Subject: AIQS

Term: Fall 2025

AIQS 100: Journalism and the Digital Disruption (100/8426)

MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Blake, G

More than fifteen years after completing degrees from CWRU, Craig Newmark founded a company that operated a digital bulletin board. This bulletin board, Craigslist, went on to decimate a major source of revenue for newspapers: classified ads. It was one of the key moments in which the dazzling digital technology of the internet seemed to threaten the very existence of print newspapers. This was a pivotal moment in which the business of news changed in fundamental ways. However, not everyone agrees on what the digital disruption means for journalism, storytelling and truth. For some, new digital technologies mean new voices, new audiences, and new ways of telling stories - deploying data in new and compelling ways. For others, this disruption has fundamentally disrupted a venerable tradition of news journalism, pushing audience attention away from difficult subjects and compromising key values at the expense of shareability, efficiency and profit. We will explore this debate as we consider how shifting media shapes the way that journalism is undertaken and conceptualized. Students will gain exposure to long-running debates regarding journalism and society, with attention to blurring boundaries between genres of writing and tensions between profit, narrative, and independent truth-finding. Along the way, students will complete assignments that involve writing in academic as well as journalistic genres.

AIQS 100: Urban Environmental Practices (101/8427)

MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Burkhart, M

At a time when more than 70% of U.S. residents live in metropolitan areas, efforts to regenerate the social and environmental health of urban spaces emerge as a paramount concern. This course addresses how many urban populations are pushing back against legacies of industrial pollution, chronic underinvestment, and food scarcity. Our course readings, films, and field experience suggest how regenerative urban ecological practices can model strategies for reclaiming the vitality of forgotten spaces while also providing a vehicle for community self-determination. Cleveland, as a city undergoing cultural and economic redefinition, stands as an ideal place to engage the work of contemporary environmental writers, filmmakers, community organizers, and urban planners. While we will focus on environmental transitions taking place in Cleveland, we will consider how similar dynamics play out in other deindustrializing cities. This seminar's driving questions include: How have people in cities forged meaningful relationships with urban environments? How do global histories, carried through the legacies of enslavement, immigration, and refugee resettlement affect the ways that current communities interact with urban environments? How might communities regenerate blighted city spaces, through practices such as urban farming, developing climate resiliency, and restoring green spaces? How might these locally driven community revitalization efforts unfold without displacing long standing residents through "green gentrification"? Through discussion-driven inquiry, writing (including journal entries and three more fully developed essays), as well as individual and small group presentations, this seminar offers nuanced understandings of the environmental histories that have shaped city spaces. Vitally, this course also offers critical perspectives that might contribute to the shaping of more equitable, environmentally just conditions in contemporary cities.

AIQS 100: Urban Environmental Practices (102/8428)

MW 04:50-06:05 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Burkhart, M

At a time when more than 70% of U.S. residents live in metropolitan areas, efforts to regenerate the social and environmental health of urban spaces emerge as a paramount concern. This course addresses how many urban populations are pushing back against legacies of industrial pollution, chronic underinvestment, and food scarcity. Our course readings, films, and field experience suggest how regenerative urban ecological practices can model strategies for reclaiming the vitality of forgotten spaces while also providing a vehicle for community self-determination. Cleveland, as a city undergoing cultural and economic redefinition, stands as an ideal place to engage the work of contemporary environmental writers, filmmakers, community organizers, and urban planners. While we will focus on environmental transitions taking place in Cleveland, we will consider how similar dynamics play out in other deindustrializing cities. This seminar's driving questions include: How have people in cities forged meaningful relationships with urban environments? How do global histories, carried through the legacies of enslavement, immigration, and refugee resettlement affect the ways that current communities interact with urban environments? How might communities regenerate blighted city spaces, through practices such as urban farming, developing climate resiliency, and restoring green spaces? How might these locally driven community revitalization efforts unfold without displacing long standing residents through "green gentrification"? Through discussion-driven inquiry, writing (including journal entries and three more fully developed essays), as well as individual and small group presentations, this seminar offers nuanced understandings of the environmental histories that have shaped city spaces. Vitally, this course also offers critical perspectives that might contribute to the shaping of more equitable, environmentally just conditions in contemporary cities.

AIQS 100: Modern Virtues: Examining Contemporary Moralities (103/8429)

MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Lucas, K

If you want to be successful today, society gives you a lot of advice. Be optimistic! Be productive! Be creative! Be informed! Our class will critically examine these modern virtues. Do they really help us flourish? In class, students will learn about how modern positive psychologists like Martin Seligman have updated ancient ethical theories from Aristotle and Confucious. Next, we will read the work of contemporary social critics who question whether being virtuous--which can be defined as being both morally good and satisfied with life--is still even possible given the complexity of modern problems. Through a sequence of writing assignments, students will develop research questions that relate expert debates to their professional ambitions. For example, does being self-aware really make you a better doctor, scientist, or manager?

AIQS 100: Modern Virtues: Examining Contemporary Moralities (104/8430)

MWF 09:30-10:20 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Lucas, K

If you want to be successful today, society gives you a lot of advice. Be optimistic! Be productive! Be creative! Be informed! Our class will critically examine these modern virtues. Do they really help us flourish? In class, students will learn about how modern positive psychologists like Martin Seligman have updated ancient ethical theories from Aristotle and Confucious. Next, we will read the work of contemporary social critics who question whether being virtuous--which can be defined as being both morally good and satisfied with life--is still even possible given the complexity of modern problems. Through a sequence of writing assignments, students will develop research questions that relate expert debates to their professional ambitions. For example, does being self-aware really make you a better doctor, scientist, or manager?

AIQS 100: Pursuit of Happiness: Approaches to the Good Life (105/8431)

TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Sattler, A

When Thomas Jefferson placed the pursuit of happiness alongside life and liberty as unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence, he was writing into a long intellectual tradition. This course examines that tradition: both how we pursue and experience happiness, and how philosophers, artists, sociologists, psychologists, and neuroscientists have defined and studied happiness. We will read scientific research and philosophy alongside autobiographies, narratives, and other art works as we explore happiness. Then, we will collect quantitative and qualitative data, synthesize our findings, write essays, and produce a podcast as we participate in the larger conversation about the pursuit of happiness.

AIQS 100: Reading Japanese Fiction in Translation (106/8432)

MW 05:30-06:45 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

DeLong, J

For this course we will read works of Japanese fiction, with a focus on contemporary authors such as Banana Yoshimoto, Yukiko Motoya, and Nobel Prize-contender Haruki Murakami. Our semester will begin by exploring the question of what it means to read works of literature in translation, and students will learn about literary translation as an art form in its own right. Similarly, students will learn about and gain practice in additional forms of writing that let them engage with our readings as literary critics: literary scholarship, book reviews, and even creative writing. We will also discuss cultural concepts such as bushido and senpai that can enrich your understanding and appreciation of Japanese literature. Overall, this course aims to provide you with an entertaining and thought-provoking selection of Japanese fiction while also helping you think more deeply and intentionally about the relationship between your writing and reading practices.

AIQS 100: Reading Japanese Fiction in Translation (107/8433)

MW 07:00-08:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

DeLong, J

For this course we will read works of Japanese fiction, with a focus on contemporary authors such as Banana Yoshimoto, Yukiko Motoya, and Nobel Prize-contender Haruki Murakami. Our semester will begin by exploring the question of what it means to read works of literature in translation, and students will learn about literary translation as an art form in its own right. Similarly, students will learn about and gain practice in additional forms of writing that let them engage with our readings as literary critics: literary scholarship, book reviews, and even creative writing. We will also discuss cultural concepts such as bushido and senpai that can enrich your understanding and appreciation of Japanese literature. Overall, this course aims to provide you with an entertaining and thought-provoking selection of Japanese fiction while also helping you think more deeply and intentionally about the relationship between your writing and reading practices.

AIQS 100: Monster Studies (108/8434)

MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Kapelle, R

Pop-culture and scholarship alike have embraced the monster. Monster stories remain popular across many forms of media, with familiar characters reappearing again and again even as new creatures emerge to trouble our sleep. Meanwhile, scholars, fans, and other cultural critics discuss their significance. This course examines a set of medieval and contemporary monster stories and films for insight into the worldview that produced them, insight such as how a culture distinguishes between good and evil and where it places the boundaries of humanity. Course readings also include scholarly works and other analyses that explore the meanings and cultural uses of monsters. What kinds of fears do monster stories express? How can we explain the mix of attraction and revulsion that these tales evoke? How have particular monsters evolved to fit changing times? Assignments will include an essay in which students interpret a literary text using concepts from a foundational work of "monster studies." The semester will culminate with a project in which students construct an argument about a new story, placing it in relation to a tradition and a cultural context.

AIQS 100: Monster Studies (109/8435)

MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Kapelle, R

Pop-culture and scholarship alike have embraced the monster. Monster stories remain popular across many forms of media, with familiar characters reappearing again and again even as new creatures emerge to trouble our sleep. Meanwhile, scholars, fans, and other cultural critics discuss their significance. This course examines a set of medieval and contemporary monster stories and films for insight into the worldview that produced them, insight such as how a culture distinguishes between good and evil and where it places the boundaries of humanity. Course readings also include scholarly works and other analyses that explore the meanings and cultural uses of monsters. What kinds of fears do monster stories express? How can we explain the mix of attraction and revulsion that these tales evoke? How have particular monsters evolved to fit changing times? Assignments will include an essay in which students interpret a literary text using concepts from a foundational work of "monster studies." The semester will culminate with a project in which students construct an argument about a new story, placing it in relation to a tradition and a cultural context.

AIQS 100: What Is College For? (110/8436)

TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Lucas, D

Why are we here? Not on this planet -- that's another course -- but here, at this university? What is the purpose of a university? What do we -- as students, as faculty, as different communities -- expect of such an institution? And what should those institutions expect from us? In this course we will explore historical and contemporary ideas of the university, and in our seminar discussions we will measure our own experiences against that history and those theories. We will place particular emphasis on the current state of the idea of the university, and the subsequent effects of those ideas on current university students. We will ask, for example, how cultural and societal notions of the university's purpose affect our expectations for our own time and work there. How and why do debates about the university present a stage for some of our most contentious societal questions? We will acquaint ourselves with the histories and contexts of some of these debates in order to address the complexities of our present moment. We will take up this debate ourselves in our daily seminar conversations. We will write and think in a variety of genres, including personal essays, critical analyses, and individual and group oral presentations.

AIQS 100: You Are Here: Perspectives on the City (111/8437)

MW 05:30-06:45 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Jim, B

This course examines the city as a physical space and a human experience that shapes our interaction with the world. Students will explore the topic of urban history from a variety of academic disciplines, literary genres, and ways of writing about our experience with cities. How and why are cities formed? How do we live in them? How do they shape our thinking and our beliefs about ourselves and the world? Students will engage with content from history, sociology, anthropology, and aesthetic philosophy to gain a rhetorical awareness of how scholars find meaning--and write about it--in the ever-changing phenomenon of cities. "You Are Here" is about acknowledging the advantages and limitations of one's position relative to the built world and using that as an opportunity and starting point for developing critical thinking skills and authorial agency. Students will refine their process of composing through assignments that ask them to reflect upon their experiences with cities; analyze the social, economic, and technological forces that inform the urban experience; and imagine the city of the future.

AIQS 100: You Are Here: Perspectives on the City (112/8438)

MW 07:00-08:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Jim, B

This course examines the city as a physical space and a human experience that shapes our interaction with the world. Students will explore the topic of urban history from a variety of academic disciplines, literary genres, and ways of writing about our experience with cities. How and why are cities formed? How do we live in them? How do they shape our thinking and our beliefs about ourselves and the world? Students will engage with content from history, sociology, anthropology, and aesthetic philosophy to gain a rhetorical awareness of how scholars find meaning--and write about it--in the ever-changing phenomenon of cities. "You Are Here" is about acknowledging the advantages and limitations of one's position relative to the built world and using that as an opportunity and starting point for developing critical thinking skills and authorial agency. Students will refine their process of composing through assignments that ask them to reflect upon their experiences with cities; analyze the social, economic, and technological forces that inform the urban experience; and imagine the city of the future.

AIQS 100: Caskets and Corpses: The American Funeral Industry (113/8439)

TR 08:30-09:45 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Daniel, V

What do you want to happen to your body when you die? In the United States, you can be embalmed and buried in a beautiful cemetery, donated to science, or composted. If you prefer cremation, your ashes can be placed in an urn, added to a coral reef, or pressed into a diamond. Despite this seemingly endless array of options, however, the vast majority of corpses in American have one thing in common: they are handled by the funeral industry, which generates about $20 billion in revenue every year. But this is a rather modern development: it was not until the late 1800s that the funeral industry started to replace traditional forms of death care, in which families prepared the body at home. How and why did this change occur? How did the industry become so powerful and so profitable? How has it withstood and responded to its critics, who claim that funeral directors favor profits over people? In a nation that embraces individuality, why do most Americans end up at a funeral home? In this seminar, we will examine the origins, evolution, and growth of the American funeral industry, and we will explore some emerging alternatives to learn how American can use the power of consumer choice to regain control over the business of death. Finally, your writing assignments will involve primary source analysis, as well as a position paper that asks you to consider your own final end.

AIQS 100: Digital Literature (114/8440)

TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Kelly, K

Digital literature refers to literary works designed to be read or experienced on a computer. Such works encourage readers' active participation and often provoke multi-sensory engagement, asking readers to interact with the story through words, images, sounds, touch, and movement. In this class, we read various kinds of digital literature, including choose-your-own-adventure-style stories, narrative games, and media-rich interactive stories. We write about how these works use visual media, interactive features, and digital technology to tell their stories or make their claims in ways that promote readers' agency and engagement. Through seminar discussions, a wide range of reading and playing experiences, and substantial exploratory and analytical writing, we will consider how digital literature helps us understand our digital, networked culture.

AIQS 100: Public Health in the City: Equity, Access, & Comm (115/8442)

MWF 02:15-03:05 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Deptula, A

What does it mean to live in a "healthy" city and who gets to decide? In this writing-intensive seminar, we'll explore how public health is shaped not only by data and policy but also by human stories and discourse. Grounded in Cleveland's past and present, we'll examine how race, income, and geography intersect with access to care, and how historical legacies continue to shape health outcomes today. Drawing from the fields of public health and medicine, we'll read a diverse range of texts--including personal narratives, scientific articles, and local case studies. Through critical readings, data analysis, and secondary research, students will unpack pressing questions about health equity relevant to our campus community and surrounding areas. Together, we'll ask: Who has the power to define what counts as a health "crisis"? What does "access" to care really mean beyond availability? And how can health communication serve as a tool for justice?

AIQS 100: Bicycles (116/8443)

TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Chilton, E

For most of us, the bicycle seems a simple, everyday object, associated with children's toys or recreational sport. But this remarkably efficient machine has developed in distinct technological, social, and economic contexts, and these contexts are closely intertwined with community values. In this seminar, we will trace the history of bicycles and consider how we can shape public environments, including urban spaces, to better reflect the values of present and future generations. Students will work individually and in groups to explore these topics, producing formal essays as well as presentations in coordination with classmates. We will use Cleveland and University Circle as a laboratory for understanding the complexity and challenges of managing city infrastructure for different kinds of users. We will also critically examine claims that increased bicycle use can lead to better energy efficiency, less traffic, improved health, better quality of life, and more fun. By engaging with popular and scholarly sources, we will consider the significance of bicycles even for non-cyclists. Topics will include the development and engineering of bicycle technology, the aesthetic and cultural aspects of the cycling experience, the role of bicycles in the fight for women's suffrage and equality, and the place of bicycles in our transportation infrastructure. In all this, we will consider how to remake urban public spaces to accommodate all people and reflect our common values.

AIQS 100: Public Health in the City: Equity, Access, & Comm (117/8445)

MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Deptula, A

What does it mean to live in a "healthy" city and who gets to decide? In this writing-intensive seminar, we'll explore how public health is shaped not only by data and policy but also by human stories and discourse. Grounded in Cleveland's past and present, we'll examine how race, income, and geography intersect with access to care, and how historical legacies continue to shape health outcomes today. Drawing from the fields of public health and medicine, we'll read a diverse range of texts--including personal narratives, scientific articles, and local case studies. Through critical readings, data analysis, and secondary research, students will unpack pressing questions about health equity relevant to our campus community and surrounding areas. Together, we'll ask: Who has the power to define what counts as a health "crisis"? What does "access" to care really mean beyond availability? And how can health communication serve as a tool for justice?

AIQS 100: What Is College For? (118/8446)

TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Lucas, D

Why are we here? Not on this planet -- that's another course -- but here, at this university? What is the purpose of a university? What do we -- as students, as faculty, as different communities -- expect of such an institution? And what should those institutions expect from us? In this course we will explore historical and contemporary ideas of the university, and in our seminar discussions we will measure our own experiences against that history and those theories. We will place particular emphasis on the current state of the idea of the university, and the subsequent effects of those ideas on current university students. We will ask, for example, how cultural and societal notions of the university's purpose affect our expectations for our own time and work there. How and why do debates about the university present a stage for some of our most contentious societal questions? We will acquaint ourselves with the histories and contexts of some of these debates in order to address the complexities of our present moment. We will take up this debate ourselves in our daily seminar conversations. We will write and think in a variety of genres, including personal essays, critical analyses, and individual and group oral presentations.

AIQS 100: Journalism and the Digital Disruption (119/8447)

MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Blake, G

More than fifteen years after completing degrees from CWRU, Craig Newmark founded a company that operated a digital bulletin board. This bulletin board, Craigslist, went on to decimate a major source of revenue for newspapers: classified ads. It was one of the key moments in which the dazzling digital technology of the internet seemed to threaten the very existence of print newspapers. This was a pivotal moment in which the business of news changed in fundamental ways. However, not everyone agrees on what the digital disruption means for journalism, storytelling and truth. For some, new digital technologies mean new voices, new audiences, and new ways of telling stories - deploying data in new and compelling ways. For others, this disruption has fundamentally disrupted a venerable tradition of news journalism, pushing audience attention away from difficult subjects and compromising key values at the expense of shareability, efficiency and profit. We will explore this debate as we consider how shifting media shapes the way that journalism is undertaken and conceptualized. Students will gain exposure to long-running debates regarding journalism and society, with attention to blurring boundaries between genres of writing and tensions between profit, narrative, and independent truth-finding. Along the way, students will complete assignments that involve writing in academic as well as journalistic genres.

AIQS 100: Objects of Literacy: The Technology of Reading (120/8448)

TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Lyons-McFarland, H

This course explores the technology behind the act of reading, from oral traditions, to clay tablets and sticks, to paper and pen, to e-books and apps. Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write, but what is reading? What is writing? And how did we get where we are, where text is continuously around us such that we barely notice it any longer? Over the semester, we will explore how we record meaning and the labor behind the end result, even as we examine our own literacy practices, the combination of audience and author that each of us embodies. We will visit Special Collections at the Kelvin Smith Library, try our hands at manual presses at the New Gutenberg Annex, and create our own "objects of literacy," wherever that takes us. In addition, we will take the opportunity to be intentional about our own experience as literate individuals. We will practice academic methods of both reading and writing, calling upon our experiences and the wealth of knowledge around us to think about and react to the objects and processes we encounter. Through critical thinking and practicing rhetorical approaches, this class will help prepare you for future critical thinking and communication both in and out of academia.

AIQS 100: Objects of Literacy: The Technology of Reading (121/8449)

TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Lyons-McFarland, H

This course explores the technology behind the act of reading, from oral traditions, to clay tablets and sticks, to paper and pen, to e-books and apps. Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write, but what is reading? What is writing? And how did we get where we are, where text is continuously around us such that we barely notice it any longer? Over the semester, we will explore how we record meaning and the labor behind the end result, even as we examine our own literacy practices, the combination of audience and author that each of us embodies. We will visit Special Collections at the Kelvin Smith Library, try our hands at manual presses at the New Gutenberg Annex, and create our own "objects of literacy," wherever that takes us. In addition, we will take the opportunity to be intentional about our own experience as literate individuals. We will practice academic methods of both reading and writing, calling upon our experiences and the wealth of knowledge around us to think about and react to the objects and processes we encounter. Through critical thinking and practicing rhetorical approaches, this class will help prepare you for future critical thinking and communication both in and out of academia.

AIQS 100: Refugee Voices (122/8450)

TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Magearu, A

According to the United Nations, more than 100 million people are currently displaced worldwide due to conflict, persecution, and human rights violations. This course investigates how refugee voices are framed, translated, and transmitted by looking at how different institutions, political actors, media, or writers represent refugee vulnerability. We will explore the ways in which refugees have been depicted in literature, media, art, and other forms of representation, as well as the ways in which refugees have represented themselves in memoirs or personal essays. Key authors include Edward Said, Hannah Arendt, Valeria Luiselli, Dina Nayeri, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Clemantine Wamariya and Mohsin Hamid. We will ask: Who represents refugees? Which voices are uplifted and which voices are erased? How do notions of vulnerability, gratitude, and resilience play out in prevalent representations of refugees? What obstacles do writers encounter when they write on behalf of refugees? And how do writers of refugee-background represent their own displacement and migration journeys?

AIQS 100: Refugee Voices (123/8451)

TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Magearu, A

According to the United Nations, more than 100 million people are currently displaced worldwide due to conflict, persecution, and human rights violations. This course investigates how refugee voices are framed, translated, and transmitted by looking at how different institutions, political actors, media, or writers represent refugee vulnerability. We will explore the ways in which refugees have been depicted in literature, media, art, and other forms of representation, as well as the ways in which refugees have represented themselves in memoirs or personal essays. Key authors include Edward Said, Hannah Arendt, Valeria Luiselli, Dina Nayeri, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Clemantine Wamariya and Mohsin Hamid. We will ask: Who represents refugees? Which voices are uplifted and which voices are erased? How do notions of vulnerability, gratitude, and resilience play out in prevalent representations of refugees? What obstacles do writers encounter when they write on behalf of refugees? And how do writers of refugee-background represent their own displacement and migration journeys?

AIQS 100: Caskets and Corpses: The American Funeral Industry (124/8452)

TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Daniel, V

What do you want to happen to your body when you die? In the United States, you can be embalmed and buried in a beautiful cemetery, donated to science, or composted. If you prefer cremation, your ashes can be placed in an urn, added to a coral reef, or pressed into a diamond. Despite this seemingly endless array of options, however, the vast majority of corpses in American have one thing in common: they are handled by the funeral industry, which generates about $20 billion in revenue every year. But this is a rather modern development: it was not until the late 1800s that the funeral industry started to replace traditional forms of death care, in which families prepared the body at home. How and why did this change occur? How did the industry become so powerful and so profitable? How has it withstood and responded to its critics, who claim that funeral directors favor profits over people? In a nation that embraces individuality, why do most Americans end up at a funeral home? In this seminar, we will examine the origins, evolution, and growth of the American funeral industry, and we will explore some emerging alternatives to learn how American can use the power of consumer choice to regain control over the business of death. Finally, your writing assignments will involve primary source analysis, as well as a position paper that asks you to consider your own final end.

AIQS 100: Stories of Science and Scientists (125/8453)

TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Pecastaings, A

Stories of Science and Scientists explores the treatment of scientific themes and the depiction of scientists in literature. This is not a course about science fiction: instead of envisioning future scientific advancements, Science in Literature pays close attention to the ways in which literary texts comment upon ongoing scientific debates and respond to the questionings of science. Science lives in the world, not aside from it, and literature shines a light on this truth precisely because it engages with scientific findings in ways that are often outside the purview of science itself. For instance, literary texts can consider the following questions: How do scientists factor in other, non-scientific facets of their lives (e.g., their fear of death or political pressures bearing on them) into their work? How does a given scientific item inflect our lived experiences and our understanding of our place in the universe? What is it like to live with such knowledge? What is it like to live in awareness of what we do not know about the natural world? Our readings will include Arcadia, Einstein's Dreams, and QED.

AIQS 100: Stories of Science and Scientists (126/8454)

TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Pecastaings, A

Stories of Science and Scientists explores the treatment of scientific themes and the depiction of scientists in literature. This is not a course about science fiction: instead of envisioning future scientific advancements, Science in Literature pays close attention to the ways in which literary texts comment upon ongoing scientific debates and respond to the questionings of science. Science lives in the world, not aside from it, and literature shines a light on this truth precisely because it engages with scientific findings in ways that are often outside the purview of science itself. For instance, literary texts can consider the following questions: How do scientists factor in other, non-scientific facets of their lives (e.g., their fear of death or political pressures bearing on them) into their work? How does a given scientific item inflect our lived experiences and our understanding of our place in the universe? What is it like to live with such knowledge? What is it like to live in awareness of what we do not know about the natural world? Our readings will include Arcadia, Einstein's Dreams, and QED.

AIQS 100: High Art & Guilty Pleasures (127/8455)

TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

PInkerton, S

How, and why, do we draw distinctions between art and entertainment? Lowbrow and highbrow? A crowd-pleasing "flick" and a critic-approved "film"? This seminar will explore the logic of this common sorting process, as well as its consequences. After all, such distinctions have historically been linked with other forms of discrimination--often amplifying or silencing certain voices on the basis of gender, race, or class. In this course we will investigate these connections between critical evaluation and broader social dynamics, while also engaging critically with our own tastes, values, and received ideas. What makes "The Great Gatsby" so great? Is there any value in keeping up with the Kardashians? Who determines the criteria that make one work a "classic," the other a "guilty pleasure"? Traversing a range of artworks, novels, comics, and movies, we'll work both the high and the low ends of the cultural spectrum, paying special attention to works that seem to blur or combine the usual categories -- compelling us to ask whether great art and guilty pleasures can sometimes be one and the same.

AIQS 100: High Art & Guilty Pleasures (128/8456)

TR 08:30-09:45 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

PInkerton, S

How, and why, do we draw distinctions between art and entertainment? Lowbrow and highbrow? A crowd-pleasing "flick" and a critic-approved "film"? This seminar will explore the logic of this common sorting process, as well as its consequences. After all, such distinctions have historically been linked with other forms of discrimination--often amplifying or silencing certain voices on the basis of gender, race, or class. In this course we will investigate these connections between critical evaluation and broader social dynamics, while also engaging critically with our own tastes, values, and received ideas. What makes "The Great Gatsby" so great? Is there any value in keeping up with the Kardashians? Who determines the criteria that make one work a "classic," the other a "guilty pleasure"? Traversing a range of artworks, novels, comics, and movies, we'll work both the high and the low ends of the cultural spectrum, paying special attention to works that seem to blur or combine the usual categories -- compelling us to ask whether great art and guilty pleasures can sometimes be one and the same.

AIQS 100: What's Historical about Historical Fiction? (129/8457)

MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Reader, L

Is historical fiction a useful way to learn about the past? What can we learn from reading a novel or short story instead of an historical document or a piece of non-fiction writing about the past? In this course, we are going to ask how historical is historical fiction? We will look at this question in three different ways. First, we'll consider the accuracy of historical fiction and discuss the reasons why authors build on and augment commonly understood historical narratives. Second, we'll look at the ways in which historical fiction functions as a record of contemporary history--the point in time at which the novel or short story was written. In the last part of the course, we'll look at how questions of authenticity and historical context feature in counterfactual historical fictions that discuss histories that weren't.

AIQS 100: What's Historical about Historical Fiction? (130/8458)

MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Reader, L

Is historical fiction a useful way to learn about the past? What can we learn from reading a novel or short story instead of an historical document or a piece of non-fiction writing about the past? In this course, we are going to ask how historical is historical fiction? We will look at this question in three different ways. First, we'll consider the accuracy of historical fiction and discuss the reasons why authors build on and augment commonly understood historical narratives. Second, we'll look at the ways in which historical fiction functions as a record of contemporary history--the point in time at which the novel or short story was written. In the last part of the course, we'll look at how questions of authenticity and historical context feature in counterfactual historical fictions that discuss histories that weren't.

AIQS 100: Essaying a Life Worth Living (131/8459)

MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Redekop, S

What does it mean to live well? Each week, students in this seminar will grapple with this question. Our efforts will be guided by the experimental practice of essay-writing, a centuries- old method for developing knowledge in the absence of certainty. Throughout the term, we will think with a wide range of contemporary American essayists--including journalists, scientists, and YouTubers--who attempt to address urgent questions like: What does a good life feel like?, Who do we answer to?, What should we hope for?, and What should we do when we fail? We will contextualize their essays with short readings from wide-ranging philosophical and religious traditions, identifying the ways in which these traditions provide us with "equipment for living," and then examining how essayists "test" these frameworks against the specific circumstances of their lives. Along the way, you will learn writing strategies that will empower you to formulate and test your own responses to these important questions within the particular circumstances of your life. We will spend our time together boldly asking big questions; reading widely and listening carefully in our pursuit of meaningful answers; learning through dialogue, including giving and receiving writing feedback; and developing a writing practice that empowers us to pursue the questions that matter most to us (in and beyond our future academic work).

AIQS 100: Essaying a Life Worth Living (132/8460)

MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Redekop, S

What does it mean to live well? Each week, students in this seminar will grapple with this question. Our efforts will be guided by the experimental practice of essay-writing, a centuries- old method for developing knowledge in the absence of certainty. Throughout the term, we will think with a wide range of contemporary American essayists--including journalists, scientists, and YouTubers--who attempt to address urgent questions like: What does a good life feel like?, Who do we answer to?, What should we hope for?, and What should we do when we fail? We will contextualize their essays with short readings from wide-ranging philosophical and religious traditions, identifying the ways in which these traditions provide us with "equipment for living," and then examining how essayists "test" these frameworks against the specific circumstances of their lives. Along the way, you will learn writing strategies that will empower you to formulate and test your own responses to these important questions within the particular circumstances of your life. We will spend our time together boldly asking big questions; reading widely and listening carefully in our pursuit of meaningful answers; learning through dialogue, including giving and receiving writing feedback; and developing a writing practice that empowers us to pursue the questions that matter most to us (in and beyond our future academic work).

AIQS 100: Game of Thrones and Multiplot Narrative (133/8461)

MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Wiehl, J

The wild success of HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones recently renewed popular interest in a sprawling, seemingly-unending narrative form. While featuring so many characters and plotlines that could confuse a consumer and therefore seem too sophisticated for the average, phone-wielding viewer, this form has a history in nineteenth-century Britain and the multiplot novel. Multiplot narrative scrambles how viewers or readers invest in a character or storyline (who do we identify with? How do we root for success or failure of each of these characters?), and it has been a contentious form since its inception. Indeed, Henry James rather disparagingly described such multiplot novels as "loose baggy monsters, with their queer elements of the accidental and the arbitrary." Yet, it's in the shape of these stories, from GoT to the novel, that we may be able to locate their popularity. To that end, this seminar will examine GoT and one novel from the nineteenth century by Dickens, Eliot, Trollope, or another writer. Challenging themes of class, gender, sexuality, race, religion, nation, ability, etc. will often be front and center in our discussions.

AIQS 100: Game of Thrones and Multiplot Narrative (134/8462)

MWF 02:15-03:05 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Wiehl, J

The wild success of HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones recently renewed popular interest in a sprawling, seemingly-unending narrative form. While featuring so many characters and plotlines that could confuse a consumer and therefore seem too sophisticated for the average, phone-wielding viewer, this form has a history in nineteenth-century Britain and the multiplot novel. Multiplot narrative scrambles how viewers or readers invest in a character or storyline (who do we identify with? How do we root for success or failure of each of these characters?), and it has been a contentious form since its inception. Indeed, Henry James rather disparagingly described such multiplot novels as "loose baggy monsters, with their queer elements of the accidental and the arbitrary." Yet, it's in the shape of these stories, from GoT to the novel, that we may be able to locate their popularity. To that end, this seminar will examine GoT and one novel from the nineteenth century by Dickens, Eliot, Trollope, or another writer. Challenging themes of class, gender, sexuality, race, religion, nation, ability, etc. will often be front and center in our discussions.

AIQS 100: Grief, Identity, and Belonging (135/8847)

TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Bedell, A

Have you ever experienced a loss--whether through death or in another form--that profoundly shaped your sense of self or your connection to others? This course examines the wide spectrum of grief, encompassing both death-related and non-death losses. While death remains one of the most recognized and ritualized forms of loss, many people also carry grief that is less visible, less validated, and often unnamed. These non-death or disenfranchised losses may include the loss of health, the end of significant relationships, family estrangement, cultural disconnection, identity transitions, or the impact of discrimination and oppression. Together, these experiences invite us to question how we mourn, who is allowed to grieve, and what grief reveals about identity and belonging. We will explore how grief shapes our inner worlds, relationships, and communities. Topics include disenfranchised grief, ambiguous loss, collective grief, and the ways grief intersects with race, gender, sexuality, class, and culture. We also consider how systemic inequities and dominant narratives influence which kinds of grief are acknowledged, pathologized, silenced, or honored. Grounded in trauma-informed and culturally responsive approaches, this writing-intensive course draws on interdisciplinary readings, memoirs, theory, and creative work to deepen our understanding of grief's many expressions. Students will engage in writing and discussion that foster critical thinking, emotional insight, and analytical skill. Whether examining the aftermath of death or the quiet ache of unspoken loss, students will be invited to consider how grief shapes who we are, how we find meaning, and how we seek belonging in the face of change.

AIQS 100: Fight the Power: Legacies of Abolitionist Thought (136/8851)

MWF 08:25-09:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Druffel, M

Recently, abolition--which Ruth Wilson Gilmore defines as changing both ourselves and the world to undo bondage--has been applied beyond antislavery. Activists call for abolishing police, private property, and gender. How does abolitionism apply to such different contexts today? This course uses writing to help us 1) decide what we think about abolition, and 2) communicate our ideas so people will want to read and respond to them. To accomplish these goals, we'll explore Cleveland's antislavery history housed in the CWRU archives and analyze how abolitionist tactics in antiracist education--including proposals to abolish grades.

AIQS 100: Fight the Power: Legacies of Abolitionist Thought (137/8852)

MWF 09:30-10:20 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Druffel, M

Recently, abolition--which Ruth Wilson Gilmore defines as changing both ourselves and the world to undo bondage--has been applied beyond antislavery. Activists call for abolishing police, private property, and gender. How does abolitionism apply to such different contexts today? This course uses writing to help us 1) decide what we think about abolition, and 2) communicate our ideas so people will want to read and respond to them. To accomplish these goals, we'll explore Cleveland's antislavery history housed in the CWRU archives and analyze how abolitionist tactics in antiracist education--including proposals to abolish grades.

AIQS 100: Love and Sex in Shakespeare (138/8858)

MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Newlin, J

For many readers, William Shakespeare's works are inseparable from the concept of romantic love. Those "star crossed" sweethearts, Romeo and Juliet, are the most famous lovers in English literature, and thousands of wedding ceremonies have featured a reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. But does that poem really a pledge of romantic fidelity, the oath of one promising to have and hold? Or is it, as the scholar Helen Vendler has argued, a vitriolic account of sexual jealousy? In this class, we will examine a broad cross-section of Shakespeare's plays and poems as we investigate what it was Shakespeare actually believed about the nature of romantic love and physical intimacy. What do the plays and poems have to say about "love at first sight," fidelity, jealousy, and consent? How does Shakespeare depict queer people and same-sex desire? Was Shakespeare's account of these issues reflective of his time----or did he subvert or challenge the views of love and sexual intimacy common to the Renaissance? In addition to gaining a finer understanding of Shakespeare's work and its historical context, we will examine how and why Shakespeare's account of romance and sexuality continues to resonate so strongly in the present. Students will develop skills of formal academic writing and research, as they engage these issues in a variety of formats, including traditional writing assignments and presentations.

AIQS 100: Love and Sex in Shakespeare (139/8859)

MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Newlin, J

For many readers, William Shakespeare's works are inseparable from the concept of romantic love. Those "star crossed" sweethearts, Romeo and Juliet, are the most famous lovers in English literature, and thousands of wedding ceremonies have featured a reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. But does that poem really a pledge of romantic fidelity, the oath of one promising to have and hold? Or is it, as the scholar Helen Vendler has argued, a vitriolic account of sexual jealousy? In this class, we will examine a broad cross-section of Shakespeare's plays and poems as we investigate what it was Shakespeare actually believed about the nature of romantic love and physical intimacy. What do the plays and poems have to say about "love at first sight," fidelity, jealousy, and consent? How does Shakespeare depict queer people and same-sex desire? Was Shakespeare's account of these issues reflective of his time----or did he subvert or challenge the views of love and sexual intimacy common to the Renaissance? In addition to gaining a finer understanding of Shakespeare's work and its historical context, we will examine how and why Shakespeare's account of romance and sexuality continues to resonate so strongly in the present. Students will develop skills of formal academic writing and research, as they engage these issues in a variety of formats, including traditional writing assignments and presentations.

AIQS 100: Comedy, Rhetoric, and Writing (140/8860)

MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Robisch, K

"The most powerful weapon on Earth is not a gun or a bomb, but a well-timed joke," said John Oliver. He separately admitted "It's a great time to be doing political satire when the world is on a knife edge." Comedy is many things and differs in many situations, depending on audience, context and purpose. This class will examine questions such as: where and when does humor occur? And who or what is a comedian? Studying these contexts and purposes will help us develop our own tools for writing persuasively in academic contexts. We will examine rhetoric and humor in a variety of different mediums, focusing on how comedy helps us make sense of political and cultural situations. Through ongoing discussions and assignments, we will consider what makes something funny and to whom? We'll first hone our own analysis skills through rhetorical analysis of a specific piece of comedy, then learn to incorporate outside sources to serve as additional evidence. As we gear up for our final persuasive research paper, we'll summarize additional sources and then visually represent their connections through concept maps and infographics.

AIQS 100: Grief, Identity, and Belonging (141/8861)

TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Bedell, A

Have you ever experienced a loss--whether through death or in another form--that profoundly shaped your sense of self or your connection to others? This course examines the wide spectrum of grief, encompassing both death-related and non-death losses. While death remains one of the most recognized and ritualized forms of loss, many people also carry grief that is less visible, less validated, and often unnamed. These non-death or disenfranchised losses may include the loss of health, the end of significant relationships, family estrangement, cultural disconnection, identity transitions, or the impact of discrimination and oppression. Together, these experiences invite us to question how we mourn, who is allowed to grieve, and what grief reveals about identity and belonging. We will explore how grief shapes our inner worlds, relationships, and communities. Topics include disenfranchised grief, ambiguous loss, collective grief, and the ways grief intersects with race, gender, sexuality, class, and culture. We also consider how systemic inequities and dominant narratives influence which kinds of grief are acknowledged, pathologized, silenced, or honored. Grounded in trauma-informed and culturally responsive approaches, this writing-intensive course draws on interdisciplinary readings, memoirs, theory, and creative work to deepen our understanding of grief's many expressions. Students will engage in writing and discussion that foster critical thinking, emotional insight, and analytical skill. Whether examining the aftermath of death or the quiet ache of unspoken loss, students will be invited to consider how grief shapes who we are, how we find meaning, and how we seek belonging in the face of change.

AIQS 100: Biology in Translation (142/8862)

MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Steck, M

Biological research informs many of our everyday decisions. Notably, we relied on biologists to learn about the spread of COVID-19 and what actions might reduce our risk of infection--often without having access to or the technical expertise to understand the original research. Instead, we relied on science journalists and science communicators to translate and contextualize this research for us. Science communication at its best empowers people and communities to make informed decisions. At its worst, it perpetuates misleading information that can cause harm. What is the role of science communicators in making science accessible and inclusive? What questions do they ask? How do they transform technical information into engaging narratives? How do they acknowledge the social, political, and economic forces acting on the scientific process? In this course, we will study the articles that scientists write for each other and the popular news articles, features, and museum exhibits that science communicators compose for non-specialist audiences. In the last unit, you'll write your own feature article that uses diverse, relevant, and authoritative sources to explore an interesting intersection between biology and society.

AIQS 100: You Are Your Language (143/12908)

TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Vakili, P

In this seminar, we will look at language as a key component in (re)shaping our modern society in many different ways. We will examine the importance of language in the performance of personal identity, as well as how beliefs about language reflect ideas about individuals and groups. We will explore how language use can both promote and hinder social justice, particularly for minority groups within the larger national community. Some questions we will consider are: How can language serve as a gate-keeping mechanism? What is the relationship between language and power? How does linguistic prejudice contribute to social inequality? To fulfill our course objectives, we will engage with scholarly, journalistic, and literary works. We will also conduct library, media, and community research to deepen our understanding of language, identity, power, and privilege. By the end of the course, we will have the tools necessary to articulate how language use can make positive contributions to our lives and to the social systems in which we live and work.

AIQS 100: Making "Sense" of Writing (144/13001)

MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Slentz, J

No matter what major you are entering into or "feeling out," or what career you have "set your sights on," there is one truth that applies to each and every one of us in this class. We ALL will have to write. We will write many different things at different times for different reasons, but we will all write something sometime. Writing is about so much more than arranging words on a page. Writing is about "seeing" and "hearing" the world around us, critically examining and synthesizing information to become more aware of the contexts and conversations we are speaking into. And it is about responding in ways that are targeted towards our specific rhetorical situation and audience. In addition to the truth that we all will have to write something sometime, another truth unites us. We are all human. As humans, we move through this world as sensing, feeling bodies, equipped with complex nervous systems that process and create our physical and emotional worlds. Our sensory lives, how we each individually and dynamically experience the world around us through our senses, shape our perception of reality. Our sense lives thus dictate how we read and interpret our experiences, what we respond to and why, how we listen, how we express ourselves, and ultimately, how we write. In this course, through a "hands-on" and "eye-opening" exploration of human sensation, we will discover how we "make sense" of writing: how our sense lives and the sensory experiences of our audiences inform the ways we read and write, both academically and in our lives and communities outside of class. This course emphasizes writing as a recursive process and will require you to negotiate rhetorical problems that allow you to practice writing for various audiences and purposes. Through informal and formal written exercises and assignments, interactive activities, and both topic-based and instructional readings, this course will help you develop and hone your written communication skills.

AIQS 100: Making "Sense" of Writing (145/13002)

MWF 02:15-03:05 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Slentz, J

No matter what major you are entering into or "feeling out," or what career you have "set your sights on," there is one truth that applies to each and every one of us in this class. We ALL will have to write. We will write many different things at different times for different reasons, but we will all write something sometime. Writing is about so much more than arranging words on a page. Writing is about "seeing" and "hearing" the world around us, critically examining and synthesizing information to become more aware of the contexts and conversations we are speaking into. And it is about responding in ways that are targeted towards our specific rhetorical situation and audience. In addition to the truth that we all will have to write something sometime, another truth unites us. We are all human. As humans, we move through this world as sensing, feeling bodies, equipped with complex nervous systems that process and create our physical and emotional worlds. Our sensory lives, how we each individually and dynamically experience the world around us through our senses, shape our perception of reality. Our sense lives thus dictate how we read and interpret our experiences, what we respond to and why, how we listen, how we express ourselves, and ultimately, how we write. In this course, through a "hands-on" and "eye-opening" exploration of human sensation, we will discover how we "make sense" of writing: how our sense lives and the sensory experiences of our audiences inform the ways we read and write, both academically and in our lives and communities outside of class. This course emphasizes writing as a recursive process and will require you to negotiate rhetorical problems that allow you to practice writing for various audiences and purposes. Through informal and formal written exercises and assignments, interactive activities, and both topic-based and instructional readings, this course will help you develop and hone your written communication skills.

AIQS 100: You Are Your Language (146/13145)

TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Vakili, P

In this seminar, we will look at language as a key component in (re)shaping our modern society in many different ways. We will examine the importance of language in the performance of personal identity, as well as how beliefs about language reflect ideas about individuals and groups. We will explore how language use can both promote and hinder social justice, particularly for minority groups within the larger national community. Some questions we will consider are: How can language serve as a gate-keeping mechanism? What is the relationship between language and power? How does linguistic prejudice contribute to social inequality? To fulfill our course objectives, we will engage with scholarly, journalistic, and literary works. We will also conduct library, media, and community research to deepen our understanding of language, identity, power, and privilege. By the end of the course, we will have the tools necessary to articulate how language use can make positive contributions to our lives and to the social systems in which we live and work.

AIQS 110: Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice (100/8414)

MWF 09:30-10:20 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Mohammed, R

This course investigates the relationship between linguistic diversity, identity performance, and issues of linguistic and social justice in the US context. We will examine the histories of linguistic discrimination, marginalization, and stigmatization/stereotyping towards minority, immigrant, and marginalized communities and the implications of these histories on their current identities, linguistic practice, and societal positions. Students will learn academic writing skills such as synthesizing and argumentation, engaging different types of audience, and evaluating/integrating sources into their writings. Students will be exposed to various textual and multimodal genres written/produced by diverse authors and will engage in critical linguistic and rhetorical analyses of how language is used to include/exclude, emphasize and/or marginalize/stigmatize, and promote/demote certain groups, languages/dialects, and identities. The course is divided into three units. In Unit 1, students will think critically about the course theme and participate in defining essential concepts (diversity, justice, equity, discrimination, ideology, etc.) as they study the historical, social, and linguistic contexts that deem certain languages/dialects and their speakers as more/less prestigious than others. In doing so, students will also reflect on their positionality as diverse speakers studying in a foreign context and practice their authorial agency by critically analyzing how their linguistic and rhetorical choices are defined, negotiated, and oftentimes shaped by genres and writing situations. In Unit 2, students will engage in discussions of language perceptions and their role in forming exclusionary practices (linguistic and otherwise). In Unit 3, students will use their writing as a space for acknowledging our collective roles in disrupting language ideologies for social and linguistic justice.

AIQS 110: Writing and Political Literacy (101/8415)

TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Hoeynck, J

This Academic Inquiry Seminar provides an introduction to various dimensions of academic life. It will be characterized by intense yet open-ended intellectual inquiry, guided by reading from primary as well as secondary sources, and will include practice in written and oral communication in small groups. The goals are to enhance basic intellectual skills of academic inquiry, such as critical reading, thoughtful analysis, and written and oral communication; to introduce basic information literacy skills; to provide a foundation for ethical decision-making; to encourage a global and multidisciplinary perspective on the learning process; to facilitate faculty-student interactions; and, in the most general sense, to provide a supportive common intellectual experience for first-year students at CWRU. More specifically, this Foundations Seminar will focus on writing literacy and political literacy with the broad struggles of the twentieth century as frameworks, including fascism, communism, liberal democracy, racism, and climate change. We will also explore our own relationships to writing (bad and good) while also investigating popular representations of writers in memoirs and essays. At its best, writing allows us to formulate academic arguments about situations that matter deeply to issues of personhood and justice. To that end, readings have also been incorporated which address complicated and violent political topics as well, so that students can begin to learn to incorporate their own interests in specific issues as a means of developing their expressive skills.

AIQS 110: Critical Literacy and Student Voices (102/8416)

MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Iammarino, D

The course structure of this section allows for us to spend more time and attention on your individual needs and goals as writers. You will learn academic writing conventions, rhetorical techniques, and various processes that you might apply in new writing situations. For our class, specifically, we shall investigate the broad questions: What is academic literacy? What is critical literacy? How is education power? How can students create change? In order to answer these questions, we shall read literacy narratives; explore academic and non-academic essays about the current state of the university, education, and activism; watch documentaries about literacy, language, and education; and perform archival research about the history of student voices at CWRU.

AIQS 110: Literacy and Life Stories (103/8417)

TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Wolfe, M

Our section of AIQS 110 will focus on literacy narratives. We will explore questions such as: What is literacy? What does it mean to be able to read and write? How does the process of literacy learning shape our lives and our sense of self? Who gets to tell their own stories in their own languages? Who gets to teach (or even impose) their own views of language? We will discuss how autobiographers such as Jacqueline Woodson, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, and Richard Rodriguez interpret their life stories through the lens of literacy. We will read theories from scholars of literacy such as Deborah Brandt, Mary Louise Pratt, and James Paul Gee. Finally, we will reflect on how literacy has affected our own lives and how we can use these texts to better understand our own reading and writing as well as to contribute to others' literacy journeys.

AIQS 110: Literacy and Life Stories (104/8418)

TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Wolfe, M

Our section of AIQS 110 will focus on literacy narratives. We will explore questions such as: What is literacy? What does it mean to be able to read and write? How does the process of literacy learning shape our lives and our sense of self? Who gets to tell their own stories in their own languages? Who gets to teach (or even impose) their own views of language? We will discuss how autobiographers such as Jacqueline Woodson, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, and Richard Rodriguez interpret their life stories through the lens of literacy. We will read theories from scholars of literacy such as Deborah Brandt, Mary Louise Pratt, and James Paul Gee. Finally, we will reflect on how literacy has affected our own lives and how we can use these texts to better understand our own reading and writing as well as to contribute to others' literacy journeys.

AIQS 110: Writing and Political Literacy (105/8419)

TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Hoeynck, J

This Academic Inquiry Seminar provides an introduction to various dimensions of academic life. It will be characterized by intense yet open-ended intellectual inquiry, guided by reading from primary as well as secondary sources, and will include practice in written and oral communication in small groups. The goals are to enhance basic intellectual skills of academic inquiry, such as critical reading, thoughtful analysis, and written and oral communication; to introduce basic information literacy skills; to provide a foundation for ethical decision-making; to encourage a global and multidisciplinary perspective on the learning process; to facilitate faculty-student interactions; and, in the most general sense, to provide a supportive common intellectual experience for first-year students at CWRU. More specifically, this Foundations Seminar will focus on writing literacy and political literacy with the broad struggles of the twentieth century as frameworks, including fascism, communism, liberal democracy, racism, and climate change. We will also explore our own relationships to writing (bad and good) while also investigating popular representations of writers in memoirs and essays. At its best, writing allows us to formulate academic arguments about situations that matter deeply to issues of personhood and justice. To that end, readings have also been incorporated which address complicated and violent political topics as well, so that students can begin to learn to incorporate their own interests in specific issues as a means of developing their expressive skills.

AIQS 110: Critical Literacy and Student Voices (106/8420)

TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Iammarino, D

The course structure of this section allows for us to spend more time and attention on your individual needs and goals as writers. You will learn academic writing conventions, rhetorical techniques, and various processes that you might apply in new writing situations. For our class, specifically, we shall investigate the broad questions: What is academic literacy? What is critical literacy? How is education power? How can students create change? In order to answer these questions, we shall read literacy narratives; explore academic and non-academic essays about the current state of the university, education, and activism; watch documentaries about literacy, language, and education; and perform archival research about the history of student voices at CWRU.

AIQS 110: How I Learned to Read and Write (107/8421)

TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Schaffer, M

Reading and writing are crucial to being students, citizens, and professionals. And being able to do these effectively, and with intention, is what gives us power to affect the people, spaces, and ideas around us. How did you learn to read and write? Who taught you? Where did it happen? What did it help you to do? These may seem to be simple questions with easy answers, but literacy is a complex process and activity that lies at the core of who we are and how we are able to participate in our worlds. In this section of Foundations, we will think about what literacy means for each of us individually and as people in communities. We will examine our own literacy development and then the way our groups use language to achieve goals and how this language shapes us as members. Finally, we will analyze the role language plays in the debates and controversies that concern us in society: who has the right and power to speak? How do speaking and writing change us and our societies? Who has access to literacy? In our analysis, we will draw on readings from sociolinguistics, rhetoric, and writing studies in order to apply research and theories about language to our own lived experience as readers and writers in the world. Our projects will include reflective writing, reading responses, a literacy narrative, an ethnography of groups we belong to, and argument to take action on a social problem that negatively impacts our communities. We will also develop our oral communication skills through classroom discussion and debate, informal presentations, and a formal multimodal presentation.

AIQS 110: Reading and Writing Ourselves in New Communities (109/12906)

TR 08:30-09:45 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Parkin, G

This course develops the habits of mind and writing/communication processes that characterize academic discourse. Students engage with questions and topics from multiple perspectives, and they establish effective writing processes (including planning, drafting, responding to feedback, revising, reflecting, and self-assessing). This seminar provides attention to the personal aspects of writing including processes, habits, and skills as well as to the social aspects of writing including types of writing, persuasion/argument, and conventions.

AIQS 110: Writing Home: Exploring Identity and Place (110/13003)

MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Dawkins, T

In this AIQS 110, writing-intensive seminar, students will embark on a hyperlocal, literary voyage, exploring the connections between personal identity, the places we inhabit, and the people who shape our understanding of both. While we are "writing home," we will delve into various writing modes, including poetry, personal & lyrical essays, linguistic autobiographies, spatial narratives, ethnographies, and academic writing. Through readings, discussions, and engagement with resources Case Western, Cleveland, and Northeast Ohio, students will critically examine the role of writing in shaping their sense of self and community. This seminar offers an opportunity for first-year students to explore identity, place, and the writing life, fostering critical thinking and effective communication within the rich context of CWRU and its surrounding community.

AIQS 110: Writing Home: Exploring Identity and Place (111/13004)

MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Dawkins, T

In this AIQS 110, writing-intensive seminar, students will embark on a hyperlocal, literary voyage, exploring the connections between personal identity, the places we inhabit, and the people who shape our understanding of both. While we are "writing home," we will delve into various writing modes, including poetry, personal & lyrical essays, linguistic autobiographies, spatial narratives, ethnographies, and academic writing. Through readings, discussions, and engagement with resources Case Western, Cleveland, and Northeast Ohio, students will critically examine the role of writing in shaping their sense of self and community. This seminar offers an opportunity for first-year students to explore identity, place, and the writing life, fostering critical thinking and effective communication within the rich context of CWRU and its surrounding community.

AIQS 110: Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice (112/13071)

MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Mohammed, R

This course investigates the relationship between linguistic diversity, identity performance, and issues of linguistic and social justice in the US context. We will examine the histories of linguistic discrimination, marginalization, and stigmatization/stereotyping towards minority, immigrant, and marginalized communities and the implications of these histories on their current identities, linguistic practice, and societal positions. Students will learn academic writing skills such as synthesizing and argumentation, engaging different types of audience, and evaluating/integrating sources into their writings. Students will be exposed to various textual and multimodal genres written/produced by diverse authors and will engage in critical linguistic and rhetorical analyses of how language is used to include/exclude, emphasize and/or marginalize/stigmatize, and promote/demote certain groups, languages/dialects, and identities. The course is divided into three units. In Unit 1, students will think critically about the course theme and participate in defining essential concepts (diversity, justice, equity, discrimination, ideology, etc.) as they study the historical, social, and linguistic contexts that deem certain languages/dialects and their speakers as more/less prestigious than others. In doing so, students will also reflect on their positionality as diverse speakers studying in a foreign context and practice their authorial agency by critically analyzing how their linguistic and rhetorical choices are defined, negotiated, and oftentimes shaped by genres and writing situations. In Unit 2, students will engage in discussions of language perceptions and their role in forming exclusionary practices (linguistic and otherwise). In Unit 3, students will use their writing as a space for acknowledging our collective roles in disrupting language ideologies for social and linguistic justice.

AIQS 120: Digital Citizenship (100/8425)

TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Wu, X

What is digital citizenship? How does it relate to social media and Internet regulations? What are the debates surrounding the digital world? How do these affect us, collectively and individually? In this class, we invite students from different disciplines to explore these questions. Course texts may include scholarly articles from different disciplines (e.g., business, engineering, psychology), news reports, and film/documentary. Students will participate in student-centered class discussions, which are designed to help them to think critically and make connections between their lives and the readings. Through free writing, reflection, peer feedback, revision and an argumentative research paper, students will understand academic writing as a process, and they will develop academic writing skills such as building arguments and conducting critical analysis. Students are encouraged to use multimodal ways (video, posters, etc.) to present their final projects.

AIQS 120: How Language Works (103/12436)

MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Demeter, G

This course will focus on academic writing through the investigation of language as a concept. Some of the questions students will engage with include: How did language begin and how is a new language born? How does it change over time? How does language shape our identity and how does our identity shape the way we use language? How does language shape way we think? Why and how do some languages become endangered and then extinct while other languages become dominant or global? Students will start by writing a language autobiography, an essay in which they reflect on the history of their relationship with language - including both their mother language(s) and learning (an)other language(s). Later in the semester, students will also learn how artificial languages are constructed (such as Elvish in "The Lord of the Rings", Na'vi in "Avatar", or Dothraki in "Game of Thrones") and will have the opportunity to use their creativity to construct their own language. Finally, students will develop their writing skills (such as summarizing, synthesizing, and argumentative writing) as well as other academic skills (such as critical thinking and reading, participating in academic discussions and debates).

AIQS 130: Children's Literature in Cleveland (100/8845)

TR 08:30-09:45 AM Aug 25-Dec 05, W 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Byrne, C

"NOTE: This is a 4-credit, community-engaged section of AIQS." Children's picture books not only introduce young children to basic ideas like what sounds animals make and how to count to ten but also to their culture's belief systems. In this course, we will take seemingly simplistic children's picture books and analyze the underlying messages and the "hidden adult" present in their illustrations and text. From The Cat in the Hat to Last Stop on Market Street to The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, we will analyze both well-known best-sellers and recent picture books with timely messages. To deepen our understanding of the picture books we study, we will also collaborate with local stakeholders, including children and community members who read, create, and/or distribute these books. We will partner with 2nd graders at a local elementary school, area literacy nonprofits, and libraries to deepen our understanding of young people in Cleveland and the books they read. The key questions we will explore and answer together include: What is a "children's picture book"? How do we analyze the visual arguments in picture books? What assumptions are made about the readers of these books? What function do the adult producers/ purchasers/ distributors of these books serve in the creation and circulation (or banning) of these texts? How are complex and difficult topics (like racism, death, and war) explored in works for children? By examining the underlying messages in these deceptively simple books, we can uncover surprisingly complicated visions of the world.

AIQS 130: Children's Literature in Cleveland (101/8846)

TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05, W 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 25-Dec 05

Byrne, C

"NOTE: This is a 4-credit, community-engaged section of AIQS." Children's picture books not only introduce young children to basic ideas like what sounds animals make and how to count to ten but also to their culture's belief systems. In this course, we will take seemingly simplistic children's picture books and analyze the underlying messages and the "hidden adult" present in their illustrations and text. From The Cat in the Hat to Last Stop on Market Street to The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, we will analyze both well-known best-sellers and recent picture books with timely messages. To deepen our understanding of the picture books we study, we will also collaborate with local stakeholders, including children and community members who read, create, and/or distribute these books. We will partner with 2nd graders at a local elementary school, area literacy nonprofits, and libraries to deepen our understanding of young people in Cleveland and the books they read. The key questions we will explore and answer together include: What is a "children's picture book"? How do we analyze the visual arguments in picture books? What assumptions are made about the readers of these books? What function do the adult producers/ purchasers/ distributors of these books serve in the creation and circulation (or banning) of these texts? How are complex and difficult topics (like racism, death, and war) explored in works for children? By examining the underlying messages in these deceptively simple books, we can uncover surprisingly complicated visions of the world.

AIQS 130: Local Food Challenges: Health, Equity, & Envirnmnt (102/12286)

MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 25-Dec 05, T 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Fejes, N

In this seminar, we will be exploring the food landscape of Cleveland: its unique sets of challenges and opportunities. We will do so by getting to know places and people in our community through a variety of engagements fostering a deeper understanding of our city and our surrounding communities. We will delve into indigenous food practices and today's industrial agricultural system in Ohio. With community partners, we will investigate some of the ecological challenges of industrial food production and the health of Lake Erie. We will examine the historical roots of food inequities in Cleveland and the health of the city in general. We will interrogate the ecological and ethical issues around food waste and our city's efforts to tackle it. We will acquaint ourselves with community-centered regenerative and transformative solutions practiced by farmers and community partners who see our local food system as a crucially important lever to optimize environmental sustainability and human health.

AIQS 130: Local Food Challenges: Health, Equity, & Envirnmnt (103/12287)

MW 08:00-09:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05, T 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 25-Dec 05

Fejes, N

In this seminar, we will be exploring the food landscape of Cleveland: its unique sets of challenges and opportunities. We will do so by getting to know places and people in our community through a variety of engagements fostering a deeper understanding of our city and our surrounding communities. We will delve into indigenous food practices and today's industrial agricultural system in Ohio. With community partners, we will investigate some of the ecological challenges of industrial food production and the health of Lake Erie. We will examine the historical roots of food inequities in Cleveland and the health of the city in general. We will interrogate the ecological and ethical issues around food waste and our city's efforts to tackle it. We will acquaint ourselves with community-centered regenerative and transformative solutions practiced by farmers and community partners who see our local food system as a crucially important lever to optimize environmental sustainability and human health.