First-Year Experience 2013-2014

Integrated Study of Earth and the Environment Seminars

Fall Semester Courses

Students must enroll in both of the following courses:

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GEOG 061A ~ Geography of Vermont
CRN: 94177

Instructor: Cheryl Morse Assistant Professor of Geography More . . .

Although Vermont is a small and lightly populated state, it holds a firm place in Americans' 'geographical imaginations' as a rural, if slightly off-beat place. Therefore, it's an exciting place to live and to study. This course is an exploration of the geographies, structures, places, cultures, and experiences that make up the Green Mountain State. Because it is a survey course, we will cover lots of ground but linger nowhere long. Participants in this class will attend lectures, go on short walking field trips, take exams, listen to guest lectures, watch films, discuss literature, and produce their own knowledge about Vermont.

Requirements Satisfied: one Social Sciences course
Meets: TR 8:30am-9:45am

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GEOL 005A ~ Mountain to Lake: Geology of the Lake Champlain Basin
CRN: 91062

Instructor: Andrea Lini Associate Professor of Geology More . . .

This is a field-based course that introduces students to how geologists study the Earth around us, especially the landscape in the Champlain Valley. Weekly field trips introduce students to a variety of locations that we can use to interpret the geologic history of western Vermont. A highlight is a research cruise on Lake Champlain on the research vessel, Melosira. Lab/field trip fee: $12.00. 4 Credit Course.

Requirements Satisfied: one Natural Sciences laboratory science course
Meets: TR 10:00am-11:15am and T 11:45am-2:15pm;

Spring Semester Courses

Students must enroll in two of the following three courses:

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ENGS 030 ~ Reading the American Wilderness
CRN: TBD

Instructor: Hesterly (LeeLee) Goodson Senior Lecturer in English More . . .

Four hundred years ago, colonial Americans depicted wilderness as a "howling waste" and a "penalty impos'd." Two hundred years later, American romantics glorified wilderness for its association with natural divinity. So what brought about this incredible change of heart? How do we characterize our relationships with nature today? Students will read and think about how literary interpretations have challenged and reshaped American attitudes toward nature and identity. Selected readings include Wilderness and the American Mind, Walden, My Antonia, The Bear, A Walk in the Woods, and Into the Wild. In addition to reading, writing about, and discussing these texts, students will visit UVM's Fleming Museum, and conclude the semester with an optional afternoon hike/snowshoe in Stowe.

Requirements Satisfied: one Literature course
Meets: TBD

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GEOL 062 ~ Earth Environments and Life Through Time
CRN: TBD

Instructor: Char Mehrtens Professor of Geology More . . .

This course examines how Earth and its atmosphere and biosphere have changed over geologic time and whether the modern Earth may or may not be a good example of conditions in times past. A highlight of the class is the overnight field trip to the American Museum of Natural History in Boston to view the exhibits related to evolution and to the dinosaurs.

Requirements Satisfied: one Natural Sciences Laboratory Science course
Meets: TBD

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HST 096 ~ North American Environmental History: Reading History on the Land
CRN: TBD

Instructor: David Massell Professor of History More . . .

This course examines the human imprint on the North American continent across five centuries: from Native American land use and worldviews, through colonial farmsteads, to twentieth century suburbs, interstate highways and shopping malls. Skill-building exercises (using maps as historical documents) will be followed by the analysis of land use and landscape change over time. An end-of-semester project on the history of a local landscape (a piece of the UVM campus? the Burlington waterfront? the falls of the Winooski River? a city block? a rural or suburban land parcel?) will provide us with the opportunity to apply the theoretical and historical material of the course to the real world of Burlington, Vermont, and/or its environs. Students will emerge from the course with sharpened reading, research and communication skills, with an enriched understanding of human-land relationships, and also practiced at "reading" history in the familiar North American landscape that surrounds us. A field trip to Montreal is planned.

Requirements Satisfied:
Meets: TBD