University Courses (Division 495)

Fall Term, 1998 (September 8-December 21, 1998)

University Courses are sponsored by the College or University rather than by individual departments or programs and may be taught by members of the faculty in any academic unit on the Ann Arbor campus. The College offers as University Courses both full-term courses and mini-courses.

The University Courses Division sponsors a number of First-Year Seminars (UC 150, 151, 152, 153) that provide a unique small-class educational experience open to all first-year students. (A complete list of seminars offered this term by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts can be found in the first section of this Course Guide.) These seminars are taught on a variety of topics by regular and emeritus faculty from many different departments. The small-class size (approximately 15-25 students) facilitates deeper learning through more active participation and increased opportunities for interaction between student and teacher as well as dialogue among students. First-Year Seminars provide a stimulating introduction to the intellectual life of the University by exposing new students to engaging subject matter; some may discover a subject to pursue in further courses. It is hoped that students who take a seminar will find in it a sense of intellectual and social community that will ease the transition to a large university.

All First-Year Seminars can be used to complete part of the College's general requirements. UC 153 meets the Introductory Composition requirement. Other seminars count toward satisfying the Area Distribution requirements: Humanities (UC 150); Social Sciences (UC 151); Natural Sciences (UC 152), Quantitative Reasoning or Race & Ethnicity.

The University Courses Division occasionally offers Collegiate Seminars, open to any student who has completed the Introductory Composition requirement. Intended especially for lower-division students and taught by regular professorial faculty members, Collegiate Seminars provide additional opportunities for first- and second-year students to personalize their education through a small-group course.

All Collegiate Seminars count toward satisfaction of the College's Area Distribution requirements in one of the three major divisions: Humanities (UC 250); Social Sciences (UC 251); Natural Sciences (UC 252). All emphasize critical thinking about important and central topics and feature further instruction in writing.

University mini-courses are one-credit, special interest offerings that center upon a conference, group of lectures, or special exhibit, appear on short notice in a term, and are usually of 2-to-8-weeks duration. Mini-courses are offered mandatory credit/no credit and are normally excluded from area distribution and concentration credits. Information about upcoming UC mini-courses is available by dialing POINT 10 (764-6810). No more than two University mini-courses may be elected in one term.

110/AOSS 171/Biol. 110/NR&E 110. Introduction to Global Change I. (4). (NS). (BS).
See Biology 110. (Killeen, Allan, Kling, Teeri, van der Pluijm)
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150. First-Year Humanities Seminar. Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU). May be repeated for credit with permission of department.
Section 004 - The French Philosophical Novel. What can novels say or teach about how to live? About love, money, and morals, about ethical and political choices, about the pursuit of happiness and responsibility for evil? How can we learn from fiction, and what can we do with it - how should we respond to it in our own thinking and writing? These are some of the central questions called for by the French-language philosophical novels that we will read and study in English translation in this seminar. We will begin with a few short works from the heyday of philosophical and critical fiction in the years before the French Revolution, then continue with more modern versions of the form down to the present day. Works studied will include Voltaire, Candide; Graffigny, Letters of a Peruvian Woman; Denon, No Tomorrow; Balzac, The Wild Ass's Skin; Camus, The Fall; and Kundera, Slowness. Active class participation expected, including brief individual and group presentations. Three essays or experimental writing projects of moderate length; one oral examination. (Paulson)
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