By definition, TIDES is an interdisciplinary experience, driven by intellectual curiosity, active learning, and experiential education. Discover the exciting topics of this year’s TIDES below. Each class also has an accompanying peer mentor, an upperclass student paired with each section to offer academic and social support as you transition to campus.
TIDES courses marked with an asterisk (*) are Service Learning courses. Students in these courses must also register for the corresponding Service Learning component.
TIDE 1026 Superheroes: Race, Gender, and Orientation
T 9:30-10:45a
This course examines the construction of race, gender, and orientation in several popular cultural ideological mediums. We will examine the construction and representation of race and gender in the superhero genre. We will discuss the intersection between the ideas of gaze and perspective. We will examine the representation of race and gender in the superhero cinematic genre. We will examine the intersections and relationships between race, gender, and economic class. We will theorize the economic impact of race and gender in the superhero film genre. We will consider the construction of the idea of the exceptional as it relates to the representation of race and gender in the superhero film genre. We will also include consideration of race, gender and orientation in a larger and more broad television audience.
Dr. John (Ray) Proctor, Associate Professor, Theater | BIO
TIDE 1030 The Music and Culture of New Orleans
T 3:30-4:45p
The Music and Culture of New Orleans introduces the newcomer to New Orleans to the diversity of culture in the city and region. The 11-week course explores the music, literature, art, dance, architecture, and food that are unique to Southern Louisiana so that during your student years here you can fully enjoy them. This TIDES course includes general lectures by experts in the various aspects of the culture of New Orleans. Interspersed and alternating are small sections where these experts converse directly with the freshmen, helping each individual explore the city. Students are directed to the most important music venues in the city, as well as to the best Creole and Cajun restaurants. In addition to the class meetings, each student is expected to join in at least two field trips to witness the culture first hand.
Jessica Podewell, Professor of Practice, Theatre and Dance | BIO
TIDE 1031 Ideology and Belief in Everyday Life
R 11:00a-12:15p
The course looks at the main beliefs and ideologies prevalent in our culture. Ideas like the entrepreneurial self, celebrity, pleasure seeking, economic man, techno-optimism, God, nation, race, and family. These ideas are constantly hammered into us by the media, our friends, family and institutions, motivational speakers, business gurus, films, but also in the actions we take in our everyday lives and even more deeply in the experience of who we are. We will look at the origin of these ideas, their often-adverse societal effects and why they sometimes make us feel disempowered, anxious, and depressed. The course thus attempts to do two things at the same time. First teach students to critically think about their society and culture, and second help them achieve more personal freedom and wellbeing.
The course focuses on several key ideas such as the myth of the great individual and covers its expression from the Renaissance to Elon Musk. I will trace the political uses of individualism from toppling the feudal order to creating a culture of self-blame. I look also to another form of individualism, the utility maximizer. The utility maximizer is a conception of ourselves that is reinforced by our role as consumers and investors. I look at the pleasure seeking self and the way that it is mobilized by the market.
Ari Ofengenden, Professor of Practice, Jewish Studies | BIO
TIDE 1047 Exploring Creole New Orleans
F 9:30a-10:45a
New Orleans is a city celebrated for its vibrant and diverse cultural heritage, and inextricably intertwined with its 300-year history is the concept of "Creole." This course offers an interdisciplinary journey into the multilayered world of Creole politics, culture, and artistic expression in the Crescent City, exploring the complexities of Creole identity, its rich culinary traditions, distinctive architecture, aspects of Creole languages, and the importance of Creole music. Readings, discussions, guest speakers, and field trips will encourage students to gain a deeper appreciation of the city’s Creole heritage and foster critical thinking about historical events and their impacts on the city’s different social and ethnic groups.
Pia Kostner, Professor of Practice, Germanic & Slavic Studies | BIO
TIDE 1058 Comedy! (Or 19 Ways to Analyze a Joke Until It Isn't Funny Anymore)
W 3:45-5:00p
This 1-credit course fulfills the First-Year Seminar requirement as a Tulane Interdisciplinary Experience Seminar (TIDES). In this course we will discuss how to deconstruct standard comic format, read and discuss five different comic theories, look at 19(+) different comic structures to create a final project.
Jessica Podewell, Senior Professor of Practice, Theatre | BIO
TIDE 1062 Calming the Wave: Discover Being in New Orleans
W 1:00-2:15p
The transition to university life can present challenges, as you juggle less structure, more demands, new roles, and increased pressures. The purpose of this TIDES course is to help you develop social and emotional skills; benefitting you in academic and work contexts, interpersonal relationships, and overall well-being. Explore the tranquil side of New Orleans and discover your best self through mindfulness and self awareness activities.This course is designed to help students develop strengths and assets that promote their social and emotional well-being as they transition to a higher education setting in New Orleans. Along the way, they will be introduced to social and emotional competencies that can help promote their personal and interpersonal awareness and competence which will help students navigate new and challenging academic, social, and emotional terrain. These competencies include: self-awareness; self-management; social awareness; relationship skills; and responsible decision making.
Erica Smith, Professor of Practice, Teacher Preparation & Certification Program | BIO
TIDE 1066 Media and Narrative in Modern US Presidential Campaigns**
T 9:30-10:45a
This course explores the development of the modern United States presidential campaign, with an emphasis on mass media. Considering the development of new communications technologies, how has the presidential campaign changed over the last six decades? How has it remained the same? The class will consider the creation of narrative across radio, television and social media outlets.
Various forms of mass communication, including radio, television, and social media networks, will be considered as channels for political campaign development. The development of emerging technologies and media landscapes will be contextualized.
**This course includes a service learning component**
Aidan Smith, Administrative Assistant Professor, Newcomb Institute | BIO
TIDE 1070 Museums and their Communities in the Crescent City and Beyond
T 11:00a-12:15p
Get to know New Orleans through an exploration of its museums, from art museums to contemporary galleries to house museums and beyond. Students will seek to understand how museums in New Orleans serve diverse communities in the city. To understand museum practice more generally, we will also explore past and current methods in museum curation and education, ethical issues museums face, and how museums respond in times of war and natural disasters. Ideal for students considering majors in art history or history.
Holly Flora, Associate Professor, Art | BIO
TIDE 1084 New Orleans in Literature and Film
R 11:00-12:15p
In this class we will consider which concepts and representations are associated with the idea of New Orleans as a city and Louisiana as a larger territory. We will examine theoretical texts of space and urban organization in conjunction with film (and other forms of visual representation), prose, and social commentaries to consider how the city as a modern and postmodern construct has come to be imagined as a site of utopian progress and a space of internal contradiction. We will analyze how texts represented varying and blurred notions of exclusion and inclusion, experiences of longing and belonging. At times the city and its residents are depicted as the most decadent, cosmopolitan, or spectacular and at other times as the most lawless, diseased, and corrupt. The course will interrogate how social spaces, in particular New Orleans (and the larger Louisiana area) have been mapped by literature, film, and culture in paradoxical and interconnected ways and served as projections of social and cultural ideologies. Furthermore, the class will explore how historical and social processes –such as colonialism, increased industrialization, national and political ideologies, and consumer culture—have both informed and been shaped by the culture and literature.
Isa Murdock-Hinrichs, Professor of Practice, English | BIO
TIDE 1087 Science, Technology, & Society
T 12:30-1:45p
Those interested in and pursuing STEM fields have often felt like they were exempt from the conversation on society. They have often been excluded from discussions regarding the ethical implications of the progress that they pay a key role in. In this class, we will use various lenses to view the technical advancements in big data, science and engineering, including those that you may be working on in the coming four years. We will examine the global, societal, economic, and environmental implications of subjects such as ethics of big data, AI, social media, digital media, large scale engineering projects, scientific research , medicine and big pharma, and more, focusing on examples found in the NOLA area. The topics will be brought to life by local guest speakers from local organizations such as Glass Half Full or Green Light NOLA as well as trips to one or more of the following: NASA Michoud, Mardi Gras World, the Superdome, and a Flood Abatement Pumping Station.
Khaled Adjerid, Professor of Practice, Biomedical Engineering | BIO
TIDE 1103 The Art of Management
M 5:00-6:15p
Management is the coordination and administration of tasks to achieve a goal. The functions of management are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. In the Art of Management, we will review and discuss these four functions using text, case studies, and simulations. We will explore companies that are run well and those who messed up along the way. Learning from the mess ups has the best growth opportunities.
Ashley K. Nelson, Senior Professor of Practice, Freeman School of Business | BIO
M 11:00a-12:15p
Compelling storytelling lies at the heart of success across fields. From a business person pitching a new product to a research scientist vying for a competitive grant, the ability to tell a captivating story gives you an advantage. Storytelling skills serve you when interviewing for internships or jobs, networking, or even just making new friends in college. Whether your ultimate goal is a TED Talk with a million views or just a kick ass toast at your best friend’s wedding one day, this class will give you concrete tools to improve your public speaking and storytelling skills. In this experiential class, we will create a supportive environment where you will discover your personal communication style and how to leverage your strengths to gain more confidence in your ability to tell a great story. Our class will culminate in a story-telling event where each student tells a personal story from their lives in front of an invited audience.
Jenny Mercein, Associate Professor, Theatre & Dance | BIO
TIDE 1700 The Myths & Realities of New Orleans Food & Drink
T 5:00-6:15p
As the concept of local foodways becomes entrenched in the growing “foodie” culture of the United States, local food and local dishes become an ever more important marker of place. Whether justified or not, Creole and Cajun food and, of course, the ubiquitous Cocktail, are perceived by many as synonymous with New Orleans. In this course, we will explore the myths and realities of these three key concepts as they apply to food and drink in New Orleans.
Amy George, Senior Professor of Practice, Spanish & Portuguese | BIO
TIDE 1925 Natural History of Louisiana**
R 4:00-5:15p
This course examines the origin and evolution of Louisiana’s ecosystems. Students will learn about living and prehistoric plants and animals and their physical surroundings while exploring Louisiana’s coastal marshes, bottomland hardwood forests, longleaf pine savannahs, and tallgrass prairies. Course includes multiple field trips.
**This course includes a service learning component**
Jeff Agnew, Professor of Practice, Earth and Environmental Sciences | BIO