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This .25 credit course prepares sophomores and juniors for upper level study in Asian Studies by providing methodologies for individual research, including disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives on select issues. Students use research tools systematically and compile annotated bibliographies using bibliographic software. Prerequisites: AS 121 or Asian Conversations Sequence or instructor permission.

Rationale:

This course will introduce mid-level Asian Studies majors and concentrators to the interdisciplinary nature of the field and will provide experience using Asian Studies bibliographic resources in a systematic and in-depth way so that they are prepared to do research in upper level courses, particularly the senior seminar. Asian Studies faculty will participate in panels to discuss how they would each approach two common topics from their individual interdisciplinary perspectives. The topics will then be approach from the interdisciplinary perspective of Asian Studies. Students also will receive a thorough grounding in the research strategies and tools used in Asian Studies and will use bibliographic software to compile annotated bibliographies of a topic of research interest. Students will also be introduced to major professional associations, their publications, and discussion lists and to the variety of scholarships and grants available to undergraduates. There will also be an introduction to the types of paths Asian studies majors have followed after graduation from St. Olaf.

The Asian studies faculty have been working to integrate research methodologies into the major in a systematic fashion. It was clear from our work that there were four challenges: 1.) students do not understand the concept of discipline or how researchers approach a body of knowledge from their specific disciplinary perspectives, 2) students do not understand how the same topic would be approached from the interdisciplinary context of Asian studies, 3) students need to enter upper level courses and the senior seminar ready to do research in a systematic fashion rather than to learn the process there, and 4) because many of our students complete their mid-level courses while abroad, there is no other appropriate location for the material covered. This quarter credit course, designed for student s in their sophomore or junior year, will address each challenge.

English 395: Chaucer: Literary, Historical, and Ethical Approaches

Catalog Description:
The perennial appeal of this medieval poet resides in his ability to dramatize ethical problems: human suffering, sin, tensions between the sexes, and humanity’s proper relationship with God. Students contextualize Chaucer’s poetry in the medieval past while examining it through a variety of normative ethical perspectives. Readings in ethical theory and their application to Chaucer’s works allow students to probe moral questions and to understand themselves as interpreters of literature and as moral agents.

Rationale:

Chaucer’s perennial appeal resides in his ability to dramatize universal ethical problems: the question of human suffering; the need to overcome selfishness, greed, or sin; abusive relationships; tensions between the sexes; the ideal of a good marriage; right relationship ith God. Although these ethical questions are framed by a medieval poet, they are clearly of contemporary relevance. Chaucer tackles these ethical issues through a vividly portrayed, if motley, cast of characters who set off a religious journey and get side tracked (or find their way) through a game of story-telling. The literary approach to ethics—that is, the study of tales as cases through which we analyze and employ normative approaches to ethical concerns – is well suited for advanced majors in English or Medieval Studies.

English 395 would be the third course offered by English faculty for EIN credit. With three faculty willing to teach EIN courses, it might be possible for the department to offer majors one EIN course per year in a regular rotation.

Computer Science 315: Bioinformatics (Spring ’06)

Catalog Description:

This course addresses computational problems arising from the need to store, access, transform, and utilize DNA-related data. Topics from Computer Science central to the development of problem solving tools include: exhaustive search; algorithms (including dynamic programming, divide-and-conquer, graph, and greedy algorithms); combinatorial pattern matching; clustering and trees; and, hidden Markov models. Prerequisites: CS 253, or CS 251 and Biology 125, or equivalent computer science and biology study, or permission of instructor.

Rationale:

Bioinformatics is a new and fast-developing field that lies at the intersection of computer science, biology, and mathematics. Since the unraveling of DNA in 1953, molecular biology has witnessed a tremendous increase in the ability to sequence and manipulate biomolecular sequences and thus generate enormous amounts of data. The need to process this data has created new problems. In particular, the sheer size and complexity of this DNA-related data has required computer scientists to create tools, techniques, and structures to store, search, analyze, and transform the data in ways that support asking important biological questions. New databases are needed to store all this data and to record changes in the understanding of molecular sequences as they are studied. Computer scientists face tremendous challenges in how to design databases and algorithms for biologists to mine these data accurately and quickly. The sheer number of questions one could ask about the data makes this and exciting and challenging task for all involved. This new course will address central problems arising from the need to store, access, transform, and utilize DNA-related data.

This course will provide a level three elective in our new Computer Science Major. The course is appropriate because it provides exposure to multiple advance undergraduate topics in computer science and in both an integrated and interdisciplinary setting. From this point of view it could serve as a capstone course on advance algorithms and data structures in computer science. This proposal is perhaps especially appropriate at this point due to the interest and expertise, in both teaching and research, of several of our biology colleagues and due to the collaboration already engaged in between Richard Allen in computer science and Rob Rutherford in biology to teach an experimental course in Bioinformatics during interim of 2004.

The proposed course CS 315 was included in the Computer Science Major proposal that was approved by the College in Fall 2002 and the course is now being brought to the Faculty in anticipation of its first regular offering in Spring 2006. It will be offered in alternate years.