2015-16 Dietrich College Freshman Seminars
Fall 2015
Course #
Course Times
Dept
Freshman Seminar Course Name
65-101
TR 12:00 - 1:20
HSP
73-101
TR 1:30-2:50
ECO
Freshman Seminar in Economics
76-130
TR 1:30-2:50
ENG
Immigrant Fictions
79-167
TR 10:30-11:50
HIS
Issues in American Environmental History
80-105
3:00 – 4:20
PHI
Philosophy and the 100
82-183
MWF 2:303:20pm
ML
Japanese Popular Culture in the 2000s and
Beyond
82-187
TR 3:00-4:30
ML
Money and Morality in Chinese Culture
85-180
MW 3-4:20pm
PSY
86-111
TR 3:00-4:30
88-125
TR 1:30 - 2:50pm
The Social Impact of War (for HSP students
only)
Personality and Health
CNBC Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?
SDS
Forecasting Uncertainty.
Instructor
Tim Haggerty
Carol Goldburg
Marian Aguiar
Joel Tarr
Mara Harrell &
Clark Glymour
Yoshihiro
Yasuhara
Elisabeth Kaske
Mike Scheier
Timothy
Verstynen
Paul Fischbeck
65-101, HSP Freshman Seminar: The Social Impact of War (for HSP only)
HSP I, The Social Impact of War Tim Haggerty (director, Humanities Scholars Program) War is a
continuing aspect of the human condition. This course will introduce students to the manner in which
war is conceptualized in modern societies, using readings from philosophy, literature, history and the
social sciences to examine how warriors, belligerent societies and cultures describe the benefits and
costs of war. The course will focus on the experience of war in the twentieth and twentieth-first
century, from the Great War to the War on Terror, while also examining the Cold War and the
antecedents to contemporary conflict. This class fulfills the Freshman Seminar requirement for
GenEd.
73-101 Freshman Seminar in Economics
A topics-based course for first-year students. This course is not a supplement nor a replacement for
Principles of Economics. Instead, it meant to introduce students to how social scientists (particularly
economists) examine governments, societies, markets, and organizations. Subjects discussed vary
from year-to-year and from instructor-to-instructor; recent subjects include behavioral economics,
environmental policy, defining progress, and more. (Seminar, 3 hours)
76-130, Immigrant Fictions
Contemporary writers offer vibrant portrayals of questions around identity and belonging that
accompany immigration. Their works show how immigrants and their children reinvent themselves,
even as they look back to other homelands. This contemporary literature course combines fiction
and scholarly non-fiction readings to examine the experiences of transnational migration. We will
consider not only the experience of personal migration, but also the global social, economic and
political processes that structure that movement. Possible fiction readings might include Jhumpa
Lahiri, Mohsin Hamid, Christina Garcia, Juno Díaz, Gish Jen, and Caryl Phillips.
79-167, Issues in American Environmental History
This seminar will focus on major issues in the evolution of the American environment. Much of
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America's past environmental history has been beset with controversy, as scientists and engineers,
health officials, politicians and the public debated about the cause and solution for various
environmental problems. This seminar will examine some of the major environmental issues that
have evolved over time through a combination of reading, discussion, and short papers.
80-105 Philosophy and the 100
Bellamy: "Who we are and who we need to be to survive are two very different things." Philosophers
often use thought experiments in order to examine fundamental philosophical questions, and the
best thought experiments are often found in science fiction. In this course, we will examine a number
of philosophical issues raised in the television show The 100, and possibly other science fiction
stories, novels and movies. The idea is that science fiction most often revolves around people in
extreme circumstances, and contemplating these circumstances is often the best way to learn about
ourselves. And this is exactly what philosophy is: an investigation of the human condition. We will
use the TV show's episodes as stepping stones for addressing questions such as the following: How
should we live? Why behave morally? What makes our lives valuable? Are humans ultimately free?"
82-183 , Japanese Popular Culture in the 2000s and Beyond
This course seeks to expose students to Japanese popular culture (e.g., anime, manga, otaku
subculture), acquaint them with various aspects of Japanese culture (e.g, mythology, family culture,
technological culture, minority culture, entertainments), and deepen their appreciation of Japanese
popular culture mainly in the 2000s (zero nendai, in Japanese) and their understanding of the worldview of the Japanese people in its relation to global trends. Through class discussions and
assignments, it enables them to not only recognize but also make connections between what they
find in, for example, anime they watch and what they learn from readings about various aspects of
Japanese culture. By so doing, it helps them look at Japanese popular culture from the Japanese
point of view as well as their own. Through an individual project, it also equips them with the
necessary skills for cultural and cross-cultural analyses of Japanese products (e.g., humanoid
robots) and practices (e.g., virtual realties as practiced by computer games) that often appear in
popular culture. Furthermore it provides them with opportunities to critically examine various factors
contributing to the globalization of Japanese popular culture and its impact on the world-view of the
Japanese people.
No knowledge of Japanese is required.
82-187 Money and Morality in Chinese Culture
This seminar will introduce students to a variety of approaches to Chinese culture through the prism
of cultural attitudes towards money and wealth. What are Chinese ideas about the origins and
functions of money? What is an honorable way of making money? Does the government have a
responsibility to regulate wealth and fight poverty? How does money interfere in interpersonal
relationships? What role does money play in the religious sphere? How are attitudes towards money
reflected in everyday language? Is debt a sin? What is a fair price or wage? By looking at specific
cases in different phases of Chinese history, from ancient philosophy to contemporary literature and
language, students will also be able to gain insights into the various academic disciplines that make
up the humanities including philosophy, history, archeology, anthropology, literature, economic
history, religious studies, and linguistics.
85-180 Personality and Health
The general purpose of this course is to examine possible connections between personality and
physical well-being. Material will be presented at the outset of the semester that is designed to
enable students to understand more fully how psychologists think about the concept of personality
(what it is and what it does for us), how it is assessed, and how personality and health psychologists
do research on the topic. As the semester progresses, we will explore and discuss research that
links certain aspects of personality to health, illness, and mortality. The list of personality
characteristics to be considered includes (but is not necessarily limited to) optimism/pessimism,
conscientiousness, hostility, trait positive and negative affect, and chronic goal adjustment
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strategies. As time permits, select person variables will also be considered, e.g., the impact of
depressive mood on health.
86-111, Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?
In this seminar we will utilize the methods of classical forensic neurology to diagnose the biological
underpinnings of zombie behavior. Using observational analysis of films, television, graphic novels,
& video games we will identify the key behavioral traits that separate living humans from the walking
dead. These behaviors will be linked to their underlying neural systems using findings from both
historical and modern neuroscience literatures. Through this theoretical exercise, students will learn
about brain-behavior relationships as well as fallacies of inference and methodological limitations of
modern neuroscience.
88-125, Forecasting Uncertainty
Whenever you make a plan, you have to think about the future. Sometimes you know a lot,
sometimes you know very little, and sometimes you know very little but think you know a lot.
Amazingly, the same types of errors that you make every day are made by policymakers planning
multi-billion dollar options. In this course, we will explore these errors and methods for reducing
them. Examples will be drawn from many hot topics including climate change, health care, and
government regulation.
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Spring 2016
Course #
Course Times
Dept
Freshman Seminar Course Name
36-147
TR 1:30 – 2:50
STA
Where is Everybody?
36-148
MWF 1:30-2:20
STA
Networks: Where do they Come From?
What do the Tell Us?
Rebecca Nugent
73-101
TR 1:30 – 2:50
ECO
Behavioral Economics
Incekara Hafalir
76-118
TR 10:30-11:50
ENG
Talking Across Differences
Linda Flower
79-162
TR 10:30-11:50
HIS
“Slavery” and “Freedom” in African History?
Edda FieldsBlack
79-178
TR 1:30 – 2:50
HIS
Body Politics: Women and Health in
America
Lisa Tetrault
80-101
TR 1:30 – 2:50
PHI
Cyberspace and Philosophy
80-115
TR 1:30 – 2:50
PHI
(most spaces will be reserved for QSSS
students)
82-186
TR 10:30-11:50
ML
Introduction to Russian Culture
84-124
TR 9:00 – 10:20
IPS
Democracies and War
85-112
TR 10:30 – 11:50
PSY
88-126
TR 9:00 – 10:20
SDS
Measurement and Methodology
Problem Solving and the Legacy of Herb
Simon
Modeling Complex Systems
(most spaces will be reserved for QSSS
students)
Instructor
Peter Freeman
Joel Smith
Teddy
Seidenfeld
Naum Kats
Andrew Bausch
Ken Kotovsky
John Miller
36-148, Networks: Where to they Come From? What do they Tell Us?
Thirty years ago, the word "network" was mostly used in reference to computers or television
broadcasting channels. Now we have networks of friends, enemies, phones, stars, tweets,
international governments, terrorists, etc. Where do these networks come from? How are they built?
What do they represent? As we learn more about how everything is connected, we also face
challenges in trying to understand the data that a network can generate. In this course, you'll learn
about networks from a New England monastery facing a political crisis to social groups of friends (is
obesity contagious? what about divorce?) to 15th century marriages among prominent Italian
families to international political disputes and skirmishes (is the enemy of my enemy my friend?) to
the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users.
Along the way, we'll explore how to describe, visualize, analyze, and even break down the networks
that surround us.
36-149, Where is Everybody?
While eating lunch with colleagues in 1950, the physicist Enrico Fermi asked a seemingly innocuous
question: "Where is everybody?" He was referring to extraterrestrials: any advanced civilization with
rockets, curiosity, and willpower should have colonized the entire Milky Way by now. But we've seen
no evidence of life anywhere beyond Earth. Indeed, where are all the extraterrestrials?
Throughout this course, we will consider various answers to what is now known as Fermi's Paradox,
and use it as a springboard to learning about, among other things, exoplanets, astrobiology, and all
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the bad, extinction-causing events that could happen here tomorrow and that could have wiped out
extraterrestrials in the past. You will synthesize what you learn by using it to inform Op-Ed-style
articles and blog entries, as well as oral presentations. You will also be introduced to the statistical
package R, which you will apply in simple data analyses. Note that in the multiverse, you have
enjoyed taking this class an infinite number of times. Welcome back!
73-101 Behavioral Economics
Economic theory is based on the idea that economic agents are rational and explores the
implications of such rational behavior. Empirical research showed differences between the predicted
behavior and actual behavior of economic agents. The course is about the “irrational” choices people
make in different areas and possible “nudges” to improve decision making.Overconsumption,
undersaving, procrastination, and unhealthy life choices are some of the areas to explore.
76-118 Talking Across Differences
This seminar is in three parts. We begin by examining some rival hypotheses about the sources and
markers of cultural/social difference. We then explore (and experiment with) a variety of methods for
actually talking across such differences, working collaboratively on a pilot project to document what
diversity at Carnegie Mellon can contribute if we see it as a resource for understanding complex
questions in broader ways. Our pilot project will focus on alternative ways of “dealing with authority”
and diverse “ways of knowing” as two rich problem spaces, and on the kinds of decisions people
have to make within those spaces.
In the final segment of the seminar, we will focus on expectations that families and communities
have of students and those that students have of college. You and your team will identify an area
within that problem space that is rich with difference and mount a intercultural inquiry into diverse
ways of reading that situation. Your final, individual paper will reveal the personal decisions students
face within that space..
79-162, “Slavery” and “Freedom” in African History?
Living in a society still struggling to come to grips with its own history of slavery, American scholars
have often imposed words like "slavery" and "freedom" onto African contexts. Such labels have the
effect of masking dynamic social institutions in pre-colonial Africa. This course will turn this
terminology on its head by delineating the relationship between "slavery" and "freedom," kinship,
dependency, and marginality. It will look historically at institutions which are integral to African
societies, such as patron-client relationships, marriage, and pawnship. It will interrogate the multiple
ways that these institutions functioned before the period of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the
multiple ways that African communities transformed their institutions in response to it. Students will
engage a variety of texts, historians’ debates in secondary sources, first-hand testimonies of African
"slaves" in primary sources, novels which describe the lives of enslaved people in Africa, and recent
films which highlight the experiences of enslaved people in Africa and distinguish their condition from
enslaved people in the New World.
79-178, Body Politics: Women and Health in America
Women's bodies have been the sites of long-standing, and sometimes deadly, political battles. This
course takes a topical approach to the history of American women's health in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries in order to understand why women's bodies have been such heated sites of
struggle. It covers topics such as the history of contraception, abortion, menstruation, sexuality,
female anatomy, rape, domestic abuse, menopause, pregnancy, and childbirth. It explores how
American culture has constructed these issues over time, while also examining women's organizing
around them.
80-101, Cyberspace and Philosophy
The advent of the computing power and communication tools (both personal and automated) now
available on the Internet has had a significant impact on conversations and conclusions about many
traditional subjects in philosophy. Topics impacted include: the nature of "intelligence," our status as
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separate individuals with a unique identities, the structure of human knowledge, the nature of certain
human "rights," e.g., the rights to privacy or to ownership of the products of work, the values we
place on social interactions and relationships, and what constitutes a "free marketplace of
ideas." This seminar will explore living in and with the various features of the cyberspaces that now
permeate and, in part, constitute our lives. Topics will include consciousness and intelligence (both
human and machine), life in computer simulations (Are we living in one?), ethical issues created by
or intensified in cyberspace, and the effect of cyberspace on living a good life. We will explore
together the implications these new dimensions of human experience have on our understanding of
the world and on our beliefs on how we choose to live our lives.
80-115, Measurement and Methodology
This is intended as an introduction to the theory of measurement. How are units chosen? Under
what conditions do qualitative relationships determine quantitative ones? We shall investigate
theories of extensive measurement, with and without error. Applications will be taken from the
natural and social sciences. Prerequisites: None specifically; however, students should have
background in elementary logic and be comfortable with taking mathematical approaches to
conceptual problems.
82-186, Introduction to Russian Culture and Civilization
This course will deal with the significant cultural achievements of the Russian people in different
fields of culture. The main focus will be on the analysis of relationships between Russian and
Western cultural traditions. The topics chosen for discussions are very important for Russian
cultural history and will help in understanding and appreciating some specific ways and
achievements in the development of Russian popular culture. Distinctive cultural achievements of
Russian high culture will also be highlighted, especially through art and music. The course will
include secondary readings, primary documents, and films.
84-124, Democracies and War
This course, a freshman seminar, will introduce students to the role of domestic politics in
international conflict and examine the effect of regime type on warfare. In particular, the course will
focus on the Democratic Peace and why democracies tend to win the wars they enter. We will
discuss a variety of explanations for the Democratic Peace, that is, the tendency of democratic
states to avoid war with each other. We will also discuss whether democratic states select wars
more carefully, the incentives of democratic leaders when engaging in war, and whether domestic
democratic structures provide states with war-fighting advantages with respect to military
organization. Finally, we discuss a variety of consequences of the different domestic incentives
faced by autocratic and democratic leaders.
85-112 Problem Solving and the Legacy of Herb Simon
In this seminar we will investigate how people solve problems. Our focus will be on the thought
processes involved in solving problems. The topics will include developing a way of categorizing
problems, investigating how people approach, represent and solve problems, achieving an
understanding of how our conscious and non-conscious cognitive resources are marshaled to solve
problems and learning what the study of problem solving can tell us about those cognitive
processes. Another topic we will consider is the role that Herbert Simon of CMU played in the
development of what has become the "standard" model of problem solving and its study, and in so
doing come to some appreciation of his monumental contributions to science and to revolutionizing
psychology. The seminar will involve many activities in addition to reading and discussing the
relevant literature. For example, we will have plenty of opportunities to try our hand at solving
problems that illustrate many of the issues we will be investigating. The seminar will also include a
project whereby you will experimentally study some aspect of problem solving that interests you and
write a paper on the results you obtain and how they fit with what is known about the topic. A large
goal of the seminar is that we will all become better problem-solvers!
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88-126, Modeling Complex Systems
Most of the major issues confronting humanity---such as climate change, financial collapse,
ecosystem survival, terrorism, and disease epidemics---are the result of complex systems where the
interactions of the pieces of the system create a whole that is rather different than any of its parts.
Unfortunately, traditional scientific methods that focus on reducing systems to their parts and then
analyzing each part provide little insight into such systems. This seminar explores the behavior of
complex systems as well as how to model and understand them using both traditional tools and
computer-based approaches.
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