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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| ANT 271 | The African Experience | This course is designed to introduce and to open an opportunity for students to learn, to debate and to critically think about people and cultural civilizations, social structures, economic and political institutions of the African continent and the complexity of the African experience in a globalized world. It will introduce students to the major themes, complexities, dynamics of African societies and cultures. Drawing from interdisciplinary sources to discuss issues related to cultures, social organizations, languages, politics, economies, religions, gender roles, migration and health in Africa, the course aims to present students with a holistic and more balanced view of the complexity of the African experience. |
| ANT 314 | Native Americans of the North Carolina Piedmont | Using John Lawson’s 1701 historical account, this course will explore the ethnohistory, archaeology and cultural re-emergence of Piedmont North Carolina’s Native Americans. Students will visit the reconstructed Occoneechi Town Site, find remnants of the Indian Trading Path and participate in a mini-dig near the northern Alamance County community of “Little Texas.” Ethnoarchaeology, combined with interviews with living descendants of local Siouan Indians, will provide an understanding of the culture and history of these people. |
| ANT 380 | The Ancient Maya | The class will address specifically the culture or civilization of the ancient Maya through archaeological remains, art, architecture, and ethnohistoric documentation. Students will be introduced to the origins of Maya civilization through the peak of Maya civilization, along with the collapse and colonial contact with the Maya. Along with the chronological perspective of these developments, an additional thematic approach will also be taken to the course. A few important themes to be addressed in the course include ancient Maya politics, economics, social organization, religion, art, architecture, technology, and material culture. |
| ART 275 | Mining the Internet: The Found Object in the Ere of Social Internet | This studio-based course will explore the Internet as a database for the creation of contemporary art forms. Students will use social media content from websites like YouTube, Soundcloud, Tumblr and Flickr as material for the making of video-collages, soundscapes, composite images and alternative creative writing. Appropriation, copyleft, altermodernity, the new aesthetic and the ready-made are the main themes of this course. |
| ARH 371 | Carnaval in the Black Atlantic | Festivals involving parades, masquerade, lavish costumes, singing, music, acrobatics and merriment during holidays occur in various parts of the Black Atlantic world. Such festivals are transformations of African masquerade and European theater, yet other cultural ideas are borrowed as well. This new art form quickly spread to many major port cities along the trans-Atlantic trade route. It has many names including Mas, Jonkonnu, Gombey, Carnaval and Fancy Dress. This course will explore the origin and adaptation of the festival into the contemporary art form performed today. We will survey a variety of festivals or Carnaval in numerous locations and attempt to uncover their functions as possible forms of social and political resistance. Students will become acquainted with contemporary arts, global culture, and ways in which cultures creatively express social and political tensions. Counts towards the African and African-American Studies minor. |
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| BUS 301 | Number Advanced Applications: Excel for Business | Microsoft Office Excel is a rich computer application with impressive analytical capability and more and more businesses, especially those dealing with statistical and financial information, are finding its powers critical to their future success. This course exposes students to some of the advanced capabilities of Excel, including statistical analysis, financial analysis and modeling, PivotTables, scenario tools, a variety of add-ins, the creation of macros, and advanced charts and graphs. After taking this course, students will have demonstrated knowledge of the more advanced features of Microsoft Excel. |
| BUS 369 | Field Exprerience in Business | The purpose of this course is to enable students to witness organizations from within. The primary focus of the class will revolve around a number of visits to organizations within the Triad and the Triangle. The class will tour the facilities and meet with people at various levels of the organization. Students will briefly analyze the organizations prior to arriving on the site and will be encouraged to ask questions regarding how the operation works and to provide recommendations to the management team. At the end of the term, each student will have a new appreciation for the complexities, challenges and excitement of managing organizations. Satisfies Experiential Learning Requirement. Additional Fee: $40. |
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| COM 100 | Communications in a Global Age | Contemporary media play a vital role in society, both locally and globally. In this course, students study the importance of books, newspapers, magazines, recordings, movies, radio, television and the internet, and the messages carried through news, public relations and advertising. The course emphasizes the relationship of media and democracy, ethical decision-making, the diversity of audiences, and the global impact of communications. |
| COM 330 | International Communications | Media systems differ substantially in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and the rest of the world. In this course, students examine the media systems of many countries, stressing the chief problems of communications across cultural, economic, sociological and political barriers. Using a comparative approach, this special winter term section of the course will address issues of media practice and diversity in various nations and influences within and across borders. |
| COM 373 | Digital Media Entrepreneurship | This course will study the development of innovative media products in rapidly changing media environments. Students will learn how to identify market needs and media solutions, learn lessons from startup founders, and understand structures for business funding and sustainability. Students will identify business models for venture ideas, create business plans and prototypes, and pitch new media business concepts to industry experts. This special winter term course will also consider the experiences of startup founders of minority digital media ventures. |
| COM 386 | Gender & Communications | This course will examine multiple relationships related to gender, communication and culture. Students will be introduced to theories, research and pragmatic information demonstrating the multiple ways in which views of masculinity and femininity are shaped within contemporary culture. Students will explore ways in which communication plays a role in creating, reflecting, sustaining and altering cultural views of gender. The special winter term course will provide an analysis of the social construction of gendered patterns in organizations, media, and close relationships. Students of any major are welcome. Counts toward Women's/Gender Studies minor. |
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| EDU 211 | School & Sociecty | Education 211 is designed to introduce students to the cultural, social, historical, legal and philosophical foundations of education. Students examine critical issues that impact education in the 21st century. An integrated field experience enables students to analyze a variety of perspectives on the purposes of education and instructional practices related to classroom management, learning environment, and meeting the needs of learners who are diverse in culture, language and ability. (Please note that field placements for Winter Term are limited to K-8 schools.) Students will develop skills in critical thinking, leadership, observing, interviewing, reading, writing and oral communication. This course will use an inquiry approach. A grammar competency test will be required in this class. Must fill out data sheet in Mooney 102 prior to registration. |
| EDU 345 | Classroom Management for Elementary, Middle Grades & Special Education Candidates | This course focuses on the important aspects of establishing a healthy, positive classroom environment that promotes academic growth as well as social development, for all school age children and adolescents, including exceptional learners. A practicum in the public schools is required in this course. Prerequisites: EDU 211 and admission to the teacher education program. |
| ENG 255 B | Epics | Why do some stories continue to excite us and fuel our imaginations? Whether it is the story of a sword-wielding hero founding an empire or lightsaber-wielding heroes in rebellion against an empire, humans are captivated by the epic. Even in the contemporary era consumers still flock to movie theaters, digital sources, and even network television to experience them. Whether in text or film, epics chronicle our pasts (or imagined pasts) and point toward our possible destinies, all the while telling us who we are as nations or peoples, what our purposes are, what god or gods favor or oppose us, and telling us what is just and good and worth fighting and dying for. In this class, we will take a look at selections from some of the most compelling and long-lasting epics, and examine how and why they have shaped those the Western tradition and other global cultural traditions. Texts may include selections from The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Mahabharata, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sundiata, and brief looks at more contemporary takes on the epic: treatments in Alexander, Troy, the Star Wars franchise, Red Cliff, and others. |
| ENG 255 DV | The Graphic Novel: Spiderman to Persepolis | This course will trace the development of the graphic novel from its roots in the superhero serials of Marvel and DC through the long-form alternative comics of Robert Crumb, Harvey Pekar, and the Brothers Hernandez (among others) to its latest form, in academically embraced works such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, and Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. |
| ENG 255 DV2 | “It’s the End of the World as We Know It" | From atomic age anxiety to imminent “ecocatastrophe,” themes of apocalypse and post-apocalypse are a persistent source of fascination in twentieth and twenty-first century American literature and culture. In this course, we will examine “the end” as a narrative phenomenon that structures periods of crisis, terror, and transition. More specifically, we will consider how apocalyptic literature dramatizes those institutional conditions and practices that limit opportunities for political agency among historically underrepresented groups. Drawing from diverse genres, including short fiction, poetry, the novel, film, television, and drama, we will look at works by authors such as O’Connor, Brooks, Serling, Romero, Atwood, Paley, Elkin, Morrison, Kushner, Whitehead, Bolaño, and/or Collins. (Note: Course offering is contingent on disconfirmation of the Mayan calendar in December.) |
| ENG 274 DV | Writing About Taboo Language | This intensive advanced composition course will allow students to examine, through primary research methods and writing, the changing role and power of "dirty words" in contemporary society. Students will practice sophisticated research methods, such as archival and field research, and will be provided extra instruction and practice in the processes involved in writing for academic and public purposes. The course culminates with a field research visit to The Idiot Box, an improv comedy club in Greensboro. Prerequisite: ENG 110. |
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| FNA 171 | Laughter in the Fine Arts | From Aristophanes to Family Guy, laughter has been an integral part of the arts from the earliest works to the present. This course introduces the fine arts, including literature, music, film, and the visual and performing arts, with an examination of how the arts use approaches like parody, satire, slapstick, and dark humor to express, entertain, instruct, and subvert. |
| FNA 278 | The Arts, Advertising, & Aesthetic Response | Before we think and judge, we sense: see, hear, touch, taste, smell. This sensory response leads us to read the stimuli, filter it though our own context of knowledge, experiences and cultural traditions, and then to evaluate. Our aesthetic is a value system of this sensory response. Artists use aesthetic principles to engage the audience's senses and then apply contextual references to layer in meaning. Application of these principles and references are not lost to the creators of mass media. How can we become aesthetically wise in our 24-7 world? First, we will examine how art, music, poetry and film use aesthetic elements and structure to communicate. Then we will examine historical and cultural influences on aesthetic design. We will demystify the power of mass media by finding the elements, structures and aesthetics in action. Finally, we will apply these principles to a creative team project – a mock ad that employs the elements and principles of at least three art forms and includes historical/cultural references. |
| FRE 371 | French Theater in Production | Students in this course will undertake the critical reading and production of a significant work of French or Francophone theater. The course will involve deep discussion and critical thinking about the role of theater in French society as well as literary and cultural analysis of the play being produced. Students enrolled in the course are expected to take an active role in the production of the play, either as actors or as technical support, or both. The play will be performed for an open Elon audience at the end of WT. Prerequisite: FRE 222 or permission of instructor. |
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| GST 250 | Comparative Cinema: European Film & Hollywood Remakes | This course will analyze the cultural and artistic differences between several European (primarily French) films and their Hollywood remakes. Students will be asked to examine the reasons behind these differences. Monographs such as Lucy Mazdon’s Encore Hollywood: Remaking the French Cinema, Internet sources, and the films themselves will serve as class texts. Counts toward Civilization requirement. |
| GST 270 | Culinary Crusades: The Evolution of French Culture Through Cuisine | This course explores the evolution of French culture via cuisine from the Middle Ages to the present day. Students will examine French culture through culinary, gastronomical, and agricultural historical perspectives. In studying culture and cuisine, with France as the quintessential model, we will explore and analyze the relationship between a place, a people, and their relationship to their land and the food they produce and eat. In so doing, we will learn about many classic and contemporary French foods and dishes by organizing tastings during class sessions, as well as 1-2 organized outings to local French restaurants. French films that feature food will also be viewed, discussed, and analyzed each week as cultural products in and of themselves. Counts toward Civilization or Expression requirement. |
| GST 284 | “Mirabile Visu!": Rome Through Text & Television | How can we recreate the past? Do the choices we make matter? What do our visions of the past say about our present moment? In this course, students will investigate these questions and more with regard to the ancient Roman world. We will take as our starting point the HBO series ROME, which follows (and dramatizes) the lives of characters both historical and fictional through the city’s transition from the late Republic to the Principate during the lives of Caesar and then Augustus. The series will be a springboard for student research into the world of ancient Rome and its intriguing inhabitants; much of our time will be spent learning how to work with primary sources and scholarship in the discipline of Classics. Our topics of exploration will include history, cultural life, architecture, sex, gender, oratory, philosophy, slavery, military life, ethics, ethnicity, literature, and other areas of interest. Counts toward Civilization or Expression requirement. Counts toward the Classical Studies minor. |
| GST 285 | Perspectives in Personal & Global Health | This course is designed to explore basic concepts relating to optimal health and well-being from a holistic perspective – the state of health based on the interrelated aspects of mind, body and spirit on individual and global levels. Emphasis is placed on current health issues that affect the emotional, physical, social, intellectual, spiritual and environmental aspects of one’s life. This course will explore personal health issues from multiple cultural and global perspectives. Topics related to health, including stress, alcohol and other drugs, physical fitness, nutrition, weight control, disease prevention, sexuality and mental health. This course is designed to cultivate life-long health and well-being through acquisition of knowledge and skills as well as an understanding of individual, community and global responsibility. Students will gain an understanding of the complexity of factors influencing health behavior in order to begin envisioning ways to impact health. Counts toward Society requirement or can be used to replace HED 111 in the First Year Core. |
| GST 302 | Italian Cinema | Italy has given human civilization among its most precious works of art (The Sistine Chapel, The Mona Lisa); literature (Dante, Calvino); political science (Machiavelli, Gramsci); music (Verdi, Puccini); science (Galileo, Volta); cars and design (Ferrari, Lamborghini); films (Rossellini, Fellini); and, of course, pizza. Unfortunately (or maybe it’s because of that?), it has also given civilization one other thing: the Mafia. The Mafia is a very complicated thing. It is cultural, economic, financial historical, sociological, geographical, linguistic, national, international, and VERY political phenomenon. It has to do with issues concerning class, gender, the family. This course will look at the Mafia through the prism of Italian and Italian-American films, trying to discern the differences, especially the difference between myth and reality. We will accompany, so to speak, our movies with some literary, political, historical, and critical readings in order to read these movies in a comparative fashion and in their historical context. Films will include Rossellini’s spectacular version of Tommasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard, Alberto Lattuada’s Il Mafioso, Francesco Rosi’s Hands over the City and Salvatore Giuliano, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather I and II, Martin Scorsese’s Casino, Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah, Marco Trucco’s Excellent Cadavers, as well as one episode of The Sopranos. All readings, movies, and discussions will be in English. This course is writing intensive. Open to students in the third of fourth year of study. |
| GST 306 | College Athletic Administration | This course provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary examination of intercollegiate athletics in higher education. Although intercollegiate athletics has played an integral and undeniably significant role in the American system of higher education since the mid-nineteenth century, the debate about its purpose and how to govern college athletics still exists. This course will include an historical overview of college sport (1850 - present), an introduction to the organizational structures and policies governing member institutions and will focus on a variety of events and issues that speak to the impact of intercollegiate athletics at colleges and universities. Topics will be used to challenge student’s ability to critically examine current administrative issues. Many issues will challenge personal philosophies of sport and its place in higher education. Topics include--among others--the debate surrounding required academic standards for college athletes, athletic department relationships with corporate entities and media partners, the impact of sports programs on campus culture, student athletic well-being, the role of college and university presidents in intercollegiate athletics, and how college sports interacts with Title IX and gender equity. Through readings and discussions we will consider various prescriptive alternatives for the challenges facing college athletics. This course is writing intensive. Open to students in the third or fourth year of study. |
| GST 323 | Work & Society in a Globally Networked Age | In this course, we will explore the changing nature of work from a socio-historical perspective in which particular emphasis will be placed on current trends and the resulting societal implications in our global age of an increasingly globally networked economy. In the process, we will look at how work has been created, organized, performed, valued and compensated at different points in history. The course will also include exploration into credentialing and hiring practices related to issues of education, skills, experience, gender, race, class, etc. The overarching goal of the course will be for students to have a better understanding of work and the implications of current work-related trends within the larger socio-historical context. This course is writing intensive. Open to students in the third or fourth year of study. |
| GST 333 | Religion & Art of Asia | This course explores the symbiosis of religious thought and expression in the pan-Asian sphere. It investigates the history of Indian, Chinese and Japanese religious art and architecture and considers Asia’s contemporary material and popular culture as both expressions of and constructions for the sacred. This course is writing intensive. Open to students in the third or fourth year of study. Counts toward Asian Studies minor. |
| GST 342 | Understanding Educational Disparities in the United States | Since the Coleman Report of 1966, the “academic achievement gap” has been as the heart of education policy. Drawing on research and evidence from the fields of economics, education, sociology, psychology and public policy, we will critically analyze the causes, consequences and potential solutions to academic achievement gaps in the United States. The course will begin with a critical look at the determinants of educational success. Then, we will use this research to help us better understand the causes of existing achievement gaps. Finally, we will study various education policies and debates and use our research to evaluate these policy initiatives. Course material will include readings from economics, education, psychology and policy journals, popular press articles, video clips and documentaries. Students will also read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. This course is writing intensive. Open to students in the third or fourth year of study. |
| GST 415 | Why Were These Books Banned | Who controls what we read and view in the United States? How does the First Amendment of the Constitution protect our rights for accessing books and films? Where does it fall short? Under what context(s) has censorship been necessary and/or misused? This interdisciplinary seminar will examine banned books and controversial films throughout the history of the United States. Governmental decisions for banning media, as well as books banned by school districts and communities will be studied. Using historical, sociological, and political lenses, students will read/view and examine a variety of banned books and controversial films. Topics will include the freedom to read, the First Amendment, those in power, the creation of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), democracy and its implications, morality, and access. Implications for policy will be made regarding the future of banning books and films. This course is writing intensive. Open to students in the third of fourth year of study. |
| GST 416 | Wealth & Poverty | This course will focus on the profound disparity between people who live in wealth and people who live in poverty at the beginning of the 21st century. Particular attention will be paid to moral responsibility and accountability of people in the First World to the problems of global inequality. This course is writing intensive. Open to students in the third or fourth year of study. |
| GST 433 | Coming Home: The Impact of Studying Abroad | This course encourages and facilitates the in-depth reflection on and analysis of the experience of spending time abroad and then re-entering one’s home culture. Students will be asked to contribute to this seminar by presenting appropriate details from their experience(s) abroad and to collaborate with classmates to compare experiences and, by the end of the term, arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the patterns that exist when all classmates experiences are examined as a whole. The unifying concepts that will guide the course include culture, culture shock, reverse culture shock, moral career (in the way sociologist E. Goffman uses this term), ethnocentrism, cultural relativity, self-identity, impression management, and compartmentalization. This course is specifically designed for those Elon students who have spent a semester or winter term abroad. This course is writing intensive. Open to students in the third or fourth year of study. |
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| HST 271 | Old Times There Are Not Forgotten: Understanding the Culture of the South | This course explores the major qualities that make the South a distinct region. Topics include music, the farming tradition, politics, literature, family and gender, the arts, religion, race relations and the role of social class in historical and contemporary contexts. Upon completion, students should be able to identify characteristics that distinguish Southern culture. The course will include field trips to area historic sites. |
| HST 370 | LGBTQ History in the U.S. | Students in this course will study the experiences of people in the United States sometimes called “homosexual,” “lesbian,” “gay,” “trans,” “queer,” and other terms and how and why those experiences changed over time. Students will explore what factors affected their experiences, including policies, attitudes, community development, social movements, and changing notions of identity. While some attention will be paid to earlier periods, the course will focus primarily on events of the 20th century, and students will do a project related to post-1950 history. Students of any sexual orientation or gender are welcome in the course, and there are no course prerequisites; however, students should be willing to grapple with upper-level history assignments and be open to learning about people who may have been different from or similar to themselves. |
| HSS 374 | Autism Spectrum Disorders | This course presents an introduction to the screening, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders. Using a lifespan perspective, the course also covers issues facing individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their families from early childhood to adulthood, including education, employment and socialization. Content primarily focuses on U.S.-based research, although international and cross-cultural topics are addressed. |
| HSS 382 | Practicum Away: Theory & Practice of Human Services | This course introduces students to the biopsychosocial model of understanding human systems in a cross-cultural environment. Three weeks of direct practice and observation in a human services organization in an international or domestic setting away from campus allows students to apply and conceptualize various aspects of human service delivery, particularly cross-cultural practice, using this approach. Student learning will be guided and enhanced through course readings, weekly seminars, written assignments and faculty site visits. Prerequisites: HSS 111, 2.1 cumulative GPA, status as a declared Human Services Studies major or minor, and approval of application for practicum. |
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| MBA 581 | International Business | The nature of this course will be to research and analyze the key components involved in establishing and operating an international business. International trade mechanisms and the operations of facilities abroad are analyzed. A major thrust of the course is the study of foreign exchange and international money markets, balance of payments adjustments, the legal environment of international trade, and the assessment of socioeconomic and political conditions in trading-partner and/or host countries. We will discuss strategic positioning, organizational structure, and legal, financial and regulatory requirements. One option available to students enrolled in the course is the opportunity to visit a foreign country, a trip that will provide on-site visits to U.S.- and foreign-owned firms. |
| MUS 106 | Chamber Ensemble | By audition only. |
| MUS 217 | World Music | Text readings, listening, research, writing and class presentation are part of an introduction to the music of Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Central and South America. Students gain increased awareness of the art and music of other cultures, make connections with their own art and folk traditions and search for shared meanings of all musical licensure. |
| MUS 272 | Why Does the Fat Lady Sing? | Students will study basic concepts of opera, including historical, musical, and biographical information. The course will proceed chronologically, discussing major opera composers and vocabulary that accompanies each time period. Each class period meets for three hours, Monday through Friday, and will have some component of critical thinking analysis (audio/video examples). Major opera plots and characters will also be discussed, and students will be encouraged to relate them to modern society and find their relevance. |
| MUS 274 | Woodstock, Hippies & Other Enduring Legacies: Music of the 60’s & 70’s | The course will cover the major music groups in the ‘60s and ‘70s and the advent of the technological advance in recording. The student will gain an understanding as to why this music/technology influenced the groups of today. It will start with the Beatles and their influences and will end with the early Police and Donna Summer era. Groups covered will include Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Bob Dylan, The Rolling stones, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Pink Floyd, The Who, Fleetwood Mac and Aretha Franklin. Soul, R&B, folk, punk, disco and major songwriters will also be covered. In addition, important recording advances that made it possible for this music to be presented on LP records will be discussed. Woodstock, The Monterey International Pop Festival, Height Asbury, the rise of Southern rock and their influence on popular music will be included. |
| MUS 319 | History of American Music | Study of American music from 1620 to the present focuses on elements of various musical cultures (e.g., Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America) that have influenced the American style of music. |
| MUS 371 | Music of the African Diaspora | This course will critically explore art music by composers of Africa and the African diaspora. It will identify trace the development of the variety of styles of art music throughout the African continent and its diaspora, examining cultural, social, historical, and political elements of the influence of African culture regionally and globally. This course is performance-based. |
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| PHL 370 | Bioethics | This course focuses on the practical ethical issues faced by health-care workers, patients, and citizens as they reflect on health-care policy. Examples of issues considered are the following: euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, abortion and embryonic stem cell research, genetic enhancement, research on human and non-human animals, allocation of scarce medical resources, and social justice and health-care reform. To help in considering specific issues three general moral theories will be explored: Utilitarianism, Kantianism, and Rawls’s theory of justice. Throughout the course real-life cases will be considered including their medical and legal details. |
| PSY 215 | The Psychology of Personal Relationships | The purpose of this course is to investigate personal relationships from various viewpoints of psychology (e.g., social, cognitive and biopsychological). Interactions with family members and friends will be discussed, but the emphasis will be placed on the initiation, maintenance and termination of romantic relationships. |
| PSY 245 | Early Childhood Development | Recent research has led to a new appreciation of the importance of early life experiences on child development. This course examines the power of the inseparable and highly interactive influences of genetics and environment on the complex emotions, cognitive abilities and essential social skills that develop during the early years of life. The implications of this new understanding of early childhood for families, communities, policy makers and service providers who strive to increase the odds of favorable development are explored. |
| PSY 277 | Humanitarian Aid | |
| PSY 310 | Memory & Memory Disorders | This course is about the human ability, or inability, to acquire and retain information, to recall it when needed, and to recognize it when it is seen or heard again (i.e, encoding, storage, retrieval). The course is presented from the perspectives of cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuropsychology and will examine theories and research techniques involved in the study of memory. Topics to be covered include amnesia, false memory, emotional memory, individual differences in memory and memory disorders related to brain damage, aging, diseases and psychiatric disorders. Prerequisite: PSY 111. |
| PSY 366 | Psychology in Cultural Context | Issues in the related fields of cultural and cross-cultural psychology are considered in depth as students investigate basic psychological processes (e.g., motivation, cognition and emotion) in the context of how cultural world views and implicit value assumptions influence the development and functioning of human behavior and social interaction. Prerequisite: PSY 111. |
| PSY 375 | Community Psychology | This course provides an introduction to the field of community psychology. Community psychology as a science seeks to understand relationships between environmental conditions and the development of health and well-being for all members in the community. Students will examine person-environment interactions and the ways society impacts both the individual and the community functioning. The course is presented from the perspectives of ecological systems, sociocultural theories and participatory action research. Topics to be covered include program evaluation, disorder prevention and the promotion of social change. |
| PHS 381 | Practicum | Three weeks of direct practice and observation in a public health organization provide the opportunity for students to apply and conceptualize various aspects of health care delivery using this approach. Student learning will be guided and enhanced through weekly seminars, written assignments, and faculty site visits. Prerequisites: PHS 201, status as a declared Public Health Studies major or minor, and submission and approval of the application for practicum. |
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| REL 237 | Religion & Rock N' Roll | This course explores the history of rock music in the U.S., its cultural roots and current ramifications, and its implicit ideologies of utopia, revolution and anesthesia. Students will be expected to gain a basic understanding of the relationship of religion and culture, to be conversant with the role of popular music as a form of cultural self-identity and communication, and to understand key moments and movements in the evolution of rock music in the context of recent American history. |
| REL 271 | American Jews Across the Color Line | This course will use novels and memoirs to explore diverse Jewish identities, highlighting the way in which those identities figure in characters’ identities as Americans. The shifting landscape of race in the USA will provide the context for understanding why some characters experience Jewishness as a reminder of an immigrant past that must be transformed in order for them to become American, while others experience Jewishness as a significant part of what marks them as firmly and uniquely American. By engaging with the different characters and their experience, we will explore the various factors that complicate the notion of identity as the product of personal choice, especially the color line that dictates both the necessity of transformation and its limits. |
| REL 272 | Muhammad & the Origins of Islam | This course addresses the background, conditions, and repercussions of the career of the Prophet Muhammad and the foundation of the Arab empire or caliphate after his death. We will explore in detail the revelation of the Quran, Muhammad’s conversion of the tribes of Arabia to the new faith, and the formation of a new culture, religion, and civilization in the century after his mission. Along the way, we will examine controversial issues such as the treatment of women in Islam, the role of jihad or “holy war” in the foundation of the community, and the controversies and conflicts over leadership among the Prophet’s companions that led to the split between Sunnis and Shiites. |
| REL 277 | Religion & Race | Race and religion are co-constituted in the U.S.; Christian thought in particular has contributed to – and itself been shaped by – racial polarization, privileging and oppression. This course gets beneath stereotypes and sound bites, using critical theory to explore the impacts of social location, worldview, and power on religious thought, identity and practice. Students will gain tools from white-critical and historically marginalized perspectives to engage more ethically and effectively in racially diverse and religiously pluralistic settings. |
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| SOC 131 | Sociology Through Film | This course will explore sociological principles, ideas, themes and issues as they may be illustrated in cinema. Both contemporary and classic movies will be shown. Relevant readings will be assigned to accompany each session of the course. It is recommended that students will have taken Sociology 111, but it is not a requirement. |
| SOC 371 | Sport & Society: Contemporary Issues | Does sport reproduce the patterns and problems of the wider society or is it a world of its own sort that features its own themes and issues? Is it a “model for” society? This course explores how sports and games are organized in contemporary societies and how they provide meaning for people’s lives. Special attention is given to university and professional sport and to the opportunities of different age groups, genders, racial and ethnic groups, and social classes to participate fully in the sporting world. These issues will be analyzed through discussions, films, readings, and observations. |
| SOC 375 | Social Capital, Social Networks & Immigrant Adaptation | This course explores how social capital and networking are factors in the socioeconomic adaptation of immigrants in the U.S. Course readings aim to account for themes relevant to the immigrant experience such as race, ethnicity and religious identity and explicitly look at the role of social capital or social networks on the socioeconomic adaptation of immigrants and their second-generation children. Attention will be given to early migration and resettlement processes, status attainment and sites for the emergence of inequality among various immigrants and also between immigrants and natives. |
| SPN 316. | Advanced Practice in Spanish Through Film | This course will develop and expand students’ knowledge of Spanish while studying cultural, historic and socio-political issues of the Spanish-speaking world. Films will provide a context for Spanish speaking culture, history and language. All course content, including films, written assignments and class discussions, will be in Spanish. Taught in Spanish. Prerequisite: SPN 222 or permission of instructor. |