Last week, the Committee on Instruction approved seven interdisciplinary courses to be offered in the 1995-96 academic year.
The classes, which will be listed as "College Courses" in the book Organization, Regulations and Courses, were created specifically for the College's new curriculum.
Under the new degree requirements, students beginning with the Class of 1998 must take one interdisciplinary course, defined as a class taught by members of at least two departments or programs.
The approved courses span a range of interests from "Health Care in American Society: Problems and Solutions" to "Virtual Gender: Popular Culture and the Construction of Gender."
Professors submitted syllabi for the proposed courses to the College Course Steering Committee. The CCSC then selected seven courses that were discussed and approved by the COI.
Other approved courses include "Coming of Age," "Music and Computers" and "The Rise and Fall of the Scientific Empire."
"Ways of Knowing: Physics, Literature, Feminism," a course previously offered at the College, will be taught by Physics and Astronomy Professor Delo Mook and English and Women's Studies Professor Priscilla Sears, said College Registrar Tom Bickel, who serves on the COI.
The COI reapproved the course "Assisted Reproduction: The Scientific, Ethical and Social Challenge of a New Biomedical Technology" for 1995-1996, Bickel said.
College Course 3, "Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies," received COI approval two years ago but has not yet been offered. The course will be taught next year by Religion Professor Susan Ackerman and History Professor Annelise Orleck.
Russian Professor Barry Scherr, who chairs the CCSC, said the College has not hired any additional professors to teach the new courses.
"The funding is in place for all of these courses," Scherr said. "We have used up all of our funding at the moment but we may be able to approve one or two more courses."
"A couple of the courses have outside funding," Bickel said. "We hope to have two more added this year."
