This course is designated VA, Values and Contemporary Issues. Thus, our main activity will be to identify, consider, and discuss the value questions and concerns that emerge from our readings in non-fiction. A scan of the reading syllabus will show you some of the issues we will be discussing, including 9/11, Hiroshima, longitude, medical matters, and education. I’ve tried to organize the readings into topical units, but you will find that these units overlap frequently. Further, I look forward to more issues emerging from our conversation. I will also regularly call your attention to current issues in the news and perhaps even on our campus; I invite you to do the same! I’ll love it when you point out a connection between one of our readings and something else going on in our local, national, or global community.

A secondary objective is to familiarize you with the genre of “non-fiction” writing. We will attend to the writing techniques demonstrated in our readings throughout the term. We will slowly accumulate a catalog of the strategies and modes of non-fiction writing, so that you’ll recognize them when you see them in the future, as well as recognize when a piece of writing is “breaking the conventions.”

As an aid in achieving both of these objectives (considering value questions, and learning about the genre of non-fiction writing), in each reading for the course, please note a HIGHLIGHT PASSAGE. Be prepared each day, if called on, to share the passage you marked and tell why: perhaps there was something you noticed about the writing technique, or perhaps you had an argument with that particular point, or the passage just surprised you.

Institutional Objectives Addressed by this Course:

ü A recognition of ethical and professional responsibilities.

ü An understanding of how contemporary issues shape and are shaped by mathematics, science, & engineering.

ü An ability to recognize the role of professionals in the global society and to understand diverse cultural and humanistic traditions.

ü An ability to communicate effectively in oral and written forms.

ü An ability to interpret textual data.