Courses

Get the rest of your course books now!

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Dear Student,

Broad Street Books will be returning overstock textbooks to the distributors during the next two weeks. Please purchase all of the titles you will need for the rest of the semester at your earliest convenience.

Half-semester and trimester course materials will be kept longer.   We will be happy to reorder any title for you at any time.

 Have a great semester.  Sincerely, Colleen Chen, Text Manager, Broad Street Books, 860-685-7323

HIST210: American Jewish History

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History 210:  American Jewish History, 1492-2001   

Prof. Ron Schatz,  Mon. & Wed. 2:40-4 p.m.

This course considers the successive waves of Jewish immigrants who have come to colonies in North America and the United States, how they and their descendants have fared, and their role in the larger society.  Among the issues we’ll look at are these: the reasons for migration; philo-Semitic and anti-Semitic of Gentiles; where Jews settled, why, and their role in the economy; the rise of Reform Judaism and the Orthodox response; cultural clashes between German and East European Jews;  participation in political movements, including socialism, Zionism, civil rights, feminism, and neo-conservatism; responses to Czarist Russia, the Balfour Declaration, Nazi Germany, and Israel; distinctive cultural contributions to genres ranging from music and novels to sports, comics, and film; and changing family and social practices. 

https://iasext.wesleyan.edu/regprod/!wesmaps_page.html?crse=011417&term=1109

Creative Writing Course open to rising sophs

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ENGL241 is designed especially for frosh and sophs, but is listed incorrectly on WesMaps as only an FYI.  This course is not only designed for rising sophomores, but also will count toward the Creative Writing Concentration.

ENGL 241: SPECIAL TOPICS: MERGING FORMS — PROF. CLIFFORD CHASE

Students will explore, both in the readings and their own work, forms of writing that don’t fit neatly into traditional genres such as fiction, essay, or criticism. Readings will include Maxine Hong Kingston’s THE WOMAN WARRIOR (which combines fiction and personal essay), Eduardo Galeano’s MEMORY OF FIRE: GENESIS (historical writing combined with fiction), and selected short works by Donald Barthelme, Rebecca Brown, Wayne Koestenbaum, and others (all playing with genre in various ways). Brief weekly creative writing assignments keyed to the readings, two of which students will develop into longer pieces.

New Course: Prison Theater Outreach Course

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How many classes have changed your life? 

How many classes have let you change someone else’s?

“The class demonstrated the power and life of theater. Through visits to different community centers I witnessed the way in which theater goes from text to touching the lives of people- from the old to the young”  – Joelle Minott, ’09

Prison Outreach Through Theater  (Thea 205)

Taught by Professor of Theatre, Dr. Ron Jenkins

Offered in Fall 2010 Wednesdays from 1:10-4:00 &  Tuesdays from 1:10 to 4:00

Students will have the opportunity to put social activism into practice by working with incarcerated women on the writings of Shakespeare, Dante, and other writers. Readings will include Shakespeare Behind Bars by Jean Trounstine and Theater of the Oppressed by Agosto Boal, the Brazilian actor/activist who has pioneered techniques advocating theater as a force for social change. Students need no theatrical experience but can use whatever artistic interests they possess (acting, puppetry, drawing, writing, story-telling, vocal and instrumental music)

There are no prerequisites for this course, and non-Theatre majors are encouraged to join! Anyone with an interest in bettering the community,

Check out the class on a WesMap Near You!

New course in Film Studies

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Documentary Advocacy (FILM 150)

This is a film production course aimed at serving non-majors who wish to make a documentary in support of a cause thumbnailCAR61NXOor an organization.  Students will learn the fundamentals of documentary film production while studying examples in which documentary films have been used to advocate on behalf of groups and individuals seeking to make social change.  Production lessons include shooting verité footage, lighting interviews, the use of wireless microphones, and documentary editing techniques.  This course is especially designed for seniors with specific interests in social issues that can be addressed by shooting in the immediate Middletown area.  Documentary filmmaking experience is not required.

 Jacob Bricca, Film Studies

New Course Announcement: The Journalist as Citizen

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thumbnailCAF6OQLUOffered by the distinguished journalist Jane Eisner, Wesleyan’s first Koeppel Fellow in Journalism 

Class Meets Thursdays 7:00-9:50 in PAC 421

Students may register online, the course is open to students from all four class years.

 

Course Description:

In this weekly writing seminar, we will explore how journalists exercisetheir roles as citizens, and, in turn, how journalism affects the functioningof our democracy. Using historic and contemporary examples, we willexamine how, at its best, the media exposes inequity, investigates wrongdoing, gives voice to ordinary people, and encourages  active citizenship.

 Instructor Bio:

Jane Eisner, a pioneer in journalism, became editor of the Forward in June 2008, becoming the first woman to hold the position at the influential Jewish national weekly newspaper. Eisner held numerous executive editorial and news positions at the Philadelphia Inquirer for 25 years, including stints as editorial page editor, syndicated columnist, City Hall bureau chief and foreign correspondent. In 2006, she joined the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where she served as vice president for national programs and initiatives, with responsibility for all adult programming, the Liberty Medal, and the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution. Since 2002, Eisner has been a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Robert A. Fox Leadership Program, as well as an adjunct professor in the school’s political science department. In 2006, she was one of three women chosen to be the first fellows of the new Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center at Bryn Mawr College, where she led conferences and workshops and was the college’s 2007 commencement speaker. In 2009, Eisner was selected to be one of 20 fellows in the Punch Sulzberger Executive News Media Leadership Program at the Columbia School of Journalism. Her book, “Taking Back the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in our Democracy,” was published by Beacon Press in 2004. In addition to her Inquirer column “American Rhythms,” which was syndicated to 100 newspapers, Eisner has contributed articles to a number of Jewish publications, including The Reconstructionist, Ma’ayan and the Forward. She has also written for the Washington Post, Newsday, Brookings Review and Columbia Journalism Review, and served as a regular panelist on the WPVI television talk show “Inside Story.”

An active member of her local community, Eisner is a board member of the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, a past president of the Pennsylvania Women’s Forum, a former trustee and secretary of The Philadelphia Award, and a mentor with Philadelphia Futures. Nationally, she is a member of the Columbia School of Journalism Alumni Board, the National Conference on Citizenship’s advisory committee, and the Encore Leadership Network. Eisner received a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of Journalism and graduated from Wesleyan University cum laude in 1977, where she was the first female editor of the college newspaper and was a member of the board of trustees. She recently was the first woman to win Wesleyan’s McConaughy Award for contributions to journalism and public life.