Freshman Seminars 2021 Winter

 

SOC Title

Code

Instructor

Time

Place

Life After Cancer

87551

CHAN, A.

F   9:00- 9:50

VRTL REMOTE

Reading Pop & Rock

87552

BRODBECK, D

W   10:00-10:50

VRTL REMOTE

Introduction to Immunology

87553

AGRAWAL, A.

Th   4:30- 5:20p

VRTL REMOTE

Reading Shakespeare

87554

LUPTON, J.

Tu   2:00- 2:50p

VRTL REMOTE

Making an Impact through Education Research

87555

AHN, J.

M   11:00-11:50

VRTL REMOTE

Quantum Physics and Emptiness

87556

CHEN, M.

M   3:00- 3:50p

VRTL REMOTE

Think Fast!: Confronting Visual Art

87557

BARKER, S.

Tu   10:00-10:50

VRTL REMOTE

Memory, Mind, and Meaning

87558

BERNECKER, S.

W   10:00-10:50

VRTL REMOTE

So You Want To Be A Star?

87559

HILL, D.

Tu   5:00- 5:50p

VRTL REMOTE

TBA

87560

DENNIN, M.

Tu   5:00- 5:50p

Room TBA

 

Life After Cancer

The Big “C” is always a misnomer to many. In fact, cancer is no longer a fatal disease, and survivors of cancer can live long after treatment. Through a series of seminars, students will learn how cancer has evolved into a chronic condition in many patients, especially among those who are cured. Students will also learn about the long-term complications of cancer treatment, as well as cutting-edge research that is currently being undertaken around the globe to mitigate these complications.

Alex Chan is a professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice. As an oncology pharmacist, Alex provides care to cancer patients and survivors, and he conducts translational and health services research with an aim to improve supportive and survivorship care. He is a fan of Legos and he runs half marathons for fun.

Reading Pop & Rock

This seminar aims to correlate pop and rock music of the 1950s through the early 1970s with contemporary historical events and matters of social identity. Through a close reading of journalism, criticism, and interviews and autobiographies, students will relive the various controversies and conflicts that accompanied significant events in both the history of popular music and the social history of the United States and the United Kingdom during the period under question.

David Brodbeck’s research focuses on Central European musical culture in the long nineteenth century and pop and rock music of the 1950s–70s. He has published in the journal Rock Music Studies and regularly teaches a GE course on “The Beatles and the Sixties.”

Introduction to Immunology

This is a basic course in immunology that is intended to be an introduction to the subject. The seminar will focus on immunological mechanisms responsible for major diseases (cancer, transplantation, infections, autoimmunity etc) by defining some commonly used terms and describing the specific cells and tissues involved in these diseases. We will also discuss news articles in immunology related to many of these diseases and understand the basic immunology related to the disease.

Dr. Agrawal is a professor in the division of Basic and Clinical Immunology in the Department of Medicine. Her research focuses on age-related changes in human innate immunity in the context of respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s and cancer.

Reading Shakespeare

In this seminar, we will read Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice out loud as a group, pausing frequently to explain, explore, and discuss. Students will have an opportunity to meet “Actors from the London Stage,” a traveling group of actor-educators, and see a live performance of the play at UCI. No background in Shakespeare or English literature is required; this class is great if you want to practice your spoken English while expanding your vocabulary.

Julia Lupton is a professor of English at UCI and the co-director of the New Swan Shakespeare Festival. She is the author of five books on Shakespeare. She is also an award-winning teacher.

Making an Impact through Education Research: Experiences in Partnering with Local Communities

Students will explore how they can work with local communities to make an impact through education research and partnerships. Students will learn about what research-work is like in universities, and also how community-engagement can be structured to make positive change. The seminar participants will be linked with a local partnership-research site through the Orange County Educational Advancement Network (http://ocean.education.uci.edu) and gain real-world) to gain field work experience.

June Ahn is an associate professor in the School of Education. Her research focuses on designing new learning environments and educational programs, in deep partnership with community partners, so that new designs are uniquely aligned with their needs and directly effective on solving local problems that are important to communities.

Quantum Physics and Emptiness

What is the true nature of time and space? What is the ultimate essence of all phenomena? Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy and Modern Physics are both on quests for answers to these fundamental questions. We will explore the key concepts in Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy, and discover striking similarities in some of the underlying notions in these two frameworks. We will analyze how these underlying notions lead to the mirages of reality, and discuss the implications for humanity and secular ethics.

Mu-Chun Chen is a professor of physics. She is a theoretical particle physicist in search of the origin of elementary particle masses and the origin of the cosmological asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the Universe.

Think Fast!: Confronting Visual Art

Confronting visual art, particularly modern or contemporary art, is often intimidating, confusing, maddening. It’s like a power game: Do I get it? What does it mean? Is it any good? If these questions are where you begin your interaction with a visual artwork, you’re already too late: the work has passed you by. We will explore ways to enrich and deepen your experience of works of art from any age, through “fast thinking”—not beginning by asking questions but by looking—and seeing.

Stephen Barker is dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts with professional experience across a wide variety of arts from theatre to dance to music to visual art. He has widely published on critical and aesthetic theory.

Memory, Mind, and Meaning

This course is an introduction to the philosophy of memory. These are some of the questions we will discuss: What reason do you have for believing that events you seem to remember actually happened? Can you make yourself forget something? Can you have first-person memories of someone else’s past? Is there a duty to remember and an obligation to forget? Can you forget the difference between right and wrong in the same way you can forget someone’s name?

Sven Dietrich Bernecker’s main areas of research are epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. He has written two monographs in the philosophy of memory and has edited the Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Memory.

So You Want To Be A Star?

Identify what success means to you and develop your critical thinking skills. Create strategies and action plans to achieve your goals and examine what stops you. Explore a research process on how to find a mentor. Explore the art of networking and getting yourself out there. Learn the process of how to become unstoppable and how to deal with setbacks in going for what you really want in life. Develop greater self-esteem by getting in touch with your personal power and achieve a higher level of self-love and acceptance.

Don Hill has worked in the professional theater as an actor, stage manager, director, producer and union negotiator in a thirty-three-year career spanning both coasts. Mr. Hill has worked on Broadway, national tours and numerous regional theaters. As Chair of the Drama Department, Professor Hill teaches stage management, producing and acting. His productions of Avenue Q and The Pajama Game at UCI won a total of 12 Stage Scene LA Awards.