Academic Catalog

Special Study Programs

To meet the needs of individual students, Carleton offers a wide variety of special programs including opportunities for independent and interdisciplinary work and off-campus studies. Students expecting credit for participation in an off-campus program, whether in the United States or abroad, during the academic year or the summer, should check with the Off-Campus Studies Office, Leighton 119, for procedures, required forms, applications, and deadlines.

Off-Campus Study

74% of the class of 2010 participated in off-campus study during their years at Carleton. Carleton offers a changing selection of seminars and winter break programs every year, conducted by Carleton faculty in the United States and abroad. In addition, the College co-sponsors 32 other programs and approves participation of students in other non-Carleton institution-led programs. Students who plan to participate in a non-Carleton program must complete an OCS petition and receive approval from the OCS office prior to participation.

Carleton Off-Campus Seminars

Carleton seminars offer a related group of courses conducted by Carleton faculty for Carleton students, using the resources of a site other than the Northfield campus. Students are selected by application two to three terms preceding the actual program. Students pay the Carleton comprehensive fee, which covers room, board, tuition, plus excursions and social events at the program site. Transportation to the site, books, and personal expenses are the responsibility of each student. Financial aid applies to these and one non-Carleton off-campus study program approved by the College. During the 2011-2012 academic year, the following programs will be part of the Carleton curriculum. A brochure is available for each program in Leighton 119.

Economics Seminar in Cambridge, England, summer term, 18 credits

Residing at Hughes Hall of Cambridge University, students will study British Economics, past and present. Numerous excursions, including the Midlands, London, sites near Cambridge in East Anglia, and a trip to the Continent, will expand the classroom study.

Director: Aaron Swoboda, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Economics

Courses:

• ECON 221 Contemporary British Economy, 4 credits
• ECON 222 The Industrial Revolution in Britain, 6 credits
• ECON 223 The Life of J.M. Keynes, 4 credits, S/CR/NC
• ECON 224 Comparative Environmental Policy, 4 credits

Irish Literature and Culture Seminar in Ireland, summer term, 18 credits

Irish poetry, fiction, and drama will be the subjects of study while students explore the past and contemporary Ireland in Dublin, Belfast, and Louisburgh in County Mayo. Students will enjoy frequent excursions throughout Ireland, in addition to classroom and recreational facilities at Irish universities.

Director: Michael Kowalewski, Professor of English

Courses:

• ENGL 283 Modern Irish Literature, 6 credits
• ENGL 284 James Joyce’s Ulysses, 6 credits
• ENGL 290 Irish Field Studies, 6 credits, S/CR/NC 

Spanish Seminar in Madrid, fall term, 18 credits

Spanish language program for advanced students, based in Madrid’s Instituto Superior de Arte. Course work focuses on providing a comprehensive view of Spanish literature, history and art. Home stays, group excursions, and participation in lecture series, theater programs, music and art seminars.

Director: Jorge Brioso, Associate Professor of Spanish

Courses:

• SPAN 290 Independent Reading, 2 credits, S/CR/NC
• SPAN 209 Current News, 6 credits
• SPAN 247 Spanish Art from El Greco to Picasso, 4 credits
• SPAN 351 Film and the City, 6 credits

German Language and Literature Seminar in Berlin, Germany, fall term, 18 credits

Located in Berlin, on this language immersion program students improve their German language skills while gaining firsthand knowledge of Germany and its culture through homestays and weekend trips to places like Hamburg and Dresden.

Director: Kai Herklotz, Visiting Assistant Professor of German

Courses:

• GERM 205 Intermediate Composition and Conversation, 6 credits
• GERM 254 The World’s a Stage – Theater in Berlin, 6 credits
• GERM 295 Berlin: the German Metropolis, 6 credits

Ecology Seminar in Australia, winter term, 18 credits

The main goal of the program is to explore ecological features of coastal environments in order to understand how natural and anthropogenic disturbances are impacting these systems. Fieldwork is the essential part of the program. Shorelines, rocky intertidal areas, the Great Barrier Reef, and the rain forests will be the classroom. Variety of lodging at research stations, dorms, hostels, and camping.

Directors:  Annie Bosacker, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology

Courses:

• BIOL 212 Biology Field Studies and Research, 6 credits
• BIOL 250 Marine Biology, 6 credits
• BIOL 255 Culture and Environment in Australia, 2 credits, S/CR/NC
• BIOL 290 Directed Reading, 4 credits

French Studies Seminar in Mali, winter term, 18 credits

French language and Malian culture program enables students to experience life in both the capital city of Bamako through homestays and in rural areas during excursions to several important medieval historic sites. Courses offered in French on literature, film, history and culture, French conversation, and Bambara language.

Director: Chérif Keïta, Professor of French and Francophone Studies

Courses: 

• FREN 250 Film and Society in Mali, 6 credits
• FREN 251 Negotiating the Past—the Challenges of Nation-Building in Mali, 4 credits
• FREN 252 Literature and Society in Mali, 6 credits
• FREN 290 Directed Reading, 2 credits, S/CR/NC

Geology Seminar in New Zealand, winter term, 18 credits

The program travels through the North and South Islands and visits a range of settings from mountains and glaciers, to terraced coastal plains and adjacent shoreline and shallow marine environments. Students will stay and work out of rustic field stations, focus on fieldwork, visit cultural sites, and interact with local scientists.

Directors: Mary Savina, Professor of Geology, and Sarah Titus, Assistant Professor of Geology

Courses:

• GEOL 285 Geology of the North Island, 6 credits
• GEOL 286 Topics in North Island Geology, 3 credits, S/CR/NC
• GEOL 287 Geology of the South Island, 6 credits
• GEOL 288 Topics in South Island Geology, 3 credits, S/CR/NC

El Mundo Maya: Socio-Cultural Field Research Seminar in Guatemala and Chiapas, winter term, 18 credits

Through coursework and independent research, this program provides students with the opportunity to examine issues of cultural empowerment, community development, and social change in Guatemala. The program is based in Lake Atitlán and surrounding village communities. The program includes family stays, program seminars, independent field projects and travel to El Petén and the neighboring Chiapas, Mexico to provide and important comparative case for the coursework.

Director: Jay Levi, Professor of Anthropology

Courses:

• SOAN 241 Mesoamerican Cultures, 6 credits
• SOAN 251 Resource Management, Community Development, and Social Change in Guatemala and Chiapas, 4 credits
• SOAN 290 Directed Reading, 2 credits
• SOAN 295 Field Methods and Individual Research Project, 6 credits

English Theater and Literature Seminar in London, spring term, 16 credits

The goal of the London program is to immerse the students in the best and most varied performance the city has to offer, and to make use of local museums and other cultural sites to enhance the study of British literature. The group will attend productions of classical and contemporary plays in London and may travel to Stratford-on-Avon to see Royal Shakespeare Company productions.

Director: Peter Balaam, Associate Professor of English

Courses:

• ENGL 279 Urban Field Studies: London as Text, 4 credits (S/CR/NC)
• ENGL 281 Seeing Romantically: London’s Age of Wonder, 6 credits
• ENGL 282 London Theater, 6 credits 

French Studies Seminar in Paris, spring term, 18 credits

The program will make extensive use of local resources, both in Paris and in southern France, providing students with a unique opportunity for language immersion, cultural analysis, and personal growth.  In addition to classes and excursions, students may pursue activities such as sports, dance, music lessons, etc. There will also be an opportunity to volunteer in a high school in a disadvantaged neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris.

Director: Cathy Yandell, Professor of French

Courses:

• FREN 208 Cultural Themes, 6 credits
• FREN 246 City of Wonders: Paris in the Arts, 6 credits
• FREN 249/349 The French Art of Living Well: Tradition, Myth, Reality, 6 credits

Japanese Linguistics in Kyoto, Japan, spring term, 18 credits

The program takes advantage of its location near Doshisha University to explore various aspects of Japanese history and culture as well as explore topics in linguistics. Knowledge of Japanese is not required.

Director: Michael Flynn, Professor of Linguistics

Courses:

• ASST 284 History and Culture of Japan, 6 credits
• LING 285 The Linguistics of the Japanese Writing System, 6 credits
• LING 286 The Structure of Japanese, 6 credits 

Moscow and Beyond: Russian Language and Culture Studies in Moscow, spring term, 18 credits

Seminar (whose courses count toward the Russian major/studies Concentration and the Certificate of Advanced Study) will include Russian language courses, which meet from six to nine periods a week and are conducted by members of Philological Faculty of Moscow State University. Field trips might include trips to St. Petersburg, Lake Baikal, the Republic of Buryatia, on the border with Mongolia.

Director: Diane Nemec Ignashev, Professor of Russian

Courses:

• RUSS 290 Reading for Russia, 3 credits
• RUSS 227 Russia East and West, 6 credits, RAD
• RUSS 307 Advanced Grammar, 4 credits
• RUSS 308 Advanced Phonetics and Intonation, 2 credits
• RUSS 309 Advanced Composition, 3 credits

or

• RUSS 207 Intermediate Grammar, 4 credits
• RUSS 208 Intermediate Phonetics, 2 credits
• RUSS 209 Intermediate Conversation, 3 credits

or

• RUSS 107 Beginning Grammar, 4 credits
• RUSS 108 Beginning Phonetics, 2 credits
• RUSS 109 Beginning Conversation, 3 credits
  

Political Science Seminar in Washington D.C., winter term, 18 credits

Seminar will focus on American national politics and foreign policy. It allows students work experience three days a week in a Washington internship and provides over fifty class sessions with leading Washington figures–legislators, administration officials, judges, lobbyists, and American and foreign diplomats and members of the press. Students will take a trip to New York for visits to the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, the 9/11 Memorial, and various news outlets.

Directors: Barbara Allen, Professor of Political Science and Greg Marfleet, Associate Professor of Political Science

Courses:

• POSC 288 (Seminar) Washington: A Global Conversation Part I, 6 credits
• POSC 289 (Seminar) Washington: A Global Conversation Part II, 6 credits
• POSC 293 Internship, 6 credits, S/CR/NC 

Society, Culture, and Language in Peru, spring term, 18 credits

Based in Lima, Peru’s capital, students will observe the differing sides and the contradictions and paradoxes of modernization in the developing world. The program’s primary objective is to create conditions for the students to reflect on such reality and the cultural artifacts created by the peoples of Peru.

Director: José Cerna Bazán, Professor of Spanish

Courses:

• SPAN 211 Writing and Conversation, 6 credits
• SPAN 269 Diversity, Conflict, and Culture, 6 credits
• LTAM 365 Current Issues in Development and Social Movements in Peru, 6 credits

Carleton offers three changing winter break programs. Students register for a fall term course, spend two weeks on site during winter break, and return to campus winter term for a follow-up course.  These programs are made possible by the Peter G. Thurnauer Memorial Winter Break Programs Fund.

Comparative Agroecology in the United States and China

The goal of the program is to explore the possibilties of sustainable agriculture in the United States and China. Fall term is spent on campus, meeting and talking with organic farmers, while during the winter break the students travel to China to meet with Chinese farmers. During the two-week China field investigation students perform extensive field experiments planned during fall term and will present their findings during winter term.

Director: David Hougen-Eitzman, Senior Lecturer in Biology

• Fall term course: ENTS 260 Comparative Agrocology, 6 credits,
• Winter Break field work and Winter term course: ENTS 261 Field Investigation in Comparative Agroecology, 6 credits

Latin American Studies in Brazil

The program focuses on political and historical patterns of Brazil’s economic, social, and cultural development from colonial times to its current democracy.

Directors: Silvia L. López, Associate Professor of Spanish and Al Montero, Professor of Political Science

• Fall term course: LTAM 370 Brazil Culture and Politics, 6 credits 
• Winter Break field work and Winter term course: LTAM 371 Brazil Research Seminar, 6 credits

Faith and Fiction: Exploring Israeli National Identity in Israel

This interdisciplinary program immerses students in a world both sacred and secular, east and west, old and new through literature, cultural studies, and religious studies. Both fall courses and the Israel trip culminate in an independent research project and symposium during winter term 2012.

Directors: Stacy Beckwith, Associate Professor of Hebrew and Louis Newman, Professor of Religion

• Fall term course:  HEBR 222  Discovering Literary Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, 6 credits
  or RELG 222  The State of Judaism in the Stae of Israel, 6 credits
• Winter Break field work and Winter term course:  HEBR 223 Faith and Fiction: Exploring Israeli National Identity, 6 credits
  or RELG 223 Research on Israel, 6 credits

Seminar Cancellation Policy: Carleton College shall have the right, at its option and without liability, to make cancellations, changes, or substitutions in cases of emergency or changed conditions or in the interest of the program.

Programs Co-Sponsored by Carleton

For specialized areas of study, Carleton has combined with other colleges to develop off-campus study programs. For each of these programs, Carleton representatives participate in the management, Carleton faculty often serve as instructors and directors, and Carleton students participate along with others from the member colleges and universities.

ASSOCIATED KYOTO PROGRAM (AKP), IN KYOTO, JAPAN, academic year only

Students with background in Japanese live with Kyoto families and enroll at Doshisha University in intensive language classes plus two courses each term conducted by visiting professors from AKP member colleges or Doshisha faculty.

HIGHER EDUCATION CONSORTIUM FOR URBAN AFFAIRS (HECUA), fall, and spring semesters

These 15-week programs provide the opportunity to learn from local and international faculty who integrate theory with real-life urban issues. Home stays, internships, community immersion activities, and field research are used throughout the programs, which are open to all majors. Individual program brochures are available in the Off-Campus Studies office, Leighton 119.

Community Internships in Latin America (CILA) in Quito, Ecuador, fall and spring semester

Scandinavian Urban Studies (SUST) in Oslo, Norway, fall semester only

Metro Urban Studies (MUST), in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, fall or spring semester

Environmental Sustainability: Science, Politics and Public Policy, and Community Action, Minnesota, fall semester only

Northern Ireland: Democracy and Social Change, in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, spring semester only

CityArts, in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, spring semester only

Writing for Social Change, in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, fall semester only

INTER-COLLEGIATE SRI LANKA PROGRAM (ISLE), fall semester only

This 15-week program enrolls 15-20 students from eight consortium colleges to study the culture, history, religion, political structure of Sri Lanka. In-depth studies include Buddhist thought and practice, conversational Sinhala, and an independent research project. Students live with host families in Kandy.

ASSOCIATED COLLEGES OF THE MIDWEST (ACM)

Thirteen programs in the United States and abroad are sponsored by the 13 consortium members of the ACM. A resident director for each program is recurited from member colleges. Courses are conducted by the ACM director and by staff at the program site. Brochures about each program are available in the Off-Campus Studies office and applications are available on line.

ACM Brazil Exchange, adviser: Political Science – Silvia Lopez; Environmental Studies – Cam Davidson 

ACM Business and Society in Chicago, fall or spring semester, adviser: Michael Hemesath

ACM Chicago Arts Program, fall or spring semester, adviser: David Lefkowitz

ACM Studies in Latin American Culture and Society, fall semester only

ACM Tropical Field Research, Natural and Social Science, in Costa Rica, spring semester only

ACM Florence, Italy, fall semester only, adviser: Alison Kettering

ACM India Studies, fall semester, adviser: Arnab Chakladar

ACM Japan Studies, fall semester or academic year, adviser: Noboru Tomonari

ACM London and Florence Arts in Context, February-May spring semester; Florence only, winter term; January option for Italian Language, adviser: Alison Kettering

ACM Newberry Library Program in the Humanities, in Chicago, fall semester and other short-term seminars and tutorials, adviser: Jessica Leiman

ACM Oak Ridge Science Semester Natural Sciences in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, fall semester only, adviser: Will Hollingsworth

ACM Tanzania in Human Evolution and Ecology, July - December semester, adviser: Bereket Haileab

ACM Botswana Culture and Society in Africa, spring semester, adviser: Bereket Haileab

ACM Urban Studies, in Chicago, fall or spring semester, adviser: Deborah Appleman

Other Programs for Off-Campus Study

In addition to the programs above, which Carleton sponsors or co-sponsors, students can select from over 80 additional non-Carleton programs, which the student and her/his academic adviser believe will further the student’s educational goals. Students who plan to participate in a non-Carleton program must complete an OCS petition and receive approval from the OCS office prior to participation. Students who are approved for off-campus study by the College may earn up to 54 credits (one year’s worth) to be applied to their Carleton degree. Students are encouraged to learn more about off-campus study opportunities and information about specific programs by visiting the Off-Campus Studies office in Leighton 119 and by visiting its website: go.carleton.edu/ocs.