FYI Brochure 2014

First-Year Initiatives
2014
This is where your Beloit education begins.
www.beloit.edu
The what, why, and when of FYI:
THE INITIATIVES PROGRAM AND THE FYI SEMINAR
How does Beloit College bring students together, bring each of them
into our community, and match them with academic programs that
both stimulate student engagement and initiate students into the
practice of the liberal arts at Beloit College? And how does Beloit do
it while maintaining a campus atmosphere in which students have
the maximum freedom to make their own choices about their
education and future?
The answer is the Initiatives program. Designed to inspire and
support students through their first four semesters of college, the
different elements of the program work together to foster incoming
students’ skills, interests, knowledge, and agency. Students develop
habits of mind conducive to ethical and creative engagement with
the world and learn how to apply different ideas, skills, and
perspectives to particular problems and life challenges.
The program begins with New Student Days, a week-long
orientation that introduces students both to the Beloit College campus
and community and to Beloit’s distinctive approach to the liberal arts,
as well as to the professor who will be their Initiatives advisor—their
advisor in the liberal arts—for the next two years. That professor also
leads the First-Year Initiatives (FYI) seminar, one of four courses
taken during the first semester at Beloit College. FYI seminars focus
on a wide range of fascinating topics, but all of them help students to
navigate the transition to college, while offering them an engaging and
challenging introduction to academic inquiry.
While the seminar comes to an end at the conclusion of the first
semester, the advising relationship continues over the three
subsequent semesters, both through individual meetings between
students and their Initiatives advisors, and through an advising
workshop held once each semester, in which students reflect on
their experiences and plan their educational trajectory, while learning
how to take full advantage of the many opportunities that a Beloit
education offers.
The program also offers two sets of optional courses especially
designed to foster exploration in the first two years of college:
Transformational Works and Enduring Questions. Designed to
awaken and develop students’ intellectual curiosity, the courses
provide an engaging context in which instructors model the
excitement of practicing liberal learning and help students to
cultivate their own interests and passion for inquiry.
Finally, at the end of the sophomore year, students are eligible to
apply for Venture Grants, which provide funds for students to
embark on self-designed projects. Grant recipients put into practice
the skills and perspectives they have gained over their first two years
at Beloit College in projects that expand their academic and personal
resources for the exciting opportunities that await them in their
junior and senior years.
It all begins with choosing an FYI seminar.
The Beloit education defined:
FIVE PRINCIPLES OF THE FIRST-YEAR INITIATIVES (FYI) SEMINAR
Great Teaching:
Great teaching is not something a college should reserve for juniors
and seniors. From their first moments on campus, students study
with outstanding Beloit College professors. FYI seminars have
approximately 16 students, and seminar leaders also act as students’
advisors in the liberal arts for the next two years.
Diverse Ways of Learning:
Learning should not be confined to a single field or discipline.
Faculty and staff in fields of expertise ranging from anthropology to
theatre to biology lead the seminars—and each seminar incorporates
multiple approaches and perspectives. While each FYI seminar is
different—so as to give students a great deal of choice—sections also
share common readings, common time slots, and common cultural
and social events. Before graduation from Beloit, students master at
least one field, their major, in some depth. But in introducing
students to learning at the college through the FYI seminar, we want
to emphasize that knowledge has no boundaries. In the four years
students spend here, we want to stimulate their initiative to become
broadly educated in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
Personalized Learning:
Learning is both something shared and something very personal and
individualized. FYI seminars include a week of orientation in which
fellow seminar members (and future friends and graduates) get to
know one another. During the orientation and fall semester seminar,
students undertake significant speaking and writing projects, both
individually and within the close-knit group that the FYI seminar
becomes. FYI seminars are designed to foster the creativity,
flexibility, and teamwork best learned in small groups—as well as
equipping students for excellence in speaking and writing. In the
words of one professor, Beloit’s FYI program “begins preparing
students to do well at Beloit, and do well after Beloit, on the first
day they arrive.”
Applied Learning:
Learning reaches beyond the classroom. During New Student Days
and throughout the semester, students explore Beloit the city as well
as Beloit the college. Noted anthropologist Margaret Mead once
described Beloit as a “microcosm of America.” With its heavy
industry, urban challenges, and surrounding agricultural lands, with
its ethnic diversity and long and fascinating history, Beloit is a
stimulating window on the world. Previous FYI seminars have
included working with the Landmarks Commission, tutoring
children at a local community center, working on a community farm,
and various student-designed hands-on projects.
Motivated Learning:
Learning is a choice. FYI seminars foster the conditions under which
students can take ownership of their Beloit experience and passionately
pursue their own aspirations. The seminars encourage students to
develop the ability to assess their own strengths and challenges as
learners through frequent reflection on the learning process and
intentional, step-by-step skill-building. Most importantly, FYI seminars
encourage students to recognize the value and relevance of their liberal
arts education and to forge their own connections between the
classroom and the local and global communities of which they are part.
Take the next step—it’s your choice:
THE FIRST-YEAR INITIATIVES SEMINARS FOR 2014
1. Copy, Clone, Knockoff
What is the difference between an original and a copy? Why do
human beings seem to need both to make copies and to set
safeguards against them? Where do we (re)draw the line on thinking
of our work as original? Why and how can copies variously enchant,
confuse, and outrage us? What are the patterns and differences
involving motives, means, and outcomes that we encounter as we
examine different instances of copying? This course explores how
concepts such as originality, creativity, authenticity, identity, value,
and ownership are influenced by the proliferation of copies in our
lives. We address a variety of historical and contemporary contexts
of copying; analyze artistic, economic, and intellectual debates about
copying; track connections between evolving copy technology and
its social impact; and engage in our own production of “original
copies.” Topics range from plagiarized papers and cloned pets to
Chinese “duplitecture” and musical sampling. This class will take an
interdisciplinary approach in order to “sample” a liberal arts
curriculum, and the assignments are similarly designed to give
students an opportunity to develop a wide range of introductory
skills, while simultaneously engaging in a variety of “performative”
copying practices—conventional and otherwise.
2. The Monkey King
We often see life as a quest—for knowledge, wisdom, self-understanding, or, perhaps, acceptance. What are you seeking? And how
will your liberal arts education help you in this quest? With these
questions in mind, we will read and analyze one of the great quest
narratives of world literature: the epic Ming Dynasty novel The Journey to the West (Xiyou ji). Sometimes known as The Monkey King in
English, this novel follows a quartet of pilgrims—including a monk,
a monkey, a pig, and an ogre-like monster—as they travel through an
often-mythical landscape to retrieve Buddhist sutras from India to
bring back to China. Tracing the development of The Monkey King
story from an amalgamation of historical fact and folkloric legend, to
its mature 16th century form, and beyond to its persistence in contemporary popular culture (e.g., movies, TV shows, comic books),
we will explore the literary, philosophical, cultural, and historic significances of this enduring classic.
3. Clean Water: A Drop in the Bucket?
Many people lack water to meet daily needs. Globally, water scarcity
affects almost one in five people; the percentage affected will likely
rise as population, urbanization, irrigation, and standards of living increase. It also will rise if the predictability of clean water supplies decreases, whether due to natural (e.g., droughts) or human (e.g.,
pollution) causes. In this seminar, we will explore the physical and
sometimes political constraints on adequate clean water supplies. We
will discuss case studies of environmental disasters like the Aral Sea,
where our thirst for water in arid environments has resulted in catastrophic degradation of regional ecosystems. We also will explore
water scarcity in areas with abundant rainfall such as the Mekong
River Watershed. You will have the opportunity to research waterscarcity issues in a geographic region of your choice and report your
findings to the class. As we investigate water availability at the global
scale, we will explore water issues in the Beloit area through visits to
local industries and through examining our own water use on campus.
4. Life’s a Drag
Divine. Willi Ninja. RuPaul. These are some of the more mainstream
drag performers that have emerged from the underground scene over
the past 30 years. Drag is a kind of exaggerated gendered inversion
of dress or style highlighting popular notions or stereotypes of a
particular gender. In our contemporary culture, Drag Queens (and to
a lesser extent Drag Kings) are a revered group of “Glamazons” who
inhabit both the underground and mainstream/primetime worlds.
This co-habitation has resulted in both the marginalizing and
fetishizing of these communities. In this course, we will watch, read,
and physically explore—through dress and performance—the current
state of drag in American society. How and why has drag managed
to break into the mainstream? How mainstream is it? Has the
integrity of drag been compromised because it no longer only lives
underground? What are the dangers of being part of a marginalized
group that becomes revered in popular culture? These are a few of
the questions we will examine over the course of the semester.
5. Global Working Class Literature and Local Labor
Conditions
In the November 2013 issue of World Literature Today, guest editor
Jeanetta Calhoun Mish examines work by contemporary working
class writers in Australia, Ireland, Poland, China, Italy, Pakistan, and
the U.S. But what about working class literature in other countries,
such as Kenya or South Africa? Even Beloit College made its appearance in a working class novel, Iron City, written in 1919 by one-time
English professor Marion Hedges, who saw significant social class
disparities that troubled him deeply. The hope for this course is that
an investigation into the literature that speaks from a working class
perspective ignites a determination to examine the social, political,
and economic conditions that contribute to labor inequities. Readings
will include writing by Ewa Parma, Michela Murgia, Zheng Xiaoqiong, Ibtisam Barakat, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ha Jong-O, and Alvaro
Enrigue. Activities will include discussions about working class literature and projects in the Beloit community, which follow the labor issues of manufacturing firms (e.g., Regal, Fairbanks Morse, or the
former Beloit Corps) and the historical migrations of people who
made up the local work force.
6. Everest: The Pursuit of Glory
At 29,029 feet, Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth. Since
first summitted in 1953, thousands have sought glory by climbing to
the “top of the world.” Of these, many have suffered the long-term
effects of severe frostbite. Thousands more have succumbed to the al-
Printed on paper that contains 30% recycled post-consumer fiber.
titude, weather, and wind before ever reaching the top. More than
200 ultimately lost their lives. In the face of such danger, what drives
our pursuit of glory? Where does our pursuit of glory intersect with
the physical limitations of human endurance? In this FYI, we will
explore glory through the lens of Mount Everest. This interdisciplinary course will center on the multiple meanings of glory and how
they manifest themselves within different cultural perspectives. Topics ranging from the moral implications of seeking personal glory, to
glory found within the context of war and religion will be interlaced
with the study of the psychological, physiological, and biochemical
limitations of the human form. In this way, we will develop an understanding of how we perceive glory, to what extremes we will go
to obtain glory, and what can ultimately hinder our pursuit of glory.
7. Seeing is Believing?
“All of us are watchers—of television, of time clocks, of traffic on
the freeway—but few are observers. Everyone is looking, not many
are seeing.”—Peter M. Leschak
“Seeing is believing” is an old saying. But is it true? Should we
believe what our eyes tell us? Are humans good observers? What
influences our skills of observation? We will investigate observation
by first learning about our visual system. After delving into the nuts
and bolts of human vision, we will explore other topics such as the
role of expertise in observation, eyewitness testimony, and how we
can train ourselves to be better observers. We will encounter topics
in biology, psychology, literature, and legal studies, to name a few.
We will also consider whether we can “observe” using senses other
than vision. Be prepared to learn some anatomy, to work on your
own powers of observation, and to investigate topics related to
observation with your classmates.
8. “God’s Chinese Son”: The Taiping Rebellion in 19th
Century China
China’s Taiping rebellion began when Hong Xiuquan, a Chinese
peasant from the Hakka minority, had a vision that God had told him
he was Jesus’s younger brother and commanded him to fight
demons. Given widespread discontent caused by perceived alien minority rule, population pressures, dynastic decline, and Western imperialism, the new religion Hong founded, with its message of
economic and social equality, eventually attracted millions of followers and turned into a rebellion against the ruling “barbarian”
Manchus. Before their rule degenerated into internecine warfare and
corrupt despotism, the Taipings governed nearly the entire Yangzi
river valley, coming within a hair of conquering the whole country.
After more than 20 years and 20 million deaths, the Taipings were
brutally exterminated by new armies led by regional warlords, whose
ascendance fatally weakened the Manchus and eventually led to the
fall of China’s 2,000-year old empire. This seminar will use readings,
films, discussions, role-playing assignments, and guest presentations
to examine how, even to this day, people perceive the Taiping rebellion and its legacy differently based on their own diverse and, at
times, conflicting identities.
9. What Is the Meaning of Life?
Gurus on mountaintops, world religions, Wall Street, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—everyone seems to have an answer to
this most essential of human questions. And though this class will
not provide you with any definitive answers, it will introduce you to
a man who had some very interesting ideas about the meaning of
life, what the nature of reality might be, and what we mean when we
talk about courage, friendship, love, justice, and morality. In this
seminar we’ll examine—intensely—several of the ancient Greek
philosopher Plato’s most famous writings from multiple perspectives: rhetorical, literary, philosophical, cultural, and historical. We’ll
also devote a considerable amount of time to comparing the ideas in
these 2,400-year-old texts with contemporary debates on issues that
Plato has deeply influenced (e.g., the best forms of government, the
nature and purpose of higher education, the role of civil disobedience). Our ultimate goal, of course, is to critically investigate
whether Plato’s ideas can contribute in some way to how we might
live a life of meaning and importance.
10. The James Tiptree, Jr. Award Winners
Do gender roles make a difference in the world? How might gender
be different in a different society or with a different history? What if
we were not limited by biology but could pick and choose among
several genders? For 24 years, the James Tiptree, Jr. Award has been
bestowed upon the work of speculative fiction that does the most to
“expand or explore our notions of gender.” Speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, horror, etc.), provides an ideal
avenue for investigating approaches to gender identity, gender relationships, and sexuality. What in our social structures, our biology,
and our history make our gender roles and identities what they are?
What if these were somewhat different? Speculative fiction can address such questions by exaggerating certain elements in similar societies, or isolating a particular issue within our society from other
factors that complicate that issue. Different award winners find many
features of our gender roles to challenge. We will read selections of
the short stories and novels that have won this award. Along the way,
we will discuss what makes these works “speculative,” what understandings of gender they challenge, and what aspects of gender they
accept.
11. Color
In his ground-breaking text, Interaction of Color, the acclaimed 20th
century artist and educator Josef Albers declared: “In order to use
color effectively, it is necessary to recognize that color deceives continually.” Though we often take color as a given, the experience of it
exists only in the mind of the beholder. A purely visual phenomenon,
color often defies explanation or description, even between sighted
individuals witnessing the same subject. Though elusive, color can
have great power and influence. Designers build careers around
choosing colors that will sell the most laundry detergent, or cause
you to drink the most coffee. How does color affect us? Is it direct
and physical, or does color pull strings through psychological association? Can a selection of colors communicate content, or impart
meaning? Is our perception and understanding of color universal, or
culturally constructed? Through studio projects, readings, and discussions, we will sharpen our perceptions and explore communicating with this subtle and mysterious phenomenon.
12. At the Confluence: Rivers, the Environment, and
Beloit
Beloit, Wisconsin, is located at the confluence of the Rock River and
Turtle Creek. These streams have played a central part in the history
and development of the city. They are among the most prominent
“natural” features of Beloit, providing diverse habitats for plants and
animals. Yet they have long histories of utilization and control by
people. In this course, we will study rivers. We will trace their ori-
gins and natural history and the geologic ways in which they shape
Earth’s surface; evaluate the past, present, and future environmental
challenges they face from human use and management (for example
dams and flow regulation, recreation, industrialization, urbanization); and consider strategies for a sustainable future. We will get to
know the streams of Beloit through field trips, gather and analyze
data to assess their current health, and draw parallels between them
and rivers across the globe, including those in the part of the world
where you come from.
13. The Social Construction of Identity
How do we know ourselves? What is our relationship to the world?
This seminar will explore the various ways that people define themselves and the myriad of social processes that influence these definitions. We will explore how identities are shaped by interactions and
investigate how they can be transformed by larger political, economic, and social forces. We will also consider how people navigate
various aspects of their identities in their everyday lives. Course materials will include novels, short stories, autobiographies, and essays.
Course assignments will include a research project exploring how
people convey information and manage impressions of themselves,
as well as a weekly journal exploring the various influences on how
you construct your own identity.
14. Time in History
Does punctuality have a moral value? Is time an aspect of the natural
world or is it a product of our perceptions and our mental makeup?
Does time move in circles or in one single direction? Do human societies have a tendency to improve or decline over time? As this
class will show, people in different historical periods, and in different
cultures, have answered such questions in diverse ways. Using philosophical texts, historical articles, paintings, and literary works, we
will compare modern notions of time to pre-modern ones. The class
will focus on Europe, but will also take into account examples from
the U.S., Asia, and Africa. Over the course of the semester, we will
study the history of clocks and watches, we will analyze how religious beliefs can shape a society’s sense of time, and we will examine the changing ways in which past societies have imagined the
future. By addressing a wide array of historical assumptions about
time, we will see that our own notions of time are not as self-evident
or as “natural” as they might appear to be.
15. Mapmakers
From treasure maps to road maps, globes to atlases, charts to rutters
(ancient navigation diaries), we have sought ways to represent spatial information in written and graphical form. Maps are the key to
navigating through space, be it physical or virtual. But the representation of spatial information is often filtered through political and social lenses that can hide subtle agendas. Maps might reflect a desire
to minimize the influence of an indigenous peoples, or perhaps support a blatant land grab from a neighboring country. Maps can share
information, and they can hide it; maps can be authentic, or they can
be false. How we construct a physical map can actually be a secret
map of our thoughts, desires, aspirations, and goals. In this course
we will engage in a scholarly study of historical and modern maps.
We will explore traditional techniques and play with modern mapmaking tools. We will journey across ancient texts and wander
through the digital pixels of Google Earth. We will make maps and
share those maps with others; we will look at old and new ways of
digesting spatial data; and we will enjoy the beauty of representing
our spatial universe.
16. Familiaris Breeds Content: Dogs and the Liberal Arts
Dogs offer a valuable window into human interaction, as we employ
them as easy referents for our shared experiences: “top dog,” “dog
tired,” “puppy love.” With dogs as our touchstone, we will examine
different approaches to knowledge production employed in biology,
anthropology, economics, history, literature, and the fine arts. We
begin with the biology of Canis lupus familiaris and investigate its
anatomical, genetic, and behavioral characteristics. Once domesticated, dogs became valued for hunting, guarding, traction, and even
as sources of meat. Over subsequent generations, the selective breeding of dogs resulted in one of the most diverse animal species on the
planet—the American Kennel Club currently recognizes some 160
breeds. Dogs and other pets are also big business. Americans now
spend more than $40 billion a year on their pets—more than the
gross domestic products of two-thirds of the world’s nations. Still for
many, the topic of “dog” speaks to a cherished bond. Whether loyal,
good humored, or exasperating, our dogs spark strong feelings. Celebrated in novels and art, lending substance to history, mythology, and
astrology, the “dog” offers insights into how we make sense of the
world around us.
17. Navigating Uncertainty
In this seminar, we’ll explore uncertainty, epic failures, and the opportunities they sometimes open up. Let’s face it: humans don’t predict the future very well. Sometimes we underestimate risks; other
times we exaggerate them. We ignore key pieces of information that
may or may not have been obvious. Often we feel paralyzed by the
sheer difficulty of knowing what option is best. Yet all is rarely lost,
even when things don’t turn out exactly as planned. Sometimes the
best solutions don’t present themselves until they’re demanded, and
alternative routes turn out even better than the original plan. Even
what feels like a disaster in some ways may feel worth it in others.
Through discussion and analysis of literature, philosophy, social psychology, and works from other fields, we will develop a learning
stance that allows for critical reflection on threats and opportunities
to facilitate ethical and thoughtful action in the world.
18. Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Superhero Comic
Reading dozens of critically acclaimed superhero comics by authors
ranging from Bendis, Vaughan, and Priest to Fraction, DeConnick,
and Liu, we will place 30 years of the ubiquitous pop medium in its
real-world historical context. Though our primary focus will involve
the ways in which commercial comics have depicted race, gender,
and sexuality, discussions will touch on the genre’s shifting definitions of authority, crime, justice, science, Americanness, violence,
otherness, and heroism. Ultimately, we will contemplate the links between our national culture and pop culture, thinking about the ways
that superhero comics’ evolving ideas about race, gender, and sexuality have served to reflect, reify, and sometimes change ideas during
three turbulent decades that included the fall of the Soviet Union,
two Gulf Wars, increased social stratification and political bifurcation, the financial crisis, and a variety of ongoing challenges to hegemonic configurations of power and identity. In addition to comic
books, we will read comic and pop-culture criticism. Assignments
will include seminar presentations, group projects, analytical papers,
and a final research project.
19. Text and Context in Tolstoy’s War and Peace
Woody Allen once quipped that thanks to a speed-reading course, he
was able to read War and Peace in 20 minutes. His conclusion? “It’s
about Russia.” The reputation of Tolstoy’s sprawling historical novel
about the Napoleonic wars has earned it a place on many a book
lover’s bucket list. In some ways, it’s become a kind of cliché, the
epitome of the Russian novel: long, with lots of complicated names.
Yet War and Peace is not so much a historical novel as it is a novel
about history, about what Tolstoy saw as the problem of history and
historical writing in general. For Tolstoy, “histories”—whether they
relate the fates of nations, the exploits of so-called “great men,” or
the ordinary events of everyday life—are by their very nature distortions because they artificially impose a linear order and causal relationship upon events that are, in reality, far too complex to be
described in that way. In this seminar we will explore this concept—
and others—through a close, slow read of Tolstoy’s text within the
context of other historical accounts of the period.
20. Games We Play
Under a variety of circumstances, people display strategic behavior
as they interact with each other. Using tools from mathematics, game
theory provides an organized approach to modeling these strategic
interactions. In this course, the mathematics of game theory will permit us to analyze human interactions that are studied in disciplines
from social sciences such as international relations and political science, to natural sciences via biology and probability, to the humanities through literature and history. We’ll model what happens when
the outcomes that affect our lives depend not only upon our own actions but also upon what others do, either simultaneously with us or
sequentially before and after us. We’ll also learn how people revise
their notions about the world on the basis of new information, how
they evaluate the credibility of claims made by others, and how they
adapt to changes in the environments where they live and work.
REGISTER FOR FYI ON OR BEFORE MAY 1
AT
www.beloit.edu/admitted
QUESTIONS? Contact Admissions at 800-9BELOIT (923-5648) or 608-363-2500
Email: [email protected]

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