SCHOOL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Cruise the News in Biology
Rudi Berkelhamer, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Tu 2-2:50pm, PSCB 240
Course Code 87600

This seminar will focus on several new biological findings and/or areas of interest that have been in the news in the past year with an eye to critically evaluating them. Students in the class will choose those on which they would like to focus and will read and discuss recent findings and how to learn more about the questions they raise. For several of the topics, the class will compare the popular press version (newspaper, magazine, online reporting) with what is found in the scientific literature. Techniques for reading and understanding difficult scientific articles will be presented and practiced.

Rudi Berkelhamer is a faculty member in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education. She has designed and taught a broad range of Biology courses at UCI including the Experimental Biology Laboratory Class (Bio Sci 100LW), a problem-based learning class on Current Issues in Biology, and several Upper Division Writing in Biology classes. As Associate Dean of the Division of Undergraduate Education, Dr. Berkelhamer's responsibilities include oversight for the new student programs for both freshmen and transfers.

COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES

Introduction to Immunology
Anshu Agrawal, Medicine & Immunology
W 3:00-3:50pm, DBH 1422
Course Code 87601

The seminar will provide you with a basic understanding of the functions of various immune cells such dendritic cells, macrophages, T and B lymphocytes. There will discussions every week focused on alterations in immune functions that result in diseases like cancer, autoimmunity, allergy etc. Novel immunotherapeutic approaches will also be discussed.

There are no assigned readings. Students will be asked to read and discuss articles in the news related to the topic of discussion for that week.

Anshu Agrawal is an an Associate Professor in the Division of Basic and Clinical Immunology/Dept. of Medicine. Her research interests lie in the area of innate immunity and aging with particular focus on dendritic cells of the immune system.

Practical Nutrition for College Students: A Biochemical Perspective
Frances Jurnak, Physiology & Biophysics
W 2:00-2:50pm, Middle Earth Housing Complex, Gandalf’s Classroom B
Course Code 87602

Note: Professor Jurnaks’s seminar will be held in Middle Earth Housing. Please be aware that your travel time will be greater than 10 minutes if you are coming from Mesa Court or the School of the Arts. For a map of Middle Earth, please go to http://www.housing.uci.edu/me/map.as

Course will focus on the scientific basis for genetic individuality, metabolic role of vitamins and minerals, diet fads, exercise and muscle building fads, improvement in mental acuity, methods to mitigate the negative effects of alcohol on the body, staying younger longer, and lowering the risk for cancer.

Assignments:
1. Attendance at all meetings
2. 24-hour food diary and analysis
3. Selective readings
4. One short class presentation
5. Two page paper on an essential nutrient

Frances Jurnak is a Professor of Physiology and Biophysics in the School of Medicine. Her research specialty is structural and functional biochemistry, with strong personal interest in nutritional biochemistry. Dr. Jurnak has taught nutrition for several years and has given numerous seminars on the topics presented in class.

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES

How to Succeed at UCI
Glenn Levine, German
Th 1:00-1:50pm, ICS 225
Course Code 87603

You’ve gotten into UCI (congratulations!), and now you sit attentively in seminars and lectures designed to mediate copious amounts of information on diverse topics. These courses should help you learn to read and think about texts, research and write papers, process scientific information, conduct experiments, make public presentations, etc.: all components of a well-rounded education. But sometimes the “big picture” never comes into focus, and a lot of what is learned remains a blur, just a set of “requirements” toward a degree. To put it bluntly: sometimes even college graduates never learn a lot of what we (seek to) train them for: to read, write and think well. And as a transfer student you have even less time than others to achieve all this. In this seminar we will discuss this dilemma, with the goal of helping you bring your own college career into focus at the outset, and of giving you the tools to reflect critically on your education. At the heart of it we’ll study the concept of literacy, which is not only a matter of reading and writing, but of developing the ability to successfully negotiate and engage with the multiplicity of communications channels and media in today’s world. In the process we’ll critically examine the U.S.-university education overall, and our complex roles in it.

Required Text: Grites, Thomas, and Rondeau, Susan. Transfer Student Companion. Wadsworth, 2008.

Optional Text: We will also read excerpts from these two books (as digital pdf files, but which I recommend you add to your personal library: Graff, Gerald. Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind. Yale University Press, 2004. Nist-olejnik, Sherrie, and Patrick Holschuh, Jodi. College Rules!: How to Study, Survive and Succeed in College. 2nd Edition. Ten Speed Press, 2007.

Glenn Levine is an Associate Professor of German, the director of the Humanities Language Learning Program, and faculty director of the UCI Center for International Education (study abroad office). Professor Levine is an applied linguist. His research and publications deal with second-language acquisition, bilingualism and foreign language pedagogy. He is also closely involved with the Global Leadership Certificate Program and the Jewish Studies program at UCI.