Dynamics of Chaos with Professor of Mathematics and FYE Director Rachel Roe-Dale 

Professor Rachel Roe-Dale, who is part of the Mathematics and Statistics Department and directs Skidmore’s First-Year Experience, teaches Dynamics of Chaos. The seminar explores the mathematical concept of chaos theory.  

Part of what is so engaging for professors about the Scribner Seminar is what their first-year students bring to it, and Professor Roe-Dale said that she learns something new every year.

She especially looks forward to discussing Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder,” which delves into the butterfly effect — a concept that goes hand in hand with chaos theory. While she did not originally teach this short story when she developed the class, a student used it as a part of a final project. Professor Roe-Dale loved it so much that she decided to incorporate it into the class in future years.  

She came up with the idea for the seminar after reading James Gleick’s book “Chaos: Making a New Science,” which describes chaos theory as a shift in scientific perspective. According to Professor Roe-Dale, this shift has become extremely significant for our understanding — not just of mathematics but the world. The theory has made its way into pop culture, even showing up in Michael Chrichton’s “Jurassic Park” and on an episode of “The Simpsons.” 

Interdisciplinary learning is at the heart of Scribner Seminars. “One area that Skidmore does such a wonderful job at is blending the arts and sciences,” she said. The seminar gives students the confidence to connect their different interests and different disciplines, she added. 

Students also read Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia,” a play that is similarly concerned with tenets of chaos theory. It serves as an opportunity to collaborate with other departments, including the Theater Department. 

"It’s the hardest class I’ve taught at Skidmore, but it’s also the most fulfilling."

Rachel Roe-Dale, PROGRAM DIRECTOR FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE AND PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS

Can Literature Save the Environment? with Associate Professor of English Michael Marx 

Associate Professor of English Michael Marx is responsible for the creation of several environmentally focused courses in the English Department. His Scribner Seminar, Can Literature Save the Environment?, is a combination of literary studies and environmental studies. It’s an exploration of the role literature and writing can play in changing societal perspectives and ultimately promoting social action.  

Professor Marx said the course also helps to dispel the myth that studying literature is somehow irrelevant in today’s world and shows its enduring power. In the seminar, books like “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson highlight that potential.

“Not only is it a beautifully written book that brings in some nice interdisciplinary thinking, but it was really the launching point of the environmental movement and environmental thinking," he said. "We saw the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency because of a book.” 

One year, he brought in a Skidmore student who had taken a temporary leave to protest tree removals out West. “That was really a very powerful moment that moved the topics that we were looking at from being simply hypothetical to suddenly being very real,” Professor Marx said. “It got them thinking: ‘Oh wait a second, could I walk in her shoes?’” 

Professor Marx said nothing quite compares to the impact of the Scribner Seminar.  

The course is one that I would say is exceptionally relevant and becoming even more relevant every time I teach it.

Michael Marx, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of English and DIRECTOR of EXPOSITORY WRITING

Ideal Worlds with Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Mao Chen

Professor Mao Chen is a member of Skidmore’s Department of World Languages and Literature and teaches Chinese language and literature. According to Professor Chen, first-year students (and young people in general) are often looking for their own ideal: What makes an ideal student? What makes an ideal friend? What makes an ideal person? That's what Professor Chen’s seminar is all about.  

 “My doctorate is in comparative literature, so I am a comparatist and literature scholar, and what really fascinated me is that no matter what background you come from, we humans always think about this concept of the ideal,” she said.  

Professor Chen and her students explore the political ideal, the cultural ideal, the economic ideal, and the scientific ideal across time and geography. 

Different cultural groups and different historical moments have different dominant ideas about what is ideal. And as we get into these very deep conversations, we tend to have a very profound shift in our ways of thinking about the concept.

Mao Chen, PROFESSOR OF CHINESE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE AND THE COURTNEY AND STEVEN ROSS CHAIR IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

Readings in the seminar include Plato’s “Republic,” the writings of Confucius, Thomas Moore’s “Utopia,” and Henry James’ “The Europeans.” Students also watch the science fiction film “Gattaca.” 

For Professor Chen, it’s important that students develop critical thinking skills that will serve them throughout their time at Skidmore and beyond. As she helps them to think critically about the ideas articulated in their readings, students transition from simply answering questions to asking them.   

She also mentioned that the dialogue of the classroom is always lively and engaging because each student offers something different to the conversation. With every year that she teaches the seminar, the students change, but so does the class itself. 

The course finishes with a collection of essays by the Chinese American Ha Jin who, according to Professor Chen, “argues and contemplates the question: What is the ideal for a person in the 21st century, whose identity may not be easily defined by his language. What is the ideal of self?”