Academic Freedom at a Small Southern University

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Friends: I had to share the following course offering that some colleagues and I have developed for the Fall. The university where I'm a professor (www.Pfeiffer.edu) has been open to several "special topics" offerings in the past, and this is one of them. I feel lucky to be at such a flexible and open-minded, small, Southern school. Any of you have soon-to-be high school graduates you'd like to send our way?

The email announcing the course can be found below:

Dear Students,

A few of us have put our minds together to offer you a Special Topics course for the Fall of 2010. It is intended to be capped at 12 students and will likely meet two full weekend days per month throughout the semester, at the very least, but is now listed as TBD. It will be a writing intensive course (WIC), in addition to having a rather heavy reading load. It will eventually likely be cross-listed as Psychology 398.100, as well.

Please feel free to email me with any questions or comments.

Information is as follows:

Course Title: ENSC 398.100: Special Topics: Biosocial Aspects of Survival

Semester Hours: 3

Course Description:

This course provides students with an in-depth exploration of the biological, anatomical, psychological, sociological, and practical aspects of survivorship in critical events or situations. The course focuses on issues ranging from evolutionary and selective processes to the psychological and social predispositions that have been identified as contributing to survivorship in disasters, whether natural or anthropogenic. While the course will focus on events of recent history (including 9/11, Mogadishu, Katrina, the Rodney King riots, Columbine, and the “Miracle on the Hudson”), historical examples and aftermath studies from classic examples will also be examined (San Francisco fires, 3 Mile Island, Bopal, Donner Party, wartime, and pandemics). The intersection between biological, social, psychological, and practical aspects will be a major theme of this course. Understanding the personal dynamics of disasters and human impacts will be a capstone goal of the course. At the end of the course, students will have been exposed to a wide base of readings and discussion from the popular and academic literature. They will have written extensive works on relevant subjects. The course will be taught in a seminar format, with practical activities and student-led discussions as well. It will involve heavy emphasis on readings from the current, primary, peer-reviewed literature as well as popular press, but will also require background material from texts in the relevant fields.

Course Rationale:

This course is appropriate for Biology, Psychology, Criminal Justice, History, and other majors. It is not a required course for any major. This course will give students the fundamental knowledge they need to understand this widely-interesting area of human biology, history, and behavior. Those interested in potential careers with any relationship to human biology or psychology, also including emergency or civil management, will find this course useful.

Course Prerequisites: Biology 211 and 212, Introductory Psychology, or instructor approval.