The Daily Bulletin Archive

By Mary A. Durlak

Seven of every 100 children born won’t live to see their fifth birthday. The connection between that statistic and anthropology will be covered in a topics course, “Anthropology of Disease,” to be offered in spring 2010 by Julie Wieczkowski, assistant professor of anthropology.

Topics courses are a valuable method for developing and evaluating courses before subjecting them to the rigorous review necessary to become a regular part of the college’s course offerings.

“Teaching a topics course can keep faculty members revitalized,” said Dennis Gaffin, associate professor and interim chair of anthropology. “A professor usually chooses to create a course based on his or her passion and area of expertise, so it can be a rewarding course for students.”

Wieczkowski will explore illness from an anthropological perspective. Besides infant mortality, students will learn how a society’s culture contributes to the understanding, spread, and prevention of disease; how disease manifests itself in the archaeological record; and how anthropologists contribute to the fight against disease.

“One of my major advisers in graduate school studied epidemiology,” said Wieczkowski, “and I developed an interest in the spread of disease.” Wieczkowski is a physical anthropologist who conducts research on primates. Physical anthropology, also known as biological anthropology, is a science that studies human biological origins, evolution, and variation.

Undergraduate topics courses are numbered 189 or 389, preceded by the course prefix. A course can be taught only twice before either being dropped or submitted for curricular approval. However, all topics courses must be approved by the chair, dean, and provost no later than two weeks before the start of the class.

“If the course attracts students,” said Gaffin, “and supports the department’s goals, the chair and dean will forward it to the Curriculum Committee for review by the College Senate.”

Sometimes a topics course is designed to explore new programmatic offerings. That’s the case with a new course in the Theater Department, “Acting for New Media,” which will be offered in the spring by an adjunct faculty member, Shaun McLaughlin, ’84.

“Shaun is leading a collaborative group of professionals from on and off campus who are creating an integrated media degree program for us,” said Drew Kahn, professor and chair of theater. “He has a wealth of industry expertise as a result of a long career in L.A., where he has been a successful animator, director, writer, and producer.” Among McLaughlin’s credits are several of the Batman movies including Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

By “new media,” McLaughlin means animation, digitally enhanced film, and Web video productions. “Doing voices for animation,” he said, “is more than just doing funny voices. You have to be able to create a character and act.” Gollum, the antihero of the Lord of the Rings movies, was built by filming an actor in a special costume that enabled computers to capture his movement. “That kind of acting, ironically, requires a return to some classical modes of acting, such as mime,” said McLaughlin.

“Topics courses are a valuable tool for any faculty member who wants to share a particular area of interest,” said Karen O’Quin, associate dean of the School of Natural and Social Sciences. “Sometimes teaching such a course opens up new avenues for both students and faculty.”