FALL 2013
HNRS 190 Seminar: Instructor Biographies & Course Descriptions
Perry Alexander, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Tuesday 4:00 – 5:00 pm Templin Room 30619
Seminar Assistant: Ashley Farris
Instructor Biography:
Dr. Perry Alexander is a Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department and Director of the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center at The University of Kansas. His research interests include system-level modeling, design languages, heterogeneous specification, language semantics, and trusted systems. He received the BSEE and BSCS in 1986, the MSEE in 1988, and the PhD in 1992 all from The University of Kansas. From September 1992 through July 1999 he was a faculty member and director of The Knowledge-Based Software Engineering Laboratory in the Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science department at The University of Cincinnati.
Dr. Alexander's research has been sponsored by NSF, DARPA, NASA, Battelle, as well as several Armed Services Laboratories. He has published over 100 refereed research papers and the book System Level Design With Rosetta. He has won 20 teaching awards and was named a Kemper Teaching Fellow and the ASEE's Midwest Region Teacher of the Year in 2003, and received the Sharp Teaching Professorship in 2009. Dr. Alexander has advised nine PhD and 23 MS students including NSF and SMART fellowship recipients. For more information, please visit http://www.ittc.ku.edu/~alex
Course description: “Origins of Computing”
Although virtually every junior high student can name the inventor of the cotton gin, phonograph, and light bulb, almost no one can name the inventor of the computer, program or programming language. In this tutorial we will examine the how, when and why of the origins of computing. We will examine how computing came to be and how the collapse of a philosophical movement led to the rise of computing. We will examine when programs came to be and why they predate computers. Finally, we will examine why computing was conceived and what motivated those that were its earliest pioneers. At the same time we will examine the social impacts of computing and the characters that invented it.
Brad Allen, Director of the Lawrence Public Library
Thursday 4:30 – 5:20 pm Nunemaker 108 30623
Seminar Assistant: Maggie Zehren
Instructor Biography:
Brad Allen is the Executive Director of the Lawrence Public Library. He is a native Kansan and a proud KU Honors Program alum. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies and Psychology from the University of Kansas, a Master’s Degree in Library and Information
Science from the University of Illinois, and a Master’s Degree in Afro-American Studies from the University of Wisconsin.
Course Description: Black Music in American Culture
This survey will look at the intersection of African-American
popular music and mid-to-late 20th century American culture. Listening to musical selections and discussing their meaning and relevance will be a significant component of the seminar. How does music influence culture and how does culture influence music? How
did music affect or influence the African-American Freedom Movement? These questions and more will be at the center of this seminar.
Santa Arias, Latin and South American Studies
Monday 10:00 – 10:50 am Wescoe 2600 30632
Seminar assistant: Janelle Fox
Santa Arias is associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Kansas. Her current teaching and research highlights the critical importance of the spatiality of colonialism, historical textualities, religion and empire, and more recently, geographical thinking in eighteenth-century Spanish America. Besides the publication of numerous essays in academic journals, she has published the monograph Retórica, historia y polémica: Bartolomé de las Casas y la tradición intelectual renacentista (2001); and four co-edited volumes: Mapping Colonial Spanish America: Places and Commonplaces of Identity, Culture and Experience (2002), Approaches to Teaching the Writings of Bartolomé de las Casas (2008), and The Spatial Turn: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (2008); and forthcoming Coloniality, Religion, and the Law in the Early Iberian World. She is completing the book project Transatlantic Reconfigurations of the Americas: Geo-narratives of Empire, Nature, and Identity during the Enlightenment. Her research has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the CIES/Fulbright Scholar Program.
Course Description: “Mapping the Colonial Americas: Encounters, Chronicles, and Difference”
This course will center on the experience of contact between Europeans and Amerindian cultures during the first two centuries of the colonial period. We will explore writings, maps, and visual art that responded to polemics on territoriality, cultural and natural difference, religious conversion, and the construction of new cultural identities. Students will be able to read and interpret primary sources in order to gain knowledge on the important role of these texts for the development of colonial policies and expansionist projects. A major emphasis will be placed on the consequences of these historical and political processes, which caused depopulation and the social, natural and cultural transformation of the Western hemisphere. Readings include: Columbus, Las Casas, Hernan Cortes, and indigenous codices.
Phil Baringer, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Tuesday 2:30 – 3:45 pm Templin Room 30617
Seminar Assistant: Samantha Brunker
Instructor Biography:
Prof. Philip Baringer is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and an Honors Faculty Fellow. His area of research is experimental particle physics and he is currently working on the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.
Course Description: “Seeing the Invisible: Inferring Particle Physics”
No one has ever seen an electron or a quark, but it is quite useful to assume they exist. In this seminar we’ll explore the experimental foundations of subatomic physics and how theories interact with observations. How, for example, did people come to believe in the existence of neutrinos – invisible particles that rarely interact with matter? What makes us think that dark matter, which has never been directly observed, makes up 90% of the matter in the universe?
Barbara Barnett, School of Journalism
Tuesday 4:00 – 4:50 pm Stauffer-F 202 30630
Seminar Assistant: Anna Wenner
Instructor Biography:
Barbara Barnett, Ph.D., is an associate professor and associate dean in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. At KU, she teaches Journalism 101, Media and Society. She also teaches courses in reporting, research methods, media and diversity, and media and popular culture. She does research on media and gender. Prof. Barnett received her master’s degree from Duke University and her doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She previously worked in health communications and in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She also worked as a print journalist for The Charlotte News and The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina.
Course Description: “Seriously? Fake News”
Satire is an important part of American media. Since Colonial times, journalists have used satire to make points about democracy and the U.S. political system. More recently, satire has taken the form of fake news programs, which lampoon public officials but also the news media. This one-hour freshman seminar explores fake news programs, including SNL's Weekend Update, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Onion News Network, to examine what these programs tell us about politics, popular culture, and journalism.
Misha Barybin, Department of Chemistry
Fridays 1:00 – 2:30 pm Nunemaker 108 30606
Instructor Biography:
Born and raised in Moscow, Russia, Dr. Barybin moved to the United States in 1994, after pursuing his undergraduate studies at Higher College of Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1999. Prior to joining KU’s Department of Chemistry in 2001, where he is currently an associate professor, he did postdoctoral research at MIT. Prof. Barybin’s research interests and accomplishments are at the interface of synthetic organometallic, physical inorganic, and materials branches of Chemistry. In particular, his research group is involved in developing new molecular and supramolecular platforms for charge delolalization and transport at the nanoscale that are relevant to molecular electronics. During his career at KU, Professor Barybin has taught ten different courses, including Honors Fundamentals of Chemistry I & II. He is a recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Educator Award (KU Mortar Board Honor Society) and the 2010 Byron Alexander Graduate Mentor Award (KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences).
Course Description: “Chemistry in the Context of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology: From Data to Knowledge”
One of the far-reaching scientific achievements of the past century was the birth of what we today call Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology as a field involves two distinct yet synergistic branches: nanoscale materials and molecular nanotechnology. Technology of nanoscale materials involves preparation and applications of materials with particle sizes below 100 nanometers. Molecular Nanotechnology involves “bottom-up” design and assembly of functional materials from individual molecules. In this Honors seminar, the students will consider the critical role of Chemistry in the nanotechnological progress through focused discussions of several state-of-the-art examples illustrating how scientific data evolved into Knowledge. These discussions will be supported by carefully chosen reading assignments that will involve a combination of primary scientific, review, and popular literature. The students will debate and critique different predictions regarding the future of molecular nanotechnology expressed by past and contemporary prominent scientists. In addition, they will reflect not only on the new fundamental scientific horizons, but also on any likely societal and ethical implications of the changes to be brought about by the emerging transformative discoveries. Introduction of various majors relevant to chemistry careers, particularly in an interdisciplinary environment, will be integrated in the course as well.
David Besson, Physics and Astronomy
Monday 8:00 - 8:50 am Malott 6051 30595
Seminar Assistant: Jill Wenderott
Instructor Biography:
Dave Besson has a background in particle physics, and has been at KU since 1993. He received his advanced degree in 1986 from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Course Description: "Flying in the face of reason"
We like to believe that we are living in an enlightened Age of Reason. Nevertheless, there are numerous cases, spanning many cultures, where popular sentiment on some topic clearly runs counter to the overwhelming weight of scientific data and evidence. We will consider case studies, as well as the propaganda machines that are often amassed to sway popular opinion.
Timothy Caboni, Department of Public Affairs
class held on the following dates: Aug 27, Sep 3, Sep 17, Sep 24, Oct 22, Oct 29
Tuesday 10:00 am – 12:30 pm Nunemaker 108 30631
Seminar Assistant: Gabby Murnan
Instructor Biography:
Dr. Timothy Caboni serves as vice chancellor at the University of Kansas where he leads the university’s public affairs strategy and oversees the communications, marketing and advocacy efforts of the university in addition to acting as KU’s principal spokesperson. In this role, he represents the University of Kansas to a wide range of constituencies and works to connect KU with local, regional, national and global audiences. He also coordinates the university’s legislative agenda at the local, state and federal levels on issues that include research funding, higher education policy and health care.
As chief communication strategist, Caboni directs the university’s efforts to raise the visibility of KU’s knowledge discovery, instruction and patient care efforts. In addition to leading public affairs for KU’s four campuses, including KU Medical Center, he coordinates the efforts of the Alumni Association, the Athletics Corporation and the Endowment Corporation with those of the university. He also has responsibility for the operations of Kansas Public Radio and holds an appointment as Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy in the University of Kansas School of Education.
Course Description: “Higher Education Leadership and Public Policy”
This seminar will explore current issues in higher education with an eye toward both institutional leadership and public policy. Students will gain an understanding of the major postsecondary policy challenges facing colleges and universities in the United States and the range of institutional responses to these challenges. Broad topics to be explored will include: access, accountability, affordability, governance (faculty and institutional), diversity, quality, funding, and rankings. Course meeting will include visits with university leaders in addition to discussions focused on current events in higher education, all of which will be informed by readings and research literature.
Michele Casavant, Director of Advising, School of Education
Friday 10:00 – 11:00 am JRP 420
Assistant: Rachel Wotawa
Instructor Biography:
Dr. Michele Casavant earned her Ph.D. with honors in American Studies at the University of Kansas in 2003 and published her dissertation, Where No Other Has Gone Before: Race and Gender in Star Trek, in 2009. Her research and interests concentrate on inequalities in the U.S., multicultural education, and representations of race and gender in popular culture.
She currently serves as Director of Advising at the School of Education, where she guides the center to best serve the needs of undergraduate students. She is also Director of the Multicultural Scholars Program for the School of Education, a program that recruits and retains diverse students within the School of Education.
Course Description: American Identities
This course is structured to help you become more critically aware of the society and culture in which you live. Through analyzing popular culture, such as film, TV, and short novels, you will gain a better understanding of certain ideologies and beliefs that are experienced and expressed by many Americans. We will also explore different types of cultural theory, which will aid in our analysis and our critical approach to culture. In addition, this course will help you understand how our American identities are dependent on many interconnecting forces, such as race, gender, class, histories, sexuality, and others. We will have two main areas of emphasis. First, we will analyze the ways in which American Indians are constructed in cultural texts. We will also scrutinize science fiction and examine how it reflects current ideologies.
Jonathan Earle, Department of History
Wednesday 10:00 – 11:00 am Nunemaker 108 30603
Seminar Assistant: Alexander Kuhn
Instructor Biography:
Joanthan Earle (Ph.D. Princeton University) has taught in KU's history department since 1997, specializing in courses on American politics, the early republic, and the antebellum period. He also teaches a popular undergraduate course on the history of conspiracy theories and paranoia in U.S. history. From 2003-2010 he directed programming at KU's Dole Institute of Politics. He has been involved with the Honors Program since his arrival in Lawrence, and taught the University Scholars seminar in 2009, with the topic "Kansas City."