First-Year Seminars for Fall 2009
Due to small class sizes, your first-choice seminar may be full by the time you register. Bring a second and third choice to Orientation. Search for your favorite topics here, or in ISIS (the University's online course registration tool) using the directions below. You will not be able to register before Orientation.

Inventing Languages: Computer Programs, Music Notation, Sports Plays, and Beyond
Instructor: Aaron D. Stump

Genes, DNA, and Society: Ethical and Legal Issues
Instructor: Gary N. Gussin

Stimulation of the Brain: Cochlear Implants and Other Neural Prostheses
Instructor: Paul Abbas

Evolution on the Molecular Level
Instructor: Amnon Kohen

Fictions of Environmental Disaster
Instructor: Claire Sponsler

Exploring Mini Comics, Zines, and Artists' Books
Instructor: Rachel M. Williams

Love, Loss, and Empire
instructor Aimee M. Carrillo Rowe

The Souls of Black Folk: Tracing the "Color Line" from Du Bois to Obama
Instructor: Shelton Stromquist

Historical Background to Current Events: How to Read The New York Times
Instructor: Stephen G. Vlastos

Being Young in Africa
Instructor: James L. Giblin

The Italians in America
Instructor: Deborah Contrada

The Arts Around Us
Instructor: Christine M. Rutledge-Russell

Writing Song Lyrics
Instructor: Jeffrey Agrell

Music, the Brain, and the Mind
Instructor: Anthony Arnone

Paradoxes
Instructor: Gregory Landini

Exploring Mt. Everest
Instructor: Susan J. Birrell

Understanding Weapons of Mass Destruction
Instructor: Brian H. Lai

Behavior Modification: How to Help Yourself and Others
Instructor: Michael W. O'Hara

The Arrogant Animal
Instructor: Edward A. Wasserman

What is Socialism?
Instructor: Thomas E. Lewis

Listening with Ears and Machines
Instructor: John D. Peters

Copyright Controversies
Instructor: Kembrew McLeod

Could you, would you, can you, please? Making Requests Around the World
Instructor: Margaret H. Mills

Health in a Bottle: Drug Discovery and Development in the 21st Century
Instructor: Maureen D. Donovan

Superheroes Unleashed: 3,000 years of Heroes, Villains and a Mad Race for Immortality
Instructor: Anna M. Barker

Fashion, Masquerade, Media and Contemporary Culture
Instructor: Loyce L. Arthur

Hero's Journey: Storytelling and Mythic Structure
Instructor: Megan E. Gogerty

The Energy Future
Instructor: David W. Murhammer

Solar Energy
Instructor: Alec B. Scranton

Wind Energy
Instructor: Patrick B. Butler

Sustainable Water Resource Management
Instructor: Larry J. Weber

The Perils of Global Warming
Instructor: Wilfrid A. Nixon

Flushed: The Fate of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment
Instructor: Keri C. Hornbuckle

Imagining Utopia: Learning About Economics Through Science Fiction
Instructor: Beth Ingram

The Economist's View of Current Events
Instructor: Charles H. Whiteman

Outer Space Economics
Instructor: Stacey L. Brook

Contemporary Topics in Finance
Instructors: Matthew Billett, John H. Spitzer

Real Estate and You
Instructor: Jarjisu Sa-Aadu

Exploring Entrepreneurship
Instructor: Dennis M. Schrag

Video Games as Learning Tools
Instructor: James W. Chaffee

Quantitative Analysis in Sports
Instructor: Jeffrey W. Ohlmann

Why We Buy
Instructors: Catherine A. Cole, Gary J. Russell

Influence and Persuasion
Instructor: Robert M. Rouwenhorst

Factors that Hinder Success in Higher Education
Instructor: Mitchell J. Kelly

Hairitage: African American Women's Hair Culture
Instructor: Janette Y. Taylor

Healthcare and Nursing
Instructor: Sandra L. Ramey

Still Digital Photography: "Serious" Fun!
Instructor: Joann M. Eland

Railroads: Romantic Artifacts or Transportation for the Future
Instructor: John W. Fuller, Barton E. Cramer

Applied Archaeology—Saving the Past for the Future
Instructors: John F. Doershuk, Stephen C. Lensink, Melody K. Pope

Grim(m) Tales
Instructor: Waltraud Maierhofer

Unraveling Debates About Same-Sex Marriage
Instructor: Ellen Lewin

The Mind & Body of Yoga
Instructor: Charlotte Adams

War on Drugs (honors seminar)
Instructor: Robert F. Kirby

Physics: The Law or Just a Good Idea? (honors seminar)
Instructor: Kenneth Gayley

Can Obama's Eloquence Make a Difference? (honors seminar)
Instructor: P. T. Poulakos

"What Was I Thinking?": Storytelling Performance (honors seminar)
Instructor: Steve McGuire

Energy and the Environment (honors seminar)
Instructor: Alec B. Scranton

Supreme Court Cases that Changed Everything (honors seminar)
Instructor: Marcella David

How to Change the World: Principles of Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (honors seminar)
Instructors: Kenneth G. Brown, Amy E. Colbert

Doing Well and Doing Good (honors seminar)
Instructor: John L. Solow

Bicycles, Kayaks, and Snowshoes: Writing About Travel (honors seminar)
Instructor: Carol J. Severino

Translating the New Testament
Instructor: Carin M. Green

Myth and Change
Instructor: Robert C. Ketterer

Privacy
Instructor: Anne W. Zalenski

Great Ideas in Surgery
Instructor: Carol Scott-Conner

Women, World War II and Legal Change
Instructor: Carolyn C. Jones

Iowa's Legacy in Civil Rights
Instructor: Carroll J. Reasoner

The Poetry of the World
Instructor: Christopher Merrill

Grad School: Is It for You?
Instructors: Daniel A. Berkowitz, John C. Keller

Darwinism and Religion: An Introduction
Instructor: David Depew

Introduction to Dentistry
Instructors: David C. Johnsen, David R. Drake, Jed S. Hand, Michael J. Kanellis, Clark M. Stanford

Whose Water Is It?
Instructor: Dian M. Gottlob

Lessons from the Flood of 2008
Instructor: Donald J. Guckert

University Education: Who Pays?
Instructors: Douglas K. True, Susan A. Klatt

The Psychology of Forgiveness
Instructor: Elizabeth M. Altmaier

What Do Administrators Do?
Instructor: Glenn L. Kell

Copyright: What Did I Do Wrong?
Instructors: Grainne M. P. Martin, Gay D. Pelzer

Workers' Rights and Social Struggle
Instructor: Jennifer K. Sherer

What to do about Climate Change?
Instructor: Jonathan C. Carlson

Challenges to Reforming Health Care in America
Instructors: Jordan L. Cohen, Peter C. Damiano

General Semantics
Instructor: Nicholas Johnson

An Introducation to Campus Planning and Architecture
Instructor: Rodney P. Lehnertz

How Doctors Decide What to Do: Evidence and Medical Practice
Instructor: Susan R. Johnson

What is Public Health and How Does it Impact Me?
Instructor: Tanya M. Uden-Holman

Create Campus Justice: Breaking the Rules
Instructor: Thomas R. Baker

Becoming a Community Leader
Instructors: Willard L. Boyd, Richard F. Koontz

Sustainability and Iowa Farms
Instructors: Barbara J. Eckstein, Elizabeth A. Christensen

World-Changing Events in the Time of Sherlock Holmes
Instructor: Richard M. Caplan

Images of the Prairie
Instructor: Thomas K. Dean

World Literatures and World Cinemas Today
Instructor: Natasa Durovicova

On Being a Doctor: Image and Reality
Instructors: Victoria J. Sharp, et. al.

Your role and Choices in the Food Chain
Instructor: Chet Rzonca

How Writers Think about Literature
Instructor: Christopher J. Liebig

Strategic Communication: A University of Iowa Case Study on Media Relations
Instructors: Linda S. Kettner, Steven R. Parrott

People and the Sky
Instructor: Steven R. Spangler

Extreme Reading: Poetry in Exquisite Detail
Instructor: Cole Swensen

Paul Erdos, Ramsey Theory, and the Question of Beauty in Mathematics
Instructors: Peter F. Blanchard, Victor P. Camillo Jr.

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