New Collegiate

Division

The New Collegiate Division offers a variety of interdisciplinary courses in addition to those particularly related to the concentration programs. One of the purposes of the division is to provide a forum for new ideas in teaching: certainly only one such forum among many in the College and the University, but for some teachers, and for some subjects cutting across familiar academic lines, the most convenient one. These courses are as a rule open to all students. Indeed, they usually aspire to attract students with different interests and backgrounds.

Courses

212. Resolving the Environmental Crisis (=EnvStd 212, NCD 212). PQ: Third- or fourth-year standing or consent of instructor. This lecture/discussion course analyzes the impact of human activity on the natural world that sustains it. Topics include human population dynamics; the role of economic and industrial activity in human welfare; our use of natural resources (for example, energy, soil, and water); biodiversity; prospects for sustainable development; and the role of cultural institutions and values in these matters. The format includes reading diverse sources and writing several short papers. T. Steck. Autumn.

213. Managing the Environment (=EnvStd 213, LL/Soc 213, NCD 213, PubPol 213). PQ: Econ 198 or higher. This course analyzes human interaction with and intervention into the environment. Topics include resource management, environmental and economic policy, environmental law, business initiatives, and global environmental legislation. Also assessed are major national legislation on Superfund, resource conservation and recovery, air quality, water quality, hazardous chemicals, and endangered species. D. Coursey. Spring.

221. Jewish-American Self-Reflection (=Eng 227, GS Hum 217, JewStd 227, NCD 221). This course studies works that illuminate the question of Jewish identity in America in the twentieth century. Some texts take up this issue as their explicit subject, and others may be revelatory without intending to or even despite their manifest intention. Most of the texts are literary (authors may include Abraham Cahan, Anzia Yezierska, Mike Gold, Henry Roth, Nathanael West, Saul Bellow, Grace Paley, and Philip Roth), but selections from the works of historians, social observers and reformers, and religious thinkers are also included. M. Krupnick. Autumn.

225. Virtue and Existence (=DivTh 201, Fndmtl 285, NCD 225). This course explores a basic issue in moral anthropology, specifically the connection between virtue and accounts of human existence. We read two basic texts: Thomas Aquinas's treatise on virtue in the Summa Theologiae, and The Courage to Be by Paul Tillich. Attention is given to how the discourse of virtue, that is, claims about human excellence, is tied to some conception of human existence, and, what is more, the difference contrasting conceptions of virtue and existence make for theology and ethics. W. Schweiker. Spring.

297. Reading Course. PQ: Consent of faculty supervisor and program chairman. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Must be taken for a letter grade. This course is designed for NCD students whose program requirements are best met by study under a faculty member's individual supervision. Arrange the subject, course of study, and requirements with the instructor. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

298. Reading Course. PQ: Consent of faculty supervisor and NCD master. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. May be taken P/F or for a letter grade. Students in divisions other than the New Collegiate Division may arrange a tutorial with a member of the NCD faculty. Registration for this course and information about the tutorial arrangement must be reported to the office of the NCD master. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

299. Independent Study. PQ: Consent of faculty supervisor and program chairman. Must be taken P/F. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Enrollment in this course is restricted to NCD students. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.