Frontiers Courses

This seminar brings together the work of adventurers, children's writers, visual artists, natural scientists, and visionaries to trace changing perceptions of the American wilderness. Their works span the continental United States and range from America's virtual obsession with the cowboy to our tendency to glorify individual forays into the wilderness. Our class will focus on interpreting texts - written texts and visuals texts, fiction as well as nonfiction. We will explore how works such as James Dickey's Deliverance, Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, and a statue in Disney's Epcot Center form a literary and visual record of changes in external but also internal landscapes: What happens to us when we step across the frontier separating the garden from the wilderness, the tamed from the untamed?

Instructor: Mary Marchand

Associate Professor Mary Marchand teaches in both the English Department and the American Studies Program. This course comes out of her fascination with American culture and her love of wild places, most notably her family's cabin in northernmost Minnesota.

All of us have had moments when we felt nearly invisible: times when instead of being the story at the center we were just a note jotted in the margin. This class will explore the realities of being marginalized by looking at groups of people who are frequently not visible. In the first part of the semester, we will read personal stories, agency reports, and scholarly works to learn about vulnerable populations. Some of the vulnerable populations we will consider are: homeless people, immigrants, the elderly, and children who have been separated from their birth parents. We will consider the history of marginalized people and may explore policies and attitudes that impact them. Together, we will formulate questions, gather information, and share our newfound knowledge. Each student will be expected to be a vital component of the learning environment as we seek to understand the realities of complex situations and people. During the second part of the semester, each student will work independently and with the support of the class and college resources to explore the realities of a marginalized group that they are particularly interested in.

Instructor: Joan Wilterdink

This course, designed for the total beginner as well as the advanced student, provides the experience and knowledge for you to understand your own musical self. Recognizing that each person has different natural tendencies and relationships to music, the course examines four types of musicians: improviser, composer, arranger, and interpreter. We will explore the issues confronting each type and the techniques available for each type to achieve musical expression. The course will consider different uses of music (concert, commercial, and theater music) and distinguish broad categories of music, such as song/dance, absolute/program music, and folk/art music. Other topics addressed are music theory and notation, music in sociological and historical contexts, the origin and analysis of musical styles, and acoustical versus psychological aspects of music. Course participants will play music and talk about music, and reading assignments will be taken from the writing of major composers and theorists.

Instructor: Jeffrey Chappell

Jeffrey Chappell has performed as a concert pianist throughout the United States in recitals and chamber music and has been a soloist with major symphony orchestras. He has also concertized in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Mr. Chappell is a recording artist, an award-winning composer, a jazz musician, an improviser for silent films, and an author of articles for music magazines. He is a graduate of Curtis Institute and Peabody Conservatory.

There are more than 50 million Latinas living in the United States, making them the nation's single fastest-growing and largest ethnic group. By 2050, Latinas are projected to account for more than 30 percent of the U.S. population. If Latinas in the United States today formed a country, they would rank as the 12th-largest global economy. This course draws on the interdisciplinary field of Latina studies and on a variety of sources from the colonial period to the present to introduce students to the social, political, and cultural history of this vital ethnic group. Readings and assignments will focus on Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, Central, and South American communities, examining their experiences living as individual groups and among one another. Key course topics include: past and present immigration, Latina identity and perceptions of Latinas in the United States, the formation and transformation of cultural identity, and the Spanish language in media and education. Central to your active learning will be the community-based learning component of the course through which you will participate in Goucher's Futuro Latino Learning Center.

Instructor: Frances Ramos-Fontán

Frances Ramos-Fontán has been teaching Spanish language, literature and culture at Goucher since 1997. Her areas of interest include foreign language acquisition and Caribbean Literature. As a recipient of a grant from the Department of Education three years ago, she had the opportunity to design and teach a course on the contemporary Puerto Rican family, which allowed her to share her love for her homeland with Goucher students. She is the proud mother of three children who generate a lot of the energy and enthusiasm she brings into the classroom.

In this age of rapid globalization, nations, communities and individuals are working hard to preserve and reaffirm their distinct identities and values. Drawing on media reports, commentary by scholars from diverse cultural positions, and your own experiences about what you can and cannot say, this course will examine the dialogues taking place across cultures about different values and ways of life, and the rules by which this dialogue is conducted. We will ask, Which factors promote civil dialogue? Why do some conversations become confrontations? We will consider the protests over the cartoons about Islam in Danish newspapers, recent unrest in France and the debate over who is really French, and the increasing use of English worldwide. Not least, we will examine constraints on free speech in our daily lives and the debate in this country over what it means to be patriotic and whether patriotism requires us to, or prohibits us from, saying certain things. Weekly response papers will give you the opportunity to examine arguments critically and to develop informed positions on a range of significant issues.

Instructors: Sanford Ungar and David Zurawik

Sanford Ungar, President of Goucher College, has previously served as Dean of the School of Communication at American University, Director of the Voice of America, and Host of  NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Mr. Ungar has written for The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.  His books include Fresh Blood: The New American Immigrants, The Papers & The Papers: An Account of the Legal and Political Battle over the Pentagon Papers, and Africa: The People and Politics of an Emerging Continent.

David Zurawik is an assistant professor at Goucher College. He has been The Baltimore Sun's TV/media critic since 1989. He has a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an M.A. in specialized reporting (on popular culture) from the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of The Jews of Prime Time (Brandeis University Press, 2003), a look at 50 years of Jewish identity on network TV. His writings on TV and media have appeared in such publications as Esquire magazine and American Journalism Review. He has been with WYPR-FM (88.1) public radio since 1994 and is a regular guest on CNN's media review show, "Reliable Sources."

In this course we will together enjoy constructions of the prima donna from early modern times to the present. We will look at her agency as a voice in her culture, and how that voice is presented, received, manipulated and sometimes repudiated by the people who produce it (that means “us”). Prima donnas often hold up images we are passionate to see because they help us negotiate, ignore, or justify something complex in our cultural space. These complexities and ambiguities are essential to the Prima Donna. Through them she becomes a cultural fantasy, so we will look at her, but also at social concerns that help define her. The purpose is not to judge but to look critically at how cultural icons emerge, and how they might resonate with viewers of diverse backgrounds. Some of the figures we will examine include a Renaissance courtesan, castrati, and “stars” from opera, jazz, film, and popular music, including Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Marilyn Monroe, and a transgendered community in NY. We will move fluidly back and forth between “then” and “now,” choosing from contemporary figures that interest you and me. Your assignments will include visual ones, primarily movies or documentaries, balanced by a series of short critical readings for each section. Our ultimate goal will be to look at icons in our own space with a new awareness of how we tell our own stories.

Instructor: Thomasin LaMay

Thomasin LaMay is a singer and music historian with a masters in history and a Ph.D. in music history and performance studies.  She has written about women in music from the Renaissance to modern times, and enjoys all kinds of music.  She has a long standing interest in social justice, including work with the Equal Justice Initiative, The Children's Peace Center, and food co-ops for Baltimore's poor.  She is also a Pilates instructor, and away from work enjoys writing, reading just about anything, and consorting with animals.

Are brains like computers? In a word, no. But perhaps the thinking process can be viewed and understood as a form of computation. This course explores the connection between thinking and computation by producing computations for many tasks that we perceive as requiring intelligent thought. We will create computations for tasks such as solving puzzles, understanding natural language, planning courses of action, and playing strategic games using the computer language Prolog. The material is presented with a minimal of technical detail so no prior computing background is required.

Instructor: Jill Zimmerman

Professor Jill Zimmerman teaches Computer Science. Her interests include robotics, artificial intelligence, and the inner workings of programming languages. She has three robots in her lab and loves puzzles of all kind.

As American students have fallen behind their international counterparts on standard measures of achievement, the perception of the American student as lazy, resistant, and unable to compete has precipitated a call for a return to "basics," discipline, and directive instruction. Schools have been put on notice, through initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Act, that they will be held to high performance standards through strict assessment procedures and that failure to meet these standards will result in sanctions and even school closings. In this course, we will address the broader psychological, social, and political implications and repercussions of this "standards" movement in education. At the same time, we will engage with a variety of alternative perspectives in which student apathy is framed as a symptom of exposure to an educational system that, in its zeal to improve the educational product (i.e., achievement outcomes), has failed to adequately address issues of social justice; teacher-student relationships; or the valuing of students' needs, interests, and feelings for promoting quality learning and healthy social and emotional development. Through discussion of the work of Montessori, Kohn, Neill, Kozol, and others, we will explore the possibility of a more student-centered, humanistic education that stresses the value of meaningful experience and holistic psychological development.

Instructor: Brian Patrick

Brian Patrick is an Associate Professor of Psychology and teaches courses in social psychology, existential and humanistic psychology, and human motivation.  His research interests center on the exploration of students' experiences of connection/disconnection in school.  Outside of his work, he enjoys spending time with his wife (an elementary school assistant principal whose experiences inform his teaching in Frontiers) and two children, including coaching his kids' basketball and soccer teams.  He enjoys a cappella music and musical theater, and has recently had the pleasure of performing with students in Goucher's Musical Theater and Opera Workshops.

Story telling is a day-to-day activity, as common as brushing our teeth. We gather around a fire, a table, a television, a computer and we are compelled to tell each other stories: "Have you heard ...?", "Did you hear the one about ...?" We talk, we paint, we write, we blog, we text and even “facebook” our stories. Telling stories is what we do to make sense of our experiences, to tell each other who we are, to enjoy the thrill of what we can't be, and to dream about what we want to become. In performing these narratives, we are learning about ourselves, about those closest to us, and about the world into which we are venturing. In this course we will be learning to reflect about these stories and what these stories tell us about ourselves and others.

Instructor: Florencia Cortes-Conde

Associate Professor Florencia Cortes-Conde teaches in the Hispanic Languages, Literature and Culture Department. This course comes from her interest in how experience becomes stories and how stories shape identity and language. Her fascination with this theme comes from her bicultural and bilingual experience.

This course will explore the ways in which popular culture can reflect our fears about the end of the world as we know it. Considering such books, films, and television shows as The Hunger Games, Riddley Scott, Fail-Safe, The Andromeda Strain, On the Beach, and The Twilight Zone, we will ask what our entertainment choices can tell us about our cultural concerns and fears. How might articulating these fears offer a way to cope with them and even move us toward some kind of insight about our place in, and responsibility toward, civilization's future? Projects will include reflective essays, group presentations, and an independent research project.

Instructor: Laura Orem

Laura Orem, Writing Fellow, has been teaching at Goucher since 2000. She holds an MFA in Writing and Literature from Bennington College. She is a featured blogger at The Best American Poetry Blog and Managing Editor of Toad Hall Press, and her poetry and essays appear in many literary journals and magazines. She lives in Red Lion, PA.

Instructor: Mel Lewis

Dr. Mel Michelle Lewis is an Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and affiliate faculty in Africana Studies. Her research and teaching focuses on race, gender, and sexual orientation. Dr. Mel attended Goucher as a Rosenberg scholar in dance and is an alum of the WGS and Sociology programs.

This course lets you put the theory of community radio into practice by producing your own radio documentaries in partnership with local community organizations. We will explore the philosophy behind community-oriented radio and study the various ways media skills empower communities around the country and around the world. This course combines audio production, community-based learning, and academic writing. Students will travel off campus to work with local community groups. (Transportation will be provided.) Students will learn the fundamentals of producing audio documentaries and will have the option of airing their work on local radio stations and local and national internet sites. [No experience is required, but students must purchase recording equipment (less than $100) in addition to the required books]. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: discuss the value of community-based media; collaborate with others to tell community stories; write radio scripts and academic essays; and perform fundamental audio production tasks, such as recording, editing, and mixing.

Instructor: Phaye Poliakoff-Chen

Phaye Poliakoff-Chen is a Writing Fellow in the English Department. Before coming to Goucher, she led the youth media program Uniquely Spoken, under the auspices of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She believes that a strong focus on community concerns leads to the most compelling radio documentaries.

Creative nonfiction is often described as the genre through which writers make the ordinary extraordinary, profiling individuals, exposing issues, and revealing the passions and everyday realities that characterize places both familiar and strange. In this intensive writing workshop, Goucher campus ("outside") students will join with a group of Goucher Prison Education Partnership ( incarcerated or "inside") students to experiment with a range of creative, reflective, and analytic approaches to writing. The seminar will meet each week inside a correctional institution near campus. In the workshop, you will read and respond to contemporary nonfiction; explore techniques of thick description, interview, and observation; and develop a range of approaches to storytelling. We will craft profiles, reflections, and personal essays and will also consider a range of questions provoked by prison as the context for our course. This intensive course requires a strong commitment to step out of your comfort zone, to participate actively and engage collaboratively with others, and to write weekly in a range of creative and analytic genres.

You will need to apply for this course. To apply, please submit a brief essay in which you 1) reflect on any past experiences that prepare you for this off-campus writing workshop and 2) explain what you hope to learn from, and contribute to, this unique workshop community.  Please send essay to broswell@goucher.edu.

Instructor: Barbara Roswell

Shakespeare’s plays shouldn’t work on screen. The plays are highly verbal… film and television are highly visual media. The plays were written to be interactive with a live, present audience… film and television project to a passive and distant audience. Why then are Shakespeare’s plays so often “translated” for the screen, often very successfully? This course involves reading several of Shakespeare's plays, doing in class performance exercises, analyzing and critiquing films and film clips of Shakespeare's works, and writing about Shakespeare on the screen. Students, working in small production teams will make ten-minute videos inspired by Shakespeare’s plays.

Instructor: Michael Curry

Michael Curry is a professor in the Department of Theatre at Goucher College, where he has been on the faculty for twenty-two years. He also serves as the France-Merrick Professor in Service Learning. He has acted and directed in numerous theatre productions, on campus and off, and he has also done industrial films, commercial voice-overs, and he has acted in special educational outreach programs. As France-Merrick Professor in Service Learning, he coordinates those academic programs that have community-based learning components, including the Enact Story and Read-A-Story/Write-A-Story programs at Dallas Nicholas Elementary School, and the new Latino Center at Goucher College.

More than a decade after Y2K, the word "millennium" has lost its immediacy, while, in the wake of September 11, 2001, the word "apocalypse" has acquired greater resonance. Overused and misunderstood, to many Americans both words convey little of the true importance of apocalyptic (including millennial) belief in Western culture. In this course, we will investigate Judeo-Christian conceptions of linear time, of a divine plan for human history, and of an ultimate and just resolution to the problem of evil. We will discuss the reasons for and the religious, social, and political uses of such apocalyptic belief, as well as its secularization. Above all, we will explore how apocalypticism has been manifest in visual form from the Middle Ages through the 21st century, exploring a range of paintings, prints, sculptures, and films and undertaking a number of written and visual assignments.

Instructor: Gail Husch

Gail Husch has taught art history at Goucher for twenty-one years; among her research interests is the place of apocalyptic belief in American culture. She is the author of Something Coming: Apocalyptic Expectation and Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Painting (University Press of New England, 2000).

What are the causes of color and how do we see color? Is the way we see color different from the way animals perceive color? Has the use of color changed over time and shaped human cultures? How has color influenced history and the environment? In this interdisciplinary course, students will explore these color topics both in the classroom and with hands-on activities in the laboratory. Students will learn about the major causes of color, how light and pigment can be engineered to yield specific colors, the history and use of color and its impact on society. Vision and the biological and social uses of color will be explored both scientifically as well as culturally. A significant portion of the topics will be generated based on student interests.

Instructor: Barbara Amann

After 25 years of doing research on zinc binding proteins at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Barbara Amann decided to change her focus to teaching undergraduates at Goucher College. Having grown up with a family of scientists and artists, her interest in color has evolved to include dying silk and wool for spinning yarn.

This introductory course is designed to develop your understanding and appreciation of the screenwriting adaptation process. We will examine methods for converting source texts into film and we will investigate how that conversion process can reflect specific cultural experiences relative to the two art forms of cinema and literature. In this frontiers edition of the course, we will begin by reviewing prominent models of adaptation ranging from Strangers on a Train to Ghost World and Children of Men. We then will proceed to an overview of the various techniques involved in narrative design as we prepare source texts for adaptation. Our semester will culminate in the planning and execution of a screenplay from source material provided by the student.

Instructor: Bill U'Ren

Bill U'Ren, assistant professor of English, has worked in film adaptation since his undergraduate days at UCLA when he wrote Box 100 for Columbia Pictures. He recently adapted John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat for Canum Entertainment and is working on a remake of The Thief. Bill previously taught film at Johns Hopkins University and at the University of Houston, where his courses received the President's Award. His work has also earned Donald Barthelme and Cambor Awards.

Modern neurobiology and the wisdom of Buddhism have come together in demonstrating how each of us has the power to change our brains. Only recently have scientists come to understand that the brain changes throughout one’s life and that we are to a considerable extent in control of these changes. Much of this understanding has come from MRI studies of the brains of Buddhist monks before, during and after meditation. In this course the science behind the practice of meditation will be investigated. Studies validating the benefits of meditation in improving emotional and physical wellness, social relationships, academic performance and memory will be examined. Organizations incorporating meditation as an integral part of their operations will be explored- organizations from high tech companies to public school systems. Students will be asked to participate in a contemplative practice.

Instructor: Esther Gibbs

In this Frontiers section, we will examine our perceptions of the Arab World and learn about the conflicts and upheavals that have shaped modern Arab society and culture. Throughout the semester, we will be introduced to a wide variety of thought-provoking Arab films, stories, poetry, and music that will spark a new understanding of the major trends and themes of this region. This will be a discussion-based seminar, in which our short essays will be geared toward developing the critical tools and skills needed for academic success in this course and beyond.

Instructor: Zahi Khamis

Zahi Khamis is the director of the Arabic program at Goucher. He is also an instructor of Arabic and a visual artist. His academic concerns are focused on literary theory, comparative literature and cultural studies. Zahi has a B.A in mathematics and an M.A in Liberal Studies.

This seminar will look at how microbes influence our life every day - in good and bad ways. It will include an overview of different types of microbes such as bacteria, virus, algae and parasitic worms and how they interact with our day to day health (diseases and cure/prevention) and surrounding environment (wastewater, biofuels, toxic waste) – here and in other parts of the world. We will be discussing how microbes are essential for instance in providing food and clean water, but also how they can become harmful, how our bodies respond to these situations and if we have any options for cure and prevention. We will critically evaluate newspaper articles and other sources discussing microbiological aspects within medicine and environmental topics. In addition, we will be exploring the microbes in the Goucher Community and surrounding areas via campus “field trips” and by performing easy hands-on laboratory experiments.

Instructor: Birthe Kjellerup

Assistant Professor Birthe Kjellerup teaches in both the Biology Department and the Environmental Studies Program. This course comes out of her deep interest and continued curiosity for the interaction between microbes, human health and the environment - in particular the surrounding aquatic resources such as the Chesapeake Bay.

How can films and literature help us understand the politics of the Middle East? They provide unique and often creative perspectives that complement the academic scholarship on the issues, problems, and conflicts in the region. This course will focus on important topics in the Middle East, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, Islam and politics, the war in Iraq, religious and ethnic identities, terrorism, and the politics of oil. We will critically assess the different political visions presented by the filmmakers and writers and how their perspectives shape our own understanding of the issues. We begin with readings on Orientalism and watch “Lawrence of Arabia” to establish the historical context for the modern Middle East. Films and literature include “The Syrian Bride,” “The Control Room,” “Syriana,” and “Waltz with Bashir,” Persepolis, Men in the Sun, and Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq. Students write response papers to many of the films and readings and participate in group projects to explore the meaning of the political landscape of the Middle East using visual displays and portfolios. This course will help your develop a nuanced understanding of Middle East politics, and informed opinions on a wide range of topics.

Instructor: Amalia Fried Honick

Amalia Fried Honick has been teaching courses in international relations at Goucher since 1987. She teaches classes on the Middle East, the U.N., the Vietnam War, East Asia, and world crises. She also accompanies her students to the Harvard National Model Union Nations in Boston as part of her course on the Model U.N. Her research interests include U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, the role of the media in foreign affairs, and foreign policy decision-making.

Is it necessary to suffer in order to produce great art? Can we get to know the personality of a composer through his or her music? Is it possible to be “perfectly imperfect”? This course will consider these questions and many others as we study the troubled life and emotional music of Ludwig van Beethoven. We will read Edmund Morris’s short biography, Beethoven: The Universal Composer; Daniel Levitin’s insightful book, This is Your Brain on Music; and explore selected examples of Beethoven’s compositions, especially the Third, Fifth and Ninth Symphonies. We will also critique films including Immortal Beloved, Eroica, and Copying Beethoven, and discuss the mythology surrounding great artists. Course work will explore your own personal relationship to music and consider the obstacles many artists have overcome to reach their true potential. The ability to read music is not required for this course.

Instructor: Elisa Koehler

Associate Professor Elisa Koehler is an orchestra conductor and trumpet player who is fascinated by the emotional and sociological elements in all types of music. In addition to serving as the chair of Goucher’s Music Department and as the Music Director of the Frederick Symphony Orchestra, she is also the author of Fanfares & Finesse: A Performer’s Guide to Trumpet History and Literature (Indiana University Press, forthcoming February 2014).

This course will focus on training the eye to look at movement,  the mind to comprehend it, and the body to experience it. We will explore the language of dance, analyzing the component parts of movement, though observation, exploration, improvisation, and analysis. The course will provide frameworks for analyzing and learning about movement, provide movement materials that can lead to choreographic study, develop opportunities for broadening and enriching your movement experience, and develop the essential tools and skills to analyze all forms of dance and movement. The course is designed to accommodate those with no dance skills, background or training but who have an interest in exploring their artistic movement potential and understanding as well as those with experience in any form of dance.

Instructor: Amanda Thom Woodson

Professor Amanda Woodson is currently serving as the associate dean for undergraduate studies and teaches in the dance department. This course aims to share her passion for inventive and explorative movement and her desire to develop informed and intelligent viewers of movement.

Is your favorite song meaningful? Music and words are generally considered meaningful in themselves, but are combined to produce everything from opera to commercial jingles. This course will draw from Music Theory, Ethnomusicology, and Sociology among other disciplines to examine the ideas of meaning in music and how words and music augment each other and achieve significance to individuals and/or cultures.

Instructor: Kendall Kennison

Kendall Kennison has been thinking about the relationship of words and music as a composer, having written an opera in 2005, as well as in 2011 performing for the first time in an opera, Goucher College’s production of The Mikado. He teaches Music Theory and Composition in the Music Department at Goucher.

“Am I Black or White? Am I Straight or Gay? CONTROVERSY?” Since its founding, and long before recording artist Prince penned these lyrics in the 1980s, America has been a space and a place demanding and mandating polarized definitions of race and sexuality. This course will examine the reasoning behind and ramifications of these dichotomies from the Colonial Period to the present in genres that include literature, film, and music. We will also explore how these binaries affect people who identify as biracial and bisexual. This discussion-based course requires intensive reading, viewing, and listening and will foster your critical thinking and analytical writing. Topics of discussion will include the “one-drop rule,” the slavery debate, miscegenation, racial passing, segregation, integration, interracial desire, and sexual passing. Special attention will be given to individuals who and organizations that refuse to follow racial and sexual dictates. Authors will include Thomas Jefferson, Nella Larsen, James Weldon Johnson, James Baldwin, Ann Allen Shockley, Prince, Adrienne Rich, E. Lynn Harris, and Barack Obama.

Instructor: Angelo Robinson

Angelo Robinson is an associate professor of English at Goucher College where he teaches courses in the English Dept., American Studies Program, and the Africana Studies Program. He has published articles on issues of race, gender, and sexuality.

The body is a powerful tool of expression and an extension of your intellectual self. This seminar and movement lab will explore how basic movement education can enhance your mind’s capacity to creatively problem solve, think critically, and analyze a broad variety of social, political, and artistic topics from multiple perspectives. Through readings, discussion, and movement experimentation we will discover together the power of your physical and creative ”voice”. Prior movement/dance experience is not necessary to awaken a mind/body connection to enhance how you view the world.

Instructor: Linda Garofalo

Full time Instructor, Linda Garofalo, teaches in the dance department and is a performing artist and choreographer. She is constantly inspired by the interdisciplinary and holistic aspects of movement education and its power to develop deep and broad thinkers. She developed this course because of her belief that everybody, not just trained dancers, should have the opportunity to explore and fulfill their creative potential.

Traditions are passed on in many forms, but one of the most successful vehicles for the transmission of culture and mores is the fairytale. This course will examine the fairytale as a genre, comparing the Russian versions of tales to their Indo-European standards. Where did these tales come from and why? Were they always simple bedtime stories? Are they still applicable today? Through a cross-cultural comparison, students will analyze tales from psychological, physiological, socio-economic, and historic perspectives. An examination of global similarities and differences will allow students access to the past, while permitting a snapshot of 21st-century ideals in contrast.

Instructor: Annalisa Czeczulin

Annalisa Czeczulin, Assistant Professor of Russian, teaches at both Goucher College and the Johns Hopkins University as part of the Goucher-Hopkins Cooperative Russian Program. Her areas of expertise include Slavic Linguistics and Second-Language Acquisition. In addition to teaching, Dr. Czeczulin has extensive experience editing and producing of Russian textbooks and directing study abroad exchanges between the United States and Russia. A former member of the Lyman Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, she is still active in the Russian community in maintaining the Russian Olympiada, the Maryland semifinals of which are presently held at Goucher College on an annual basis.