If your interests encompass wastewater management in Varanasi, India, sex therapy since the 1970's or quantum computation - topics not found in the pages of the Course Announcement - you can still receive credit for learning about them at Brown.
This spring, five groups of students submitted applications for GISPs that range from an examination of dinosaurs in culture to an exploration of the war on drugs.
For Jeffrey Yoskowitz '06, a combination of ideas from different friends and professors led to the evolution of a course titled "Tea, Coffee and Alcohol; Social and Commodity History."
Originally, Yoskowitz wanted to do a GISP on tea - its history, types and associated culture. The idea sprang from a course at Brown on immigrant literature.
"Every single immigrant group in the U.S. I read about had a different culture surrounding tea," Yoskowitz, who has spent time with Bedouin cultures in the Middle East, said. "For the Bedouins, tea is integral. A full cup of tea is a symbol that they want you to stay," he said. "They give you a half cup if they want you to leave."
Along with co-coordinators Ben Creo '07, Idan Naor '08 and Kate Brandt '07, Yoskowitz talked to different professors, all of whom identified coffee as an important influence on American culture.
Professor Emerita of History Patricia Herlihy, who agreed to sponsor the GISP, talked with the group about how the temperance movement in Russia spurred public resentment which helped lead to the Bolshevik Revolution.
The group decided to focus on tea, coffee and alcohol.
"We're taking a different approach: studying history through the commodities," Yoskowitz said. "It's a way to study beverages and how they intersect with culture and society and economics and how they have affected history."
He cited "Mecca Cola" - started by a French Muslim, it is an alternative cola that symbolizes anti-Americanism - as an example.
To create a successful GISP, students must find a faculty sponsor, draft a detailed syllabus and submit the proposal to a sub-committee of the College Curriculum Council, which reviews the proposals before making recommendations to the rest of the Council, said Associate Dean of the College Linda Dunleavy.
Charles Custer '08 is a co-coordinator of a proposed GISP to examine dinosaurs from a scientific and cultural perspective. He recalls the genesis of his group's idea for a class: Sitting at dinner one night, they wondered why dinosaurs pique many children's interest but few pursue the subject because of minimal course offerings examining these creatures and the cultural mythologies that surround them, he said.
Currently participating in a GISP on Confucian ethics and spirituality, Custer had prior experience designing and facilitating a GISP, which can be a lengthy process.
Dunleavy said this process is part of the educational value of GISPs. "Students get to have the opportunity to see what goes into putting a course together," she said.
"The actual class ended up being a lot different from the syllabus," Custer said, referring to his previous GISP. "It was four students and a professor and he said basically 'we'll do what you want.' " Custer said he thinks the students will stick closer to the syllabus of "Dinosaurs and Culture" because students will be responsible for more of the class time.
Sponsored by Professor of Biology Christine Janis, the course will draw from a variety of texts but also incorporate films such as "Jurassic Park" and "The Land Before Time."
"The Politics of Drug Control Policy" is another GISP which explores political issues. Student coordinators Cindy Beavon '07 and Nicholas Renzler '07 said the GISP grew out of their involvement with the campus student group Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
"On the international level, the drug war affects so many parts of life. We wanted to have it be a broad introduction to all the different levels of policy from the national to the international," addressing issues of racism, the prison industrial complex and international drug trafficking, she said.
The final product of the class will be a book of 20- to 25- page essays written by the participants, which the class will distribute to other drug policy and advocacy organizations in the country, including over 120 SSDP chapters.
The GISP focuses on "how to move forward and effect change," Renzler said, citing the bills to legalize medical marijuana, give federal student aid to students with past drug convictions and end felon disenfranchisement as political initiatives in which the class will try to effect positive change.
GISP co-coordinator Kartik Akileswaran '07 helps students propose GISPs. He estimates over 95 percent are approved.
Despite unlimited possibilities, there are usually only around 10 to 15 GISPs, ISPs and academic internships proposed for the fall semester. "A lot of people have ideas but don't know how to go about doing that and mold it into an independent study," he said.
Finding a sponsor is one of the most common problems students bring to Akileswaran. He advises students interested in proposing a GISP to find a sponsor early and utilize the Resource Center for help. "I hope more and more people will become aware of the opportunities they have with independent study and in general with the current resource center," he said.
