Seminars

• Dr. Gary Kroll
• MWF 1 – 1:50, in person 
• 3 Credits

This seminar is for first-year students.

Thomas Jefferson was obsessed with securing the skeleton of the largest elk in America. What did that have to do with American exceptionalism during the early federal era?

Why did white southerners prohibit dog ownership among newly freed African Americans during Reconstruction?

Why did PT Barnum’s famous elephant, Jumbo, take a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 and what does that tell us about the Second Industrial Revolution?

Why did classical geneticists turn to fruit flies to do their research, and what does that have to do with the history of eugenics and the conservation movement?

American history is full of encounters between human and non-human animals. These stories are far from trivial. Rather, they brilliantly highlight important themes in American history. By examining and researching sources from the time period, this class will be sweeping through the standard run of U.S. history, but through the eyes of the animal. 

 

THIS SEMINAR WILL SATISFY THE U.S. CIVILIZATIONS/U.S. IDENTITIES COMPONENT OF THE PLATTSBURGH GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

• Dr. Richard Robbins
• Thursday 9:30 – 10:45 in person, otherwise online
• 3 credits

“Alternative facts,” “fake news,” “lies,” “conspiracy theories,” represent some of current lexicon of political debate in the U.S. We all seem to live in alternative universes. A 2007 Harris Poll indicated that more Americans believe in a literal hell and the devil than Darwin’s theory of evolution. This issue is central to anthropology that traditionally has had to confront and understand the beliefs of other societies. The central question that we will explore is how can so many peoples believe in different things and all be certain that their view of reality is true?  

THIS SEMINAR WILL SATISFY THE SOCIAL SCIENCES/HUMAN COMMUNITIES COMPONENT OF THE PLATTSBURGH GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

THIS CLASS WILL MEET IN PERSON ON THURSDAYS; ASYNCHRONOUS WORK OTHERWISE. 

• Dr. Breea Willingham
• TR 2 – 3:15, in person 
• 3 credits

Contrary to popular belief, some people are incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. More than 2,400 people nationwide have been exonerated since 1989 — a total of 21,292 years lost — and an unknown number of people remain incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. New York state, with 275 people exonerated and 2,673 years lost since 1989, is the second state with the most exonerations. Texas is the first, with 360 exonerations and 2,034 years lost.

Why are there so many wrongfully imprisoned people in “the land of the free?” This seminar will critically examine each cause of wrongful convictions — eyewitness misidentification, informants, false confessions, forensic science, police and prosecution bias, and ineffective defense counsel — to understand how and why the criminal justice system perpetuates wrongful convictions. One of the goals of this course is to identify and propose solutions for the wrongful convictions of innocent people. This course will also cover race, gender, and wrongful convictions, the media’s impact on wrongful convictions, wrongfully convicted juveniles and the psychological trauma experienced by exonerated people. 

THIS SEMINAR WILL SATISFY THE SOCIAL SCIENCES/HUMAN COMMUNITIES COMPONENT OF THE PLATTSBURGH GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

• Dr. Mark Beatham
• M  3:30 – 6:00, in person
• 3 Credits

“It is through geometry that one purifies the eye of the soul” — Plato

This course attends to fundamental forms (patterns and relationships) in nature and art (painting, sculpture, music, architecture, design, and other human and non-human structures). From ancient earthen structures, Greek forms in politics, art, and rhetoric, da Vinci’s deep studies, Bach’s Baroque architecture, Impressionism, Romanticism, Art Nouveau, and modern and postmodern reconsiderations in Cubism, Absurdism, Mark Tansey, Andy Goldsworthy, the Blues and Tango, we’ll reach across time to consider space and how humans and others have organized themselves around nature’s fundamental patterns, real or imagined. While this is a seminar, our classroom will extend to the campus, community, and Rugar Woods, as Aristotle would have done, and we will go wherever the music leads us.  This is a hands-on, ears-on, eyes-on class, as you too will work with forms and patterns of your own. While mostly Western in its orientation, the course will also loop in Eastern, Middle Eastern and Latin American attentions to deep forms.

THIS SEMINAR WILL SATISFY THE ART/INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION COMPONENT OF THE PLATTSBURGH GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

• Dr. Anthony D'Angelo
• MW 2 – 3:15, in person 
• 3 credits

The popular conception of yoga may include people who manage to get their bodies into strange or unusual positions or postures, it may generate thoughts of exotic places, or, yet again, it may be associated with poorly understood practices of meditation. As with most popular conceptions there is some truth, but also much that is false in these ideas. This seminar provides students with an opportunity to explore and experience yoga under the guidance of a life-long practitioner of yoga.

To understand yoga entails a familiarity with the cultural, religious and historical contexts in which it arose. Students will be introduced to major themes of Indian civilization, especially as these are manifested in the beliefs of Hinduism. The seminar will be based on the concept of the  “Yoga of Synthesis” which is the integration of the four main paths of traditional yoga:

• Jnana Yoga — the path of knowledge, wisdom and discrimination
• Bhakti Yoga — the path of transforming emotions into devotion and love
• Karma Yoga — the path of selfless service to humanity
• Raja Yoga—the science of control of mind and body

These paths will be the basis to inquire into the most fundamental questions of human existence: Who am I? Why am I here? How can I achieve health and peace of mind? 

The philosophy of yoga introduces students to new perspectives on our perceptions of reality, values and the role of the ego or self in daily life. The practice of yoga provides concrete tools for bridging the discord between the mind and body. It strives for integration and new levels of physical mastery, body awareness and mental control. The objective of the seminar is to expose students to all levels of the yoga experience through readings, discussion, yoga exercise and meditation practice. Student evaluation will focus on written papers, class presentations and participation in seminar discussions.

THIS SEMINAR WILL SATISFY THE WORLD SYSTEMS/WORLD CULTURES COMPONENT OF THE PLATTSBURGH GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

• Dr. Jean Ann Hunt
• W 3:30 – 6:15, in person
• 3 credits

“What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children.” This statement made by John Dewey epitomizes the spirit of a democratic community. Our course is designed to explore the connection between democracy and education. Throughout this semester, we will explore two broad questions:

What is democratic education? and Why is it important?

Although all of us have experienced classroom life, we rarely take the time to examine the role of schools in a democratic society. What did we learn about what it means to be a good citizen through our schooling? What impact do state approved standards have on the classroom? How does classroom management impact how we view one another? Should schools implement rewards and punishments? Should censorship have a role in what children and young adults read?

Exploration of the above questions will be undertaken by drawing upon a variety of sources, including theory, narrative, and film. Since our classroom is collaborative in nature, we are all responsible for contributing to the learning and teaching that takes place. From time to time we may divide reading assignments and be responsible for teaching them to each other. Our work in this class is intense and rigorous but provides you the opportunity to delve into the fundamental purposes of education, a deconstruction of your own schooling, engagement with banned books, and the kind of classrooms and schools you want in your communities and why.

This exploration is meant not to answer questions, but to question the answers.

THIS SEMINAR WILL SATISFY THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION/WORLD CULTURES COMPONENT OF THE PLATTSBURGH GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

• Dr. Monica Ciobanu
• TR 2 – 3:15, in person 
• 3 credits

This seminar is for first-year students only. 

This seminar examines the relationship between the international criminal justice system and women’s rights and will cover the following topics: 1) a cross-cultural perspective of women as offenders; 2) the intersection between women's victimization, human rights abuses, and the international criminal justice system; 3) an international comparative perspective of women in the criminal justice system professions.

 The following topics will be discussed throughout the semester: 

• Women, development, globalization, and human rights.
• International law, human rights and women and criminal justice.
• The Internal Bill of Women’s Rights and the role of the United Nations in promoting women’s rights.
• Violence against women in peacetime and conflict and post-conflict areas.
• Transitional justice and women (truth commissions, the International Criminal Court).
• Prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
• Culturally rooted forms of violence against women (female genital mutilation, female infanticide, honor killings, acid attacks).
• A comparison of women and offenses in Western and developing countries.
• Women and transnational crimes (drug trafficking, terrorism).
• Women and incarceration in cross-cultural perspective.
• Women as justice professionals in both Western and developing countries.

While the main task of the seminar will be reading and discussing these issues, students will have the opportunity to explore a contemporary human rights issue in the form of a research paper.

THIS SEMINAR WILL SATISFY THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION/WORLD CULTURES COMPONENT OF THE PLATTSBURGH GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

• Dr. Erin Mitchell
• MWF 11 – 11:50, in person
• 3 credits

Humans have engaged with each other during trade, war, hybridity, conquest, intermarriage, colonialism, slavery, and the growth of cosmopolitan cities, which have enabled violent and/or peaceable cross-cultural encounters throughout human history. Cross-cultural encounters, as expressed in literature and film, help us understand and feel the characters’ hospitable and/or phobic responses to hybridity and otherness.

This course will explore literature such as: Homer’s “Odyssey”; Chinua Achebe’s novel, “Things Fall Apart”; the autobiography, “Black Elk Speaks”; a chapter from Kwame Appiah’s memoir, “In My Father’s House”; Zadie Smith’s novel, “White Teeth”; Jamaica Kincaid’s novel, “Lucy”; Joseph Conrad’s novel, “Heart of Darkness”; and/or Salman Rushdie’s novel, “Satanic Verses”, for instance. Films representing cross-culture encounters could include: “Aguirre, Wrath of God”; “Black Robe”; “The Visitor”.  Students could also explore the cross-cultural tension within families in films such as “Bend It Like Beckham” and “Mississippi Masala”, which show parents’ hoping to conserve their cultural traditions, while their children become culturally hybrid.

Students will discuss assigned readings and films, keep a reading and writing journal, write a short analytic paper specifically about each novel, memoir or film, in terms of cross-culture encounters. Each student will also write on a cross-cultural text or film by expanding one of the short papers into a longer analytical paper.

THIS SEMINAR WILL SATISFY THE GLOBAL ISSUES COMPONENT OF THE PLATTSBURGH GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

• Dr. Tracie Guzzio
• 1–3 credits

Only sophomores and above may register for this course with permission of Dr. Guzzio, the Honors Program director. 

Peer mentors will be tasked with helping incoming honors program students transitioning into college, their majors and their courses. Mentors will be required to attend a training session, complete a few readings and meet regularly with their mentees. Credit amounts given will be based on the number of mentees each participating student agrees to mentor.

Please contact Dr. Guzzio at [email protected] if you are interested in being a peer mentor. There is additional paperwork that will need to be filled out.