MLS 610 CRN 13734
February 9 - April 24
ONLINE

This course will examine contemporary global issues with a focus on the post-World War II period, from the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945, to the complex, high-tech, evolving world of today. We will, as much as possible, view changes in the postwar period from the point of view of those undergoing them, including students in this course. Everyone has an “historical consciousness,” an understanding of the way the world became what it is today. The main purpose of this course is to introduce students to alternative ways of interpreting history by weighing the merits of differing points of view. We will examine the world by regions with a number of themes in mind: the Cold War; the rise and fall of communism; nationalism; de-colonization/neo-colonialism; the international economy; racial, ethnic, and religious conflict; the rise of terrorism; gender; class; and environmental issues. You should take from the course the skills to critically appraise varying historical arguments and to clearly express your own interpretations.

Jeff Jones (Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is an Associate Professor of History. His specific area of research is Russian-Soviet history and he is interested in 20th century global history. Dr. Jones recently received the UCEA (University Continuing Education Association) Excellence in Teaching Award, which is presented to individuals who have provided outstanding teaching, course development, mentoring of students, and service to continuing education.

Current Problems in the Middle East: An Historical Perspective

MLS 610 CRN 13735
January 20 - May 5
ONLINE COURSE

Many Americans are curious about the Middle East. We aren't exactly sure who "they" are or how our relationships became so troubled. This course explores the complex political and religious heritage of Judaism, Islam, the Arab Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire as the context for today's states and peoples. Focus then turns to the process of modernization in the twentieth century to discover why it created as many losers as winners, as many enemies of the West as friends. Finally, building on this background, we will revisit recent crises in the hope that each one of us can arrive at more informed opinions

Ann Saab (Ph.D. Harvard) is Professor Emeritus of History at UNCG. She has served as Associate Dean of the UNCG Graduate School and Head of the History Department. Her research interests focus on cross-cultural understanding and misunderstandings.

Creativity for all Occasions

MLS 610 CRN 13736
January 22 - April 30
Thursdays, 6:00 - 8:50 pm
Triad Center, 7900 Triad Center Drive, Greensboro

We all want and need to be creative, especially in the arts, but also in other domains of work, and in our everyday lives. There are many ways to awaken, unleash and focus creative thought and action, and in our class we will seek to do just that. Through readings, discussions, and hands-on experiments with an array of creative tools we will strengthen our abilities to see things in new ways, to overcome perceived obstacles, and to generate and harvest new and useful ideas. We will exercise and strengthen our powers of logic, imagination, and feeling, and explore the role of luck and chance in creative work. Sometimes we will work independently and sometimes we will work in groups. Above all, we will have fun as we explore this mysterious force: creativity.

Larry Lavender is a Professor of Dance at UNCG. He holds an MFA in Choreography from UC Irvine and a Ph.D. in Dance Education from New York University. Prior to coming to UNCG in 2002, Larry was Head of Dance and Director of the Interdisciplinary Undergraduate degree program at the University of New Mexico. Larry's primary areas of teaching are dance criticism, choreography, writing about art, and creativity studies.

Cultural Identities: Contemporary Non-Western Literature

MLS 610 CRN 13737
January 20 - May 5
ONLINE COURSE

Today, living as a responsible, informed citizen requires that we think globally. We sense that our own stresses and pleasures in everyday America are connected to what happens in China, India, or the Middle East. We live on a planet united by technology and trade, but too often our news of other lands comes in sound bites. It often sounds tragic and strange. Yet we know on a deeper level that today’s complex world is a web in which we all are caught, a web in which all people find reason enough to be proud, courageous, loyal, and happy.

This course takes the student across boundaries. We will read novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, poetry, and view films that show the how and why of cultures far different from our own .

Deborah Seabrook, M.F.A. (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) was educated at Cornell University and has taught English at UNCG for almost twenty years. She has published in Best American Short Stories, 1985and The Virginia Quarterly Review. A chapbook of her short stories, Margins of Error, was published by Unicorn Press in 2005.

Environmental Ethics

MLS 610 CRN 13738
January 21 - April 29
Wednesdays, 6:00 - 8:50 pm
Triad Center, 7900 Triad Center Drive, Greensboro

The seminar explores important contributions to moral philosophy that focus on the relationship between humans and the environment. We will examine the writings of major environmental ethicists, including Davidson graduate Holmes Rolston, 2003 winner of the Templeton Prize, and Greensboro native Thomas Berry, a Passionist priest and author of The Dream of the Earth and The Great Work. The course opens the door to insights on ethics and the environment from Buddhist, evangelical Christian, Jewish, Celtic, and Native American writers. We also will draw from works by poets, novelists, scientists, and theologians who take their inspiration from nature: Mary Oliver, Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry, Gary Snyder, Barry Lopez, Loren Eisley, Gregory Bateson, Carolyn Merchant, Rachel Carson, René Dubos, and Gretel Ehrlich. This course involves critical essays on the readings and encourages students to submit their own environmental writings for group feedback.

Dr. William Hamilton (Ph.D. Tulane University) is a cultural historian with a long history of environmental activism. With degrees in philosophy, theology, and history, he has taught courses in the philosophy of the environment, philosophy of religion, the history of moral philosophy, and environmental writing. Dr. Hamilton grew up exploring Western Colorado’s mountains and his mountaineering experience includes ascents in Colorado, Europe, and Latin America, where he lived for a decade as a human rights worker.

Inventing America

MLS 610 CRN 13739
January 26 - May 4
Mondays, 6:00 - 8:50 pm
Triad Center, 7900 Triad Center Drive, Greensboro

Was America created by Americans? Or to put the question another way: Was there even before the Revolution and the Constitution something different and distinctive about the men and ideas that fashioned a new kind of state in the late 18th century? In this course we will use a number of recent biographies—of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton—to revisit the world of the “founding fathers.” We will try to discover if, when, and how these British citizens stopped thinking of themselves as British and began to reconstruct themselves as “American.” And we will investigate just what “American” meant to these figures and to others as both an American nation and an American state took shape in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Students will write a series of papers about the formation of American identities in the 18th century, using the assigned biographies and others of their choosing.

Stephen Ruzicka (Ph.D. University of Chicago), is an Associate Professor of History. His interests as a classical historian focus on periods of cultural change. He is the recipient of the 2000 Alumni Teaching Excellence Award.

Voices from Latin America; Why Don't they Like Us?

MLS 610 CRN 13741
January 20 - May 5
ONLINE COURSE

This class examines the history of U.S. economic, political, and military hegemony in Latin America since the days of “Gunboat” and “Dollar” Diplomacy beginning in the late nineteenth century. To understand the recent electoral successes of populist governments in such countries as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Venezuela, we will try to determine why they were able to mobilize voters with anti-U.S./anti-globalization rhetoric. Examining the historical roots of popular resentment and resistance to U.S. interference in Latin American affairs provides us with an opportunity to take a closer look at aspects of our own national character that make it difficult for us to be admired and trusted abroad.

William Hamilton (Ph.D. Tulane University) spent a decade in Latin America, working with ecumenical human rights and education agencies as a researcher, editor, and grass-roots organizer. Previously, he taught at universities in Louisiana and Indiana before coming to UNCG in 2004.

The Dragon Awakes: Charting the Path of Modern China

MLS 610 CRN 13740
January 20 - May 5
ONLINE COURSE

Napoleon once famously admonished Europe to “let China sleep, for when she awakes she will shake the world.” In recent years the People’s Republic of China has certainly stirred, and the whole world has taken notice. However, China’s economic stirrings have been accompanied by mounting social and cultural tensions at the heart of Chinese society. In this course we will examine the political, social and cultural roots of modern China and discuss the varied nature of the nation’s future challenges. Topics will include state, society, and mass culture in the throes of reform, the global implications of China’s economic and diplomatic “Grand Strategy,” the widening urban-rural divide, and the role of the individual and individual dissent in modern Chinese society.

James A. Anderson (Ph.D. University of Washington) is an Associate Professor in the History department at UNCG. His fields of study include Late Imperial China, Modern China, Pre-modern Southeast Asia, and High Medieval Europe. He is the recipient of several awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship for the 2006-2007 academic year in Beijing and a Luce Fellowship at the Library of Congress in 2004. His new book is The Rebel Den of Nung Tri Cao: Eleventh-Century Rebellion and Response along the Sino-Vietnamese Frontier.

Dangerous Minds: Terrorism, Political Violence, and Radical Orthodoxies

MLS 620 CRN 13742
January 20- May 5
ONLINE COURSE

We live in dangerous times. Violence, mischief, and mayhem have long been characteristic criminal behaviors that represent humanity’s dark underbelly. While it may be possible to isolate certain psychological types who are susceptible to recruitment by terrorist organizations, it would be simplistic to profile individual terrorists and religious extremists without understanding the true nature of the systems that spawn them. Because we cannot separate individuals from the societies to which they belong, it is essential to understand the cultural, political, and economic conditions that encourage terrorism and violence. In response to pervasive frustrations or manifold abuses, violence can transcend the individual to become governmental policies or social movements, propelled and justified by revolutionary ideology or religious beliefs.

The course will ask hard questions not only about the perpetrators of political and religious extremism around the world, but also about the social, economic, and political structures that give rise to violent acts against perceived enemies. The dangers we face in a liberal democracy are not imagined. The lesson of 9/11 is that our enemies are real. While we may easily identify one strand of radical Islamic orthodoxy as a legitimate enemy committed to our destruction, we must also ask what, if any, real differences separate a Christian fundamentalist who terrorizes abortion clinics in Florida from a Muslim suicide bomber intent on our destruction.

More than an analysis of individual personality types, the course examines the premise that all social, political, and economic systems have their darker sides. It seeks to engage those contradictions through films, readings, and dialogue to imagine creative solutions that enhance our lives as well transform the structures that encourage terrorism.

William Hamilton (Ph.D. Tulane University) is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program. Previously he taught at universities in Louisiana and Indiana. At Tulane University he specialized in Latin American history, human rights, and church-state relations.

Livable & Sustainable Cities

MLS 620 CRN 13744
January 20 - May 5
ONLINE COURSE

This course asks students to learn a language composed of interlocking patterns that connect the people and buildings of a city with their history and natural ecology. We begin with an overview of the historical and social roots of the problem in James Kunstler’s Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-made Landscapes. Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language, the main text of the course, provides us with a catalog of 100 urban patterns with which we can analyze any city landscape and design a better one. With this new language, each student conducts a study of what works well in their neighborhood and city. After several weeks a clear picture of the problems and possibilities of each urban space will become evident. We will add to our pattern recognition by incorporating the latest thinking of the leading theorist of sustainable places, William McDonough, in Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. He shows how to effectively integrate the economic necessities of life with the surrounding environment. Finally, we conclude with a study of patterns of sustainability in Timothy Beatley’s The Ecology of Place: Planning for Environment, Economy and Community. Students choose their own patterns that enhance a community’s sustainability and apply them to a particular case study in their own community.

Charlie Headington, Ph.D. (University of Chicago) teaches a variety of courses at UNCG and in the community. Most of them encourage people to examine themselves and society, and make constructive changes in how they think and live. He likes to garden, walk, cook, be with his family, and learn Italian.

Global Perspectives in the Biological Sciences

MLS 630 CRN 13745
February 9- April 24
ONLINE COURSE

Biology happens on a global scale. It touches our lives every day and understanding biological principles and concepts is vital for all citizens of the 21st century. In this course you will be thinking and learning about some of the smallest organisms on the planet that can have enormous impact on larger organisms. Although the Germ Theory of Disease was recognized in the 19th century, and antibiotics were discovered in the 20th century, we have not been able to eliminate the scourge of infectious diseases. This course will use a potentially pandemic viral disease, Influenza, as a model for understanding basic biological principles and the global implications of the disease.

Rob Cannon (Ph.D. University of Delaware) is a Professor in the Department of Biology where he has been a faculty member since 1972. He regularly teaches general microbiology, virology, immunology, and principles of biology. For fun, he is an avid tennis and racquetball player, and an instrument-rated commercial pilot.

Ellen Shepherd Lamb, M. Ed. (Virginia Commonwealth University) has been a lecturer and Associate Director of General Biology in the Biology Department for 4 years. Her other interests include her grandchildren, reading, and cooking.

*To participate in any online course, students MUST have access to one of the following system set-ups:

MAC
Mac OS X or better
196 MB RAM
G3 processor or better
At least 56Kbps modem connection (although Broadband / fast access will be needed for many classes)
Safari or Firefox

PC
Windows XP
196 MB RAM
Pentium III or better (or at least a processor running 333 Mhz or better)
At least 56Kbps modem connection (although Broadband / fast access is preferred)
Internet Explorer 5.5 or better

Questions? Call Julee Johnson, Liberal Studies Coordinator, (336) 315-7713; or Kathleen Forbes, Director of Liberal Studies, at (336) 315-7748.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is committed to equality of educational opportunity and does not descriminate against applicants, students, or employees, based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, or disability.

Page updated: Tuesday, January 13, 2009

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