What sort of classes would OU faculty members devise if money were no object? Well, for one thing, they would bring in the best guest lecturers in their fields to stimulate interest and inspire students to delve more deeply.
In 2004-2005, former President Boren began a program to provide extra funds to enhance courses already scheduled to be offered during the academic year in either the fall or the spring semester. Courses eligible for consideration must be semester-long, regularly scheduled courses. This program will be continued in academic year 2017-2018.
This fund provides up to a maximum of $20,000 in one-time funds per selected course to bring in several (about 3-5) experts in the field during the semester to interact with the students enrolled in the course and to give a lecture open to the public. In some cases, the visiting expert might also speak at a Presidential roundtable discussion that would include other undergraduate students and faculty.
Fall 2018 Presidential Dream Courses
After Charlottesville: Race & Nation in American History & Memory
AFAM 4970 and HIST 4970
Karlos Hill, African and African American Studies
Rachel Shelden, Department of History
Janet Ward, Department of History
"After Charlottesville: Race and Nation in American Memory" is an interdisciplinary exploration of race, nation, and memory from the vantage point of American History, African American Studies, European History, and Holocaust Studies. The course will highlight and interrogate the varying (and oftentimes conflicting) memory traditions of Civil War and Reconstruction periods. Of particular importance will be contextualizing contemporary debates about slavery, the Civil War, and its connections with Confederate monuments, battle flags, as well as other symbols. Through lectures, readings, class discussions, and guest speakers, the course will illustrate the difference between history and memory and the ways in which historical memory has been central to conceptions of nation and citizenship.
France and Haiti in Revolution: Race and the Rights of Man
HIST 3500
Jennifer J. Davis, Department of History
Did the French Declaration of the Rights of Man extend liberty and equality to all men throughout France and its empire, regardless of race? How did Haitians abolish slavery and establish a state dedicated to principles of liberty and equality? What role did race and racism play in debates about citizenship in France and Haiti? What connected these two revolutions that changed modern politics? This course proposes innovative answers to these questions, surveying the relationship between race and civil rights in the Age of Revolutions.
Numerical Analysis
MATH 4073
Ying Wang, Department of Mathematics
Mathematical models for modern applied sciences and engineering often consist of ordinary and partial differential equations. In most cases these problems do not have a simple explicit solutionand can only be solved numerically. The construction and the accuracy of the numerical computation become vitally important. This Presidential Dream Course will expose the students to the subject through rigorous mathematical approaches.
