Public Invited to Join Emory 'Quest' for Knowledge

Emory QUEST, a partnership between Emory University's College of Arts and Sciences and the Emory Center for Lifelong Learning, is offering a new slate of academically focused, intellectually stimulating non-credit courses for the winter term. Taught by Emory faculty, QUEST courses highlight current events and hot topics from the liberal arts and sciences.

This session, participants can learn more about the culture of Iraq, the cause, effect and possible solutions for the current economic crisis, the culture death and dying, animal intelligence and more.

All Emory QUEST courses are open to the public. Upcoming courses are listed below. To obtain additional information and view a full schedule of upcoming courses or register, visit http://www.EmoryQUEST.org or call 404.727.5519. The five-session courses are $350. Courses offered this term include:

• The Financial Crisis: Market Volatility, the Bailout and Prospects for the U.S. Economy
Tuesdays, Feb. 3-24, 7-9 p.m.
Instructor: Hashem Dezhbakhsh, professor and chair of the Emory Department of Economics. This course will provide an intuitive understanding of the current financial crisis, its causes and potential effects, and explore proposals to mitigate its impact.

• Iraq: From Sumer to Saddam – A Cultural History
Mondays, Feb. 23-March 23, 7-9 p.m.
Instructor: Shalom Goldman, professor of Hebrew and Middle Eastern Studies. This course explores how Iraq’s history brought it to the forefront of today’s geopolitics.

• Animal Intelligence: Cognition and Culture
Tuesdays, Feb. 3-March 3, 7-9 p.m.
Instructor: Lori Marino, senior lecturer in neuroscience and behavioral biology and research associate with the Smithsonian Institution. This course explores the intriguing subjects of animal intelligence, emotion and self-awareness.

• Death, Dying and Religion: A Cultural and Historical Analysis
Wednesdays, Feb. 4-March 4, 7-9 p.m.
Gary Laderman, professor of American religious history and cultures and author of two books on death in America. This course provides a cross-cultural analysis of death and the rituals that surround it.

• All the World’s a Stage: Shakespeare in International Film
Mondays, March 23-April 20, 7-9 p.m.
Instructor: Sheila Cavanaugh, professor of Shakespeare and pedagogy and director of the Emory Women Writers’ Research Project. This course explores the central textual issues in Shakespeare’s plays across a range of diverse and intriguing international cinematic cultures.

• Molecular Fraud: Synthetic Imitations of Nature
Wednesdays, Feb. 4-March 4, 7-9 p.m.
Daphne Norton, director of general chemistry laboratories and recipient of Emory’s Center for Teaching and Curriculum Excellence in Teaching Award. This course explores how chemistry is inspired by, and at times improves on, nature.

• After the Death of God: Friedrich Nietzsche
Tuesdays, March 17-April 14, 7-9 p.m.
Instructor: Andrew J. Mitchell, assistant professor of philosophy at Emory. This course explores the major ideas of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: the will to power, the eternal recurrence of the same, and his conception of a "death" of God.

• Right, Wrong, and Relativism: Thinking About Contemporary Moral Challenges
Thursdays, March 26-April 30, 7-9 p.m.
Instructor: Edward L. Queen, director of research programs for the Institute of Human Rights, and the D. Abbott Turner Program in Ethics and Servant Leadership at Emory’s Center for Ethics. This course challenges students to think about moral decisions in a culture permeated by the twin poles of relativism and absolutism, and challenged by technological advances that impact our very understanding of what it means to be human.

• The Nuclear Threat: Proliferation, Terrorism and Science
Tuesdays, Feb. 3-March 3, 7-9 p.m.
Instructor: Dan Reiter, professor and chair of Emory's Department of Political Science. This course examines the science, history and politics of nuclear weapons, the most destructive machines ever devised.

• Three Novels of Magic Realism: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Midnight’s Children and Beloved
Tuesdays, Feb. 3-March 3, 7-9 p.m.
Instructor: Ricardo Gutiérrez-Mouat, director of undergraduate studies in the Latin American & Caribbean Studies Program. This course explores three acclaimed novels by authors Gabriel García Márquez, Salman Rushdie and Toni Morrison, each characterized by their cultural diversity.