Sweet subject

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mEe2IDAGiPQ

America’s appetite for sugar is the topic for chemistry professor Laura Muller’s First-Year Seminar How Sweet It Is, but the purpose of the course goes well beyond the science, politics and sociology of what we eat, why we crave it and what it may be doing to us individually and as a society.

“What I want my students to develop as a result of this class is really a sense of ownership for asking questions and the sense that curiosity will be rewarded,” Muller said.

“If you are curious, ask enough questions and you dive deep, you are going to have a much greater appreciation for the way the world works.”

First-Year Seminars are intended to offer an introduction to college academic expectations in general and Wheaton’s distinctive emphasis on interdisciplinary study.

“The First-Year Seminar is a way to get first year students to think about what the connections are among their interests so that as they move through the curriculum to their senior seminar they can draw on all the different things they have learned for their capstone experience,” Muller said.

A conversation with… is a new video series highlighting the teaching and scholarship of Wheaton College faculty members. Stay tuned for more episodes coming soon.