Past Syllabi
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Spring 2006: Negotiating the Fourth Dimension: Time-Universe-University
Spring 2005: Ethics and the Academy
Spring 2004: Creativity and Academic Freedom at the University Multiplex
Spring 2003: The Locus of Our Discontent: Place in Academic Discourse
Spring 2002: Scholarship, Entrepreneurship and Corporatization of the Academy
Spring 2001: Originality, Publicity and Future of Scholarly Writing
Spring 2000: Disciplines in Disarray
Spring 2006: Negotiating the Fourth Dimension: Time-Universe-University
READINGS: The reading assignments for each seminar meeting will consist of a selection of articles or book chapters. We aim to keep the total pages per meeting at a reasonable level, though some weeks will have more reading than others.
FORMAT: We will devote the first hour of each seminar meeting to a discussion of the readings set in motion by a participant presentation. During the second hour, we will be joined by an outside guest who will facilitate the second half of our discussion.
PRESENTATIONS: The participant presentations that begin each seminar meeting should be short (no more than 3 pages) and designed to generate discussion of the readings. Each participant will do one presentation. We will pass around a sign-up sheet for the presentation dates. For the week that you present, we ask that you bring copies of your presentation for the rest of the participants.
Jan. 26: PARADOXES OF SPEED
James Glick, "The New Accelerators," “On Internet Time” and "The Paradox of Efficiency"
Mark Halperin, "The Acceleration of Tranquility"
Feb. 2: TIME TO BECOME POLITICAL (Carole Hahn)
Carole Hahn, "Becoming Political: One Woman's Story" and "Teaching Democracy"
Theodor Adorno, "Free Time"
Feb. 16: MODERNITY, SOLITUDE (Elissa Marder)
Elissa Marder, "Introduction: 'Our Contemporaries,' Baudelaire and Flaubert"
Walter Benjamin, "On the Concept of History"
Emmanuel Levinas, Time and the Other (Part I: "The Solitude of Existing," "Existing Without Existents," "Hypostasis," "Solitude and Hypostasis," and "Solitude and Materiality")
Julio Cortázar, "Continuity of the Parks"
Mar. 2: KILLING AND RESURRECTING TIME (Mikhail Epstein)
Mikhail Epstein, "Chronocide: Prologue to the Resurrection of Time"
Robinson & Godbey, "The Use of Time"
Ballard and Seibold, "Communicating and Organizing in Time"
Orliwoski and Yates, "It's About Time: Temporal Structuring Organizations"
Mar. 23: CHRONOLOGIES, EPISTEMOLOGIES (Leslie Real)
C. R. Gallistel, "The Organization of Learning" and "Time of Occurance"
George Kubler, "The Shapes of Time"
Johannes Fabian, "Taking Stock: Anthropological Discourses and the Denial of Coevalness" and "Circumventing Coevalness: Cultural Relativity"
Apr. 13: TIME AND DIFFERENCE (Martha Fineman and Lynne Huffer)
Martha Fineman, "Cracking the Foundational Myths: Independence, Autonomy, and Self-Sufficiency"
Lynne Huffer, "Maternal Pasts" and "Feminist Futures"
Robinson & Godbey, "Gender Differences and Trends: Toward an Androgynous Society"
Virginia Woolf, "Chapter 6" Orlando
Apr. 27: TIME RELOADED (Steve Everett)
Kramer, "Linearity and Nonlinearity" and "Time and Timelessness"
Begbie, "Music's Time"
Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel"
Spring 2005: Ethics and the Academy
Thursdays, 4:30PM to 6:30PM, Jan. 27, Feb. 10 & 24, Mar. 10& 24, Apr. 7 & 21.
READINGS
There will be two reading assignments for each seminar meeting. Each assignment will consist of an article or selection of articles that run roughly 30 pages or less. We aim to keep the total pages per meeting at a reasonable level (60-75 pages or less), though some weeks will have more reading than others.
We will randomly select readings from the attached list. With such a broad topic, a structured syllabus seemed too limiting. We thought it would be intellectually stimulating to begin with a list of potential readings, but make no assumptions about their organization or how they fit together. We will literally draw assignments out of the hat to select the readings for each seminar meeting. Connecting the dots will be part of the ongoing work of the Seminar.
PRESENTATIONS
We ask each participant to prepare a short written response to one of the reading assignments. These papers can be creative, informal, humorous, etc. The only requirement is that they be two pages or less. We also ask that you bring copies to distribute. We will pass around a sign-up sheet for presentation dates.
SEMINAR MEETINGS
We will discuss two reading assignments per meeting, devoting roughly 45 minutes to each. Discussion of the new assignments will be followed by 20 to 30 minutes of guided discussion during which we will attempt to integrate the new readings into our ongoing conversation.
READING LIST
Comte-Sponville, Andre. A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues (Henry Holt, 1996): “Prudence,” “Humility,” and “Tolerance”
Davis, Michael. Ethics and the University (Routledge, 1999): “Chapter 1: The ethics boom, philosophy, and the university” and “Chapter 2: Academic freedom, academic ethics, and professorial ethics”
Elliott and Stern, eds. Research Ethics: A Reader (University Press of New England, 1997): Selections.
Haraway, Donna J. Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium.FemaleMan©_Meets_OncoMouse™ Feminism and Technoscience (Routledge, 1997): selections
MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (Notre Dame Press, 1981/1984): selections
McDaniel, Charlotte. Organizational Ethics: Research and Ethical Environments (Ashgate, 2004): “Chapter 3: Ethics and Compliance: Distinguishing Features” and “Chapter 8: Leaders as Ethics Advocates”
Resnik, David B. The Ethics of Science: An Introduction (Routledge, 1998 & 2000): “Chapter 1: Science and Ethics” and Chapter 4: Standards of Ethical Conduct in Science”
Somerville, M.A. “A postmodern moral tale: the ethics of research relationships.” Nature Reviews. Drug Discovery 2002; 1(4)
De Vries, Raymond. “The Facts of Bioethics.” Society, 2001, 38, 5(253), July-Aug
Stout, Jeffrey. Democracy and Tradition ( Princeton UP, 1004): “Chapter 3: Religious Reasons in Political Argument”
Taylor, Charles. The Ethics of Authenticity (Harvard UP, 1992): Selections
Weber, Max. “Science as a Vocation”
Wilson, Edward O. Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (Vintage Books, 1998): “Chapter 11: Ethics and Religion”
Spring 2003: The Locus of our Discontent: The Role of Place in Academic Discourse
Thursday 1/23 INTRODUCTIONS/ABOUT THE SEMINAR
"Finding Space: Spatiality, Locality, and Subjectivity" by Jeff Malpas in Philosophy and Geography III: Philosophies of Place, edited Andrew Light and Jonathan M. Smith, Lanham, Boulder, New York, Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1998.
Thursday 2/6 TOPIC: MEMORY
1. "Chapter VI: Renaissance Memory: The Memory Theatre of Giulio Camillo" in The Art of Memory by Frances Yates, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966.
2. "Sites of Symbolic Density: A Relativistic Approach to Experienced Space" by Katya Mendoki in Philosophies of Place, Light and Smith, eds.
Thursday 2/20 TOPIC: ENVIRONMENT
1. "Democracy and Sense of Place Values in Environmental Policy" by Bryan Norton and Bruce Hannon in Philosophies of Place, Light and Smith, eds.
2. "Constructing Nature: Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon" in Narratives and Spaces: Technology and the Construction of American Culture by David E. Nye, New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
Thursday 3/6 TOPIC: ARCHITECTURE
1. Selections from Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck. North Point Press, April 2001.
2. Selections from Harvard Design Magazine.
Thursday 3/20 TOPIC: ECONOMY, TECHNOLOGY, GLOBALIZATION
1. "New Meaning of Place: The Place of the Poor and the Loss of Place as a Center of Mediation" by Lea Caragata in Philosophies of Place, Light and Smith, eds.
2. "Space-Shaping Technologies and the Geographical Disembedding of Place" by Philip Brey in Philosophies of Place, Light and Smith, eds.
Thursday 4/3 TOPIC: HOME
1. Bk VIII of Aeneid
2. Selections from The Most Beautiful House in the World by Witold Rybczynski.
Thursday 4/17 SUMMARY & WRAP UP
Spring 2002: Scholarship, Entrepreneurship, and the Corporitization of the Academy
Week 1: Thursday, January 24: INTRODUCTIONS
1. “Chapter 2: The Academic Economy” in Damrosch, David, We Scholars: Changing The Culture of the University, (Harvard University Press, 1995).
2. Allen, Charlotte, “Minding Their Own Business”, The Washington Post Magazine, March 22, 1998.
3. Connelly, Julie, “Going Private”, Corporate Board Member, Autumn 2001.
4. The MBA Newsletter, Vol.3, No. 5, April 1994.
Week 2: Thursday, February 7: SETTING THE THEMES
1. Rhoades, Gary, “Whose Property Is It? Negotiating with the University”, in "Selling Out? Corporations on Campus", a special issue of Academe, Vol. 87, No. 5, Sept-Oct 2001.(http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/01SO/So01toc.htm)
2. Croissant, Jennifer L., “Can This Campus Be Bought? Commercial Influence in Unfamiliar Places”, in "Selling Out? Corporations on Campus", a special issue of Academe, Vol. 87, No. 5, Sept-Oct 2001.(http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/01SO/So01toc.htm)
3. Miles, Jack, "Three differences between an academic and an intellectual: What Happens to the Liberal Arts When They Are Kicked Off Campus?", Cross Currents, Fall 1999, Vol. 49 Issue 3. (http://www.crosscurrents.org/miles.htm)
4. Rosovsky, Henry, “Chapter 13: University as Marketplace” in The University: An Owners Manual (Norton 1990).
Week #3 : Thursday, February 21: TWO VIEWS OF UNIVERSITIES AND CORPORATIONS
1. Selections from Meister, Jeanne C., Corporate universities: Lessons in building a world-class work force. (Rev. ed.). (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998).
2. Fusch, Gene E, "Review of Corporate Universities: Lessons in building a world-class work force", Educational Review, July 13, 2001. (http://coe.asu.edu/edrev/reviews/rev129.htm)
3. Selections from Giroux, Henry A., and Myrsiades, Kostas, eds. Beyond the Corporate University: Culture and Pedagogy in the New Millenium (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001).
Week #4: Thursday, March 7: CORPORATIONS, UNIVERSITIES, AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE LIFE SCIENCES
1. Powell, Walter W., Koput, Kenneth W. and Smith-Doerr, Laurel, "Interorganization Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol, 41, No. 1, March 1996.
2. Powell, Walter W. and Smith, Jason Owen, "Universities and the Market for Intellectual Property in the Life Sciences", Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 17, No. 2, Spring1998.
3. Selections from Kenney, Martin, Biotechnology: The University-Industry Complex (Yale University Press, 1986).
4. Selections from Krimsky, Sheldon, Biotechnics and Society: The Rise of Industrial Genetics (Praeger, 1991).
Week #5: Thursday, March 21: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
1. Liebeskind, Julia Porter, “Risky Business: Universities and Intellectual Property”, in "Selling Out? Corporations on Campus", a special issue of Academe, Vol. 87, No. 5, Sept-Oct 2001. (http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/01SO/So01toc.htm)
2. Emory University Intellectual Property Policy, Revised September 5, 2001. (http://www.emory.edu/PROVOST/policy_bylaws/draft_cover_newer.htm)
Week #6: Thursday, April 4: THE CHANGING NATURE OF ACADEMIC LABOR
1. Selections from Nelson, Cary, ed., Will Teach for Food: Academic Labor in Crisis (University of Minnesota Press, 1997).
2. Willett, Cynthia, "Parenting and Other Human Casualties of the Pursuit of Excellence" (forthcoming).
3. Press, Eyal and Washburn, Jennifer, "The Kept University", Atlantic Monthly, March 2000, pp. 39-54.
4. VIDEO: Wolf, Barbara, Dir., Degrees of Shame. Part-Time Faculty: Migrant Workers of the Information Economy. 30 min.,1997
Week #7: Thursday, April 18: THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE BUSINESS OF LEARNING
1. Blaser, Art, "Distance learning -- boon or bane?" in Ragged Edge ONLINE, Issue 5 September, 2001. (http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/0901/0901ft1.htm)
2. Noble, David F., "Selling Academe to the Technology Industry" The NEA Higher Education Journal (Spring 1998): 29-40.
3. "Is Anyone Making Money on Distance Education? Colleges Struggle to Figure Out How Much They Are Spending on Online Programs", Chronicle of Higher Education , Feb. 16, 2000.
4. Downes, Stephen, "Unrest in the Ivory Tower: Privatization of the University", The United States Distance Learning Association Journal, Vol.15, No.10, October 2001. (http://www.usdla.org/)
5. Downes, Stephen, "Learning Objects: Resources For Distance Education Worldwide", International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2001. (http://www.irrodl.org/current.html)
Spring 2001: Originality, Publicity and the Future of Scholarly Writing
Meeting I, Thursday, Jan. 18: Who Are You And Why Are You Here?
Introductions and discussion of the topic.
Meeting II, Thursday, Feb. 8: Academic Organization and New Media
1) Thomas Bender, “Politics, Intellect, and the American University” From Bender & Schorske eds., American Academic Culture in Transformation: Fifty Years, Four Disciplines, Princeton University Press, 1997.
2)Umberto Eco, “Afterward” From Nunberg ed., The Future of the Book, University of California Press, 1996.
3) Carla Hesse, “Books in time” From Nunberg ed., The Future of the Book, University of California Press, 1996.
Meeting III, Thursday, Feb. 22: Popular Writing Versus Academic Writing
1) Sidney Perkowitz, "Table of contents"; "The Birth and Meaning of Light"; and "Modern Light"From Sidney Perkowitz, Empire of Light: A History in Science and Art (Henry Holt, New York , 1996, hardcover; National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1998, illustrated paperback).
2) Sidney Perkowitz, "Table of contents"; "Introduction"; "Optical Theory for Semiconductor Characterization"; and Case Studies: Infrared Characterization" From Sidney Perkowitz, Optical Characterization of Semiconductors: Infrared, Raman, and Photoluminescence Spectroscopy, Academic Press, London, 1993).
3) Y. S. Yu, S. S. Prabhu, S. Perkowitz, and S. C. Kim “Polariton Modes and Materials Parameters in Li2GeO3,” Phys. Rev. B1 56, 5,046 - 5,048 (1997).
Meeting IV, Thursday, March 8: Creativity in Scholarly Writing
1) Douglas R. Hofstadter, “Variations on a Theme as the Crux of Creativity” From Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern, Basic Books, 1996.
2) Selections from Susan Blackmore, The Meme Machine, Oxford University Press, 1999
Meeting V, Thursday, March 29: Transformations of the Author
1) George P. Landow, “Reconfiguring the Author” From Landow, Hypertext 2.0 : The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology (Parallax Re-Visions of Culture and Society), Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
2) Luca Toschi, “ Hypertext and authorship” From Nunberg ed., The Future of the Book, University of California Press, 1996.
Meeting VI, Thursday, April 19: The Ethics of Scholarly Writing
1) Michael Davis, "Of Babbage and Kings: A study of a Plagiarism Complaint" FROM Davis, Ethics In the University, Oxford University Press, 2000.
2) Susan Haack, “Against Preposterism” From Hack, Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate: Unfashionable Essays, University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Meeting VII, Thursday, May 3: Libraries, Archives, and Storing Information
1) Goeffrey Nunberg, “Farewell to the information age” From Nunberg ed., The Future of the Book, University of California Press, 1996.
2) James J. O'Donnell, "Introduction: The Scholar in His Study", "Phaedrus: Hearing Socrates, Reading Plato", "From the Alexandrian Library to the Virtual Library and Beyond", "Hyperlink: The Instability of the Text", and "Hyperlink: Who Owns that Idea?" From O'Donnell, Avatars of the Word: From Papyrus to Cyberspace, Harvard University Press, 1998.
