Past and Current Seminar Topics

2010-2011
Outlaws
Lehman (History) and Higginbotham (Rhetoric)

Greatness
Johnson (German) and DeLuca (Government and Foreign Affairs)

Star Trek
Blackman (History) and Utzinger (Religion)

2009-2010
Wonder
Davis (English) and Fox (Fine Arts)

The Physics and Poetics of Science Fiction
Nowlin (English) and Bloom (Physics & Astronomy)

The Philosophy and Economics of South Park
Carilli (Economics) and Hight (Philosophy)

2008-2009
Total War 
Arieti (Classics) and Barrus (Government and Foreign Affairs)

Reality and Perception
Weese (English) and Weese (Psychology)

Samurai Culture
Dinmore (History) and Dubroff (Fine Arts)

2007-2008
Finding Truth and Fiction in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code
McRae (French) and Utzinger (Religion)

Rhetorics of Resistance: Civil Rights Movements and the Language of Reform
Emmons (History) and Rand (Rhetoric)

Exploring the Center of the Earth: The History, Politics, Culture, and Music of Central Europe
Kidd (Fine Arts) and Pontuso (Government and Foreign Affairs)

2006-2007
The Challenge of the Epic Hero
Arieti (Classics) and Barrus (Political Science) 

Empire in Theory and Practice:  A Theoretical and Historical Investigation of Empire
De Luca (Political Science) and Pilkington (History) 

The Nature of Proof
Bryce (Mathematics) and Smith (Political Science)

2005-06 
Thinking About (Real) Science
Hight (Philosophy) and Keohane (Physics & Astronomy)

Scientific Revolutions
Sipe (Chemistry) and Blackman (History)

Bikers, Border-Crossers, Street Vendors, and Call Girls: Ethnographic Studies of American Subculture 
Deal (Rhetoric) 

2004-05 
Microbes: Their World and Our Society
Professor Anne Lund (Biology)

Social Documentary: Image, Text and Context 
Deal (Rhetoric) and Fox (Fine Arts)

2003-2004 
Conversions 
Emmons (History) and Utzinger (Religion)

The Science and Philosophy of Science Fiction 
Bloom (Physics & Astronomy) and Hight (Philosophy)

Morality and Human Nature
Frye (Rhetoric & Humanities) and Werth (Biology)

2002-2003 
To Be(lieve) or Not to Be(lieve): Clear Thinking in Science and Life 
Dougherty (Biology) and Herdegen (Psychology)

The Rise and Fall of Athens 
Arieti (Classics) and Barrus (Political Science)

2001-2002 
Machismo: The Role of Culture and What It Means To Be a Man 
DeJong (Modern Language) and Lehman (History)

The Shock of the New: Where Ideas Come From and How People React to Them 
Deis (Humanities) and Cohen (Mathematics)

The Rise and Fall of Athens 
Arieti (Classics) and Barrus (Political Science)

2000-2001 
The Civil War in History and Literature 
Cabas (Rhetoric) and Heineman (History)

Science and Public Policy 
Anderson (Chemistry), Marion (Political Science), and Mitias (Economics)

1999-2000 
Knowing 
Arieti (Classics) and Werth (Biology)

The Millennia: Prospects for Fear or Hope? 
Laine (History), Rogers (Religion), and Sipe (Chemistry)

1998-99 
Ethics Meets Twenty-First Century Biology 
Lund (Biology) and Thompson (College Chaplain)

The Shock of the New: Where Ideas Come From and How People React to Them 
Cohen (Mathematics) and Deis (Rhetoric and Humanities)

1997-98 
Exploration and Discovery 
Heineman (History) and Hingeley (Rhetoric)

Adam and Eve: Sexuality, Society, and the Family 
Colley (Fine Arts) and Rogers (Religion)

1996-97 
Order and Chaos 
Sipe (Chemistry) and Townsend (Economics)

Morality and Human Nature 
Werth (Biology) and Frye (Rhetoric and Humanities)

1995-96 
Education, Citizenship, and the State 
Wilson (Philosophy) and Lane (Political Science)

Science and Society: East and West 
Prazniak (History) and Anderson (Chemistry)

1994-95 
Invention and Innovation 
Carilli (Economics) and Porterfield (Chemistry)

The Shock of the New: Where Ideas Come From and How They Are Received 
Deis (Rhetoric and Humanities) and Cohen (Mathematics)

1993-94 
Individual and Society 
Arieti (Classics) and Barrus (Political Science)

Four Great Western Civilizations: Fifth Century Athens, Renaissance Florence, Sixteenth Century England, and Seventeenth Century France Laine (History) and Tucker (Classics)

1992-93 
Ethical Issues in Human Biology 
Lund (Biology) and Norment (Religion)

1991-92 
Development and Despair in Latin America: Literature, History, Politics and Economics 
Townsend (Economics) and Wilson (Spanish)

1990-91 
Literacy and Economic Perspectives on Industrialization 
Deis (Humanities), Frye (Humanities), and Holleran (Economics)

1989-90 
Problem Solving 
Pelland (Mathematics) and Herdegen (Psychology)

1988-89 
Order and Chaos 
Sipe (Chemistry) and Townsend (Economics)

1987-88 
Approaching the Future--Causes for Optimism and Pessimism 
Laine (History) and Rogers (Religion)

1986-87 
Ancients and Moderns 
Arieti (Classics) and Barrus (Political Science)

1985-86 
Knowing and Reality (Epistemology and Ontology) 
Carney (Religion) and Townsend (Economics)