UEA/Dickinson Courses

So far my three UEA classes - Introduction to Social Anthropology and Development, Development of Sub-Saharan Africa, and Corporate Finance - have gone very well. Introduction to Social Anthropology looks at different aspects of societies and the impact they have on their culture, and how development should be approached based on what the societies value. The major project for this class is a essay on an ethnography I am reading - Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Live in Brazil. This ethnography looks at the hardships that people in Bom Jesus Brazil have to overcome; in particular, the relationship between mothers and their children.

Development of Sub-Saharan Africa is somewhat similar to the introduction of social anthropology because it looks at various factors that have affected the development of Sub-Saharan Africa. The main topics we have discussed so far have been British and French Colonialism in Africa and the different methods that have been used affecting the countries today. For this class I also have a big essay, but in this essay I need to pick a key reason why economic performance has been poor in Africa since there is a general agreement that economic growth is needed to reduce poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. This essay is the most interesting to me because I will be able to combine my economics background and internship experience from last summer where I looked at African Development Corridors and Regional Economic Communities. To this point, I believe that I will approach this essay through the RECs and Development Corridors, but I have a lot research to conduct before I finalize my thoughts.

My final UEA class, Corporate Finance, has also gone very smooth to this point. In this class we have looked at corporate structure and the different factors that influence CEOs, their management, and their income. For this class my essay is to evaluate the effects of CEO fame (awards) and fortune (pay) on firm value. I have the most time to write this essay, and I am grateful for that because I have a lot of research I need to complete before i can develop a solid argument for this paper. For this class I also have a presentation at the end of the semester, but I have not looked at my topic yet, or met with my group since it is in the final week of the semester.

For our Dickinson class, Science of Sustainability, we are reading Why We Disagree About Climate Change and are learning about various forms of sustainable energy. Last week in class we watched Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth," and had a class discussion. This week we are going to look at Wind Energy in the UK by taking a trip to Sea palling, Hapisburg. I am pretty excited for this trip because, besides the educational value associated with it, this trip is going to let me see another part of the UK that I have never been to. For this class I also have to make a presentation on Geothermal Energy. I have not put any thoughts together yet, or looked at the requirements, but think it will be a good topic to learn about.