Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description
The Hudson: Science, Society, & Art
Instructor(s): Judith Halstead, Chemistry
The Hudson River plays a critical role in the life and history of both New York State and the United States. We use it for transportation, energy, drinking water and recreation. We tame and pollute it. In this interdisciplinary, multiple-perspective course, students will examine the nature science of the Hudson River and as well as the interaction of human beings and their social, political, and economic institutions with the Hudson over the last 400 years. Beginning at the Headwaters in the Adirondack Park and moving through the Upper and Lower Hudson we will explore the river and its watershed through a geographic information system as well as through readings, films and art work presenting the human history of the river. We will consider the role of various art forms in expressing the human relationship with the Hudson, including the Hudson River School of painters and 19th century American landscape photographer Seneca Ray Stoddard.Course Offered