The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies

Mini-courses for Johnston 40^th Renewal

Digital Storytelling:  Forms of Storytelling in the Digital Age

Student:  Lauren Hohle ’11

Interactive Narrative is an interdisciplinary field that that draws on research from many areas including Improvisational Theater, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Humanities, Game Studies, Human Computer Interaction, and Psychology.  This seminar will introduce participants to some of the core ideas and issues around Digital Storytelling: we will demo several interactive narrative systems and invite discussion on the future of storytelling in a hands-on workshop.

Community Organizing and Local Activism

Rusty Kennedy ’74 and Kathy Dunn ’00

Extending the Living-Learning Community...to Oaxaca...to the World.

( formerly Johnston’s Oaxaca Semester)

Professor Pat Wasielewsk,* Matt Gray ’05, and Lindsay McNicholas ‘05

Since 2004 the Johnston Center has supported a semester abroad that takes students to Oaxaca Mexico and Guatemala. Alums, faculty and past student participants will discuss the program's growth and potential for extending our living-learning pedagogy beyond the campus and for us to learn about and from others who also practice forms of consensus and social responsibility.

Melissa Jameson ’93 and Professor Sara Schoonmaker*

How do diverse communities respond to economic tensions wrought by the dominant form of neoliberal globalization? How do they create alternative forms of globalization from below?

Exciting New Frontiers at the Mind-Body Confluence (formerly Mind and Body)

Dr. John Ruark ’73

Student: Owen Galipeau

For the past two decades, our knowledge about the human mind-body-brain connection has been literally doubling each year.  Join a twenty year member of the clinical faculty of the department of psychiatry at Stanford Medical School for a wild ride through this exciting new realm that has emerged from the synergy between cutting edge neuroscience, the human genome project, and Western Buddhism.  
 

Jonathan Diskin ’79

What are the echoes of our Johnston education in our work in higher education?  Some of us who work in the academy reflect on the Johnston experience and how it might open  (or close) us to possibilities in our places of work.

Community and Judaism

Rabbi Gary Schoenberg ’74 and Assistant Professor Sharon Oster*

The New President

Associate Professor Ed Wingenbach*

Last fall Toby Seisler taught a Johnston seminar examining the effects of media spin on the Presidential campaign while Professor Wingenbach taught a first year seminar on election prediction. Join them to analyze the recently completed election and discuss the prospects and promise for Barack Obama's agenda.

Disgrace:  The Johnston Book Project

Bill McDonald and a number of faculty and alums, including Raymond Obstfeld ’72, Brad Butterfield ’86, Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann ’76, Jane Creighton ’73, Michael McDunnah ’91, and Gary Hawkins ’91

Over the past three and a half years six Johnston faculty and twelve alums have been writing a book together about Nobel Prize-winning South African author J. M. Coetzee's 1999 novel "Disgrace".   Our collection of critical and teaching essays will appear this coming April, and the process of its making has carried the "Johnston Academic Community" into a new space about which we have some entertaining and useful stories to tell.

Renewal through Fiction: Becoming the "Other" (formerly Writing I)

Gayle Brandeis ’90

Join novelist Gayle Brandeis to discuss and experience how slipping into a fictional character's skin can help us cultivate compassion and connection.

Elizabeth Adams ’80 and Associate Professor Tim Krantz * ’77

The legacy of mining has created uranium contamination throughout the Navajo Nation, contaminating their drinking water, homes and land. The road to clean up has many challenges for the US EPA and the Navajo Nation, as they work together to address the wide-spread problem.

How did the evolution of the music, culture, and life philosophy of the Grateful Dead parallel the evolution of Johnston College?  Fred Rabinowitz and his Fall 2008 ³Eyes of the World² seminar will combine with Michael Wynn, Johnston Alum and Deadhead, to present history, music, and discussion for those who want to explore the meaning of the Grateful Dead from a uniquely Johnston perspective.

Non-profits and Technology: Community Action, Responsibility, and Transparency (formerly Designing for Charity: Professional Websites and Community Responsibility

Greg Huntoon ’97 and Professor Penny McElroy*

Technology breaks down barriers and has made communication reciprocal, fluid, and instantaneous between non-profits, supporters, press, and even those whom the organization(s) are working with and for. We will provide actionable ideas utilizing free and widespread web-based tools to help everyday people get involved in both local and global causes in meaningful ways.

Defining and Designing your success:  Johnston Entrepreneurship in the ‘Real World’

Neil Sattin ’96 and Larry Singer ’78

Student: Lane Smith ’12

In this seminar we'll discuss specific strategies for applying Johnston principles of entrepreneurship to achieve success in the "real world."   Whether you're a current student starting from square one, or an alum looking for some outside input to enhance an already successful path (or somewhere in between), you're guaranteed to leave this seminar with some practical ways to improve your current journey.

The Iraqi Refugee Crisis

Peter Ryan ’02

This workshop will focus on the Iraqi refugee crisis and its wider implications for U.S. foreign policy and the region. We will also examine the plight of Palestinian refugees as a means of gauging the long term impact and needs of a refugee population, and the dangers posed by a humanitarian crisis when its challenges are left unmet.

Housing Justice and Homelessness Political Organizing

Jon Grant ’04 and Assistant Professor Jen Tilton

Generational Perspectives: Balancing Work, Family, and Retirement During Shifting Economic Times

(formerly Balancing Work and Family Life)

Tanya Doriss ’98 and Professor Kathy Ogren*

What do Kathy Ogren, Hillary Clinton, Tanya Doriss and Tom Daschle have in common? A deep commitment to ensuring that all Americans have access to quality healthcare, sufficient time off of work to care for their families, and dignified, sufficient retirements. Join Tanya Doriss, social policy analyst at the Government Accountability Office in Washington D.C., as she discusses how her Johnston education informs the way she has approached social policy issues on Capitol Hill and in her current work for the federal government’s main policy and fiscal auditor. Kathy Ogren will bring both historical and personal perspectives to the changing needs of women in the workplace, including her own at Johnston.

Or Brewing the Brew:  A Demonstration

Associate Professor Ben Aronson*

Student: Amos Joshua ’09

This course will involve a brewing demonstration, a showing of brewing hardware and typical ingredients used to brew beer, and the chance to sample a mead made by Amos and Ben.

ACORN:  How we ruined capitalism and stole the election

Kevin Whelan ’93

Student: Jake Boyle ’12

Two JC alumni found themselves at the center of a political maelstrom when John McCain claimed in a Presidential debate that the voter registration drive run by the community organization ACORN has threatened to "unravel the fabric of democracy." Michael McDunnah (JC '90) served as the Communications Director of Project Vote, and Kevin Whelan (JC '93) is a longtime organizer with ACORN--the two organizations which helped more than a million low income and minority citizens register to vote in 2008. Fox News and its cohort had already named ACORN and other community organizations which have encouraged minority and working class homeownership with responsibility for the world financial crisis.  Come learn just how much trouble two English majors can cause when they set their minds to it.

Passion into Action:  Founding and Sustaining Arts Organizations

Mark Carlson ’74 and Artist Professor Marco Schindelmann*

You have a burning desire to get the music, the dance, the art you love out into the world. But how--and is it worth it? Explore the mundane and sublime issues of getting an arts organization off the ground--and flourishing.

How Can We Advocate For Johnston? (formerly Giving Back)

Debbie Heap ’73 and David Danielson ‘75

Few other higher education institutions in the U.S. offer what Johnston does.  

What can we do as alumni to ensure that this learning environment is thriving

in the years to come?  We are not just talking money here!

ART MATTERS: Art and Social Change

It has been said that art alone cannot change the world, but that its power lies in envisioning what is possible and motivating action. Seminar participants are invited to bring examples of art that matters to them (bring digital images, and we'll make an impromptu powerpoint as a basis for our discussion) and to share in conversation about socially engaged art of the past and present.

JC Tall Tales, Histrionics, and Buffalo Folklore

John Grant ’82

Join Alumnus John Grant (JC'82) for offerings of Johnston folklore like, The Tunnels, The VW in The lobby, The pranks, and the definitive beginnings of the BUFFALO. Along with John's tales, please bring your own stories and tales to the discussion.

Brad Butterfield ’86, Raymond Obstfeld ’72, Jane Creighton ’73, Gary Hawkins ’91, and others

Students:  Sara Adams ’09, Greg Petrovic ’09, Chris Rosenberg ’10, and Caroline Debruhl ’12

Tom Bowman ’78 and Chaplain John Walsh*

Student: Ashley Milligan ’09

The Economic Reality of Healthcare: What Mr. Obama couldn't really say out loud (formerly Health Care Dilemmas)

Dr. Michael Wynn ’73 and President Stuart Dorsey*

An economist and a physician lead a discussion of the current medical, economic and political issues surrounding the problem of providing of healthcare in the coming decades.

The Invisible Children Project

Matt Gray ’05

From raising money to education initiatives to political advocacy, Johnston has taken a major role in supporting the international "Invisible Children" movement, which helps war affected children in northern Uganda.  Learn why service is an integral part to the Johnston experience for students and alumni.

What Artificial Intelligence Can Teach Us, and when can I get my own HAL (formerly Grow your own expert poker player, no expertise needed, just add processor time )

Ian Fellows ’03

Herbert Simon predicted in 1965 that "machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do." His prediction fell ridiculously far short, but AI can still teach us a lot about how we learn and reason. In this session, we will use the case study of a computer Texas Hold'em Poker player developed by the speaker to gain insight about one learning strategy. We will also talk in sweeping generalities about what an intelligent machine might look like, and how to know your looking at one if you meet him.
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