Class Options and Expectations

Classroom Etiquette & Expectations

• Arrive at your scheduled classroom five minutes early. You may have to wait in the hallway until the previous class has dismissed.
• Find an empty desk toward the back of the classroom. Classes at William & Mary do not have assigned seating; you may select any open desk. Feel free to talk to the students around you about their major, involvements, and experiences.
• Prior to your professor's arrival, please silence your cell phone and other electronic devices.
• Following class, introduce yourself to your professor and thank them for allowing you to visit. The professor may want to know a little more about you, your background and what you hope to study at William & Mary.
• If your class is unexpectedly canceled, visit the department secretary's office. They may be able to help you find another class session to visit.
• Class visits are open to registered students only. Due to limited capacity, guests are not able to accompany students to classes.

Class Options

BUAD 290: Financial Services Industry

Professor Carl Tack
3:30 - 4:50 p.m. (no Friday classes), Miller Hall 1078
This course introduces students to the institutional framework of financial markets and to the major sectors of the financial services industry. Students will study the role of financial institutions in our economy and in our society. Students explore the role played by major US and international financial institutions in the latest global financial crisis, and contrast this with other similar periods in US and world history. The course will have a significant current events component and will address contemporary issues of public policy concern, including industry regulation, corporate governance and professional ethics.

PSYC 312: Personality Theory

Professor William Johnson
1:00 - 1:50 p.m., Integrated Science Center 1280
A survey of contemporary theory in the field with emphasis upon its empirical foundations and future possibilities.

GOVT 329: International Security 

Professor Dennis Smith
1:00 - 1:50 p.m., Ewell Hall 151
Examines traditional concerns about the use and management of force in the nuclear age, as well as new security problems, such as the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons, environmental issues and the political economy of national security.

GEOL 203: Age of Dinosaurs

Professor Rowan Lockwood
10:00 - 10:50 a.m., Integrated Science Center 1221
In this course, we'll use dinosaurs and the Mesozoic world to explore concepts of geological time, extinction, climate change, evolution, and plate tectonics. Emphasis will also be placed on how science works and major discoveries in dinosaur paleontology. 

CSCI 141: Introduction to Programming

Professor Mei Zhang
11:00 - 11:50 a.m., Blow Memorial Hall 331
An introduction to computer programming focused on computing and data sciences, but broad enough to apply to any field that requires problem solving or data analysis skills. Students will learn to consider the role data plays in modern problems, create algorithmic solutions to those problems, and express their solutions as computer programs. Programming assignments will focus on problems taken from the computational and data sciences, the natural sciences, the social sciences, and business. The course will cover programming fundamentals including values, variables, data types, expressions, conditional and iterative execution, and function definitions.

BUAD 343: Legal Environment of Business

Professor James Boswell
10:00 - 10:50 a.m., Miller Hall 1088
An introduction to the law and the legal process. Substantive areas of law covered include: contracts, sales of goods and product liability, business torts and environmental law, bankruptcy and international law. 

BIOL 204: Introduction to Organisms, Ecology & Evolution

Professor Kristin Dunn
12:00 - 12:50 p.m., Integrated Science Center 1127
Course is designed for potential biology majors. Lectures explore the diversity of organisms, their interactions with each other and the environment, and the evolutionary processes that produce diversity. Topics include Mendelian genetics, major taxonomic groups, ecology, and evolution.

SOCL 313: Globalization & International Development

Professor Amy Quark
2:00 - 3:20 p.m., Boswell Hall 202
This course examines the impact of globalization on the social, cultural and economic development of "non-Western" societies. Case studies will emphasize interconnections between global processes and local people. Possible topics: global economy, transnational migration, human rights, gender, and racial/ethnic diaspora.

PUBP 201: Introduction to Public Policy

Professor Alan Kennedy
11:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m., Blow Memorial Hall 331
This course introduces students to a wide range of topics important to an understanding of the field of public policy and to further study of the subject. Topics include: What public policy is and why governments pursue policies; the interplay between equity and efficiency; the tools by which public policies are carried out; the processes by which policy is adopted; and how public policies are evaluated for their effectiveness.

ECON 485: Globalization & Inequality

Professor John Lopresti
3:30 - 4:50 p.m., Chancellors Hall 121
This course will explore the effects of international trade on inequality within and across countries. Virtually all models of trade emphasize the distributional consequences of globalization – across countries, industries, firms, and individuals. This, combined with the growing empirical importance of economics inequality, has led to an explosion of recent work on the relationship between trade and inequality. We will explore approaches to measuring the relationship between the two, the channels through which they are related, and potential interventions to mitigate globalization’s negative effects.

NSCI 451: Neurodegenerative Diseases

Professor Megan Raddatz
9:30 - 10:50 a.m., Boswell Hall 102
We will explore diseases including, but not limited to, ALS, dementia (with a specific focus on Alzheimer’s disease), Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. The course will delve into theories involving neuroinflammation, protein misfolding, genetic factors, and mitochondrial dysfunction. The curriculum includes lectures where disorders are introduced and potential mechanisms are discussed, as well as seminar-style classes that provide opportunities for students to discuss and present primary research papers on current and potential new treatment.

MSCI 230: Introduction to Marine Science

Professor Mark Brush
9:30 - 10:30 a.m., Integrated Science Center 1221
This course provides a comprehensive, introductory overview of marine science, exploring oceanic systems, coastal environments, and the organisms that live there. The course emphasizes the key geological, physical, chemical, and biological processes that characterize the ocean system, highlights the interdisciplinary linkages among them, examines the fundamental role of the oceans in controlling the larger Earth system, and explores the myriad ways the oceans impact – and are impacted by – humans.

HIST 212: WWII on the Eastern Front

Professor Irina Gorbunova-Ford
9:30 - 10:30 a.m., James Blair Hall 201
This undergraduate course will examine the decisive clash between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Hitler’s decision to invade the USSR in search of Lebensraum was the most critical of the war. If Hitler won, it would give Nazi State all resources and capacity to become a superpower and continue its global conquest. This course will investigate the entire period of WWII on the Eastern Front, from Operation Barbarossa to the Allied destruction of the Third Reich and the Nuremberg Trials. The focus will be major battles, the Soviet Home Front, technology and weaponry, the US Lend Lease, and Wartime Conferences between the USA, Great Britain, and the USSR. It also will cover the German decision for the genocide of the local population, the United States opening a “second front” with the invasion of Normandy, the Soviet Partisan movement, and the role of women in the Red Army.

HIST 142: East Asian Civilization since 1600

Professor Eric Han
2:00 - 3:20 p.m., James Blair Hall 205
An introduction to the political, social, and cultural history of East Asia since 1600.

HHP 130: Introduction to Nutrition

Professor Stephanie Caligiuri
9:30 - 10:50 a.m., Small Hall 110
This introductory Science of Nutrition course provides discussions ranging from the use of scientific inquiry to determine individual nutrient needs to in-depth, life-cycle nutrition issues. It also addresses basic biochemistry and physiology as well as anatomy and physiology from a nutrition science perspective. A four-part “history of nutrition science” required reading provides background for understanding our present level of nutrition knowledge. This course also covers assessment of nutritional status, disordered eating, weight loss and gain, body composition, and factors that influence food choices. In addition, the course addresses issues related to food processing, additives, food-borne toxicants, and concerns about ecological sustainability.

FMST 330: Global Cinema & Espionage

Professor Alexander Prokorov
2:00 - 3:20 p.m., Washington Hall 302
This course introduces students to spy cinema and television in Europe, the United States, and Russia, exploring the significant contributions of American, British, and Russian/Soviet traditions to the spy genre. It examines the literary roots of spy films. It traces the evolution of espionage narratives from their early classical expressions in the works of Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock to contemporary adaptations by best-selling authors such as Boris Akunin and John Le Carré. Course materials include films, television series, and critical scholarship.

ECON 318: The Economics of Sports

Professor Martin Schmidt
9:30 - 10:50 a.m., Washington 302
In this class students will examine economic issues surrounding the sports industry. The course is organized into three major sections: Industrial Organization, Public Finance, and Labor Markets. We will examine the industrial structure of pro sports by briefly exploring the history of sports leagues and analyzing the impact that the monopoly-like status has on the profitability of teams, player salaries, fan welfare, and the size of subsidies that state and local governments are paying to sports franchises in the form of stadium construction. We will examine the power of franchises to extract subsidies from state and local taxpayers. We will explore the techniques that economists use in determining the economic impact of stadium construction and franchise location on a local and state economy.

CHIN 303: Chinese Science Fiction

Professor Michael Hill
9:30 - 10:50 a.m., Tucker Hall 222
This course explores science fiction from China, focusing on the first decades of the twentieth century and the years since the beginning of the “reform and opening up” period of the 1980s. We will also explore critical writings on scientism and debates about the meaning of science in culture and politics in China and Taiwan. Not every source we read is “hard” SF: some readings will lead us to think about the overlap between SF, popular ideas about science and technology, and the everyday world.

ARTH 241: Art of the Caribbean

Professor Liz Moran
11:00 - 12:20 p.m., Andrews Hall 201
The Caribbean is often perceived as ‘paradise;’ a place where the sun always shines and beautiful beaches welcome weary travelers. Jamaican photographer Peter Dean’s work sometimes confronts the viewer with images that make them reconsider this notion of paradise. Take for example his 2005 photograph ‘Escaping Pineapple'; the sea carries the beautiful ripe pineapple away, soft water splashing around it, an endless gray-blue sky on the horizon. In an instant the viewer connects to this ‘paradise’ of water, sun, and tropical fruit; but then is struck with a question: Why does the pineapple want to escape? Likewise, this course will challenge students to re-evaluate what they know about the Caribbean and Caribbean art. The Caribbean is comprised of more than twenty countries, each with its own unique history and identity. Yet the countries share a cultural unity in their mixture of American, African, European, and Asian origins.