J-Term 2020
Travel Seminars
Students interested in registering for a J-term travel seminar should begin the process by submitting an application at the Terra Dotta web site. More J-term travel seminar registration information is available on the Office of the Registrar J-Term travel registration web site.
TRAVEL SEMINARS
BUS 198 (CRN 1968): NEW ZEALAND COMMUNICATION AND TOURISM ANALYSIS
COUN 145/COUN 245 (CRN 1578/1579): UNDERSTANDING DIVERSE POPULATIONS: KAUAI
ENG 60 (CRN 2096): BRITISH IDENTITY IN ENGLAND
ENSS 111 (CRN 2105): ECOTOURISM, CONSERVATION, AND DEVELOPMENT IN POST-GENOCIDE RWANDA
HSCI 147 (CRN 1682): INTERNATIONAL HEALTH TOPICS
REL 67/HONR 89 (CRN 2099/2110): RELIGIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
LEAD 110 (CRN 1577): LEADERSHIP AT SEA
LIBR 66 (CRN 1869): RESEARCHING THAILAND: RESEARCH, EXPLORATION & REFLECTION
THEA 120T (CRN 1725): THEATRE HISTORY IN LONDON
STEM 112 (CRN 2113)– PLACE BASED INTEGRATED SCIENCE
EDUC 199/299 – UNDERSTANDING DIVERSE POPULATIONS: JAPAN
BUS 198 (CRN 1968): New Zealand Communication and Tourism Analysis
Amy Vaughan, Richard Long
Credits 3
Attribute: Engaged Citizen and J-Term Travel Seminar
Course Description: This course focuses on the development of business presentation skills required to be successful in today’s dynamic business environment. An emphasis on continual learning, practice and improvement will be facilitated through faculty feedback and coaching. Upon completion of this course student-professionals will understand the importance of all forms of professional presentations and organizational interaction. Student-professionals will demonstrate how to develop and deliver a variety of professional presentations in multiple settings and with varied, diverse audiences. Students will also demonstrate how to successfully collaborate with others in-group presentation situations. These presentations will incorporate data from researching local tourism sites and their respective industries. Statistical analysis of their economic and financial contributions will be evaluated.
Survey data from recruiters indicate that communication skills (specifically speaking and writing) are the most important skills business leaders need to evolve their careers. Feedback from internship managers also indicates the importance of these skills in selecting future professional leaders. This course will provide future student-professionals a unique, competitive advantage by developing their presentation skills for subsequent CBPA courses, internships, and future careers. Student-professionals will depart this course with a strong belief in themselves and a greatly improved set of communication and research skills for a variety of situations throughout their professional life.
COUN 145/COUN 245 (CRN 1578/1579): Understanding Diverse Populations: Kauai
Matt Bruinekool, Wade Leuwerke
Credits 3
Attribute: Community Engaged Learning and Global and Cultural Understand and Historical Foundations and Historical Consciousness and J-Term Travel Seminar and International & Multicultural and Service Learning
Course Description: The course will introduce students to the Clubhouse Model for individuals with mental illnesses. They will learn about the clubhouse, how it functions, and the standards that each clubhouse must follow. They will then spend time working in a clubhouse in Des Moines, learning about working with people with mental illness in Iowa and learn about how the clubhouse here is meeting all of the international standards. The class then will travel to Kapaa, Hawaii (on Kauai). First they will learn about the Hawaiian culture, and then they will spend a week at the clubhouse there working with individuals with disabilities. They will learn how mental illness is viewed within the Hawaiian culture and how the clubhouse there meets the same international standards as the clubhouse in Des Moines. This course is cross-listed with COUN 245 (crn 1579), which is a graduate-only course. However, the COUN 145 version of the class is open to advanced undergraduates.
ENG 60 (CRN 2096): BRITISH IDENTITY IN ENGLAND
Melisa Klimaszewski, Benjamin Gardner
Credits 3
Attribute:
Course description: This course studies British identity as it is represented in narratives that take many forms: novels, visual art, films, museums, site tours, buildings, and even food menus. Traveling to England, students will analyze the ways in which British people, places, and things communicate British identity. We will ask how important race and ethnicity are to British identity; we will study social class, linguistic, and religious identities as they inform Britishness; and we will question the degree to which English identity emerges as separate from British identity.
Are curries as quintessentially British as scones? What is Black British identity? How central is war and conflict to British identity? Which groups of people or identities are often excluded from representations of Britishness? Does the history of the British Royal family encapsulate British identity? Do iconic British authors and artists capture, represent, or argue with essential aspects of British identity? Are big cities as determinative of British identity as rural areas?
All of the sites this course visits speak to the questions above, as do the assigned texts. Alongside published texts, this class treats the places we see, the things we experience, and the narratives accompanying them as texts for critical analysis. Students will ponder whether there is a “quintessential British identity” by reflecting on their own experiences as readers, viewers, and travelers in London, Rochester, Dover, Chipping Campden, the Cotswolds, and Bath.
ENG 120/JMC 199 (CRN 2049/2050): The Other Side of the Wall: The Americanization of Mexico
Jody Swilky, Carlyn Crowe
Credits 3
Attribute: Written Communication
Course Description: You've heard of the wall, right? Well nothing's been keeping Americans and American ideals from flooding the other way - into Mexico. In this course you will learn about the effects on modern business, culture and media? What can we do about it?
ENSS 111 (CRN 2105): Ecotourism, Conservation, and Development in Post-Genocide Rwanda
Michael Renner
Credits 3
Attribute: Engaged Citizen and Global and Cultural Understand
Course Description: We will use Rwanda’s four national parks to study the intersections between conservation, development, and tourism in the context of a history of conflict, extreme poverty, and rapid social change. Rwanda since the 1994 genocide is an amazing renaissance story, and we will travel the country to observe firsthand. Rwanda’s national parks reflect its ecological diversity: Akagera is in a savanna ecosystem and is privately managed; Volcanoes has a narrow focus on the mountain gorillas, which bring in foreign currency to fund conservation; Nyungwe is an undisturbed rainforest ecology; and Gishwati (where instructor has worked since 2011) is a new park, a reforestation and reclamation project with a significant community engagement component. We will spend time exploring each of these extraordinary natural resource sites; their management and cultural context will serve as the framework for our examination of the many interconnected issues.
HSCI 147 (CRN 1682): INTERNATIONAL HEALTH TOPICS
Pramod Mahajan
Credits 3
Attribute: Global and Cultural Understand and J-Term Travel Seminar
Registration Eligibility Criteria: Open to BCMB and Health Sciences students. Permission from the instructor.
Course Description: This special topics course combines international internship and service learning experiences with pre and post readings, discussions, and reflections in order to maximize student learning, increase student awareness of cultural issues, and increase personal growth related to working in a developing country. Student will build skills in life-long learning, values and ethics, critical thinking, communication and collaboration.
REL 67/HONR 89 (CRN 2099/2110): RELIGIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Bradley Crowell, Elizabeth Robertson
Credits 3
Attribute: J-Term Travel Seminar
Course Description: Three of the largest and oldest religions developed from the cultures of the Middle East. Although the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share similar foundations and many similar beliefs, their histories and innovations led to distinct religions that are often entangled in deep religious and political conflict. Religions of the Middle East will begin by exploring the histories and beliefs of these religions. This travel seminar version of the course will engage the complex and interrelated traditions, the sacred spaces, and the communities that developed in Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan. Special attention will be given on interfaith attempts to create dialog and solutions.
LEAD 110 (CRN 1577): LEADERSHIP AT SEA
Chad Cardani-Trollinger
Credits 3
Attribute: Global and Cultural Understand and International & Multicultural and Service Learning
Course Description: Leadership at Sea is a blend of classroom and experiential learning focusing on leadership development, team building, and seamanship. The course features sailing in the Bahamas aboard the schooner Liberty Clipper. The goal of the course is to elevate one's ability to navigate new environements (Nassau and a tall ship), learn new languages (culture language of Nassau and sailing terminology) and to work successfully in teams, follow, and lead. We will discover and apply the Situational Leadership model to our time at sea and develop a language of leadership for effective communication aboard ship. We will spend one week on-campus followed by six days in Nassau. Our time in Nassau will include meeting with officials at the American Embassy and the Bahamian government, meeting the first officers and tour a Norwegian Cruise Line ship, completing an historical tour of Nassau, and attending a session with student leaders at the College of the Bahamas. We also will participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and Martahon Bahamas (run or staff water stations). We will then set sail for a week exploring the Bahamas Out Islands. The Liberty Clipper, a U.S. Coast Guard licensed 125' gaff-rigged schooner, will serve as our leadership laboratory enabling students to rotate through ship positions while taking more ownership of all sailing-related tasks. While at sea, the itinerary includes small island exploration, kayaking, snorkeling, and small craft sailing (http://www.libertyfleet.com).
LIBR 66 (CRN 1869): Researching Thailand: Research, Exploration & Reflection
Bart Schmidt
Credits 3
Attribute: Information Literacy and J-Term Travel Seminar
Course Description: This course is an exploration of Thailand and Thai culture and satisfies the Information Literacy AOI. Students will work with a variety of different source types to compare the impact perspective and purpose has on information communication. Students will begin the class through a variety of academic and cultural experiences in Chiang Mai Thailand in order to select a research topic of interest. Once back on campus, students will research their topic in greater depth in preparation for an annotated bibliography and brief presentation. They will integrate information and perspectives from their bibliography into their presentations.
LIBR 174 (CRN 1972): Congress Up Close: Preparing to be a Congressional Staffer
Hope Bibens
Credits 3
Attribute: Engaged Citizen and Information Literacy and J-Term Travel Seminar
Course Description: Congressional staff members are instrumental, dedicated, and sometimes unseen employees of the United States Congress. There are many different facets of a Congressional office that one will learn by serving in a member's Washington, D.C. office and a district or state office. This course is designed to give an in-depth view of the intricate workings of a congressional office from the thought process to legislative procedures to outreach in the home district. This class will put political theory into real-world practice. This course will integrate hands-on assignments involving the collections of the Drake University Archives and Special Collections and will help to establish a basic understanding of the University Archives. The course will culminate in a trip to Washington, D.C. and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate where students will experience the day in the life of various congressional staffers, attend meetings on Capitol Hill, and participate in a Senate Immersion Model.
THEA 120T (CRN 1725): THEATRE HISTORY IN LONDON
John Graham, Angela Lepera-Graham
Credits 3
Attribute: Artistic Experience and Historical-Breadth and Historical Foundations and Historical Consciousness
Registration Eligibility Criteria: Students interested in this course should wait-list themselves for the course. During the week of April 18, eligible wait-listed students will be moved from the wait list to the roster based on seat availability.
Course Description: In this course we will look at the history and literature of the theatre from the point of view of the society in which they operated. We will examine how theatre reflects the assumptions of a culture and how theatre artists use their medium to express their belief of disbelief in those systems. Through an immersion in the theatre culture of London, and the historical sites we will visit (ancient and modern), we will be able to get a full understanding of the role theatre has played and continues to play in our culture and society.
STEM 112(CRN 2113) - Place-based Integrated Science
Jerrid Kruse
Credits 3
Attribute:
Course Description: Through direct observation and investigation of the natural world, this course will use place-based pedagogies to help students gain greater understanding of physical, earth, and life science concepts. Additionally, the course will explore the history of scientific ideas and the interactions of science, technology, and society.
EDUC 199/299 (CRN 2114/2115) – Understanding Diverse Populations: Japan
Tonia Land
Credits 3
Attribute: Global and Cultural Understanding
Course Description: The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with diverse populations through a travel seminar to Japan. Students will develop understanding of the Japanese culture through readings and a variety of in-country experiences. In- country experiences (e.g., lectures, museums, cultural activities, businesses, health facilities, school visits) will provide a means for students to come to gain knowledge and understanding of Japanese culture. Readings will provide a systematic way by which these experiences can be analyzed and discussed.
