The year 2022 marks the eleventh year of the, now extremely sought-after, Liberal Arts Initiative. In the past years, the dialogues that had taken place between American professors and Chinese students have initiated and promoted a reciprocal learning process beyond the classrooms. Among the 400 global LAISS alumni, most are continuing their pursuit of the liberal arts tradition at top US colleges with an inquisitive and resilient habit of mind gained through the LAISS program.
2021
Catherine Sanderson: Positive Psychology
Catherine Sanderson
普林斯顿大学博士， 阿默斯特学院 Poler Family 心理学终身教授与心理学系主任
PhD, Princeton University. Poler Family Professor and Chair of Psychology at Amherst College
桑德森教授目前教授一系列心理学课程，其中包括初级、中级社会心理学，健康心理学，运动心理学和一门关于亲密关系的研讨会。她的研究领域扎根于社会心理学，研究关于亲密关系和健康相关行为的问题。桑德森教授已出版了四本面向本科生的教科书，初高中健康教科书。她写著一本关于心态如何影响幸福、健康和甚至寿命长短的书（《积极的转变》），发表了超过25篇期刊论文的章节。 她最新出版的书《为什么好人总是袖手旁观: 揭开让我们选择沉默的人性机制》（哈佛大学出版社）和《旁观者效应：勇气和不作为的心理》（哈珀柯林斯出版集团）探讨了为什么好人总是对于不道德的行为袖手旁观，并提供了可以帮助我们所有人在面对恶行，他人作壁上观时挺身而出的策略。
Professor Sanderson teaches a range of different courses in psychology, including the introduction class, intermediate classes in social psychology, health psychology, and sports psychology, and a seminar in close relationships. Her research is based in social psychology, and specifically on issues within close relationships and health-related behavior. Professor Sanderson has published over 25 journal articles and book chapters in addition to four college textbooks, middle school and high school health textbooks, and a book on how mindset influences happiness, health, and even how long we live (The Positive Shift). Her latest book, published in North America as Why We Act: Turning Bystanders Into Moral Rebels (Harvard University Press) and internationally as The Bystander Effect: The Psychology of Courage and Inaction (HarperCollins), examines why good people so often stay silent or do nothing in the face of wrongdoing and provides strategies we all can use to help people act, even when those around them are not.
积极心理学
多年来，心理学领域一直以来都致力于理解并解决人们的问题。现在，在积极心理学这个相对较新的领域中出现了不少具有开创性的科学研究正帮助人们过上更幸福、更健康的生活。本课程将首先回顾心态（心理定向）的概念，即我们如何看待自己和世界，以及我们的心态会如何影响健康，记忆力和衰老。接下来，我们将检视影响我们思维方式的因素，例如我们的个性，我们的生活环境和我们经历的逆境。最后，本课程将描述我们可用于心理和身体健康之中转化思维和经验的策略，包括在大自然中度过时光，与他人相处和建立亲密关系等。学生们将阅读由桑德森教授撰写的书（《积极转变》），完成简短的实践练习和写作作业，并进行自己的研究项目。
For many years, the field of psychology focused on understanding and resolving people’s problems. Ground-breaking new scientific research in the relatively new field of positive psychology now examines ways in which people can live happier and healthier lives. This course will start by reviewing the concept of mindset, meaning how we think about ourselves and the world, and how our mindset influences health, memory, and aging. Next, we’ll turn to examining factors that influence our mindset, such as personality, our environment, and the experience of adversity. Finally, the course will describe strategies we can use to shift our mindset and experience between psychological and physical well-being, including spending time in nature, giving to other people, and building close relationships. Students will read a book (The Positive Shift), written by Professor Sanderson, complete brief practical exercises and writing assignments, and conduct their own research project.
Maria Heim: Religion in Ancient India
Maria Heim
哈佛大学博士，阿默斯特学院 George Lyman Crosby 1896 & Stanley Warfield Crosby 宗教学终身教授与宗教学系主任
PhD, Harvard University. George Lyman Crosby 1896 & Stanley Warfield Crosby Professor in Religion; Chair of Religion
海姆教授是知名的古根海姆学者。她的研究领域包括古代印度，南亚和东南亚佛教的思想史、哲学史、宗教史和文学史，并在该领域撰写了四本书和多篇文章。她目前专注于研究多流派古典印度思想中的情绪认知，并为印度穆蒂古典图书馆翻译《弥兰王问经》。她在研究教学工作中熟练使用梵语和巴利语。
Professor Heim, a Guggenheim Fellow, teaches about the intellectual, philosophical, religious, and literary history of ancient India and South and Southeast Asian Buddhism, and has authored four books and numerous articles in this area. Her current projects are focused on emotions in classical Indian thought across many genres, and she is currently translating the Questions of Milinda for the Murty Classical Library of India. She works in two classical Indian languages, Sanskrit and Pali.
古印度的宗教
在这节课上我们探索中世纪之前印度宗教和思想文化的核心理念和习俗。我们会主要通过文本分析研究宗教，并辅以考古学和艺术史的材料。我们会阅读印度教、佛教和耆那教的经典宗教和哲学文献。
This course explores central ideas and practices in the religious and intellectual traditions of India up until the medieval period. We consider the range of available archeological, art historical, and textual evidence for religion in this period, though the course focuses mostly on texts. We will read the classic religious and philosophical literature of the traditions we now call Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Patricia O’Hara: Liquid Gold
Patricia O’Hara
哥伦比亚大学博士，阿默斯特学院 Lisa and Amanda Cross 化学终身教授与生物化学与生物物理学项目主任
PhD, Columbia University. Lisa and Amanda Cross Professor of Chemistry at Amherst College; Chair of the Program in Biochemistry and Biophysics
在斯坦福大学获得博士后学位后，奥哈拉教授在大约四十岁时来到阿默斯特学院。她的研究兴趣主要集中在生物物理学，采用荧光光谱仪和单分子显微镜进行关于蛋白质稳态的相关研究。她在生物化学杂志，分子免疫学，和物理化学杂志等期刊发表了超过二十多篇的学术研究。她指导的研究生在生物化学杂志上已经发表了超过三十篇会议论文集。她也在化学与生物化学课程发展文献中投稿。最让她骄傲的是，她很荣幸地指导过曾经七十个获得荣誉论文、在她的实验室中学习如何进行研究的学生。最近，她的研究兴趣延伸到了食品科学领域。她开发了一门分子美食学的课程，并正进行关于橄榄油化学的写作和教学。她笃信，食品科学可被用于去鼓励更多的科学教育，并将此作为即将出版（印刷中）的《分子化学手册》中的一个章节的基础，也是她发布于2017年由皇家化学协会出版，于2019被翻译到土耳其语的《橄榄油的化学故事：从树丛到餐桌》的一书基础。
After a post- doctoral appointment at Stanford University, Professor O’Hara came to Amherst College in 1983 where she is approaching her 40th year. Her research interest is in biophysics; her lab uses fluorescence spectroscopy and single molecule microscopy to study protein homeostasis. Her more than two dozen scientific publications appear in journals such as Biochemistry, Molecular Immunology, and the Journal of Physical Chemistry. Her research students have presented and published more than thirty Conference Proceedings (over 30) in the Biophysical Journal. She has also contributed to the literature on curriculum development in chemistry and biochemistry. She is most proud of the 70 Honors Theses students she has had the privilege of supervising and hundreds of students who have learned how to do research in her lab. Most recently, she has expanded her interest in food science, developing a course in Molecular Gastronomy and writing and teaching about Olive Oil Chemistry. Her belief that food science can be used to motivate the teaching of science is the basis of an upcoming chapter in the Handbook of Molecular Chemistry (in press) and the foundation of her book “The Chemical Story of Olive Oil: from Grove to Table” published in 2017 by the Royal Society of Chemistry and translated into Turkish in 2019.
液体黄金：橄榄油背后的历史与科学
数千年来，橄榄和橄榄油在地中海地区一直被视为珍宝般的存在。在这节课上，我们将学习橄榄和橄榄油在西方文化、艺术、宗教等领域内的象征性意义。我们还将探索橄榄油的制作工序，其化学构成和营养——特级初榨橄榄油真的是最健康的食用油吗？我们将一起阅读相关调查与报告，并探索橄榄油在地中海饮食中扮演的角色：橄榄油的化学构成是如何影响它在烹饪过程中的地位的？除了食用价值外，我们还将考虑橄榄油在古代宗教仪式中的重要性和在制皂中的应用。同时，伪劣橄榄油在当代美国市场中也是一个热点话题。在现代市场中，我们如何评估和评级橄榄油的质量？橄榄油制造商可以怎样完善他们的制作工序，消费者们又将如何保持警醒？
For millennia, the olive and its precious oil have been fundamental to the Mediterranean region. This course will begin with the history of olive trees and their symbolic importance in ancient art, culture, and religion. We will explore methods of production, the chemical composition, and the biologically active nutraceuticals contained in the oil. Is extra virgin olive oil really the healthiest oil one can consume? We will critically read the studies that have led to these claims, particularly focusing on the Mediterranean diet. How does the chemistry of the oil affect its use in the preparation and tasting of foods? We will also consider uses of olive oil outside the kitchen and explore its ritual incorporation in the ancient world and its usefulness in the making of soap. Olive oil fraud is a major concern for modern consumers in the U.S. What are the parameters by which oils are graded and evaluated? Can we imagine ways in which the industry might be better regulated and consumers be better educated?
LAISS 