AA-251C 001 Introduction to Financial Management for the Arts: Integrating Mission and Money
This course will explore financial management as a key ingredient to any arts manager's
success, affecting and sustaining - or detracting from - an organization's ability
to deliver on its mission. It will also teach students how to read the story of an
organization, program or campaign through its numbers, helping students to find the
passion and purpose of financial management and how and why money management matters.
By the end of the course students will understand some of the intricacies of financial
management as well as how financial management affects all other aspects of arts management,
from fundraising to artistry. Strategic thinking in financial management will also
be emphasized; with a focus on how budgeting and reporting can enhance an organization's
capacity, clarity and long-term health. This course fulfills the Focused Elective
Requirement of the Arts Administration Minor.
AA-351A 001 Arts Management Issues Forum
Arts Management Issues Forum is designed for senior Arts Administration minors. Using
a combination of guest speakers, practical exercises and discussions of the state
of the arts, this course assists students with the transition from active and engaged
learners to aspiring professionals preparing to enter the field of Arts Administration.
This course fulfills one (1) credit of the Focused Elective Requirement of the Arts
Administration minor. Not for liberal arts credit.
AA-351A 002 Marketplace for Artists
Artists and artisans invest tremendous time, talent and resources into creating their
art and often are unsure of how to get exposure for their finished products. They
may desire to display and market their work, but be unaware of the steps involved.
This course is designed to introduce visual art students to the strategies and skills
they need to take their art and hand-made products from studio to the creative marketplace.
Topics will include photographing product, pricing & selling, marketing & branding
and growing your network. This course is part of the Entrepreneurial Artist Initiative.
Restricted to Studio Art majors/minors or permission of the instructor.
AH-151D 001, 002 Art of Africa and the African Diaspora
Survey of the arts of Africa and the African Diaspora from 10,000 B.C. until the present.
Students will explore the intersections among aesthetics, economics, social systems,
and politics by studying a wide range of objects, including ceramics, masks, paintings,
and architecture. The range of historical and cultural contexts will include ancient
African kingdoms, twentieth century Pan-African movements, and the contemporary, globalized
art market. (Designated a non-Western cultures course; fulfills humanities requirement.)
This course counts for IA major and minor; counts for 100-level requirement in AH
major.
AH-251C 001 African American Art
Survey of the visual arts of African Americans from 1600 until the present. Students
will learn about the artistic traditions that Africans sustained and invented during
the Middle Passage and enslavement, and will analyze the work of late nineteenth-century
African American painters and sculptors in relation to writings of W.E.B. Du Bois.
They will study historic artistic movements such as the Harlem Renaissance and the
Black Arts Movement, and explore recent contemporary art by African Americans in media
such as film, video, and performance. (Designated a Cultural Diversity course; fulfills
humanities requirement.) This course counts for breadth category "b" or "c" in AH
major.
AH-251C 002 Architecture and Utopia
A study of architecture and city planning as vehicles for the expression of social
ideals in North and South America during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Students will learn to situate design practices within their artistic and historical
contexts, and will explore the social, political, and philosophical agendas of architects
and design collaboratives. Case studies will include the Garden City Movement, the
Futurists, Broadacre City, CIAM, Levittown and the American suburb, Brasilia, and
the Rural Studio. (Fulfills humanities requirement.) This course counts for breadth
category "c" in AH major.
AH-251D 001 Popular Cultures in Asia: Appeal and Impact
Examines Asian popular visual cultures, focusing on India, China, and Japan. Students
will explore a wide range of materials, including prints, photographs, advertisements,
comics, film, and social media. They will analyze the aesthetic elements and narrative
structures of these cultural products, and also consider their connections to larger
processes as such as identity, modernization, nationalism, globalization, and soft
power. This course will meet for two 80-minute sessions per week (WF 8:40-10:00),
with a two-hour film screening the equivalent of every other week (W 4:00-6:00). (Designated
a Non-Western course; fulfills humanities requirement.) This course counts for IA
major and minor; counts for AS and MF minors; counts for breadth category "e" in AH
major.
AHDS-324 001 The Artist Interview
Explores the artist interview as a form of original art historical research through
the production of a professional interview with a visiting artist. Students will
learn how oral histories can function in a museum collection archive. Working in
teams, students will closely examine and research artworks in the Tang Museum collection,
prepare questions for the artists, and create videotaped interviews. Different methodological
approaches to the interview will be presented and discussed. For instance, how does
editing plan a role in making meaning? Questions of who defines the meaning of an
artwork will be debated. Is the artist always the best source about his or her own
work? Pre-requisite: One art history course. This course counts for breadth category
"c" in AH major.
AH-351C 001 The Rhetoric of Maps in the Hispanic World
A study of the history of maps as socially and politically charged documents that
played key roles in defining the Hispanic world during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. Students will examine a diverse set of Western and non-Western cartographic
practices and traditions in Spain, the New World, and the Philippines. They will
learn how and why maps were made; how mapmakers interpreted the physical world; and
how mapping shaped colonial encounters, the geographical imagination, the scientific
revolution, and the early modern nation state. (Designated a Cultural Diversity course;
fulfills humanities requirement.) This course counts for IA major and minor; counts
for LA minor; counts for breadth category "b" or "d" in AH major.
AH-351D 001 Contemporary Art of Africa and the Diaspora
Examines the complex and global histories of modern and contemporary art from Africa
and its Diaspora in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Students will explore
conceptions of African modernity and consider how African nationalism, the Black Arts
Movement, Pan-Africanism, and anti-Apartheid struggles emerged and interacted through
artistic expressions. They will learn how postcolonial theoretical and curatorial
interventions of the 1990s and 2000s brought contemporary Africa and Diaspora art
to the attention of a broader popular and art world audience. Artworks will include
photography, film, installations, and performance art by artists based in the African
continent, the Americas, and Europe. (Designated a Cultural Diversity course; fulfills
humanities requirement.) This course counts for IA major and minor; counts for breadth
category "d" in AH major.
AH-375C 001 Framing Photography
Explores practices and issues in the history of photography in Europe and the United
States between the nineteenth century and the present, focusing on works in the exhibition
“Borrowed Light: Selections from the Jack Shear Collection.” Students will study
debates about the aesthetic value and social roles of photography; its use as a vehicle
for self-definition, activism, and domination; and controversies in the history of
photography exhibitions. Students will learn how the works in “Borrowed Light” were
acquired by a private collector; talk with museum staff about exhibition design; and
collaborate to re-curate a section of the exhibition. Designated a Documentary Studies
course. This course counts for MF minor. Counts for seminar (AH375) requirement
in AH major. For AH majors who have already taken AH375, counts for “exploration.”
Open to junior and senior majors or minors in art history or studio art; others welcome
by permission of the instructor.
AM-103 001 Myth and Symbol in American Studies
An introduction to the ways in which myths and symbols function in American culture.
Students will study the life-cycle of national myths, considering how myths develop
initially as mirrors for reflecting and testing cultural experience; how they gradually
change over time to accommodate altering cultural conditions; and how they eventually
outlive their usefulness. In particular the course focuses on the pervasive mythology
of the American frontier, paying special attention to how, once the physical frontier
disappeared in the late nineteenth century, Americans transferred their ambitions
for the West to imperial outposts in the Caribbean and the Pacific in the early twentieth
century, and then to outer space in the late twentieth century, where astronauts replaced
cowboys as the archetypal American heroes and where the successes and failures of
western frontier development were recapitulated in space exploration and development.
(Fulfills social sciences requirement.)
AM-260X 001 Postwar Hollywood
This course covers Hollywood (film and television) and American culture from the end
of World War II through the mid-1960s. In this period, the "golden age" of Hollywood
moviemaking ended when the all-powerful studio system broke apart. At the same time,
the "golden age" of television dawned, as the new medium took its place at the center
of American homes and American life.
The U.S. was changing, too: After World War II, America demobilized, suburbanized, and domesticated; the nation emerged as a global superpower and entered into a Cold War; and the country was internally divided over citizens' claims on civil rights. Looking at Hollywood film and U.S. history together, we will see how they enlighten each other - and I expect we will enlighten ourselves, as well. (Fulfills social sciences requirement.)
AM-260I 001 Pop History
A topical examination of the creation, dissemination, and consumption of "pop"ular
history in American culture. The course will examine the ways in which Americans absorb
history through vernacular forms of communication, including radio dramatizations
(The Cavalcade of America); cartoons and comic books (Classics Illustrated); television
programs (Time Tunnel and Drunk History); movies (Disney's Pocahontas); living history
demonstrations (Civil War re-enactments); and rap music (Flocabulary's Hip-Hop History).
The interrelationships among popular, elite and folk history will be explored. (Fulfills
social sciences requirement.)
AM-260J 001 Diversity in the United States
An examination of the ways in which people in the United States try to reconcile the
realities of cultural difference with preconceived notions of a unified America and
American identity. Students will learn about the United States as a complex, heterogeneous
society that has been profoundly shaped by both the connections and conflict implicit
in its multicultural heritage. Students will also address interrelationships and tensions
that characterize a culturally diverse democracy by examining how accepted cultural
traditions intersect with contested themes such as race, the family, adoption, gender,
sexuality, and education. (Fulfills social sciences requirement; designated as a Cultural
Diversity course)
AM-376B 001 Topics in American Culture: City
This course is an examination of the growth and impact of urban life on American culture.
The course examines the relationship between the perceptions of urban life and the
actualities of that experience. By focusing on how varying reactions to the urban
experience result from economic, ethnic, or gender differences, the course explores
such topics as: the effect of industrialization, the waves of rural migration and
overseas immigration, the concentrations of wealth and poverty, the impact of architecture,
and the parks and planning movements. The nation's capital, Washington, D.C., will
be the lens through which we investigate these issues. The central theme to this
urban investigation is Washington: Symbol and City.
AN-251D 001 Visual Anthropology
An exploration of the theories and methods anthropologist use to create and present
ethnographic images. Using photography and videos, students learn the principles for
thinking visually and creating images to present ethnographic data. Topics include
ethics of images, cameras in social science research, organizing images, and analyzing
images. Students design small visual projects to gain experience in formulating research
questions, visual ethnography, and analyzing and presenting results. Pre-requisites
:AN-101 or AN-102
AN-252C 001 Development in Asia
This course examines significant social, political and economic dynamics shaping the
cultural worlds and everyday realities of contemporary Asian national societies.
With a focus on South and East Asia, case studies explore major social change processes:
economic development, ecological crisis, migration, capitalism and globalization,
ethnicity, nationalism, and indigeneity. Students analyze how Asian communities experience
and contest efforts to transform local social worlds, cultural values, and moral sensibilities.
Comparative perspectives examine how social life within a globalizing Asia is increasingly
related to trans-regional and transnational regimes of order, regulation, and meaning-making.
Anthropological perspectives reveal how similar general social pressures and dynamics
are unfolding in different localized ways due to the contrasting national histories
and cultures in Asia. (Designated a non-Western culture course; Fulfills Social Science
Requirement)
AN-351D 001 Biology of Poverty
This course will use a biocultural perspective to study the relationship between poverty
and human health. Using scientific articles, ethnographic texts, and popular science
writings, we will learn how cultural understandings of the causes and effects of poverty
have shifted over time. We will also examine how individuals navigate the challenges
of living in poverty, sometimes exerting their own agency despite having minimal access
to resources. Over the course of the semester, we will turn a critical eye towards
discussions of the "poverty problem" or "culture of poverty". We will develop a more
nuanced understanding of the conditions that create and reinforce these inequities,
and how they give rise to biological feedback mechanisms that influence individual
health outcomes. Pre-requisites: AN 102 and AN 101
AN-352D 001 From Dig to Display
In many people's imaginations archaeology is done through excavation. In reality,
much of what we learn about the past comes from processing and analyzing objects back
in the lab. This course introduces students to archaeological methods of artifact
analysis and curation following excavation. It does so through hands-on experiences
with excavated materials from Skidmore's various local archaeological field projects.
Topics include artifact preparation, collection cataloging, laboratory analysis, and
the public display of objects in museums or online settings. The experience will culminate
in a final project designed by the students, which deals with preparing a set of artifacts
collected in excavation for public exhibition. Pre-requisites: AN102 and AN202 or
permission of instructor
AR-264A 001 Clay in Context: Techniques & Concepts
This class explores a variety of techniques in handbuilding and throwing, as well
as mold making, surface investigation, glaze calculation and kiln firing. Projects
are designed for both sculptural and functional interpretation. Emphasis is placed
on research and development in conjunction with time in the studio. Students will
engage in ongoing critical dialogue about historic and contemporary ceramics. Prerequisite:
AR-111; Studio Fee: $75
AR-264F 001 Water Based Media
An exploration of water-based drawing and painting media with a focus on acrylic paint.
Using direct observation, experimentation, and invention, this course builds understanding
of formal principles, color interaction and the physical qualities of materials.
Assignments support development of a personal vision. Prerequisite: AR 133; Studio
Fee: $25.
AR-264I 001 CNC Processes and Sculpture
The goal of the course is for students to become confident at using digital means
to define and solve problems in three dimensions. Students develop technical skills
related to metal processes and become increasingly more visually sophisticated as
they create, observe, evaluate and then share the consequences of their efforts.
CAD (Computer Aided Design) technology is used to create metal shapes that are cut
out with a CNC plasma cutter, assembled, and then welded together. A basic working
knowledge of software like Adobe Acrobat, Corel Draw, Sketchup or other CAD programs
is helpful but not a requirement. Advanced students are encouraged to use Autodesk
Inventor. Students are expected to have their own laptop. Studio Fee: $75.
AR-351D 001 Fiber Structure and Form
Sculptural fiber processes will be introduced through traditional and non-traditional
ways of hand-construction. Felting, crochet, knitting, basketry, plaiting, netting,
and knotting are some of the techniques that will be covered in the course. Experimentation
with conventional, non-conventional, and mixed-media materials will be encouraged.
Emphasis will be placed on technical skill, personal direction, and concept. Readings
in textile history and contemporary art issues, writing, and discussion will complement
technical grounding in traditional textile processes. Prerequisite: AR 214; Studio
Fee: $75.
AR-351H 001 Print and Narrative
Intensive practice in relief printmaking focusing on the narrative. Students are encouraged
to master and adapt techniques in relation to their own imagery. Students explore
both historical and contemporary applications of the narrative in fine art printmaking
and are encouraged to focus not only on the image itself, but also how it communicates
in the context of its structure and presentation. Critiques will concentrate on individual
growth of personal visual content and mastery of technique. Prerequisite: AR 133
and AR 228 or permission of instructor; Studio Fee: $75.
AR-351J 001 Advanced Digital Media
A continued investigation and further development of the practice of making art using
digital media. Students may choose to pursue advanced projects in either interactive
design or motion graphics. Emphasis will be placed on developing an individual studio
practice through studio work, critical and art historical readings and writing. Prerequisite:
AR 136 or AR 264J or AR 351J or AR 355 or AR 356 or permission of instructor; Studio
Fee: $105.
BI-152 001 Ecology of the Adirondacks
An introduction to the basic principles of ecology through the lens of the Adirondacks.
We will explore the habitats of the Adirondack region, how organisms adapt to these
environments, how they interact with one another, and the flow of energy and nutrients
through these systems. Particular emphasis will be paid to the way in which environmental
issues such as acid rain, invasive species, and climate change affect the ecology
of the Adirondacks. Students will become comfortable interpreting and applying findings
from the scientific literature, and analyzing coverage of ecology and environmental
issues in the popular media. We will focus on interpreting and presenting ecological
data, and communicating research findings to the scientific community and the public.
(Fulfills natural science requirement; QR2; and B1 cluster supportive course in Environmental
Studies.) Prerequisite: QR1.
BI-351 001 Advanced Biostatistics with the R Programming Language
This course would reprise the topics covered in Biostatistics (BI-235) using the R
programming language as a platform for analysis. Students would deepen their understanding
of statistical analysis while becoming comfortable writing code in the R programming
language. Topics will include: inference, experimental design and hypothesis testing;
assumptions behind statistical models and choice of statistical tests; analysis of
variance and covariance; general linear models and interactions; regression; and parametric
and non-parametric tests. If time warrants we will also cover topics in multivariate
statistics such as principal components analysis and cluster analysis. Prerequisite:
BI-235 or permission of the instructor.
BI-352 001 Advanced Biostatistics with the R Programming Language w/Lab
This course would reprise the topics covered in Biostatistics (BI-235) using the R
programming language as a platform for analysis. Students would deepen their understanding
of statistical analysis while becoming comfortable writing code in the R programming
language. Topics will include: inference, experimental design and hypothesis testing;
assumptions behind statistical models and choice of statistical tests; analysis of
variance and covariance; general linear models and interactions; regression; and parametric
and non-parametric tests. If time warrants we will also cover topics in multivariate
statistics such as principal components analysis and cluster analysis. This lab will
involve a semester-long larger project either working with your own data or with data
that we obtain from a previous study and conducting an extensive statistical analysis
using the R programming language. This project would culminate in a poster presentation
to the department. Prerequisite: BI-235 or permission of the instructor.
BI-352 002 Bacterial Pathogenesis: A Molecular Approach with Lab
An exploration of the latest techniques used to study bacteria-host interactions at
the molecular level. The course delves into common obstacles that disease-causing
bacteria must overcome in order to colonize a human host and the general strategies
bacteria have evolved to overcome these obstacles. Comparisons will be made to symbiotic
bacteria-host interactions, and questions such as "How did pathogenic bacteria evolve?"
will be addressed. Grounded in current published research, the class will also explore,
at the molecular level, mechanisms used by specific pathogens to colonize and damage
host tissue.
In the laboratory we will put some of the methods discussed in lecture into practice by isolating, identifying and determining the antibiotic resistance pattern of opportunistic pathogens as well as testing the survival of bacteria in mammalian macrophages. Prerequisite: BI-246.
CH-351C 001 Food Chemistry
This course will cover the properties and functionality of the main constituents of
food: water, lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. We will also
cover the chemistry of various food additives and flavor/aroma components. Special
attention will be given to specific organic reactions of food and cooking processes.
Additionally, the role of toxins and contaminants that affect food safety will be
discussed. Food chemistry is an interdisciplinary subject, drawing basic principles
from organic, inorganic, physical, and biological chemistry. The final group project
will utilize your chemical knowledge throughout the course, as well as give you an
opportunity to improve your transverse skills in scientific writing and presentation.
Required Textbook: Coultate, Tom P. Food: The Chemistry of its Components, 6th Edition;
Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, 2015. Prerequisite: CH-221: Organic Chemistry
I (Recommended CH-222).
CL-310 001 Seminar in Latin Poetry: Roman Satire
Sex, food, travel, religion, idiots, misers, lawyers, pimps...these are all the topics
and targets of satire, the only genre which the Romans have a claim to inventing by
themselves. Our seminar will focus on the satires of Horace and Juvenal, and some
of Martial's epigrams for good measure - a veritable buffet of Rome's best and worst.
We'll also look at modern satire, which is no less subversive and tends to cover its
own tracks. (Fulfills Foreign Language requirement.) Prerequisite: CL-210 or permission
of the instructor.
DA-217A 001 Dance Conditioning
Dance Conditioning will teach the fundamental cross-training techniques essential
to a healthy dance career. In this 1 credit course, students will learn evidence-based, integrative
conditioning methods with an emphasis on mindfulness, placement, and injury prevention.
DS-202A 001 Photography 101
Students will explore techniques and methods of photographic storytelling working
with DSLR cameras. Lectures, demonstrations and exercises will build ability in composition,
exposure, and seeing. Class will also address organizing, adding metadata, and adjusting
images. No previous experience necessary.
DS-202A 002 Video Storytelling (Doc Workshop)
Students will learn the basics of video storytelling through this one-credit video
production course. Over the course of the semester, you will move from concept to
completion of a single video project (3-4 minutes), which you will shoot, edit and
present. Skills developed may include storyboarding, DSLR camera workflow, setting
up video interviews and how to tell a visual story. Students will present a project
on the first day of class. Project stories and approaches are open based on student
interest; they may range from documentary and narrative to experimental and creative.
They may be drawn from a previous or current course or your expertise and interests.
This is a skills-based visual course that has been designed for students at any level
of experience.
DS-202A 003 Interview 101: Skidmore Stories
Students will learn the basics of oral history interview practices, ethics and techniques,
including how to digitally record and transcribe an interview. We will begin by working
on Skidmore stories with retired Skidmore faculty, staff, and/or alumni. Each student
will record, log and transcribe two interviews, one from a pre-selected pool of interviewees
and another of their own choosing. Completed oral histories may become part of the
Skidmore-Saratoga Memory Project.
DS-202B 001 Podcast Storytelling
Students will focus on how to write for radio and craft a story using interview, ambient
sound, music and narration. Using professional equipment and software, this hands-on
class will cover the basics of story for sound, recording and editing.
DS-251B 003 Storytelling for Radio (3/12-5/3) Eileen McAdam
In 7 weeks, students will focus on how to write for radio and craft a story using
interview, ambient sound, music and narration. Using professional equipment and software,
this hands-on class will cover the basics of story for sound, recording and editing.
DS-251C 001 Principles of Documentary
This 200-level course will be the gateway to the Documentary Studies Collaborative.
This course introduces local, national and global documentary traditions in film,
sound, photography, exhibition and multi-media, through readings, screenings, classroom
discussion, and engagement with practitioners. Students will engage with theoretical
and practical issues related to documentary work, including critical analysis of existing
work and of the distinct ethical and aesthetic concerns associated with developing
and telling stories that matter. The course emphasizes how the narrative, analytical,
and structural frames of audio, visual and written media shape the work, its audience
and impact. Rather than focusing on the production of a documentary in any one form,
students get a hands-on experience of various media, and an overview of technical
aspects, to help them prepare for extended work in one or more documentary media.
DS-302A 002 Video Projects (Doc Workshop)
This course is for students interested in advancing a documentary project based on
existing or in-progress research in any discipline with the support of a documentarian
and visiting practitioners. Proposed projects may employ visual media including video,
photography, and/or media work. Students will workshop an individual short project
through written reflections, rough cut screenings/ presentations and group and individual
critiques. Students will focus on finding an approach to form that suits both subject
matter and their personal creative and academic goals. Students will also work with
readings, technical workshops, screenings, and discussions.
EC-361 001 Economics of Education
This course examines education and educational systems from an economic perspective.
Course material applies general economic principles and theories (e.g., benefit and
cost analysis, investment, labor, productivity and cost, supply and demand) to the
context of education. Main topics include: human capital and signaling theories;
the profitability of investments in education at both the individual and societal
levels; education production functions; the meaning and empirics of educational equity;
race and gender issues in education. The course concludes by focusing on policy issues,
such as school choice alternatives and privatization policies, inequality in America
and the implications for education policy. Prerequisite: EC-236 and EC-237.
EC-361 002 Behavioral & Experimental Economics
Experimental research continues to demonstrate that the economic decisions of individuals
and groups deviate, sometimes dramatically, from those predicted by standard economic
theory's rational actor model. Behavioral economics seeks to explain the economic
decision-making of 'homo sapiens economicus,' the psychologically complex, cognitively
limited, emotional, social decision-maker. This course explores the foundations of
behavioral economics and develops skills in designing and conducting economic experiments
for the development of new behavioral insights. Topics include bounded rationality,
prospect theory, reference dependence, social preferences, anchoring, framing, and
priming, moral balancing, and applications of behavioral economics to public policy.
The semester culminates in the creation of an experimental research proposal. Prerequisite:
EC-236, EC-237.
English Department Course Descriptions can be found here.
ES-352C 002 Special Topics in Spatial Analysis and Mapping
This course is an advanced geospatial course with a significant lab and seminar component
for students who intend to utilize GIS in their research or professional practice.
It will build on the techniques learned in the Introduction to GIS course by exposing
the students to more advanced methods in developing and utilizing GIS data. The class
will cover a wide range of modeling applications including a structured approach to:
designing and managing geospatial analysis; understanding coordinate and projection
systems and their use in GIS; acquisition, transformation and creation of spatial
data and associated metadata; cartographic conventions and map design; and conducting
analysis using a variety of data types from both raster and vector sources.
Under the instructor's guidance, students will conceive, design and execute an intermediate
to advanced level GIS-based project that incorporates a significant amount of material
covered in the course and which furthers the students research or disciplinary interests.
The focus of the course will shift to accommodate the project types selected. Students
will be encouraged to develop the project with an appropriate departmental faculty.
The course will use a seminar approach where each student will present and demonstrate
the analysis applied to selected topics throughout the conduct of the course. Prerequisite:
ID210 or permission of the Instructor
ES-352D 002 Regenerative Urban Ecologies: Tools and Concepts for Building Socially
and Environmentally Resilient Cities
As a greater number of Earth's population moves into cities, it is becoming increasingly
critical that we re-design our urban environments to be more sustainable: capable
of meeting the needs of their residents while simultaneously improving their ecological
and social health. Accomplishing this goal will become of dire importance as the
complex interplays of climate change, energy constraint, and economic inequality converge
upon us. This course will give students a toolkit of frameworks, methods, and strategies
for addressing these challenges, ranging from top down governance and policy approaches
to highly practical "hands-on" ecological technologies.
EX-361C 001 Applied Anatomy and Kinesiology
Advanced study of the anatomical and mechanical principles of human movement. Prerequisite:
Ex-126 and EX-127.
EX-361C 002 Clinical Aspects of CVD
Advanced study of the clinical nature of cardiovascular disease with emphasis on detection
and intervention. Prerequisite: Ex-126 and EX-127.
FC-363 001 Chinese Literary Texts and Translation
Designed for advanced students of Chinese as a second language, this introduction
to Chinese literature develops knowledge, appreciation and ability to read classics
from China's two most important literary genres: traditional poetry and modern fiction.
We will approach the texts in both their Chinese contexts and through the study and
practice of literary translation, through close reading of the original texts, comparing
multiple translations (into both Mandarin and English), memorizing poems and passages
to learn literary allusions at their source, and producing our own translations, through
short exercises and a final translation project. Prerequisite: FC-302 or permission
of the instructor.
FF-263 001 Writing about Travel: Creative Non-Fiction in French
A workshop offering intensive practice in writing creative non-fiction that draws
upon students' experiences as travelers, both literal and figurative. Short readings
introduce students to travel writing as a genre, and texts in French serve as models
and inspiration for student-generated travel writing. Readings include excerpts from
travel accounts by Flaubert, Gautier, and Eberhardt, among others. Students write
weekly and critique each other's work with the goal of refining their written expression
in French, increasing accuracy, and communicating greater complexity of thought. Grammar
review provided on an as needed basis. Combine your love of travel and your passion
for French! Prerequisite: FF-208 or FF-210.
FF-363001 Lyric Flights of Love and Death
Exploration of the language of lyric poetry and prose during the three periods of
its greatest brilliance, the Renaissance, the 19th and 20th centuries (the Pléiade,
the Symbolists, the Surrealist adventure and Oulipo). Interrogation of the means
by which language strains to become music. Close attention to the relationship between
poetry and art criticism from Baudelaire to Roubaud, en passant par Apollinaire.
(Fulfills arts requirement.)Prerequisite: FF-208 and or FF-210 or equivalent, or
permission of the instructor.
FL-263 001 Latinidades: Reconfiguring Identities in the U.S.
An exploration of the work of Latino/a writers considering the ways in which they
have depicted and imagined the experiences of moving between and within nations. Students
will consider the impact these movements have had in the configuration of Latino/a
identities. (Designated a Cultural Diversity course.)
FS-363 001 Rewriting the Past: Classical Texts in their Modern Contexts
A study of modern reinterpretations of classical works. In this course we will consider
the problem of the refundición or the literary appropriation and adaptation of such
classical works as the story of Cain and Abel, the legend of Don Juan and figures
found in Las Meninas. In the course of the semester we will ask and re-ask ourselves
the following questions: why do writers continually return to the past for their inspiration
and what does their re-imagination of that past say about modernity. Prerequisite:
F-211 or permission of the instructor.
FS-363 002 Beyond Saving the Rainforest: Environment, Culture, and Communication in the Spanish-Speaking
World
This course will explore the complex relationship between environment and culture
in Spanish America and Spain. In the first half of the semester, we will study the
evolution of environmental thought in this region through the lens of artistic representations.
By critically reading various texts (including short stories, theater, poetry, visual
arts, etc.), students will be able to analyze the different ways that people in Spanish-speaking
societies have perceived, thought about, and represented their relationship with the
environment. In the second part of the semester, we will cover the foundations of
environmental communication, rhetoric, and discourse, with special emphasis on the
distinctive forms they take in the Spanish language. We will review some grammar,
vocabulary, and frequent expressions used in genres of environmental communication
and dissemination of scientific/environmental knowledge, including documentary film,
environmental journalism, and research posters and presentations. Prerequisite: FS-208
or permission of the instructor.
ES-352C 001 US Public Land and Oceans: Policy, Management, and Current Events
Public lands and oceans are our natural and national heritage. State and federal agencies
manage, and at times mismanage, public lands and oceans for their diverse recreational,
wilderness, resource, economic, ecosystem, watershed, range, and wildlife values.
Through case studies and issue investigation, this class will examine the policies,
laws, philosophies; the social, cultural, religious, economic, political interests;
and the science that influence the management of state and federally owned public
resources. We will explore active stakeholders in the public lands and oceans policy
arena, which include a diversity of advocates, agencies, tribes, non-governmental
organizations, researchers, and industries. This class will include special guest
speakers, films, and field trips. Students will take a participatory role in current
environmental policy and resource management decisions by offering written comments
through the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and Letters
to the Editor of newspapers. Students will also work in pairs on a semester-long Issue
Investigation and Action Research Project that includes a research paper and oral
presentation as well as take an in class midterm examination. Prerequisites: ES 100
or the permission of the instructor.
ES-352D 001 Restoration Ecology
Human societies depend on ecosystem services such as maintenance of water quality
and soil fertility, climate regulation, and providing vital natural resources. However,
the ability of an ecosystem to provide those services is often affected by human actions,
policies, and cultural viewpoints. This course is intended as a broad overview of
restoration ecology; we will examine factors leading to the degradation of ecosystems,
the complex ecological/social/political aspects associated with restoration, and evaluation
of restoration success. The entire process of ecological restoration will be examined,
including setting restoration goals, design, implementation, and evaluation. Topics
include 1) basic ecological concepts, 2) valuation of lost ecosystem services and
subsequent restoration, 3) social and political aspects of restoration, and 4) evaluation
of restoration success.
GE-251C 001 The Coastal Ocean
An exploration of the physical, biological, and anthropogenic processes that impact
marine environments extending from estuaries to the edge of the continental shelf.
With the majority of the global human population living near a coastline, the rationale
for studying coastal ocean dynamics has never been stronger. Students will discuss
topics such as river deltas, estuaries, beaches, coastal circulation, and nearshore
marine ecosystems. An emphasis will be placed throughout the course on the ways humans
interact with and impact the coastal ocean (e.g. pollution, eutrophication, coastal
development, resource extraction) 3 credits. 3 hours lecture per week. Prerequisites
are: GE-101 or GE-112, or permission of the instructor.
GN-251B 001 English for Academic Engagement II
English for Academic Engagement II focuses on further developing students' language
skills to help them engage meaningfully in academic discourse. Apart from strengthening
academic vocabulary, classroom assignments seek to enhance students’ critical thinking
and argumentation. A significant part of the course is dedicated to public speaking
and teamwork. Some of the topics for readings and classroom discussions include American
academic culture, conventions of quality academic speech and writing, and some recent
scholarly achievements. Students will demonstrate their progress in this course in
debates, presentations, and communicative problem-solving assignments. The course
is open to all students seeking to further develop their English language skills.
Final placement will be reviewed and approved by faculty prior to the start of the
semester.
GO-251C 001 So You Want to be a Judge?
This course analyzes the "judicial life cycle." We will examine who goes to law school,
who gets picked to be a clerk, what clerks do, running in state judicial elections,
the federal nomination process, the day-to-day life of a judge, workload issues, getting
along with judicial colleagues, moving up in the judicial hierarchy, retirement, and
death. Though primarily a political science class, we will tackle some of these questions
from alternative approaches, including sociology, history, and economics. Prerequisite:
GO-101.(Fulfills social sciences requirement.)
GO-351A 001 Tocqueville's America
Tocqueville's classic work Democracy in America has been called the best book ever
written about America and the best book ever written about democracy. This course
will be devoted to an analysis of this great text but will also make use of Tocqueville's
letters. We will investigate the nature of modern democracy as it emerged in America,
focusing on Tocquevillian concepts such as equality of condition, popular sovereignty,
tyranny of the majority, individualism, the science of associations, and soft despotism.
Tocqueville is an unparalleled analyst of modern democracy because he fully understood
its depth and power. As Pierre Manent has written, "Democracy is the regime most intrinsic
to human nature when it is finally free to express its wishes, but democracy is also
something that happens to human nature without its knowing or really wanting what
happens. The greatness of Tocqueville was his capacity at one and the same time for
promoting the clear hope that democracy entails while deepening a sense for its doleful
secret." Prerequisite: GO-102; Recommended preparation GO-204 or GO-205H.
GO-367 001 Presidential Nominations
The Presidential Nomination process can seem complex and confusing. Candidates pursue
different strategies to secure delegates. States use different rules for conducting
primaries and caucuses. The calendar changes every four years. The central focus is
studying the dynamics of the 2016 nominations in both parties as they unfold from
Iowa to the end of the semester (and beyond?). To understand 2016, we will examine
candidate bios, campaign strategies, party factions, fundraising, the origins of the
nomination process, the impact of sequential primaries, how and why rules and calendars
are changed, and more.
HI-206 001 Fall of Rome
Students examine the Roman empire, from its foundation by the first emperor Augustus
until the sack of the city of Rome and the empire's demise. We will study the family
of Julio-Claudian emperors - Caligula, Nero, and others - and as well succeeding emperors;
political intrigue in the imperial court; the development of an imperial mindset and
responses to it in the provinces; the multiculturalism of the empire; social and political
institutions; the rise of Christianity; and the end of the largest empire the world
had ever seen. (Fulfills social sciences requirement.)
HI-217 001 History of Latina and Latinos
This course is designed to introduce students to the political, social, economic,
and migratory history of Latinas and Latinos in the United States. The goal of the
course is to critically examine the Latin@ population in the United States by exploring
the history of conquest, migration, acculturation, resistance, and the construction
of a pan-ethnic Latin@ identity. Focusing for the most part on the 19th and 20th centuries,
we will explore various theoretical and methodological issues in research on Latin@
history, the social demography of Latin@s, the history of social and political movements
in the Latin@ community, boundaries and inequalities of race and class, and the role
of global economic forces in shaping the lives of Latin@s. The course material is
geared toward helping students develop a critical understanding of the primary historical
issues related to the experiences of Latin@s in the United States. (Fulfills social
sciences requirement.)
HI-217 002 Gender in Early Modern Europe
This course is an intermediate-level exploration of the creation, operation, and interaction
of masculinities and femininities (in the plural) in Europe between approximately
1450 and 1789. It is important to realize that "gender history" is not simply another
way of saying "women's history." Instead, we will employ gender as a lens through
which to consider the experiences of both women and men (and those of individuals
who did not fit neatly into either category) during the period. Learning objectives
include critiquing the use of gender as a category of historical analysis; investigating
the gap between prevailing notions about manhood and womanhood and the lived experiences
of men and women; and teasing apart the intersection of gender with other axes of
identity, especially race, class, age, marital status, and religious affiliation.
HI-217 003 20TH Century East Asia
This course will examine the emergence of modern nation-states in China, Japan, and
Korea from the late-nineteenth century through the twentieth century and consider
a variety of struggles with colonialism, civil war, world war, and revolution, and
subsequent "economic miracles." The course will look at distinctly national historical
trajectories while also considering their regional and world historical contexts.
The legacies and historical memory of major events such as war and revolution will
also be an important themes in the class. (Designated a non-Western cultures course;
Fulfills social sciences requirement.).
HI-363 001 The Quest for King Arthur: Man Myth, and Messiah, AD 500 to the Present
Perhaps no cultural figure has captured the Western imagination quite so completely
as King Arthur, despite his possibly never having existed at all. Supposedly, Arthur
emerged from the wreckage of the Roman Empire in the late fifth or early sixth century
to lead the British defense against Germanic invaders, only to die (or maybe not!)
in the noble but doomed endeavor. Yet, he appears in no written records until the
early ninth century. From that point on, however, this once and future king features
prominently in Western historical writings, literature, and visual art. Even today,
he inspires everything from a brand of flour to Broadway musicals. According to Arthurian
mythology, he will return in our hour of greatest need, but in a way, he never has
left. In this course, we will weigh the evidence for and against Arthur’s historicity
but also consider the larger question of why his image has proven so durable and endlessly
adaptable for almost fifteen centuries.
HI-363R 001 Women's Movement in Latin America
This course is designed to give students an overview of the history of women's and
feminist movements in Latin America in the last half-century. The course will provide
students with background knowledge of the particular movements, in addition to a broad
understanding of the relevant theoretical and thematic frameworks through which women's
movements are most often analyzed and understood. In particular, we will be focusing
on issues of race and class within women's movements, the ways in which women's movements
present and position themselves to achieve their goals, and the challenges and successes
of specific movements within the Latin American and Latina community. Class lectures,
discussions, and assignments are geared toward helping students develop a critical
understanding of the primary issues related to women's organizing in the Latin American
context. Each student will be asked to concentrate on one particular movement in more
depth in a substantive final research project.
HI-363R 002 History of Japanese Film
This research course will provide an overview of Japanese film history from the "pre-history"
of film and early film forms of the silent era, to the contributions of major directors
from the classical era(s) of Japanese film (both the 30s and 50s have been described
as such), before considering major directors, genres, and developments of the postwar
years. We will consider the question of a "national cinema" as we analyze Japanese
cinema in the context of Japanese history, a broader global context, and in the context
of the historical development of film studies as a discipline. Finally, students will
write a research paper on a topic of their choosing related to the history of Japanese
film.
IA-251A 001 Life on the Line: Evolving Identity formation on the U.S./Mexico Border
In this course students are exposed to emerging borderland realities influenced by
U.S. policies. Students explore how NAFTA, IMMIGRATION LAW, and BORDER SECURITY
impacts the lives of border residents on both sides of the US/Mexico wall. Students
examine the often violent struggle between drug cartels, the military, deportees,
and activists, as these groups struggle to establish their own place of authority
a power-play along the border. On a larger scale, students consider the concept of
international borders, their historical and geographical significance, and the politics
of exclusion and race. Closer to home, students study the consequences of labor laws
and visa restrictions on local industries and human rights.
IA-251B 001 Global Economy: Issues & Institutions, Politics & Policy
An examination of the interplay between international economics and politics and how
these interactions affect international trade and finance. The objective of this course
is to familiarize students with the operation of the world's economy at the theoretical
and practical levels while examining how economic relationships and institutions may
affect political outcomes. Building on theoretical foundations, the course contrasts
mainstream economic theories of international trade law, finance, development and
investment with theories highlighting class relations/wealth distribution, power,
and market imperfections or failures. Among the subjects likely to be explored: multinational
corporations, capital flight, debt and financial crises, exchange-rate mechanisms,
regional trade agreements, the role of the state and the prospects for national and
supra-national monetary and fiscal policies. Debate on free trade policies versus
state-focused protectionism, the historical role of international economic institutions
and the interactions of politics and economics are essential to the course. Students
will also examine the roles that international economic organizations such as the
WTO, IMF, ECB, and the World Bank have played in economic globalization as well as
the activities of regional and state-level financial players which have considerable
influence over macroeconomic policies and the world's economy. By examining real
life phenomena and recent events, the course aims to give students the tools they
need to critically examine the political relationships between states, markets and
international economic actors.
IA-351 001 Global Illicit Markets: Sex, Drugs, Guns, Money, Corruption and Globalized
Black Market Trade
Globalization has resulted in the increased mobility of people, capital, goods, and
ideas as well as the shrinking of worldwide markets for products and services. However,
these changes have also have fostered a corresponding explosion in illicit activities
that operate in the shadows of government approval. From human trafficking and the
exploitation of women and children in international migration, to the spread of transnational
criminal organizations which rely on laundered money as well as corporate and government
corruption to control vast underground networks transporting counterfeit goods, stolen
art, rare species, conflict diamonds, illegal weapons as well as counterfeit and contraband
drugs, this course will focus on the dark, seedy underbelly of the global economy
that is often difficult to distinguish from legitimate aspects of international commerce,
yet which constitutes a significant segment of the global economy. Students will
examine the rise of this phenomenon, the role of conflicts in illicit trade and the
actors, governments, firms and industries involved in such transactions. The objective
will be to apply economic, political and cultural theoretical lenses and bring an
international business perspective to the analysis of these markets. Students will
explore the effects of illicit activities on a myriad of industries, using case studies
of illicit activities involving firms such as Wal-Mart, HSBC, News Corporation, Avon
Products and Siemens. Students will analyze the impact of these illicit activities
on individuals, organizations, industries, governments and states as well as examine
policy strategies for responding to these issues at the local, organizational, national,
regional and international levels.
ID-251C 001 Religion and Society in Latin America
Through analysis of chronicles, visual material, and ethnographical documentaries,
students will study the inter-faith dialogues between different religious traditions,
from the practices of conversion that characterized Spanish colonial Catholicism in
Mexico and Peru, to the Afro-diaspora traditions of Cuba and Brazilian Messianism.
Students also will explore the presence of Judaism and Islam in the region and analyze
the importance of Liberation Theology and the recent rise of Pentecostalism. (Designated
a Cultural Diversity course; fulfills humanities requirement.) This course counts
for RE major and LA minor.
ID-351C 001 - 004 Perspectives on Inequality
What is the basis of social inequality? What forms or levels of inequality are acceptable
or inevitable? Which ones are not? What circumstances in the United States related
to inequality are unique to this setting? How can these questions be productively
explored from different disciplinary perspectives? Four faculty will lead a group
of students in pursuing these questions. Each of the four faculty - an historian,
a political scientist, a psychologist and a sociologist - will lead a section. Students
who enroll in this course will be assigned to one of the four sections. We will meet
as one large group during the first class session of the week and then break in to
four sections for the second meeting. This interdisciplinary inquiry will be grounded
in primary texts from multiple fields.
ID-351D 001 Contemporary Time-based Media
This course focuses on artistic concepts in time-based media with an emphasis on moving
image and the digital video workflow. A wide range of creative approaches will be
explored. Students will learn the concepts and techniques employed in video production
and post-production as well as the history of video art and related forms from Fluxus
to today. Class time will be used for hands-on instruction, screenings, discussions,
critiques, and meetings with visual artists. Throughout the semester students will
create a series of short pieces and a final project. Creative voice is stressed over
technical skills.
MA-276 002 Mathematical Modeling in Biology
In this course, we will learn how to write, code, and analyze various mathematical
models in biology. Topics will include discrete and continuous models of biological
systems. No prior biology background will be assumed, but MA200 is required.
MB-351C 001 Sports Marketing
Billions of dollars are spent annually by the sports industry in an attempt to generate
awareness, establish successful brands, and attract visitors. This course will examine
the marketing plans and strategies behind those billion dollar budgets. The course
will provide an overview of sports marketing and the use of marketing strategies to
achieve business objectives. Students will consider how the marketing mix is uniquely
applied to the sport industry with two emerging themes, sport as the product and sport
as the medium. The course will delve into the use of sports as a marketing tool for
other products, the marketing of sports products, and emerging considerations relevant
for both marketing through (and the marketing of) sports (e.g. social media, television
rights, etc.). This course covers the following dimensions for studying management
and business in context: I, II, III, IV. Open to non-business majors.
MB-351C 002 Climate Solutions, Energy and the Planet
Climate change is one of the most significant, intractable problems facing the planet
today. In this course we talk about opportunities and strategies to address climate
change. We will learn about climate change and how it is impacting our lives today
and will for years to come. We will explore how energy is generated and distributed,
how transportation systems operate globally and how food production impacts climate
change. You will be challenged to learn how every decision you make everyday impacts
the climate and how your choices can make things better.
MB-351C 003 Political Marketing
Political marketing is an upcoming field of study. This discussion based seminar course
examines the concept of political marketing in a democracy. It traces the evolution
of political marketing in the United States from the impact of television on the Nixon/Kennedy
election to the role Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr play in today's elections. The students
will explore various theoretical models in branding and political marketing, analyze
real case studies from recent elections and work on a research paper. In addition,
the class will engage with issues such as gender, race, and ethnicity in political
marketing as well as the ethics of marketing in politics. Prerequisite: MB-214.
MB-351C 004 Financial Planning
This is a course for students who want to develop financial and economic literacy.
In a time when 84% of future retirees believe that their savings will cover their
retirement years but only 33% of people actually calculate what they need, this course
will introduce a framework for developing comprehensive and dynamic personal financial
plans. Students will gain the tools to understand complex financial planning including:
the accumulation, preservation, and depletion cycles of investing; a fundamental understanding
of capital markets, investment alternatives, and strategies for implementing a plan;
a critical analysis of the potential impact of changes in government policy; and an
understanding of how macroeconomic conditions may affect plan implementation. This
course covers the following dimensions for studying management and business in context:
I, VI. Prerequisite: EC-103 or EC-104. Open to non-business majors.
MB-351005 Examining The Asian ‘Miracle’: The Political-Economy of Asian Development
This course examines the causes and consequences of economic growth in Asia from a
broader development perspective. It aims to provide students with the necessary conceptual
tools and historical background necessary to make better sense of Asia's economic
fortunes. The course engages with various scholarly debates in understanding the phenomena
of 'growth' and 'development'; and applies them specifically to the historical experience
of East, South, and Southeast Asian countries. The first part of the course will introduce
students to the conceptual and theoretical debates surrounding the sources of economic
growth, and the 'Asian model'; part two will focus on the historical experience of
economic growth in several Asian countries; and the last segment will address the
issue of whether 'growth' necessarily means 'development' by addressing issues such
as: the Asian financial crisis; inequality; human rights; labor rights; gender; and
the environment.
MF-251 001 Interrogating Spectatorship
The nature of the filmic experience has preoccupied critics and theorists since the
earliest studies of the medium. When Paris spectators of the first movie ever screened
for a paying public flinched as they watched an express train steam into the railway
station at La Ciotat, they unconsciously demonstrated the ease with which we yield
to the enchantments of the effect of the real in visual storytelling.
In this surrender problems lurk that it is important for students of media and cinema to confront and understand: the passivity inherent in spectatorship, the power of illusionism, the nature of the gaze itself with its inevitable gendering.
In this course we will undertake that confrontation by studying self-reflective films, that is, films that place the experience of watching within the narrative itself. Such works interrupt the illusionistic flow of narrative and force viewers' awareness of the very transaction in which they as well as the director are engaged.
Studying works of this kind forces recognition of such complex elements of spectatorship as identification, voyeurism, pleasure, and gender, whether in mainstream or indie contexts. Using theoretical writings by Bertold Brecht, Laura Mulvey, Gilles Deleuze and Robert Stam among others, we will analyze films by Hitchcock (Rear Window, Vertigo); Wilder (Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard); Godard (A Married Woman, Band of Outsiders, Contempt); Truffaut (Day for Night); Allen (Zelig) and Fellini (8 1/2).
MP-179 001 World Music Ensemble – Gamelan
An introduction to traditional Indonesian music from the islands of Bali and Java.
The ensemble is open to students with OR without prior Indonesian musical experience.
The class will present a recital or concert at the end of the semester, and perform
at several additional events as they become known. No prerequisites or prior musical
training is required. May be repeated for credit. (Fulfills arts requirement.)
MU-205A 001 Taiko & the Asian American Experience
In this course we will examine the origins of Taiko drumming in Japan and consider
how the tradition has developed in North America over the past four decades. We will
discuss the role of Taiko drumming in the Asian American Movement, explore different
styles of contemporary Taiko in Asian America, and gain basic drumming competency.
Through the integration of academic and performance study we will consider and experience
Taiko drumming as a prominent and dynamic Asian American performing art. (Designated
a Cultural Diversity course.) No previous performance or musical experience required.
MU-205A 002 Treme: Music, Race, and Class in Post-Katrina New Orleans
The city of New Orleans, a city associated with music, food, and culture, experienced
extensive devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath during August
2005. The repercussions of the hurricane and the flooding that ensued after the breeching
of the levees impacted musical production in the "Birthplace of Jazz." This course
examines music, race, and class in post-Katrina New Orleans through a close reading
of David Simon and Eric Overmyer's HBO series Treme. Designed to acquaint students
with musical traditions in New Orleans (including jazz, rhythm and blues, brass bands,
and bounce), students will develop writing, listening, thinking, and oral skills.
No formal music training is required for this course.(Designated a Cultural Diversity
course.)
MU-205B 001 Introduction to Jazz
An introductory survey of jazz from the early twentieth century through the present.
Discussion of major musicians and stylistic trends, historical and social issues,
and intersections with other art forms such as literature, film, and dance. No prior
musical experience necessary. Fulfills the humanities requirement.
MU-205B 002 "Film Music"
A survey of film music from the era of silent movies through the late twentieth century.
Topics include: music for avant-garde cinema of the 1920s, classic early Hollywood
film scores, film noir, cartoon music, scores for early experimental animation, film
musicals, postwar French film music, jazz and cinema, early electronic soundtracks,
and the use of pre-existing music in feature films. No prior musical experience needed.
Fulfills the humanities requirement.
MU-345B 001 Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
The great French Encyclopedie (1751-1772) was described by one of its co-editors,
D'Alembert, as "giving an overview of learning, as if gazing down on a vast labyrinth
of all the branches of human knowledge, observing where they separate or unite, and
catching sight of the secret roots between them." In this course, we'll investigate
"secret roots" between late 18th-century European music and the cultural contexts
in which it was written, performed, and received. Going further, we'll contribute
to a real, 21st-century encyclopedia, the Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia, which happens
to be conceived along D'Alembert's interdisciplinary lines, with entries on music
and economics, music and travel, music and technology, music and exoticism, and music
and memory -- just to name a few. This course is therefore suitable for students
who want to do one or more of the following: gain familiarity with the age of Haydn,
Mozart, and Beethoven; develop facility with musicological concepts and methods; experience
faculty-student collaborative work (research, writing, editing, subediting, etc.)
that results in publication by a major press.
MU-345N 001 Music and Disaster
This seminar examines the role of music within the context of disaster. Following
an historical overview of large-scale natural and man-made disasters and the kinds
of music produced in relation to them, we will examine the ways in which disaster
figures into the production and consumption of music in Haiti, New Orleans, and New
York (post-9/11). Understood to be catalysts for artistic expression, disasters produce
musical expressions related to trauma in myriad forms. This seminar seeks to develop
an understanding of how music and disaster have historically been intertwined. No
previous musical experience is required. (Designated a non-western culture course)
NS-312A 001 From Molecules to Memory
This seminar-style course will focus on our current state of knowledge about the neurobiological
basis of learning and memory. A combination of lectures and student-led discussions
will explore the molecular and cellular basis of learning in invertebrates and vertebrates
from a behavioral and neural perspective. A focus will also be placed on improving
communication in terms of writing, oral presentations, and reading primary scientific
literature. Prerequisite: NS-101 and either BI-242, BI-247 or NS-201.
NS-312A 002 Human Functional Neuroimaging
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has revolutionized the field of cognitive
neuroscience in recent decades. This course will provide students with a better understanding
of the physics, experimental design, analysis and inferences involved with fMRI technology.
Both the practical aspects of conducting experiments as well as the theoretical implications
will be discussed. Student evaluations will be based on both in class discussion and
written critiques of research literature. Prerequisite: NS-101 and any 200-level
course that counts towards the major.
PH-230C 001 Personal Identity
The fact that we are people or persons is central to the rights we enjoy and the responsibilities
we bear, and it has far-reaching implications for discussions in ethics, the law,
medicine, and beyond. But what is a person, and what about each of us makes it true
that we are persons, and that we are different persons? Can only a human being be
a person? Can two people share the same body, as some argue can happen in cases of
multiple personalities or certain brain surgeries? Can one person span multiple bodies?
Moreover, each of us has a past and, fates willing, a future. But what makes each
of us the same person as the person who had our name ten years ago or who will ten
years from now, such that we are now responsible for the deeds of the former and concerned
about the latter as oneself? If someone ceases to remember the events of what we would
typically call "her" past, or if her personality and/or cognitive capacities change
radically, as often happens in cases of advanced dementia, is she still the same person
as "she" was? In this course, we will explore these and related questions of personal
identity through readings and films that raise these issues in particularly stark
and provocative ways. (Fulfills humanities requirement.)
PH-230C 002 Film Truth
What is the real? Can we faithfully represent the world? Is reality truth? Is there
such a thing as objectivity? If so, how do we achieve it? Using various films from
the history of documentary as examples, this class will attempt to answer such questions.
To do so, it will examine the history of documentary practice as well as the history
of thinking about documentary film. The course will include units on mimetic theory,
narrative realism, scientific truth, juridical truth, institutional truth, film truth,
direct cinema, self-reflexive cinema, and constructivism.
As envisioned, this class will integrate methods and insights from philosophy, aesthetics, and film studies. In addition to being an interdisciplinary inquiry into the relationship among image, truth, and reality, this is a course about knowing, particularly about ways to come to knowledge, as well as how to present this knowledge truthfully. (Fulfills humanities requirement. This course counts for Documentary Studies and Media and Film Studies.)
PH-230C003 Pragmatism
Tired of insoluble metaphysical pursuits and moral quandaries? Wondering how to tell
whether one belief about the world is better than another? Curious about a universe
composed only of signs? Interested in a philosophy that that has something concrete
to say about how to improve our lives and to live together as a community? How about
a philosophy that takes both Darwin's advances and God's existence seriously? Or one
which maintains that Hip-Hop is as important as Beethoven? If so, come explore the
philosophy of pragmatism with us. No familiarity with philosophy is assumed for this
course, but those interested in psychology, American history, aesthetics, feminism,
and political philosophy are encouraged to enroll. (fulfills Humanities Requirement)
PH-330D001 Flesh: Thinking (With) Bodies
This is a philosophically inspired, cross-disciplinary study of our body and embodiment
in our experience of 'being in the world’. The legacy of Cartesian dualism, eg.,
in mainstream Anglo-American philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences, tends
to see the body as a container, a mechanical adjunct to the mind/spirit. However,
contemporary philosophers, psychoanalysts, feminists, gender and race studies, artists,
dancers, and others have challenged this Cartesian marginalization of the body. This
course explores the body not as a 'thing,' but embodiment as it makes a difference
in our various ways of "being in the world”. Among the topics this course will address
are 'embodied cognition’, 'embodied identities - gender, race, age’, 'bodies in movement
- sport, dance, performance’, 'the mortal, sexual body’, and 'touch - caress and trauma’.
PS-212B 001 Developmental Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders
A clinical overview of the most common developmental disabilities and autism spectrum
disorders. Students will gain an understanding of each disorder (its etiology, behavioral
presentation, and appropriate interventions) while studying the role of historical
perspectives and current research in the assessment and treatment of developmental
disabilities. Students will develop skills in functional assessment and behavior
support planning through the use of case studies and their own observations. Students
will work together to develop and implement a week-long awareness event on campus
focused on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Prerequisite: PS-101.
PS-251 001 Controversial Issues of Contemporary Clinical Practice
Clinical Psychology is a diverse branch of psychology concerned with the assessment
and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. In recent years there
have been many changes and issues surrounding both the scientific and practical sides
of clinical psychology. This course will examine some of the most recent issues
that are affecting contemporary clinical practice. Through examination of the relevant
literature students will discuss a variety of topics including prescribing privileges
for psychologists, the changing face of educational requirements for the practice
of psychotherapy, the use of various technological advances in practice, and ethical
concerns in modern practice (e.g., conversion therapy, advising on the use of torture).
Prerequisite: PS-101.
PS-251 002 Memory, Learning and Emotion
The course will be covering a number of interesting topics and concepts that are typically
only briefly covered (or not covered at all) in a traditional undergraduate survey
of Cognition. Topics will include specific topics related to perception (e.g., influence
of emotion on perception, mere exposure effect), human memory (e.g., what is forgetting,
the testing effect, and alternative models of memory), learning (e.g., conditioning
and fear conditioning), and emotion (e.g., influence of emotional stimuli on memory,
emotions versus emotional associations). Students will have the opportunity to actively
form insights and gain understanding of the course material by participating in the
presentation of course content each week. Prerequisite: PS-101.
PS-251 003 Culture and Social Behavior
The course begins with a focus on the importance of self-awareness to gain a deeper
understanding of the self and one's context at the intersections of gender, class,
culture, race/ethnicity, religion, privilege, and power. In studying cross-cultural
topics, it is vital to critically examine our own cultural values and assumptions,
which strongly influence our worldview and interactions with members from different
groups. Next, we will go on a journey of exploring different interesting social/interpersonal
topics (i.e., shyness, individualism vs. collectivism) from a cross-cultural perspective.
We will explore the similarities and differences of the ways people connect, communicate,
socialize, maintain relationships, and solve conflicts across different cultural contexts.
At the same time, we will examine specific cross-cultural experiences affecting international
students, international adoptees, immigrants and refugees, including cross-cultural
adaptation, acculturation and enculturation, acculturative stress, perceived discrimination
and microaggression, social connectedness, as well as social adjustment and coping.
Prerequisite: PS-101.
PS-251 004 The Normal and Abnormal Selves
This one credit course explores concepts of healthy and pathological "selfs". We
will explore the seminal work of Carl Jung and Carl Rogers on the roll of the self
in personality development. We will explore contemporary research on the central
functions of the self including affect regulation, maintaining self-esteem and self
worth, the self in relation to others and identity and self concept. We will explore
the so-called "self disorders" including narcissism and borderline personality disorders.
A number of experiential activities will be provided to allow students to evaluate
their own sense of "self" in order to apply the theoretical and empirical lectures
and readings to "real life". Prerequisite: PS-101.
PS-312A 001 Stress in Lifespan Development
This seminar will delve into the various ways stress can affect our physical, social,
and emotional development throughout the lifespan development. Students will learn
about how stress can affect our hormonal balance, cardiovascular system, immune system,
metabolism, growth, reproductive system, memory, and aging. Additionally, the seminar
will educate students about the emotional consequences of psychological stress and
how it can lead to depression and significant consequences for peoples' personalities
and temperaments. The seminar will conclude with discussion about strategies to prevent
and cope with stress in everyday life to ensure healthy development. Prerequisite:
PS-202.
PS-312B 001 Cultural Diversity and Social Justice
The U.S. is a culturally diverse nation, and each of us is a unique cultural being.
This course intends to a) examine cultural diversity in U.S. society and b) increase
self-awareness related to worldviews and beliefs about diversity issues. We will explore
how culture and multiple aspects of identity are related to influence human behavior
and adjustment largely within the framework of psychological theory and research.
Multiple aspects of identity and the intersection of multiple identities will be examined
(e.g., race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, social class, and
spiritual or religious identity). Important topics in multicultural and cross-cultural
psychology will be reviewed (e.g., privilege and oppression, acculturation, models
of identity development, discrimination and mental health, and social justice). Several
methods of learning will be incorporated into this class, including review and presentation
of empirical literature in multicultural psychology, lecture, small group discussion,
self-reflection, and experiential exercises. Prerequisite: PS-202.
PS-312B 002 The Psychology of Race and Diversity
This course will examine the ways in which race and diversity influence various aspects
of the human experience in the United States. Together, we will take a scientific
approach to study issues of race and diversity as they relate to individual and group
attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors. This class will focus on social psychological
perspectives on these topics, but we will also incorporate interdisciplinary writings
and frameworks to provide students with a broad social scientific perspective. We
will engage with several important, and at times challenging, conversations concerning
race and diversity. For example, we will consider how individual worldviews and motivations
influence the way people see and define race and diversity; how different models of
diversity influence intergroup relations and diversity goals separately for majority
and minority group members; how multiracial populations and intersectional identities
influence theories and models of race and diversity; and how the psychologically-based
causes, correlates and consequences of stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice operate
across domains (e.g., academia, the workplace, health). To engage various types of
learning, a variety of formats, including readings, media, in-class activities, and
out-of-class assignments will be used. Prerequisite: PS-202.
PS-312B 003 Research Methods in Memory
This course provides hands-on experience with the standard experimental tools used
in cognitive psychology research with emphasis on human learning and memory. You will
collect and analyze data, write research reports, and propose a new experiment as
a final paper for the course. Additionally, you will read and analyze research papers
that use complex and expensive experimental methods that cannot be directly explored
in the classroom. Content areas include creativity, mind wandering, attention, working
memory, autobiographical memory, false memories and future thinking. Emphasis will
be on experimentation in psychology (designing and conducting experiments, analyzing
data, and reporting results through scientific writing). Prerequisite: PS-202.
PS-312B 004 Psychological Trauma
Since the time of Freud, psychology has explored the connections amongst traumatic
events and subsequent psychopathology. An extensive clinical and research literature
has been devoted to discerning the contributions of biological, emotional, cognitive
and social factors to the varied responses of those who experience trauma in their
lives. This course is designed to explore the contemporary empirical and clinical
literature in psychological trauma and trauma pathology. We will look at various
types of trauma events that people suffer; war, rape, serious accidents, debilitating
disease, childhood physical and sexual abuse, natural disasters, crime. We will explore
the ways in which these events produce unique effects as well as more common stress
effects. We will explore individual differences in terms of the trauma response including
psychological and physiological reactivity, psychological vulnerability and the concept
of resilience. We will examine buffers of the trauma response including social and
family support, religious affiliation and socioeconomic status. Finally we will look
at what types of treatments are effective for people suffering from trauma reactions
and what the future holds in terms of new discoveries for trauma victims. Prerequisite:
PS-202.
RE-230C 001 Mormonisms
This course investigates how Mormons have gone from an upstart, persecuted sect to
participants in the conservative mainstream of American religion and culture. Topics
for discussion include the Mormon creation of new scriptures; the role and evolution
of prophets; religious violence; conflict between church and state; the dynamics of
religious schism; temple spaces and the politics of secrecy; polygamy and the family;
constructions of race, gender, and sexuality; missions and evangelism; modern pilgrimage;
and the globalization of an American religion. Along the way, we will encounter the
ever-changing public faces of Mormonism(s), from Joseph Smith to Mitt Romney. (Fulfills
humanities requirement.)
RE-315 001 Religion & Society in Modern India
This course explores the dynamics of religious pluralism in modern India, one of the
most religiously diverse nations in the world. This course examines the vibrant
and irrepressible role of religion in Indian society from the early modern Mughal
and British periods to the contemporary moment, exploring how religion has both fostered
social unity and exacerbated conflict. Through close readings of nineteenth-and twentieth-century
tracts and debates, mythological and ritual texts, oral traditions, novels and scholarly
studies, we study the wide-ranging social effects of colonial rule on Indian religious
traditions, especially Hinduism and Islam, and the creative responses of Indians to
the challenges and opportunities of modernity. Emphasizing the political and social
dimensions of religion, the course will engage topics such as religious change and
social mobility, the changing role of women in religion, the religious roots of the
Indian Independence movement, religious violence and Gandhian non-violence, the surge
of religious nationalism in the 1990s, the role of religion in environmental movements
in India and the development of Hinduism in diaspora. (Designated a non-Western cultures
course; fulfills humanities requirement.)
SO-251 001 Immigrations Sociological Perspectives
The course will examine historical and contemporary patterns of immigration to the
United States as well as the processes of immigrant adaptation that have followed.
Changes and continuities in U.S. immigration policy and in prevailing attitudes towards
foreign-born and non-White peoples will figure centrally in course readings and discussions.
Some early theorists argued that all immigrant and minority groups were bound to “melt”
into American society. Students in this course will come to sociologically informed
conclusions about how true this is of 20th century immigrants and how likely it is for immigrants in the 21st century.
SO-251 002 China in Transition
Is the 21st Century a Chinese century? Since the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy
in 1979, China has embarked on a path of miraculous economic growth. Although still
declared as a socialist country, China is increasingly influenced by market and global
capitalism, and Chinese society has changed in profound ways. This course will focus
on China’s transformation from a planned economy to a more market-oriented economy
and examine changes in the social fabric in tandem with the economic transition. We
will also compare China with the former communist countries in Eastern and Central
Europe. Specifically, we will look at some of the theories of market transition formulated
by sociologists, examine the process of privatizing formerly state-owned enterprises,
and discuss the role of private entrepreneurs and social networks. We will also address
the effect the reforms have had on culture, social classes, genders, and ethnic minorities.
At the end of the semester, we will discuss if there is indeed a China model and if
it will pose challenges to the power of the US. (Designated a non-Western cultures
course)
SO-351R 001 Video Ethnography
Visual phenomena are central to everyday contemporary life, both their interpretation
and their creation. We will discuss key theoretical and empirical works in visual
sociology/visual studies and will familiarize ourselves with ethnographic data gathering
and analysis. A major research project will have students producing a sociologically-informed
work of video ethnography from start to finish, along the way becoming conversant
in methodological and filmmaking best practices. Prior experience with video equipment and editing software is not a requirement. By permission of instructor only.
TH-334 001 Plays and More Plays
A variety of Modern and contemporary dramatic texts will be analyzed from the point
of view of directors, actors and designers.