The History of Western Civilization—Science & Society (Spring 2007, 2008)
This spring I’m teaching another group of freshmen in the Mason Topics program. The syllabus covers a broad swath of the history of Western Civilization through the lens of “Science and Society.” In addition to a selection of key documents in the history of science and technology, students will be reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt, and Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, and other novels touching on the role of science in society and human lives.
The History of Western Civilization—The Global Village (Fall 2005)
In 2005 I taught the my first section of the western civ survey that’s required of all freshmen at George Mason University. My particular section was part of the University’s Mason Topics program. Mason Topics enrolls the same group of students in two or more general education classes per semester, and the faculty who teach these classes explore central ideas from different perspectives, using some shared reading and writing assignments. My section was linked to an English 101: Composition section and focused on the theme of “The Global Village.”