Perspectives on the Liberal Arts and Sciences
Course Proposal
General Education Advisory Committee
Queens College, City University of New York
I. Course Information
Course Title:
Credits:
Political Science 102: Contemporary Political Controversies
3
Prerequisites:
None
PS102
X Existing course, course number:
New course
Department:
Department Contact:
Political Science
Joe Rollins
Area of Knowledge and Inquiry
(select one)
Context of Experience
(select only if the course
emphasizes one of the
following)
Reading Literature (RL)
Appreciating and Participating
in the Arts (AP)
Extended Requirements
(select only if the course meets
one of the following)
Pre-Industrial Society (PI)
United States (US)
X Abstract or Quantitative
European Traditions (ET)
Culture and Values (CV)
X Analyzing Social Structures (SS)
Reasoning (QR)
X World Cultures (WC)
Natural Science (NS)
The following information is useful to the subcommittee to estimate the college's progress toward the goal of
offering enough sections and seats in each Perspectives category. How often does the department anticipate the
course will be offered? Please also estimate the anticipated number of sections and number of seats per section.
X Every semester
Every Fall or
Other:
January 2008
number of sections:
Every Spring number of sections:
number of sections:
number of seats per section:
4
number of seats per section:
55
number of seats per section:
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Course Description
Please include a course description. If the course will include variable topics or be taught in various forms, please
provide as many descriptions of specific sections as possible.
Political Science 102: Contemporary Political Controversies is a variable topics course, one that
encompasses many different subjects. Each iteration of the course is designed to introduce
students to the methods and concepts of Political Science as a discipline by using contemporary
political conflicts as a lens of analysis. Below are brief descriptions of three examples:
Sexual Politics
This course examines the politics of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities in the
United States, globally, and throughout history. Readings and lectures proceed historically,
beginning with a discussion of how sexuality has evolved in the Western imagination; this
analysis begins in the late-Nineteenth Century and moves into the present. During the second
section of the semester the class considers the ways that researchers have framed questions and
employed different methodologies in order to study sexual behavior and sexual minority
communities from different academic perspectives. Here, students are introduced to behaviorist,
quantitative literatures from psychology, ethnographic research from sociology, and scientific
studies from biology. The final section of the course contextualizes this research, considers its
influence on domestic politics, and then briefly expands the analysis to touch upon the
globalization of Western sexual identities.
The Shock of the New
This course takes as its center one of the most vexing questions of late-modernity: What does it
take to shock us? Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Stalin, Rwanda, Watergate and 9/11, were all horrors
that shocked the conscience, and yet, each was the result of scientific accomplishments, technical
achievements and cultural evolution that were intended to improve the quality of life for all
people on the planet. Although a small minority of the Earth’s population enjoys a standard of
living higher than ever before in human history, many people still suffer from disease, hunger,
political oppression, and ecological disaster. This course explores these issues, asks what it has
meant to “become modern” and grapples with the social and economic transformations that have
become part of “normal” life.
Making Peace
This course considers the relationship between identity, the state, and violence in various
locations around the globe. Students are introduced to the ways that “legitimate” conflict (i.e.,
war) differs from “illegitimate” conflict (i.e., terrorism) and how these variations are related to
identity categories such as race, ethnicity, religion, and nationality. The semester begins by
providing students with a theoretical framework with which to understand basic political
constructs like power, diplomacy, state-building, and conflict resolution. The second section of
the course introduces students to ongoing political problems from around the globe: the Middle
East, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Rwanda. Readings and lectures during this section of the
course are largely historical and factual. The final section of the course emphasizes discussion
and analysis. Here, students are called upon to synthesize the knowledge gained across the
semester and to apply theoretical concepts to real-world problems.
January 2008
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II. Criteria for Perspectives Courses
Justification
Please describe how the course will address criteria for Perspectives on the Liberal Arts and Sciences courses.
Be sure to include an explanation of the course’s specific learning goals for students to make a connection
between these and the general criteria for Perspectives courses.
Each of these courses (as well as others being developed under the 102 rubric) employs a three-pronged
approach to introduce students to the methods and issues of interest to Political Scientists and thus the
ways that the discipline produces knowledge. All sections begin by introducing students to basic
theoretical concepts (e.g., as outlined above, power, nation-building, conflict resolution, postmodernism,
etc.), then provides them with data (i.e., historical, fact-based, materials) and concludes by requiring
students to synthesize and re-contextualize these for themselves. Despite variation in subject matter, these
courses allow our students to enroll in courses dealing with subjects that may spark their individual
interests (Sexuality, Modernity/Technology/Culture, Conflict and Terrorism) at the same time that it allows
faculty to provide them with an introduction to the theories, methodologies, and analytic approaches
commonly utilized within the discipline. In each iteration of the course, students will learn about the
distinctive place Political Science occupies within the liberal arts and society in general; to wit, they will
see that all social conflict is ultimately a matter of concern for government and the state, as well as other
non-governmental actors and institutions. Whether the emphasis of such exploration is electoral, juridical,
budgetary, or regards policymaking, each variation on PS102 will distinguish itself from other liberal arts
courses by emphasizing the role of states, politicians, and other institutional actors in social and cultural
life. The subject matter for all iterations of PS102 requires students to learn about the history of a conflict,
its place (and consequently theirs) in a global community, and the social structures that shape how these
conflicts change, remain static, or may be resolved. Although different faculty will bring different skills
and interests to the course, all rely on either abstract reasoning (e.g., the logic of conflict resolution, game
theory, problem solving and diplomacy) or quantitative analyses (e.g., statistical evaluations of sexual
behavior). As should be apparent from the descriptions above, each version of the course is global and
comparative, emphasizes difference and diversity, engages students in active inquiry, and locates its
subject matter in the temporal flow of world history.
Criteria Checklist
Please be sure that your justification addresses all three criteria 1-3, below. For criteria 4-8, please check all that
apply and discuss these in your justification.
A Perspectives course must:
1. Be designed to introduce students to how a
particular discipline creates knowledge and
understanding.
2. Position the discipline(s) within the liberal
arts and the larger society.
3. Address the goals defined for the particular
Area(s) of Knowledge the course is designed to
fulfill.
In addition, a Perspectives course will, where
appropriate to its discipline(s) and subject matter:
X 4. Be global or comparative in approach.
X 5. Consider diversity and the nature and
construction of forms of difference.
X 6. Engage students in active inquiry.
X 7. Reveal the existence and importance of change
over time.
8. Use primary documents and materials.
January 2008
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III. Course Materials, Assignments, and Activities
Please provide an annotated list of course readings and descriptions of major assignments or exams for the course,
as well as distinctive student activities that will engage students in working toward the course goals discussed in
the course description and/or justification.
Please include the author and title for each reading or text, along with a short description providing information
about how the reading will contribute to course goals.
See attached syllabi.
IV. Assessment
Perspectives courses must be recertified every five years, and we are seeking ideas for how to best carry out this
assessment. What forms of evidence that the course is meeting its goals as a Perspectives course would be
appropriate to collect for this course during the next five years? How would you prefer assessment to be
conducted? How might evidence of effective teaching and student learning be collected and evaluated?
Assessment is part of the Political Science Department’s overall strategy for measuring our
success. As part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining high teaching standards, we
regularly collect samples of written work from our students so that we may track their
development across not only the span of a student’s undergraduate education, but across student
cohorts by using a time-series sampling design. Findings from this project allow the department’s
Curriculum Committee to monitor the progress and development of our undergraduate majors, as
well as stay to stay abreast of our success as teachers. Papers assigned for this class will be part of
that overall program.
January 2008
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V. Administration
What process will your department develop to oversee this course, suggest and approve changes, and conduct
assessment? Who will be in charge of this process? Also indicate whether the course will be primarily taught by
full-time or adjunct faculty, or by a combination of the two types of instructor.
For a description of the processes already in place, please see above at IV.
Administration of the assessment project is overseen by the Department’s Curriculum Committee.
Syllabi for all courses taught in the Department are collected and made available for review by
new, incoming instructors. All new instructors will be required to meet with members of the
Curriculum Committee whose research and teaching are within their subfield in advance of the
semester when a PLAS course will be taught. At these meetings, the interdisciplinary, pedagogic,
and cultural goals of PLAS will be spelled out in detail so that new teachers may incorporate
those requirements into their syllabi. Before syllabi are sent to Reprogrpahics for mass
production several weeks in advance of the semester, new instructors will be asked to submit
them to the Department Curriculum Committee for vetting and approval.
The course is taught by a combination of full-time and adjunct faculty.
VI. Syllabus
Please attach a sample syllabus (or set of syllabi, for courses on variable topics or courses that will be taught in
variable formats).
Some resources to guide syllabus construction:

The Provost's page outlining guidelines for syllabi:
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/provost/Cur_stud/Syllabus expectations.htm

Sample syllabi for W courses, from Writing Across the Curriculum:
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/writing/wsyllabi.htm

Goals for Student Writing at Queens College:
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/writing/Goals.htm

Harvard’s Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, suggestions for syllabus planning:
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k1985&pageid=icb.page29695

Lehman College’s Gen Ed Syllabi Project:
http://www.lehman.edu/lehman/programs/generaledu/gened_syllabi_project.html
Submit this completed form and a sample syllabus (or set of syllabi) by email to Eva Fernández
(eva.fernandez@qc.cuny.edu), Director, Center for Teaching and Learning.
January 2008
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