As students pre-register for courses, they turn to the course catalog for the information they need regarding class offerings, professors, and course descriptions. But many months before students even begin the registration process, faculty begin to conceptualize, develop, and edit course information so that it is ready for students to reference when they are planning for the next semester.
“Putting together the course catalog is a bottom-up process,” Chair of the Committee on Educational Affairs (CEA) Cathy Johnson said, describing how the ideas for new courses begin at the department level, often originating from a professor’s own proposal. These proposals are then reviewed by the department before they are sent off to the CEA, where they are edited and finalized.
But before this review process, professors often experience a moment of inspiration. For Professor of Music Marjorie Hirsch, who will be offering a class named “Hearing Through Seeing: Music and Visuality” in spring 2023, that came when one of her students who also studies art history invited her to give a lecture connecting her work to visual arts. “She asked me to do one on the concept of line and how it plays a role in music,” Hirsch said. “That, I found, was really interesting to work on.”
Senior Lecturer in Psychology Susan Engel, however, was inspired by some of her own research and personal reading when developing her new course “Suckers and Scammers,” which will be offered in…
