 "Photo: Reena Karia")
When Slavic languages lecturer Craig Cravens taught his first Czech class six years ago, a grand total of three students signed up - not exactly the biggest turnout on campus. He decided he needed to make things a little snappier to hook student interest. He found the perfect combination: robots and beer pubs.
While the two may not seem to have much in common, Czech writer Karel Capek coined the word "robot" in 1920, and the Czech Republic consumes more beer per capita than any other country in the world, Cravens said. Following that celebratory spirit, Cravens said he designed the course to reflect Czechoslovakia and its culture.
Cravens is not the typical professor. He's more of an "oddball," said David Hobbs, an undeclared liberal arts junior.
To pitch the class to Richard Lariviere, dean of the college of Liberal Arts, and Sheldon Ekland-Olson, executive vice president and provost for the University, Craven enlisted the help of a couple mugs full of Czech beer.
"They liked the idea so much, they let me take [a] picture of them to use as an ad for the course," Cravens said. In the picture, Lariviere and Ekland-Olson are in Prague, toasting the camera.
Although Cravens said his course isn't exactly a typical history class, he isn't the only professor teaching a class that may raise some eyebrows. If you open a course catalogue, you'll see that Philosophy 356 is called Yoga as Philosophy and Practice. Another curiously titled course is Pseudoscience and Forensic Science within the College of Natural Sciences.
Many of these classes fulfill requirements such as the substantial writing component or upper-division electives.
Few courses, however, offer the field trips that Craven's class does: to the Live Oak (Beer) Brewing Company.
"I try to throw in as much beer as possible," he said, adding that he may try to teach his spring class how to brew beer.
Hobbs said this class was part of a sequence of Russian and Eastern European language classes that helped persuade him to switch from majoring in physics to Russian and Eastern European studies.
"It was really a Czech culture and lit class with a lot of interesting things thrown in on the side," he said.
Although UT's Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies is one of the largest of such centers nationally, it is the smallest department in the College of Liberal Arts, said Thomas Garza, the center's director. Because of its size, the center is forced to create courses that appeal to a broader audience rather than catering to students solely interested in Russian, Czech or other Eastern European languages.
"I encourage professors to develop courses that sound interesting and might attract students that aren't concentrating in Slavic or Russian languages," Garza said.
Garza will teach Russian Fairy Tales in the spring, a class which re-examines popular understanding of fairy tales such as "Sleeping Beauty" and critiques the stories in the context of Russian history.
"I try to undo the damages that Disney has done in making these tales Techni-color happy," Garza said.
Analyzing Disney's versions of fairy tales may not seem as intellectual as, say, quantum mechanics, but Garza said the class makes students more attentive to the world they're in.
"So many Americans are painfully unaware of how little we know about other countries," Garza said.
Science majors have wacky options too. Take William Coker's pseudoscience class.
It offers possible explanations for UFOs and the Loch Ness Monster and shows how one person can appear to read another's mind using magic tricks. But he's not willing to divulge the tricks of his trade.
"I can't tell you my secrets," he said, laughing.
The class is an interesting way to fulfill the science requirements for most liberal arts degrees, many students said.
For upper-division elective requirements, human sexuality is known as a fun option.
"It's like your sex-ed class in high school, but more graphic and detailed," said David Rowe, a UT alum who took the class last semester.
The course also deals with the dynamics of relationships and may have everyday applications, said Lawrence Brownstein, one of the two professors who teach the class.
While flashy names may hook more students, there is also an academic value to these off-the-wall classes because students have to think critically, said Neil Foley, associate dean for the College of Liberal Arts.
"[Catchy titles] aren't just a gimmick. They're a way of entering into the realm of knowledge in a new way instead of the ordinary way," he said.
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