This is a class about using tree-rings as sources of information on past climate, and so it should be viewed as a subset of Paleoclimatology. The best introductions I know of to high resolution Paleoclimatology are:
Bradley, R.S. Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary, 2nd Edition. Academic Press, 1999, ISBN: 0-12-124010-X
and
Alverson, K.D., Bradley, R.S. and Pedersen, T.F. editors, Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future. Especially chapters 3 and 6, Academic Press, 2003, ISBN 3-540-42402 - 4
Participants need basic understanding of some multivariate statistics, in particular the topics known variously as principal components analysis (PCA) or the analysis of empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs). Please work through one of the following readings before you come:
Wilks, D.S. Statistical Methods in the Atmospheric Sciences, Academic Press, 1995 pages 359-398.
Fritts, H.C. Tree Rings and Climate, Academic Press, 1976, pages 340-375.
There are many other relevant topics covered in these two books, but please take a shot at the recommended pages first.