Minds on Millennium V rolls out short academic courses in October
Thursday,
September 9, 2004
Lacey, Wash. – Minds on the Millennium will offer
three short courses in October as it launches the fifth year of a
lecture series designed to offer intellectually stimulating lectures and
courses for the public.
Sponsored by Saint Martin's College and Panorama City,
Minds on the Millennium was launched by the neighboring communities in
2000 to share knowledge, build a community of learning and create
life-long learning opportunities. The courses do not carry academic
credit, but are high in academic quality and are taught by some of Saint
Martin's most respected faculty members, says event co-organizer David
Suter, professor of religious studies at Saint Martin’s.
Class enrollment begins Sept. 14 at the activities
desk in the Panorama Hall lobby, 1835 Circle Lane, Lacey, and is
limited. All courses are six weeks in length and are taught at Panorama
City’s Quinault Auditorium. A $35 fee is charged per course to cover
expenses, and students may need to purchase a textbook, depending on the
course.
The spring series of free public lectures will be
announced early next year. For more information about the series, please
call 360-438-7557.
This fall’s courses are:
- “The Art of the Essay.” Class sessions: 1:30-3 p.m.,
Thursdays, beginning Oct. 14.
The first essayist, Michel de Montaigne, said in the
16th century, “Every man has within himself the entire human condition.”
The personal essay is underpinned by the assumption that there is a
unity to human experience. Focusing on what is the oldest form of essay,
the type often called “personal essays” or “creative nonfiction,” this
Minds class will explore essays by several writers, including Joan
Didion, George Orwell, Alice Walker and E. B. White. Individuals taking
the class may develop a better understanding of themselves and of the
human condition as essays are read and studied.
Leading the class will be Saint Martin’s English
faculty member Olivia Archibald, who has a doctorate in the personal
essay and Anglo-Saxon literature from the University of Iowa.
Archibald’s academic interests include creative nonfiction, essay
theory, early medieval literature, and literary criticism. At Saint
Martin’s College, she directs the Writing Across the Curriculum Program
and teaches writing, literary criticism, sociolinguistics, and Women’s
Studies. She has read her personal essays at invited readings in more
than a dozen cities.
- “Understanding Terrorism.” Class sessions: 3:30-5
p.m. Thursdays, beginning Oct. 14.
How do terrorist groups use terrorism to accomplish
their political objectives? In “Understanding Terrorism,” political
science Prof. Richard Langill, Ph.D., will explore the topic with the
class. They will begin by watching and discussing the film classic, “The
Battle of Algiers”, which explains how terrorists were able to use
terror to force the French to leave Algeria in 1962. Several case
studies, including the 1983 U.S. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon and the
current U.S. military invasion and occupation of Iraq, will be
discussed. An analysis and evaluation of the threat posed by al Qaida to
the United States and the Middle East also will be a topic.
Langill, who has a master’s degree in political
science from California State University, Long Beach, and a doctorate in
international studies from American University in Washington D.C., is
the recipient of several Malone Fellowships to study in Saudi Arabia and
Tunisia. During a study trip to Lebanon in 1982, he met and interviewed
high-level members of the PLO, the Lebanese government, the Jordanian
government and government figures in occupied territories. He teaches a
course on terrorism and human rights issues at Saint Martin’s.
- “Reading and Seeing Shakespeare: A Study of Three
Shakespearean Plays in Book and on Video,” taught by English Prof.
Stephen X. Mead, Ph.D. Class sessions: 1:30-3 p.m. Fridays, beginning
Oct. 15.
Reading and watching video performances outside of
class, Minds students will explore Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About
Nothing,” “Richard II” and “King Lear” with English Prof. Stephen X.
Mead. With both the experience of reading the play and of comparing
their imagining of the play with a filmmaker’s, they’ll have an
opportunity to discuss and interpret the plays, as well as see how
directors interpret the same material.
Mead, who received his doctorate in English from
Indiana University, has published several articles on Shakespeare,
Renaissance and medieval drama. He has taught three previous classes in
the Minds on the Millennium Series, including courses in World War I
literature, “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey.”
For more information:
Deanna Partlow
Office of Communication
360-438-4541; dpartlow@stmartin.edu