New angles mark fall courses

Among Skidmore's innovative courses this fall are "Chaos Finds a Voice" and "The Dynamics of Chaos," taught by a Spanish and a math professor, respectively.
There's also "Global Media," "Asian Pop," and "Green World."

A small sample:

• From Google to the NSA, data collection by business and government is at "unprecedented levels," notes business and international affairs scholar Scott Mulligan. His "No Place to Hide" first-year seminar probes issues such as the tradeoffs between personal privacy and national security. Among the learning activities that he and the course’s peer mentor Makeda Diggs '17 field-tested: students will use a GIS app to map security cameras and other surveillance systems in Saratoga Springs—and will exhibit their results at the Tang Museum.

 

• Unfrozen: In offering "Antarctica" as a first-year seminar, physicist and geoscientist Greg Gerbi will help students explore not just his interests but theirs too—from glacier dynamics and scientific research to early maritime explorers and geopolitics. In fact over the summer, he says, "I enjoyed reacquainting myself with the history of exploration of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic continent. I've gotten to reread some books and to read several new ones."

 

• "Multicultural Flare-Ups," a 200-level course, will foster analysis of recent hot-button issues "in a reflective and responsible manner," promises business professor Pushkala Prasad. Herself struck by "the sheer range of oppositional views on what it means to live in a multicultural society," she predicts students might be surprised by "new insights that may not sit well with their prior suppositions."

 

• Static statistics? Not in Abby Drake’s 200-level biology course. She always features active and interactive learning, and now her "Biostatistics" goes all the way: she recorded her lectures online for students to watch at their own pace before class, leaving the full classroom time for team learning. They’ll get hands-on experience in "statistical analysis, spotting statistical flaws, and collaborative problem-solving," she says—because "in almost every workplace, teamwork is a crucial skill."

 

• Under fire for "Mickey Mouse history," the Disney's America theme park proposal fizzled. But it did inspire a first-year seminar by the same name. Greg Pfitzer, from the American studies faculty, will use films like Song of the South and Pocahontas, theme park exhibits, and museums like the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library to help students "scrutinize popular history and nostalgia and, I hope, find answers to questions about the legitimacy and cultural impact of historical narratives."

 

• Stand-up comic and American studies scholar Beck Krefting is an expert on disorderly women, which is also the title of her upper-level fall course. Along with meeting recent alumni who now work for gender justice, she says, students will learn grant writing and put their skills to use for the Saratoga Foundation for Women Worldwide. She admits, "It's a different kind of writing that will challenge students," but adds, "I suspect they will thank me later."

 

• "Storytelling for the Screen," part of the Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative, is taught by professional screenwriter Nicole Coady, who has written for MTV, New Line Cinema, and 20th Century Fox and authored video games for top toy company MGA. She says the course will "examine landmark films, television shows, and new media," and students will gain skills in crafting compelling visual story lines.