The course advertisement read as follows...
"An interface of science, social behavior and popular culture will be examined through the vehicle of smell. Smell is a major sense for all organisms; in its absence food would be tasteless, wine would be boring and the perfume industry irrelevant. Most animals would have difficulty finding food or mates, defining social territories, communicating and in general interacting with the world. Smell represents a major interface between organism and environment, and the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying smell provide unique insights into the development and workings of nervous systems. This 'proseminar' will investigate the sense of smell through presentations and discussion of its behavioral, neurobiological and sociological aspects, including discussions of literature in which smell has a major thematic influence."
At the beginning of the course, students were immediately asked to develop research projects which would result in written and hopefully WWW presentations. The writings of Natalie Angier and Diane Ackerman were discussed to generate ideas for these topics. The course syllabus became established as the students developed their research interests; the thematic evening topics reflect these interests. Readings are assigned to the class at large for each meeting; those students (as indicated) with research topics related to evening themes share my responsibility to maintain an active discussion. The evening themes do not exactly match the students' chosen project topics, though I expect the themes will strongly influence the development of these projects.
My role is to organize, coordinate, ensure ready availability of relevant materials, guide students into project areas that are feasible to research and develop. In this course, the students bear considerable responsibility to motivate themselves to learn, to seek out information.
I am pleased to make this course visible; please make use the information in these virtual pages in any way possible. As it is still early in the course (10/3) I am curious where it will end up. I would appreciate your comments.
Richard Vogt
vogt@biol.sc.edu.