African American History
American Studies
Art
Art History
Biology
Chemistry
Drama
English
French
German
Modern European History
Neuroscience
Philosophy
Physics
Political Science
Psychology
Spanish
US History
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course introduces students to the principles of American studies through the exploration of American history and culture in the 1960s. We will seek to understand the nature of American society in that critical period through the study of the struggle for political reform, the role of women, the civil rights movement, and the counter-culture. Guest lectures, films, and student presentations complement the course, and students will be asked to engage actively in its development.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course surveys Western art and architecture from the Paleolithic to the end of the Middle Ages. Training in visual analysis is emphasized, as are the historical context, religious beliefs and social conditions in which the artwork was produced. This is primarily a lecture class, though discussion is encouraged. Requirements include slide examinations and short papers.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course introduces the medium of drawing as an essential means of visual communication. A variety of methods and materials are used for both in-class studies as well as for larger and more comprehensive projects. Challenging and complex drawings will be produced with a sharp focus on both formal and conceptual issues. Technical aspects of drawing will be balanced with imaginative and experimental approaches throughout the semester. Presentations and class discussions will supplement assignments to aid in expansion of the understanding of project goals.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course is an introduction to the fundamental technical and aesthetic issues of black-and-white photography, with emphasis on using the medium for personal expression. Students will work through a series of problems designed to increase understanding of basic camera operation, black-and-white darkroom techniques, and art-making strategies. Regular critiques are scheduled to increase understanding of communicating with an audience and sharpen the ability to analyze and discuss works of art. No prior photographic experience is needed, but a personal manual film camera is required.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This introduction to studio art will enable students to utilize digital tools to engage in aesthetic and conceptual practices in contemporary art. Personal studio projects will investigate a variety of subjects such as: the role of digital media in the history of artistic practice, the relationship of the arts to popular culture, and the aesthetics of abstraction and the effects of gender/race/class on the creation and interpretation of artwork. Students will come to understand the fundamentals of composition and develop technical skills with a variety of computer tools, including still image and video editing programs. Through theory and practice, students will enhance their art-criticism skills, allowing for creative group interactions and the definition of personal aesthetic vision. Presentations by the instructors will be supplemented by student research on contemporary artists and issues. This course requires at least twelve hours of work per week outside of class.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
Energy flow is a unifying principle across a range of living systems, from cells to ecosystems. With energy flow as a major theme, this course covers macromolecules, cells, respiration and photosynthesis, physiology and homeostasis, population and community interactions, and ecosystems. Throughout the course, the diversity of life is explored. The course also introduces students to the process of scientific thinking through discussion of research methodology and approaches.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course provides a thorough introduction to the fundamental concepts, theories, and methodologies of chemistry, and to selected topics in descriptive inorganic and organic chemistry. Topics to be studied include stoichiometry, theories of atomic and molecular structure and bonding, the periodic table, acid-base chemistry, chemical equilibria, selected aspects of chemical thermodynamics, and chemical kinetics. This course provides a basis for the further study of chemistry and the other sciences. The format is lecture and discussion.
(.25 unit credit) or 2 semester hours
This course is a continuation of CHEM 121.
This laboratory course accompanies CHEM 121 and 122 with an introduction to modern experimental chemistry. Laboratory experiments explore inorganic synthesis, molecular structure and properties, and spectroscopy, with an emphasis on laboratory safety, computerized data acquisition and analysis, and the theory of analytical instrumentation. The laboratory work is organized around individual and team projects. Communication skills are developed through proper use of a laboratory notebook. One three-hour laboratory is held per week.
(.50 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This lecture-discussion course is one of two paths to continue the introductory chemistry sequence started in CHEM 121 or 122. Chemical principles of molecular structure and bonding, reactivity, electrochemistry, kinetics, and intermolecular forces will be explored in the context of biomolecules and molecular approaches to medicine.
(.25 unit credit) or 2 semester hours
Biophysical and Medicinal Chemistry Lab section
This lab is an experimental course to accompany CHEM 124. One three-hour laboratory session will be held per week.
Nanoscience Lab section
This lab is an experimental course to accompany CHEM 125. One three-hour laboratory session will be held per week. Laboratory experiments involve the synthesis of functional materials, the analysis of their properties, and the assembly of materials into useful working devices. Specific activities may include: solar cells, nanocrystalline materials, quantum data, and excited state kinetics.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course examines how theater differs from other arts and how theatrical artists go about their jobs in bringing a play to life on stage. This examination is accomplished through a series of performance or creative assignments. The class is divided into four sections, two meeting in the morning and two in the afternoon. Plays, problems, and exercises are performed and discussed in the sectional meetings; about every other week, sections are combined for lectures and demonstrations. The course explores what a play is and how it is structured. Assignments consist of a series of playwriting problems and one acting problem, which students perform in class working in teams. In addition, students read at least five plays and a series of essays about the theory and practice of the theater, complete a series of brief written assignments, and take written examinations. As a culmination of the work, each student writes, directs, and presents to the class a final short play, working with fellow students. Any student with a general interest in the theater will find this a challenging course, regardless of previous experience
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours for each 103 & 104 for a total of 8 semester hours
Each section of these first-year seminars approaches the study of literature through the exploration of a single theme in texts drawn from a variety of literary genres (tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, epic, novel, short story, film, autobiography, etc.) and historical periods. Classes are small, offering intensive discussion and close attention to each student's writing. While ENGL 103/104 is not a "composition" course, students in each section are asked to work intensively on composition as part of a rigorous introduction to reading, thinking, speaking, and writing about literary texts. During the semester, instructors will assign frequent essays and may also require oral presentations, quizzes, examinations, and research projects.
Reading lists for the various sections of KAP English are organized around intensive study of most of the following genres, with selections drawn widely from the cultural and chronological expanse of Anglophone literatures. Individual instructors, in consultation with their colleagues, will devise their own reading lists which will typically include selections from among the following representative texts and writers.
Lyric poetry - selections from "The Norton Anthology of Poetry"
Epic - The Odyssey or Beowulf
Short story - selections from various anthologies and/or a collection such as "Dubliners"
Novel - Jane Eyre, Mama Day, Heart of Darkness, Tracks, Things Fall Apart, Beloved, Invisible Man, 1984
Drama - Shakespeare (Hamlet, King Lear, The Tempest, As You Like It), Ibsen, Sophocles, Becket, Stoppard
Autobiography and/or non-fiction - The Woman Warrior, Black Boy, Walden, Politics and the English Language
Film - Apocalypse Now, Ran
Many instructors also like to introduce their students to truly contemporary literature by organizing occasional discussions around the most recent edition of The Kenyon Review.
Evaluation is based primarily upon student achievement in the composition of 8-12 essays, most addressing the texts studies, and additional in-class writing and informal assignments. Student essays typically range from 3-5 typed pages. Essays should be evaluated for the relative freshness and sophistication of their insights into the texts in question; their success in developing a focused and well-substantiated argument; their ability to analyze textual evidence, utilizing (as appropriate) close-reading skills; their stylistic control and clarity; their grammatical and mechanical accuracy. As they prepare some of their essays, students will be asked to complete research using reference texts and scholarly sources. Characteristically, sections of the course will conclude with a final essay examination that is comprehensive in scope.
A major component of KAP English classes is the informed and specific discussion of the assigned literature. Discussion should engage as many students as possible each day, and should encourage independent thought, clear articulation of ideas, and close analysis of specific textual detail.
Each fall, school instructors will send their Kenyon colleagues a syllabus for each KAP section, and these will be circulated among the group. Once a year, Kenyon faculty will visit each school colleague, to teach a class or to participate in an on-going discussion. Kenyon faculty will also organize occasional colloquia to bring together students from several KAP English classes for discussion of some common text. Additionally, KAP instructors will meet once each year to discuss assessment,student performance, and other pedagogical and programmatic concerns. Every other summer, KAP instructors will meet for a five-day development seminar which will focus on a collectively-designed syllabus addressing teaching methods and curricular and theoretical questions and encouraging active discussion of new or revisited works of literature.
(0.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course is designed to provide advanced students with the opportunity to strengthen their abilities to write, read, and speak French. The conversation component of the course will focus on the discussion of articles from the current French and Francophone press, films, other media, and Web sites, and on developing the fluency in French to perform linguistically and culturally appropriate tasks. The composition component will seek to improve the ability to write clearly and coherently in French. In order to foster these goals, the course will also provide a review of selected advanced grammatical structures and work on literary excerpts.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
In this course, we will examine representative texts--lyric poems, plays, short stories, and novels--from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. In addition to gaining a greater understanding of French literary history and of related social and philosophical trends, students will develop skills necessary for close reading, explication de texte, and oral discussion. We will read complete texts rather than excerpts whenever possible. It is especially recommended for students with little or no previous exposure to French literature. The course will be conducted in French.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the study of three major literary genres--poetry, theater, and the novel--from the French Revolution to the twenty-first century. Readings will include the works of authors such as Hugo, Baudelaire, Lamartine, Balzac, Mallarmé, Colette, Cocteau, Camus, and Sartre. The course seeks to help students gain a deeper understanding of French literary history and of its relationship to major social and philosophical movements. In addition to exploring certain themes, we will see how the literature reflects important societal and intellectual debates of the time. The course will continue the development of the skills of literary analysis, guided discussion, and essay writing in French. The course will be conducted in French.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
In this course, we will explore a wide array of topics in contemporary German culture, in order to provide advanced students with the opportunity to strengthen their abilities to write, read, and speak German. Topics may include the impact of reunification on contemporary Germany; religious life and popular music. Material for conversation and composition will be provided by articles from the current press in German-speaking countries, films, other media, and Web sites. Students will develop fluency in German in order to perform linguistically and culturally appropriate tasks. The composition component will seek to improve the ability to write clearly and coherently in German. To foster these goals, the course will also provide a review of advanced grammatical structures.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course presents a thematic survey of American history from European colonization to the end of the Civil War. Lectures and discussions will examine the nation's colonial origin, the impact of European conquest of the native peoples, the struggle for independence and the formation of the national government, the expansion of a market economy, chattel slavery, the factory system, urbanization, the rise of egalitarianism, the transformation of the American family, religious movements, the beginnings of the women's movement, and the defeat of the southern secession movement and the formation of the American nation.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course presents a thematic survey of American history from Reconstruction to the present. Lectures and discussions will examine the transformation of the United States from a rural, largely Protestant society into a powerful and diverse, urban-industrial state. topics will include constitutional developments, formation of a national economy, urbanization, immigration, political change, the secularization of public culture, the formation of a welfare economy, the impacts of World War I and World War II, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, suburbanization, the civil rights movement, the women's and gay rights movements, and the resurgence of conservative and religious-based politics.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
Through lectures and discussions, this course will introduce the student to early modern Europe, with special attention to Austria, Britain, France, Prussia, and Russia. It will treat such topics as the reformation, the emergence of the French challenge to the European equilibrium, Britain's eccentric constitutional course, the pattern of European contacts with the non-European world, the character of daily life in premodern Europe, the Enlightenment, the appearance of Russia on the European scene, the origins of German dualism, and the impact of the French Revolution.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
The European continent is incredibly diverse: geographically, culturally, economically, ethnically, and politically (to name only the most obvious factors). Throughout the semester we will explore this diversity of experiences since the end of the eighteenth century. We will look at issues of race, class, and gender, as well as violence, poverty, faith, nationalism, technology, and art. We will read novels and memoirs, watch films, and listen to music as we hone our historical knowledge and sensibilities regarding modern Europe, its peoples, and its governments. We will examine the fates of a variety of nations, using examples from across the continent.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
In August 1619, “twenty and odd negars” were traded for food by the crew of a Dutch sailing vessel. That commercial transaction represented the first recorded incident of a permanent African presence in America, and over the next 146 years, this population of Africans would grow to create an African American population of over four million. The overwhelming majority of this population was enslaved. This course will be an examination of those enslaved millions and their free black fellows: who they were, how they lived, and how the nation was transformed by their presence and experience. Particular attention will be paid to the varieties of African American experience and how slavery and the presence of peoples of African descent shaped American social, political, intellectual and economic systems. Students will be presented with a variety of primary and secondary sources materials; timely and careful reading of these sources will prepare students for class discussions. Students will be confronted with conflicting bodies of evidence and challenged to analyze these issues and arrive at conclusions for themselves.
*Textbook: Darlene Clark Hine, The African American Odyssey, vol. 1 to 1877
*Olaudah Equiano, Life of Olaudah Equiano
*Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made
*James L. Roark and Michael P. Johnson, Black Masters
*Sylvia Frey, Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age
*W. Jeffrey Bolster, Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail
*Articles and occasional handouts
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This is an introductory lecture and discussion course in the history of African Americans in the United States. Beginning with Emancipation, the course traces the evolution of black culture and identity and the continuing struggle for freedom and equality. Topics will include the tragedies and triumphs of Reconstruction, interracial violence, black political and institutional responses to racism and violence, the Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, Blues, and the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Students will be presented with a variety of primary and secondary sources materials; timely and careful reading of these sources will prepare students for class discussions. Students will be confronted with conflicting bodies of evidence and challenged to analyze these issues and arrive at conclusions for themselves. Music and film will supplement classroom lectures and discussions.
*Textbook: Darlene Clark Hine, The African American Odyssey, vol. II
*W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folks
*David Levering Lewis, When Harlem Was in Vogue
*Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi
*James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
*Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice
*Articles and occasional handouts
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course begins with a definition of neuroscience as an interdisciplinary field, in the context of the philosophy of science. After covering the basics of cellular neurophysiology, the course examines the development and organization of the human nervous system in terms of sensory, motor, motivational, emotional and cognitive processes. The neurological and biochemical bases of various brain and behavioral disorders also are examined. It is strongly recommended that BIOL 115 or 116 is taken as a prerequisite or corequisite or have an AP score of 5 in biology. No prerequisite
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours (.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
The central question in ethics is "How should I live my life?" This course explores this question by examining major ethical traditions such as honor ethics, Stoicism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, utilitarianism, Kantian deontology, and Nietzsche's genealogy of morality. The emphasis is on classical texts, as well as their connections with our contemporary life.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This lecture course is the first in a three-semester, calculus-based introduction to physics. Topics include the kinematics and dynamics of particles and solid objects, work and energy, linear and angular momentum, and gravitational, electrostatic, and magnetic forces. PHYS 140, 145, and 240 are recommended for students who may major in physics, and are also appropriate for students majoring in other sciences and mathematics. The course will be taught using a combination of lectures, in-class exercises, homework assignments, and examinations.
(.25 unit credit) or 2 semester hours
This laboratory course meets one afternoon each week and is organized around weekly experiments that explore the phenomena of classical mechanics and thermodynamics, including motion, forces, fluid mechanics, and conservation of energy and momentum. Lectures cover the theory and instrumentation required to understand each experiment. Experimental techniques emphasize computerized acquisition and analysis of video images to study motion. Students are introduced to computer-assisted graphical and statistical analysis of data as well as the analysis of experimental uncertainty.for upperclass students enrolled in PHYS 140.
(1.0 unit credit) or 8 semester hours
This year-long course is taught as a first-year seminar, with class size kept, as much as possible, to a maximum of 18 students. We offer seven sections of the course, all with common readings. Sessions are conducted through discussion, thereby helping students overcome any reservations they may have about their capacity to make the transition from high school to college work.
The course, which emphasizes the development of reading, writing and speaking skills, is an introduction to the serious discussion of the most important questions concerning political relations and human well-being. These are controversial issues that in the contemporary world take the form of debates about multiculturalism, diversity, separatism, gender equality and the like; but, as students will discover here, these are issues rooted in perennial questions about justice. In the informal atmosphere of the seminar, students get to know one another well, and debate often continues outside of class.
So that students may prepare adequately for each class, assignments from the common syllabus tend to be short. The course is designed to develop analytical skills through careful reading and effective discussion. Six to eight brief analytical papers are assigned and carefully graded (for grammar and style as well as intellectual content). Instructors discuss the papers individually with students. Thus, this is also a "writing course" as well as one devoted to thinking and discussion.
The papers typically account for 60 percent of the course grade, with the remainder dependent on class participation and the final examination. On the first day of class of each term, every student receives a syllabus listing the assignments by date, due dates of the short papers, examination dates, and all other information that will enable the student to know what is expected in the course and when.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course explores the guiding principles, major institutions, and national politics of the American political order. The Founders' view of liberal democracy and of the three branches of our government (presented in the Federalist Papers) will provide the basis for consideration of the modern Supreme Court, presidency, bureaucracy, congress, news media, and political parties and elections. The course concludes with Tocqueville's broad overview of American democracy and its efforts to reconcile liberty and equality. The material in the course will be exemplified by references to current political issues, events, and personalities.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes. In this introductory course, which is a prerequisite for all of the other psychology courses, you will explore a variety of areas in which psychologists conduct research. For example, you will study the biological foundations of behavior, sensory and perceptual processes, cognition, learning and memory, developmental psychology, personality and social psychology, psychological disorders, and variability in behavior related to culture.
(.5 unit credit) or 4 semester hours
This course is designed to give advanced students the opportunity to refine and increase their abilities to write, read, and speak Spanish. The course will have a strong emphasis on oral proficiency. Cultural and literary readings, writing software, and selected Spanish-language films are among the materials on which class discussion and assignments may be centered. A grammar review, focused mainly on typical areas of difficulty, will be included.
This is a foundational semester survey of Spanish American Literature from its pre-Hispanic manifestations to the present. The course covers major historical periods and literary movements, including the narrative of discovery and conquest, Renaissance and Baroque poetry, and the literatures of Romanticism, Modernism, the avant-gardes, the Boom, and postmodernity. Fundamental concepts of literary theory and techniques of literary analysis are discussed. Historical readings, critical essays, and films provide the background for textual analysis.