Tutorials

In the tutorial every entering student explores a topic of interest to the student and the instructor in a small group, discussion-intensive setting. The objectives of the tutorial are to illuminate methods of inquiry rather than to cover topics comprehensively, focusing particularly on writing, critical reading, oral communication, and information literacy skills. In addition, the tutorial initiates the process of planning for a liberal education at Grinnell through advising conversations between students and their instructors. By promoting close working relationships between tutorial instructors and their students and by combining the roles of instructor and academic adviser, the College provides students with academic advisers attuned to the interests and abilities of their advisees.

A tutorial (4 credits) is required of all students who enter Grinnell as first-year students and of all transfer students below third-year student standing whose previous work does not qualify them for an exemption. A student must complete the tutorial with a grade of C or higher to meet the tutorial graduation requirement and to be eligible to enroll in a "Plus-2" or independent project. Students who receive a D or F in the tutorial must earn a grade of C or better in a course designated or approved by the dean's office as Intensive Writing (IW).

Tutorials are offered only in the first semester.

The following tutorials are offered in 2009 - 10:

• Folktales, Fairy Tales, and Fantasy, Arner - English
• Why Manners Matter: Reading Culture through Style and Ettiquette, Benjamin - English
• Venice, Past and Present, Brown, Jennifer - Music
• Evolution and Society, Brown, Jonathan - Biology
• The City: Down to the Wire? Cook-Martin - Sociology
• Crisis, Liberation, Justice, and Leadership, Drake - History
• Stirring the Pot: Race, Class, and Gender in Higher Education, K. Erickson - Sociology
• Intellectual Monopoly: Is the Intellectual Property System Broken? Graham - Biology
• African American Literary Ties to Russian Intellectual Thought in the 19th and 20th Century, Greene - Russian
• Family Tragedy in Literature, Harrison - French
• Literature, Intertextuality, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, Herold - Russian
• The Hero's Journey, Hughes - Classics (Greek and Latin)
• The Middle East in the Popular Imagination, Kamp - Anthropology
• Culture Jamming, Kaufman - Art
• Hope, Lacson - History
• 150 Years Later: The Legacy of a Book, Lindgren - Biology
• "Dear John": Restoring the Lost Art of the Letter, Lobban-Viravong - English
• The Person Behind the Discovery, Minelli - Chemistry
• From Supermodels to Molecules to Heavenly Bodies: How Theoretical Models Influence Both Our Everyday and Our Intellectual Lives, Mobley - Chemistry
• Movement, Feeling, Who We Are, Queathem - Biology
• Meaning, Method, and Money: Your Life and the Liberal Arts, Roberts - Religious Studies
• Coexistence, Rommereim - Music
• No Limits, Roper - Anthropology
• Dis Lit: Illness, Disability, and Contemporary Life Writing, Savarese - English
• Marx, Nietzsche, Freud: The Foundations of Cultural Criticism, A. Schrift, - Philosophy
• Cancer Survivorship: Resiliency, Coping, and Relationships, Seawell - Psychology
• The Orgins of Capitalism, Silva - History
• Comedy, Simpson - English
• Free Software, Free Culture, J. Stone - Computer Science
• Staging Revolution: Theatre and the Case for Universal Human Rights, Thomas, Justin - Theatre
• The Politics of Counting, Trish - Political Science
• The Fairy Tale in 20th-Century Russian Literature and Film: In Search of a Magical Kingdom, Vishevsky - Russian