APPROVED THEMES FOR FALL 2015
Intersections: Race, Class, and Gender
Theme Coordinator: Cameron D. Lippard (lippardcd@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
ANT 2420: Gender, Race, and Class
ENG 2130: Ethnic American Literature
MUS 2023: Music and Gender
PHL 3050: Philosophy of Race
PS 3410: Marxism
SOC 2XXX: Social Inequalities
SW 2615: Culture Competence in the Helping Professions
WS 2421: Sex, Gender, Power
Theme Description: Intersections provides a multi-disciplinary examination of the
nuances and complexities of social identities across varying social contexts.
Particularly, courses will focus on the unique social intersections of race, class, and
gender to explore their constructions and variations across local and global cultures.
Courses will also question and analyze the multiple systems of privilege, oppression,
and discrimination that accompany these various social identities and how they
impact human behavior and life chances for individuals.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
1. Think Critically and Creatively:
a. Students will develop essential knowledge to define and discern various
social identities across social contexts;
b. Students will distinguish the ways in which the intersections of race, class,
and gender shape individual and groups;
c. Students will cultivate an awareness of pre-existing biases and consider
other perspectives concerning social identities;
d. Students will be able to synthesize various perspectives and data to
evaluate effectively the disparities groups face due to their social identities.
2. Making Local to Global Connections:
a. Students will develop knowledge of human diversity across social
contexts;
b. Students will develop knowledge about contemporary local and global
issues as they relate to various social identities;
c. Students will be able to identify the ways in which various social identities
operate within local and global systems.
Form(s) of Integration for Theme:
1. The courses in this theme will use a conceptual toolbox. As faculty and
disciplines may approach these concepts through different questions and points of
view, students will be encourage to think critically and come to a complex
understanding of issues involved in understanding and using these concepts. The
concepts, and some sample topics and perspectives through which we might
approach these questions are as follows:
a. Culture—history of term, uses of the term in various fields.
b. Categories of Identity and Difference—race, ethnicity, gender, caste,
class religion; how these categories are used and constructed and how they vary
historically and conceptually.
c. Ethics and Politics of Diversity—ethnocentrism, relativism, diversity,
multiculturalism; prejudice, discrimination, ethnic cleansing, heteronormativity,
racism, sexism, and all the other “isms.”
d. Power—privilege, oppression, resistance, hegemony, social movements,
forms of social and political organization, culture as hegemony, discourses of
equality and hierarchy.
e. Social Context—the immediate physical and social setting in which
people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that
the individual was socialized or lives in, and the people and institutions with whom
they interact.
2. Instructors will also require students to attend at one on- or off-campus event
sponsored by the Multicultural Student Development, Women’s Studies, The
Women’s Center, Global Studies, the LGBT Center, the Queer Film Series, Humanities
Council, the International Film Series, or others as identified by the individual
instructors. The selected event will highlight topics discussed in each of the courses
and focus on how they inform the disciplinary explanations of race, class, and
gender.
Revolutions: Social and Political
Theme Coordinator: Ed Behrend-Martinez (behrendmarte@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
MUS 2015: History of Rock Music
ART 2019: Art for Social Change
THR 2017: Theater for Social Change
HIS 1501: Revolution and Social Change in World History
PHL 3030: Feminist Philosophy
HIS 2340: Modern East Asia
SOC 1100: Social Problems in American Society
IDS 3650: Marx’s Capital
Theme Description: This theme examines the critical role of political, social, and
cultural revolutions in bringing change to human society. Emphasis is on the origins
and effects of revolution through time to the modern day.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Think Critically and Creatively:
a. Students will be able to question our world using evidence, knowledge,
and interdisciplinary perspectives;
b. Students will be able to analyze materials creatively and with an open
mind.
Form(s) of Integration for Theme:
Instructors will address the following concepts in their courses:
1. Revolution. For example, possible questions might include: What is social,
artistic, intellectual, or technological “revolution”? What causes revolution and how
does “revolution” change our world? How do different activities and disciplines
cause and/or reflect revolutions, and interpret revolution?
2. Social Change. For example, possible questions might include: How do societies
change? How do art, music, and culture interpret and/or cause change in society?
Sustainability and Global Resources
Theme Coordinator: Jim Houser (houserjb@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
TEC 2029: Society and Technology
SD 2400: Principles of Sustainable Development
FCS 2110: Global Awareness: Examining the Global Condition
PHL 2015: Environmental Ethics
GHY 1010: Introduction to Physical Geography
IDS 3010: H2O We Are Water
FER 1000: Principles of Fermentation Sciences
PHY 1830: Physical Principles of Energy and Sustainability
Theme Description: Sustainability is the goal of meeting current and future human
needs without undermining human communities, cultures, or natural environments.
Addressing this goal requires recognition of the complex interrelationships among
environmental, economic, and social forces and re-examination of our relationships
to technology, natural resources, natural science, human development, and/or local
to global politics. Courses within this multidisciplinary theme address topics such
as climate change, environmental pollution, economic globalization, resource
inequality, agriculture and sustainable food production, environmental ethics and
history, and social justice.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
The courses within this integrative theme to some extent share a focus on all four of
the General Education Program themes, with particular emphasis placed on “Making
Local to Global Connections” and “Understanding the Responsibilities of Community
Membership.” Although each course in the theme will approach the concept of
sustainability from a different perspective, all share the goal of helping students
develop the intellectual habits of mind of seeking out diverse perspectives on
societal issues or problems and of integrating a variety of forms of information into
their decision-making processes.
Evidence of how these broader program goals are being met will be examined in
each class through assignments designed to assess student attainment of the
following explicit learning outcomes:
1. Students will describe, through specific examples drawn from class discussions,
issues of sustainability in relation to community development, interactions between
humans and the rest of the natural world, or/or global change.
2. Students will apply ethical concepts or perspectives to examination of ethical
questions related to sustainability, using supporting evidence.
Form(s) of Integration for Theme:
A variety of suggested integration strategies have been planned from which
instructors can choose the strategy of strategies that best fit their class, including
meetings and consultations among participating theme faculty and instructors
throughout the semester; 1-2 common activities (e.g., field trips, external
assignments, guest lectures, discussion forums, film/viewings, and so on) per
semester from which students in each theme course can select to attend as a course
requirement (not all students in every course in the theme have to attend the same
films, events, etc.; rather faculty can choose from among a list of relevant events
each semester); student/faculty gatherings; addressing a common concept from
each course’s own perspective; and/or a common writing assignment. More
specifically, participating theme faculty and instructors will meet in person and/or
communicate via email regarding integration of content/concepts as well as about
shared activities outside of class. An important component of the ongoing
conversation via email will be about the many activities taking place on campus that
focus on sustainability, and that student participants in theme courses can take part
in. These include service/volunteer projects such as Recycle at the Rock,
community meetings, and on-campus speakers and other events.
Common Content/Concepts: Faculty proposing courses for this theme were drawn
by some shared concepts that will be addressed in various ways in our respective
courses. These include:
a. Sustainability involves meeting basic human needs without undermining
human communities, culture, or natural environments;
b. Achieving sustainability requires a recognition and understanding of the
complex interrelationships among environmental, economic, technological, and
social forces;
c. Efforts to achieve sustainability require both individual and collective
commitment; this commitment is influenced by knowledge, communication, and
decision-making strategies that take into account broader societal needs.
Although inclusion will be at the discretion of each participating faculty member
(very large classes may find this difficult), a common writing assignment is
suggested as a culminating session of each class within the theme. This writing
assignment will be initiated with an open-ended prompt such as: “Sustainability is a
broad and complex concept involving environmental, social, technological, and
economic issues. Address, in 1-2 pages, how this course has helped you better
understand some of the issues surrounding sustainability and global resources.”
Although broad, this assignment will get to the heart of each student’s growing
understanding of both the concept of sustainability, as well as about their
understanding of more specific issues that underlie this complex goal. The
assignment can be included in the student’s e-portfolio.
Appalachian Mountains: Community, Culture, and Land
Theme Coordinator: Katherine Ledford (ledfordke@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
AS 2200: Appalachian Stories
AS/GLY 2301: The History of Coal from the Pennsylvanian to the Present
SOC 3710: Sociology of Appalachian Communities
HIS 3726: History of the Appalachian Region
AS/MUS 2016: Appalachian Music
Theme Description: This theme examines the social structures, community life,
cultural productions, and natural environment of the Appalachian Mountain region.
Students investigate the boundaries of the region, including political, economic,
cultural, linguistic, geographic, and geological ones through courses that position
the region historically and contemporarily in national and international contexts. A
central concern among the courses is Appalachian energy resources, especially coal,
its history, global significance, current position in national energy debates, and
extraction methods including mountaintop removal coal mining.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Students who select this theme will make local to global connections through an
understanding of issues in the communities of Boone, Watauga County, and
surrounding mountain counties; Western North Carolina’s position within a larger
southern mountain region; and the Appalachian region’s place within the United
States and the world. All courses in the theme will consider the region’s
relationship to and production of energy resources, particularly coal, for an
understanding of the ways local issues connect with global processes, trends, and
systems.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
This theme will use common attendance at co-curricular events as the primary form
of integration. Artists, activists, scholars and community leaders from the
Appalachian region will visit campus, supported by the Center for Appalachian
Studies and the departments teaching theme courses, and students will be required
to attend at least two events each semester. Regularly scheduled options include at
least two Appalachian writers who visit campus each year as part of the university’s
visiting writers series. The Appalachian Heritage Council student group organizes
an Appalachian fiddlers’ convention each spring semester, offering students a
chance to engage with Appalachian musical artists.
Las Américas
Theme Coordinator: Timothy J. Smith (smithtj2@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
ANT 2300: Mesoamerican Cultures
GHY 3014: Geography of Latin America
REL 2XXX: Liberation Theologies: Church and State in Latin America
HIS 2301: History of Colonial Latin America
HIS 2302: History of Modern Latin America
LLC 2040: Border Crossings: U.S. Hispanic Literature
WRC 2300: Masterpieces of Latin America
IDS 3020: Cuba Libre
Theme Description:
This theme explores the diverse people, cultural legacies, and evolving realities in
Latin America. Coursework explores the dynamic relationships, structures, values,
and cultural manifestations through multiple disciplines.
Theme Share Learning Outcome(s):
Students in this theme will:
Analyze or evaluate examples of various relationships between local regions and
people and larger global issues, processes, trends, and/or systems.
--Students synthesize a sophisticated understanding of influences upon and the
influences of Latin America through coursework and theme participation.
--Assessed by: Discussion, performance during written exams, research projects, inclass presentations, or written papers.
Analyze or evaluate other cultures, their worldviews, and their frames of reference.
--Students foster the ability to adopt and consider multiple perspectives pertaining
to Latin America.
--Assessed by: Attendance of at least one co-curricular or extra-curricular event;
performance during written exams, research projects, or written response papers.
Generate questions based on previous information; allow for alternate and/or
multiple possibilities.
--Explore the question, “What united Latin America?” and the complexities of
defining Las Américas (The Americas). This builds upon the prior learning outcome
of considering multiple perspectives.
--Assessed by: Attendance of at least one co-curricular or extra-curricular event;
performance during questions posted to AsULearn forums, written exams, research
projects, in-class presentations, and/or written papers; submitting discussion or
research questions for at least one assignment.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
Common Questions: “What united Latin America?” and “What makes defining Latin
America so difficult?” These questions will be explored in Las Américas ILE
coursework. As opposed to identifying differences, attaching labels, or
compartmentalizing, student immerse themselves in topics and concepts while
probing for relationships and local to global connections.
Shared Co-Curricular Events—Guest Lectures, Visiting Artists, Panel Discussions,
and other academic opportunities sponsored by individual instructors will be
advertised to all faculty and students participating in the Las Américas ILE. An
example includes the annual spring Hispanic/Latino Symposium. Professors may
utilize attendance sign-ins, AsULearn forum posts, and/or response papers for inclass reflection and intellectual synthesis.
Extra-Curricular Events—All faculty and students participating in the Las Américas
ILE are encouraged to participate in pertinent extra-curricular events including, but
not limited to: visual art exhibitions, performing arts series, the Hispanic Student
Association (HAS), the Hispanic Heritage Festival (coinciding with National Hispanic
Heritage Month—Sept. 15-Oct. 15), the Diversity Celebration, etc. Professors may
utilize attendance sign-ins, AsULearn forum posts, and/or response papers for inclass reflection and intellectual synthesis.
Critical Consciousness: Learning for Equity and Justice
Theme Coordinators: Brandy Wilson (wilsonbs@appstate.edu) and Greg
McClure (mccluregs@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
FDN XXXX: Unlearning Racism: Racial Literacy for Responsible Citizenship
FDN XXXX: Discourses in Democracy: The Effects of Policy on Lived Experience
FDN XXXX: Why Read: The Literature of Love, Learning, and Emancipation
CI XXXX: Education as the Practice of Freedom
CI XXXX: YouthSmarts: Pop Culture, Media, and Civic Action
Theme Description:
Critical consciousness involves understanding social, political, cultural and
economic injustice in the world and becoming active in challenging those injustices.
The broad goal of this theme is for students from any major to appreciate a wide
range of intellectual, political, moral, and cultural diversity issues and to become
better equipped to offer just and sustainable solutions to inequities. We believe that
ASU students want to be challenged to think critically about their world and to make
a positive difference in their local and global communities. Though this theme is
housed in the Reich College of Education, this theme is not designed for education
majors and is not part of a teacher preparation program. Rather, it is designed to
critically examine how learning and socialization are major drivers in both the
reproduction of inequality, as well as in the empowerment of marginalized groups.
Since schools are one of society’s most pervasive and influential social and cultural
institutions, some of the courses in the theme will use the institution of schooling
and education in general as a lens through which to examine larger socio cultural,
historical and philosophical questions about social justice. Schooling and other
forms of education will provide the occasions for critical analysis; the focus will
have nothing to do with the preparation of the technical skills to become an
educator. Education faculty have much to offer to the dialogue surrounding
economic, political, and social questions of equity and participation in democratic
communities. The faculty collaborating on and teaching within this theme do highly
interdisciplinary and critical work beyond the scope of teacher practice. As such,
this theme examines the sociopolitical nature of learning; that is, how the building
and understanding of new knowledge is influenced by power and privilege and
cultural contexts based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and
ability. By discussing topics such as diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice,
students will examine how these issues intersect with our individual lives as well as
in social systems at local, state, national, and global levels. Faculty will encourage
students to critically analyze theoretical frameworks, philosophical ideas, and
quantitative and qualitative data that highlight how inequality is experienced in the
daily lives of ordinary people. Further, through attendance at co-curricular events,
the theme will engage students in developing thoughtful questions and creative
solutions to local and/or regional problems.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
This theme emphasizes the General Education Program Goal I- Thinking Critically
and Creatively. Particularly related to the theme’s goal of understanding and
addressing issues of power and injustice through an interdisciplinary approach,
courses in this theme encourage learners to become and remain critically “conscious
of how their own positions as well as the history of ideas influence their thought”
and to “adjust their thinking as they interpret, evaluate, and reflect based on
increasingly sophisticated intellectual values.” Simultaneously, this theme stresses
the importance of Goal IV- Understanding Responsibilities of Community
Membership, particularly as this goal focuses on preparing students to develop as
“academically skilled and engaged citizens capable of contributing to the betterment
of society and taking responsibility for the common good” by enabling “students to
reflect critically on ethical issues and to make reasoned, intelligent judgments about
complex moral problems.” We see these two goals as intimately connected to this
theme, where praxis, or reflective action, is just as important as critical analysis and
understanding.
Theme and General Education Program Goal-Related Learning Outcomes
Students will:
A. Recognize, differentiate, and effectively employ appropriate and increasingly
sophisticated strategies to collect and interpret information;
B. Successfully integrate disparate and transdisciplinary concepts and information
when interpreting, solving problems, evaluating, creating, and making decisions;
C. Examine and evaluate how their own personal, historical, and cultural
perspectives affect the discovery and generation of knowledge and identify potential
consequences that personal choices as well as political, economic, and other social
forces may have on individual, societal, and institutional levels;
D. Collaborate effectively with others in shared processes of inquiry and problemsolving and apply principles of responsible community membership.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
This general education theme will integrate topics via common concepts, common
attendance at co-curricular events, and broadly conceived common questions for
inquiry.
Common Concepts: Courses in this theme will encourage thoughtful discussion and
analysis of dynamic concepts such as diversity and difference, multiculturalism,
power and privilege, lived experience, inclusion, social justice, and ideological and
epistemological considerations.
Common Attendance at Co-curricular Events: Students will be required to attend
2 co-curricular events during the semester. Faculty will purposefully select events
that are both informational (diversity lecture series), as well as action oriented
(community service and/or service learning focused) events. To facilitate discussion
and draw connections to courses within and among the theme, faculty will sponsor
post-event coffee meetings where students and faculty can engage in dialogue on
the topic and develop strategies for moving forward. Faculty are already engaged in
these post-event activities with campus clubs, University Housing, and the
Multicultural Student Development Center.
Common Question: One guiding question that all courses will investigate asks
“How do we know what we know and how can we strive to consider and understand
multiple perspectives?”
Imagination, Innovation, and Meaning
Theme Coordinator: John Marty (martyjt@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
DAN 2010: Style and Form: Dance
HIS 1110: Culture and History
MUS 2018: Introduction to World Music
PHL 2013: Philosophy of Art
THR 2010: Style and Form: Theatre
Theme Description:
In this theme, students will explore the concepts of imagination, innovation,
meaning, interpretation, and aesthetics. Through the collective courses, students
will explore these within historical, cultural, theoretical and/or practical
frameworks.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Gen Ed Goal: Thinking Critically and Creatively
Learning Outcome: Students will integrate disparate concepts and information
when interpreting and evaluating aesthetic artifacts and processes.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
Students in each course will explore the concepts of Imagination, Innovation,
Meaning, Interpretation, and Aesthetics through the lenses of their specific
disciplines via a common assignment.
Common Assignment: How Does [name discipline] Analyze Cultural Artifacts or
Processes?
Human beings give meaning to their lives by creating cultural artifacts (literature,
music, dance, theatre, film, painting, sculpture, architecture, religious and
philosophical texts, and so on). Different disciplines analyze these cultural artifacts
and processes in different ways.
Write a 3-page essay (or an equivalent oral presentation or creative project) on the
following:
Analyze the specific ways in which [the discipline and approaches studied in
this class—instructor may specify] help us to understand [a specific cultural
artifact or process, to be determined by the instructor]? Consider the
following questions: (instructors may fine-tune these questions as
appropriate):
--What is a specific concept or question unique to this discipline? How
would you apply it to analyzing or interpreting this particular artifact/
process? OR: What are specific criteria unique to this discipline that could
be used to analyze the artifact? How would you apply these criteria in
interpreting or evaluating this particular artifact/process?
--How might these concepts or questions compare with those of other
disciplines in this theme?
--What, in your view, are the pros and cons of understanding cultural
artifacts from this discipline’s perspective? Could this discipline’s
perspective be merged with that of other disciplines?
War and Peace
Theme Coordinator: Aleksander Lust (lusta@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
ANT 2222: The Living Primates
GLS 2350: Introduction to Peace Studies
HIS 3158: Ethnic Conflict: East v. West
HIS 3823: American Military History
PS 4225: International Security
REL 3170: Religion and Violence
SOC 3800: The Sociology of War
Theme Description:
“War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it,” wrote General William Tecumseh
Sherman. Unfortunately, most societies throughout history have engaged in warfare.
This theme explores the causes, consequences, and morality of war and looks for
ways of making the world more peaceful.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
This theme is helpful in Making Local to Global Connections. The United States was
born of a War of Independence against Great Britain—and almost broke up during
the Civil War. In the 20th century, it fought “hot” wars against Germany and Japan
and a Cold War against the Soviet Union. Today, it is fighting wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq as part the global “war on terror” and strengthening its forces in the Pacific
to contain the rising power of China, while its relations with Russia have reached a
crisis over the annexation of Crimea and the civil war in Ukraine. All of this is
particularly relevant for North Carolina, which is home to many veterans, and
Appalachian State University, which has both a popular ROTC program and a large
green and libertarian community.
By completing this theme, students will learn to link their personal experiences,
such as serving in the military or participating in an anti-war demonstration, to
global developments, such as the rise of new regional and global conflicts since the
end of the Cold War. They will also learn to analyze global issues from a variety of
theoretical perspectives. For example, they will understand how human biology,
social and cultural norms, historical rivalries, and the structure of the international
system contribute to the outbreak of war. Finally, they will learn to think
strategically, communicate effectively, and behave ethically in order to resolve
conflicts in their own lives and the wider world.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
From the complementary disciplinary perspectives of Anthropology, Global Studies,
History, Political Science, Religious Studies, and Sociology, the courses in this theme
will address the following questions:
Are human beings aggressive by nature or are some societies and cultures more
violent than others? What causes war? How have military strategy and technology
evolved over time? What are the similarities and differences between interstate and
civil wars? Can war be morally justified? What can be done to make the world more
peaceful?
Experiencing Inquiry: How to Ask Question
Theme Coordinator: Clark Maddux (madduxhc@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
WRC 2201: Hearing Voices: Inquiry in Literature
WRC 2202: What If? Asking Historical Questions
WRC 2204: What is a Healthy Individual: Investigating Personal Development
WRC 3201: Why Do They Do That? Experience Social and Cultural Inquiry
Theme Description:
A core value, and central teaching method, of Watauga Residential College has
always been the nurturing and development of a restless curiosity in students. The
courses in this theme will explore how questions are asked across and between
disciplines. While each course will examine research methodologies in a given
discipline, more important will be the ways in which students individually and
collaboratively cultivate an attitude of critical inquiry. Courses blend an
atmosphere of sensory discovery, performance, analysis, and creativity. All courses
feature inquiry-based learning, experiential and interdisciplinary methods, cultural
immersion, and collaboration.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Thinking Critically and Creatively: (a) Students will present approaches to problems
utilizing novel ideas, processes, or types of evaluation; (b) Students will relate
multiple ideas, observations, or phenomena and develop hypotheses using
empirically derived evidence to address a problem or issue.
Understanding Responsibilities of Community Membership: (a) Students will
connect knowledge of civic contexts, structures, and systems to their own academic
study/discipline.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
Common Question:
1. How is inquiry conducted in selected disciplines and fields of study?
Common Course Component:
1. Each course will contain a module examining research methods (the conduct of
inquiry) in that particular field of study.
Common Co-Curricular Activities:
1. All students will participate in an engaged learning project, either through
community-based research, service learning, or applied experiential learning. The
project will employ appropriate methods of inquiry for the discipline being studied.
2. Students in all ILE classes will gather twice a semester to participate in a Watauga
College Conference. During the first conference, students will present their
preliminary research to their peers in other sections. During the second meeting,
they will present their findings or final projects.
How We Tell Stories
Theme Coordinator: Paulette Marty (martypjw@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
ENG 2170: Introduction to Film
IDS 3210: Exploring the Documentary Form
ITC/CI 2010: Narrative, New Media, and Gaming
LLC 2025: Literature in Transition
PHL 1502: Everyday Philosophy: Aesthetics
REL 2020: New Testament
THR 2005: Page and Stage
THR 3640: Solo and Group Performances
Theme Description:
What does it mean to tell stories? This theme explores why stories are important to
us, how different media present stories, and what happens when artists, writers,
filmmakers, and other media producers shift away from narrative and try to do
something other than tell a story.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Thinking Critically and Creatively:
Explain and analyze the key elements of a narrative and compare and contrast them
to those of other narratives in the same medium or different media.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
All courses in the theme will address the following questions:
1. How do various media and their particular characteristics affect
perception and understanding of narratives?
2. How does culture influence interpretation and understanding of human
narratives?
3. What are the roles and uses of metaphor in the stories discussed by this
course?
4. How does the interplay between fiction and non-fiction affect perception
of narrative?
Cultivating Creative Expression
Theme Coordinator: IlaSahai Prouty (proutyi@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
THR 2022:
MUS 2022:
ART 2022:
ENG 2360:
Cultivating Creative Expression Through Theatre
Cultivating Creative Expression Through Music
Cultivating Creative Expression Through Art
American Literature and the Arts
Theme Description:
In this theme, students explore the creative process and the connection it has with
cognitive, psychological, emotional, bodily/kinesthetic, aesthetic, and social
development of the individual. This theme emphasizes the point of view of the
creative individual in relationship to society and culture through the lens of each
discipline.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Thinking Critically and Creatively:
Goal Specific Learning Outcomes:
Students will make connections by relating multiple ideas, observations or
phenomena.
Students will analyze information by identifying, gathering, sifting, and organizing
information.
Theme Specific Learning Outcome:
Students will define, deconstruct, analyze, and/or demonstrate the creative practice
of making art/music/theater/writing.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
All courses will share a common goal, three common learning outcome, three
common questions and a common assignment.
Additionally, ART 2022, MUS 2022, and THR 2022 will be further linked by two
outcomes and an assignment.
The common goal linking all courses under the theme “Cultivating Creative
Expression” is goal 1: Thinking Creatively and Creatively.
Common questions:
1. Define creativity and explain how it impacts us individually, historically and as a
society?
2. What is the creative process in music, art, theater, or literature?
3. What are the connections between the processes of creativity in each discipline?
Common Assignments:
Students will write out-of-class essays, at least one of which will be graded
according to a rubric which, among other things, will assess how students analyze
creative expression and the creative process. Learning outcomes will be:
1. Students will make connections by relating multiple ideas, observations or
phenomena.
2. Students will analyze information by identifying, gathering, sifting, and
organization information.
3. Students will define, deconstruct, analyze, and/or demonstrate creative practice.
Additionally, ART 2022, MUS 2022, and THR 2022 will be FURTHER linked by the
following outcomes and assignments:
Students will actively engage in a personal creative process and make
art/music/theatre. Learning outcome will be:
1. Students will be appropriately innovative by using novel ideas, processes, or
types of evaluation.
Students will be inquisitive and open-minded by allowing for alternate and/or
multiple possibilities. Learning outcome will be:
1. Students will share the results of their creative process and will actively discuss
the results with a goal of understanding multiple possibilities.
American Culture: Past and Present
Theme Coordinator: Michael Wade (wademg@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
HIS 2525: The Americans: A Cultural History
ENG 2120: African American Literature
COM 3130: Minorities in Media
IDS 2000: Introduction to American Studies
REL 3110: Religion in America
SW 2020: The American Social Welfare System
Theme Description:
American Life: Past and Present is a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural approach to
investigating and understanding the culture and society of United States. It analyzes
changes and continuity in American culture over time. It focuses on American
identities, both individual and collective; the changing roles and contributions of
women and minorities in American life; and trends in religious and social thought.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Learning Goal: Thinking Critically and Creatively.
Shared Learning Outcome: In all of the American Life theme courses students will
demonstrate that they can read for argument based on evidence.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
Common Attendance at Co-curricular Events
Each professor teaching in the theme will require a minimum of one approved cocurricular on-campus event on the University Calendar relating to the larger topic of
American Life as reflected in courses which comprise the theme. The designated
event(s) will concern specific issues discussed in the course(s) and focus on how the
event enhances understanding of American society and culture.
How We Know What We Know About the Past: Method, Evidence, Knowledge
Theme Coordinator: Craig Caldwell (caldwellch@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
ANT 1420: Archeology and the Human Past
GLY 1842: Dinosaurs: Past and Present
HIS 2312: Introduction to the Ancient Mediterranean World
HIS 2320: East Asian History to 1600
LLC 2045: The Spanish-Speaking World
Theme Description:
The humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences—and their varying
disciplines—all at times study events, processes, and facts that took place in the
past. But each field and discipline, in pursuing knowledge about their past objects of
inquiry, employ different methods and search out different kinds of evidence. In
addition, each field operates in different time scales, depending on their subject of
study. These time scales have an impact on the development of research questions,
on the kind of evidence that is available for collection, on the way we develop and
advance our methods for studying the past, and on the knowledge we produce. This
theme invites students to consider the relations among evidence, method, timescale, and disciplinary knowledge, and by so doing aims to cultivate in them a
sharper understanding of the way in which scholars define and gather evidence,
make arguments about their subjects using evidence, and develop new methods for
collecting evidence. Students will also learn about the limits of disciplinary
knowledge that result from the availability of evidence and the techniques we have
to gather that evidence. This theme will prepare students for higher level thinking
about methods, evidence, and knowledge in their majors.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Goal: Thinking Critically and Creatively
Outcomes:
1. Students will compare and contrast how different disciplines deploy
methodologies for gathering evidence.
2. Students will appraise the limits of disciplinary knowledge that follows from
limits in available methodologies for collecting evidence.
3. Students will understand that research across the liberal arts requires method
and evidence in the production of knowledge.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
Common Assignment:
Each course in the theme will, each semester, use a common assignment. The
assignment will be called “How do __ ___ know what they know?” with the blank
being filled by discipline in question (historians, archaeologists, paleontologists,
musicologists, literary scholars, etc.). Students will be able to use these assignments,
which they will complete in each course in the theme, to compare and contrast the
relations among disciplinary knowledge, evidence, methodology, and time scale.
Individual instructors will provide resources needed for answering these questions
in lectures and/or readings.
The assignment will include these questions (this is a draft and could be altered
before implementation):
1. What counts as evidence in this field of inquiry or discipline?
2. What time-scale is relevant to this discipline (how far back do they go), and how
does temporal scaling affect what kind of evidence is available to this discipline?
3. What methods of inquiry have X’s (historians, paleontologists, etc., as relevant)
employed to collect evidence in their quest for knowledge about X (early European
civ, medieval Chinese civ, dinosaurs, human prehistory…)?
4. How have these methods changed over time in this discipline? Have there been
any significant shifts?
5. How have changes in methods altered the kinds of questions this discipline asks
about its subject of inquiry?
6. What are some specific limitations of these methods (i.e., what evidence is out of
reach for these disciplines and how does that limit our knowledge)?
7. Thinking freely and creatively, how could these limitations be overcome? [This
question asks students to think of some creative solutions to limits in methodology.]
Can you think of new methods that might expand the kind of evidence available?
From Empire to Globalization
Theme Coordinator: Ed Behrend Martinez (behrendmarte@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
ANT 1415: Understanding Culture
HIS 1400: World Empires
PS 2120: International Politics and Foreign Policy
GLS 2000: Contemporary Global Issues
ENG 2040: World Literature II
WS 3200: Global Women’s Issues
Theme Description:
The formation, growth and power of empires, their colonial regimes (driven to the
far reaches of their worlds by appetites for wealth, resources, and human labor),
and globalization are intimately linked. Courses in this theme explore prehistoric,
ancient and/or modern empires, illuminate the cultural lives impacted by
colonialism, analyze the hegemony exercised through far reaching colonial
practices, and consider post-colonial consequences of globalization.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Learning Goal: Local to Global
1. Students will develop knowledge of human diversity as they survey many
different cultural and social contexts across multiple geographical areas spanning
the globe.
2. Students will develop knowledge about the impact of global processes (via
imperialism, colonization, or economic globalization) on local social, economic,
political, and cultural systems and identities.
3. Students will be able to identify the ways in which social identities are in part
produced or changed in relation to globalizing processes.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
This theme will integrate its courses through a shared block of films related to
Empire, Colonialism, and Globalization. These films will be available through the
ASU library, online, and streaming via AsULearn. A block of three to six films will be
selected, and periodically updated, using a survey and discussion of courses
instructors. Instructors - teaching via their particular disciplinary lens - will then
incorporate some or all of these films into their instruction, as part of either their
lectures, assignments, or discussion.
The process for choosing a list of films, we anticipate, will be democratic and
make sure to integrate movies that actually speak to the theme, and are not simply
the pet films that certain instructors are already using in their courses. The list will
change over time, and that this will require discussion among the instructors
involved.
Expressions of Culture
Theme Coordinator: Rebecca Keeter (keeterrj@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
COM 2124: Intercultural Communication
DAN 2020: World Dance
DAN 2030: Dance, Media and Culture
LLC 2050: Language in Mind and Society
THR 2020: World Culture and Performance Studies
Theme Description:
This theme explores the expression of culture through diverse perspectives—
language, performance and forms of communication. Culture and its expression are
learned and reflexive, shaping and shaped by each other. Rituals, both public and
private, enact culture and may take the form of performance. Language, spoken and
written, expresses and helps define cultural practices. Public, written and
communicative performances enact and reflect culture in myriad ways, serving as
cultural markers.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Learning Goal: Thinking Critically and Creatively
Each course in the theme is committed to examining facets of expression of culture,
from the everyday to the ritual and the artistic. Although the lens from each course
will offer a different perspective, each course in the theme will address the following
outcomes:
1. Students will evaluate how cultural perspectives affect the way individuals (and
groups) express themselves.
2. Students will critique effective cultural communication with collaborators by
identifying verbal and/or non-verbal communication tools.
Common Questions That We Might Explore:
What are the structural forms of expression that are unique to this course and what
are the discipline-specific ways that these elements are best analyzed?
How do cultural norms shape forms of expression, and vice versa?
How do our values reflect in our expressions of culture, and how does this differ
and/or relate to other multinational ideas of culture?
How are expressions of culture interpreted—and misinterpreted—by those not
familiar with the culture in which they arise?
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
In this theme, the student will complete an assignment in which they reflect on the
connection between their own experience and the cultural issues being explored in
the course. The common assignment would include individual and group projects
that reflect novel applications and creativity in the field.
Social Relations Across Contexts
Theme Coordinators: Doris Bazzini (bazzinidg@appstate.edu)
Courses in Theme:
COM 2121: Interpersonal Communication
HIS 1120: History and Society
PSY 1100: Psychology of Parenting
PSY 2213: Survey of Social Psychology
SOC 1110: Sociology of Intimate Relationships
Theme Description:
Our first social relations occur within the family and these relationships remain
among the most influential throughout out lives. Our relationships are influenced
by both the society and the time in which we live. Finally, our ability to
communicate effectively with the people in our lives is key to our success. Students
in this theme will improve their critical thinking skills, become effective
communicators within the family, and develop a better understanding of our society
as a whole through a close examination of the responsibilities of community
membership.
Theme Shared Learning Outcome(s):
Learning Goal: Thinking Critically and Creatively
1. Students will develop an understanding of how individuals are impacted by the
roles and expectations established by social environments that include family, social
networks, organizations, and societies.
Learning Goal: Understanding Responsibilities of Community Membership
1. Students will consider the ethical implications of role-fulfillment and social
expectancies for individuals across contexts.
Form(s) of Theme Integration:
For students to gain a deeper understanding of the theme across multiple courses,
instructors will require students to take part in at least one experiential learning
activity inside and outside of the classroom. While the type of activity will vary by
course and instructor (i.e., departmental research opportunities, workshops,
campus lectures, guest speakers, in-class application activities and debates, servicelearning), students will be asked to reflect upon the experience and integrate it with
course content in some form of assignment.
Instructors will create a common website (linked from all course AsULearn sites in
the theme) that will house literature resources, links to media sources, etc., showing
conceptual intersections of the theme.