Benjamin Franklin Seminars

Spring 2005

Students who are not BFS can request BFSeminars during advance registration. A percentage of seats in each seminar are set aside for students not currently in the program.
Faculty contact information is available.

ASIAN & MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES

AMES 146-301 Ancient Iraq: Mesopotamian Culture and Its Legacy
Barry Eichler (beichler@ccat.sas.upenn.edu)
W 2-5
Distribution II

AMES 182-401 The Tale of Genji: Loyal Royals in Japanese Literature
Linda Chance (lchance@sas.upenn.edu)
R 130-430
Distribution III

AMES 252-401(Cross-listed as RELS 129.401) The Binding of Isaac
David Stern (dstern@ccat.sas.upenn.edu)
TR 1030-12
Gen Req II (History and Tradition)
WATU optional, John Fishman, writing advisor. Fulfils half of the college writing requirement.
General Requirement II - WATU

The story of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son Isaac -- the Binding of Isaac -- as told in Genesis 22, is perhaps the greatest of all tales in the Bible about religious obedience and faith. It is also one of the most problematic texts in all Jewish literature, the subject of numerous interpretations, and a source for countless later tales and re-imaginings in Jewish literature. In this course, we will study the history of this tale from the Bible through modern Jewish writing in order to show how a specific tradition in Jewish literature develops and changes in response to the historical changes and religious and cultural developments that Jewish civilization itself undergoes. In this way, we will also attempt to understand the very nature of Tradition itself as it figures in Jewish culture. For comparative purposes we will also consider the history of the tale in Christian and Islamic traditions as well. This course is intended to serve as a way of introducing Jewish literature and culture. Readings will include sections of the Bible, classical Jewish interpretations of the Biblical tale, Crusader Chronicles, poems both medieval and modern, and modern treatments of the theme by the Christian philosopher S., Kierkegaard and such writers as Kafka, Ch.N.Bialik, and A.B.Yehoshua, among others.

All readings will be in translation. No previous background in Jewish literature or history or in child sacrifice is required.

David Stern (Ph.D. Harvard, Comparative Literature) is Ruth Meltzer Professor of Classical Hebrew Literature in the Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. His primary field of research is classical Judaism and its literature, early Biblical commentary in particular. He is also interested in the history of the book, and in general literary interpretation and criticism, ancient and modern, and its relationship to imaginative and other types of literature.

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AMES 225.401 (Cross-listed as COML 212) Modern Middle Eastern Literatures in Translation
Professors Roger Allen (Arabic), Nili Gold (Hebrew-Israeli), Pardis Minuchehr (Persian), and Burcu Gursel (Turkish)
Professor Roger Allen (rallen@ccat.sas.upenn.edu)
MW 430-6
Gen Req III (Arts and Letters); WATU

This course serves as an introduction to the modern literary traditions of the Middle East through the examination of texts translated from Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Turkish. It is team-taught, involving four specialists in Middle Eastern literature. The genres to be studies are: the novel, the poem, and the short story. The sessions devoted to readings of the translated text will be preceded by four sessions in which the genres themselves and the four literary traditions will be surveyed. All readings, both literary texts and background materials, are in English.

There will be a BLACKBOARD site for the course, on which all the text materials for the course (with the exception of the novels) will be mounted.

Dr. Allen's homepage: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~rallen

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ART HISTORY

ARTH 424-301 Greek Vase-Painting
Ann Brownlee (abrownle@sas.upenn.edu)
MW 3-430

Painted vases constitute the most important and comprehensive collection of visual evidence that survives from ancient Greece. In this course, we will examine the development of Greek vase-painting from the 10th to the 4th century BC, with particular emphasis on the pottery of the Archaic and Classical periods produced in the cities of Athens and Corinth. We will look at the vases as objects--and the extensive collection of Greek vases in the University of Pennsylvania Museum will be an important resource for this course--but we will also consider them as they relate to broader cultural issues. Some background in art history or classical studies is helpful but not required.

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NON-DEPARTMENTAL SEMINARS

BENF 099 Benjamin Franklin Independent Study. Permission of the department required
0.5 to 2 cu

Research and study under the direction of a faculty sponsor. Research proposals are due to the Benjamin Franklin Scholars office by noon on January 19th Students are strongly encouraged to discuss their research ideas with the BFS advising staff before submitting the application. Information and registration directions can be found on the BENF 099 page.

Once the application is approved, a permit for the course will be issued.

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BENF 222-301 Leadership and Ethics
Peter Dean (PeterD@amercoll.edu)
R 3:30-6:30

This course is designed as a multi-disciplinary study of leadership, ethics, and the social responsibility of individuals entering private, public and non-profit sectors. Because these sectors can be described as increasingly interdependent environments, individuals can no longer make decisions based solely from the perspective of only one sector. Likewise, the relationships among the individual, business and society are constantly changing, as new issues affecting the American business environment arise. In an attempt to bridge the gaps in relationship between the individual, business and society in this course, we will focus on individual and managerial decision making as a way to explore these gaps from a number of different vantage points including:

*the individual's rights, duties and obligation to obey the rules.
*the business environment's right to expect results from employees.
*the expectation and responsibility of society.

Also, this course will take on a broadened conception of applied ethics and everyday leadership that can be used in political, social, legal, environmental, technological arenas. That is, ethics and leadership are not merely a list of dos and don'ts but includes an emphasis on building positive human outcomes through trust, cooperation, integrity, courage, and most of al-moral vision. This course will deal with the ability to recognize ethical challenges in the business environment, the ability to analyze and think critically about those challenges, and to offer constructive approaches for dealing with those challenges.

Peter J. Dean, PhD, holds the O. Alfred Granum Chair in Management at The American College, where he is an associate professor of management and leadership. http://www.amercoll.edu/pdf/academics/deanvita.pdf

Dr. Dean has conducted many courses at the University of Pennsylvania-in communication, ethics, and leadership at the Wharton School; in leadership in the public domain at the Fels Center of Government; and in entrepreneurship in education at the Graduate School of Education. He worked in Europe and Asia and has lectured in England, Switzerland, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Norway, Australia, Germany, Greece, England, Czech Republic, Mexico and Canada. Altogether, he has lived overseas in Europe and Asia for eight years.

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BENF 223-301 Originality: Art, Law and Technology
Mari Shaw (marishaw90@hotmail.com) (215-776-0344)
TR 3-4:30

The concept of originality today functions in a very different world than it did in the mid 19th century when it was critical in defining Modernism in the visual arts. When a rapper records a song in which the music is largely sampled from other musicians' material, has she created an original work? If a software developer comes up with a new use for existing software, has she done something original? If her purpose in coming up with the new use is to download music, has she created intellectual property that she is entitled to exploit or is she a wrong-doer who should be held responsible for violating the rights of the songwriter or the recording company? When an artist repurposes the image of a celebrity from a photograph, is she creating an original work or is she violating the rights of the photographer or the celebrity? What does originality and intellectual property mean in the context of a world where ideas and commerce flow freely among cultures with varying views of creativity, innovation, and ownership?

We will begin with a brief examination of the evolution of intellectual property law, (copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets), and the legal meaning of terms such as "originality", "novelty", "ownership", "fair comment", "public domain", "derivative works", and "artists' rights." Next, we will examine how technology has driven changes in our definition of originality, first through mechanical and later through electronic means of reproduction and distribution. Then we will discuss the works of 20th century artists such as Marcel Duchamp, who introduced the concept of the "ready-made"; Andy Warhol, who appropriated images of consumer products and celebrities; Sherrie Levine, who photographed the photographs of famous male photographers; Louise Lawler, who documents artworks as installed in private and public collections, and Pierre Huyghe, whose works examine questions of possession and interpretation (exploring for example, whether Walt Disney or the singer has legal owner of the voice of Disney's "Snow White"?).

In the second half of the semester, we will explore the practical application of these concepts. For example, we will discuss the distinction between a derivative work and an original work that appropriates or refers to historical works; the difference between technical advances and new knowledge that causes a paradigm shift; the legal process of protecting intellectual property; the options for an artist who wishes to protect her art work from being destroyed, violated or "saved"; the ethical considerations and financial consequences of violating another's intellectual property; and the effects of intellectual property rights on the free exchange of ideas in the academic community.

Readings will include commentaries from a variety of perspectives and sources, including Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Rosalind Krauss' "The Originality of the Avant-Garde," Roland Barthes' "The Death of the Author," and Jean Baudrillard's "The Precession of Simulacra," along with internet and newspaper articles, excerpts from blogs, and legal decisions. Outside presenters will include a professor of genetics, an artist, a curator, a musician, and an entrepreneur. Students will be required to write several one- page responses to the readings and presentations. Students will also be required to view videos and original artworks. There will be a mid-term examination and a final paper.

Ms. Shaw is a lawyer whose practice focuses on intellectual property and technology law, and the cases discussed in class will include cases in which she represented one of the parties. Ms Shaw also serves on several art museum and gallery advisory boards and is a collector of painting, sculpture, drawings, photograph, and video from the 1960s to the present. Information about her background can be found at the website of the law firm with which she is affiliated. http://www.obermayer.com/Attorney.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=150

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SEMINARS - LAW

BFLW-064-301 Topics in Law,
Sam Diamond (sdiamond@earthlink.net)
MW 3-430PM
Distribution I (Society)

The course will be taught from the perspective of a practicing lawyer. We will inquire how modern American law affects, and is affected by, an ever-developing culture of speed in travel and communication, trans-jurisdictional issues ranging from trade, dispute resolution to family relationships, old crimes and new crimes, new civil liberties and civil responsibilities, who is "entitled" to what, the diminishing (?) role of courts in the face of alternative methods of dispute resolution. Texts used include American Law in the 20th Century, by Lawrence M. Friedman, Yale U. Press, 2002.

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SEMINARS - MEDICINE

BFMD 073-401 Infectious Diseases,
Helen Davies (daviesh@mail.med.upenn.edu)
TR 4-530
Fulfills college Science Studies

This course is concerned with the examination of the interactions between human beings, their organs and cells, and various infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Both the biological and societal factors influencing these interactions will be studied.

Helen Davies (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1960) is professor of microbiology in the School of Medicine. She is a recipient of the Lindback Award, had been designated one of the two Distinguished Basic Science Educator Awardees in the School of Medicine, and received the 2001 national award of the American Medical Student Association as the best medical school teacher. Prof. Davies is the author of more than seventy papers in the areas of bacterial bioenergetics, infectious diseases, enzyme kinetics, bacterial infections, discrimination in higher education, and affirmative action for women and minority groups.

Dr. Davies' home page http://www.med.upenn.edu/micro/faculty/davies.html

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CLASSICAL STUDIES

CLST 310-301 Ancient & Modern Constitution
John Mulhern (johnjm@sas.upenn.edu)
MW 3-4:30

What actually was it that the Greeks were thinking of when they used the _expression politeiaó, an _expression that we often translate by constitution? What do their thoughts suggest about prospects for constitutionmaking today? This course builds on contemporary scholarship to reconstruct what we may call the constitutional tradition as it develops in the main ancient texts, which are read in English translations. The ancient texts are taken from Herodotus, Xenophon, the Pseudo-Xenophon, Thucydides, Plato, the author of the Aristotelian Athenian Constitution, Aristotle himself, Polybius, Cicero, Augustine, and the codifiers of Roman law. The course traces this tradition through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and the great thinkers of the Seventeenth Century, following linguistic and other clues that carry one up to Madison and put the work of the U.S. Constitutional Convention in a somewhat new light; and it continues through Nineteenth Century and Twentieth Century constitutionmaking into today's constitutionmaking efforts in Eastern Europe.

The course is conducted as a group tutorial. In each session, the professor offers a prelecture to the class on the text that they will read next to help them understand its historical, literary, and political context. In the next class, the students read short papers on the text, and these papers are discussed by other students and by the professor. The professor then provides a summary lecture on the text just completed and a prelecture on the reading set for the next class. At the end, the students have reconstructed the constitutional tradition for themselves from the sources.

Bio of Dr. Mulhern http://www.classics.upenn.edu/faculty/mulhern.html

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COMPUTER STUDIES

CSE 398-301 Quantum Computer and information Science,
Max Mintz (mintz@cis.upenn.edu)
MW 4-6
PERMISSION NEEDED FROM INSTRUCTOR for ALL Students
Prerequisite(s): CSE 260, CSE 261, CSE 262, and Math 240

The purpose of this course is to introduce undergraduate students in computer science and engineering to quantum computers (QC) and quantum information science (QIS). This course is meant primarily for juniors and seniors in CSE. No prior knowledge of quantum mechanics (QM) is assumed. Permission of the professor is required.

Dr. Mintz's home page http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~mintz/home.html

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ECONOMICS

ECON 002 Introduction to Macroeconomics
Sector I

Students must take ECON 002-001 lecture and one of the BFS recitations. Either 203 F 11-12 or 206 F 1-2

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ENGLISH

ENGL 331-301 Introduction to Shakespeare
Phyllis Rackin (prackin@english.upenn.edu)
MW 3-430PM
Distribution III (Arts and Letters)

Although Shakespeare's plays are usually studied as high canonical literature, they were originally written as playscripts designed for the entertainment of a disorderly, socially heterogeneous crowd and the financial profit of the players. This course will attempt to resituate the plays in their original theatrical setting. We will study a representative selection of Shakespeare's comedies, tragedies, and histories (to be chosen by the class at the first meeting) along with background material on Shakespeare's theater and his culture. There will be one or two hour-exams, one or two short papers, and a final exam. In addition, students are expected to meet in study groups outside of class and to make thoughtful, well-informed contributions to the class listserver and discussions.

Phyllis Rackin (Ph.D., University of Illinois, English, 1962) is Professor of English in General Honors. She is a past President of the Shakespeare Association of America and the author of numerous articles on Shakespeare and literary theory and of four books, Shakespeare's Tragedies, Stages of History: Shakespeare's English Chronicles, Shakespeare and Women, and, with Jean E. Howard, of Engendering a Nation: A Feminist Account of Shakespeare's English Histories. A recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, she has been associated with the BFS program for over thirty years.

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ENGL 345-401 (Crossed listed with Women Studies) 18TH-CENTURY NOVEL
Toni Bowers (tbowers@dept.english.upenn.edu)
R 130-430

3 short papers, one long final paper.

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ENGL 388-301 The American Line
Jo Park (jnpark3@english.upenn.edu)
TR 130-3
Distribution III (Arts and Letters)

This course will consider American innovations in the poetic line. We will pay attention to the music of the individual line, working our way through the complications of prosody. Our readings will begin with Walt Whitmans unending lines and Emily Dickinsons painfully brief ones. From these foundational poles in American verse, we will go on to measure key revolutions in the line in the twentieth century, including modernist poetic instigations, formal properties of the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, lines driven by breath in beat and confessional verse, as well as experiments in language at the end of the century. In addition, we will read theoretical and philosophical inquiries into the ways in which the line extends, breaks, and finally ends. Course requirements: short response papers, in-class presentation, and a final research paper.

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ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

ENVS 407.401 (Cross-listed as HSOC 407) Prevention of Tobacco Addiction in Pre-Adolescent Children of Philadelphia
Elaine. Wright (elwright@sas.upenn.edu)
Lara Roman, TA (larar@sas.upenn.edu)
TR 1:30-3
358 Hayden Hall
Academically based community service course
CWIC

Cigarette smoking is a major public health problem. The Centers for Disease Control reports that more than 80% of current adult tobacco users started smoking before age 18. The National Youth Tobacco Survey indicated that 12.8% of middle school students and 34.8% of high school students in their study used some form of tobacco products.

In ENVS 407, Penn undergraduates learn about the short and long term physiological consequences of smoking, social influences and peer norms regarding tobacco use, the effectiveness of cessation programs, tobacco advocacy and the impact of the tobacco settlement.

Penn students will collaborate with middle school teachers in West Philadelphia to prepare and deliver lesson plans to 6th through 8th graders. The undergraduates will survey and evaluate middle school and Penn student body smoking usage. One of the goals of this course is to raise awareness of the middle school children to prevent addiction to tobacco smoke during adolescence. The collaboration with the middle schools gives the Penn students the opportunity to apply their study of the prevention of tobacco smoking to real world situations.

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ENVS 408-401 (Cross-listed as HSOC 408-401) Urban Asthma Epidemic
Elaine. Wright (elwright@sas.upenn.edu)
Lara Roman, TA (larar@sas.upenn.edu)
TR 10:30-12
358 Hayden Hall
Academically based community service course
CWIC

Asthma as a chronic pediatric disease is undergoing a dramatic and unexplained increase. It has become the #1 cause of public-school absenteeism and now accounts for a significant number of childhood deaths each year in the USA. In ENVS 408, Penn undergraduates learn about the epidemiology of urban asthma, the debate about the probable cause (or causes) of the current asthma crisis, and the nature and distribution of environmental factors that modern medicine describes as potential triggers of asthma episodes. Penn students then collaborate with community-service home visitors employed in a clinical research study at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The Penn students accompany CHOP staff to the homes of children undergoing outpatient treatment for chronic asthma at CHOP. They instruct the families of those children in strategies to establish and maintain a trigger-free space within each child's home in which he/she can sleep, play, and study. The Penn students also conduct on-site ACLOTEST procedures in each home to determine the concentration of dust-mite feces in the rooms children will be using as safe spaces. They will then summarize the results of their work in a format appropriate to the assessment phase of the CHOP clinical study.

For more information about Elaine Wright, and about the Children's Environmental Health Initiative at Penn, visit http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~elwright/

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HIST 214-301 American Modernity,
Kathy Peiss (peiss@sas.upenn.edu)
W 2-5
Max 15

The impulse to "make it new" took root in American culture at the beginning of the 20th century. New artistic and literary movements, emergent technologies of sight and sound, sexual and social experimentation: these and other developments were understood as "the modern." This course examines the cultural history of American modernity from the 1890s to the 1960s, when a postmodern critique began to be heard. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, students will interpret a wide range of sources that proclaimed, shaped, or challenged modernity, among them works of fiction, art, film, dance, and anthropology. They will also explore the ways ideas about modernity shaped the everyday lives of Americans, especially perceptions of gender, race, family, and national identity. Several short essays and a research project are required.

Dr. Peiss' home page http://www.history.upenn.edu/faculty/peiss.htm

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HIST 214-401 (Cross listed as: URBS 078-401, AFRC -078-401) Urban University-Community Relationships
Ira Harkavy (harkavy@pobox.upenn.edu) & Lee Benson
W 2-5
Max 21

Inspired by Penn's founder, Ben Franklin, President Amy Gutmann has identified rising to the challenge of a diverse democracy and educating students for democratic citizenship as critical goals of her administration. Since the present undergraduate curriculum falls short in this regard, the seminar aims
to synthesize numerous, unrelated, academically-based community service courses into an effectively integrated curriculum. As now envisioned, the new Penn curriculum developed by the seminar would have as a significant component, thematic, problem-solving clusters, i.e., interrelated, cross-disciplinary, complementary sets of courses designed to stimulate and empower students to produce, not simply consumer, societally-useful knowledge. By societally-useful knowledge, we mean knowledge actively used to solve global strategic problems of democracy and society, schooling and society, health and society, poverty and society, environment and society, culture and society, etc., as those global problems manifest themselves locally at Penn and in West Philadelphia/Philadelphia.

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HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE

HSSC 305-401 American Health Policy.
Rosemary A. Stevens (rstevens@sas.upenn.edu)
TR 430-6

Why do we have the present health care system? What values and conflicts does it represent? What does it tell us about ourselves? Why are there so many uninsured? Can Medicare survive? And why the current fashion for consumer-directed care? This seminar takes a historical, policy-oriented approach to address these questions and others. Assigned reading and a research paper are required. Divergent views welcomed. Ability to argue is a plus. Open to sophomores and above.

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LEGAL STUDIES

LGST 101-301 Introduction to Law and Legal Process
Daniel Hunter (hunterd@wharton.upenn.edu)
MW 1030-12

LGST 210-301 Corporate Responsibility and Ethics
Thomas Dunfee (dunfeet@wharton.upenn.edu)
TR 3-4:30

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PHYSICS

Phys 171-301 Physics II: Electromagnetism and Radiation
Paul Heiney (heiney@physics.upenn.edu) (http://www.physics.upenn.edu/~heiney)
Pre-requisites: MATH 114 and PHYS 150 or PHYS 170, or permission of instructor
Co-requisites: MATH 240 or permission of instructor
301 16 MWF 10-11 M 2-3 R 5-6
302 NG 16 W 1-3 LAB

This course parallels and extends the content of PHYS 151, at a somewhat higher mathematical level. Recommended for well-prepared students in
engineering and the physical sciences, and particularly for those planning to major in physics. Electric and magnetic fields; Coulomb's, Ampere's, and
Faraday's laws; special relativity; Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic radiation.

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Phys 295-301 Introduction to Research in Physics and Astronomy
Paul Heiney TR 5-630
Pre-requisites: Physics 150/151 or 170/171 or 101/102

This course will provide an introduction to current research performed by faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. It will be particularly appropriate for sophomore or junior physics majors interested in participating in physics research; it will also be of interest to other science- or engineering-oriented students who want to learn more about current topics in physics. Grading will be based on attendance at seminars presented by faculty, homework assignments, and a term paper.

Tentative list of Physics 295 faculty (Alphabetical order)
Mark Devlin: "Using the Echo of the Big Bang as a Backlight to the Universe: Studying the Evolution of Structure in the Universe Using the Cosmic Microwave Background."

arija Drndic: "Nanocrystals, quantum dots, and new tools for nanomanipulation."

Paul Heiney (also coordinator): "X-rays, Neutrons, and Synchrotron Radiation"

Bhuvnesh Jain: "Gravitational Lensing and Dark Matter"

Kenneth Lande: "Were mass extinctions triggered by supernova explosions? Searching for evidence from cosmic ray fluctuations."

Philip Nelson: Single Molecule Biophysics.

Evelyn Thomson: "Introduction to research in experimental particle physics"

Arjun Yodh: "Functional Imaging of Tissues with Light, and Entropy-driven Interactions and Assembly in Solution"

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PSYCHOLOGY

PSYC 001.301 Intro to Psychology
Paul Rozin (rozin@psych.upenn.edu) 898-7632
MW 1-3
General Requirement V (Living World)
Fulfils College's Quantitative Data Analysis requirement

This course will receive a high number of registration requests. Students are strongly advised to request alternates for this course. All students, including Benjamin Franklin Scholars should fill out the form that is available at the BFS office and online and return it there.

An introduction to psychology as both a natural and social science. The text will provide broad coverage of the state of knowledge in psychology, while the lectures will focus on particular problems in some detail. The aim of the lectures will be to clarify the process of inquiry in natural and social sciences. In-class laboratories will engage students in formation of hypotheses, design of research, data gathering, and analysis and interpretation of results. Topics covered will include brain and behavior, dreams and psychoanalysis, behaviorism and phobias, sociobiology and sex differences, color vision, thinking, memory, person perception, appetites and addictions.

Paul Rozin is Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor for Faculty Excellence in Psychology. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in biology and psychology. After working for two postdoctoral years with Jean Mayer at the Harvard School of Public Health, he came to the University of Pennsylvania. He has been at Penn since 1963, during which time he has served as chair of Psychology and director of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars and General Honors Programs. His areas of research interest include the development of food preferences; the interaction of culture, biology and individual psychology in determining food attitudes and cuisine; magical thinking; and the evolution of intelligence. Professor Rozin has been a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow, is the recipient of the Ira Abrams Memorial Award for distinguished teaching, the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor for Faculty Excellence in Psychology, and is an editor of the scientific journal Appetite.

Dr. Rozin's home page www.psych.upenn.edu/~rozin/

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Psyc 441-401 (Cross-listed as BIBB 441) Genetics, Evolution and Behavior,
Frank Norman (norman@psych.upenn.edu)
TR 1:30-3

Genetic and environmental components of IQ, personality, and psychopathology. Evolutionary psychology; basic evolutionary theory; evolution of altruistic, cooperative, and competitive behavior. The course develops and makes extensive use of elementary mathematical and statistical models.

For non-BFS students wishing to enroll: Applicants must attend the first class meeting; admission decisions will be made immediately after that meeting. In addition, applicants are asked to email Professor Norman the following information: 1. Class, 2. Major, 3. Previous Psychology, BIBB, Biology and Statistics courses, and 4. A brief statement of why this course is of special interest to you.

Frank Norman (Ph.D., Stanford, 1965) is professor of psychology. Most of his publications are concerned with mathematical models for evolution and psychological processes. (For a list of publications, see psych.upenn.edu/~norman/pubs.html). Besides the topics covered in Psychology 441, his current interests include microcomputers and psychological testing.

Dr. Norman's web page http://www.psych.upenn.edu/~norman/

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RELIGIOUS STUDIES

RELS 111-301 The American Jesus
Leslie Callahan (ldcallah@sas.upenn.edu)
TR 130-3
Gen Req I (Society)

For Christians, he is proclaimed the Son of God. But within American culture, Jesus has undergone transformations to fit the cultural moment and the current debate. "Who is Jesus?" and "What would Jesus do?" are questions that have been answered throughout American history in myriad ways by religious elites writers, movie makers, and regular people, Christian and non-Christian alike. This course explores the images of Jesus in the popular culture throughout American history, with the goal of understanding the people who imagined Jesus as an American ideal.

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