Social Identity and Institutions of Higher Education
College campuses are unique environments that carry the capacity to forge dynamic contemporary change while also sustaining long-standing traditions and legacies. This course offers an opportunity for students to expand their understanding of intergroup relations operating within institutions of higher education, and to broaden their perspectives regarding many of the social influences guiding our daily interactions as members of a learning community. As the dean of Wonnacott Commons, and an alumnus, the instructor of this course has a particular insight and interest in leading the class to consider many of the social dynamics that influence and characterize the undergraduate experience in the new millennium. Course readings will cover social-psychological theories dealing with concepts of social identity and intergroup relations, as well as historical perspectives related to the unique culture of institutions of higher education. Each student will conduct a research study on a topic of their choosing relating to the present day culture of Middlebury College.

Journeys to the Edge: Mountain Exploration and Adventure
In this course, we will examine the history and culture of mountain exploration and adventure through literature, nonfiction narrative, film, and guest presentations. Students will trace changing cultural attitudes toward risk, adventure, masculinity, and wildness. Although we will examine different aspects of exploration, we will focus primarily on Euro-American/western romantic approaches to mountains. Readings will include MacFarlane, Mountains of the Mind; Bernstein, Ascent; and excerpts from work by Jon Krakauer, Jack Kerouac, Roderick Nash, Joe Simpson, and others. This course counts as a cognate for ENVS majors with foci in the natural sciences. (Not open to students who have taken ENVS/ENAM 1015)

Hospice and End-of-Life Care
In this course we will explore psychological, sociological, and cultural experiences involving death, learn about the modern hospice movement, palliative care, community services for patients, spirituality and dying, as well as after-death rituals and grief issues. Guest presenters will include members of the local hospice team (nurses, social worker, chaplain, volunteer coordinator, local palliative care physicians), and specialists in bereavement and dementia. We will examine variables that impact the end of life and ways to create a meaningful dying experience. Each student will select a specific interest to explore in depth. This course will include all the elements required to become a certified hospice volunteer for those wishing to work with hospice patients in the community. (Pass/Fail)

Infectious Disease: Historical Epidemics, Current Dilemmas, and Emerging Problems
Have you ever wondered what happened during the Black Death? What’s really going on with HIV these days? Why do I get the cold and the flu every year? Why shouldn’t I drink the water in Otter Creek? Where did Ebola and Zika virus come from, and why now? In this course we will cover a broad array of topics past, present, and emerging in medical infectious disease. We will explore classification, epidemiology, pathogenesis, microbiology, immunology, and the social context of infectious diseases, from the perspective of the physician. This course counts as an elective towards the Global Health minor.

Spirit of Change: Shifting the Paradigm from Poverty to Prosperity
In this course we will engage with community-based programs attempting to shift the paradigm from poverty to prosperity; reflect on the ways our personal sense of social justice is formed and transformed; and consider the implications of our local learning in a global context. The interactive foci of this course are contemplative practice (two days will be spent in retreat at Treleven Farm); scholarly engagement with texts (Hahn’s/Love in Action/, Kunin’s The New Feminist Agenda, Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak, and Senge’s Presence plus two texts co-selected by each student with the instructor) and small group engagement with a nonprofit agency.

Social Entrepreneurship in the Liberal Arts
What are the goals of the liberal arts? What is social entrepreneurship? In this challenging new century, can these two ideals be complements or are they at odds? In this course we will first examine the two-and-a-half millennium history of the liberal arts, asking how ideals rooted in the classical Greek tradition still have meaning in the 21st Century. We will then study the recent history of social entrepreneurship, in theory and in practice. Students will conduct their own research with assistance from the Center for Social Entrepreneurship. (Approval Required; Pass/Fail)

Communication and Connectedness: The Real and the Virtual
Computers and other digital technologies, rightly called ‘just tools’, do ingenious things, but are they changing our sense of humanity? For millennia, face-to-face communication was our only means for connecting with each other. Two consequences of the new digital media are the blurring of boundaries between what is virtual and what is real and the creation of what is described as ‘new solitude.’ We are now able to ‘bring the distant close’, but in so doing are we making ‘the close distant?’ In this course we will address questions and issues including and related to: What gains and losses do we experience through the use of new technologies? Does the ease of electronic accessibility create or deter yearned for connection? How does the blurring of virtual and real boundaries affect inter-personal problem solving, the establishment of values and trust, intergenerational communication, the importance of family, the expression and experience of love as well as other emotions, and do e-devices affect the way we define life?

Introduction to Meditation
Basic sitting and walking meditation will be taught and practiced. We will use the breath to foster a relaxed attention and to gain perspective on our restless minds. Meditation has been shown to lower stress and increase concentration, but the emphasis in this course will be on using these techniques in daily life and academic endeavor. Contemporary readings from the Tibetan and Zen Buddhist traditions will be assigned but the meditation will be employed in nonsectarian fashion applicable to any belief system. Truth should be verified by one’s experience. Students will write papers and give presentations. No meditation experience necessary.

Visual Data Analysis
If a picture is worth 1000 words, then a graph can illuminate 1000 data points. In this course, we will explore the principles and tools of scientific data visualization, an underutilized but powerful way of understanding patterns in data. Using datasets drawn from a variety of fields such as public health, geography, ecology, political science, and students' choice, we will gently introduce the computing language, R, the premier tool for data visualization and analysis. No previous knowledge of programming is assumed, but by course's end, students will be able to write powerful scripts to analyze and present data in a clear and compelling way. (Pass/Fail)

Understanding Uncertainty: Exploring Data Using Randomization
In this course we will use computer-intensive methods to explore the randomness inherent in a data set and to develop the scientific logic of statistical inference. We will introduce randomization methods as a basis for framing fundamental concepts of inference: estimates, confidence intervals, and hypothesis tests. The capabilities of computers to draw thousands of random samples and to simulate experiments will replace theoretical approximations grounded in mathematical statistics, especially the normal theory methods like t-tests and chi-squared analyses. Students will use the R programming language to implement the analyses. Much of the course development will proceed through independent and collaborative computer investigations by students using real data sets. No prior experience with statistics and with computer programming is necessary.