-
Art of Understanding (Prof. Juan Mah y Busch, English & Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies)
MW 9:55-11:35am (CRN 40406)
First to Go Program Only
To become familiar with the artistry of your understanding, in this course you learn to meditate. No prior experience is presumed or expected. Alongside regular meditation, you practice different forms of writing (such as simple description, contemplative writing, critical examination, research). Through the regular practice of meditation and writing, you settle into the interplay between words and wordlessness, drawing attention to the qualitative dimensions of lived experience, such as the wordless music of words or a spacious moment of time, the quiet release of an exhale or the cool breeze of an inhale. Grounded in meditation, writing, discussion and engaged participation, in the class you develop your own more artful understandings.
Meet the Professor:
Juan D. Mah y Busch is professor and chair of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies (CLST) and professor of English. In addition to his academic training, for over two decades he was formally trained in meditation. He uses meditation and literary analysis as research methods in order to examine a range of questions in critical race and ethnic studies, ethical and aesthetic epistemologies, and contemplative pedagogy. He coordinates the CLST Learning Community and has worked with the First-To-Go Program since its inception. He lives in Northeast Los Angeles with his partner Irene, their three children, and their boxer Brooklyn.
Juan.MahyBusch@lmu.edu
-
Childhood in International Cinema (Prof. Aine O’Healy, Modern Languages and Literatures)
Honors Program Only
T 4:30-7:50pm (CRN 40390)
This seminar introduces students to critical writing through the exploration of international cinema. Our focus is on the representation of childhood in several films produced around the world since the 1940s. In order to engage with these films, drawn from different national contexts and historical periods, students apply the tools of audiovisual analysis to discern the symbolic functions fulfilled by the figure of the child. We will examine how the construction of children in cinema intersects with discourses of nation formation and with the representation of gender, sexuality, ethnicity and social class. The assigned readings, mainly drawn from cinema studies, will guide our explorations and will allow us to place the filmic analyses in a broader context, encompassing issues of globalization, discourses of the border, and discussions about multiculturalism and diversity.
Meet the Professor:
Professor Áine O'Healy is Professor of Italian and Director of the Humanities Program at Loyola Marymount University.
-
Liberal Education in the Age of Enlightenment (Prof. Jeffrey Wilson, Philosophy)
TR 1:45-3:25pm (CRN 42729)
Honors Program Only
This course engages students with themes in the philosophy of education from the Age of Enlightenment by placing eighteenth-century European texts in dialogue with the contemporary perspectives of Paolo Freire’s anti-colonialist writings and the Black feminist thought of bell hooks. Each of these intellectual streams wrestles with questions of how human beings are to be educated for moral reform (ethical freedom), the relation of faith and reason in educational practice (religious freedom), and education as preparation for citizenship and empowerment in a free society (political freedom). As a First Year Seminar, the course introduces students to intellectual rigor, critical thinking, and effective writing skills while laying the foundation for a lifelong commitment to learning.
Meet the Professor:
Jeffrey Wilson, PhD is Director of the University Honors Program and Philosophy faculty since 1995. His research focuses on Immanuel Kant, with special emphases on his philosophy of the arts and creativity, mathematics, science, and religion. He also engages with Jewish philosophy of the 18th and 20th centuries in Germany. He has given talks on his research in German, Austria, Switzerland, Brazil, Norway, China, and Lebanon, along with many around the United States. His work has been published in Kant Yearbook, Rethinking Kant, the Journal of Philosophical Research, and the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, among others.
-
On the Technological Sublime (Prof. Sue Scheibler, Film/TV Studies)
F 11:30am-2:50pm (CRN 42507)
Honors Program Only
The sublime invites us to, in the words of the poet Pierre Reverdy, “stroll elegantly along the edge of the abyss;” an abyss that, as we stare into it, fills us with wonder, curiosity, delight, terror, joy, and awe. In this course, we will explore the various ways that filmmakers, TV creators, video game developers, writers, poets, musicians, and others have produced works of art that, at least for a moment, in their sublimity, challenge our sense of self, experience, and perceptions by carrying us out of our “normal” ways of thinking, feeling, and perceiving, into a sublimely transcendent encounter with the other as well as ourselves that can leave us forever changed.
Meet the Professor:
Sue Scheibler (they/them) teaches courses such as Queer TV, Video Games, Science Fiction TV, Japanese Anime TV and time studies, in the School of Film and TV. Her scholarly interests include disability justice (with a focus on neuroqueer), video games, television studies, ethics, among others.
"I've been teaching On the Technological Sublime in Honors for about fourteen years now. I love teaching it because it allows me to bring all of my interests into the class: philosophy (I have graduate degrees in the Philosophy of Religion), theology (I have a seminary degree), Buddhist and Daoist philosophy; media studies (especially video games and TV studies); physics; and poetry." –Prof. Scheibler
Susan.Scheibler@lmu.edu
-
Principles of Scientific Reasoning
MW 1:45-3:00pm (CRN 40427)
ACCESS Program Only
Communication and critical thinking skills are developed with an emphasis on science, nature, technology, and mathematics in multiple contexts. Mathematical and scientific reasoning are investigated through inductive and deductive arguments, the scientific method, and the notions of definition, classification and conjecture. The course will also examine the role and purpose that scientists and scientific educators play in society, and how math and science inform movements for social justice and equity, as well as issues related to ethics and responsibility in the STEM profession. There will also be an emphasis on exploring the contributions to science and technology from diverse cultures and communities.
Meet the Professor
Dr. Robin Wilson is currently a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Loyola Marymount University. The product of the public school system in Sacramento, CA, he attended UC Berkeley where he studied mathematics and developed a passion for teaching and supporting students of color in STEM. He earned his PhD in Mathematics at the University of California, Davis, and prior to LMU he was a Professor at Cal Poly Pomona and held Visiting positions at Georgetown University and Pomona College. His scholarship includes both mathematics and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Robin.Wilson@lmu.edu