Carleton College Academic Catalog: Courses of Instruction

The following pages list courses offered at the College. They also contain general information about various departmental programs and their requirements for a major. In addition to departmental listings, offerings are organized by area studies, special courses of study, and by concentrations, interdisciplinary programs which complement, strengthen and build on departmental offerings. Opportunities for Carleton off-campus programs follow.

Independent Study, Reading and Research: A student may pursue independent study, independent research or independent reading in more than one term. Course credit for these various independent study options is determined by arrangement with the instructor before registration, and may be for one to six credits. Although not noted separately under departmental course listings, independent study options are available across the curriculum. Forms are available in the Registrar's Office and on-line on the Registrar’s Office Web page. Independent study, in any form including internships, does not count toward distribution requirements.

Independent Study: All departments offer "Independent Study," in which a student may work on a special project of his or her own planning under the supervision of a faculty member in the department. Ordinarily, this work is not on the introductory level. By registration time for the term in which the study is done, the student is expected to obtain a faculty supervisor in the chosen field of concentration and, with his or her assistance and approval, determine the nature and purpose of the study and the number of credits to be assigned.

Independent Reading: Offered within departments or on a cross-disciplinary basis, this program is not to be confused with the advanced research done in independent study. The emphasis in independent reading is on topics or areas not currently offered in Carleton's curriculum. Faculty who have developed these reading courses provide students with such aids as a detailed syllabus which includes recommended readings and problems or questions to serve as study guides.

Internships: Credit or non-credit internships, paid or unpaid, are a form of independent study which combines academic study with field-work activity. Experiential learning offers the student the opportunity to augment classroom learning by working in a social, business, political, cultural or community organization. The Career Center provides information on established programs or assists students with developing their own. Internships are a testing tool. They provide first-hand knowledge which is valuable when a student makes decisions such as choosing a major, applying for a job, or planning graduate study. Credit may be awarded if a faculty member agrees that the internship augments or extends in significant practical ways an area of instruction. Credit internships may be paid or unpaid if they are off-campus. On-campus credit internships may not be paid. All credit internships are under the supervision of the Career Center and a faculty member.

Special Courses for First-Year Students: Special courses for first-year students are courses specifically designed with new students in mind and are distinguished from other courses in several ways: 1) they enroll only first-year students 2) they have limited enrollments, an emphasis on class participation, and an organization of material which keeps in mind the needs of entering students

First-Year Seminars at Carleton are designed to introduce students to the liberal arts approach to learning and to encourage critical thinking, intellectual independence, and initiative in a setting that invites individual participation. All are six credits and graded S/CR/NC.

History 110 courses are designed to give new students a first rigorous experience in history and the liberal arts. Each section is built around a major moment or problem of history chosen by the professor to exemplify the methods of historical inquiry and the analysis of conflicting interpretations of past events. All are six credits and are graded.

Advanced departmental seminars (395): are usually open only to departmental majors, or by consent of the instructor involved. Because the topics vary from year to year, some students are able to register for more than one departmental seminar during their college program.

Special Interest: While we do not offer a program in these areas, the following courses are available.

1) Studies in Ethics: AMST 203, Investigative Reporting; AMST 260, Race, Inequality and Culture; BIOL 116, Biotechnology, Health and Society; ENTS 100, Geology and Human Health; ENTS 298, Ethics and Values Colloquium; HIST 130, The Formation of Early Christian Thought; HIST 285, Topics: The Ethics of Service; IDSC 200, Northfield: Public Service; PHIL 213, Ethics; PHIL 242, Environmental Ethics; POSC 259, Justice Among Nations; RELG 249, Religion and American Public Life; RELG 319, Bioethics: Christian Approaches; THEA 275, Topics in Theater History; WGST 396, Crossing Borders with Transnational Feminists.

2) Health Issues: BIOL 116, Biotechnology, Health and Society; BIOL 270, Animal Physiology; BIOL 310, Immunology; BIOL 370, Selected Topics in Virology; BIOL 372, Selected Topics in Exercise Biochemistry; BIOL 384, Oncogenes and the Molecular Biology of Cancer; BIOL 386, Neurobiology; CHIN 115, The Taoist Way of Health and Longevity: Taichi and Other Forms; ENTS 100, Geology and Human Health; ENTS 305, Topics: The World’s Water; HIST 195, American Environmental History; PSYC 318, Psychopharmacology; PSYC 369, Behavioral Medicine; PSYC 372, A Pill for Every Problem: The Promise of Neuropharmacology; RELG 319, Bioethics: Christian Approaches; SOAN 262, Anthropology of Health and Illness; WGST 205, Politics of Women’s Health

3) Philosophy of Science: PHIL 210, Logic; PHIL 250, Philosophy of Physics; PHIL 251, Philosophy of Biology; PHIL 253, Philosophy of Cognitive Science; PHIL 281, Advanced Logic; PHYS 100, Origins of Modern Science; PHYS 120, Revolutions in Physics.

4) Social Thought: AMST 260, Race, Inequality and Culture; AMST 345, Theory and Practice of American Studies; CHIN 357, Contemporary Social Issues; ECON 250, History of Economic Ideas; ENTS 320, Comparative Environment and Development; GERM 278, Sport, Identity and Nationalism; HIST 130, The Formation of Early Christian Thought; IDSC 200, Northfield: Public Service; MUSC 138, Twentieth Century Music and Culture in Paris; PHIL 232, Social and Political Philosophy; POSC 160, Political Philosophy; POSC 250, Ancient Political Philosophy; POSC 251, Modern Political Philosophy; POSC 252, American Political Thought; POSC 254, Classical Political Psychology; POSC 255, Post-Modern Political Thought; POSC 258, Politics and Ambition; POSC 259, Justice Among Nations; POSC 348, Religion, Democracy and Pragmatism; POSC 350, Ancient Political Philosophy; POSC 350, Nietzsche and Poltical Philosophy; PSYC 252, Personality; PSYC 256, Social Behavior and Interpersonal Processes; PSYC 382, Topics in Social and Personality: Positive Psychology; RELG 300, Issues in the Study of Religion; SOAN 330, Sociological Thought and Theory; SOAN 331, Anthropological Thought and Theory; SOAN 332, Contemporary Social Theory; THEA 252/352, African-American Theater; THEA 275, Topics in Theater History; WGST 234, Feminist Theory.

5) Legal Studies: ECON 275, Law and Economics; HIST 238, Church, Papacy and Empire; POSC 206, The American Courts; POSC 271, Constitutional Law I; POSC 272, Constitutional Law II; POSC 311, Topics in Constitutional Law; RELG 249, Religion and American Public Life; SOAN 221, Law and Society; SOAN 303, Criminology: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives; THEA 221, Rhetoric: Persuasion and Debate.

Applied: GEOL 210, Geomorphology; IDSC 200, Public Service in Local Context; MUSC 192, African Drum Ensemble; RELG 130, Native American Religions; SPAN 204, Intermediate Spanish (Doleman)

Theoretical: ECON 270, Economics of the Public Sector; ENTS 100, Science, Technology, Public Policy (Weisberg); HIST 182, A Survey of South African History; HIST 220, African American History I; HIST 226, U.S. Consumer Culture; HIST 285, Topics in Historical Ethics: The Ethics of Service; POSC 120, Comparative Political Regimes; POSC 201, National Policymaking; POSC 385, Comparative Democratic Institutions; SPAN 208, Coffee and News (Lopez); SPAN 326, Writers in Exile; THEA 185, The Speaking Voice; THEA 352, African-American Theater.

Concentrations: A concentration is an integrated interdisciplinary program which students may elect in addition to a major. Concentrations may strengthen and complement a major, by applying its methods to problems and issues that cut across the boundaries of academic disciplines, but a declared major in a particular department is not a prerequisite for acceptance into any concentration. Concentrations often bridge divisions necessarily created by a disciplinary focus and may promote communities of learning. By their nature, interdisciplinary endeavors of this sort are often problem-oriented, relating academic studies to the kinds of issues and opportunities one confronts outside the academy. Concentrations may also provide an opportunity for students to bring focus to the choice of electives and, in some cases, the fulfillment of distribution requirements. Carleton offers sixteen concentrations.

Full descriptions of the concentrations are included in the alphabetical listing of departments and programs. Concentrations offered for the current academic year are:

Courses at St. Olaf College: By special arrangement a limited number of students may take courses at St. Olaf College which are not offered at Carleton. Graded course credit will be granted; enrollment requires the permission of the instructor and the registrar at each institution.

Distribution Requirement Codes as indicated on each course description

AL = Arts and Literature (12 credits required)
HU = Humanities (12 credits required)
SS = Social Sciences (18 credits required)
MS = Mathematics and Natural Sciences (18 credits required)
RAD = Recognition and Affirmation of Difference Requirement (1 course required)
ND = No Distribution Credit

000-189	Introductory
200-289	Intermediate
290	Independent Reading
291	Independent Study
292	Independent Research
293	Internship
298	Junior Colloquium
300-389	Advanced
390	Independent Reading
391	Independent Study
392	Independent Research
393	Internship
395	Advanced Seminar
397	Senior Tutorial
398	Senior Colloquium
399	Senior Thesis
400	Integrative Exercise

Courses of Instruction

Alphabetical Listing of Departments