2011-12 Catalog

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Title   Offering Standing Credits Credits When F W S Su Description Preparatory Faculty Days Multiple Standings Start Quarters Open Quarters
Animal Others in Image and Text
Ruth Hayes and Anne de Marcken (Forbes)
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring Images of animals are the oldest known artworks; they are also some of the first images that children in western culture see and learn to recognize.  From 35,000 year old cave paintings to Disney animations, from the fables of Aesop to the many thousands of animal videos uploaded to and viewed on YouTube, images and stories of the animals with whom we have evolved weave in and through western culture. The images proliferate as our experiences with actual animals become increasingly rare.Students will study how we see, understand and represent animals in an effort to learn about human relationships with animals as “other” and as mirrors of ourselves.  They will engage in analyzing and deconstructing a variety of visual and written representations of animals to discover what these images and texts communicate about humans and their cultures, about the relationships between human and animals, and about animals themselves.  Through a series of creative and technical assignments, students will interrogate their own consumption and creation of animal imagery and their own relationships with individual animals.  As they execute these assignments, students will build skills in observation, research, critical thinking, conceptual design, writing, drawing and animation. Ruth Hayes Anne de Marcken (Forbes) Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Arts In New York
Ariel Goldberger
Signature Required: Spring 
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day and Evening S 12Spring This program will immerse students in studying the intense and lively cultural life of New York City, the most active arts production center in the United States, and perhaps the world. Sessions will meet weekly in different cultural institutions to participate in art events as active audience members, to develop an educated and critical appreciation of the richness, complexity and current trends of artistic production in New York.We will spend two weeks on campus doing preparatory research in areas of each student's interest in order to create the structure for an individual project or practicum. Students may choose to create a project by engaging in artistic work, research, or both. Students will be responsible for making all necessary arrangements for room and board, as well as budgeting for individual event tickets. All students will be expected to present a final report of their experience and project.After the initial two weeks of research and preparation, participants in the program will fly to New York City for six or seven weeks, where they will engage in group and individual activities, depending on each student practicum or project. Students will attend some events as a group and some related to their own projects. We will attend events in a wide range of sites, from established world-renowned institutions to emergent art spaces.Depending on the season, performance events may include events in places such as PS 122, La MAMA, The Kitchen, HERE Art Center, off-off-Broadway small theaters, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Broadway productions and Lincoln Center. Regular dance events may include modern dance performances, experimental works, festivals at the Joyce Theater, and more traditional ballet events in venues such as the New York City Ballet. Specific visual arts events may consist of trips to the gallery "scene" in Chelsea, PS1, MOMA, DIA Arts Center, The Met, under the radar spaces and other sites. We may attend poetry readings at places such as The Bowery Poetry Club, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The St. Marks Poetry Project, The Academy of American Poets and The New York Public Library. The class will also endeavor to attend other culturally relevant institutions such as the Japan Society, the Asia Society, The Jewish Museum, The Schomburg Center, The Dwyer Cultural Center and El Museo del Barrio to experience a wide range of cultural diversity. Most weekly group activities will be followed by a discussion or seminar.We will spend the final week of the quarter back on campus in Olympia, completing final report presentations for the whole class. architecture, community studies, consciousness studies, cultural studies, dance, field studies, language studies, literature, media studies, moving image, music, queer studies, somatic studies, theater, visual arts, and writing. Ariel Goldberger Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Book Torrent: Information Studies in the 21st Century
Julianne Unsel
Signature Required: Fall 
  SOS SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day and Evening F 11 Fall W 12Winter What is the past and future of books in academic publishing and library collections today? How are human capacities altered by the use of books in comparison to other media and formats? What is the past and future of books as a medium for teaching and learning? How do print and electronic book formats compare in their utility and power for undergraduate scholarship and research?  How do they compare in their capacities for the formation, presentation, and preservation of knowledge?This program will partner students with Evergreen library faculty and staff to engage these and related questions through organized academic coursework (theory) and through an in-program internship within the Evergreen library (practice). The academic component will include seminar classes and research options in the history of print media, electronic media, and the book form. Students and faculty will experiment with and test a range of state-of-the-art e-book formats and e-readers. All e-texts and e-readers will be provided for student use by the college.Internship work will provide opportunities for students to contribute to a two-year project by library faculty and staff which will begin in Fall. The project is for the modernization and reinvention of the library and its policies, procedures, and collections in context of the capacity for scholarly work with and across various information and communication media. Students will choose and design specific work assignments within current and ongoing library operations, planning activities for the immediate and long-term future of the library, and intellectual discussion and exploration of possible futures for academic libraries and learning more generally.The academic and in-program internship components of this program will maintain thematic emphasis on the place of the library in its direct support of the college curriculum, its role in shaping the interdisciplinary pedagogy of the college, and its own character as a coordinated studies teaching institution within the college. education, history, library and information science, media studies Julianne Unsel Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Classics of World Cinema
Greg Mullins
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 8 08 Day, Evening and Weekend Su 12Summer Session II From the silent films of the 1920s to the French New Wave, in this course you will study classics of world cinema. We will watch films by directors such as Wiene, Eisenstein, Welles, Hitchcock, De Sica, Godard, and Kurosawa. We will focus on styles, movements, influences, and historical contexts. Please visit for more information. Greg Mullins Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Summer Summer
Communication and Social Change in American History
Lori Blewett and Trevor Griffey
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter Persuasive efforts have shaped American history. The past is full of moments when individual women and men have been persuaded by others to act for a common cause, sometimes at great personal sacrifice. In this program, the ideological mechanism of persuasion, in both public and private discourse, will be the primary lens through which we analyze American history. What persuasive strategies were employed by historic social change advocates? Why were some strategies more successful than others? To help answer these questions, we will read texts that draw upon communication studies, American history, cultural studies, political economy, and social change theory. Students will also conduct their own investigations using a variety of analytical tools to examine primary historical documents including speeches, letters, news articles, advertisements, and other artifacts of persuasion. In order to foster students' capacity to engage in public debate and enhance their rhetorical skills, we will experiment with communicating in a variety of public media. In addition to writing traditional papers, students will report on their research in the form of group radio and television programs, oral presentations, and electronic news articles. Training in essential skills associated with these forms of communication will be spread throughout both quarters. In the winter, students will have the opportunity to conduct oral history interviews with contemporary social activists. Since rhetoric alone is rarely the impetus for social change, we will ground our investigations in the material history of competing social, economic, and political forces. We will study a wide range of social change efforts from across the political spectrum in order to better understand the evolution of U.S. history and its influence on current ideological conflicts and relations of power. We will give special attention to the role of the media in shaping public debate: from social movement broadsheets such as William Lloyd Garrison's to the work of muckraking journalists like Ida Tarbell, up through the present influence of corporate media and do-it-yourself blogs. Because of the media's ability to amplify, minimize, redirect, and even spark social activism, and because of the media's essential role in democratic decision-making, media history and political economy will be key elements in our investigations. communication, history, politics, rhetoric, social movement studies, journalism, and social advocacy. Lori Blewett Trevor Griffey Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall Winter
Film and Gender
Elizabeth Williamson
  Course FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 4 04 Weekend Su 12Summer Session II This course examines film through the lens of gender studies. Both topics will be covered at an introductory level, with additional support provided to students with previous experience. We will focus primarily on female-identified performers, producers, and directors working within the American mainstream and talk about how their work responds to existing conventions and constraints. There will be one screening with lecture every week; students will watch additional films at home and post weekly screening reports. More advanced students may pursue a research or screenwriting project in lieu of weekly reports. Elizabeth Williamson Sat Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Summer Summer
The Graphic Novel: A Critical Examination
Steve Blakeslee and Tom Maddox
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring In the past decade, graphic novels have become recognized as an important new form of storytelling, shaping contemporary culture even as they are shaped by it. These book-length, comic-art narratives and compilations employ a complex and iconic visual  language. Combining and expanding on elements associated with literature, 2-D visual art, and cinema, the medium offers unique opportunities for reader immersion, emotional involvement, and even imaginative co-creation. We will study sequential narratives that represent diverse periods, perspectives, styles, and subject matter--from the “high art” woodcut novels of the 1930s (e.g., Lynd Ward’s ) to Art Spiegelman’s groundbreaking Holocaust memoir, , to the bizarre but entrancing alternate universe of Jim Woodring’s . While many of these works include humor, they frequently center on serious topics, including war, religious oppression, social and economic inequality, and dilemmas of ethnic and sexual identity. We will carefully examine each text at multiple levels of composition, from single frames to the work as a whole, and read selected theory, criticism, and commentary, including Scott McCloud’s and Matt Madden’s . More generally, we will work with a widely-employed model of storytelling—based on act structure, character arc, and protagonist-focused narrative—to explore the ways that stories can migrate across media and find new modes of expression. As writers, students will develop and articulate their new understandings by means of response papers, visual analyses, background research, fictional and nonfictional narratives, reflective journals, and other activities as assigned. Our studies will conclude with group projects focused on particular artists, works, and themes, or on the creation of original graphic narratives. Finally, while this is not a studio art course, we will  experiment with drawing throughout the quarter as a way to develop an artist’s-eye view of comic art. Our goal is to develop an informed and critical perspective on this powerful medium.The faculty do not assume any previous experience with comic art in general or graphic narratives in particular. Fans, skeptics, artists, and the generally curious are all welcome, provided they are ready for sustained and serious work. Steve Blakeslee Tom Maddox Mon Tue Fri Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Heart and Mind on Screen and Page
Tom Maddox
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day W 12Winter Storytelling has changed in extraordinary ways during the thousands of years separating preliterate tellers and singers of tales from contemporary novelists, graphic artists, or filmmakers. However, in all their work we can recognize the elements and structures of . This program is for students who want to understand these elements in order to make better stories, and who want to develop a deep, practical understanding of the structures that govern forms such as film, television, and the short story. Primarily, they will learn the grammar and practice of storywriting by examining the works of masters and attempt to apply this knowledge in their own work. Students who want to tell stories are welcome, whatever their chosen expressive mode--prose, poetry, graphics, film, television, videogame script, or any other genre or mix of media. Movies and television are media that pose unique challenges and opportunities regarding story and dramatization; they are also the dominant media of our time. They are inherently collaborative and demand specialized talents and skills from a writer, who must work within limits imposed by time, space, money, and the myriad complexities of production, as well as the formulaic expectations that have come to govern the 50-minute television drama or 22-minute comedy and the 120-minute film. Thus we will spend considerable time examining how screenplays work and discovering the conventions governing them.We will also pay attention to short stories, perhaps the most demanding story form, in order to learn from its masters how to combine economy of expression with great power. Authors will most likely include Anton Chekhov, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Alice Munro, and Raymond Carver.Students will begin the quarter by describing a storytelling project they want to complete; then, in consultation with the faculty, they will write a project proposal detailing their goals. The projects will be the core and driving force of student work. As the quarter progresses, students also submit work in progress for ongoing critique and guidance. At the end of the quarter, they will present their finished project for group review and response.Every week students will read stories and view films or television episodes. They will also participate in weekly film and story seminars, where they will respond to the week's viewing and reading. In weekly story workshops, they will submit their work for group critique and do a series of workshop exercises. Finally, every week will end with meetings of the SIGs (special interest groups). These small groups will be defined, organized, and run by the students. This is the part of the program where students are free to define their own topic and pursue it according to their own needs. As examples, these might include short fiction, situation comedies, hard-boiled detective fiction, or graphic novels. writing, screenplay writing, American film, theory of fiction, and literary studies. Tom Maddox Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Winter Winter
Human Rights and Wrongs
Greg Mullins
  Program SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter Human rights law is encoded in the spare language of treaties, but human rights practice comes alive in the materiality of daily life. After a quick tour of human rights law, we will devote our energies in this program toward understanding how human rights accrue force and meaning insofar as they are embedded in cultural practice, and specifically in cultural practices of representation. Our inquiry will be guided by these questions: How do human rights frameworks prevent or redress human wrongs (including atrocities such as torture and genocide)? What leads some people to abuse human rights, and other people to respect them? How are human rights struggles pursued using modes of visual and textual representation? What role do cultural forms such as film, literature, and public memorials play in either fostering or hindering respect for human rights? In the fall quarter, our mode of inquiry will be primarily textual. Even as we study film, photography, new media, public monuments and memory projects, that study will be accomplished by reading theoretical accounts of rights and representation. We will also read historical accounts of the rise of human rights frameworks, and we will consider a variety of critiques of human rights. Students will build a strong foundation in the theory of human rights, as well as in theories of visual and textual representation. A typical week's work will include a film screening, lecture, and seminars. Students will write two long essays, several shorter pieces, and a prospectus for a winter quarter project. In the winter quarter, we will continue to read and seminar as a group as we expand our focus to include literature. We will read Arendt by way of concentrating our inquiry around questions of judgement, we will read Dawes by way of focusing on problems of narrative, and we will take up the case study of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility on the tenth anniversary of its opening. Students will also pursue projects. Depending on student background and interests, these projects could result in a traditional research paper or in a more practical implementation of the theory they've learned (for example, a new media project). human rights, politics, philosophy, literature, film and media studies. Greg Mullins Mon Tue Wed Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
India Through Literature and Film
Karen Gaul
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 8 08 Day Su 12Summer Session I India holds a fascination for many of us. Yet, whatever we may think we know about this region, the South Asian subcontinent is one of the most rapidly changing areas of the world.Novels and films offer rich windows into particular realities of life in India. In this program, we will read novels and short stories by some leading South Asian writers such as Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Rohinton Mistry, Aravind Ardiga, and others. We will also view a variety of commercial as well as ethnographic films made by Indian filmmakers.We will use ethnographic approaches to analyze these literary and filmic portrayals of Indian culture, examining gender, class and caste relations, religious conflict, and political struggle in urban and rural settings. Case studies of particular urban and rural areas will enable us to narrow our focus and gain a more specific understanding of cultural dynamics at play.We will examine the narratives of these materials as both potential sources of and rebuttals to stereotypes about Indian culture. And we will consider the media themselves, examining issues of representation, translation, interpretation, and voice. This program will be a great introduction to contemporary and historical India through the lenses of ethnography, literature, and film. Karen Gaul Tue Wed Thu Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Summer Summer
Individual Study: Media Studies, Community Studies
Anne Fischel
Signature Required: Spring 
  Contract SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring The faculty is prepared to support student learning in media theory, community studies, documentary work, or work with organizations and groups, either on a project or through internships. Proposals to work on nonfiction media projects will also be considered if you have prior coursework and/or production experience. media, journalism, community education, community organizing Anne Fischel Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Individual Study: Queer Studies, Performance
Walter Grodzik
Signature Required: Winter 
  Contract SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day W 12Winter Individual study offers individual and groups of students the opportunity to develop self-direction, to learn how to manage a personal project, to focus on unique combinations of subjects, and to pursue original interdisciplinary projects without the constraints of an external structure. Individual and groups of students interested in a self-directed project, research or internships in Queer Studies or the Performing and Visual Arts should contact the faculty by email at Walter Grodzik Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Winter Winter
Media Artists Studio
Laurie Meeker
Signature Required: Fall  Winter 
  Program JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter S 12Spring This is a program for advanced media students who want to continue to build their skills in media arts, history, theory and production with the support of a learning community. The focus is on the development of each student's personal style and creative approach to working with moving images and sound. This program is designed for students who have already developed some expertise in media production, are familiar with media history/theory and wish to do advanced production work that has developed out of previous academic projects or programs. Students who are interested in experimental film and digital video production, documentary, sound design, writing, photography, installation and contemporary media history/theory are invited to join this learning community of media artists. Experimental media work often requires a period of germination for new ideas, approaches and impulses to emerge. During fall, students will engage in a period of idea development and reflection, including a 2-3 day retreat for concentrated work. Each student or team of students will do extensive pre-production planning and research for a major film or digital project to be completed by the end of the academic year. One or two-quarter projects are also possible, but must include research, design, production and editing appropriate to the academic schedule. Students will be required to develop an Independent Study Plan that details the work they will complete each quarter. Fall quarter will also involve opportunities for students to expand their media skills through workshops, exercises and a collaborative project. A cinematography workshop will be offered for students to further explore and understand light, exposure and image quality in the 16mm format. Audio production workshops will be offered to expand student expertise with sound design and technology. Grant-writing workshops will result in student proposals for individual or collaborative projects. Blog and web design workshops will help students develop skills with new media technologies. Students will also work in teams of 3-4 to develop experimental projects that will enhance their collaborative skills and production experience. Students will develop two research projects during fall quarter, resulting in presentations for the learning community. Students will study contemporary media artists who have made special contributions to the development of experimental media practice and have attempted to push the technological as well conceptual boundaries of the moving image. Students will also conduct research into new and old media technologies. During winter quarter, the focus will shift from idea development to the production phase. Students will acquire all their images and production elements for their projects, which could involve production work off campus for an extended period. Students are encouraged to think creatively and broadly about their subject matter and will be able to propose media projects that may require travel. During spring quarter each student will complete post-production work, finalize their artist's portfolio, explore ways to sustain their work as media artists and participate in a public screening of their work. media arts and digital communications. Laurie Meeker Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall Winter
Media Internships
Naima Lowe and Julia Zay
Signature Required: Fall 
  Contract JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter S 12Spring The Electronic Media internships provide opportunities for in-depth learning of a variety of media skills and concepts. They require a year-long commitment for fall, winter and spring quarters. Interns enroll for 12-16 credits per quarter with room for a 4-credit part-time class or other academic components. Interns work 30 to 40 hours a week and are paid 15 to 19 hours a week, depending on credit distribution. The intern's primary responsibilities are focused on supporting instruction, maintenance and administration for specific labs, facilities, and production needs under the supervision of the staff. The interns meet weekly as a group to share skills, collaborate on projects, and to facilitate working together on productions and cross training between areas. All interns will be working in the new Center for Creative and Applied Media, the rebuilt HD video and 5.1 surround audio production studios. For specific descriptions of the internships, please refer to . media production, professional studio management, and computer applications in media art. Naima Lowe Julia Zay Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Mediaworks
Julia Zay and Naima Lowe
Signature Required: Fall 
  Program SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter What does it mean to make moving images in an age described as digital, informational, postmodern and even post-postmodern? How do we critically engage with the history and traditions of media practices while testing the boundaries of established forms? What responsibilities do media artists and producers have to their subjects and audiences? In this program, students will engage with these and other questions as they gain skills in film/video history and theory, critical analysis, media production, collaboration and critique.This is an intensive full-time, two-quarter program linking media theory with practice. We will explore a variety of media modes and communication strategies, emphasizing documentary and experimental forms the material properties of sound and moving image media, and the strategies artists and media producers have employed to challenge mainstream media forms. We will experiment with alternative approaches to production, including non-fiction, abstract film, video art, alternative scripting techniques, autobiography, essay films, installations and performance. Additionally students will develop skills in analysis and criticism through screenings, readings, seminars, research and critical writing. We will also spend significant time in critique sessions discussing our creative and critical work. This, like all program activities, is designed to emphasize the importance of collaboration in the production of media.  In fall quarter students should expect to complete both short skill-building exercises and short projects. These exercises and projects will have thematic and technical guidelines that are consistent with the program curriculum, and students should expect to work collaboratively on most of them. In winter quarter students will continue to work on skill-building exercises and will complete both collaborative and solo short projects, again with guidelines that are consistent with the program curriculum.  media arts, visual arts, communications, and education. Julia Zay Naima Lowe Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Museum or Mausoleum? The Framing of Art, Culture and Neuroplasticity
Lara Evans and Sarah Williams
Signature Required: Winter  Spring 
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter S 12Spring Do museums transform living, changing cultural objects into fixed, preserved, inviolate collections? What stories do museums tell? What stories do objects embody? And what stories do we, visitors, tell ourselves? How do objects housed in museums affect our sense of self-identity? What does it take to become aware of how stories we tell both frame and are framed by objects? Is it possible to heal culture and the self through the interactions of narratives and objects? What happens to historical ideas about human consciousness when we explore the mausoleum-like exhibitions of what this consciousness has exhibited as other? What happens to consciousness when it is framed by neuroscience or to the self when it encounters thinking as an evolutionary internalization of movement?We'll explore the power of narrative objects in a variety of exhibition spaces: museums, galleries, shopping malls, book/web pages. We'll identify curiosities about the relationship between art objects and self-representation, particularly shifts in cultural influences and identities as they relate to shifts between the museological and mausoleum-like aspects of exhibition spaces. A triptych is a narrative object that uses three pictorial panels to convey movement in time, space, and states of being. A triptych, of sorts, is the focus of our fall quarter work and the model for our winter field studies. Consider our left panel: in the lives and other virtual realities of William Gibson's , the effects of narrative objects range from creative to preservative to destructive. Equally significant is how these effects are framed in movements between exhibition spaces experienced as "bird-cages of the muses" and those encountered in computer generated Joseph Cornell-like bird boxes. In the center panel is the narrative power of an artwork in Sheri Tepper's science fiction novel, . Here, alien races experience the consequences when a fresco at the heart of their cultural identity has been violently misinterpreted for a millennium. Now, the right panel. Here, in Catherine Malabou's texts the shifting movement or adaptability of self is called neuroplasticity. Her analysis of Claude Levi-Strauss' fascination with two sides--graphic and plastic--of masks illustrates her definition of neuroplasticity. We'll read this post-Derridean theory of self and do fieldwork with masks available for viewing in collections in this region. During winter quarter faculty and students will explore narrative objects and self-representation through six weeks of fieldwork in museums of their choice. Museums can be exhibitions of art, history or science; even zoos and botanical gardens can be considered museums. Students will document their research on their museum and will return to compile a multi-media presentation of their research project. In studios and workshops during fall and winter quarters students can expect to learn audio recording, digital photography, drawing with color pastels, ethnographic fieldwork, mindfulness practices (yoga, meditation), creative non-fiction writing, blogging and public speaking. During spring quarter students will have the opportunity to integrate individual and peer-group projects into a core all-program curriculum.  That is, in addition to the 8-credit all-program activities of seminar, lecture, visiting artists' lecture and film series, a retreat week, and related assignments (e.g., weekly seminar response essays, a theory as evocative object chapter, a mindmap and 3D triptych, and mid-term and final reflective and evaluative writing), each student will design an in-program individual or peer group project for 8 credits.  These projects may include (but are not limited to) the curation and/or installation of an exhibition or collection, an internship, a studio-based artistic or technical practice, community-based learning in support of Paddle to Squaxin 2012 ( ; ), or a field-based museum-related study.  Partially funded by TESC's Noosphere Award, week 7 retreat week activities will include a range of contemplative practices: 5 rhythm dance; yoga nidra; lectures with Seattle University philosopher and Zen priest, Dr. Jason Wirth; and a retreat day at SU's St. Ignatius Chapel. Students will document their individual or peer-based learning and create a multi-media presentation for week 10. art history, art, cultural studies, writing, anthropology, feminist theory and contemplative education. Lara Evans Sarah Williams Mon Tue Tue Tue Wed Wed Wed Thu Fri Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall Winter Spring
Projects in Experimental Media and Music
Naima Lowe and Ben Kamen
Signature Required: Spring 
  Program SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring As an extension of the , and Programs (taught in Fall and Winter 2011 by Naima Lowe and Ben Kamen), students will have the opportunity to explore the shared histories, theories and practices of post-modern, conceptual, and experimental media and music. Our work will complicate the commonly perceived relationships between music and moving image (the music video or the movie soundtrack) by focusing on collaboration, interactivity, installation and performance. Thematically, we will also address issues of the how the development of particular technologies have influenced experimental media and music. The program will have three key components: 1) The execution of weekly collaborative group assignments that enhance and develop skills in media and music production, performance, installation, and interactivity. 2) The development of a quarter long independent project that combines concepts and practices from experimental media and music. This project will also include a research paper on an artist or art practice that relates to the creative work. 3) A weekly seminar will include readings and screenings oriented towards approaches to contemporary experimental music and media including performance, installation, collaboration, collectivism, and abstraction, while also studying the histories of media and musical technologies that have influenced work in these fields. We will also take occasional short field trips to local and regional venues showcasing experimental music and media.  Program Applications will be available by February 2012.  Media production, electronic music, visual arts. Naima Lowe Ben Kamen Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Ready Camera One: We're Live
Sally Cloninger
  Program SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring This program is designed primarily for students interested in exploring visual literacy, television production, performance and media criticism. Students will be introduced to both media deconstruction and media production skills through a series of lecture/screenings, workshops and design problems that focus primarily on collaborative multi-camera studio production. No prior media production experience is required. We will take a critical, performative and historical approach as we examine and even emulate the production style and lessons from the early history of 20th century live television. Students will be expected to perform in front of as well as behind the camera and will explore the logistics and aesthetics of multi-camera direction and design. We will investigate the aesthetics and implications of live performance and multi-camera production for new media as well. This program will also examine the politics of representation, i.e., who gets the camera, who appears on the screen, and who has the power. Therefore, students who choose to enroll should be vitally and sincerely interested in the issues and ideas concerning the representation of gender, race, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation in the media. Activities will include training in the CCAM, a multi-camera TV studio facility, instruction in basic performance and writing for television, and a survey of visual design principles. In addition to a series of studio exercises, students will complete a collaborative final project that combines media analysis, research, performance and production about broadcast content and ideology. media arts, humanities, social sciences and mass communications. Sally Cloninger Wed Thu Fri Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Ruins
Eric Stein and Julia Zay
  Program SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring While the ruin can be a figure of antiquity, decay, or catastrophe, it can also function as oracle, canvas, and home. In this program, we will explore both the disordering and productive forces of ruins in our built environment, with particular attention to the ways that they become contested sites for the ownership of memory and history. We will also explore the ruin as a liminal space, not entirely present and not entirely absent, and often reclaimed by marginal cultures.What do the use and neglect of ruined sites and spaces tell us about our relationship to the events and forces that produced the ruin? How can we use the ruin as a crucible in which to invent a theory of the future?Taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws from urban studies, geography, art history and theory, critical theory, cultural studies, political economy and history, our inquiry will center on case studies that allow us to explore the contingencies underlying the material and cultural production of ruins. Along the way we will hone a reflexive awareness of our own potentially voyeuristic impulses as we position ourselves in an inquiry into ruins.We will consider the colonial and touristic romanticization of ancient ruins in Java and Cambodia, the memorialization of physical sites of catastrophe in post-WWII Poland and Germany, the working class emergence of punk subculture out of the economic decay of Thatcher's England, the segregation and collapse of Detroit and New York City in the 1970s, and the dislocations of post-Katrina New Orleans.These case studies will inform our own fieldwork on ruins. Students will develop research skills using photographic documentation, ethnographic writing, and archival studies with the goal of completing a substantial inquiry into a local site of ruin. In addition to readings and films, we will travel to museums, archives, and urban centers to investigate the material histories of contemporary ruins. Eric Stein Julia Zay Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Student-Originated Studies: Performing Arts
Kabby Mitchell
  SOS SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter This is an opportunity for well-prepared students to do authentic, significant, independent work in dance, theatre, music or film production. Students enrolling in this program should have one or more potential project ideas before the start of fall quarter. Please contact the faculty with any questions regarding your specific ideas. Participants will meet weekly to discuss their projects and to collaboratively work in small groups. Students will be expected to give progress updates, outline challenges, and share ideas for increasing the quality of the work that they are doing throughout the quarter. Specific descriptions of learning goals and activities will be developed individually between the student and faculty to insure quality work. At the end of the quarter students will present their projects to their peers in the most suitable manner for their particular project. performance art, dance, theater, music, and cultural studies. Kabby Mitchell Wed Wed Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall Winter
Student-Originated Studies: Public Policy in Washington State
Cheri Lucas-Jennings
Signature Required: Spring 
  SOS JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring This program is designed to support students interested in internships with public agencies or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in public policy issues. Internship possibilities include but are not limited to: Department of Natural Resources, Department of Transportation, Department of Ecology,  City of Olympia, a Water Resources agency or a Growth Management Board. There are also numerous local NGOs (e.g. Capital Land Trust, various fisheries commissions) that are focused on a variety of public policy.In addition to internship work, students will complete an extensive independent research project focused on a public issue that is related to the internship work. Research topics could include public policy, environmental, land-use, health, education, welfare or other similar issues issues. Program work will include weekly meetings, peer-review groups, research, writing and presentation of the final paper. Final research papers will also be distributed to the relevant organizations or agencies. Cheri Lucas-Jennings Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Surveillance as a Mode of Governance
Trevor Griffey
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 8 08 Day Su 12Summer Session I This program will study surveillance as a mode of governance by exploring the portrayal of the surveillance state in literature, film, social science literature, and U.S. history from World War I to the War on Terror. The primary work of the program will involve different kinds of close readings of texts. Each week, students will collectively analyze government surveillance documents, watch and discuss a film, and write a review essay on a book they read. The final week of the program will be devoted to student individual or group projects in surveillance studies broadly defined. Trevor Griffey Mon Wed Thu Fri Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Summer Summer