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Past Forum Seminars

Read below for descriptions of Forum Seminars offered in past semesters. Some of these may be offered again in the future, while others will most likely not be repeated. Note that in the past, courses currently offered under the BDP 101 number have been offered as FS 118 and CXS 118 courses.

Current Forum Seminars: 2002-Present

The following courses may or may not be offered in a given semester. Please check the course schedule or our Current Courses page for the courses offered this semester.

BDP 101: Children and Society
Instructors: Catherine Echols, Psychology; Alba Ortiz, Special Education

Children and Society focuses on children and their development within topic areas such as children and health, families, education, and the media. Faculty members from across campus will introduce students to the breadth, complexity, and interdisciplinary nature of issues pertaining to children and development.

Children and Society syllabus (PDF, 97 KB)

BDP 329: Clinical Ethics: Theory and Practice
Instructor: William Winslade, UTMB and Philosophy

This three-hour interdisciplinary seminar brings together upper-level undergraduates, medical students, medical residents, and Pharm D. graduate students. Each session will include a seminar discussion of key topics in clinical medical ethics and a clinical case presentation by a student team. Topics included, among others, are orders not to resuscitate, determination of death, informed consent, and refusal of treatment for competent and incompetent patients, advance planning, quality of life and life-sustaining interventions, euthanasia and assisted suicide, confidentiality of medical information, ethics committees and ethics consultation, and allocation of scarce health resources.

BDP 101: Environmental Change and Sustainability
Instructor: Jay Banner, Geological Sciences

This forum seminar will explore the range of environmental challenges that our society faces, including those involving water resources, climate change, and ecosystems, as well as possible solutions to these problems. The roles of science, policy-making, economic interests, and sustainability will be examined in the context of these issues.

BDP 329: Ethics, Law and Health Care
Instructor: William Winslade, UTMB and Philosophy

This course will explore real medical and legal cases that create ethical controversies. An interdisciplinary approach will combine legal and ethical case analysis with medical and psychological perspectives. Topics include, among others, emergency lifesaving treatment; organ donation; definition of death; brain injury treatment enhancement and research; mental illness; treatment and punishment of sex offenders; legal responsibility and brain function; competency and consent to or refusal of medical treatment for children and adults; physician assisted suicide and euthanasia; privacy, confidentiality, and privileged communications; termination and treatment of devastated patients; and responses to medical error.

BDP 101: Exploring Digital Arts and Media
Instructor: Bruce Pennycook, Music

This seminar will present a survey of the wide variety of ways that digital technologies are changing how we create art and media. The seminars will include presentations on digital sound design, digital cinema production, interactivity especially in gaming and live performance, real-time "show control", visualization, networked audio/visual presentation and performance, "wearable" computers for new expression in dance and movement, interactive story telling. We will also examine some current software and hardware systems used by professional artists, designers, and producers.

Exploring Digital Arts and Digital Media syllabus (PDF, 156 KB)

BDP 306: Fundamentals of Ethical Leadership
Instructor: Geoffrey Tumlin, Center for Ethical Leadership

This course will explore fundamental concepts in leadership and ethics and is divided into four interdependent sections. In the first section of the course, we will explore the interactional nature of ethical leadership and develop a practical lens to view this process. The focus of the course's second section is on self-awareness as an essential cornerstone of effective leadership and followership. In the third section of our course we will turn our attention to the difficult decisions that we have to make as leaders. The final section of the course will focus on salient topics that are central to the practice and the process of ethical leadership. These topics include: gender issues in leadership, the dilemma of social proof, peer leadership, leadership while in college, deception as a leader's tool, and the successful navigation of the tension between individual and collective goals.

BDP 101: Going Global: Topics in International Studies
Instructor: Karin Wilkins, Radio-Television-Film

This course introduces students to explore a variety of issues in a global context. Building respect and understanding of our global environment is crucial in our educational system as well as our social and political engagement beyond the classroom. This introductory seminar will address current global concerns, particularly in the areas of conflict and negotiation; human rights and social justice; international development; and media systems.

Going Global: Topics in International Studies syllabus (PDF, 98 KB)

BDP 101: Health Inequality in Childhood and Adolescence
Instructor: Robert Crosnoe, Sociology

Health inequality in childhood and adolescence appears in all stages of the human life course as a function of the stratification of American society by race, social class, gender, and other factors. In childhood and adolescence, inequalities emerge in mental health, obesity, health behavior, and other aspects of health that lay a foundation for the even greater inequalities in health, including life expectancy, that characterize adult populations. Thus, combating early health inequalities can have long-term, lasting effects on the general well-being of American society as a whole. Because the first step in combating such early health inequalities is to understand them, this seminar will investigate in detail the various inequalities in health that arise and persist during the early life course by listening to experts from the health field, reading research articles on health, and discussing both the causes of health problems and possible methods of preventing such problems.

Health Inequality in Childhood and Adolescence syllabus (PDF, 109 KB)

BDP 101: Image and Society: Exploring Visual Culture
Instructor: Charles Ramirez Berg, Radio-Television-Film

This course explores the many kinds of images that we encounter in daily life. Faculty members from across campus will speak about how they use images in their work. Students will learn how to appreciate and read images from a variety of sources. In previous semesters we have had presentations on a wide variety of images including movie and circus posters, advertising, maps, photographs, movies, animation, building design, theater sets, the design of the University of Texas Commencement, comics, Japanese anime, painting, graphic art, and digital media.

Image and Society syllabus (PDF, 236 KB)

BDP 101: Introduction to Film Studies
Instructor: Sabine Hake, Germanic Studies

What is film? Why do we go to the movies? How are films produced and consumed? What is the function of film in society? How do filmmakers tell stories? What are the key elements, and who are the main contributors? What is the relationship of film to other mass media? In this seminar, we will try to answer these questions through a comprehensive introduction to film as a subject of critical analysis and scholarly inquiry. Through lectures, screenings, and discussions, we will look at film from a variety of perspectives: the role of film as an industry and art form; the development of film form and style; the relationship between entertainment and ideology; the contribution of film to definitions of gender, race, and nation; and the dynamics of mainstream cinema, art film, and alternative filmmaking. Students will learn about the diverse ways film is studied and researched across campus. Professors from film studies, history, art history, communication, government, and foreign languages and literatures will give guest lectures about various aspects of film studies, including the Hollywood studio system, the star phenomenon, film genres, foreign films, experimental cinema, film history, the global film industry, and so forth. These lecture topics will be coordinated with mandatory film screenings.

BDP 101: Introduction to International Studies
Instructor: Eugene Gholz, LBJ School

This course introduces students to explore a variety of issues in a global context. Building respect and understanding of our global environment is crucial in our educational system as well as our social and political engagement beyond the classroom. This introductory seminar will address current global concerns, particularly in the areas of conflict and negotiation; human rights and social justice; international development; and media systems.

BDP 101: Intro to the Non-profit World
Instructor: Cal Streeter, Social Work

The nonprofit sector is the fastest growing sector in the U.S. economy. This phenomenon presents enormous opportunities for communities, nonprofit managers, Boards of Directors, and those who fund nonprofit organizations. This course introduces students to the nonprofit sector and provides them with the knowledge they need to understand the role of nonprofit organizations in contemporary American society. Students will learn what distinguishes the nonprofit sector from business and government, with particular attention to mission, organizational structure, funding, and culture. We will examine the statutory and regulatory requirements of nonprofit organizations and explore the ways in which philanthropic giving and volunteers shape the work of the nonprofit sector. Readings and class activities provide students with a broad understanding of the nonprofit sector and help them weigh the pros and cons of a career in the nonprofit world.

BDP 101: Law and Culture
Instructor: Sue Heinzelman, English

This course is titled “Law and Culture” but perhaps a more accurate definition would be “Law in Culture” because law does not operate outside of culture but is, in fact, produced by culture. The course will examine the various stories we tell about the law, about what the law does, about what the law means to individuals and to society, and about how the law helps both to produce culture and to reflect the culture that it relies upon. In other words, we will come to understand law as a dynamic, complicated, sometimes contradictory, sometimes ideal, sometimes practical, both abstract and embodied vision of what we believe brings about justice.

Law and Culture syllabus (PDF, 116 KB)

BDP 129: Leadership Principles in the Real World
Instructor: J.D. Howell, LBJ School

There are a dozen or so Principles or Eternal Truths of Leadership that have been taught by the military and other institutions for many years. It is the intent of this course to review these principles, discuss their meaning and show how they can be applied in our daily lives to help us in a practical way to become more effective leaders. The professor will also use examples from his own life experiences in the military and as Director of Johnson Space Center.

Leadership Principles in the Real World syllabus (PDF, 52 KB)

BDP 101: Lessons in Ethical Leadership Studies
Instructor: J.D. Howell, LBJ School

The purpose of this course will be two-fold. First, through a series of lectures, discussions and readings, the students will be introduced to the Principles of Leadership and shown how they can be applied to enhance their personal Leadership skills. Secondly, the class will be exposed to a series of guest speakers who represent various scholarly disciplines at The University of Texas. These speakers will discuss the challenges of Ethical Leadership in their particular fields of study.

BDP 101: Professional Ethics in Law/Business/Medicine
Instructor: John Dzienkowski, Law School

This course will examine 5-6 case studies presenting similar ethical dilemmas in the context of the professions of law, business, and medicine. We will first study each profession’s norms for resolving these ethical problems. We will then analyze the systems for regulating ethical issues in law, business, and medicine in an effort to determine whether the professionals are exercising appropriate self-regulation. Students will write three short papers on the class material throughout the course and a longer paper on an ethical dilemma in their own field of interest. Issues to be covered include disclosure of professional malpractice to clients/patients, disclosure of life-threatening situations to third persons in conflict with other professional goals, and ethics in marketing professional services. Guest speakers help broaden our perspective on the material we are studying.

BDP 319: Science of Wonder: Natural History Museums
Instructors: Chris Bell, Geological Sciences; Dean Hendrickson, Texas Memorial Museum

This class will introduce students to the University's Natural History Museum collections in Botany, Vertebrate and Invertebrate Paleontology, Ichthyology, Herpetology, Entomology and Archaeology. Students will tour research collections that typically are not accessible to the public or to the general student body. Discussions will focus on the history and role of natural history museums in society and the complex issues facing them today.

Science of Wonder: Natural History Museums syllabus (PDF, 117 KB)

BDP 101: Sport and Society
Instructor: Jan Todd, Kinesiology and Health Education

This course explores the impact of sport on modern American culture through conversations with local faculty and journalists who study this complex phenomenon. Organized thematically, the course will explore the issues of Ergogenic aids and drug testing, race and sport, women and sport, amateurism, commercialization, violence, and technology and sport. Several films will also be shown. Students should leave the class with an understanding of the both the importance of the world of sport to our identity as Americans and the increasingly complex issues that modern sport confronts in the 21st century.

Previously Offered Forum Seminars: 2002-2007

FS 118: American Dispute Resolution
Instructor: John Dzienkowski, Law

Dispute Resolution in the United States: Beyond the Adversarial Model. This course presents and critically examines the adversarial model of dispute resolution from several perspectives. It then turns to a study of several other methods of resolving disputes: Mediation, Arbitration, Negotiation, and several Hybrid Models. These models of dispute resolution are analyzed from the perspective of societal forces that push the legal profession to consider alternative methods of dispute resolution. We will examine dispute resolution in the context of private civil and criminal disputes and public policy (government to government) disputes.

American Dispute Resolution syllabus (PDF, 80 KB)

FS 118: Cross-disciplinary Study of Italy
Instructor: Louis Waldman, Art and Art History

This seminar aimed to evoke the richness and diversity of Italian culture through a cross-section of its history over the past three thousand years. Lectures by experts in a wide range of disciplines led students on a voyage of discovery from Etruscan civilization to Medieval art, from Renaissance philosophy to modern popular culture, from opera in the age of Mozart to film in the age of Fellini.

FS 118: Environmental Legacy of the West
Instructors: Dick Richardson, Integrative Biology; Patricia Richardson, Integrative Biology

This course examined the foundations of present environmental, economic and social issues, tracing them from historical roots in the 19th Century. The Louisiana Purchase and subsequent contiguous acquisitions more than tripled the size of the US. Even more profound was the social and economic transformation from our "New World" origin in the East and South into the "American Myth" -- our national identity and culture -- that today is both emulated and hated. We examine the process of expansion and ponder the features of our national perspectives, forged in conflict of cultural values with indigenous Americans and the quest for territorial control. These historical perspectives today reveal the roots of globalization. This class begins after the Louisiana Purchase with a focus on the Northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. The fur trade, gold rush, and Indian Wars characterized important dynamics evident today in the American West. The economic forces are found acting through globalization of trade andassociated disruptions of ecosystems and social systems. The class helps students understand ways to transform these histories and perspectives into sustainable environmental perspectives and practices that support social justice, ecological health and sound economics.

FS 118: Ethics and Leadership
Instructor: Minette Drumwright, Advertising

This Forum Seminar focused on ethical issues that leaders face in a variety of contexts. Faculty from across campus helped students identify ethical issues that leaders face in areas such as politics, law, social justice, media and technology, business, engineering, medicine, nursing, social services, and profit organizations. The seminar will help students think about how to think about ethical issues in various contexts.

FS 118: French and Francophone Cultural Studies
Instructor: Dina Sherzer, French and Italian

This course introduced students to the richness and variety of the cultures of France and the Francophone countries of North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean. Lectures by experts in different disciplines from across campus introduced students to architecture, cinema, fine arts, gastronomy, history, and literature and discussed how they relate to specific contexts and situations in French and Francophone cultures. Issues in ecology, gender, and politics were also part of this seminar.

FS 118: Manifest Destiny and Environment: Fur Trade to Globalization
Instructor: Dick Richardson, Biological Sciences

This course examined the foundations of present environmental, economic and social issues rooted in the 19th Century, beginning with a focus on the Northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, where the fur trade, gold rush, and Indian Wars created important dynamics that permeate today's American West. These forces are manifested in globalization of trade and associated disruptions of ecosystems and social systems. Finally, the class examined ways to move towards sustainable environmental, social, and economic systems.

FS 118: Media, Global Citizenship and Democracy
Instructor: Donald Heider, Journalism

This seminar considered such issues as what is a citizen; how do political systems work; what role does media play in getting political information to citizens; how is power manifested in different cultural systems? The course took an interdisciplinary approach, touching on political philosophy, history, communications, anthropology, and sociology.

FS 118: The New Texas: Views on a Changing State
Instructors: Lucia Gilbert, Educational Psychology; Polly Strong, Anthropology

The New Texas focused on the dramatic changes the state of Texas is undergoing. The changes in populations, cultures, technologies, and environments created a rich opportunity as well as a clear necessity for interdisciplinary study. Faculty members from across campus introduced students to the perspectives of many disciplines as well as a variety of interdisciplinary programs and the Bridging Disciplines Program.

FS 118: Open Questions
Instructor: Robert Duke, Music

This course featured some of the most fascinating and best-known faculty on the UT campus. It introduced students to important questions in the arts, sciences and humanities with focus on the process of intellectual inquiry, including the formulation of meaningful questions and the collection and interpretation of relevant evidence.

FS 118: Peace, Conflict, and Communication
Instructor: Madeline Maxwell, Communication Studies

Peace, Conflict and Communication focused on the interdisciplinary study of the dynamics of peace and conflict, and the role of communication in creating and intervening in conflict. Among the major areas addressed were violence, power, media, intervention, language and culture. Faculty members from across campus introduced students to the breadth, complexity, and interdisciplinary nature of issues pertaining to peace, conflict and communication.

FS 118: Population and Public Policy
Instructor: Robert Hummer, Sociology

This forum seminar explored how human populations – their size, growth and distribution – in the world today affect national and international affairs. A variety of controversial topics regarding the social policy implications of population were debated by faculty experts in their fields. Topics covered included the continued rapid growth of the U.S. population; the role of economic development and family planning programs in bringing about significant fertility declines throughout the world; managing legal and undocumented migration across national boundaries; implications of welfare reform policies for U.S. families, and several others.

FS 118: Representing Identities
Instructor: Polly Strong, Anthropology

How are cultural, racial, ethnic, religious, national, and gender identities represented in contemporary media and performances? How are cultural differences represented? Who has the power to represent themselves and others? How are representations of identity and difference used to influence citizens and consumers? What is the impact of representations on individual experience? In this seminar faculty in Liberal Arts, Fine Arts, Communication, Education, and Law will discuss their own research on these issues, and students will develop analyses of the representations they encounter in their daily lives.

Representing Identities syllabus (PDF, 117 KB)

FS 118: The Science of Environmental Change
Instructors: Jay Banner, Geological Sciences; Kent Butler, Architecture

This forum seminar explored the range of environmental problems that have been created by human activity and population growth. Among the major issues addressed were water resources, climate change, loss of species and possible solutions to these problems. The roles of science, policy-making, economic interests and the media were examined in the context of these issues.

FS 118: Technology and the Global Community
Instructors: Hillary Hart, Civil Engineering; Mary Lynn Rice-Lively, Library and Information

Students explored the meaning and manifestation of technology as seen in various disciplines and professional settings. Class lectures, readings, and assignments looked at the use and influence of technology in our everyday lives and activities. Technology was not only the object of study but also was used as a tool to locate, evaluate, and use electronic resources for information and communication.

Shane Kerr

"With the multidisciplinary focus of the BDP, I have been able to cross off certain careers I thought would be interesting, and I have discovered new and emerging areas of interest that I never would have thought about."

- Shane Kerr, Digital Arts & Media