Past Student Seminars
Student Seminars are interdisciplinary not-for-credit classes designed and run by students to explore experimental topics of their choosing.
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Capitalist Mythologies: Deconstructing Western Normalcy
2024-25
Seminar Leader: Julie Edelstein ’26
Faculty Advisor: Shannan Hayes, Writing Program -
Internet Linguistics: How the Internet Helps Us Understand Languages and Ourselves
2023-24
Seminar Leader: Coco Liu ’26
Faculty Advisor: Amanda Payne, Department of Linguistics -
"Audience Reacts! An Exploration of Power and Audience Reception"
2022-23
Seminar Leader: Graziella Pierangeli ’24
Faculty Advisor: Maud McInerney, Comparative Literature -
How Artificial Intelligence Is Dividing Us Today, and How Terminator Might Kill Us Tomorrow
2021-22
Seminar Leaders: Keeton Martin '22 and Harry Taussig '22
Faculty Advisor: Sorelle Freidler -
Communication Disorders in Context: What Do We Know About Aphasia?
2021-22
Seminar Leader: Maggie Zhang '24
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Body Horror Across Media
2020-21
Seminar Leader: Ryan Totaro '22
Faculty Advisor: Sara Louise Bryant (English) -
After Corona: Rediscovering a Love for the Planet through Climate Fiction and Film
2020-21
Seminar Leader: Rebecca Chen '22
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The Digital Public Sphere
2019-20
Seminar Leader: Joseph Staruski '20
Faculty Advisor: Qrescent Mali Mason (Philosophy) -
From Frankenstein to Alexa: A Humanistic Inquiry into the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
2018-19
Seminar Leaders: Nicky Rhodes '19 and Katya Olson Shipyatsky BMC '19
Faculty Advisor: Craig Borowiak (Political Science) -
Asian/America: A Search for Belonging
2018-19
Seminar Leaders: Liana Shallenberg ’19 and Rebecca Chang ’19
Faculty Advisor: Shu-wen Wang (Psychology) -
Technologies of Control: Surveillance and Socialization in Total Institutions and Broader Society
2017-18
Seminar Leader: Chelsea Richardson '18
Faculty Advisor: Juli Grigsby (Anthropology)
Seminar Participants:Emily Kingsley '18, Vanessa Morales '19, and Andrew Chalfoun '18 -
The Writing on the Wall: Graffiti, Street Art, and a New Organic Urban Architecture
2017-18
Seminar Leader: Isabella Siegel '19
Faculty Advisor: Laura McGrane (English)
Seminar Participants:Emily Lin '20, Sarah Jesup '20, Alex Bitterman '18, Hope Ebert '19 -
Remixing Culture: Folklore and Mythology in the Digital Age
2016-17
Seminar Leader: Olivia Jacocks '17
Faculty Advisor: Jeremiah Mercurio (Writing Program)
Seminar Participants:Jenny Ahn '17, Aaron Schankler '18, Sarah Shatan-Pardo '17, Matthew Ridley '19, Vaidehi Agarwalla '19, Miles Lee '18, Rachel Lee '17 -
The Sociology of the Selfie: The Intersection and Intertexts of Bourdieu, Art, and Digital Documentation
2016-17
Seminar Leader: Gasira Timir '19
Faculty Advisors: Paul Farber (Writing Program); John Muse (Independent College Programs)
Seminar Participants: Michael Bueno '18, Amanda Friedman '18, Will Herzog '19, Elana Kates '19, Sabrina Kwak '19 -
This is the Way the World Ends: Apocalyptic Visions and Nationhood
2016-17
Seminar Leader: Hannah Zigler '17
Faculty Advisor: Darin Hayton (History)
Seminar Participants: Nicolas Kaplan '19, Jake Bernstein '19, Mercette Ohlwiler '19, Abigail Reuscher '17 -
You, Me, and the Revolution
2015-16
Seminar Leader: Pia Chakraverti-Wuerthwein '16 (Comparative Literature, French, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies)
Faculty Advisor: Laura McGrane (English)
Seminar Participants: Maria Bojorquez-Gomez (Political Science), Thomas Gundy (History), Kelly Jung (Philosophy), Stephen Niesobecki (undeclared), Julian Schneider (undeclared), and James Washington (Political Science, Education minor) -
Decoding the Videogame: Reading and Writing in New Media
2014-15
Seminar Leader: Daniel Fries '15 (Comparative Literature, French, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies)
Faculty Advisor: Markus Baenziger (Fine Arts)
Seminar Participants: Rachel Baron '15 (English); Marissa Gibson-Garcia (Fine Arts); Olivia Jacocks '17 (undeclared); Aaron Lowe '15 (Computer Science and Mathematics); Whitney Mueller '15 (French and Greek)Photo: Ordinateur DPD-1 (qui faisait tourner Spacewar! en 1962)
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Beyond the Reals: An Exploration of Mathematics in Fiction
2014-15
Seminar Leader: James Faville '17 (Probable Linguistics and Classics Major)
Faculty Advisor: Elizabeth Beazley (Mathematics and Statistics)
Seminar Participants: Jonathan DeWitt '16 (Mathematics & Computer Science); Henri Drake '15 (Mathematics, Physics & Computer Science minor); Alec Johnsson '15 (English, Anthropology minor); Tiancheng Liu '16 (Mathematics); Yabin Lu '17 (undeclared); Ziyue Schuai '15 (Mathematics/Statistics & French); Caleb Wroblewski '15 (Economics and Mathematics) -
Text, Image and Beyond: the Architecture of Book Space
2013-14
Seminar Leader: Honglan Huang '16 (Comparative Literature)
Faculty Advisor: Deborah Roberts (Classics and Comparative Literature)
Seminar Participants: Jon Dewitt '16 (Mathematics & Economics); Cora Johnson-Grau '16 (Undeclared); Evangeline Krajewski '14 (Philosophy); Shahzeen Nasim '15 (English); Jon Sweitzer-Lamme '14 (History Major; Fine Arts, History of Art Minors); Tom Zhuang '16 (History) -
How We Talk About The Holocaust
2013-14
Seminar Leaders: Joshua Bucheister '14 (English); Aaron Madow '14 (History)
Faculty Advisor: Kimberly Benston (English)
Seminar Participants: Connor Bralla '14 (Anthropology Major; Russian Minor); Alec De Vivo '14 (Chemistry Major; Concentration in Biochemistry; Economics Minor); Ian Gavigan '14 (Religion & History Major; German Minor); Caroline Nightingale '14 (History); Lee Rosenthal '15 (Physics & Astronomy Major; Philosophy Minor) -
The Depths of Fear: Cross-Cultural Consciousness of Sea Monsters in Folklore, Mythology, and Popular Culture
2013-14
Seminar Leaders: Dan Wriggins '14 (English); Alex Jacobs '14 (History)
Faculty Advisor: Maud McInerney (English)
Seminar Participants: Marielle Boudreau '15/16 (Classical Culture & Society); Charles Espinosa '14 (Anthropology Major; Film Studies and Environmental Studies Minor); Brandon Henken '16 (Linguistics and Cognitive Science); Nicholas Kahn '14 (English and French); Alison Marqusee '16, (Undeclared) -
Asperger Syndrome and its Role in Literature and Film
2012-13
Seminar Leader: Alec Johnsson '15 (Undeclared)
Faculty Advisor: Debora Sherman (English)
Seminar Participants: Aspen deVries '14 (Math Major, Physics minor); Cara Keifer '13 (Psychology); Koreana Pak '15; Darwin Keung '14 (Biology Major, Environmental Studies minor, Neural and Behavioral Sciences concentration) -
Form, Content, Difficulties: Textual Embodiments from Plato to Kindle
2012-13
Seminar Leader: Aubree Penney '13 (Religion, English)
Faculty Advisor: Gus Stadler (English)
Seminar Participants: Catherine Casem '15; Eliana Kohrman-Glaser '15; Ian Gavigan '14 (History, Religion); Christopher Morrison '15; Ryan Rebel '14 (English); Sally Weathers '13 (Philosophy, Spanish) -
Music and the Sacred: the Intersection of Religion and the Auditory Arts
2012-13
Seminar Leader: Micah Walter '14 (Music, Computer Science minor)
Faculty Advisor: Robert Germany (Classics)
Seminar Participants: Kiran Rajamani '14 (Classics); Matt Walker '13 (History Major, Classics minor); Naomi Goodman '14 (Psychology, Music, Neuroscience); Robin Banerji '15; Tianyi Yang '15; Robert Homan '14 (Religion) -
Smoke In Your Eyes: The Symbolic Evolution of the Cigarette
2011-12
Seminar Leader: Noelia Hobeika '13 (English)
Faculty Advisor: Peter Gaffney (English)
Seminar Participants: Samara Ahmed '13 (Philosophy); Susannah Butters '13 (Anthropology, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Pre-Med); Anneke Heher '14 (Biology, Spanish, Linguistics); Kirsten Larsen '13 (Anthropology, Psychology); Annie Reading '13 (English, Africana Studies); Valerie Smosna '13 (History of Art) -
Feasting on Culture: The Significance of Food in Everyday Life
2010-11
Seminar Leader: Isobel Grad '11 (Sociology, Environmental Studies concentration)
Faculty Advisor: Ken Koltun-Fromm (Religion)
Seminar Participants: Alissa Aron '11 (Chemistry); Sarah Harrison '13 (Undecided); Colleen Hotchkiss '11 (Spanish with a Gender & Sexuality concentration); Julia Hunter '13 (Undecided); Cameron Scherer '11 (Political Science, Economics minor); Beatriz Sanchez '12 (Anthropology) -
Digital Fame
2010-11
strong>Seminar Leaders: Andrew Smith '11 (Math), Patrick Phelan '11 (English)
Faculty Advisor: Gus Stadler (English)
Seminar Participants: Daniel Connochie (Psychology); Jacob Horn '13 (Classics); LinKai Jiang '11 (Philosophy); Katie Monroe '13 (Anthropology, Gender & Sexuality concentration); Robin Riskin '12 (English, Africana concentration) -
Borderlands: Alienation and the Art of Finding the Edge
2010-11
Seminar Leader: Eli Blood-Patterson '11 (English, Chinese minor)
Faculty Advisor: Laura McGrane (English)
Seminar Participants: Rose Himber Howse '11 (English, Psychology); Megan Kietzman-Nicklin '11 (Linguistics); Rachel Lim '12 (Political Science); Asher Reisman '11 (Classics); Christina Tavernelli '13 (Undecided); Lucas Van Meter '12 (Mathematics) -
Screening Music: An Aural Look at Film
2009-10
Seminar Leaders: Jane Holloway '11 (English, Spanish), Genna Cherichello '11 (Psychology)
Faculty Advisor: Marilyn Boltz (Psychology)
Seminar Participants: Walker Anderson VII '11 (English); Matthew Bessey '10 (Economics, Math concentration); Matthew Gerard '11 (Math); Glenn Loury '11 (Religion); Sameer Rao '11 (Sociology) -
Educating Through Animation: Disney as Cultural Pedagogy
2009-10
Seminar Leader: Maggie Goddard '11 (Religion, Philosophy minor)
Faculty Advisor: Kim Benston (English)
Seminar Participants: Rebecca Church '11 (Psychology); Katie Estabrook '10 (Spanish, Psychology); Laura Martin '11 (Philosophy); Robin Riskin '12 (English, Africana & African Studies); Emily Tartanella '10 (English); Robert Thorstad '12 (Philosophy) -
Fashioning the Self: The Problem of Identity and the Narrative of Achievement
2009-10
Seminar Leader: Bennett Smith, '11 (Philosophy)
Faculty Advisor: Ulrich Schönherr (German)
Seminar Participants: Mark Cavanagh '10 (Classical Languages); Sam Kaplan '10 (Fine Arts, History of Art); Joshua Mikutis '10 (History, Religion); Kevin O'Halloran '11 (English); David Richardson '12 (English); Hannah Silverblank '12 (Comparative Literature) -
SAMPLING: Musical Sampling and Cultural Appropriation in Hip-Hop
2008-09
Seminar Leaders: Duncan Cooper '09 (Growth & Structure of Cities); James Kittler '09 (English)
Faculty Advisor: Kim Benston (English)
Seminar Participants: Paul Bisceglio '09 (English, Philosophy); John Daise '09 (East Asian Studies); Amadi Gibbons '09 (Anthropology, Philosophy minor); Annie Kohanek '10 (History); Scott Muller '09 (English, Music); Dan O'Toole '09 (English; Economics minor); Patrick Phelan '11 (Religion, Anthropology) -
High Contrast: Representations of Black Women in White America
2007-08
Seminar Leader: Lorin Jackson '08 (Philosophy, Education, Political Science)
Faculty Advisor: Jerry Miller (Philosophy)
Seminar Participants: Misha Baker '09 (Growth & Structure of Cities); Gina Delvac '08 (Comparative Literature, Latin American-Iberian Studies); Marien Levy '08 (Peace and Conflict Studies); Precious Kapri Morgan '08 (English); Andrew John Rech '10 (English, Pre-Med); Alex Russell '08 (English); Natalie Wossene '08 (Political Science) -
Mining the Folktale
2007-08
Seminar Leader: Justin Dainer-Best '09 (English, Psychology)
Faculty Advisor: Kim Benston (English)
Seminar Participants: Tom Carroll '10 (Classics); Cara Curtis '10 (Religion, Gender & Sexuality Studies); Ariella Foss '09 (Comparative Literature, Music minor); Sean Hughes '10 (English); Sophie Taylor '10 (Linguistics); Stephanie Wu '09 (English, East Asian Studies) -
I clutched at sound– Synesthesia Across Disciplines
2007-08
Seminar Leaders: Luke McNamara '08, (English, Film minor); Ben Lansky '08 (English, Creative Writing, Gender & Sexuality Studies)
Faculty Advisor: Laura McGrane (English)
Seminar Participants: Bianca Bromberger '08 (Psychology, History of Art); Ryan Cameron '09 (English, Fine Arts); Jacob Carroll '09 (English, History of Art minor); Conall Cash '08 (English); Vidya Gopinath '10 (Biology, NeuroBio concentration); Laura Jones '09 (Biology, NeuroBio concentration) -
It Started Out Like a Song: The Art of Musical Theatre
2007-08
Seminar Leaders: Nina Morton '08, (English, Chemistry); Caroline Goldstein '08 (Music, Education minor)
Faculty Advisor: Laura McGrane (English)
Seminar Participants: Siggy Moore '09 (Math); Cody Oakley '10; Sarah Singley '10; Abigail Wacker '10; Anna Weltman '09 (Math,Political Science) -
Art and Articulation: Meaning and Intention in the Nuances of Artistic Expression
2006-07
Seminar Leader: Evan Rodriguez '08 (Classics, Philosophy)
Faculty Advisor: Deborah Roberts (Classics, Comparative Literature)
Seminar Participants: Peter Barish '08 (Biology, Philosophy minor); Justin Dainer-Best '09; Allyn Gaestel '09; Karen Terry '09 (History of Art, Religion); Oliver Wunsch '07 (Fine Arts; History of Art minor); Chloe Levenson '09 -
Seen and Not Seen: Twentieth Century U.S. Working Class Narratives, Representations, and the American Dream
2006-07
Seminar Leaders: Jackie Richards '07 (Philosophy); Heidi Smith '07 (English)
Faculty Advisor: Jerry Miller (Philosophy)
Seminar Participants: Anna Pellecchia '08 (Philosophy, Gender & Sexuality Studies concentration); Mitra Eghbal '08 (Biology, Linguistics); Anna Mancusi '07 (Comparative Literature, French, Philosophy minor); Max Rosen-Long '09; Liz Booth '07 (Political Science, Spanish minor, Latin American & Iberian Studies concentration) -
When We Were Orphans
2006-07
Seminar Leader: Zoe Marquardt '07 (English, History of Art minor)
Faculty Advisor: Dorian Stuber (English)
Seminar Participants: Graeme Harcourt '09; Ben Lansky '08 (English, Creative Writing concentration, Gender & Sexuality Studies minor); Lucas McNamara '08 (English; Film Studies minor);Hilary Mislan '09 (Political Science, Pre-Med); Jonathan Pober '07 (Physics, Astronomy; Philosophy minor); Victoria Salinger '07 (History of Art; Mathematics minor) -
I Love My Culture, But Where is My Feminism?: Women of Color Responses to the Second Wave
2005-06
Seminar Leaders: Allison Jones '07 (Sociology, Education minor); Deepa Vasudevan '07 (English, Anthropology minor)
Faculty Advisor: Raji Mohan (English)
Seminar Participants: Derek Ettensohn '06 (English, German minor); Steve Hagenbuch '07 (History, Spanish minor); Laura Kasakoff '06 (Mathematics, Computer Science); Marien Levy '08 (Peace & Conflict Studies); Katie Schnur '07 (English, Feminist & Gender Studies); Katrina Schwartz '08 (English) -
What are Poets and Polynomials For?
2004-05
Seminar Leaders: Dave Alff '05 (English); Dave Henry '05 (Mathematics)
Faculty Advisor: Josh Sabloff (Mathematics)
Seminar Participants: David Burkhardt '07 (Physics); Hilary Franklin '05 (English); Jessica McDonald '06 (English, Biology); Su-Lyn Poon '05 (Anthropology); Robyn Schelenz '07 (Sociology); Brian Walker '05 (Mathematics) -
The Bizarre and the Grotesque in Literature, Art, and Film: Honest Looks at a Mad World
2004-05
Seminar Leader: Lewis Bauer '06 (English)
Faculty Advisor: Debora Sherman (English)
Seminar Participants: Brooks Ambrose '06 (Sociology); Liz Caris '06 (Psychology); Emma Chubb '06 (History of Art, French Studies); Greg Greenberg '05 (Anthropology); Michael Kassler-Taub '06 (Philosophy); James Weissinger '06 (English) -
Topography of the Family: On Ideology, Science, Religion, and the Politics of Conjugal, Filial and Gendered Life
2004-05
Seminar Leaders: Beah Burger '06 (Anthropology); Ross Lerner '06 (English, Comparative Literature)
Faculty Advisor: Stephen Finley (English)
Seminar Participants: Benjamin Cooper '05 (Religion); Marguerite Grady '05 (Political Science); Sarah Lorr '05 (History); Brooke Phan '06 (Anthropology); Craig Tutterow '07 (Sociology); Brendan Wattenberg '06 (English)