Monday, January 5, 2015

Teaching Security and American Foreign Policy

Today is the start of a new semester.  I, of course, screwed up my syllabi as an absent-minded professor is wont to do.  On my very first day of teaching at my very first real teaching job (visiting professor at UVM), I forgot to bring the syllabi to class.  Ok, I forgot to bring them to any of the classes on the first day.  Three times I made that mistake on that first day. 

This time?  I just confused which class is on which day, so I had to rearrange everything. 

Here they are: Contemporary International Security and American Foreign and Security Policy.  The former serves as a survey of the big problems facing the world and especially Canada.  It is for both the students at NPSIA studying international security and those who are doing a joint program, Infrastructure Protection and International Security, that brings together social scientists and engineers.  The issues change over time, but this syllabus is mostly a slightly revised version of last year's since last year was the first time I taught it.  It involves much stuff that is out of my area of expertise (such as cyber), which means I do not know that much but also means that I learn quite a bit.

The latter course is one that I used to teach as an undergraduate lecture, but is now a graduate seminar.  I have only taught it once since moving to Carleton, so I am still trying to figure this one out as well.  That's right, two courses that are probably still quite buggy.  Good thing I didn't overcommit this winter to various research and service stuff.  Oh, wait, I did. 

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