The SIS program began in the Fall semester of 2008.
An SIS course is required for each student under the McDaniel Plan. Ideally the course should be taken during the sophomore year. The courses are designed to encourage students to compare and contrast disciplinary perspectives and to identify the connections and commonalities among disciplines. In addition, the program ensures that students have an opportunity to interact with many faculty early in their undergraduate careers.
Courses are organized in a number of ways. Students in a course may meet in a large group for a common lecture and in smaller groups for discussion. Instructors will serve as lecturers, discussion leaders and facilitators. Some faculty may provide guest lectures or serve as co-instructors for the course. Each course will offer an exciting interdisciplinary learning experience for its students.
Sophomores must register for an SIS for next academic year during the regular registration period. If students need to change their initial decision at a later date, they must obtain approval (via an add/drop form) from one of the SIS Co-Coordinators.
SIS Courses for Fall 2012
SIS Courses for Spring 2013
Spring 2012 Courses
SIS 2002 - The Natural and Social Science of Aging
This course is designed to illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of the field of Gerontology, which is the study of aging. The structure of this SIS will illustrate to students the relevance of this field to a variety of majors and career options (e.g., biology and medicine, political science with policy formation and elder law, psychology with mental health; sociology with support systems and global aspects of aging, business with travel, entertainment, exercise with promotion of healthy aging, physical therapy, etc).
Instructor: Dr. Martin (Education, The Center for the Study of Aging) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, SCH, Gerontology minor
1 section: TTH 1:00-2:30 p.m.
SIS 2004 Katrinaville: A Tale of Two Cities
This course interfaces ethnography, urban studies, and musicology in the treatment of tricentennial New Orleans. Three initial units present a historical overview with contemporary issues and the ruling oppositions and unities presented by artistic cultures, race, ethnicity, religion, geography, and political history. A final unit treats post-Katrina recovery with updates from the three disciplines. Students will engage in readings and discussions, give two reports, attend lectures, access documentaries and web materials, and complete a semester-long research project on the Creole city on a topic of their choice integrating two or more of the disciplines of musicology, urban studies, and ethnography.
Instructor: Dr. Bodin (Foreign Languages) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, M
1 section: MWF 10:20 – 11:20 a.m.
SIS 2006 - Southern Appalachia: Music, Literature and the Environment
Through a multi-disciplinary lens, this course will explore the music, literature and environment of the Southern Appalachians in an attempt to dispel “hillbilly” myths and reveal the richness of the culture and landscape. Students will examine the music that came out of the mountain hollers to worldwide renown. They will hear the voices of Appalachian people in regional literature -- short stories, poems and memoir-- and in documentaries and feature-length film. And they will encounter the beauty of the world’s oldest mountains and conversely the devastating impact of various methods of coal mining-- from the local acidification of Appalachian watersheds to the toxic contamination of air streams that traverse the earth to its impact on global warming.
Instructors: Ms. Seibert (English), Mr. Michael (Artist in Residence, Common Ground on the Hill) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, TA, M
2 sections: Tuesday 7:00-10:00 p.m.
SIS 2012 – Alcohol: Spirits, Muses & Demons
Throughout history, alcoholic beverages have played important roles in the lives of peoples around the world. This course will examine the different values and meanings global cultures have assigned to alcohol consumption. We will analyze relevant political, cultural, economic and metaphysical questions and histories as well as issues related to power and cross-cultural encounters. Our study of attitudes and beliefs will also include the construction of alcohol consumption as enabling essential human powers of expressivity, memory, and group identity.
Instructor: Dr. Jakoby (Philosophy) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, IW, SCH
1 section: MW 12:40-2:10 p.m.
SIS 2019 – Happiness
This interdisciplinary course will introduce students to issues related to the study of happiness. Students will develop an understanding of the ways in which scientists define and measure happiness, with a focus on research from psychology and behavioral economics. Empirical data relating to the experience, prevalence, and malleability of happiness will be examined. In addition, perspectives from fields such as theology and philosophy will be discussed.
Instructor: Dr. McDevitt (Psychology) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, SCH, SI
1 section: TTH 9:40-11:10 a.m.
SIS 2031 – Global Islam
Globalization is a cultural process favoring the development of transnational identity and communities based on ethnicity, religion, cultures, and chosen lifestyle. In this way, Islam is a powerful driver for identity formation, forming solidarity between various groups that might otherwise remain independent of each other. There are three aspects of this process as it relates to global Islam. First, there is the diversity found within Islam worldwide as a religion ranging from Africa, the Middle East, to India, to Indonesia, to the US and Europe. Second, there are political and theological movements stressing the global 'Ummah', which link disparate groups across national boundaries into an imagined community with a shared religious viewpoint and perceived fate. Finally, global Islam can also refer to diasporic communities that develop solidarity across borders, thereby becoming what are often labeled as 'transnational networks'. This course will examine these aspects of Global Islam, exploring its global diversity as well as the groups and transnational networks that make Islam a vital aspect of 21st-century life.
Instructors: Dr. Boukhars (Political Science) and Dr. Watson (Religious Studies) and guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, IN
1 section: TTH 9:40-11:10 a.m.
SIS 2016 HON – The Hero’s Journey
This course will explore the journey as a metaphor for life development as viewed through the ideas of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. We will explore great journeys in art, poetry, literature, religion and music applying psychological analysis to the perspectives of the original discipline. Texts will include Homer’s Odyssey, Joyce’s Ulysses, Hesse’s Siddhartha, Wagner’s Siegfried, Mozart’s Magic Flute, Baum’s Wizard of Oz, Rowling’s Harry Potter, Lucas’s Star Wars and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Instructor: Dr. Mazeroff (Psychology) and guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, HON
1 section: M 6:50-9:50 p.m.
Spring 2013 Courses
SIS 2009 – Fears & Fascinations in 19th Century Europe
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” Charles Dickens’ rueful appreciation expresses the superlative contradictions and rapid societal changes in the wake of industrialization, urbanization and colonialism in 19th century Europe. Vast accumulations of wealth, grand developments of the metropolis, and the allure of exotic travel and luxury items could be found next to horrific living conditions in sooty cities filled with crime, prostitution, addiction and epidemics. How did people experience these vibrant varieties and deep discrepancies? What literary works and philosophical theories marked and expressed these experiences? How did they view and construct their own identities and that of the Other in this turbulent century?
Following these questions, this course is designed from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and knowledge contents leading into the intellectual and artistic circles in Europe and “the Orient.” Topics discussed will include the conceptualizations of progress, Darwinism, Nihilism, Impressionism, Orientalism and their impact on identity formations. Authors studied will include Darwin, Nietzsche, Baudelaire, Zola, Marx, Dickens, etc.
Instructor: Dr. Motard-Noar (Foreign Languages) and guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, IW, SCH, TA
1 section: MWF 12:40-1:40 p.m.
SIS 2016 – The Arts and Cultures of Islam
This course examines the developments in the arts, religion, history, language, music, politics, and even the cuisines of the large geographical areas once or still dominated by Islam. These areas include Syria, Iraq, Iran, India, North Africa, Spain, Turkey, and other regions as well. Such a broad survey is intended to promote both an understanding and appreciation of the Islamic faith as well as the ways in which these beliefs are expressed through the aforementioned fields of study.
Instructor: Dr. Losch (Art History) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, IN, Arabic Studies elective
1 section: TTH 9:40-11:10 a.m.
SIS 2028 – The Nature of Health and Illness
The course examines the field of health and illness from an interdisciplinary approach. Through lectures, class discussion and experiential exercises, students will explore the ways that health and illness can be conceptualized. These terms will be examined from a bio-physical standpoint as well as cultural, psychological and spiritual dimensions with particular emphasis placed on the implications when there is a conflict between these ideas. This class is appropriate for students with an interest in health-care related fields as well as affiliated social sciences.
Instructor: Ms. Young (Social Work) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, IN
1 Section: TTH 9:40-11:10 a.m.
SIS 2029 HON – Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
Zombies and a zombie apocalypse have become prevalent topics in pop culture. The topics have become so popular that the CDC has created and published a preparedness plan for a zombie apocalypse, using the situation as a metaphor for a variety of disaster situations. In a similar manner, the goal of the current course is to use the zombie apocalypse as a medium for studying a wide variety of topics in the disciplines of psychology, neuroscience, physics, biology, physiology, mathematics, and political science. Zombies and their behavior will be explained based on current and relevant scientific research. The effects of the zombie apocalypse on individual humans and society in general will also be examined
Instructor: Dr. Arnal (Psychology) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, SI
1 section: TTH 9:40-11:10 a.m.
SIS 2032 – Understanding Feminism
The focus of this course will be on the interdisciplinary nature of feminist scholarship and feminist thought. How did feminism emerge and change the construction of knowledge in different disciplines? How has the term been used and abused? What are the important issues, debates, conflicts, and ambiguities among feminists today? What new questions, voices, evidence and critical methods and have been discovered and examined? McDaniel faculty from a number of different departments will discuss the impact of the studies of gender, race, class and sexuality on their own fields and on their own research and teaching. The class will also consider how feminism has changed historically and globally, and how it may be redefined or "reclaimed" for the twenty-first century.
Instructor: Dr. D. Evergates (History) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, M
1 section: M 6:50-9:50 p.m.
SIS 2010 Music, Mind & Brain
An exploration of how the brain processes musical experience. Afater a review of the elements of music and the structure/function of the nervous system, students will examine how concepts such as musical training and style correlate with brain function how the brain responds to emotional content in music, and how music impacts hemispheric laterality. Special topics, such as creativity, the Mozart effect and the relationship between musical genius and creativity will be examined. The course includes a laboratory, using tools such as EEG, EMG, GSR, ELG, skin temperature readings and pulse rate.
Instructor: Ms. Boudreaux (Music) and Dr. Mazeroff (Psychology) and guest lecturers
Prerequisites: Psychology 1106 and Music 1134, or permission of instructor
McDaniel Plan: SIS, SCH, SIL
1 section: TTH 9:40-11:10 a.m.
SIS 2215 - The Arab World
Since 9/11, many people have lamented the lack of knowledge students and other people have about the outside world, especially the Middle East, the Arab and Muslim cultures. In ancient times, the present Middle East was the “cradle of civilization” and the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. What is the Arab World today? It is an unknown and misunderstood world in turmoil. This course will offer an introduction to and an overview of the history, culture, politics and current events of the Arab world in the Middle East and Africa. The students will also be introduced to Islam, the dominant religion of the region, the various contributions of Arabs and Muslims to world civilization in various areas and disciplines, i.e. art and music, physics and astronomy, medicine and mathematics, literature and philosophy, the Islamic legacy of Spain, the Arab-American community and its contribution to culture and politics in the United States. One integral part of the class is a weekly discussion of current events in the Arab World, i.e. the situation in Iraq, US policy toward the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the US war on terrorism.
Instructor: Dr. Esa (Foreign Languages) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, IN, SCH, Arabic Studies requirement
1 section: TTH 1:00-2:30 p.m.
SIS 2223 - Cultural History of Latin America
What is “Latin America”? What does a Quechua business owner in Cochabamba have in common with an Italian waiter in Buenos Aires? What does a Guatemalan coffee farmer of German descent have in common with an Afro-Caribbean artist in Cuba? All are united by the Iberian colonial legacy, but what does that mean? This course examines how power and culture have shaped the history of this region over the course of more than five centuries. We will critique the traditional master narrative of Latin American history and approach the question of identity by analyzing counternarratives told through a variety of media, including pictographic narrative, art, music, drama, literature and (later) film. This course serves as a general introduction to Latin American Studies. There will be guest lectures in music, sociology, theater, environmental policy and political science, and a series of assignments will allow you and the class to study Latin American and Latino identity through different academic lenses.
Instructor: Dr. McNichols (Foreign Languages) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, IN, SCH, Latino/Latin American Studies requirement; Taught in English
1 section: MWF 1:50-2:50 p.m.
SIS 2224 - Drama Therapy
Drama Therapy is a group process emphasizing play, spontaneity, embodiment, relatedness and role flexibility. This course will use experiential ways of learning both the theory and processes of drama therapy. Drama therapy techniques can be used to work with groups in clinical, educational, corporate and social service settings. The course is especially useful for (1) theatre arts students who are interested in applying their skills to “real world” situations, and (2) for social work, psychology, education, communication or business students who wish to learn embodied, spontaneous ways to approach group process and conflict.
Instructor: Dr. Miller (Theatre) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, CE
1 section: F 1:00-4:00 p.m.
SIS 2225 - Rap and Society
Where does rap come from and where is it going? Does it create problems in society or reflect them? Does it empower people or objectify them? In this course we will study rap from its origins in New York City to its presence all over the world today by listening to its music and poetry, as well as reading what cultural critics and supporters have to say about it. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining the fields of Music, Sociology, and Political Science, we will examine what Rap says and what it means to, and in, society today.
Instructor: Dr. Armstrong (Music) with guest lecturers
McDaniel Plan: SIS, CE, M
1 section: MWF 11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
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