1.  PED 228: Boxing Fitness

Boxing Fitness is dedicated to teaching students the basics of boxing. El-Java Abdul-Qadir, a Syracuse University professor and owner of his own martial arts studio, began the class as a way to give people a different perspective of the sport.

“Now, people always leave the boxing class saying, ‘Wow, I thought that boxing was just about punching a guy until he goes straight to sleep,’” Abdul-Qadir said, “’but now I’m leaving knowing it’s actually a science.’”

The class teaches students proper ways of striking, how to defend themselves and proper boxing technique, among other things. The assignments are all geared toward improving each student’s personal fitness goals.

Many people are surprised at how physically challenging boxing is, Abdul-Qadir said. Many students who are taking the class either have no boxing experience and are looking for a new kind of workout, or had always wanted to try boxing but never had the opportunity until now.

 

2.  HOM 300: Selected Topics – EDM International

For the first time next semester, SU is offering a class that looks at electronic dance music around the world.

Instructor Maurice Mengel is an ethnomusicologist — someone who studies music and its cultural context — and just “came up with the class,” which is discussion-based. He said the class will look at the history of electronic dance music, versions of the genre around the world and how EDM is consumed and interpreted in today’s Internet Age.

“I also try to include some practical element,” he added. “In this class, we should be able to make one or several EDM tracks collaboratively in the class in a style that we have previously analyzed, perhaps a moombahton track or some other ‘world style’ of the class’s choosing.”

 

3.  BIO 211: Introduction to Neuroscience

If you’ve ever wondered how you know what you know, Professor Jacob Shreckengost and this class will connect those synapses. If you want to know what a synapse is, take this class.

BIO 211 focuses on cellular neurobiology and continues onto integrative systems — which essentially connects one organ or system to others in the body — and concludes with studying higher brain functions, according to the course catalog.

Professor Shreckengost got his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Emory University in 2012 after attending the University of Chicago and graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in biology in 2002.

Mixing biology and neuroscience, this class and Professor Sheckengost will take you deep inside the workings of the human brain.

 

4.  ANT 300: Cyborgs, Aliens and Other Worlds

Despite the title of this course, there will be no alien encounters in this class. Instead, Professor Guido Pezzarossi will pair classical anthropology with science fiction in novels, films and video games.

“I know it seems a little bit out there, but there’s actually a lot of overlap between what anthropologists do in terms of studying and looking at human difference in contexts both past and present,” Pezzarossi said.

This is the first time the course will be offered but Pezzarossi hopes to eventually regularize the class and make it into a writing intensive. He recommends the course to all students, regardless of their major or experience with the subject.
Pezzarossi said he hopes his students will be able to apply what they learn to their favorite works of fiction.

“If they were to watch Avatar in the future, they can identify where some of these ideas about hierarchy and human evolution and development and how these things are an issue,” Pezzarossi said.

 

5.  PSC 329/HST 341: The Modern American Presidency

It’s no secret that there’s something big going down in politics this November: the presidential election.

With election season already in full swing, there have been plenty of confusing ups and downs. Since it’s something new for many students, Professor Peggy Thompson aims to make sense of it all in this class.

“One of the things that’s exciting to me is that for many students, it’s the first time they can vote,” Thompson said.

Though the class may not seem practical at face value, Thompson stressed that it’s worth taking.

“I think this is one of those classes that makes for a more informed voter and a more engaged citizen,” she said.

And with campaigns already running wild, there’s no predicting where the election — and this class — will go.

 

6.  QSX 300: Christianity & Sexuality

This class is kept small, as it relies on intimate discussions between classmates and the professor. The professor of the course, Virginia Burrus, is in the religion department and has the distinction of being the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor.

Her interests include gender and sexuality among her interests in religious studies, all of which tie together in this course. During this academic year, she is a Research Fellow at the Israel Institute of Advanced Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

 

7.  CFS 425: Lust, Love and Relationships

Professor Joseph Fanelli started this class about 12 years ago when the current dean came to him requesting a part two to the Human Sexuality course. Today, the class intended for junior and seniors is offered to around 150 students each semester.

The course focuses on topics such as why people are attracted to certain people, what it means to love and the art of relationship success.

“It’s integration of the head and the heart,” Fanelli said. “I’m trying to teach a class where there is information yet it triggers a lot of emotional awareness.”

The workload is fair, as Fanelli desires for his students “to really relax, think and enjoy.”

Fanelli said the students who take this class are doing something very rare in the college experience. They’re looking at both the emotional and scientific sides of relationships. He believes “that’s something that’s pretty unusual in life in general.”

Published on April 3, 2016 at 11:25 pm