Spring 2021 ACE Courses

The United States was founded by breaking away from an empire, yet has grown into an imperial power. This course explores territorial expansion, the development of a pluralistic American state with varied internal borders and cultural realms, and the emergence of the United States as a world power. Examining American history through lenses used by creative artists, historians and social scientists, students consider such topics as global trade, slavery, urbanization, and war.

ACE Component: Students will work on civic action research projects that move towards living into St. Olaf’s Land Acknowledgement.

This interdisciplinary course introduces the field of Asian American Studies and the multiple cultural and historical productions of Asia and America, from art and film to food and lifestyles. Critical analysis of topics such as ethnic/cultural identities, stereotypes, citizenships, media/popcultures, body images, sexuality, practices of different Asian communities, and various contemporary issues are explored through interactive in-class activites, films, presentations, and field trips.

ACE Component: Students will work on website content proposals for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

The course brings together students from across the environmental studies areas of emphasis to explore complex environmental problems connected to community needs. The course satisfies the experiential component requirement.

ACE Component: In cooperation with a community partner teams of students will participate in a project fulfilling an identified local need, such as research, planning and execute a community event, inventorying and documenting various features of natural environments, etc.

Students study in-depth the physiology of exercise, covering cardiovascular and muscular adaptions to exercise and factors affecting performance, including body composition, environmental influences, training implications across gender and age, and the assessment of fitness.

ACE Component: Students will work with members from the St. Olaf community to conduct baseline measurement testing and consultation.

This course presents the fundamental principles of exercise testing and prescription for both healthy and special needs individuals. Students explore techniques for assessing fitness and prescribing exercise using a variety of ergometers for improvement of health fitness parameters. Students also utilize case studies and laboratory experiences. Topics include health/medical histories, submaximal graded exercise testing, and assessment of strength, flexibility, pulmonary functions, and body composition.

ACE Component: Students will work 1-1 with two St. Olaf clients (faculty or staff) to assess several health factors (e.g., strength, endurance, flexibility, nutrition, blood pressure, body composition) and then prescribe exercise regimens and dietary advice over the course of 12-weeks. Clients are reassessed at the end of the 12-weeks.

Students explore the theory and practice of Public History as they learn to identify and interpret history for the public. Using readings, workshops, site visits, and individual and collaborative projects, students explore how ownership and funding influence decisions regarding what is preserved; how the past informs the present; how the present may oppose the past; and how cultures engage in remembering their pasts in ways consistent with the common good.

ACE Component: Students will work with local nonprofits and historical societies to generate grant proposals for public history projects.

This course introduces the key elements of marketing principles. Topics include evaluating market opportunities; buyer behavior; market segmentation, targeting, and positioning; market strategy and planning; development of marketing mix; and marketing organization and control. Students are challenged to apply the principles learned in class to current and real world marketing issues. The course includes readings, case study analysis, in-class exercises and group projects.

ACE Component: Students will work with businesses and organizations to research and generate marketing plans.

This course investigates entry control policy, integration and citizenship policy, and the political activities of migrants in the wealthy democracies. Alternative arguments emphasizing the role of economic interests, sovereignty, national identity, and gender are introduced. Opportunities for academic civic engagement projects are included in the course.

ACE Component: Students will assist with research and editing of content for the Rural Immigration Network.

Course description coming soon!

ACE Component: Students will work on a research project for Growing Up Healthy, a program of the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative.

The primary focus of this section will be on what the Bible says about God’s relation to humanity and world as these are created good, fallen into sin and corruption, being redeemed through Christ and the covenants, and to be fully renewed in the age of come. We will explore the bearing of these theological perspectives for ethical analysis of such moral issues as relativism, moral conflict, guilt, forgiveness, suffering, war, poverty, and sexism.

ACE Component: Students work on individual social action projects related to issues in environmental sustainability.

Social welfare policies exemplify how society’s values and needs translate into policies and programs. Social workers create, implement, and evaluate policies in all areas of social policy. Students study policy formation and analysis that reflect interests and powers of diverse groups as well as economic and social realities of certain populations at risk of poverty and discrimination. The course emphasizes policy impact on women, people in poverty, people of color, and empowerment in policy practice.

ACE Component: Students will work on peer civic education projects for the St. Olaf Election Engagement group.

How do ideas of “race” and “nature” shape environmental politics and policy? To what degree is environmental harm linked to social systems and power struggles among humans? How can we link theories of social inequality to theories of environmental studies? How can we imagine and enact change and justice in our lives and in the world in ways that are attentive to hierarchy, inequalities, systems of power, vastly different worldviews and complexity and contradiction? In this writing seminar, we will explore these questions in both reading and writing. Students will be asked to pay close attention to the ways in which concepts like race, gender, class, citizenship, nations, and species intersect and shape one another in order to better understand how systems of power and inequality are constructed, reinforced, and challenged.

ACE Component: Students work on individual social action projects related to issues in environmental justice.