Today was the first official day of class. After attending the program-wide orientation with another 1600 some students we were finally given folders with general information ranging from class schedules to a campus map to midday activities. From there, our suite groups branched off and went our separate ways to find our classes.
I recalled checking online a while back to see the various programs. By that time, the Presidential Powers course was already closed off from additional applications. After taking the Cornell Hotel Management course with a total of 70 students, I realized that a filled class probably meant at least in the 30s. I didn't expect that our class's maximum size would be 12.
I finally got to meet our instructor, Martha Zebrowski, aka "Dr. Z." We were immediately handed a syllabus with a list of books that needed to be purchased, as well as a detailed schedule of where we will be and what we need to accomplish by certain dates and times. These are some of the materials we need to read:
- Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
- Eyewitness to Power by David Gergen
- Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy by Charlie Savage
- The Presidential Difference: Leadership Styles from FDR to Barack Obama by Fred I. Greenstein
- A Manual for Writers of Research Papers by Kate L. Turabian
Others include the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution and various other websites and handouts. We also have two books listed under recommended readings and another book that is held in the reserved section of Lehman Library, one of two main libraries we will be using primarily for the course. In addition to a long list of readings, the final product of our course will ultimately be a 20-page research paper focused on one topic in history that can be related to the presidencies. Luckily, we'll be required to hand in a 12-page draft so the work is better spread out. I bet you know what I'll be doing for the next 3 weeks!
Yueming,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that we were able to get you some of that reading material before you left. I know you all read the Gergen book but I'm betting that few of you read the Federalist Papers even though we provided you with online links several months ago.
Having the reading material beforehand can be a huge advantage when the course is tough and you have such a short time to complete the course.
Our Hotelies, our Freedom & Justice students and especially our Yalies will all attest to the benefits of coming in prepared. We'll work harder for future ILC students so they'll be able to prepare themselves, too. Had we known more about your reading list we would have provided the books to you well in advance.