Fall 23 Courses

R. Huskey, MWF 9:30–10:20 am
R.Huskey, MWF 11:30-12:20 pm
Pawlowski, TR 12:00-1:15 am

Category:Gen-Ed: Western Civ; Letters category: History; Literature

This course is an introduction to the world of Greek and Roman mythology. By reading both poetry and prose we will explore the traditional stories of the Greeks and Romans and how they reveal the values and beliefs of the people who told and retold them over the centuries. Through this extensive reading, students will develop both an appreciation for Classical mythology and their abilities to analyze both primary and secondary sources.

Walker-Esbaugh, Online
Winter Intersession

Prerequisite: sophomore standing.

Designed to be of special use to students planning a career in the Allied Health professions. Study of the basic Greek and Latin elements of medical terminology through the analysis of select vocabularies and word lists.

Alcock, TR 12:00–1:15

Gen-Ed: Western Civ; Letters Category: History

The well-known satirical publication, The Onion, once reported that ancient Greek civilization was a complete modern fraud since obviously, no single culture could have invented so much stuff (http://www.theonion.com/articles/historians-admit-to-inventing-ancient-greeks,18209/). All that Great Art? The Olympic Games? Literature that is never out of print and plays that are never off the stage? Democracy? The front door of OU’s Carnegie Building? It seems impossible! But they did.

This course will explore the world of ancient Greece, from the monumental (the Parthenon!) to the mundane (who did the dishes?), and everything in between. And we will think on — and argue over — whether or not our ongoing modern fascination with the ancients Greeks is always a good thing.

Harper, TR 9:00-10:15

Gen-Ed: Western Civ; Letters Category: History, Philosophy

Prerequisite: English 1213.

This course will explore the first five centuries of Christian history and the ways that Christian history intersects with the history of the Roman Empire. The course aims to enrich your understanding of early Christian literature by placing it in its historical and cultural setting. We will read the Christian scriptures alongside contemporary Greek and Roman literature. We will study the history of Judaism in the late Second Temple period, the effects of Roman imperialism on political and spiritual movements in ancient Palestine, the influence of Greek philosophical ideas on Christianity, and the development of the church as it became a powerful institution in the Empire.

Greene, TR 3:00–4:15

Gen-Ed: Western Civ; Letters Category: Literature
Prerequisite: ENGL 1213/EXPO 1213

This course concerns three of the most important and influential literary works from the ancient world: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Vergil’s Aeneid. These stories have it all: romance, adventure, heroes, villains, magic, prophesy, heroism, sacrifice, and more.

Chambers, WEB

Gen-Ed: Western Civ; Letters Category: History

Prerequisite: junior standing and permission of instructor. This course surveys the Roman nation from its legendary origins in 753 BCE to the collapse of the Western Empire in 476 CE. Through readings from standard texts and historical fiction, students will learn about Roman history, literature, and philosophy and its influence on the modern world.

Pawlowski, MW 1:30–2:45

Gen-Ed: Artistic Forms; Letters category: History (Cross-listed with A HI 3223) Prerequisite: sophomore standing

Continuation of 3213 Survey of Hellenistic art with particular attention to the individuality of style and diversity of matter.  Early Etruscan and Roman art. The development of Roman art in native and assimilated forms; studies in domestic and national monuments.

Alcock, TR 9:00-10:15

Letters Category: History

Although death and dying are universal human experiences (there is no escape), they inevitably invoke a diversity of actions and reactions. This course will consider how we tend to deal with death today, before turning to the treatment and commemoration of the dead and dying in Mediterranean antiquity — chiefly, but not exclusively, among the Greeks and Romans.

Health, disease, and trauma will be explored, especially through new techniques in palaeopathology and forensic archaeology, as well as death through violence (war) or disaster (Pompeii!) We will also ask what people thought of the ‘hereafter’ and how they chose, or at least hoped, to be remembered. Treatment of the dead (then as now) covered a vast spectrum, from the lavish to the grudging, from monumental tombs to mass graves. All in all death and dying offers a depressingly wonderful window into social, economic, and religious beliefs and practices in the past; paradoxically, the study of death is often most revealing about the worlds of the living.

Williams, MW 3:00-4:15

Letters Category: History

This course examines the role of surveillance, espionage, and security in the creation and maintenance of power in the ancient world. We explore the role of scouts and spies in Greek and Roman armies, the use of signaling to pass messages across ancient empires, and the complex negotiations of border security, internal surveillance, and secret police.

This course is grounded in theories of carceral and colonial resistance to imperialism and oppression. Readings draw from social and military history, contemporary theory, and archaeological analyses of space, visibility, and sensory experiences. We will take a holistic approach to the fragmentary evidence for intelligence activities in the ancient world and build from that approach a multifaceted understanding of ancient espionage and resistance to it.

R. Huskey, MW 1:30-2:45

Gen-Ed: Western Civ; Letters Category: Literature

One of the most basic and universal aspects of being human is laughter and comedy. This course is a survey of various types of comedy (e.g., physical comedy, satire, puns, language games, mistaken identity, and stand-up) as they arise in literature from antiquity through the Middle Ages and into the 21st Century. Students will experience the serious hilarity of Plautus, Aristophanes, Juvenal, Shakespeare, George Carlin, Charlie Hill, Tina Fey, and others.

Davis, MWFTR 9:00–10:15

Prerequisite: GRK 1215 with a grade of C or higher. This course is designed to transition students from “textbook” knowledge of basic grammatical principles to translating authentic, unaltered texts. While thematic elements and historical context will not be ignored, greater attention will be given to linguistic constructions used by authors to reinforce basic concepts learned in 1000-level courses. Students will translate excerpts from Euripides, Plato, and Thucydides.

Greene, TR 12:00–1:15

In this class, we will read Euripides Medea. This play is widely considered to be one of the most influential and important works in ancient Greek literature. We will translate this play in class, examining in great detail its poetic nuances and literary importance. We will also consider the social context of the play, especially its relevance to classical Greek views of women and relationships between the sexes.

S. Huskey, MTWRF 10:30–11:20
Hansen MTWRF 11:30–12:20
Williams MTWRF 1:30–2:20

An introductory study of the vocabulary and grammar of the Latin language, with practice in the reading of sentences and connected prose from selected Latin authors.

Hansen, MTWRF 10:30-11:20
Hansen, MTWRF 1:30-2:20

Prerequisite: 1115, or the equivalent, with a grade of C or better.

An introductory study of the vocabulary and grammar of the Latin language, with practice in the reading of sentences and connected prose from selected Latin authors.

Chambers, MW 9:30–10:20, TR 9:00–10:15

Prerequisites: Any foreign language background of 1 to 2 years

This is an accelerated course for Honors students; it covers the material presented in Latin 1115 and 1215 in one semester. This course was specifically created for students with any foreign language background who wish to move rapidly through both introductory Latin courses in a single semester. It is also appropriate for those students who have had two or more years of mid-high or high school Latin but feel they need an intensive grammar review before proceeding to an intermediate reading course. Students of the latter category need to contact the instructor before enrolling in the course. Because of the intensity of this course and the amount of material that is covered and assigned, it is recommended that the student carry a total course load (including Latin 1315) of no more than 14-16 hours, especially if the student is also working.

Williams, MWF 10:30–11:20

Prerequisite: 1215, or equivalent, with a grade of C or better. May be repeated with a change of content; the maximum credit is six hours.

This course focuses on the reading and understanding of continuous prose passages in Latin. It begins with a review of word forms and then moves on to further practice with more complicated sentence constructions. Through this class, the student will begin to read Latin prose with increased proficiency and acquire a more thorough knowledge of Latin vocabulary and grammar. The readings include selections from the Vulgate, Caesar, and Livy. Roman history and culture will be an important part of the class.

Watson, TR 10:30–11:45

This course will introduce students to Latin poetry, Students begin with Catullus and move on to Vergil, Horace, and Tibullus, building up to readings from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, one of the most influential works in all of Roman literature

Watson, TR 12:00–1:15

The best way to improve your skills in Latin is to use the language. In this course, students will fully revise all of the Latin grammar and syntax and translate sentences and connected prose passages into Latin. Students are expected to have mastered accidence/morphology in their beginning and intermediate classes and must review these aspects of language if necessary. (Textbooks and consolidated grammar such as Kennedy’s Revised Latin Primer may be helpful; see below.) By the end of the course, students should have a better grasp of the Latin language, be able to use and identify proper Latin idioms, and appreciate the style and linguistic nuances of prose authors such as Cicero and Caesar. These skills will be assessed through the student’s ability to translate to and from Latin with precision and appropriate style.

Bailey, MW 1:30–2:45

Gen-Ed: Western Civ; Letters categories: History or Philosophy; Constitutional Studies Area: 1, 2, 3, or 4

Provides a broad introduction to the theory and history of constitutional governance. Includes the classical roots of constitutional thought, the contribution of the English common law tradition, the origins and structure of the U.S. Constitution, along with a sense of the constitutional basis of contemporary political controversies.

Garofalo, TR 3:00-4:15  

Letters categories: Literature

The dawn of modernity is often called the Age of Revolutions. This course examines the revolutionary sublime and its promise of freedom for some and its threat of chaos for others. We will focus on two contemporaneous revolutions in France and Haiti, as well as, the earlier American Revolution. We will bring together excerpts from historical documents and study some philosophical and political writing. But the course will focus mostly on literary writing on freedom, the uncanny, and the sublime. We will read the work of Walt Whitman, Derek Walcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Aime Cesaire, Charlotte Brontë, Mary Wollstonecraft, and William Blake among others. Students will write short close reading papers and a final paper.

Garofalo, TR 4:30-5:45

Letters Category: Literature

Our focus this semester will be on uncanny, powerful, and passionate female figures who appear in the Ancient Greek and Roman tradition and in the modern novel. While antiquity has given us the work of Sappho as well as remarkably influential female characters such as Medea, the rise of the novel in modernity has brought a multitude of women writers into the literary field. We will study ancient poetry and tragedy as well as novels by moderns whose characters are inspired by the stature of ancient female characters. We will read Sappho’s poetry, Medea, Antigone and more among the ancients and Madame de La Fayette’s Princess de Cleves, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved among the moderns.

Koppert, TR 4:30–5:45

Letters categories: History or Philosophy; Constitutional Studies Area: 4
Prerequisite: ENGL 1213/EXPO 1213. 

This course transforms the classroom into a courtroom. Students become lawyers and judges, arguing and deciding cases that hinge on our most important Constitutional controversies. Working in teams, students grapple with these contentious issues in the context of the Constitution, the common law, and legal theory.

Koppert, TR 1:30–2:45

Letters categories: History; Constitutional Studies Area: 3
Prerequisite: ENGL 1213/EXPO 1213.

This course will explore the many ways that the art of narrative intersects with constitutional history. Students will fashion their own narratives about major constitutional episodes or figures of their choosing.