

CRN #: 20788

This Inquiry Seminar in urban history will explore various aspects of large cities and their changing urban space. Common readings in city formation, urban planning, and urban transitions will form a foundation for discussion and for individual research projects. While special attention will be paid to the rise of global cities in Asia, the readings and seminar will be comparative in scope. This seminar is appropriate for students with a background in history (American, European, or Asian).

HU 3900-C17 INQUIRY SEMINAR: GLOBAL EXPLORATION IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

Spanagel, David I.

CRN #:21178

This inquiry seminar in the History of Science will examine the motives and results of scientific exploration, focusing in upon some specific case studies of individual scientists whose discoveries and adventures were intended to bring about not only new scientific understandings of natural phenomena, as well as additional resources or prestige for whatever nation or organization sponsored the expedition(s). Students will write brief individual papers analyzing primary source materials; will collaborate in small groups in the composition of more substantial historical research papers; and will participate in a culminating set of research presentations. The final grade will depend heavily on engagement in all aspects of the seminar experience.

HU 3900-C13 INQUIRY SEMINAR: INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND NET.ART

Farbrook, Joseph H.

CRN #: 20790

This seminar will be a survey of the history of interactive media including many of the most recent developments in digital art. The primary focus will be on fine art and the use of computers and the Internet as an artistic canvas. Political and social ramifications of electronic media and network delivery systems will also be explored. Students will be able to write a research paper, create their own interactive artwork, or a combination of the two.

HU 3900-C01 INQUIRY SEMINAR: MUSIC TECHNOLOGY: MUSIC PERFORMANCE INTERFACES

Bianchi, Frederick

CRN #: 20656

The seminar will investigate developments in technology that can detect physical gesture and monitor the conditions of a musician during performance. This technology is particularly relevant to designing advanced interfaces for music and interactive media applications.

HU 3900-C02 INQUIRY SEMINAR: JAZZ HISTORY

Falco, Richard G.

CRN #: 20657

This Inquiry Seminar in Jazz Music History will assemble a team of students to conduct field research by visiting the homes of New England based jazz artists and their families. Data collected in the field will include oral history interviews, old photographs, recordings, print media, and radio and television shows. Materials will be processed according to specific guidelines and added to an online permanent collection at jazzhistorydatabase.com.

HU 3900-C03 INQUIRY SEMINAR: MUSIC HISTORY

Shim, Eunmi

CRN #: 20658

The seminar will examine the intersection of music, culture, and society, focusing on the issues of gender/sexuality, race, and class. It will expose students to the interconnected nature between these socio-political issues and music from historical, social, and cross-cultural perspectives. Students will choose a topic for an individual paper from a wide variety of styles of music, including Western classical music, popular music, and non-Western music, and conduct independent research on their topics.

HU 3910-C01 PRACTICUM: CONDUCTING

Delorey, John F.

CRN #: 20793

Qualified students (must be able to sight-sign or play an instrument) will be instructed in fundamentals of conducting, both instrumental and choral.

HU 3900-C18 INQUIRY SEMINAR: RELIGIOUS ENVIRONMENTALISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL SPIRITUALITY

Gottlieb, Roger S.

CRN #: 21179

The environmental crisis has provoked a dramatic transformation in world religions, leading to the greening of theology, ecological commitments by religious leaders, and real world environmental activism motivated by religious values. At the same time, seemingly secular environmentalism itself is often shaped by spiritual values: a sense of transcendence and the sacred found in nature, experiences which enlarge the sense of self-identity, and a

universal commitment to all of life rather than interest-group politics. Students will do some shared reading and then focus on one aspect of these hopeful and fascinating movements of ideas, people, politics, faith, and spirituality.

HU 3900-C19 INQUIRY SEMINAR: EXPERIENCES OF PLACES

Smith, Ruth L.

CRN #: 21180

Questions about public, domestic, utopian, or sacred places involve imagination and argument. Everyone chooses a built or natural site to research and develop for your individual project. Many claims about place are about ideas of harmony and balance, as well as political or religious conflict. Places suggest the shape of what we know and experience. With shared reading and individual research, we'll develop ways to talk about the claims and suggestions of your selected sites - markers of entrance and exit, borders made risky and safe, obligations and inventions of architecture, orienting and disorienting messages, communities and solitude, values of image and text, motion and stillness, sound and silence.

HU 3900-D04 INQUIRY SEMINAR: SEMINAR IN THE VISUAL ARTS: THE COLLECTIONS OF THE WORCESTR ART MUSEUM

Samson, M. David

CRN #: 20666

This Inquiry Seminar will have students investigate and write about works in the collections of the Worcester Art Museum. Selecting art objects on display in the Museum's galleries, students will explore visual, biographical, historical and curatorial issues as they are studied by historians of art. The media to be studied will be painting and sculpture and may also include prints, photography, furniture, and useful objects.

HU 3900-D05 INQUIRY SEMINAR: BRITISH LITERATURE

Brattin, Joel J.

CRN #: 20667

Charles Dickens's last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1869-70), was left unfinished when Dickens suddenly died of a stroke on 8 June 1870. Participants in this Inquiry Seminar in British Literature will examine the surviving portion of the novel closely not just as a mystery or literary puzzle, but as an important work of the creative imagination. Students will explore the rich collection of materials in WPI's Robert D. Fellman Dickens collection, and will conduct and present original research on topics related to The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

HU 3900-D09 INQUIRY SEMINAR: ELECTRONIC WRITING

deWinter, Jennifer

CRN #: 20796

It's no secret: Information is leaving the flimsy pages of the book for the more intangible pages of websites, twittered texts, and viral messages. This means, of course, that how information is collected, represented, and distributed is changing to fit new forms and production/consumption models. Now, we've all seen them: terrible websites that are confusing and lack clear purposes. Conversely, we've also been pleased with usable websites that invite us to use the contained information in an intuitive manner that we even consider fun. In this course, we will consider how to successful design our information and write for electronic spaces. We will look at examples wherein the author treats a webpage like a sheet of paper, typing all of the information in large chunks of text. We will also look at the extreme other end of the spectrum wherein it seems that every word is hyperlinked, inviting if not compelling the reader to leave the current page for other electronic spaces. Our goal in this course is to take your specialize knowledge and skills and design a small website that invites a popular (versus a specialized) readership to engage with your ideas. We will focus on information design, visual design, blogs and successful blog writing, and incorporating interactive components (such as visitor counters, wikis, twitter announcements, and so on). By the end of this course, you should have a website that highlights your work in a manner that is accessible to a wide audience.

HU 3900-D06 INQUIRY SEMINAR: CREATIVE WRITING: SCI-FI, HORROR, AND FANTASY

Ephraim, Michelle K.

CRN #: 21187

In this Inquiry Seminar we will study three genres of fiction writing: sci-fi, horror, and fantasy. In addition to reading examples of these genres and analyzing their use of literary conventions, students will write their own 20-30 page creative project. This seminar is for students who have taken previous courses at WPI in both literature and writing. During the draft writing process, students will read each others' work and provide verbal feedback in a "writing workshop" format.

HU 3900-D07 INQUIRY SEMINAR: AMERICAN LITERATURE: TRANSATLANTIC LITERARY ENCOUNTERS

Mott, Wesley, T.

CRN #: 20794

American writers often have called for a national literature worthy of our distinctive experience. Great literature, however, engages with many global cultures and traditions, from ancient classics to the contemporary. This seminar explores a specific kind of cross-cultural exchange: transatlantic social commentary by well-known writers. Our case studies will be Washington Irving's The Sketch-Book (mostly about England) and Charles Dickens's American Notes. Students will write papers on how each writer encountered the other's land, and on the influence of their books on both sides of the Atlantic.

HU 3910-D04 PRACTICUM: THEATRE TECHNOLOGY

Sands, Jessica T.

CRN #: 20671

This Inquiry Practicum in Theatre Technology will involve participants in the rehearsal and staging of the annual New Voices festival of original works, a collaboration of Humanities and Arts, Drama/Theatre, and Masque. In 2006, New Voices celebrated its 25th year as part of the WPI academic theatre program. The Drama/Theatre professors work together every year to stage the festival. New Voices opens in the fourth week of the term, with the following three weeks devoted to assembling a project portfolio which documents the results of the study. Students may enroll in this practicum for design, technology, stage management, or other production areas with approval of the professor.

HU 3900-D08 INQUIRY SEMINAR: LITERATURE AND SCIENCE: PYNCHON'S GRAVITY'S RAINBOW

Schachterle, Lance

CRN#: 21188

Like science and literature? Thomas Pynchon started at Cornell as an engineering major and graduated as an English major. His masterpiece, Gravity's Rainbow, is a wild, hilarious and profound meditation on human freedom and fatality, with the setting of an historical novel at the end of World War II. There's a lot of science and technology in the book too. This seminar is designed for students interested in British or American literature in the last two hundred years; we will work our way through a long novel to which students can relate virtually any previous interests or experiences in modern literature (or history, music, or film).

HU 3910-D02 PRACTICUM: DRAMA/THEATRE PERFORMANCE

Vick, Susan

CRN #: 20661

This Inquiry Practicum in Drama/Theatre Performances will involve participants in the rehearsal and staging of the annual New Voices festival of original works, a collaboration of Humanities and Arts, Drama/Theatre, and Masque. In 2006, New Voices celebrated its 25th year as part of the WPI academic theatre program. The Drama/Theatre professors work together every year to stage the festival. New Voices opens in the fourth week of the term, with the following three weeks devoted to assembling a project portfolio which documents the results of the study. Students may enroll in this practicum for acting, directing, dramaturgy, or other performance areas with the approval of the professor.

HU 3900-D01 INQUIRY SEMINAR: WORLD HISTORY

Addison, W. A. Bland

CRN #: 20663

This Inquiry Seminar in History will focus upon the historical roots of contemporary world conflicts arising from disparities in global wealth and/or hostilities over ethno-cultural differences. Students will prepare an analytical research paper on an appropriate topic.

HU 3900-D16 INQUIRY SEMINAR: AMERICA'S WARTIME LEADERSHIP

Baller, William A.

CRN #: 21189

This seminar will examine presidential leadership during some of America's most important wars. Students will write a paper on a common text and a longer research paper on one of a number of US presidents and their military and political subordinates.

HU 3900-D02 INQUIRY SEMINAR: EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY

Bullock, Steven C.

CRN #: 20664

This Inquiry Seminar in History focuses on Mason Locke Weems's Life of George Washington, the most popular early biography of America's first president and the book that introduced the story of the young Washington chopping down the cherry tree. Students will write papers on both the volume itself and on the larger Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary worlds in which it was written. They will also consider more broadly how to think, discuss, and write about the past.

HU 3900-D03 INQUIRY SEMINAR: HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Clark, Constance A.

CRN #: 20665

This Inquiry Seminar in the History of Science and Technology will focus on the history of science, technology and the media, and students will individually explore focused aspects of that history: individual projects might focus on the technical history of some part of mass media, or on representations of science and technology in the media at some period in our history. We will focus predominantly on primary source materials, with some attention to the methods of analysis historians have devoted to such material. This will be a writing-intensive course, including a "workshop" setting in which students will help each other improve their writing and revising skills.

HU 3900-D10 INQUIRY SEMINAR: STUDIES IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Hanlan, James P.

CRN #: 20797

This Inquiry Seminar is intended as the culminating experience in Humanities and Arts for students who have completed five courses in Humanities and Arts, including at least two courses in American History (one at the 2000-level or

higher). It is also suitable for students with interests in American Studies. The class will focus on a particular theme in the American experience to be chosen by the instructor, and students will write individual papers broadly centered on that theme. Students will develop the ability to think, discuss, and write about American history and American Studies.

HU 3900-D01 INQUIRY SEMINAR: THE U.S., GLOBALIZATION, AND THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Robertson, Thomas

CRN #: 20798

During the twentieth century and especially since World War II, Americans and their government have become increasingly engaged politically, economically, culturally, and militarily with the peoples and governments of the developing world. Although the term "globalization" is often used for the period after 1990, it's clear that the world has been globalizing for decades, if not centuries. In this research seminar, students will pick either a place, an American development project, a pivotal event, or a commodity through which to analyze the larger patterns of American relations with the developing world. After discussing a common set of readings on the Cold War, economic development, and cultural encounters, students will devote most of their time and energy to researching and writing their papers, and offering feedback to classmates. This seminar will be particularly good for students planning to study overseas for part of their time at WPI. (This seminar is excellent preparation for many of WPICosta Rica, Thailand, Namibia, Morocco and South Africa.)

HU 3900-D12 INQUIRY SEMINAR: ASIAN HISTORY

Rudolph, Jennifer

CRN #: 20799

This Inquiry Seminar in Asian history will focus on national identity formation in the age of nation-states. Questions to be explored include both the broad and the specific: What is modernity? What makes China a nation? Does Japan have particular national or cultural characteristics that contributed to it being the first non-Western country to industrialize and modernize? How does Korea maintain its identity in the age of globalization? Common readings will provide a foundation for individual exploration of specific research questions. This seminar is appropriate for students with a background in world or Asian history.

HU 3900-D17 INQUIRY SEMINAR: TECHNOLOGY IN THE WORLD

Spanagel, David I.

CRN #: 20126

This Inquiry Seminar in the History of Technology will examine some instance or instances from global history, focusing on a specific society/technology domain or relationship. Weekly meetings will be devoted to uncovering and understanding the varying perspectives of participants and historians about a key aspect of technology's historical impact on the world, that aspect to be chosen by consensus among the seminar participants. Students will write brief

individual papers analyzing contemporary source materials; will collaborate in

small groups in the composition of more substantial historical research articles; and will design and/or participate in a culminating historical

simulation activity. The final grade will depend heavily on engagement in all aspects of the seminar experience.

HU 3910-x PRACTICUM: ANIMATION SHORT FILM

Rosenstock, Joshua

CRN #: 20660

This inquiry practicum in Visual Art/IMGD focuses on the production of short animated films. Students will write scripts, draw storyboards, build characters, animate scenes, and edit soundtracks. They will also consider more broadly topics such as visual storytelling, artistic style, character design, and physical acting. Students should have taken AR 3000 (Art of Animation), or have equivalent experience in 2d or 3d animation techniques.

HU 3900-D13 INQUIRY SEMINAR: MUSIC TECHNOLOGY: ALGORITHMIC MUSIC COMPOSITION

Bianchi, Frederick

CRN #: 20800

The seminar will investigate various algorithmic processes used in music composition and sound design. In particular, the seminar will explore the musical relationship between sonification, automation, aesthetics, and psychology.

HU 3900-D14 INQUIRY SEMINAR: MUSIC HISTORY

Shim, Eunmi

CRN #: 20801

The seminar will examine the intersection of music, culture, and society, focusing on the issues of gender/sexuality, race, and class. It will expose students to the interconnected nature between these socio-political issues and music from historical, social, and cross-cultural perspectives. Students will choose a topic for an individual paper from a wide variety of styles of music, including Western classical music, popular music, and non-Western music, and conduct independent research on their topics.

HU 3910-D03 PRACTICUM: MUSIC PERFORMANCE

Weeks, Douglas G.

CRN #: 20662

Students will meet in a class setting to both discuss music performance techniques and to prepare for a final performance. Stylistic differences in performance for different periods of music will be studied. A portion of the class time will be spent performing and critiquing for each other. At the conclusion of the term, students will present a final recital.

HU 3900-D15 INQUIRY SEMINAR: RELIGION AND SCIENCE

Eddy, Bethel L.

CRN #: 20802

This seminar will focus on a wide variety of issues that bring religion and science together which might include (but not be limited to) issues in medical ethics or stem cell research, the moral impact of some particular technology, theological views about Darwinian evolution, the philosophical/moral implications of natural selection, historical interactions and conflicts between religion and science such as the Galileo affair or the Scopes Trial, theological approaches to the natural world, etc. We will read a short background book together, and then each student will work on an individual project within the broad subject area which will be presented to the seminar group.

HU 3900-D18 INQUIRY SEMINAR: PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE

Gottlieb, Roger S.

CRN #: 21191

The meaning of existence, the role of reason in social life, the nature of colonial or domestic violence, God's guilt for human suffering, a Christianity that would imprison Christ as a traitor to humanity, the possibility of moral commitment in an absurd world, people's confrontation with animal suffering, the death of God and hope, the struggle for social justice and the nature of tyranny--these are just a few of the high octane, (legal) mind altering themes that arise when philosophical concerns are expressed in literature. We will begin the term by reading a few examples together, and then each student will find a particular focus. Throughout we will ask what is gained or lost by putting philosophical problems in literary forms; and what emotional and moral effect those works have on us.

HU 3900-D19 INQUIRY SEMINAR: PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY

Sanbonmatsu, John

CRN #: 21192

This seminar examines the nature of technology and its social consequences for human and non-human beings. Can we distinguish between technology as an artifact, as a social practice, and as a mode of life? Are we at risk of losing control over our technologies? Does technology have a politics? What makes one technology "appropriate," another anti-democratic or dangerous? Readings will be drawn chiefly from Robert Scharff's anthology, Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition, but may be supplemented by other essays by other critics. Students will research and write on a topic of their choice, producing a final term paper.