ART 204: Digital Photography Workshop
Instructor: Danny Jauregui
3 Credits
Satisfies COM3 Lib Ed requirement
This course will acquaint students with the fundamentals of digital photography including traditional and experimental uses of image editing software. Emphasis will be placed on visual communication of ideas through the medium of digital photography. Instruction will cover topics such as digital camera operations, basic image correction, digital image manipulation, and will also cover fundamentals of composition and 2-D image organization. The assignments will include consideration of the cultural/political impact of digital manipulation, the relationship between subject and photographer, and the historical implications of photographic objectification. Students should have access to a digital camera, tablet, or camera phone to complete course assignments. No prerequisite, however previous enrollment in Art 100, 101, or 210 is recommended.
BSAD 309/INTD 309: Finance and the Brain
Instructor: Fatos Radoniqi
4 Credits
Satisfies CON 2 Lib Ed requirement
This course explores how individuals make financial decisions. We study how to minimize financial decision-making errors by examining various psychological biases that we are susceptible to. Biases and simplifying "rules of thumb" are ever present in our real‐life decisions, whether we're choosing which car to buy or deciding whether to gamble. We also learn about financial decision-making through the lens of neuroscience, examining the role of emotion, the reward system, and reinforcement learning. The course focuses on personal finance and is intended to guide students towards better spending, saving, and investing decisions. We aim to answer two questions: What are the deep “irrational” forces driving financial behavior, and what can be done to better manage them.
ECON 290: The Bitter Side of Chocolate
Instructor: Alma Bezares Calderon
3 Credits
CON1
Satisfies CUL 6 Lib Ed requirement
Cocoa and chocolate have a long history. Considered by some as a healthy food and by others as a sinful but exquisite experience, chocolate is one of the most beloved treats. Still, chocolate production has a bitter side that few people recognize: exploitative practices and child labor abuse, wars originated by the control of cocoa plantations, asymmetrical trade practices and dubious marketing campaigns. In this course, we will use a multi-disciplinary approach to explore the role of chocolate in human history, its economic and cultural importance across time, and the complex structure of the global cocoa-chocolate value chain, with particular emphasis on its governance, its environmental impact and the local effects for the producers, located mostly in the African continent. The students will be able to develop their writing, analytical and research skills by exploring the broader issues related to the production of chocolate and will be able to translate their knowledge to a wider setting, identifying general issues in economics and in the political-economy of other value-chain structures that exist across the world.
EDUC 290: Depictions of Education: Intersectionality and Inequality in Mainstream and Documentary Films
Instructor: Amina Humphrey
3 Credits
Satisfies CUL 4 Lib Ed requirements
Using a comparative and social justice-approach, the goal of this course is to analyze the historical and contemporary portrayals of education in mainstream and documentary films in various settings in the United States of America. This includes rural, urban, and suburban settings. Black Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Critical Media Literacy are the theoretical/conceptual frameworks used to discuss, analyze, and critique the following: (1) education (2) the power and purpose of film, (3) intersectionality, (4) oppression, (5) empowerment, and (6) transformation.
ENGL 120: Why Read? How to Leave Home
Instructor: Jonathan Burton
3 credits
Satisfies the COM2 Lib Ed requirement
This course offers the opportunity to explore the nature and value of literature and to think about how literature can matter in our lives and the world at large. It gives students a chance to use literature to contemplate some of the great questions of life: "Who am I?", "What is my place in the world?", "What is the good life?", and "What does it mean to be human?"
FILM/THEA 290: Acting for the Camera
Instructor: Gil Gonzalez
3 credits
Satisfies the COM 3 Lib Ed requirement
Acting for the Camera introduces performers through concepts used to prepare self-recorded audition pieces to be used in film, television, commercial, and theatre auditions. Focus will be on the development of an audition portfolio and pieces to be used for auditions, be they in-person or virtual submissions. Additionally, the development of a performance resume, headshot, and discussions of the craft of acting for the camera will be explored in the course.
INTD 140: Disease and Immunity: Friends and Enemies
Instructor: Sylvia López-Vetrone
4 credits
Satisfies the CON2 Lib Ed requirement
Have you ever wondered how our bodies are able to fight off new diseases? Why some people get sick all the time and others don’t? Why infectious diseases have the power to shape communities, countries, and the wider global landscape? Then this course is just for you! During this five-week course we will learn and discuss how our immune system develops and works, how our unique genetic makeup plays a role in that development, and the ways in which our immune system recognizes and protects us from invading pathogens. Understanding the unique interactions between our bodies and disease, will allow us to begin to explore how this unique relationship has impacted the development of human society over history, and into our present day, and how we are harnessing this information to help us better fight diseases from within our own bodies and prepare for fights against new and emerging diseases.
INTD 265: Nanotechnology and Society
Instructor: Serkan Zorba
4 credits
Satisfies the CON 2 Lib Ed requirement
Ready for Nanotech Revolution?
COVID-19 might have put a temporary hold on humanity's march into the future. However, convergence of very powerful emerging technologies such as nanotech, AI, and biotech will propel us into the future faster than we might imagine.
Technological Singularity on The Horizon
Transistor technology, which is at the size of bacteria, revolutionized modern technology and modern life. Nanotechnology is technology at the size of viruses. The implications of that are momentous and far-reaching.
Every Aspect of Human Life Will Be Impacted
How should society participate in the emergence of this new technological era? Should we submit to technological determinism, rely on social determinism, or forge some other prospect? We will embark on a quest to learn about this emerging technology and explore its societal “hidden” dimensions.
INTD 279: Disasters
Instructor: Ralph Isovitsch
3 credits
Satisfies the CON 1 Lib Ed requirement
This course will explore the scientific and human dimensions of disasters. Topics will include modern disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the San Francisco Earthquake, historical disasters like the explosion of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883, and potential disasters like global warming.
INTD 290-01: Disasters in Film: Reality vs. Fiction
Instructor: Christina Scott
3 credits
Satisfies the CON 1 Lib Ed requirement
Students will examine the natural, physical, and psychological sciences behind natural disasters, and explore how Hollywood sensationalizes these events. They will explore psychological theories, including Terror Management, which will help them better understand their own expressions and responses to life threatening natural disasters. They will have a strong understanding of what is “fact vs fiction” when preparing to survive an imminent natural disaster in their lifetimes. For example, students will study plate tectonics and their role in earthquakes contrasting with the Hollywood film San Andreas (2015).
INTD 390: The Beatles: Transatlantic Culture, Society, and Politics
Instructor: José Ortega
3 credits
Satisfies CUL 6 Lib Ed requirement
This course will evaluate, analyze, and historicize The Beatles as artists, cultural symbols, and musical icons. Their career spanned the turbulent 1960s, providing us with a unique opportunity to gauge the articulation between music, society, and politics during a critical decade in recent history. By examining the diverse origins of their music we will consider how transatlantic communities and cultures influenced the development of “Beatlemania” in an increasingly globalized world.
MUS 071: Music in History
Instructor: Alexandra Grabarchuk
3 credits
Satisfies CUL 5 Lib Ed requirement
This course is designed to help the musically inexperienced gain a better understanding of the elements of music from a listener’s perspective, its evolution throughout history, and its current place in a changing society. Emphasis is placed on identification of genres, as well as social and political trends affecting musical development.
PHIL 190: Media Theory, Culture, & Technology
Instructor: Albert Rodriguez
3 credits
Satisfies CUL 6 Lib Ed requirement
This course will examine the rapidly changing multimedia environment in a way that makes us more literate and critical consumers and producers of culture. Through an interdisciplinary approach the course defines "media" broadly as including, oral, print, photographic, cinematic, and digital cultural forms and practices.
PHIL 290 [210]: Africana Philosophy
Instructor: Michelle Switzer
3 credits
CON1
Satisfies CUL 1 Lib Ed requirement
Africana Philosophy covers the philosophies of African peoples and persons of African descent who are indigenous to continental Africa and the many African Diasporas worldwide. This course considers forms of reasons marked by colonialism and racism, and diasporic consciousness from the Global South concerning liberation, the meaning of being human, and human relationships beyond colonial paradigms. After a comprehensive introduction to Africana Philosophy, we study the philosophical literature which analyzes an important historical figure and philosopher, Franz Fanon.
PLSC 110: American Government and Politics
Instructor: Sara Angevine
3 credits
Satisfies CUL 4 Lib Ed requirement
How does the American government actually work? Who governs, how does American politics work, and who are we in this process? This is an introductory course on American Government that will advance your knowledge of civics, as well as provide you with a platform to engage in critical analysis of democratic principles and how they are practiced. We will examine the institutional structures, political actors, and vital constitutional debates that shape and define American government and politics. You will deepen your understandings of the ideas, interests, institutions, and individuals that define America. By exploring the historical development and founding of the United States, discussing major debates about the structure of our republican form of government, and connecting the three branches of government to contemporary politics and elections, students will deepen their individual and collective sense of citizenship. In doing so, we will explore how the people, whether they be lobbyists, judges, citizens, activists, and/or policy-makers, work within the current American political system to achieve their objectives. In this class, we will also pay special attention to the role of identity politics and analyze how global factors affect American political decisions. In this online format over the summer, students will also be learning how to engage as netizens and critically analyze the public of the worldwide web.
PLSC 140: Comparative Politics
Instructor: Deborah Norden
3 credits
Satisfies CUL 6 Lib Ed requirement
This course compares different political systems from across the world and across time. We look at how different democracies are organized, and how that impacts both representation and stability. The course will also explore fascism, populism, revolution, and authoritarian governments. Major themes in the class include alternative forms of legitimate authority, how political systems change, and the tension between sometimes stagnating stability and the unpredictability of strong leaders.
PLSC 262/ENST 301: Environmental Policy
Instructor: Jeffrey Hanlon
3 credits
History and development of environmental policies in the US within the context of federal, state, and local public institutions; Examination of key environmental policy domains including water use, air pollution, urbanism, land use, agriculture, endangered species conservation, energy development, and climate change.
INTD 290-02: Science Controversies in America
Instructor: Christopher Emerling
4 credits
Satisfies the CON 2 Lib Ed requirement
The purpose of this class will be to help you to engage with topics that are generally accepted by the scientific community, but controversial in the eyes of many in the American public. These topics may include, but will not necessarily be limited to, biological evolution, anthropogenic climate change, vaccination, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), animal testing and nuclear power. This course is designed to help you to understand the context of these science-public controversies, the basic evidence that supports the scientific consensus, and some of the historical, cultural, psychological and practical reasons that many people in the general public do not accept certain scientific ideas.