Professor of Government Stephen Orvis has been awarded the Class of 1963 Faculty Fellowship. Orvis received the award to develop a new course at Hamilton titled "Democracy and Diversity."
This award, established by the Class of 1963 on the occasion of its 30th reunion, provides "members of the faculty with inspiration and incentive to become better teachers by developing additional areas of expertise during the summer months."
Orvis plans to develop the course "Democracy and Diversity" over the summer of 2005 and teach the course during the 2005-06 academic year. Orvis hopes to teach the course as a sophomore seminar or as a 300-level writing intensive government class.
Orvis explains that "the course would focus on the question of whether and how liberal democracies founded on individual rights can and should recognize identity-based groups in the political process." The course would not focus solely on political theory, although it would be included; "After laying the theoretical/philosophical groundwork, [the course] would examine empirically key issues in this debate within the United States and elsewhere," said Orvis. Issues could include affirmative action in the United States, South Africa, and India; public role of Islam in European Nations and the Middle East; the effect different systems of representation have on minority groups; and gay rights in the United States and Europe.
Orvis intends to use the monetary award to develop the course and read a wide variety of both theoretically and case-study literature in order to prepare readings for the class.
