Stories We Tell Course Pairing
The Art of Reading (EN 101)
The characters we’ll meet this semester tell lies that range from the mundane to the monstrous. Some lie to survive, some to fit in, and some to stand out. Some pay a price, but others never do. Whether they’re hiding a rotting corpse, deceiving themselves, or merely telling someone what they want to hear, their secrets and lies illuminate shifting ideas about truth, justice, and survival in American society.
Faculty biography
Dr. Sondra Guttman has been a member of the English Department faculty since 2008. Her research and teaching interests encompass Multiethnic U.S. literature, African American literature, and revolutionary U.S. fiction.
Philosophical Perspectives: Politics and Society (PL 210)
In this course we will explore the promises and limits of liberal democracy in highly complex and deeply pluralistic societies. The course can be roughly divided into two sections. The first part examines the fragile alliance between liberalism and democracy. We will discuss topics such as the nature of political power, factions and democracy, and the possibility of democratic solidarity in divided societies. Once we have a good grasp of the underlying values and assumptions of liberal democracy, we will examine some of the most controversial issues in contemporary politics from the perspective of democracy. In the second part we will address topics such as the political public sphere, the democratic function of the media, corporations and democracy, the role of activism in democracy, and civil disobedience.
Faculty biography
Dr. Fuat Gursozlu received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He came to Loyola in 2012 and has taught several courses including Politics and Society, Philosophy of Human Rights, Justice in Global Perspective, and Contemporary Political Philosophy. He specializes in Social and Political Philosophy and his recent research focuses on the nature of democratic society and how democracy can address marginalization, oppression, polarization and violence and create a more peaceful society.
Mentor biography
Melissa Lees holds her Bachelor of Arts in Religious Students from Marywood University in Scranton, PA and her Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry from The University of Dayton. Melissa moved to Baltimore in 2007 to work as a site director for an AmeriCorps program, of which she is an alum. Melissa began at Loyola in September 2015 as the Sexual Violence Prevention, Education and Response Coordinator and in July 2017 became the Director of the Women's Center.
Virtual Advisor
EN 101 satisfies the Literature core requirement for all students. Students who choose this pairing will be pre-registered for PL 201 in the fall semester as a prerequisite to PL 210.
