This program is an inquiry into numinous experience. Just as lava lamps that were made for contemplation in the 60s inspired renewed interest, Rudolf Otto's articulation of the numinous has also regained popularity. In numinous experience everything but the experience of awareness falls away. What kinds of objects, spaces and practices evoke for us, now, a non-rational, non-sensory, experience or feeling that takes us outside the self to that which is "wholly other"?

Our study together has two parts: we will examine the recognized numinous works of others from global contexts and develop skills to create our own numinous art and experiences. We will explore how artists and practitioners manufacture opportunities for contemplative responses through visual arts, visionary film, experimental video and meditative arts within trans-historical, cross-cultural and gendered contexts. This will lead to experiments in creating our own numinous works through skill development in workshops and collaborative projects in visual arts, media arts, community service, and meditative arts, including yoga.

Reflection on the possible inherent disposition of our neurophysiology for numinous experience will be central to our inquiry. Such reflection will require the cultivation of analytic skills as well as the contemplative arts of listening and abiding in silence. We'll cultivate the capacity to pay attention to our awareness of experiences to which the most appropriate response is silence.

This program is designed for students who wish to explore the place of performance art in a social, historical and cultural context with special emphasis on queer, feminist, Native American, African American, Latino and international cultural experiences. Students will learn a variety of installation art skills to create spaces, costumes and props. Over the course of this program, we will study the history of installation and performance art, performance theory, and a variety of techniques for creating and analyzing performances. The program features visits by guest performance artists and field trips to performance events.

Fall and winter quarter, students will create two collaborative performance/installation projects as well as participate in weekly art exercises. The program will include occasional guest workshops in movement. Students in spring quarter will create fully developed performances/installations for Arts Walk, an Olympia Arts festival held in April, and a final performance on campus at the end of the quarter. This program will be theoretically intensive and will include reading, writing, and discussions in seminars and workshops.

I am not a Marxist-Karl Marx?

Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts-Mary Harris (Mother) Jones? If one believes the current mass media, one would believe that Marxism is dead and that the "end of history" is upon us. As Mark Twain is reported to have said upon news accounts of his demise, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." The same, of course, is true for Marxist Theory.

Few Americans have read more than The Communist Manifesto, if that. Very few "educated" people have a clear understanding of Marx's concept of alienation, dialectics, historical materialism, or his analysis of labor or revolutionary change.

In this program, we will examine the development of Marx's thought and Marxist Theory. We will read and discuss some of Marx's early and later writings as well as writings of Lenin and others. We will also explore concrete examples of how "dialectics" and "materialism" can be applied to race and gender issues. At the end of the program students should have a solid foundation for further study of Marxist analysis.

All theaters are symbolic, but in this program, we are trying to explore only those which purposefully incorporate symbolic, abstract physical expressions as major hallmarks of their style. All theaters are symbolic, because the origin of theater can be found in symbolic gesturing and dance movements of the ancient time in direct communication with the spiritual realm. Masks were frequently used in ancient symbolic performances to suggest natural spirits or supernatural powers in possession of the body. Through history and across the globe, theatrical performances focused on the symbolic quality of face and movement and have continued to engage our joy, interest and imagination as both theater goers and practitioners.

In this program, we will study many theaters of East and West whose masterful use of masks or movements or both have kept the flaring sparks and deep spirit of ancient rituals alive. In the Eastern tradition, we will look at such enduring performance and aesthetic practices of symbolism as in Indian dances, Chinese opera and Japanese Noh theater as well as their contemporary metamorphoses in the hands of new theater artists of the East. In the Western tradition, we will study equally powerful and everlasting traditions of stylized movements and mask use tracing through Greek theater, Roman theater, commedia dell'arte, mime, theater of carnivals and clownery, all the way to the modern experiments by Peter Brook, Robert Wilson and Ariane Mnouchkine.

Students will read about these traditions and artists, watch films of the works they are studying, and participate in workshops incorporating various different aesthetics and performance styles. After intense reading, reflective writing, viewing and workshop exercises for the first six weeks of the quarter, students will have the opportunity to create their own symbolic theater pieces using masks and movements. Using their works, they will then collaborate to create an end-of-quarter public production, focused more on movement and imagination than on the technical trappings of the stage.

This program involves the intensive study of several fundamental areas of pure mathematics, including a nucleus of real analysis, abstract algebra and topology. Later in the year, students will also have the opportunity to learn other advanced topics, such as combinatorics, geometry and mathematical linguistics. The schedule of study includes introductions to abstract algebra (group theory) and real analysis (advanced calculus) in the fall, continuing with more advanced work in these areas in the winter. Parallel to these studies, point-set topology will be introduced, which, together with abstract algebra, will allow for an investigation of the beautiful theory of algebraic topology.

The work in this advanced-level mathematics program is likely to differ from students' previous work in mathematics (such as calculus) in a number of ways. Our emphasis will be on understanding the careful definitions of mathematical terms and the statement and proofs of the theorems which capture the main conceptual landmarks in the areas we study. Thus, a major portion of our work will involve the reading and writing of rigorous proofs in axiomatic systems. This skill is valuable not only for continued study of mathematics, but in many areas of thought in which an argument is set forth according to strict criteria of logical deduction. Students will gain experience in articulating their evidence for claims, and expressing their ideas with precise and transparent reasoning.

In addition to work in core areas of advanced mathematics we will devote seminar time to looking at our studies in a broader historical and philosophical context. We will read and discuss work on the history of mathematics, as a way of understanding how the current mode of mathematical thinking came to be developed. We will seek to understand the intellectual threads that came from different cultures and regions and that influenced current theories and approaches. In short, we will be interested in deepening our understanding of what mathematics is today, and how it came to be that way.

This program is designed for students who intend to pursue studies or teach in mathematics and the sciences, as well as for those who want to know more about mathematical thinking. Students will be expected to work independently and in groups, and present some of the course material and solutions to problems to the class. In the spring quarter, students will have the opportunity to work on individual projects.

Why do we study performing arts? Why do we even care about performing arts today? How can arts be relevant to us in the 21st century? How can we keep arts relevant? These are questions we will address throughout this program.

One of the primary goals of the program is to show how the arts are tied to other academic disciplines. With the rise of critical theories during the last century, performance is no longer an isolated form of creative expression but a critical link between fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies. Study of performing arts prepares one for further analyses in the humanities and social sciences, and offers a window to the understanding of human health and development.

In Jungian Psychology, " shadow" refers to the disagreeable and often repressed aspects of the unconscious mind. However, to build a healthy psyche and strong personal character, it is essential that one recognizes and incorporates one's shadow. As a society, we also need to disclose and interrogate the dark and hidden sides of our collective unconscious-the biases, misconceptions and stereotypes-for a healthier and more harmonious human world. Performing arts-theatre, dance and music in their perpetual partnership-have served this difficult function of revealing the "shadow" for both individuals and societies since the dawn of history.

In this program, we will study performing arts as both a reflection and a critic of society. All through history, great performing artists have entered the darkest of human psyche or the most forbidden ground of society to explore the "shadow." Our program study will help students develop artistic sensitivity and critical insight in the same vein: to confront shadows, to interrogate assumptions, to challenge taboos, to deconstruct myths and stereotypes, and to ask honest questions about the arts, society and the self.

In fall quarter, we will look at some cutting-edge critical theories to situate performing arts in the related cultural, historical and social contexts. We will examine most carefully the implications of race, gender and class in performing arts. Using such classical works as the Greek tragedy The Bacchae and Shakespeare's Othello, along with their multiple adaptations via different mediums, we will examine the evolution of "the canon" through time and how it still remains relevant in the 21st century. We will also sample contemporary works, especially those written by African American and Asian American authors, as they take bold steps toward revealing shadows of our current society and politics.

The arts are not only a cultural monitor but also a personal statement, or, in most cases, a combination of both. We will look at powerful autobiographical works, such as Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking and Rachel Corrie's My Name is Rachel Corrie, which celebrate the triumph of the individual and human will in combating gender stereotypes and social injustice. These works will inform and inspire students' continuous reflective writing and creative projects.

Two faculty-directed workshops will be offered side by side throughout fall quarter to all students in rotation. These workshops will combine theory with practice and offer students skill training in preparation for the final production. Students will learn and practice the fundamentals in movement, stage presence, physical awareness, improvisation, choreography, vocal delivery/projection, line memorization and character analysis. They will also experiment with scripting and turning ideas into images through a string of group creative projects.

The workshops and small group projects will gradually evolve into rehearsals in winter quarter as the program takes a stronger focus on production. In winter quarter, we will study theories of practicum in acting, dance, performance arts and directing, and continue to read plays and examine dance choreographies that challenge the status quo and stretch artistic boundaries. The final, full-fledged production will be created by faculty and students in collaboration and will feature a collection of student original works. It will give the faculty and students the opportunity to articulate their combined vision and understanding of performing arts, and to finally respond to, if not answer, the ultimate question about art's relevancy in today's world.

On the surface, the disciplines of science and art have developed very different approaches and tools to understand the world. Generally, scientists use approaches that increase objectivity, whereas artists often imbue the scene of focus with emotions and personal outlooks. However, the two disciplines share many characteristics: practitioners require sharp powers of observation, adherence to a regime of discipline, and must communicate results to an audience.

Both science and art can be used to inspire awareness of and a sense of protection for the natural world. Some partnerships between scientists and artists have successfully resulted in synergistic campaigns to effect actions that could not have been carried out singly. We will explore how the expressions of these two seemingly disparate modes of inquiry and communication-art and science-can contribute toward a common goal of promoting conservation. We will draw upon local, regional, national and international examples of how artists and scientists partnered to enhance conservation. Our program will examine how to promote the cross-fertilization of concepts, tools, skills and approaches to better understand forests and trees.

We will emphasize forest ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest, with a focus on The Evergreen State College campus and its surroundings. We will explore methods to represent and understand natural systems, using ecology and visual arts, identify and analyze projects that have brought together artists and scientists for conservation and carry out small group projects that plan for or create materials that enhance conservation. Emphasis will be placed on development of quantitative and analytical skills for the science aspects and observational and technical skills for the visual art aspects. Lectures, workshops, seminars and oral presentations will be offered.

Students can expect one three-day field trip to the Olympic Peninsula to learn about marine and forested environments. In addition, a set of five or six day-long field trips will be included.

What does it mean to make moving images in the information age? How do we critically engage the traditions of media practices while pushing beyond established forms? What responsibilities do media artists and producers have to their subjects and audiences? In Mediaworks, students will engage with these and other questions as they gain skills in film/video history, theory, critical analysis and media production.

We will explore a variety of media modes and communication strategies including animation, documentary and experimental film/video, emphasizing the materiality and specific artistic properties of film, digital video and other sound and moving image media, as well as the various strategies artists and media producers have employed to challenge traditional or mainstream media forms. Our emphasis will be on experimental and/or alternative conceptual approaches to production that include nonfiction, autobiography, audio-visual essays, and strategies of image and sound production using digital video, film and sound in live-action and animation. Students will also have opportunities to extend their media experiments into performance and installation modes.

In fall and winter quarters, students will acquire critical and technical skills as they work collaboratively to explore different ways to design moving image works, execute experiments in image-making and sound and "read" films and video tapes. Students will strengthen critical and conceptual skills as they learn to analyze visual material and negotiate the politics of representation through readings in media criticism, film theory and history, seminars, research and critical writing. Students will integrate this theoretical material into their production practices as they develop skills in drawing, animation, cinematography, film and digital video, audio and post-production techniques. Artist statements and project proposals will be developed in preparation for individual or collaborative projects that will be produced in the spring. Throughout the year, students will participate in regular critique sessions, another form of collaboration, through which we help each other evaluate and improve our work.

Careful observation of the physical world reveals an underlying order. The goal of physics is to build models that explain this order. Crucial among such models are those that explain the interactions between objects and the changes in motion those interactions bring about. With the development of new physical models come new mathematical methods needed for describing them. Calculus, for example, is enormously successful as a tool for analyzing simple models of reality. However, for more complex situations, approximate methods are needed. We can simulate these situations on a computer using numerical methods or algorithms in order to understand their behavior. Learning how to do that efficiently will be one of the goals of this program.

During fall quarter, we will cover introductory topics in physics, calculus and computer programming in Python through small-group workshops, interactive lectures, hands-on laboratory investigations and computer programming labs. Through our study of physics, we will learn about models of motion and change and the process for constructing them. We will also learn how to use calculus to analyze these models mathematically and computer programming to create efficient simulations of them. In winter and spring quarters, our focus will primarily be on physics and calculus, with the goal of completing a full year of university-level physics and calculus by the end of the year. During spring quarter, students will have the opportunity to design and carry out laboratory or computer investigations of topics in physics that interest them.

This program develops and interrelates concepts in experimental (laboratory) biology, organic chemistry and biochemistry, thus providing a foundation for students who plan to continue studies in chemistry, laboratory biology, field biology and medicine. Students will carry out upper-division work in biochemistry, microbiology, cellular, molecular and developmental biology, and organic chemistry in a yearlong sequence. The program integrates two themes: one at the "cell" level and the other at the "molecule" level. In the cell theme, we start with the cell and microbiology and proceed to the whole organism with the examination of structure/function relationships at all levels. In the molecular theme, we will examine organic chemistry, the nature of organic compounds and reactions and carry this theme into biochemistry and the fundamental chemical reactions of living systems. As the year progresses, the two themes continually merge through studies of cellular and molecular processes in biological systems.

Each aspect of the program will contain a significant laboratory component. On a weekly basis, students will be writing papers and maintaining laboratory notebooks. All laboratory work, and approximately one half of the non-lecture time will be spent working in collaborative problem solving groups. This is an intensive program. The subjects are complex, and the sophisticated understanding we expect to develop will require devoted attention and many hours of scheduled lab work each week.

This program will give students the prerequisites needed for the following health careers: medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, naturopathy, optometry and pharmacy. If you intend to pursue a career in an allied health field (e. g. physical therapy, nursing, nutrition), you do not need as many science prerequisites and may want to consider the program Foundations of Health Science instead.

This program will explore the economic, ethical and scientific impacts of the pharmaceutical industry on global society. We will educate from a variety of angles in order for students to gain an appreciation of the critical issues involved with disease diagnosis, drug development, testing, regulation and production. The program will use an organizing theme that links the chemical and biochemical concepts of drug design and development with the economic, social and legal issues associated with the demand, cost and feasibility of research.

During the fall quarter, we will survey the fundamental principles of chemistry and molecular structure as they relate to drug activity and function. We will also consider the biochemical principles that are important in drug bioavailability, therapeutic efficacy and toxicity. We will explore the definition of disease in the context of pharmaceutical research priorities and the role of the medical profession in disease diagnosis and treatment. The regulatory, political and public policy processes involved in moving a potential drug candidate from the research laboratory through clinical testing and ultimately to the consumer will also be examined.

In the winter quarter, our inquiry will focus on the role of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in public health and society, as well as the ways in which these organizations are structured and financed. We will compare the costs and benefits associated with drug development as they apply to the industry and society, including research, testing, production, packaging and marketing. Historical accounts of the discovery, development, testing and regulation of a few specific drugs will be presented along with the resulting public health and public policy impacts. In addition, we will consider the economic, social and geographical factors associated with certain national and global public health care issues.

Program activities will consist of lectures, small-group problem-solving workshops, laboratories, field trips and seminars. Our readings and discussions will be concerned with the economic, ethical and scientific aspects of the pharmaceutical industry as they relate to the global community, as well as individuals. As appropriate, we will use quantitative methods to gain additional insights into these concepts. Students will undertake assignments focused on interpreting and integrating the topics covered. This work will emphasize critical and quantitative reasoning, as well as the development of proficient writing and speaking skills.

The goal of the program is to develop an active and intellectually engaged community of writers willing to be deeply critical about their work and give serious critical attention to the work of others. We'll study our collective efforts as contributions toward an emerging literary culture responsive to history, nourished by our intellects, and relevant to contemporary literary movements.

In the first half of the quarter students will read pivotal works of 19th and 20th century criticism and theory, including Nietzsche, Barthes, Adorno, Cixious, Irigaray, Derrida, and Kristeva, to build proficiency with terminology and gather historical context for modern literary studies. Critical readings will be balanced with those creative works-novels, stories, and poems-that have taken stock of interdisciplinary intellectual movements or had a dramatic impact on critical discourse. These may include work by Stein, Mallarmé, Beckett, Sollers, and Artaud. As we approach the contemporary scene, we'll seek to organize our study around major trends in literary discourse and in student research interests, for instance: poststructuralism, multi-media and hybrid forms, cultural theory, formalism, and experimental approaches to theory & criticism. At the same time, students will develop substantial manuscripts of creative work that will become the central focus of the last five weeks of the quarter.

In the second half of the quarter, as we continue to read from contemporary writers, students will work with their peers' manuscripts as additional program texts, representative of our own very local literary trends and concerns. Student work will, in general, be taken as experiments, active inquiries into the ideas that were explored in the first half of the quarter. To synthesize the practice of writing with the history and theory of literature, students will produce a body of critical and theoretical writings directly responsive to the creative work of their peers. This work will be a complex, demanding, but supportive kind of collaboration. By the end of the quarter, all students will have a substantial portfolio of creative work, hybrid experiments, and critical and theoretical inquiries.

By week 10 we intend to publish selected pieces by each student in a print and/or web volume and to showcase this work during a "release party" at a public venue.

We will explore ways psychology can be of service in an increasingly diverse society by addressing concepts of mental health, the mental health system and psychological counseling that are critical to the maintenance of healthy communities and a more just and peaceful world. We will address theoretical and experiential aspects of multicultural and transpersonal psychology in a community context, and how psychology can contribute to the current United Nations Decade of Nonviolence.

In the fall quarter, students will explore personality theory and engage in counseling laboratories. Students will interview for an internship site in the fall and participate in a community based mental health internship during the winter and spring quarters. In the winter quarter, students will study abnormal psychology and social science research that relates to their internship site. In the spring, students will continue to study abnormal psychology and psychological ethics. Studies in multicultural psychology, counseling skills and person-centered expressive arts therapy will occur throughout the program. No previous art or movement experience is required. Students need to be willing to work with psychological theory and self-knowledge through co-counseling, expressive arts, energy psychology and cultural identity work.

How do we talk about music intelligently, yet intelligibly? How do we read and write about it, analyze it, criticize it? If, as Elvis Costello has said, "talking about music is like dancing about architecture," what falls off the table when words intervene? How have performing artists responded to social forces in their work? How do these responses reinforce or undermine the social status quo? How have broader dimensions of the human experience like memory, identity, politics, lifecycle rituals, work, family life, migration and urbanization been manifested through music? Questions like these will guide and focus our explorations of a dynamic global tapestry of music and musicians in many cultures.

We'll establish a common knowledge base for our work by exploring and comparing a range of approaches to ethnomusicology (the comparative study of musics from around the world) and musicology (generally, the study of European classical music and musicians). Studying music in this way is important because it forces us to re-examine our own assumptions about music and its cultural meanings.

Practicing and performing music is another great mode for learning, and this program will be a safe haven for students at all levels of skill and experience. We'll have a variety of "hands-on" musical activities every week, to stretch and grow the mind, the ear, and the body through practice. We'll learn various ways of notating music, write and perform our own melodies and songs, and listen critically together, using useful analytical terminology and methodology to share and help explain even complicated or controversial thoughts and feelings about music. We'll spend quite a bit of time on research skills, and help one another in small groups find the information we need for projects. We'll also study maps, demographics and mathematical concepts relevant to music and/or cultural studies, such as sampling, indeterminacy and algorithms.

During fall quarter a theme of our work will be local musics: how the inhabitants of a given city, town or region forge an interlocking web of musical identities and institutions. We will study various world music traditions including traditional, classical and popular genres, and build listening and analytical skills. We'll learn to play tunes from around the world on the pennywhistle, which is easy to play but also a great tool for learning music theory.

During winter quarter, we'll delve into ethnography: specialized studies of specific music cultures. We will explore modernity and modernism, focusing on the metropolis of New York during the 20th century as a case study, and explore jazz as music and metaphor. We'll learn how to improvise using the ukulele, which is easy to play but also a great tool for learning about harmony. Using old Tin Pan Alley tunes as models, we'll create our own jazz "charts" and perform for one another.

During spring quarter, we'll study urban ethnomusicology in global contexts. Each student will focus on the performing artists and art institutions of a particular world city. This quarter's performance work will be more open, and students may pursue a variety of musical activities so long as they try something new. We will share our trials, discoveries and joys with each other as we strike out on personal musical/cultural odysseys, which may include some local field work or private study. Some students may wish to spend the summer in the city they study.

Expect to do a lot of reading and writing. Each quarter, students will pursue a major research project, including two public presentations and a paper. We'll do a variety of shorter writing assignments, too, in English and in several music notation systems we'll learn together. Expect to attend several assigned concerts each quarter. We'll use these concerts as "texts" for elaboration and discussion within the program.