(Final Revision – 5 Febr. 2010) HUNGER STUDIES CAPSTONE COURSE HUSC 4000 Spring Semester, 2010 - 3 credit hours Tuesdays, Thursdays - 9:00 to 10:30 am Spidle Hall 336 Professor Douglas Casson Coutts, UN World Food Programme Office: 356 Spidle, Office phone: 844-3215, Cell phone: (334) 728-4350 Office Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays 10:30 – 12:00 and by appointment Email: [email protected]or [email protected]COURSE DESCRIPTION This senior-level class is designed to help students interested in hunger studies develop their critical thinking skills and expand their capacities to work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary group setting as they conceptualize, develop and implement a comprehensive hunger-based learning assignment. Specifically, under the guidance of the instructor, student participants will be assigned a group project that combines issues related to hunger within their major field with hunger issues related to the major fields of others in the group. Hunger- related topics will vary from semester to semester. Regardless of subject matter, however, an examination of the hunger issue from diverse perspectives will inform the creative projects being developed by the multidisciplinary groups. This course is the final senior seminar required for the Hunger Studies Minor. COURSE OBJECTIVES 1) To deepen students’ understanding of hunger and its related causes, consequences, and responses; and 2) To enhance professional skills in the areas of team building, leadership training; advocacy; and project development and implementation. 3) To assist and support the student in understanding the role that his/her chosen or potential future profession (based on his/her major area of study) plays in addressing and helping to solve global hunger. Each student will discuss research articles with his or her peers, co-design a research-supported project, implement and evaluate the project, and co-author a paper that describes the project experience from start to finish (i.e., the research base for the project, the details of the project design and implementation, and evaluation of the outcomes of the project).
Transcript
(Final Revision – 5 Febr. 2010)
HUNGER STUDIES CAPSTONE COURSE
HUSC 4000 Spring Semester, 2010 - 3 credit hours
Tuesdays, Thursdays - 9:00 to 10:30 am
Spidle Hall 336
Professor Douglas Casson Coutts, UN World Food Programme
Office: 356 Spidle, Office phone: 844-3215, Cell phone: (334) 728-4350 Office Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays 10:30 – 12:00 and by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION This senior-level class is designed to help students interested in hunger studies develop their critical thinking skills and expand their capacities to work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary group setting as they conceptualize, develop and implement a comprehensive hunger-based learning assignment. Specifically, under the guidance of the instructor, student participants will be assigned a group project that combines issues related to hunger within their major field with hunger issues related to the major fields of others in the group. Hunger-related topics will vary from semester to semester. Regardless of subject matter, however, an examination of the hunger issue from diverse perspectives will inform the creative projects being developed by the multidisciplinary groups. This course is the final senior seminar required for the Hunger Studies Minor.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
1) To deepen students’ understanding of hunger and its related causes, consequences, and responses; and
2) To enhance professional skills in the areas of team building, leadership training; advocacy; and project development and implementation.
3) To assist and support the student in understanding the role that his/her chosen or potential future profession (based on his/her major area of study) plays in addressing and helping to solve global hunger.
Each student will discuss research articles with his or her peers, co-design a research-supported project, implement and evaluate the project, and co-author a paper that describes the project experience from start to finish (i.e., the research base for the project, the details of the project design and implementation, and evaluation of the outcomes of the project).
SEMINAR TOPIC and REQUIRED READINGS: Since this is a pilot launch of the first Hunger Studies Capstone Course, the particular topic (s) for this seminar will be decided by the instructor in consultation with the students enrolled in this course (based on individual interest and major areas of study) by the end of the second week of classes. Accordingly, there may be one overall topic for the seminar and one class project or several. Depending on the final choice of topic (s), a list of books, articles and other required reading will be provided within the first couple weeks of class and also by week and class on Blackboard (as were assigned in the Intro. Course – HUSC 2000). SUGGESTED READINGS: Making Globalization Work by Joseph E. Stiglitz The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Easterly World Hunger: Twelve Myths (Paperback) by Frances Moore Lappe (Author), Joseph Collins (Author), Peter Rosset (Author), Luis Esparza Growing up Empty: The Hunger Epidemic in America by Loretta Schwartz Nobel Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen Ending Hunger in Our Lifetime: Food Security and Globalization by C. Ford Runge Graded Requirements for the Course (based on 400 total points) There will be two separate but related projects for this class (Spring 2010) - one research paper with literary review and one operational group project (Campus Kitchens Project – CKP). Since the group project will necessarily be local, much of the work of the domestic research paper group will support and complement the needs and background assessment for the CKP project.
1. Research Paper (100 points) plus Literature Review (50 points)
The Class will be divided up into two primary working groups – Domestic and International, based on the interests of the students and their approach (relating to their major area of study) to the agreed Capstone Course Theme – “Vulnerability – Women and Children”, for the Spring Semester 2010. A paragraph briefly describing the student’s interest and approach will be prepared, discussed and agreed with the instructor and an Outline for the Research Paper will be developed based on this paragraph. Students with similar and comparable interests will be grouped together. The research paper will be an in-depth analytical paper. It will be a work of the student’s own research, views, opinions and thinking, not simply a summary of existing work. Each team will produce one Research Paper - 20 to 30 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman or Arial 12 point font, 1" margins. The Literature Review will also be collectively prepared by the team and will contain 15 to 20 sources - primarily scholarly/academic and not current events sources, i.e. newspapers, magazines, etc. The literature review will be written from a multidisciplinary perspective and will lay the foundation for the research paper and the group presentation. For example, in a team that includes a political science student, an agriculture student, and a human development and family studies student, the presentation will include a review of hunger-related research from the specific perspective of the students’ three disciplines. The political science student might review research related to policy implications of hunger, the agriculture student might incorporate how applied research in agriculture can improve access to food for the poorest communities, and the human development and family studies student might cover research that has addressed past efforts that have improved the quality of life for food insecure individuals and families.
Research Paper, Thesis, Outline and Literature Review Guidelines will be distributed, reviewed and discussed in class. Literature Review - due 9:00 am, Tuesday, 2 March Research Paper - First Draft – due 9:00 am, Tuesday, 23 March Second Draft – due 9:00 am, Tuesday, 6 April Final – due 9:00 am, Thursday, 22 April
2. Project Proposal (25 points) – “Letter to your Grandmother” Students will be grouped together based on their complementary interests and areas of special study. A formal project proposal must be approved before the student group proceeds with implementing the project. The proposal will include:
• the purpose and goals of the project,
• the methodology for implementing the project,
• a means for evaluating the successfulness of the project, e.g.
o evaluations can include number and description of participants/recipients, o closed-ended/open-ended responses from participants/recipients, o observations of the project implementation, or other means of determining project outcomes
• a detailed week to week schedule of activities to be accomplished for the project during the semester.
This project proposal will be written together in plain language without jargon and understandable to a layman in this subject, i.e. your grandmother. Project Proposal – “Letter to your Grandmother” – due 9 Febr, 9 am, Tuesday
3. Research Paper Presentation (25 points) There will be two class presentations towards the end of the semester, one by the International Team (Subject – Case Study on Haiti) and the second by the Domestic Team, based on their collective research and findings, solutions, recommendations, from their respective Research Papers. For one entire class period, each Group presentation will be an engaging overview of the various areas of their research and include a class discussion managed by the team. Domestic Team Presentation – Tuesday, 20 April Int’l Team Presentation – Thursday, 22 April
4. Group Project – Campus Kitchens Proposal, Assessment, and Application (100 points)
As a team, the entire class will work together to establish a Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) at Auburn University. Key outputs will be the successful completed of the entire CKP application and establishment of a pilot CKP Task Force to launch the plan, at minimum, on a pilot basis by the end of the Spring Semester 2010. The two teams, domestic and international – based on the research paper, will meet on a regular basis in class and outside of class to organize the strategy and approach to complete the CKP application process. An extensive and detailed assessment will be completed as per CKP guidelines. Both teams as a class overall will prepare the CKP proposal as one final document, as per the CKP pro forma, which will include
• the purpose and goals of the project, • the methodology for implementing the project, • a means for evaluating the successfulness of the project, • a detailed week to week schedule of activities to be accomplished for the project during the semester.
Deadlines to be discussed/agreed in class with Teams.
5. Group Project Presentation – Campus Kitchens (25 points) The final CKP plan, recommendations and proposal will be presented by the class as a team to a selected Auburn University management team or/and established CKP Community Advisory Board (depending on progress made) at the end of the semester. Individual grades on the team will be based on the success of the entire team success which will be judged by those being presented to. Team Presentation – Tuesday, 13 April
6. Project Journal (25 points) – Research Paper and Campus Kitchens Project Each student will keep a journal of his/her project progress on both the research project and the operational project. Entries should be made in the journal several times a week to:
• document resources consulted, • time spent in the field implementing the project, • experts consulted, • personal thoughts about the topic, ideas, • quality of the multidisciplinary team’s process for moving forward with the project, • problems encountered, etc.
The journal is a way for the student to keep track of her/his progress based on the plan of work. It is also a way for the instructor to ensure the student is making progress and to be able to offer assistance in the event a student gets off track. Email format should be used and a weekly page submitted to the instructor each Friday by 5:00.The instructor will review journals and provide feedback every two weeks and/or as requested. A final grade based on a 25 point scale will be assigned at the end of the term.
7. Inspired Philanthropist Exercise (25 points) As part of this course, there will be one class dedicated to understanding the concept of philanthropy. An individual written exercise will be completed by each student based on their own personal goals, objectives and interests in Philanthropy. This exercise will be completed towards the beginning of the semester and the
written portion will be reviewed by the instructor, and revised by the student until finalized by the end of the semester. Inspired Philanthropist Written Exercise – First Draft, due 9:00 am, Tuesday, 2 Febr. Based on feedback from the instructor, the plan will evolve over the semester Final version – due 9:00 am, Tuesday, 23 Febr.
8. Class Participation (25 points) The success of this class will depend in large part on the full participation of each student and the exchange of ideas and perceptions. Participation can take various forms and will be different for each person. Some examples of “participation” include: asking relevant questions, verbally examining a concept or perception, listening actively, and learning from your colleagues about their own discipline. Obviously, behaviors like sleeping and talking with your classmates indicates a lack of attention and focus. Likewise, civility in the classroom is crucial to enlightened discussion. Students who show disrespect for the ideas and expressions shared during lectures and discussions will fare poorly in their discussion grade. While grading for class participation is necessarily a subjective assessment, students will be evaluated on preparedness for class, frequency and quality of your contribution to class discussions. Attendance will be taken at each class period, partly as a way of learning your names, and partly as a record. Poor attendance will affect your class participation grade. Unexcused absences greater than 1 week’s worth of classes (i.e. 2 classes for a TTH class) will result in a 5 pt reduction per absence from class participation grade. Completion of reading before the appointed class is required. It is expected that all students will check both their email accounts frequently (for communications and assignments) and the Blackboard site for this course well before each class in order to complete all reading and relevant assignments prior to class. Final grades will be based on the following scale: A=360-400points; B=320-359 points; C=280-319 points; D=240-279 points; F=239 points or less. Class Policies: E-Mail and Telephone Communications: Auburn University has recognized e-mail as the official form of communication. It is imperative that students in this class regularly check their Tigermail accounts for communications about the course. Student e-mail will be answered within 24 hours, except on weekends or university holidays. E-mail or the telephone cannot be used to discuss grades. If the nature of a student e-mail is too complex to answer electronically, you will be asked to come during office hours or to make an appointment at a mutually convenient time. Students with Disabilities: Students needing accommodations should arrange a meeting the first week of class. Come during office hours or email for an alternate time. Bring the Accommodation Memo and Instructor Verification Form to the meeting. Discuss items needed in this class. If you do not have an Accommodation Memo but need special accommodations, make an appointment with The Program for Students with Disabilities, 1244 Haley Center or call 844-2096 (V/TT). Academic Dishonesty: Cheating, forged excuses, or plagiarism will result in disciplinary action, which can range from a lowered grade, to failing the course. The offense will also be reported to the University Academic Dishonesty Committee, which has the power to remove a student from the university. Students should become familiar with the policies regarding plagiarism in The Tiger Cub. It is very important to understand plagiarism when working on any writing assignment. The instructor will gladly assist any student who is unclear about what constitutes plagiarism. You will also need to complete the plagiarism exercise created by the University of Adelaide in Australia. It is based upon a resource written by Ted Frick at Indiana University. To document the completion of the plagiarism exercise, please attach a copy of the final webpage (“Quiz Completed”) that asks for your name, etc. You do
not have to actually submit comments or your name back to the University of Adelaide, but must at least print the page with your name included. The link to the exercise is: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/online/examples/media/PoliticsPlagiarismQuiz/page01.htm I will also put a link to this exercise in Blackboard Weblinks. Research Paper Guidelines Useful guidelines on writing a research paper, a thesis statement and outline are available on the weblinks below. Additional information is available on the AU Writing Centre website. http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html#step4 http://www.crlsresearchguide.org/13_Thesis_Statement.asp http://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/research/outlining.html Tentative Course Schedule
Class Day Date Topic
1
Tues.
Jan. 12
Week 1: Introduction to Course; Review of Syllabus; Presentation/Discussion of Project Ideas and Themes – Case Studies and Field Work
- Key Issues to Review from Introductory Hunger Course?
2
Thurs. Jan. 14 Discuss paper and journal requirements and potential student project topics
- “Moving beyond Google” - Literature Review Discussion
- Review of Current Hunger/Poverty Issues for 2010 (Int’l and Domestic)
- Int’l - Sec. of State Hilary Clinton, Development in the 21st Century Speech
- Domestic - Coalition Against Hunger letter to Pres. Obama
- Discussion on Advocacy and Public Policy – Issues Affecting Hunger and Poverty
4 _______
Thurs. ________
Jan. 21 ________
Overview of disciplinary perspectives on global hunger issues - Group Discussions and Decisions on Class Project(s) _______________________________________________________________
5
Tues.
Jan. 26
Week 3: “Turn Your Passion into a Plan -- Maximizing Your Philanthropic Potential” – Professor Sidney James, HUSC
6 Thurs. Jan. 28 Campus Kitchens Project – discussion and work plan development
(Groups and/or individual students should make an appointment to talk with the
instructor about their selected topic) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7
Tues. Febr. 2 Week 4: Domestic/Int’l Hunger Team Assignments/Breakdown; Group Research Team Organization/Arrangements – discuss and review plans
for review of literature and draft proposal for project - “Letter to my Grandmother” – due 9 Febr. (Inspired Philanthropist Exercise – First Draft due, 9:00 am)
8 Thurs. Febr. 4 Team Meetings in Class – Research Teams and CKP Group meetings with instructor
Week 5: Class CKP Discussions (Group Research Paper Proposal w/ Workplan – “Letter to my Grandmother”, due 9:00 am)
10 Thurs.
Febr. 11 Discussion and feedback from class --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 Tues. Febr. 16 Week 6: Class Discussions
12 Thurs.
Febr. 18 “Letter to my Grandmother” - Final proposal revisions due (including the week by week project plan) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19 Tues. Mar. 23 Week 10: Biweekly oral progress reports and discussion (Group Research Paper, First Draft, due 9:00 am)
20 Thurs. Mar. 25
Documentary and critique - Silent Killer: The Unfinished Campaign against Hunger ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21 Tues. Mar. 30
Week 11: “Sicko” – Excerpts from Michael Moore’s film on Health Care Access - Discussion - Implications for Hunger and Poverty in the USA
22 Thurs. Apr. 1 Class Discussion - CKP ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 Tues. Apr. 6 Week 12: Biweekly oral progress reports and discussion Documentary and critique - Changing Faces of Hunger Submit journals for review and feedback (Group Research Paper, 2nd Draft, due 9:00 am)
24 Thurs. Apr. 8 Class Discussion -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week 15: Course evaluations and review; journals due Biweekly oral progress reports and discussion Field work wrap-up
30 Thurs. Apr. 29 Course evaluations and review (Individual meetings with the Instructor will be scheduled once a month)
Suggested Book List – for reference: Renewing American Leadership in the Fight Against Global Hunger and Poverty: The Chicago Initiative on Global Agricultural Development, (Catherine Bertini and Dan Glickman, Co-Chairs),The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, February 2009 Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford University Press, 2007) ISBN 978-0-19-531145-7 (cloth) Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman, Enough: Why the World’s Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty (Public Affairs/Perseus Books Group, 2009) ISBN 978-1-58648-511-5 George McGovern and Bob Dole, Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith (Fortress Press, 2005) ISBN 0-8006-3782-8 Tony P. Hall, Changing the Face of Hunger (W Publishing Group, 2006) ISBN 0-8499-0050-6 Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our Time (The Penguin Press, 2005) ISBN 1-59420-045-9 William Easterly, White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good (The Penguin Press, 2006) ISBN I-59420-037-8 George McGovern, The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in our Time (Simon & Schuster, 2001) ISBN 0-684-85334-5) ISBN 1-58648-225-4 Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation (Houghton Mifflin, 2001) ISBN 0-06-093845-5 Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (Public Affairs, 2004) ISBN 1-58648-225-4 Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa, (Farrar, Straus, Giroux – 2009) ISBN-10: 0374139563 William Easterly , The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, ISBN-10: 0143038826 Janet Poppendieck, Sweet Charity?: Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement (Penguin, 2009) ISBN-10: 0140245561 Sharma Apt Russell, Hunger: An Unnatural History (Basic Books, 2005) ISBN-13:978-0-465-071635-4 (ppk.) Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (B&N Classics, 2004) ISBN-13: 978-1-59308-164-5 (first published 1906) Prabhu Pingali, Agriculture Renaissance: Making ‘agriculture for development’ work in the 21st Century, chapter from Handbook of International Association of Agricultural Economists, 2009 (in draft)
Muhammad Yunus, Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism (Public Affairs/Perseus Books Group, 2007) ISBN 978-1-58648-667-9 (Pbk.) Robert Paarlberg, Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa (Harvard University Press, 2008) ISBN-13: 978-0-675-02973-6 (cloth) “Household Food Security in the US, 2006” (ERS Report Summary), November 2007 Jared M. Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Norton, 1997) ISBN 0-393-31755-2 Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food (Free Press 2004) ISBN 13 : 978-0-7432-2740-7 (Pbk) Marion Nestle, What to Eat (North Point Press, 2006) ISBN 10: 0-86547-738-8) Walter C. Willett, Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating (Free Press, 2001) ISBN 0-684-86337-5 Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, Three Cups of Tea (Penguin Books, 2006) ISBN 978-0-14-303825-2 (pbk.) James E. McWilliams, Just Food: Where Locavores Get it Wrong (Little, Brown 2009) ISBN 978-0316-033749 (Pbk) Nick Kotz, Let Them Eat Promises: The Politics of Hunger in America (Prentiss-Hall, 1969) ISBN 13-532739-3 (Introduction by George McGovern) Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food (The Penguin Press, 2008) ISBN 978-1-59420-145-5 Karl Weber, Food, Inc.: How Industrial Food is Making us Sicker, Fatter and Poorer – And What You Can Do About it (Public Affairs/Perseus Books Group, 2009) ISBN 978-1-58648-694-5 (pbk.) Household Food Security in the United States, 2006, USDA/ERS, November 2007 Beyond Assistance: The HELP Commission Report on Foreign Assistance Reform, (Executive Summary and Introduction), December 2007 Hunger Report 2006: Frontline Issues in Nutrition Assistance (Bread for the World Institute) The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006: Eradicating World Hunger – Taking Stock Ten Years After the World Food Summit (FAO website) Reports The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009, United Nations, New York, 2009 Household Food Security in the United States, 2008, USDA Economic Research Service Rethinking School Feeding: Social Safety Nets, Child Development, and the Education Sector, World Bank/World Food Programmme, June 2009 (Executive Summary) Lectures, Speeches, Testimony, and Articles
“Farmer in Chief: Open Letter to the President-Elect”, Michael Pollan, New York Times Sunday Magazine, October 12, 2008 US Senate Floor Remarks on Introduction of S. 1524, “Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009, July 31, 2009 (Senators Kerry, Lugar, et al) Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act, www.lugar.senate.gov “Agriculture for Sustainable Economic Development: A Global R&D Initiative to Avoid a Deep and Complex Crisis”, Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, Riley Lecture, February 28, 2008 Films The Girl in the Café (HBO-BBC Co-production, 2005) The Constant Gardener (Focus Features, 2005) Blood Diamond (Warner Brothers, 2006)
Articles: “Is a ‘Food Revolution Now in Season”, Andrew Martin, New York Times, March 22, 2009 “What Bono Doesn’t Say About Africa”, William Easterly, Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2007 USAID Fact Sheets: (5), Africa funding, programs, and MCA “Challenge and Opportunities in World Food Security: The University Connection”, Ambassador Tony P. Hall, Ohio State University, April 17, 2003 “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals”, Blake Hurst, The America: The Journal of AEI, July 30, 2009 “The Chance for Peace”, Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953 Reports Household Food Security in the United States, 2006, USDA/ERS, November 2007 Beyond Assistance: The HELP Commission Report on Foreign Assistance Reform, (Executive Summary and Introduction), December 2007 Hunger Report 2006: Frontline Issues in Nutrition Assistance (Bread for the World Institute) The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006: Eradicating World Hunger – Taking Stock Ten Years after the World Food Summit (FAO website)
