For Students: Seminars
Student Seminars are interdisciplinary not-for-credit classes designed and run by students, with topics ranging from same-sex marriage to the relationship between poetry and polynomials. Students are invited each spring to propose (individually or with a partner) a theme or subject of interest that they would like to explore in a group setting (six or seven participants) the following fall. The Student Seminar organizer(s) recruit(s) a faculty advisor, who helps develop the students' syllabus, sitting in on one of the sessions in the fall. All books, materials, and refreshments are funded by the Center, and each student receives a generous book stipend to purchase other materials related to the seminar topic. The Center also funds a visiting speaker if desired. Each year HCAH holds workshops for those interested in leading a Student Seminar.
Seminars draw students from across the academic disciplines. In 2009-10, participants came from the following areas of study: Africana & African Studies, Anthropology, Classics, Comparative Literature, East Asian Studies, Economics, English, Fine Arts, Growth & Structure of Cities, History, History of Art, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Sociology, and Spanish.
Contact Associate Director James Weissinger for more information.
How to Propose or Join a Seminar
2012-13 Application Timetable:
Proposing a seminar:
Sophomores and Juniors are invited to submit a seminar one-page proposal that includes:
- Student Seminar Leader & Faculty Advisory Guidelines 12-13
- Student name, email address, year, and major;
- Proposed title for the seminar;
- Name of the seminar's faculty advisor;
- A substantive initial paragraph generally introducing the seminar topic, followed by a second which describes the questions or thoughts motivating the seminar. Next, discuss the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed seminar: Who would be interested in taking it? Which majors/minors/concentrations, and why? Next, begin to sketch out as best you can a preliminary syllabus—list any texts (written, filmic, hypertextual, etc.) which might be read, and begin to group them around general topics or themes within the seminar, if possible. Finally, suggest three potential guest speakers who you might want to bring to campus.
Please contact Associate Director James Weissinger as soon as possible to discuss your idea, and look at past seminar syllabi to help in writing your own: http://www.haverford.edu/HHC/for_students/past_seminars.php
Upon completion, email your application to hhc@haverford.edu by Friday, March 23rd, 2012 with "Seminar Proposal (your name)" in the subject line.
Joining a seminar
Rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors from all majors are eligible to apply. Applications should take the form of a MS Word document including the following information:
- Student name, email address, year, and major/minor/concentration/academic interests if undeclared
- Name of your faculty advisor
- A thoughtful, substantive paragraph or two that explains your interest in the seminar, what perspectives you hope to contribute, any suggested texts or documents you might hope to bring, and what you hope to take from participating.
Please email your application to hhc@haverford.edu by on Wednesday, April 11th, 2012 "Seminar Participant (your name)" in the subject line.
Seminar for Fall 2011
Smoke In Your Eyes: The Symbolic Evolution of the Cigarette
Seminar Leader: Noelia Hobeika '13 (English)
Faculty Advisor: Peter Gaffney (English)
Seminar Members: Samara Ahmed '13 (Philosophy);
Susannah Butters '13 (Anthropology/Gender & Sexuality Studies/Pre-Med);
Anneke Heher '14 (Biology, Spanish, Linguistics);
Kirsten Larsen '13 (Anthropology/Psychology);
Annie Reading '13 (English/Africana Studies);
Valerie Smosna '13 (History of Art)
How do we reconcile today's ostracism of smokers with the nostalgic glamor of smoking's contemporary cinematic portrayals? How have changing attitudes impacted perceptions of smoking, shifting the act from rite of passage to profane practice? In this seminar, we will explore the evolving symbolic connotations of the cigarette, tracing the ways in which social patterns transcribe themselves onto film and into advertising, and those media representations' subsequent influence back upon social practices themselves. Giving particular emphasis to the study of film, the seminar will also be of interest to students interested in sociology, psychology, medicine, history, literary studies, gender & sexuality studies, visual culture, political science, anthropology, and many other areas of focus.
