FYS/excellence/syllabus-1
THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR: THE NATURE OF EXCELLENCE
FALL 2014 • WED. 4:40-6:30 PM [SEPT. 3-OCT. 22] • 236 ADLER JOURNALISM BLDG.
Instructor
Judy Polumbaum • judy-polumbaum@uiowa.edu
E 320 AJB, tel. 319-335-3389 • office hrs. M 11-1 & T 4-5
“Everyone must have one thing that they can excel at. It's just a matter of drawing it out, isn't
it? But school doesn't know how to draw it out. It crushes the gift. It's no wonder most people
never get to be what they want to be. They just get ground down.”
--Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
(New York: Vintage, 1991/1993; trans. Alfred Birnbaum).
COURSE OVERVIEW: Aristotle said excellence “is not a skill, but a habit.” Others call
excellence “an attitude,” or say excellence is “in the details,” or that excellence is “doing
ordinary things extraordinarily well.” Some think it hinges on innate abilities or
ineffable qualities; others attribute it to persistence or concerted study or lifelong labor.
From childhood, we hear platitudes like “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”
Our parents and teachers encourage us to strive to excel and to be, if not the most
excellent, at least the best we are capable of being. It often seems that schools and
workplaces pit people against each other in the quest to be best. But some organizations
and communities offer alternative routes to excellence through cooperation.
What leads us to call something excellent? Beyond products or achievements of
excellence, how might excellence work as a process? What role might talent, brilliance,
education, money, the luck of the draw or plain hard work play? What interactions of
creativity, intuition and spontaneity or organization, discipline and efficiency are
involved? Is excellence an individual or collective process? Are judgments of
excellence matters of personal taste or cultural consensus? Can excellence be absolute,
or is it relative? Is excellence necessarily singular, exclusive, elite; or is it a shared
pursuit, a democratic goal within reach of all?
This seminar explores such questions, examining the nature of excellence in the
arts and sciences, humanities and athletics. The readings, discussions and assignments
will sample how excellence is understood and performed in our society, and help
students come to their own assessments of what excellence means and how they might
practice it in school, work, life or any other realm.
SEMINAR REQUIREMENTS: The course meets two hours weekly through the first half of fall
semester, and carries 1 s.h. of credit. Assignments include considerable reading, student
presentations, and fieldwork projects and reports focusing on individuals practicing
excellence on campus and/or in our community. Specific requirements are as follows:
• Being there: Everybody will see everybody for our weekly sessions; more than
one unexcused absence will result in an F for the course (see further details on
attendance policy below).
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• No, really, being there: Come prepared and awake! Everyone is expected to
contribute to class discussions at least qualitatively, and ideally in appropriate quantity
as well. Feel free to respond to readings, presentations and comments by others, the
assumption being that you have read and listened with care. Ask questions when you
are confused or puzzled or simply need more information. Remember, there is no such
thing as a dumb question—plus any question that’s bugging you likely is bugging
others too.
• Assigned readings: You must keep up with required readings and be ready to
discuss them in class. Readings are available online through the course ICON site.
• Reading presentations: As part of a team, you will do extra preparation for one
class session, making a presentation on that week’s readings and helping to generate
and lead discussion. Each team should prepare a one-page single-spaced handout (about
500 words) to be distributed in class, highlighting main points of readings, offering
leads to additional reading and resources, and raising at least four thoughtful
discussion questions.
• Independent project: You will identify an individual on this campus and/or in
the immediate community who in your view practices excellence in ways that may not
be immediately obvious, and complete a project explaining how that person
demonstrates the meaning of excellence. The excellence may be evident in a specialized
field, or it may be extraordinary performance and achievement in something mundane
–most anything from the arts or sciences, management or scholarship, to office work,
retail and service trades, street performance. Your choice is wide open with a couple of
limitations: You must choose someone you did not know previously! i.e., not a parent
or sibling or friend or co-worker (so you’ll become acquainted from scratch); and
classroom teaching also is off-limits (too obvious).
The project has several components, with due dates for preliminary stages:
choosing a topic, planning and doing research and fieldwork (interviewing and
observation), 10-minute class presentation, and final report. Presentations will be
scheduled the last two weeks of the course. The final report of 6 to 8 pages (doublespaced, about 1,500-2,000 words, plus bibliography) is due the Monday after the course
concludes.
EVALUATION: Expectations of all students are high, but your own demands on yourself
should be the highest of all. Grades will be based on a combination of class preparation
and participation, grasp of assigned readings, reading presentation, and final project,
broken down as follows:
• class attendance, preparation & participation (40%)
• team reading presentation (15%)
• project stages and presentation (15%)
• final report (30%)
You can interpret letter grades as follows: A=exceptional work, B=very good work,
C=average work, D=unacceptable work, F=failing.
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HOUSEKEEPING, POLICIES & OTHER INFORMATION
• You must have an active U of I e-mail account. Make sure to check it regularly, and
also keep tabs on the course ICON site.
• Meet your deadlines. You are urged to begin your work somewhat earlier than at
the last minute; no-printer-available protestations are avoidable and thus unacceptable.
No extensions will be granted.
• Plan ahead and pay attention to detail. You are expected to take time and care
with assignments, and to revise, edit and proofread your writing conscientiously before
turning it in. You are expected to produce printouts of written assignments; e-mails at
the last minute do not count. Make backups of all files, and also keep your own copies
of all printouts you hand in. Make sure your name is on your papers and handouts.
• Attendance is not optional. Except in cases of death in the family, serious illness,
or other genuine emergencies or crises, you are expected to attend all class meetings. If
you must miss a class, notify the instructor in person or by e-mail in advance; if
extenuating circumstances make advance notice impossible, you must provide a written
explanation of your absence as soon as possible.
• Common courtesy. Otherwise known as common sense, or what you learned in
kindergarten. Arriving to class late/leaving class early is disruptive and inappropriate
behavior. If other classes or obligations overlap with times scheduled for this course,
rearrange the other matters or drop this course. As for electronic gadgets, please turn
off ringers, refrain from surfing and texting, and so on.
• Unethical conduct. Plagiarism (i.e., expropriating the words and ideas of others
without due attribution) and cheating of any sort are grounds for a failing grade in the
course. For details on definitions and consequences of academic misconduct, see
http://clas.uiowa.edu/students/handbook/academic-fraud-honor-code
• Special accommodations. Special academic arrangements for students with
disabilities are handled with the cooperation of Student Disability Services, Burge Hall,
tel. 335-1462, http://www.uiowa.edu/~sds/. Students who need accommodations for
any aspect of the course are urged to contact SDS and to speak with the instructor early
in the semester.
• Sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is reprehensible and will not be tolerated
by the School, College or University. For definitions, assistance, and the full University
policy, see http://www.sexualharassment.uiowa.edu/; on sexual misconduct
involving students, see http://www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/iv/02.htm
• Severe weather. If a weather event disrupts class, we will seek appropriate
shelter in the building; and class will resume if possible when the event is over.
• Complaints. Show up during office hours, make appointments, and/or contact
me by e-mail with thoughts and concerns. If you feel uncomfortable bringing a concern
directly to your instructor, you may consult David Ryfe, director of the School of
Journalism & Mass Communication; Helena Dettmer, associate dean for academic
affairs of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences; the University Ombudspersons; and/or
other relevant authorities. Procedural information may be found under the “Student
Rights” section of student policy guidelines, at: http://dos.uiowa.edu/policies/
FYS/excellence/readings-1
COURSE READINGS
Readings for week 2 – college
 [1] Colin Diver, “Is there life after rankings?” The Atlantic, November 2005.
 [2] Jay Matthews, “Long live college rankings,” The Washington Post, 5 October
2005.
 [3] Leon Botstein, “SAT is part hoax, part fraud,” Time, 7 March 2014.
 [4] Louis Menand, “Live and learn: Why we have college,” The New Yorker, 6 June
2011, pp. 74-79.
Readings for week 3 – invisibility
 [5] Sally Jenkins, “Why are Jim Thorpe’s Olympic records still not recognized?”
Smithsonian Magazine, July 2012.
 [6] David Zweig, “Managing the invisibles,” Harvard Business Review, May 2014,
pp. 97-103.
 [7] Katharina Balazs, “Take one entrepreneur: The recipe for success of France’s
great chefs,” European Management Journal, vol. 20 no. 3 (June 2002), pp. 247-259.
Readings for week 4 – solving mysteries
 [8] George R. Brinkerhoffm “The mystery of Ellis Parker,” JerseyMan Magazine, 11
Nov. 2011, at www.jerseymanmagazine.com/the-mystery-of-ellis-parker
 [9] Rivka Galchen, “Every disease on earth,” The New Yorker, 13 May 2013, pp.
50-57.
 [10] James D. Watson, The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the
Structure of DNA, Norton Critical Edition (W. W. Norton, 1981/1968)—excerpts.
Readings for week 5 – human performance
 [11] Daniel F. Chambliss, “The mundanity of excellence: An ethnographic report
on stratification and Olympic swimmers,” Sociological Theory, vol. 7 no. 1 (Spring
1989), pp. 70-86.
 [12] Daniel F. Chambliss, “Making theories from water: Or, finding stratification
in competitive swimming,” in A. J. Peddephatt, W. Shaffir & S.W. Kleinknecht
(eds.O, Ethnography Revisited: Constructing Theory in the Field (New York:
Routledge, 2009), pp. 253-262.
 [13] K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Th. Krampe & Clemens Tesch-Romer, “Deliberate
practice in the acquisition of expert performance,” Psychological Review, v. 100 n. 3
(1993), pp. 363-406.
 [14] Michael Sheard, “Introducing mental toughness,” in Mental Toughness: The
Mindset Behind sporting Achievement, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2012), pp. 1846.
FYS/excellence/readings-2
Readings for week 6 – creativity
 [15] E. Paul Torrance, “Great expectations: Creative achievements of the
sociometric stars in a 30-year study,” Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, v. 16 n.
1 (fall2004), pp. 5-13.
 [16] Carole Talbot-Honek & Terry Orlick, “The essence of excellence: Mental
skills of top classical musicians,” Journal of Excellence, no. 1 (1998), pp. 61-75.
 [17] Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life, reprint ed. (Simon
& Schuster, 2005) – excerpts
THE NATURE OF EXCELLENCE • FALL 2014 •
Week 1
W. Sept. 3
Week 2
W. Sept. 10
W. Sept. 17
Week 4
W. Sept. 24
CALENDAR [SUBJECT TO ADJUSTMENTS]
TOPICS
READING DUE
WRITING DUE
PRESENTATIONS
introductions, course overview & expectations, general discussion (your first week and a half at
college, your hopes and dreams and aspirations, defining excellence, whatever else comes up…)
01_Diver
team 1 (readings 1-4)
02_Matthews
•5 project ideas
ah, yes, college
03_Botstein
(hard copy to class)
04_Menand
05_Jenkins
team 2 (readings 5-7)
•project memo
invisibility
06_Zweig
(hard copy to class)
07_Balazs
team 3 (readings 8-10)
08_Brinkerhoff
•progress
report
solving
09_Galchen
mysteries
(hard copy to class)
10_Watson
team 7 (readings 11-12)
Week 5
W. Oct. 1
human
performance
11_Chambliss (mundanity)
12_Chambliss (water)
13_Ericsson
14_Sheard
Week 6
W. Oct. 8
creativity
15_Torrance
16_TalbotHonek
17_Tharp
Week 7
W. Oct. 15
project
presentations
Week 8
W. Oct. 22
project
presentations
team 8 (readings 13-14)
team 9 (readings 15-17)
Food &
celebration!
BY MIDNIGHT SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26: FINAL PAPER & ANY ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS DUE IN ICON DROPBOX