Return to 2004-2005 Green Sheet Index

CEPC 04/05-8
April 6, 2005

To: St. Olaf College Faculty

Fr: CEPC

Re: Proposed Revisions to the Requirements for the Mathematics Major

At the April faculty meeting CEPC will move to approve three new courses.

Norwegian 130: Nordic Film Today: Love, Sex, and Family

Catalog statement: This film course focuses on the increasingly non-traditional ways of forming relationships in the six Nordic countries. Rejecting the values of previous generations, young people from different backgrounds and ethnicities form relationships according to their own integrity and sexual preferences. Students attain an understanding of these cultural trends and the technical terminology to watch, read, think, talk, and write critically and intelligently about film as text.

Rationale: The Norwegian Department has in recent years sought to attract a larger pool of students beyond those who complete their FOL in Norwegian or who major in Norwegian in order to advance knowledge across campus about contemporary Norway and the Nordic region and to mature into a well-rounded department. We have pursued these goals by complementing our language, culture, and literature courses taught in Norwegian with culture and literature courses taught in English that fulfill certain GE credits. Moreover, while a course on Ingmar Bergman’s films and Christian theology and a course on Scandinavian art history have sporadically been offered in other departments, there is no course offered on Nordic cinema or Nordic visual arts. This course will fill this gap and contribute to Nordic Studies and Media Studies. Finally, courses providing students with means to respond critically to the media are essential in today’s media-saturated society.

Mathematics 242: Modern Computational Mathematics

Catalog Statement: Modern mathematics is characterized by the interaction of theoretical and computational techniques. In this course, students study topics from pure and applied mathematics with the aid of computation, utilizing symbolical, graphical, and numerical computational techniques. Students develop computational skills sufficient to investigate mathematical questions independently. No previous programming experience is required. Prerequisite: Linear Algebra

Rationale: Classical mathematics is characterized principally by logical rigor and formal proof. Modern mathematics, by contrast, reflects the impact of computation. Computational reasoning has resulted in entirely new disciplines, including computational geometry, remote sensing, geographic information systems, computational chemistry, and search engine techniques. Perhaps surprisingly, many areas of

Classical, pure mathematics have also been revolutionized by computation.

Up to now, St. Olaf mathematics majors have had little systematic exposure to innovative uses of computing in the discipline. In the proposed course, students will learn to apply computational techniques to problems from both pure and applied mathematics. They will see and experience “computational thinking”: how computation can augment -- or even inspire -- mathematical theory and rigor. They will also develop new tools for attacking problems they will see in the future.

A key feature of the computational approach is that it allows “experiments” with complex mathematical structures. Purely theoretical investigation of mathematical ideas is difficult for all but the most talented students. With advanced computational software,

however, students can explore (and even “play” with) complex structures. Doing so helps build appreciation and understanding of mathematical questions, and paves the way for later theoretical work. This spirit of investigation is an important goal for all students; we expect it to encourage more students to take part in undergraduate research projects.

Music 267: Advanced Acting for the Lyric Stage

Catalog Statement: Music 267 is a studio course focusing on advanced techniques of acting and singing for the musical stage with an emphasis on opera. Students explore voice, movement, improvisation, and characterization at an advanced level. They receive coaching in musical and dramatic style through solo and small ensemble literature and prepare scenes for class performance. May be repeated once. Prerequisites: Two semesters of voice study and Theater 131 (Acting for the Lyric Stage), or permission of the instructor.

Rationale: This course will build upon material and performance practices introduced in Theater 131, Acting for the Lyric Stage. Music 267 – Advanced Acting for the Lyric Stage explores the unique melding of the two disciplines of singing and acting inherent in musicals, operettas, and operas. One of the goals of this course is to explore ways in which the singer-actor can deal with the challenges found in this genre, including the extension of time and of heightened emotion expressed musically without physical tension and other entanglements.

Advanced Acting for the Lyric Stage has been an active course in the college catalogue since approximately 1985 but offered for only 0.50 credit. The proposer of this application, the current instructor of Music 267, does so to acknowledge the need for more time to attend to the exacting demands of the course, provide more time for “hands-on” guidance by the instructor(s), and to more fully integrate specialized lyric theater exercises such as improvisation. For this reason, this application requests that the credit level be raised to 1.00.

By making the credit change, Music 267-Advanced Acting for the Lyric Stage, will parallel Theater 131 (Acting for the Lyric Stage) which is offered for 1.00 credit and serves as a prerequisite for Music 267. Like Theater 131, the new Music 267 will be a team-taught course with one faculty member each from the Music and Theater departments. Both courses will form the core of a proposal for a Concentration in Lyric Theater, which should come before the faculty in the 2005-06 academic year.

Music majors (BA and BM) with voice as their principle instrument and Theater majors with lyric theater aspirations will all benefit from access to the content, skills, and exercises offered in this course.