Liberal Arts

Curriculum & Courses

Learning Outcomes

    1. Ways of Knowing Students: Students will demonstrate awareness and appreciation of multiple ways of knowing, as reflected in the fields of study and areas of expertise within the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
    2. Cultural Breadth and Global Awareness: Students will demonstrate familiarity with a range of cultural, social, and intellectual traditions in the context of a changing, globalized world.
    3. Critical and Analytical Thinking: Students will be able to analyze, evaluate, and construct arguments, engaging with ideas, evidence, and artifacts.
    4. Effective Communication Skills: Students will be able to speak and write effectively, communicating with precision, clarity, and rhetorical force.

    1.  Students will study and question how crucial ideas about human and non-human nature, knowledge, experience, and value have been developed, supported, and/or expressed in major areas of the humanities, such as philosophy, religion, literature (including poetry and the dramatic arts), and music in various cultures and time periods.
    2. Students will demonstrate understanding of the methods used in the humanities, such as argumentation and interpretation.
    3. Students will demonstrate understanding of the crucial ideas in the humanities as they have been explored in different cultures and times, and/or in connection to issues that currently affect individuals and societies across the globe.
    4. Students will evaluate claims and the evidence and/or reasons given in support of these claims, as found in primary and secondary sources.
    5. Students will construct their own claims and defend them in written and/or oral forms, and using proper methods of documentation (e.g. citation and bibliography).

    1. Students will increase their knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the natural world, science, and mathematics.
    2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the nature of science and/or mathematics as a knowledge making process. 
    3. Students will develop and evaluate claims that involve a scientific or mathematical component.
    4. Students will display curiosity about nature, natural science, and/or mathematics.
    5. Students will confidently attempt reasoning tasks that involve a scientific or mathematical component.
    6. Students will demonstrate appreciation for the role of science and/or mathematics both in everyday life and in contemporary issues.

  • Students will learn to embrace the writing process and establish writerly habits, while developing guided critical reading, thinking, and writing skills necessary for their success in upper-level course work. Students will learn to collaborate and to take their work, and the work of their peers seriously, thereby establishing best practices of critique.

    1. Students will formulate inquiries emerging from readings of texts.
    2. Students will establish research methods.
    3. Students will analyze and synthesize multiple texts and cite evidence. 
    4. Students will construct a complex claim and an argument.
    5. Students will practice the writerly process (i.e. revision, reflection, and peer review).

    1. Students will question and explore how human behavior, societal arrangements, and cultural practices vary across time and space.
    2. Students will demonstrate understanding of the investigative methods used in the social sciences. 
    3. Students will evaluate and develop claims based on primary and secondary sources. 
    4. Students will communicate clearly in written and oral forms.
    5. Students will write citations and bibliographies in accordance with one or more social science disciplines.

Courses

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

FYS I are theme-based writing courses designed for first-year students, with an emphasis on teaching foundational writing skills. Students will develop the intellectual skills of reading critically, and writing responsively, which forms the basis of each student's career at the School. While faculty have autonomy in determining course theme, the theme is an accessory to the writing; the balance in these classes is weighed toward explicit writing instruction and workshopping of student writing, not content. This course provides guided experience in writing college-level essays of various kinds, which may include critical, analytical and argumentative essays. A significant amount of time is devoted to the craft of writing. Grammatical and organizational strategies, argumentation, and skills in thesis/claim and idea development are explored. Students should expect to write 15-20 pages of formal, revisable writing across the course of the semester. A significant amount of time may be devoted to re-writing essays, so as to develop first drafts into final versions. In-class writing, short homework exercises, and workshopping of student work may be included. Individual meetings to discuss each student's papers should be expected.

Class Number

1234

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

FYS II are theme-based writing courses designed for first-year students, with an emphasis on further developing the foundational writing skills students learned in FYS I. Students will continue to hone the intellectual skills of reading critically, and writing responsively, which forms the basis of each student's career at the School. While faculty have autonomy in determining course theme, the theme is an accessory to the writing; the balance in these classes is weighed toward explicit writing instruction and workshopping of student writing, not content. This course provides guided experience in writing college-level essays of various kinds, which may include critical, analytical and argumentative essays, and must include the research paper. It is a policy of the department that at least one essay be a research paper which may involve searching for sources in a library or online, learning to make citations, and preparing an annotated bibliography. A significant amount of time is devoted to the craft of writing, and more sophisticated methods of argumentation and use of evidence and developing independent claims and ideas are explored. Students should expect to write 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing across the course of the semester. A significant amount of time may be devoted to re-writing essays, so as to develop first drafts into final versions. In-class writing, short homework exercises, and workshopping of student work may be included. Individual meetings to discuss each student's papers should be expected.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1233

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1235

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1004

Description

Jane Austen¿s Pride and Prejudice is enduringly popular, constantly adapted, critically celebrated, and occasionally detested. It is also a keystone in the history of the novel. Austen¿s novel is a landmark attempt to grapple with, and solve, the fundamental problems that underlie novelistic fiction and representation¿from the difficulty of self-reflection and of knowing other minds, to the problem of representing the modern self; from the emergence of character to the co-existence of critique and sentimental attachment to social practices and prejudices, including class, status, and gender. In this intensive, three-week course, we will read and discuss the novel very closely. Questions we will ask together include: How does Pride and Prejudice reflect and respond to the wider world in which Austen lived¿its norms, politics, economics, gender dynamics, class hierarchies, and aesthetic values? How does the marriage plot present the relation between freedom and responsibility? And what can Austen¿s masterpiece teach us about living and writing meaningfully in times of profound inequality and absurdity?

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1301

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course explores the complex roles, representations, and symbolic functions of women in English literature from the medieval period through the seventeenth century. We will examine authors such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton. Special attention will be given to recurring cultural tropes that shaped women¿s identities and constrained their agency, including the Virgin, the Whore, the Wife, and the Trickster. Through these archetypes, we will analyze how literature constructs gendered power, articulates anxieties about sexuality and authority, and negotiates the tension between silence and voice. Students will interrogate how these tropes function within their historical contexts and how certain authors resist, subvert, or reimagine them.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1300

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course examines the unique role that music has played in the cultural development of the United States, taking a critical look at the historical and geographical context for the development of American musical styles, including the role of slavery. We will critically engage the role that 19th Century blackface and minstrelsy played in providing the framework for both the foundations of the popular culture industry, and the conditions that resulted in the construction of cultural 'blackness.' We will examine the various regional styles of music that have developed in the United States, including the blues, ragtime, spirituals, country, jazz, bluegrass, and folk music, noting the manner in which style and gesture is traded back and forth. We will identify the musical characteristics of the primary styles of early American music, what distinguishes each, and trace their evolution to the music we listen to today. By spotting the way a note is bent or how the backbeat is played, we will map the route from the churches of the early frontier to the songs of Kendrick Lamar. Assignments may include weekly readings, approximately 3 short papers, one term paper, a final exam, and an in-class presentation, presented either alone or in a small group.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1302

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

Curious about the links between sand riddles in the desert, shape-shifting robots, and the cracks on an old painting? This class examines the physics behind shape formation, both in nature and in the work of humans. Concrete interdisciplinary examples spanning engineering, biology, architecture and beyond, will reveal underlying concepts of physics that are omnipresent around us, while questioning the common distinction our society tends to make between those who observe natural systems and those who create as engineers, designers and artists. Formal lectures will provide students with a conceptual and methodological background for scientific implementation, while hands-on labs will confront them to the medium. They will put this into practice in producing their own scientific project within their artistic medium. Seminars featuring renown international speakers will expose the students to current experts and cutting-edge interdisciplinary research. The combination of these activities, from lectures to labs and hands-on projects, will introduce science as a practice and a method students can themselves implement, while exposing them to the surprising forms that discovery & invention can take.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1298

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

Standard textbooks of European music have long emphasized their commitment towards studying the Western part of the continent. When it comes to the eastern region of the mainland, no such textbook exists. The scholarly marginalization of Eastern Europe¿s cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity contributes to negligence and underappreciation of the region. The purpose of this course is to examine the history and arts at several sites in this region and to listen to its music. Through this approach, we will examine cultural identities such as Greek, Byzantine, Slavic, Eastern Orthodox, Russian, Jewish, Ottoman, and Romani. We will visit historical and contemporary sites such as Kaliningrad, Kiev, Cracow, Prague, Budapest, Istanbul, Zagreb, and Ljubljana. We will also listen to ¿classical¿ music of Romanians, Poles, Russians, and Hungarians as well as to ¿folk¿ music from Transylvania, the Balkans, and the Baltic states. The music repertoire of this course spans from medieval Polish and Hungarian manuscripts to the late 20th-century Estonian (Arvo Part) and Russian (Sofia Gubaidulina) composers.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1306

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

This course familiarizes students with basic philosophical skills: clear reasoning, examination of the soundness and validity of arguments, and development of consistent positions on certain philosophical issues. The course may be organized historically by studying the thought of major philosophers, beginning with Plato, and ending with the modern era (examples of figures studied: Plato, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, and Nietzsche); thematically (studying major themes in philosophy such as free will and determinism, the existence of God, and the mind-body problem); or by school of thought (studying major trends in philosophy such as pragmatism, analytical philosophy, Marxism, existentialism, and phenomenology). Readings range from historical to contemporary sources, including the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Quine, and Rorty. Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1289

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

This course on Mineralogy and Gemology provides a detailed scientific exploration of minerals, their structures, properties, and classification, with a particular emphasis on their geological processes. Students will study the chemical composition, crystallography, and physical characteristics of minerals, learning how to identify and classify them in the lab. The course will cover the processes of mineral formation, the environments in which they occur, and the tools and techniques used for their analysis. A portion of the course will also focus on the properties of gemstones, such as color, clarity, and hardness, and the geological conditions that create these precious materials. Throughout, students will learn to apply scientific principles to the study of minerals, while also considering the cultural significance and aesthetic appeal of gemstones. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of mineralogy and the role of gemstones in both science and art, gaining hands-on experience with mineral identification and analysis. This course will incorporate a variety of texts and media, including scanned readings from textbooks, scientific journal publications, museum collection catalogs, high-resolution mineral imaging, and documentary films on mineral formation and gemstone trade. The coursework will consist of weekly microscopy-based lab exercises, 3-5 homework assignments, a midterm exam, and a final art project that encourages students to creatively engage with the scientific and cultural aspects of minerals and gemstones.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1305

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

A monolith manifests in orbit around Jupiter, emitting a signal. A beacon? A winter-bound planet¿s denizens are androgynous with powerful predictive powers. An aberration? Space travel is enabled by the ingestion of enormous quantities of a geriatric spice a messianic figure suddenly learns to manipulate. A drug trip?! Among popular genres, science fiction is the riskiest conceptually and among the trickiest to master. Because of its relative narrative freedom, science fiction has been a place for some of the wildest, most outlandish, yet frequently astute speculation on the experience of religion that can be found in all modern literature. In this course, you¿ll read some novels (by William Gibson, Frank Herbert, and Ursula K. LeGuin), short stories, (by Ted Chiang, Arthur C. Clarke, and Raccoona Sheldon), and view some films (2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, and Close Encounters), and study the work of some theorists of religion (Freud, Jung, Le¿vi-Strauss, and Eliade). Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1242

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

In this course, we will introduce the interdisciplinary study of cities, urbanization, and the environment in the social sciences. We will cover foundational and contemporary readings in sociology, from history to urban studies/planning, architecture, and anthropology. After introducing core concepts, we will explore case studies on industrialization and deindustrialization, pollution and toxic exposure, energy/electrification, urban ¿green¿ spaces, and climate change/migration. We will focus on a series of Chicago-area case studies and expand to study other ¿planetary cities¿ such as Houston, Buenos Aires, and Abu Dhabi. Readings may include foundational texts from the Chicago School of Sociology, W.E.B. Du Bois, William Cronon, and Saskia Sassen, as well as contemporary texts from Gökçe Günel, Hillary Angelo, and Javier Auyero.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1195

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course offers a critical overview of the origins and politics of the Arab-Israeli conflict through the use of dual narratives. It examines the roots of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism, the deterioration of Jewish-Arab relations during the late Ottoman and Mandate periods, the role of Arab states, the establishment of the state of Israel and subsequent dispersion of Palestinians, the Arab-Israeli wars, the Intifadas, and the possibility of a negotiated peace agreement.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1293

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

Why do birds migrate? When do whales sing? What does a bee's dance mean? Animals have fascinating behaviors that have both puzzled and amazed observers. This class will explore current theories behind these actions. The lecture/discussion aspects of this course will focus on theories and concepts while the lab component will focus on collecting (Virtual zoo camera) observational data on local fauna and coming up with hypothesis to explain the observed behaviors. Student-collected original data will then be discussed and new or additional theories proposed. This course includes VIRTUAL Zoo camera data observations from any zoo around the world that has zoo cameras!

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1186

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

In this course students learn about the scientific roots and complexities of diagnosing the most pressing environmental crises of the twenty-first century, their ethical and legal impacts on society, and the potential to achieve sustainability for the future. We raise stimulating ethical and legal debates about topics such as depletion of oceanic resources, loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction, depletion of topsoil, degradation of groundwater and more. This class is about critical thinking and incorporates team projects, debate, class discussion, and independent research to investigate the current state of the global condition and potential for a sustainable future.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1297

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Sustainable Design

Location

Online

Description

A detailed investigation of the history, theory and practice of politics in the United States and around the world. See topic description for more information.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1292

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

Historically, the discipline of Art History has been the study of white men, whereas Anthropology has been the study of the creative practices of ¿others,¿ i.e., those subject to European imperialism and colonization. This has created a hidden dynamic in the ways we think about human creativity: ¿art¿ is understood to be the product of individual genius (i.e., whiteness and masculinity), whereas ¿culture¿ is the anonymous and traditional production of ¿a people.¿ And yet, all creative practice emerges within specific social and historical contexts and at the nexus of tradition and innovation, the individual and the collective. In this class we will salvage the tools of anthropological analysis from their colonial origins to radically transform our understanding of art and its place in the world. Drawing on theoretical and anthropological readings in three thematic areas¿Art, Property, and Museums¿we will critically examine the ways human creativity is valued and appreciated while also learning to refuse the racialized and gendered hierarchies that structure the category of ¿art.¿ At the same time, we will engage with artworks, films, and exhibitions that appropriate the ¿anthropological gaze¿ to further unsettle these hierarchies. Coursework will consist of weekly readings, critical responses to local exhibitions and performances, and independent research projects. In-class activities will draw us further into the contradictions and questions raised.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1294

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

In this course, we explore the phenomena of culture and society through a four-field anthropological lens. Topics include a brief history of anthropology as a social scientific discipline, an introduction to anthropological methods, the uniqueness of human culture from the perspective of arguments for nonhuman culture, the power and politics of language, and a comparative approach to universal cultural subsystems, explored through a wide variety of global case studies, as well as scholarship that turns the anthropological lens on the Western traditions in which the discipline originally developed.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1291

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

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