FALL 2012
Wendy Walker, Fall Visiting Professor from Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University.
Read a very “human” description of Professor Walker’s academic and professional career, right from the horse’s mouth:
Extended Notes: Wendy Walker. FEATURED COURSES FOR FALL 2012
Parks and Protected Areas of Spain
An introduction to the history of ecosystem, landscape and historic site protection in Spain and to parks creation, management and changes over time. This class will explore the ties and tensions between the conservation of historical sites, protection of natural ecosystems and the pressures of tourism and related development. Students will evaluate park and protected areas’ environmental education and interpretation in the context of conservation. Each student will plan, produce and donate an educational product or program to one of the parks visited by the class.
Sustainable Tourism in Spain
This class will offer an introduction to the history, definitions and practice of ecotourism and an opportunity to accomplish a real-world project developing an ecotourism program in a Spanish field setting. Students will analyze present-day worldwide and Spanish sustainable tourism education and at cased studies of conservation efforts in Spain with a focus on Asturias, billed as a “Natural Paradise” where tourism is focused on respect for the environment and culture.
Fall Excursions and fieldtrips during the Fall 2012 term:
There will be several specific fieldtrips and experiential activities planned in conyunction with Wendy Walker’s classes as well as others that are of general interest to explore the most important sites in Asturias. Two overnight excursions to other regions of Spain are also planned during the fall and will take students to Bilbao/San Sebastian (Basque Country) and La Coruña/Santiago de Compostela (Galicia).
SPRING 2013
David Wacks, Spring Visiting Professor from the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Oregon
Click here to hear Professor Wacks describe the courses he will be teaching in Oviedo during the Spring 2013 term. You can also read about Professor Wacks innovative teaching methods in the article Spanish Found in Translation
FEATURED COURSES FOR SPRING 2013
The Literature of Islam
This course is an introduction to the history, culture, and literature of the Moriscos, the last Spanish Muslims who produced a clandestine islamic literature in Spanish during the 15th-17th centuries up to and after their expulsion from Spain in 1613. Readings will include early modern aljamiado (Islamic Spanish) texts, historical documents written in the 16th-17th centuries. The last two weeks of the course will be dedicated to studying the current state of Islam in Spain.
Spanish Literature, 1100 – 1700
This course is an introduction to the literature written during the 12th-17th centuries in the territories known today as Spain. Special attention will be paid to the interaction of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, and to texts by authors from Asturias.
Excursions and Fieldtrips during the Spring 2013 Term:
Besides several fieldtrips to explore the most interesting sites in Oviedo and Asturias, two overnight excurions have been planned that will take students to Toledo & Segovia and Salamanca. Both of these excursions bear much relation to Professor Wack’s classes but are also of general interest to all students.