This topic is multidisciplinary and will include topics from astronomy, biology (evolution of intelligence), chemistry (origin of life), engineering (spaceflight and the difficulty of traveling between the stars), and sociology (do technological civilizations destroy themselves). In this course, we will address the Fermi paradox, the belief that intelligent life is common, that they should have colonized our solar system long ago, and yet we see no evidence that they exist.

All the evidence points to the fact that we are the first, and possibly the only, intelligent civilization in the galaxy. In fact, we have no evidence of any extraterrestrial life. And yet, we have no evidence that they are visiting, or have ever visited, Earth. Given that our galaxy is 13 billion years old, some of these civilizations should have been able to fully colonize the galaxy long ago. If only a tiny fraction of those stars have intelligent life, there could be millions of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. Our galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars. (Note: Each instructor will serve as the advisor for 5 students in the class.)Īre We Alone in the Universe? (Edward Murphy) Assignments will involve active learning, the development of the tools and skills to deliver a great speech, and include the presentation of a fully constructed speech and critiques of pre-existing works. Ryan will lead this exploration into the power of speeches, drawing from his own personal experiences as both UVA President and former dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Incorporating guest visits from former presidential speechwriters and politicians, to poets and communications professionals, Pres. Surveying the gamut of speeches throughout history, this class will seek to provide a deeper understanding into this time honored craft and the historical context in which they were delivered. What's the finest speech you’ve ever heard? Why was it memorable and what made it essential or inspiring? This course will examine the impact and art of a well-constructed and delivered speech. Great Speeches (James Ryan / Margaret Grundy Noland / Matthew Weber) Our class will involve some outdoors time, a few short, two-page papers, discussion, and guests from such offices as Career Services, the Writing Center, and the Center for Undergraduate Research. We will examine what selected outdoorsmen and women considered to be 'divine,' 'holy,' or 'sacred' and why they believed the way they did, among them John Muir and Annie Dillard. This course examines how Americans have viewed the relation between God, nature, and themselves since the founding of the United States. God and Nature in America (Heather Warren) This course isn’t just for theatre geeks it's for anyone interested in discovering how a play can be appreciated as literature but is more deeply experienced collectively in performance. We’ll compare some of these recent award-winning scripts to identify the textural complexities in language, action, rhythm and musicality for clues to understanding the playwright’s intentions, and we’ll set up our own creative teams to bring parts of these scripts to life. While traditional scripts clearly outline guides for production, guides by innovative storytellers might be buried, even elusive, on the page. If a play is an artistic work performed for a live audience, how do we read a playscript for the source material it is? Like an orchestral score, a script is only the recipe, waiting for a creative team to combine its ingredients into a living, sensory experience. The Culture of College and the Structure of UVAĭiscovering Jefferson's Academical Village With extreme gratitude to the Souder Family for funding the following COLA classes. The COLA classes marked as RPE below are part if this initiative and meet the goal of introducing places, their histories, and their legacies that have shaped Charlottesville and central Virginia while also teaching the fundamentals of place-based and community-based learning. One component includes eight COLA classes for incoming undergraduate students. Mellon Foundation to build equity-minded, anti-racist, place-based educational and post-doctoral programs. UVA has been awarded a three-year, $5 million grant from The Andrew W.

Click here to read some COLA testimonials. The instructors of the following courses will be the advisor for the students in the class until such time that they declare a major. Approximately 80% of the content will be as described below with 20% of the course devoted to group advising issues. COLA 1500 courses are one-credit, graded seminars open to all new first-year students in the College of A&S they are taught in the fall term only.

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