Foundation Seminars

• INSTRUCTOR: PROFESSOR Chris Magee, Economics: The Globalization Debate

  This course will examine controversial issues that have arisen as the world becomes more integrated and national borders become "thinner." Students will discuss questions such as: Does international trade improve or harm the environment? How does immigration affect domestic welfare? Does trade create conflict between nations or promote peace? Is foreign aid a good way to reduce poverty in developing countries? Do humanitarian crises justify military intervention? Throughout the course we'll look at both the economics and the politics of globalization.

   

• INSTRUCTOR: PROFESSOR Ron Smith, International Relations: Other Lands Have Dreams

  Science fiction is a popular genre that spans media forms. Far more than shallow entertainment, science fiction has often been a means of exploring deep concerns about society's ills and the potential for change, both positive and dystopian, that authors can imagine for a society. Ideas presented under the cover of science fiction can transcend authoritarian regimes' attempts to control the narrative and can introduce audiences to new ideas of future aspirations. Science fiction is often seen as a genre dominated by the powerful and dominant within the global context. This course moves the camera away from first-world crews and focuses on global approaches to potentials and possibilities, be they optimistic or otherwise, with the lens firmly planted in the future.