PS199: Honors Seminar in the Social Sciences

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE - SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Time: Monday 10:00-11:20 pm (Spring 2002)	Office Hours: Wednesday 10:00-1:00 by signup & appt
Phone: 346-4880	Office: PLC-921; Course Room: Condon 360
Email: rmitchel@uoregon.edu

Goals of course:

The purpose of this course is to continue the fall and winter term honors seminar course by providing you with an introduction to what the social sciences are and what the opportunities for learning and research are within the disciplines of anthropology, economics, environmental studies, geography, history, international studies, law, political science, public policy, sociology, and other social sciences. I hope to introduce you both to some of the faculty on campus doing exciting research in the social sciences but also to the different perspectives and approaches that different disciplines take to framing questions, doing research, and creating knowledge. We will also compare and contrast the different approaches to knowledge in the social sciences and to about some resources available on campus for doing your own research over the years ahead.

Course Requirements: attendance and journal/lecture notes

This is a one-unit course that is offered Pass/No Pass only. There are only two requirements but they are requirements, i.e., if you fail to complete them you will receive a No Pass for the course.

Attendance: You must attend all class sessions. I will allow one unexcused absence. If you will miss more than one class session, you must get approval from me (by phone, email, or in person) BEFORE that class session begins. No more than two such excused absences (above and beyond the one unexcused absence) are allowed.

Journal/lecture notes: You must take notes on each of the lectures you attend. You should capture the major points of the lecture each week. At the end of the term, you will hand in the set of notes you have taken. They should therefore be either hand-written neatly enough that I can decipher them (or typed up and printed out).

We will meet every week this term. Dates are tentative in most cases.

Week 1: Monday, April 1: Introduction

"Introduction to Course"

Week 2: Monday, April 8: Bertram Malle, Dept of Psychology

"Theory of Mind: How People Make Sense of Human Behavior"

Week 3: Monday, April 15: Discussion with Peer Advisors from several departments

or Joanna Lambert, Dept of Anthropology

Week 4: Monday, April 22: Judith Gordon, Oregon Research Institute

"Public Health Interventions for Tobacco Cessation"

Week 5: Monday, April 29: Oregon Survey Research Laboratory

Tour of Oregon Survey Research Laboratory

Week 6: Monday, May 6: Paul Slovic, Psychology and Decision Research, Inc.

"Risk Perception and Public Policy"

Week 7: Monday, May 13: Richard Hildreth, Law School

"Legal Pathways to Sustainable Fisheries"

Week 8: Monday, May 20: Doug Kennett, Dept of Anthropology

"Prehistoric Colonization and Fortification of Rapa, French Polynesia"

Week 9: Monday, May 27: Memorial Day Holiday

No class

Week 10: Monday, June 3: Conclusions and Wrap-up