African Studies

Combined major (with Anthropology, Economics, Government, or History) and minor offered

Philosophy: The curriculum is developed to enhance a comprehensive knowledge of historical as well as contemporary issues of the African continent, to promote the understanding of the continent’s diversity and to encourage problem-solving approaches to questions and interdisciplinary research.

Highlights:

  • The multidisciplinary curriculum includes research, special performances and lectures designed to supplement the student’s classroom experience
  • Kenya Program (33 years old) St. Lawrence was the first American university to have students in Kenya in 1974.
  • National reputation for being the best undergraduate program of its kind in Africa (very competitive application process)
  • Caters to interest in the environment, the developing world, and international health
  • SLU owns a 5 acre property in Nairobi reflecting our commitment and importance of the program
  • 3 Components:
  • Courses (taught by professors from University of Nairobi or KenyattaUniversity)
  • Field Component involves living with Samburu (pastoralists); living with an agricultural community; a home stay in another part off Kenya
  • Internships: refugee camps, sea/ocean ecology issues, museum work, work with various NGOs (dealing with safe water delivery and health care); archaeological digs; law firms; publishing
  • Each year, a special scholarship brings about 8 Kenyan students to campus
  • Swahili is offered on campus and in Kenya at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels
  • A program, not a department
  • Class sizes range from 6-30 students; upper level classes are typically seminars with much discussion
  • Courses in African Studies fulfill the diversity requirement
  • Grads: graduate school; international relations; international development; public health/administration; Peace Corps
  • Students wishing to minor or complete a combined major in African Studies must complete a capstone course to ensure their exposure to diverse issues

Faculty:

  • Patricia A. Alden (English)
  • Robert A. Blewett (Economics)
  • Alice Pomponio (Anthropology)
  • Obiora Udechukwa (Fine Arts)
  • John W. Barthelme (Anthropology)
  • Erika L. Barthelmess (Biology)
  • John M. Collins (Global Studies)
  • Judith A. DeGroat (History)
  • David T. Lloyd (History)
  • Assis Malaquias (Government)
  • Andrea J. Noureyeh (Performance and Communication Arts)
  • Celia K. Nyamweru (Anthropology)
  • Mehretab A. Assefa (Sociology)
  • Timothy Mangin (Music)
  • Susan Bantu (Swahili)

Anthropology

Major, combined major (with African studies and environmental studies) and minor

Philosophy:

  • Anthropology is the study of humanity and should encompass the range of human experience among peoples of the world—this department’s approach is exceptionally holistic
  • More narrowly, requirements for the department include a mix of fine arts, music, sociology, biology, linguistics and history with respect to human development—i.e. it links the social sciences, natural sciences, arts & humanities
  • Very wide variety of courses, covering all areas of human habitation
  • Focus on non-Western cultures

Highlights:

  • Strong ties with Kenya: students who participate in the Kenya Program are able to get involved with digs as part of their course work (e.g., students have traveled to the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania to see the excavation sties)
  • Also ties with Australia and India programs—the department encourages students to participate in all SLU international programs, as they believe students should not be limited in their studies
  • Lab facilities for archeological work, bone casts, primitive artifacts (tools, etc.)
  • Students have done work on Massai culture, interned with the Ottawa Museum of Civilization, worked at National Geographic, done AIDS research, etc.
  • Few courses have pre-requisites
  • Some students are members of Lambda Alpha, the national anthropology honorary society
  • Department complies information on many archeological and ethnographic field schools and ongoing projects throughout the US (New Mexico, New York, Idaho, Montana) and the world (Kenya, Bermuda, China, Hungary) that are open to students
  • All anthropology majors are required to study a language other than their first (students earning 4 or 5 on the AP exam of a particular language are exempt)
  • Faculty members have personal field experience in Africa, Europe, Australia, the PacificIslands and in native American communities in the Southwest
  • Within the faculty for this department, there is one specialist for each of the four sub-fields of anthropology: archeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology and linguistics

Faculty:

  • Ali Pomponio—indigenous peoples, linguistics, the Pacific, Papua New Guinea, Italy
  • John Barthelme—archaeology, physical anthropology, taphonomy (the study of fossilization specifically with bone structures), Kenya
  • Celia Nyamweru—culture and environment
  • Shinu Abraham--archaeological fieldwork in Egypt, Israel, India, and the US

Applied Statistics

Minor offered

Philosophy:

  • Available to students wishing to develop a solid understanding of methods for collecting, analyzing and interpreting data.
  • Students are encouraged, through this minor, to obtain a broad understanding of the fundamental principles of statistics while emphasizing the important applications of those principles in real-world situations

Highlights:

  • The mathematics, computer science and statistics department started a tradition now 4 years old of an annual picnic
  • A newly minted Math Club started a math colloquium series, at which students speak in 2006
  • Independent study/honors project is available which involves substantial statistical analysis; may also be used as one of the five courses towards the minor

Faculty:

  • Travis Atkinson
  • Dante Giarrusso
  • Patti Frazer Lock, (Chair)
  • Robin Lock
  • Mike Sheard

Asian Studies

Combined major (with Government, History, or Religions Studies) or minor offered

Philosophy:

  • To increase global understanding of the area
  • To explore the richness of Asian cultures
  • To increase understanding of an area of the world that is of great importance to the United States both economically and strategically

Highlights:

  • International study programs in China (Shanghai) and Japan (Nagoya or Tokyo)
  • ASIA (group of students wishing to expand their knowledge of Asia)
  • The Asian Studies Initiative (ASI): launched with a $1 million grant from the Freeman Foundation. Its objectives fall into four broad categories in which SLU seeks to:
  • Increase the number of students enrolling in courses about Asia as well as increase the number of Asian Studies majors/minors
  • Increase the number of students studying in Asia and conducting scholarly research in Asia
  • Enhance knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of Asia on our campus community
  • Increase the resources and support available to educators and Asian students, at all education levels, within the North Country
  • A program, not a department
  • Erin McCarthy took a group of students to Asia in Summer 2002
  • Meditation Night is open to campus community each week
  • Graduates are teaching English in Korea, China, and Japan; attending law school; participating in the state legislature; landscaping golf courses (in Japan)
  • 2003 FYP on traditional Chinese healing
  • Enthusiastic faculty derives strength from its interdisciplinary foundation

Faculty:

  • Ali Pomponio (Anthropology)
  • Sid Sondergard (English)
  • Yoko Chiba (Modern Languages and Literature)
  • Ann A. Csete (History)
  • Mark MacWilliams (Religious Studies)
  • Erin A. McCarthy (Philosophy)
  • Shinu Abraham (Anthropology)
  • Chandreyi Basu (Fine Arts)
  • Michael Kemper (History)
  • Aswini Pai (Biology)
  • David R. Henderson (Music)
  • Grace C. Huang (Government)
  • Jade Huynh (English)
  • Ganesh K. Trichur (Global Studies)
  • Archana Venkatesan (Religious Studies)
  • Makiko Deguchi (Psychology)
  • Rob Loftis (Philosophy)
  • Eske J. Mollegaard (Philosophy)
  • Wannie Wang (Education)

Biology

Majors, interdisciplinary majors (biology-physics, biology-environmental science neuroscience, and biochemistry) and minor offered.

Philosophy:

  • The basic objectives of the biology department are to provide insight into the rules and relationships governing living systems and to encourage students’ individual interests by allowing them to tailor their programs to their own interests and needs.

Highlights:

  • $36.9 million Johnson Hall of science opens fall 2007. Includes 30 teaching and laboratories as well as preparation and conference rooms for professors. It has been planned with the latest advantages of sustainable design to qualify for LEED certification.
  • Computer and computer projection facilities to aid in a multi-media based learning
  • Average class size is about 12-16 after taking General Biology. With labs taught by professors.
  • Labs are writing-intensive
  • Over 35 courses offered including ecology, evolution, molecular and cellular biology, zoology, genetics, marine biology, microbiology, freshwater biology
  • Students can earn biology credit abroad in Denmark, Kenya and Australia
  • Students have access to a greenhouse, vivarium, microscopy imagery center and a Center of Chemical and Molecular Biology as well as others.
  • Bio 101-102, Chemistry (103 and 104) and Math 113 are the only required courses, giving flexibility for students to design their own major
  • About 70% of majors conduct independent research, and many of these students publish papers and/or give presentations at national meetings based on their work
  • Internships available at Canton-PotsdamHospital
  • The Wachtmeister Field Station is located just off campus and is available for student field work and labs.
  • The department offers a variety of summer fellowships and international travel and research grants for its students.
  • Recent examples of student-faculty collaborative projects include investigations on the expression of genes during the development of respiratory centers in rat brainstem, the effects of habitat fragmentation on home range size of small mammals and the recognition of people by dogs using olfaction.
  • Early Assurance program with SyracuseUniversity – a student can apply early to medical school; once accepted, the student is assured of a position so long as good GPA is maintained.

Faculty:

  • Brad Baldwin - Aquatic Biology and Ecology
  • Erika Barthelmess - Vertebrate Biology and Ecology, Population Genetics, Conservation
  • Kurt Bretsch - Marine ecology
  • Carol Budd - General Biology Specialist
  • Thomas Budd (Chair) - Cell Biology, Microscopy
  • Emily Dixon - General Biology Specialist
  • Joe Erlichman - Neurobiology, Respiratory Physiology
  • Ana Estevez - Neurobiology
  • Margaret Harloe - General Biology Specialist
  • David Hornung - Physiology, Olfaction
  • Karl McKnight - Ecology, Botany, Mycology
  • Lorraine Olendzenski - Microbiology, Evolution, Origins of Life
  • Aswini Pai - Ethnobotany, Plant Ecology, Tropical Ecology
  • Jill Pflugheber - Microscopy Technician
  • Michael Temkin - Development, Genetics, Population Genetics, Evolution
  • Julie Trevett - Trophic Ecology, Inducible Defenses of Zooplankton, Freshwater Zooplankton and Macroinvertebrates, and Invasive Species

Biochemistry

Major offered

Philosophy

  • Achieved through a collaboration between biology and chemistry at both the teaching and administration levels of the biochemistry major
  • Development of a knowledge of the function of living organisms at the molecular level and the relevance of chemical and biological principles, and their interplay, to reach an understanding
  • To use the tools and apply the concepts of the two disciplines to ask and answer fundamental questions related to the molecular basis of life processes

Highlights

  • Development of laboratory skills that allow research questions in biochemistry to be pursued
  • Participation in faculty-mentored projects that segue into a larger senior project
  • Preparation for careers in biotechnology and health, and graduate work in biochemistry or molecular biology
  • Biochemistry will be in the new Johnson Hall of Science building

Faculty

  • Professors from chemistry and biology departments

Caribbean and Latin American Studies

Minor offered

Philosophy:

  • CLAS is an interdisciplinary program designed to introduce students to the richness and diversity of the cultures, societies and ecologies of Central and South America, Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. The program emphasizes understanding the experiences of Caribbean and Latin American peoples in terms of structures and traditions.

Highlights:

  • CLAS courses can be taken in the following departments: biology, English, environmental studies, government, modern languages, music, philosophy, and sociology
  • CLAS minors are encouraged to study any of the major languages spoken in the Caribbean and Latin America
  • SLU offers abroad programs in Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago; ISEP opens the doors to other countries including Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Brazil (must be proficient in Portuguese)
  • In 2004, Dr. Jon Rosales’ class on climate change attended the United Nations' 10th Conference of Parties in Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Opportunities to work with La Casa Latina and the Black Women’s Residence and many other guest speakers, authors, as well as many presentations of movies, speeches, etc. on campus

Faculty:

  • Margaret Kent Bass – English
  • Roy Caldwell – modern languages and literatures
  • Ilia J. Casanova-Marengo – modern languages and literatures
  • Martha Chew-Sánchez – global studies
  • Evelyn Jennings – history (coordinator)
  • Marina Llorente – modern languages and literature
  • Catherine H. Shrady – geography
  • Eve Stoddard – English and global studies
  • Bob Torres – modern languages and literatures
  • Steven White – modern languages and literatures

Canadian Studies

Combined major (w/ social sciences or humanities departments) & minor offered

Philosophy:

  • Seeks to combine the advantages of St. Lawrence’s proximity to Canadian political, cultural, economic and academic centers with the University’s commitment to liberal education

Highlights:

  • Program is interdepartmental including: anthropology, economics, English, environmental studies, fine arts, global studies, government, history, modern languages & literatures (French) and sociology
  • Opportunity to do a semester at TrentUniversity (Peterborough, Ont.), McGill (Montreal) or CarletonUniversity (Ottawa)
  • St. Lawrence is the closest American liberal arts college to the Canadian capital
  • The Introduction to Canadian Studies takes a trip to Ottawa towards the end of the semester
  • Students have had the opportunity to intern in the U.S> State Department at the Canada Desk, work in the department of Foreign Relations in Ottawa, work in the McMichael Art Gallery (Toronto); students have also researched the effects of acid rain for Canadian consulate in NYC
  • There is traditionally an FYP offered in Canadian studies each year, offering students the opportunity to compare the national cultures of the two countries
  • Canada is our largest trading partner, and is the most important location of U.S. investment outside the country as well as the place where U.S. companies have more locations than anywhere in the world which makes this program ideal for students

Faculty:

  • Joseph Jockel
  • Robert Thacker (director)
  • Neil S. Forkey (Senior Lecturer)
  • Peter FitzRandolph (economics)
  • John Jaunzems (English)
  • Patrice LeClerc (sociology)

Chemistry

Major, combined major (with Environmental Studies) and minor offered

Philosophy:

  • To understand the role chemistry plays in the functioning of the natural world
  • To gain a fundamental understanding of chemical concepts, the types of questions chemistry addresses, and tools applied to pursuit of solutions positions one to productively inform public debate
  • To be a responsible citizen

Highlights:

  • Small lecture and lab sections allow for close student/faculty interaction and allow hands on utilization of modern instrumentation
  • Equipment includes a $200,000 nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR). A NMR spectrometer is arguably the single most important instrument for research and teaching in organic chemistry and has many applications in biochemistry, inorganic and physical chemistry as well
  • To high school students who aren’t familiar with the NMR: it is similar to the diagnostic tool, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The two operate in nearly identical way but the information obtained is processed and presented in different ways
  • Other equipment includes state of the art molecular modeling and visualization software; computers play an integral role in teaching and research activities
  • Program is accredited by the American Chemical Society, individual degrees may also be certified if the extra course work is completed
  • Required year-long senior research project for all majors (opportunity for students to co-author published articles and present at meetings)
  • Graduates are in the fields of medicine, research and teaching as well as in graduate study for chemistry, biochemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, oceanography, environmental science and geo-science
  • Summer research opportunities at SLU as early as summer following first year; typical stipends of $3000 for 8 or 10 week commitment to project
  • SLU students are highly successful at securing summer research positions at graduate research institutions if they desire
  • Summer industrial internship opportunities (e.g. Wyeth-Ayerst in Rouses Point, NY)
  • Introductory and advanced biochemistry courses well suited for pre-medical students
  • Teaching assistantships are available
  • Subdivisions include: organic, analytical, biochemistry, environmental and physical
  • Major can choose from Plan 1 (9-10 units of credit for basic preparation—good for students wishing to participate in international study) or Plan 2 (11-12 units—students can receive a certification by the American Chemical Society; encouraged for students who wish to do graduate study in chemistry or work in industrial research)
  • SLU was awarded a $16,000 grant that supports independent study by first- and second-year students—the grant will help defray costs so students may attend and present their work at the national American Chemical Society’s annual meeting
  • SLU graduate and his wife donated $1 million for an organic chemistry suite Johnson Hall of Science. It includes a teaching lab, an instrumentation room, an equipment prep room and a nuclear magnetic resonance room

Faculty:

  • Larry J. French
  • Ning Gao
  • Natalia Marano
  • Emily H. Dixon
  • Samantha Glazier
  • Neil A. Law
  • Matthew C. Skeels

Computer Science

Major, minor

Philosophy

  • Computer Science considers problem-solving in the abstract, developing a set of intellectual skills for finding and designing solutions that will benefit majors and non majors
  • To bring together the theory and practice of computing to solve a wide range of problems

Highlights

  • The courses prepare computer science majors for the many careers where computers and problem-solving play a central role, such as software development, telecommunications design, computer graphics and even technical writing
  • Faculty will post “Problem of the Week” on the mathematics/statistics/computer science website- students log in and solve the problem for prizes
  • Computer Science courses also enhance non-majors development of problem solving and technical skills
  • The Information Technology infrastructure supports computer science courses taught in fully computerized classrooms
  • Elective courses include “Web Programming” and “Artificial Intelligence”
  • There is a required independent project for seniors

Faculty