tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52082819477514222542011-04-21T18:49:48.842-07:00Robert Lagueuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634107100571368137noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208281947751422254.post-18695941941256559922007-10-01T09:24:00.000-07:002007-10-02T12:28:52.040-07:00<span style="font-family:georgia;">The fall semester is well underway here at Columbia College Chicago. <a href="http://www.colum.edu/Academics/FYS/">New Millennium Studies</a>, the first-year seminar course required of all freshmen, has expanded yet again. This year, we're offering the class to 648 students each semester (that's 36 sections of 18 students). It's mind-boggling to look back to fall of 2005, when we had only 12 sections per semester, and even more so to look ahead to 2008-09, when we'll be offering the course to every incoming first-year student: that'll be 50+ sections per semester.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngavIeYdNZ4/RwKZtYl36qI/AAAAAAAAAAM/3s18EQuuBd8/s1600-h/557612464106_0_ALB-1+copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngavIeYdNZ4/RwKZtYl36qI/AAAAAAAAAAM/3s18EQuuBd8/s320/557612464106_0_ALB-1+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116821131620772514" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />This semester, we've also added a new text to the group of <a href="http://www.colum.edu/Academics/FYS/About/About_Curriculum_Texts.php">common texts</a> that instructors use in their sections: <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/satrapi.html">Marjane Satrapi</a>'s graphic novel <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/persepolis.html">Persepolis</a>.</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Thus far the student response has been very positive (graphic novels being, of course, much cooler than novels of the non-graphic variety...). It's kind of a big semester for all things comics here, in fact; Columbia's <a href="http://www.colum.edu/specialevents/cnfw/">Creative Non-Fiction Week</a> is hosting events featuring <a href="http://www.colum.edu/specialevents/cnfw/#spiegelman">Art Spiegelman</a> (author of the Pulitzer-Prize-winning <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/mauscomp.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Maus</span>)</a> and <a href="http://www.colum.edu/specialevents/cnfw/#mccloud">Scott McCloud</a> (author of the immensely useful [and fun] <a href="http://www.scottmccloud.com/store/books/uc.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Understanding Comics</span></a>).</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />NMS is part of the Liberal Arts and Sciences <a href="http://www.colum.edu/Academics/School_of_Liberal_Arts_and_Sciences/LAS_Core_Curriculum.php">Core Curriculum</a> and is one of only two courses that all Columbia students take. (The other is <a href="http://www.colum.edu/Academics/English_Department/First_Year_Writing/index.php">First-Year Writing</a>.) But, as just the comics-related stuff above indicates, there's lots of Liberal Arts teaching and research going on at Columbia (there are <a href="http://www.colum.edu/Academics/School_of_Liberal_Arts_and_Sciences/">six departments</a> in the school of Liberal Arts and Sciences, after all).<br /><br />It's an exciting time!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Photo of Millennium Park, Chicago by David H. Krause</span></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5208281947751422254-1869594194125655992?l=cleacolumbiacollege.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Robert Lagueuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11634107100571368137noreply@blogger.com0