Student enrollment in courses related to religion and philosophy has risen 80 percent at Georgia State University since last summer -- a phenomenon faculty members attribute to increased interest in Middle Eastern culture and the effects of terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Campus enrollment trends also indicate that more students are signing up for insurance and public health courses, as well as classes in national security law.
But nowhere has the aftermath of Sept. 11 been more evident than in the religious studies area, where new classes in "Islamic Fundamentalism" and "War, Peace and Religion" will be taught this fall, said Tim Renick, associate professor of philosophy and director of the religious studies program. Georgia State also has hired a faculty member to teach courses in Arabic language and literature, as well as "Introduction to Islam."
Seventy-three students already have registered for "Religion and Politics in the Middle East," a course offered to incoming freshmen. The course is capped at 75.
The tragedy's aftershock also has rumbled through Georgia State's Robinson College of Business, where terrorism insurance is a hot topic. Administrators there report that the number of graduate-level business students signing up for "Corporate Risk Management" and "Risk Management Modeling" courses has doubled since Sept. 11.
Some professors are changing the content of existing classes. In the graduate business and law courses he teaches, Perry Binder, assistant professor for legal studies, is devoting more time to the impact of Sept. 11 on tort-based lawsuits and other issues.
The Georgia State College of Law will offer "National Security Law" beginning in spring 2003, and a new course in "Public Health Law" will be taught by an expert from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control, added associate dean Steve Kaminshine.
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