Each year when I ask faculty what they鈥檙e excited to teach, there鈥檚 a shared vibe 鈥� optimism for a new academic year and new students 鈥� in their different answers. But this year, I heard something new: urgency.
Associate Professor of History Joe Hall, for example, feels the force of current events as he launches his course on .
Hall says that following 鈥渉orrible misreadings鈥� of U.S. history by President Trump and following the violence in Charlottesville, his course 鈥渙ffers a wonderful opportunity鈥� to set the record straight.
Current events, he says, offer the chance to talk 鈥渘ot just about understanding why history matters, which is frankly true of any history course, but to talk about the origins of slavery, which are at the center of this country, and later the founding of the Confederacy and race relations that still make our lives so complicated.鈥�
Ian Shin, a lecturer in history and C3 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, is bringing a new course to the college, .
As noted in the Catalog, the course will suggest that the 鈥渃ontemporary discourse of Asian Americans as the 鈥榤odel minority鈥� obscures a long history of struggles for equality and glosses over the community鈥檚 rich diversity.鈥�
Ian Shin, a lecturer in history and C3 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, brings a new course to the college, “Making Asian America: Citizenship, Identity, Belonging.” (Jay Burns/乐播传媒 College)
鈥淭o my understanding, this is the first time this topic has been taught at 乐播传媒,鈥� Shin says. 鈥淪o there are a lot of stories that haven鈥檛 been told and a hunger among students of Asian descent to hear these stories.鈥�
Moreover, he says, the course 鈥渙ffers a new way to think about U.S. history鈥� by setting aside the usual narratives of American history, ones that often focus on transatlantic immigrants, to take a new perspective, looking at those who came 鈥渙ver the Pacific from Asia and Southeast Asia鈥� to America.
Jane Costlow, the Clark A. Griffith Professor of Environmental Studies, says she’s been “inspired by where we are right now” to shake up her environmental humanities course, ““
So while students will still read canonical writers like Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Edward Abbey, she’s been introducing new and more diverse voices, such as those in “” essays edited by cultural geographer and writer Carolyn Finney and published in Orion magazine in 2016.
Costlow says that her love of writers like Thoreau, Muir, and Abbey includes “fighting with them sometimes”; for example, dealing with Abbey’s misogyny. But then “there are his moments of insight into the world, where his orneriness is directed against things that drive me nuts, too, such as materialism and superficiality.”
“I tell students that I hope they will discover writers who resonate with them who are, at some level very different from they are.”
Assistant Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque is keen to teach his own new course, 鈥�.鈥�
Rocque says his course will go beyond the criminal justice system to look at the 鈥減hilosophy and social reasons of why we need to control and sometimes correct behavior.鈥�
A criminologist, Rocque has correctional-system experience, including a stint as director of research for the Maine Department of Corrections. 鈥淚 plan to use some of my connections, on both the inmate and staff sides, to show students an inside perspective on that whole world.鈥�
Professor of Sociology Francesco Duina is the author of the forthcoming book, Broke and Patriotic: Why Poor Americans Love Their Country. (H. Jay Burns/乐播传媒 College)
Rocque’s colleague Professor of Sociology Francesco Duina, author of the forthcoming book (Stanford University Press), says it鈥檚 a great time to teach his course on . 鈥淰ery timely,鈥� he says. 鈥淕iven the current political climate, I think students will feel interested in topics such as national identity and populism.鈥�
Rebecca Corrie, the Phillips Professor of Art and Visual Culture, is excited to teach her long-running First-Year Seminar 鈥�.鈥�
The course looks beyond the familiar public face of museums to the complex world of collecting: 鈥渢he art market, art law, and their sinister underside, art crime.鈥�
Rebecca Corrie, the Phillips Professor of Art and Visual Culture, teaches the First-Year Seminar “Fakers, Forgers, Looters, Thieves.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
It鈥檚 a 鈥渢opic that keeps on giving,鈥� she says, referencing two recent news stories, one about the on the suspicion that it was looted from Italy in the 1970s and the other about an of 13 priceless pieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Like all 乐播传媒 geologists, Professor of Geology Mike Retelle is happiest when he鈥檚 out in the field, which is why he鈥檚 jazzed to teach his course on .
鈥淚t鈥檚 an intensive field laboratory course that gets students working like geologists,鈥� he says. The class will visit what Retelle calls his 鈥渃lassic sites in Maine,鈥� on the coast, rivers, and lakes. 鈥淭hey get a chance to get their hands dirty, literally.鈥�
Assistant Professor of Physics Aleks Diamond-Stanic looks forward to his newly created First-Year Seminar on .
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing readings on stereotype threat, on , and how to be successful in sciences, and we鈥檒l have discussions to help students contextualize various current events.鈥�
Marcus Bruce 鈥�77, the Benjamin E. Mays Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, took a broader perspective than his colleagues.
He鈥檚 teaching courses on from 1550 to 1840 and , plus a for majors in religious studies.
Professor Emeritus of Sociology Sawyer Sylvester talks with Professor of Religious Studies Marcus Bruce 鈥�77 after Convocation on Sept. 5, 2017. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
For Bruce, excitement comes from 鈥渢eaching a new group of students. It鈥檚 always interesting to see what they bring to the classroom.鈥�
As he engages his students in dialogue, 鈥渟omething happens in that moment when you exchange ideas,鈥� Bruce says. 鈥淵ou tell them a little bit about America鈥檚 religious history, and they bring their insights and perspectives. And that keeps it fresh.鈥�
