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By Daniel Stefan ’10
This fall, Lisa DeTora, assistant professor of English, will be teaching a new course called “Imagineering,” which will combine elements of science, engineering, and the liberal arts.
The course will focus on writing about and against images and texts produced by Walt Disney Imagineering. Imagineering is the division of Disney which uses storytelling, creativity, and innovative technology and engineering to create resorts, theme parks, and attractions.
Students in the class will learn new and different ways to look at science and enhance their comprehension and ability to write. DeTora believes Imagineering is important “phenomenon” in American culture.
“For generations, children have watched and loved timeless classics like Snow White, Cinderella, and Peter Pan or visited parks like Disneyland and Disney World’s Magic Kingdom,” she says. “Now, students who have enjoyed the effects of Imagineering will have the opportunity to learn about them.”
DeTora says the course’s two goals are to give students the opportunity to write about science and allow them to develop their own personal style. She will have her students use the idea of Imagineering to examine the representation of science, technology, and medicine in Disney’s work.
She also hopes that her students will, by examining the various writing styles, come to understand them better and to use them where appropriate. “I believe the course will provide something students in science and engineering, and other areas as well, will like and understand, and the opportunity to look at particular types of scientific information.”