Spring 2013 - Oglethorpe University

engaged life life
engaged life
A Day of
Scholarship
Students “Create a Course”
By Caitlyn Mitchell ’13
If you could create an academic class out of thin air, what would you choose?
In the spring of 2011, Oglethorpe students had the chance to decide just that.
Students from every major and discipline were invited to put their heads together
to engage in the selection and creation of a new academic course. The student
community wrote potential course plans and materials lists, voiced their opinions
and made their cases for which subjects they wanted to know more about and
how the class should be taught.
OU’s Liberal Arts &
Sciences Symposium
By Caitlyn Mitchell ’13
(above) The Symposium’s poster sessions
give students the chance to share and discuss
their research.
Every year Oglethorpe’s
classes are suspended for a
day dedicated to celebrating
the liberal arts and sciences.
The annual Symposium in the Liberal Arts
and Sciences is a day to revel in educating,
exploring and sharing knowledge. This
Oglethorpe tradition gives students and
faculty the opportunity to share their
analytical and creative works from the
previous academic year. For nearly 12 straight
hours, students and faculty, as well as their
guests, indulge in a “cornucopia of academia.”
Panels, roundtables, poster presentations, art
exhibitions and performances showcase the
fruits of Oglethorpe’s liberal arts and sciences
curriculum, as well as student-driven initiatives.
Joscelyn Stein ’13 described this beloved
tradition as “a day seeing what other students
have been pouring all of their time and
energy into…I love getting to be a part of all
the other students’ work.”
Made up of a series of hour-long sessions,
the day moves nonstop from the moment it
begins this year with a keynote address
about the importance of the liberal arts,
by Dr. Catherine Lewis from Kennesaw
State University. During the “Meeting
of the Majors,” students meet with their
department faculty, discuss upcoming
opportunities within and beyond university
boundaries and socialize with their
contemporaries. As the day continues,
students are encouraged to cross disciplines
and hear about subjects beyond their normal
academic realms.
“I just watched an awesome presentation
about Mormonism…a very specific, very
interesting presentation on something I never
would have known anything about if it hadn’t
have been for the Liberal Arts Symposium,”
said Weston Manders ’13 during the 2012
Symposium. “I love seeing all my fellow
Oglethorpians…engaged in the pursuit of
knowledge and supporting their friends
who are really reaching out there to better
themselves through independent research.”
At the Liberal Arts and Sciences Symposium,
a physics major can attend a poetry reading,
and a studio art major can learn the basics of
chemical bonding. Participants can attend
a panel on such differing and fascinating
subjects as “Cosmology and Questions: An
Ever Moving Cycle,” “New Media and Our
Brains,” “Performance Art: A Catalyst for
Change in Modern Art,” “Sports, Media and
Body Image,” and “Horror-Comedy: The
Chaotic Spectrum and Cinematic Synthesis.”
The Symposium gives students a chance to
reach outside of their fields of study and
make connections between their own
work and others’ passions. And it’s an
indescribable day for anyone who wishes to
witness the Oglethorpe education in action.
Visit Oglethorpe’s YouTube
channel (youtube.com/
oglethorpeuniversity) to view
videos and commentary about
the symposium.
The suggestions were a mixed bag, reflecting the passions and diversity of the
student body. The proposals mirrored a mixing of the minds, combining traditional
and modern pursuits as well as cross-disciplinary studies. And no doubt there
was probably a “Core moment” involved in the creation of many of the offerings.
Classic Rock: the ’60s to the ’90s sound interesting? It didn’t make it to the final
voting block, but ideas just as varied and wildly inspired flooded the selection
committee as students responded to the challenge.
The selection committee evaluated the pool of proposals, and seven possible
subjects rose to the top. Students voted online between History of Fashion,
Sherlock Holmes, Positive Psychology, From Emma to Clueless, Pop Culture
and Propaganda, Science Fiction and Fantasy: 20th–21st Century and Political
Assassination. Where else could one find such a succinct summation of the
various interests of the Oglethorpe student body? History, fashion, literature,
politics and modernism versus antiquity!
But in the end, there could only be one selection. By popular demand, Positive
Psychology became the choice that was integrated into the official fall 2012
course schedule. The class explored “the science of how to be happy” and “the
resiliency, self-efficacy and ability to create and live a happy life.” After such
a positive initial response, this could very well become a beloved Oglethorpe
tradition. Who knows what we’ll see next on the scholarly line-up? Entomology?
3-D Filmmaking? Marvel vs. DC Comics? The possibilities are as endless as the
imaginations and interests of Oglethorpe students.
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