51 Take New Humanities Courses – 09.16.08

Providence, Rhode Island — Browsing this year's course catalog, many students may have noticed the five classes marked HMAN. These Humanities seminars are being offered by the Cogut Center for the Humanities and are new this fall. Fifty-one students have already enrolled in them this semester, with one class exceeding the 20-student cap.

"We're all very excited about them," said Michael Steinberg, director of the Cogut Center. The center, founded in 2003 and named for Craig Cogut '75 and his wife, aims to support collaborative research among scholars in the humanities, according to the center's Web site.

This year the center released its usual list of graduate fellows and also named four undergraduate fellows.

One of the fellows, Zohar Atkins '10, said he first heard of the center when he began attending some of their big events and lectures, but continued his involvement by attending weekly Cogut Fellows Seminars where graduate fellows discuss the progress of their work. "I liked the idea of engaging in intellectual discussion across disciplines with people who hold not only expertise, but passion," he said.

The HMAN seminars cover a broad range of fields, are taught by professors from various departments, and are available to all juniors and seniors. Professors had to formally apply to teach these courses so the Center could ensure the classes would be unique and interdisciplinary in their approach, Steinberg said.

"We asked people to be creative and experimental in what they teach," Steinberg said. "After this semester the professors will go back to their own departments with new material, while students will have been exposed to something completely new to them."

In the case of Assistant Professor of History Vazira Zamindar, her course entitled HMAN 1970F: "Visualizing History: The Politics of Material Culture in Modern South Asia" is a direct representation of her current research.

"My research deals with the history of archaeology in 19th and 20th century South Asia, specifically British India," Zamindar said.

Besides getting continual feedback on her work, she said another reason she wanted to teach a humanities course was because it would allow her to interact with students outside of her own discipline.

Sheela Krishnan '10 is a Human Biology concentrator currently enrolled in Zamindar's class, who came upon the course by chance when looking up classes.

"There's only one other class on South Asia being offered this semester and I really wanted to take something dealing with the area because of my personal interest and history," said Krishnan, who identifies as South Asian.

Krishnan is taking the course even though it doesn't give her credit towards her concentration. Because the Cogut Center is not its own department, however, students can talk to the department in which they are concentrating to get the new courses cross-listed.

History of Art and Architecture concentrator Emily Silverman '09 said she will take advantage of this opportunity. "I've already been talking to my concentration advisor about cross-listing this course to get credit for my major. All I have to do now is send him a copy of the syllabus for approval," she said.

Silverman, who usually studies European and Renaissance art, said she was initially attracted to the course because it would be something unfamiliar to her.

"I have no background in South Asian art whatsoever, but that's what makes it so interesting," she said.

The other Humanities courses offered this semester are: HMAN 1970A: "Eating Cultures: Food and Society" by Associate Professor of American Civilization Matthew Garcia, HMAN 1970G: "A History of Humanness: Scientific and Popular Cultures in the 20th Century United States" by Visiting Assistant Professor of the Humanities Megan Glick, HMAN 1970H: "Specters of Comparison" by Visiting Assistant Professor of the Humanities Nergis Erturk and HMAN 1970K: "The Origins and Contours of American Nationalism, 1780-1900" by Associate Professor of History Michael Vorenberg.

Though Steinberg said there would never be a Humanities concentration, the classes will continue to be offered in future years.

© Copyright 2008 Brown Daily Herald

BTV — returning soon to a TV near you? 09.09.08

Providence, Rhode Island — Many Brown students have not been able to enjoy the programming of Brown Television, instead accustomed to seeing a blank screen as they flip past channel nine on IPTV.

But a note flashing on the channel recently provided hope that the station may soon be revived: "BTV will be coming back soon."

Jad Joseph '10 and David Notis '10 inherited BTV from its former managers, Elizabeth Backup '08 and Kevin Volk '08, after being the only two present at a meeting held at the end of their freshmen year.

"When we got to the meeting, we realized how bad things really were, but thought it would be fun to get involved," Notis said. "It was harder than we thought."

Doug Liman '88, a Hollywood director and producer, founded BTV in 1987 to encourage and showcase student-made content on campus.

But while Liman, director of "The Bourne Identity," is now a big name in Hollywood, BTV has been off the air for the last two years.

Efforts to relaunch the channel were taken up once more when two Brown Film Production members, Roman Gonzalez '11 and Herald Comic Artist Joe Larios '10, decided they needed better equipment to make their films.

The two approached Joseph and Notis hoping that their combined efforts could benefit the station, Gonzalez said. The four students now compose the first BTV executive board since the station went off the air.

With help from other BFP members, the new leaders cleaned up the old studio on the third floor of Faunce House, cataloged all equipment and drafted a budget proposal to submit to the Undergraduate Finance Board.

In April, UFB approved approximately $5,000 for use by BTV, a Category III group, under the presumption that the network would run more student-produced shows, said former UFB Representative Drew Madden '10.

Having purchased a new High Definition video camera and other necessary equipment - all currently on order - Gonzalez said BTV would go on air within a few weeks.

Notis and Joseph both said there was no exact date for the relaunch, but that they would go ahead with it when they had more student programming and had digitized more of the videos they already had in stock.

BTV content will primarily be composed of campus events including lectures, dance and theater productions, fraternity events and any other quality videos produced by students, Notis said.

"We want BTV to eventually become a community of people who come together to make films and TV shows on campus," Joseph said.

The original reason he signed up for BTV was because he had an idea for a show and wanted the resources to create and air it, he said.

Now, Joseph, along with the others involved, will give students on campus the opportunity and the resources to produce and air original shows and films, by accepting students' proposals and helping them with production.

This coming Sunday, the studios will open their doors to the 100 to 150 students who showed interest in becoming a part of this group at the activities fair held last week.

Some informal talk of collaboration between BTV and the Janus Forum has already been established to show lectures and conferences, Notis said.

The Brown Noser is another organization that has shown great interest in collaborating, Gonzalez said.

"I don't know what the viewership will be, but it's no skin off our backs to put videos we're already making for our Web site on television," said Mitch Moranis '10, editor emeritus for the Brown Noser.

Longer materials - 30-minute comedy shorts or a daily morning news show with a comedic twist - are also a possibility, he added.

Ricky Gresh, director of student activities, has been the primary University adviser for BTV leadership throughout the process. He said they will have to anticipate finding a different location for the studio once Faunce closes its doors for renovations this year.

While issues may arise in the process, Gresh said efforts by BTV leadership to relaunch BTV have been substantial.

"This is actually going to happen and we're really open to any suggestions, ideas or input of any kind," Notis said.

© Copyright 2008 Brown Daily Herald