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

Reading Art is a seminar that orients students to college studies and emphasizes students' advancement of college-level critical reading and thinking skills. Students learn how to read and analyze artworks using the formal vocabulary of art and design, as well as how to read about art in art history textbooks, scholarly journals, and other sources. Students improve their ability to process, retain, and apply information by using active learning strategies and graphic organizers, including a schematic note-taking system. In addition to weekly readings and exercises, students complete an in-depth synthesis project on an artwork of their choosing. Regular museum visits complement class work.

Class Number

1055

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

The art of life writing includes yet transcends the genres of (auto)biography, memoir, confession, diaries, journals, and social media posts. It is a way of life, a creative practice, a performative invitation of past, present, and future selves. As an essential skill of self-representation beyond the classroom, life writing is ideal for exploring the roles of memory, time, authority, and experience in creating individual and collective identities. This seminar will engage key figures across the span of life writing, including Frederick Douglass, who, regarding biographical details such as his age and parents, writes, ¿I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from me.¿ As we experiment with innovative tools for writing life in the 21st century, including voice-based composition, we¿ll consider the styles and effects of life writing, including its power to discover as well as create knowledge. Other texts may include St. Teresa¿s Life, Mary Karr¿s The Art of Memoir, Tara Westover¿s Educated, and Ben Franklin¿s Autobiography. Authors including ­­Sidonie Smith, Julia Watson, Leigh Gilmore, and Ben Yagoda will provide critical context for our discussions. Students will create 15-20 pages of formal, revisable, and publishable writing across three short essays and two in-depth revisions. FYS I guides students through college-level writing, establishing foundations for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts classes.

Class Number

1490

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

FYS I breaks down the critical writing process to provide a guided experience in college-level writing, thereby forming the necessary foundations for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts classes. The class will explore whether the concept of a hyphenated identity (a dual identity divided by ethnicity, race and culture) stands for otherness, opposition, inclusion, or all of the above. Essays by hyphenated writers, such as Ronald Takaki, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Amy Tan, and Audre Lorde, will act as points of departure as well as models of writing for our exploration of the myth of the United States as a cultural melting pot and whether we can reclaim the hyphenated identity as a source of pride and empowerment in today¿s political climate. Students build writing skills through 15-20 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. three multi-draft essays) in addition to homework exercises and in-class writings. Through thoughtfully crafted writing, can we begin to give voice to ethnic populations and create an open dialogue about race, displacement, migration, post-colonialism, post-imperialism, and representation?

Class Number

1473

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

Reading Art is a seminar that orients students to college studies and emphasizes students' advancement of college-level critical reading and thinking skills. Students learn how to read and analyze artworks using the formal vocabulary of art and design, as well as how to read about art in art history textbooks, scholarly journals, and other sources. Students improve their ability to process, retain, and apply information by using active learning strategies and graphic organizers, including a schematic note-taking system. In addition to weekly readings and exercises, students complete an in-depth synthesis project on an artwork of their choosing. Regular museum visits complement class work.

Class Number

1051

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

This FYS I course will explore the history of Chicago through storytelling. Using the PBS documentary series, 'Chicago Stories' as our main text, students will learn how the city's most memorable events and personalities have been explained through historical narratives for a general audience. The class will encourage students to critically assess and evaluate how public broadcasters convey the city's complex history through various forms of writing assignments including free writing, close readings of images and texts, and critical essays on disputes in Chicago history. This is a studio writing class in which we will focus on writing as a process. Students can expect to compose and revise 15-20 pages in multi-draft writing assignments in addition to homework and in-class writing. Every student will have their work-in-process workshopped by the class (anonymously), as this is a writing workshop. Peer review and one-on-one writing conferences with the teacher should also be expected.

Class Number

2208

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

Reading Art is a seminar that orients students to college studies and emphasizes students' advancement of college-level critical reading and thinking skills. Students learn how to read and analyze artworks using the formal vocabulary of art and design, as well as how to read about art in art history textbooks, scholarly journals, and other sources. Students improve their ability to process, retain, and apply information by using active learning strategies and graphic organizers, including a schematic note-taking system. In addition to weekly readings and exercises, students complete an in-depth synthesis project on an artwork of their choosing. Regular museum visits complement class work.

Class Number

1056

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

Music is sometimes called the universal language, yet writers often seek to describe it in words. Music scholars, music critics, music fans, and musicians use words to describe music and to make claims about its merits. This course will explore various styles, techniques, and vocabularies for writing about musical sound and performance. The focus will be on reviews of live concerts, album releases, and film music. Students will develop critical thinking skills by evaluating the effectiveness of an author¿s argument. Students will practice making claims and presenting arguments that are successfully supported by writing style, sources, evidence, structure, and logic. Students will read various articles, essays, and chapters about music by historical and contemporary music scholars, critics, and journalists. Topics vary but may include film music, art music and modernism, music technology, and the recording industry, with a focus on music in the 20th and 21st centuries in the United States. In addition to in-class writing assignments, students will write an original research paper, broken down into several assignments/ drafts. Students should expect to write 15-20 double-spaced pages over the course of the term, including revisions based on instructor and peer feedback.

Class Number

1474

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 608

Description

Reading Art is a seminar that orients students to college studies and emphasizes students' advancement of college-level critical reading and thinking skills. Students learn how to read and analyze artworks using the formal vocabulary of art and design, as well as how to read about art in art history textbooks, scholarly journals, and other sources. Students improve their ability to process, retain, and apply information by using active learning strategies and graphic organizers, including a schematic note-taking system. In addition to weekly readings and exercises, students complete an in-depth synthesis project on an artwork of their choosing. Regular museum visits complement class work.

Class Number

1060

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

This class invites students into a conversation around the HBO series ¿The Wire.¿ Through writing, discussion, and peer review, students will think critically about television as an art form, hyperrealism, and the lived experience of people in and excluded from civic institutions. This is a writing-focused course investigating both the form (broadcast television) and the content of a commercial art form. The assignments are intended to help students master college-level writing skills namely drafting, espousing an argument, revision, and peer review. Aside from the primary material (Most of Seasons 1-4 of ¿The Wire¿ with Season 5 as optional viewing), students will read excerpts from Toni Morrison, Michel Foucault, James Baldwin, Alec Karakatsanis, Dennis Lehane; Jonathan Abrams; Felicia Pearson. Students are expected to write two essays and a substantially revised version of either one of the essays. Essay 1 will be 4-6 pages. Essay 2 will be 6-8 pages. This is in addition to the several one-page reflections and episode-breakdowns interspersed through the semester.

Class Number

2219

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

This First Year Seminar course will explore humor writing as a serious artform, and will employ analysis strategies to get at the core of the question of what makes something funny. By the end of the semester, students will be able to write analytical essays that pick apart and organize ideas around both literature and humor, and will read and explore humorous writing throughout the English canon. The psychology of humor - exactly what it is that makes something funny - is complicated and requires careful mastery. This course will examine how writers and artists have historically used humor to reach audiences deeply, emotionally, and politically. Through works by Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, Langston Hughes, Nora Ephron, Susan Orlean, Jack Handey, and Trevor Noah, we will get to the heart of what makes something funny, and how humor has changed over time. We will also look at the different formats of comedy, including satire, parody, film-writing, stand-up comedy, and more. Students should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing (4 short papers and one medium-length paper). In addition, they will do regular, rigorous in-class writing, and engage in weekly analytical conversation.

Class Number

2211

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

As citizens, our only contact with the legal system usually occurs when we have gone awry of the law. We see the legal system from the outside, and it¿s not pretty. We also know that the law protects our rights¿despite this knowledge, the legal system has a reputation of working for the rich while stepping on ¿the little guy.¿ And lawyers? Everybody hates lawyers. But at its heart, the law is two parties telling a story and submitting those stories to a third party who judges which one best fits the law. This course will begin with discussions and writing exercises based on stories and storytelling. Each week after that, we will read and discuss cases or stories related to the law and write about these stories, their role as ¿story,¿ and how they fit into the general standards and notions of what a story is. Papers will focus on the story¿s relation to the law, and the structural and rhetorical elements used in the stories, storytelling and academic discourse as a whole. They will also focus on effective ways to present opinions. Through the legal elements of the course, students will learn critical thinking skills by evaluating the case, the story, and the relationship between the two. They will discern how the case was put together, which elements of argument were used, and why. Students will read cases that are vital to U.S. history, are entertaining, or both. These will include Marbury v. Madison, Palsgraf, and others. Among other readings will be works by Jonathan Shapiro and Franz Kafka. In addition to in-class writing, students will write 15-20 pages of formal writing over the course of the term, using a process approach, including instructor and student feedback.

Class Number

2209

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

In this first-year seminar course, we will explore a variety of contemporary short films, stories, and poetry to help us hone our ability to make meaning with complex works of art and to engage in critical, interpretive analysis of how and why each work was constructed. Using short films, short stories, and poems as our core texts gives us the unique opportunity to engage with a wide range of both storytellers and stories told. Meaning, expect to interact with a diverse landscape of authorial voice, thematic content, and narrative technique. All three of these forms are able to convey complex truths about the world we live in, and our discussions and classroom practices will give us the tools to create focused, nuanced interpretations of each piece and to make critical connections between themes and techniques. By the end of this course, students will have a more sophisticated grasp of the mechanics of film, narrative, and poetry. This is an inquiry and discussion based course, and we will learn to situate questions as the basis of our practice as readers, writers, and thinkers. In addition, FYSI guides students through college-level writing, establishing foundations for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts classes. Students will write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing. Our writing workshops will focus on generating questions and language, collecting meaningful evidence, constructing sophisticated thesis statements, creating helpful outlines, and drafting our essays. Peer feedback; 1-1 teacher feedback; and in-class writing workshops will be key components of this course.

Class Number

2210

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This class examines cultural and political power in relation to ideas about sound and noise. What we hear, mis-hear, do not hear, cannot hear, or choose not to hear plays an important role in social life. Those that have power have the power to decide what counts as an acceptable sound or disturbing noise. These facts make sound and noise central to issues of social justice, political activism, and public space. Sound and noise are also vital to the creation of communities of celebration and dissent ¿ in the form of the noise strike, the protest chant, or the collective sing-along, for example. Social groups produce themselves through their listening practices and shared forms of sounding out. We will read and listen closely to scholars, artists, experimental musicians, and journalist like Jennifer Stoever (The Sonic Color Line), Kevin Beasley (A view of a landscape: A cotton gin motor), Gala Porras-Kim (Whistling and Language Transfiguration), Moor Mother (Irreversible Entanglements) and Gregory Tate (Flyboy in the Buttermilk). Additionally, we will learn from a variety of types of sources including Literature, Musicology, Art, Cultural Criticism, Music Journalism, and Poetry. Along with experimental writing assignments linking related topics, key terms, and ideas to personal and social experiences, students will produce 15-20 pages of organized writing broken into drafts and revisions.

Class Number

1478

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 816

Description

What can pop music uncover about power? In this writing-intensive course, we'll look at pop music through the lenses of artistry, politics, and history while developing college-level writing skills that build a foundation for FYS II and upper-level Liberal Arts courses. Artists up for discussion include Lizzo, Britney Spears, Jojo Siwa, Chappell Roan, SOPHIE, and, of course, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. We'll read authors like Danyel Smith, Sasha Geffen, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Rawiya Kamier and hear from the artists themselves through music, interviews, performances, and documentaries. Class time will be spent writing, revising, and developing skills in critical analysis and making a claim in service of 15-20 pages of multi-draft, formal writing. Throughout the semester, peer-reviewing and one-on-one instructor conferences support the process.

Class Number

1491

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

Russia as a young literary nation did not come of age until the period during which the novel dominated the literary scene. While it was the novel that made Russian literature legendary around the world, many Russian masters including Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenev and Bulgakov devoted themselves to the cultivation of the short story. The short story as a genre assumed a role in Russian literature that rivaled and perhaps even surpassed that of the novel. In this course we will explore the many cultural and social forces that led to the rise of the Russian short story as a style unique to Russian literature and its themes. FYS I is an intensive writing course that will include an in-depth introduction to critical thinking and persuasive writing strategies. Students can expect to submit three writing assignments that will range between 5-6 pages each that will be based on analytical and persuasive approaches to academic writing.

Class Number

1479

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

To have curiosity is to be inquisitive, to wonder and to want to know. To be a curiosity, on the other hand, is to be a novelty or rarity, something odd or unusual or strange. In this writing intensive course, students explore curiosities, practice wonder, and pursue questioning. Readings include verbal and visual texts: essays and articles, photographs and artifacts. Students write and revise several essays of modest length, including analyses of visual texts and their own ¿curated collection¿ of curiosities.

Class Number

1514

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 816

Description

?The cinema is truth 24 frames-per-second.? The films of Jean Luc Godard, including modernist classics such as ?Breathless,? ?Vivre Sa Vie,? and ?Masculin Feminin,? test the edges of narrative film by radically integrating reality and fiction. Through hermetic personal essays rich with references to film, philosophy, poetry, music and painting, Godard attempts to unify his life and his art. In this class we will examine the concept of cinematic autobiography: In what ways does cinema reflect reality and in what ways does cinema create reality? This course will develop students? critical thinking, reading and writing skills. Over the course of the semester, students will write two critical essays (15 to 20 pages of formal writing), which will be workshopped in class and revised. Students will learn how to develop a debatable thesis statement and support it with a series of arguments.

Class Number

1509

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

An attempt, a venture, an experiment, a weighing - the essayist discovers new insight into the common, the peculiar, the sacred, the profane - drawing lines between the trivial and profound, the essayist tries: while difficult to define, this genre instructs, entertains, questions and refines. Students of this course will examine this genre of literature and will practice it, too: being introduced to a wide range of authors, writing on topics familiar and foreign, from the personal to the argumentative, from the art historical to the humorous, students will practice this craft by critically analyzing the work of others and writing different types of essays in a workshop environment that emphasizes the writing process, from generating ideas, to oral presentations, to drafting and peer review, to re-seeing and revising. FYS I develops college-level writing skills, prepares one for FYS II and upper-level Liberal Arts courses, and allows one to improve expressing their ideas in writing.

Class Number

1480

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

Surrealism is among the preeminent modes of twentieth century art. It is the product of a specific moment in history, and yet it has proved remarkably adaptable through time and across cultures, languages, media, and genres. This FYS I course introduces students to college-level writing, reading, and critical thinking skills using Surrealism and its legacy as a focal point, and prepares them for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts courses. We will consider critical and creative writing, as well as some visual art, by figures such as André Breton, Phillippe Soupault, Leonora Carrington, Alice Rahon, Aimé Cesaire, Octavio Paz, Barbara Guest, Alejandra Pizarnik, and Bei Dao. Some topics we might investigate include Surrealism's relationship to the art that came before it; its conceptions of daily life, and individual and collective personhood; its engagement with contemporaneous developments in science and technology; and its relationship to issues of race, class, gender, and to historical events. Students should expect to compose (plan, draft, critique, and revise) 15-20 double-spaced pages of formal writing, in addition to regular in-class and out-of-class writing assignments.

Class Number

1510

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

This class will read texts that explore civil disobedience, protest, the role of the individual in society; the role of government in the lives of individuals; and the intersection of community, government and individuals. We will read from different historical periods, and explore how individual participation is essential for a functioning democracy. Readings will discuss different forms that participation takes, with special attention paid to various types of civil disobedience (Thoreau, Tolstoy, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and others). Students in FYS I should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. two essays and one in-depth revision) in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing.

Class Number

1481

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

FYS I develops college-level writing skills and prepares one for FYS II and upper-level Liberal Arts courses. In our FYS I class, we will develop our critical reading, writing, and thinking skills as we trace the development of the modern short story with a particular focus on narration. Many critical innovations in the modern short story emerge from fundamental questions: Who is telling the story? Why are they telling it? When are they telling it? This course involves close reading of short stories that foreground these questions, helping students uncover the meaning and significance of key Modern and Postmodern literary innovations. In-class discussions and workshops will support the craft of academic writing. Through repeated short writing exercises, students will internalize the structure of effective argumentation. We will also practice the art of thesis-writing - translating general observations about the short story into risk-taking, compelling arguments.

Class Number

1492

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

In this writing-intensive course, students will read classic novels, with an emphasis on examining the way these texts shaped ideas about colonization, mental illness, and British cultural dominance. With Charlotte Brontë¿s, Jane Eyre, we¿ll discuss how this classic bildungsroman, with its groundbreaking attack on social class and religious hypocrisy, also reinforced negative racial stereotypes and influenced discriminating attitudes toward people with mental illness. We¿ll read The Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys¿s 1966 rewrite of Jane Eyre from the perspective of Bertha Mason, and how feminist interpretations of the work have, according to the critic C.M. Mardorossian ¿failed¿to do justice to its complex representation of Caribbean racial relations.¿ Students will write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing. In-class activities include peer review, workshopping, and free writing to generate paper topics, including a formal, argument-driven paper.

Class Number

1493

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Sharp 409

Description

This course explores some ways that 20th century, African-American literary artists, and more recently filmmakers, articulated political dissent, with a focus on the shift from Civil Rights to Black Power. Protest usually takes the form of a ¿demonstration¿ or ¿march,¿ sorts of performance where public space is redefined for assembly, expression, and dialogue. This form of activism makes connections, challenges assumptions, and gives one practice in trusting their intuition, helping impacted people feel they have support and collectively communicating grievances to disinterested citizens and power brokers alike. Occupying space is a way to occupy attention over time and increase the amount of consideration given to those who otherwise lack civic power. As a form of expression, a ¿declaration¿ or ¿avowal,¿ to quote the Oxford English Dictionary, protest can also occur in aesthetic spaces, such as cinemas, galleries and even isolated acts of reading and writing. FYS I is an intensive writing course that prepares students for FYS II and other Liberal Arts courses. In class, we will engage deeply with course materials in productive discussions that will foster critical thinking and inform student writing. In addition to weekly homework assignments and in-class writing, students can expect to compose and revise 15-20 pages of formal writing through a process approach to hone their argumentative skills and build their confidence in expressing their ideas clearly and effectively.

Class Number

1494

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 816

Description

What are minds? What is it to have a mind, to have consciousness? How, if at all, are minds different from machines? In this course, by reading pieces by Shaffer, Carruthers, and Searle, we will become acquainted with these concepts and issues and learn how to think about them in a more informed and critical fashion. The course is writing intensive: students should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. two essays and two in-depth revisions) in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing and discussion.

Class Number

1482

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

Painting, sculpture, film, music, literature. In this course students will use both their own and the creative works of others as the starting point for their papers. Through critical reading, visits to the museum, and process-oriented writing, students will learn the craft of essay writing. Texts include works by John Cage, Gertrude Stein, and Honoré de Balzac.

Class Number

2212

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

Description

Music reflects and informs many aspects of society and culture. This course examines the writings of scholars and critics who have argued for various philosophies, functions, and styles of music. Each week, we will feature a topic related to music¿s role in society and explore issues of aesthetics, expression, and performance. Writing exercises will focus on a specific writing technique or strategy. Students will develop critical thinking skills by evaluating the effectiveness of an author¿s argument through rhetoric, logic, and evidence. Students will practice making claims and presenting arguments that are successfully supported by writing style, sources, structure, and reason. Students will read a selection of music scholars, critics, and writing specialists, including but not limited to Joseph Auner, Jane Bernstein, Susan Douglas, Hua Hsu, Mark Katz, Alex Ross, and Kate Turabian. Topics vary but may include opera, film music, modernism, music technology, protest music, text setting, and musical genre. In addition to in-class writing assignments, students will write an original research paper, broken down into several assignments/drafts. Students should expect to write 15-20 double-spaced pages over the course of the term, including revisions based on instructor and peer feedback.

Class Number

1495

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

Attracted by the economic and creative freedom Paris offered, twentieth-century American writers found a place to become the writers they wanted to be and discovered a supportive community of intellectual and visual artists. We will read creative and autobiographical writings, view relevant films, and examine the historical and cultural connection between France and the United States that contributed to the development of American writers, including James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Bennett, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, and Gertrude Stein. In this course, students will develop their critical reading and writing skills and write three short papers and one longer paper based on research.

Class Number

1522

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

In this writing intensive course, we will develop the skills of argument-driven composition as we examine the aesthetic foundation of American cinema: the classic Hollywood studio system of the 1940s. What was the studio system? How was it formed, how did it function, and how did it shape the aesthetics of modern American cinema? We will look at the ways Golden Age studios developed individual identities and how they shaped their specific ¿house styles.¿ In doing this, we¿ll also track the codification of genres like the melodrama, the musical, and the film noir. Readings will include critical works by Raymond Borde and Étienne Cahumeton, Jeanine Basinger, and Ethan Mordden. These materials will inform multiple argument-driven essays which students will draft and revise over the course of the semester. In composing these essays, students will study thesis formation, rhetorical modes, and ways to incorporate outside sources into researched-based arguments. Students should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing. By providing guided experience in college-level writing, this course forms the necessary foundation for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts classes.

Class Number

1496

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

What does it mean to grieve? To perform sadness & loss? Who is the audience? Where is the stage? This first year seminar focuses on writing as self care, writing to breakthrough, and writing to/for our own collective trauma. We will read & consider a range of art & writing from Alison Bechdel, to Rachel Cusk, Sally Mann & Virginia Woolf. We will also welcome, (but not require) stories of our own losses and unimaginable pain, in turn examining, through deep concentration and discussion; something permanent and good. Students will complete 15-20 pages of writing (2 essays followed by a substantial revision) in addition to in-class writing, presentations, and peer workshopping.

Class Number

2213

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

FYS 1 provides guided experience in college-level writing, thereby forming the necessary foundation for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts classes. This section of FYS 1 will take a deep dive into the minds of both Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein (1818) and Victor Frankenstein, the infamous scientist who reanimated body parts into his infamous Monster. We will read, write, think, watch, discuss, and critically reflect on one novel and its continuing legacies into the twenty-first century. Readings and screenings will include the Frankenstein novel by Mary Shelley, secondary scholarship on her novel, films that adapt and rework Frankensteinian themes, and one graphic novel updating of the classic myth. Students should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. two essays and one in-depth revision) in addition to homework exercises, two presentations, and in-class writing.

Class Number

1497

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

Musicality and an exquisite choice of words, sensory detail, and form¿the elements of masterful crafting in poetry offer a flight into worlds both familiar and unfamiliar and language for experiences which are often otherwise wordless. In this course students will consider a range of poems across the timeline of literature to learn how to read poetry deeply and thoroughly, both for content and to recognize craft as it supports meaning. Some poets likely to be considered are Sappho, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou, Julia Alvarez, Jericho Brown, Ocean Vuong, Jo Harjo, and Amanda Gorman, among others. The work of this course will involve assigned readings, related research, and presentations. Students will be expected to write essays based on course content that are developed from early draft through final revision stages to total 15-20 pages of writing, as well as engage in writing exercises and discussions.

Class Number

1498

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

FYS I prepares students for advanced study in the Liberal Arts by attending to the foundational skills of college-level writing and interpretation, such as close reading, critical analysis, academic argumentation, essay structure, and style. This first-year seminar focuses our attention on poetry. While it's common for students to find poems baffling or even alienating, we will practice the kinds of reading skills and receptive states of mind that open poetry up to understanding and enjoyment. By reading, discussing, and writing about a small number of short poems every week (drawn from a variety of poets, periods, and places) we will see how reading poetry well does not require elite or occult knowledge but patience, interest, attention, and curiosity. Students will practice reading slowly and closely and writing about poetry in a way that reproduces that slowness and closeness in their own prose. Students should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing.

Class Number

1483

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

In this course, we?ll read about witches across diverse forms of literature including folk and fairy tales, poetry, plays, and short stories. We?ll read writing by The Brothers Grimm, Octavia Butler, Arthur Miller, Joy Harjo, Rebecca Tamas, Jane Yolan, and Yumiko Kurahashi to trace the footsteps and flight patterns of witches as they appear in various roles such as mother, monster, healer, and teacher. In support of our investigations, we?ll also read selected critique essays from Donald Haase?s Fairy Tales and Feminism and from Emma Donoghue?s Kissing the Witch, a collection of deconstructed and reassembled fairy tales. As a FYSI course, the core emphasis of this class will be developing writing skills in preparation for FYSII courses and other writing assignments across SAIC?s curriculum. Students will engage in comprehensive discussion of these readings, conduct related research, and write response and analytical essays, with a final project that incorporates a creative component

Class Number

1500

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 816

Description

Literature can either support or subvert dominant narratives, and in this class, we discuss how literature does the latter. We begin the course by naming dominant narratives that are pervasive in the world and how these narratives impact the lived lives of people, including ourselves. This helps us understand why a writer might choose to write something that attempts to counter them, and think about their work in context. We examine how literary tools can, at times, be used to undo what it was intended to build. Some writers we might read are: Susan Steinberg, Priya Parker, Maddie Reardon, Vu Tran, Esme Waijun Wang, Isabel Garcia-Gonsalez, Cathy Park Hong, Chin Chin, Peter Ho Davies, and C.Pam Zhang. In this class, we prioritize community, compassion, and vulnerability. We are committed to showing up generously and bravely. FYS I is an intensive writing course that prepares students for FYS II and other Liberal Arts courses. In class, we will engage deeply with course materials in productive discussions that will foster critical thinking and inform student writing. In addition to weekly homework assignments and in-class writing, students can expect to compose and revise 15-20 pages of formal writing through a process approach to hone their argumentative skills and build their confidence in expressing their ideas clearly and effectively.

Class Number

2220

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

The oldest art depicting boats was created 40,000 years ago. For just as long, the sea¿barrier, connector, nurturer, destroyer¿has fascinated artists and authors. Its sound calms us; its mystery thrills us; its strength terrifies us. This course will focus on texts that span a variety of nations, languages, time periods, genres, and mediums, all of which explore the collective human experience of the sea. What voices does the ocean use to speak to us, and what does it say? In response to these questions, we¿ll read texts by Herman Melville, Rivers Solomon, and Homer; examine ancient myth and Lovecraftian mythos; view illustration and animation by Trungles and Hayao Miyazaki; and listen to sea shanties, Debussy, and clipping. As a First Year Seminar I course, the essay writing focus of this class will be to develop and build skills in writing response and analytical essays related to assigned readings, research, and class discussion. Students in FYS I should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing. This writing will take the form of two essays with multiple drafts based on instructor and peer workshop feedback.

Class Number

1515

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

Description

This course emphasizes, in keeping with First Year Seminar I courses in general, student writing and rewriting. Students will achieve both content and form for their writing by a close reading of texts and critical thinking about them, and then by considered review of feedback from the other seminar members. As is normal in seminars, student presentations occupy a significant amount of class time. In particular, this course confronts death, along with related phenomena such as aging, dying, grieving, and bereavement, in both interdisciplinary and intercultural manners. The direction of study will move from death as a biomedical event thru religious, spiritual, and existential events, and conclude with postmodern possibilities such as cryonics and mind-uploading. A key concern is whether, and to what extent, one?s attitude and approach to death informs one?s attitude and approach to life. The course utilizes various classical and contemporary texts to help expand and enrich our understanding, and each week students will provide thoughtful and polished reports on the assigned readings from them. By the end of the semester students will have written 15-20 pages of formal, revised writing in the form of weekly seminar reports, a midterm paper, and a final paper.

Class Number

1485

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 301

Description

Adolescents feature prominently in culture stories and myths the world over, as well as in contemporary fantasy and science fiction. Anthropologically, adolescents are potentially powerful agents of change because they are imperfectly socialized and not yet tied to conservative adult roles. In this course we will examine the power and potential of adolescence through classic and contemporary anthropological works as well as the writing of authors including Terry Pratchett, Diana Wynne Jones, and Garth Nix.

Class Number

2214

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

In our class we will read recently released poetry by Asian American authors. The poems and poetry collections are written by individuals who are amongst the multitude of identities known as Asian American. Readings often include works by Jenny Xie, Ocean Vuong, and Rajiv Mohabir. In our FYS I class, we will develop our critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. This is a studio writing class in which we will focus on writing as a process. We will freewrite, formulate conceptual questions for the readings, write responses, and compose and revise 15-20 pages in multidraft essays. Students will direct the topic of the final essay based on their individual inquiry. FYS I develops college-level writing skills, prepares one for FYS II and upper-level Liberal Arts courses, and allows one to improve expressing their ideas in writing.

Class Number

1486

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

This course first explores the myths and folktales of pre-Christian Ireland. We read about dolmen and druids, Maeve, Queen of Connacht, Finn MacCool, Deirdre, and Cuichulain. How do battle-hungry, sexually-charged Celts compare to characters in James Joyce's Dubliners' Historical texts (including How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill) examine how the status of women changed after the arrival of Roman (vs. Celtic) Catholicism, the Book of Kells, and the long-term effects of the Great Famine on the Irish character. Contemporary fiction writers studied include, W.B. Yeats, Eavan Boland, Rosemary Mahoney, and postmodern favorite Flann O'Brien, among others, with a focus on the influence of Celtic myths on contemporary Irish life and writing.

Class Number

1501

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

Description

This is a writing course, with the goals of helping you write excellent basic English and developing your skills in presenting arguments, using careful observations of art works and careful readings of writings on art. Reading is one way of improving your writing, and we will study essays almost entirely by artists, likely including photographers (Paul Strand and Edward Weston), painters (Gerhard Richter and Agnes Martin), sculptors (Constantin Brancusi), filmmakers (Dziga Vertov and Maya Deren), architects (Louis Sullivan), and conceptual artists (Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer). We will view art by the artists whose work we consider, and discuss both how their written statements connect with their work and the larger problem of using writing to describe and interpret visual art. There will be short assignments on the writing and work of the artists we consider, and one assignment in which you write an artist's statement, either for the work you are now making or for the work you hope to make. There will also be a research paper on an artist of your choice with the instructor's approval, in which you argue a thesis about that artist's work. Each of these assignments will also be revised based on the instructor's comments, and the minimum length of all together will be at least 7,500 words.

Class Number

1502

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

The terms ¿self¿ and ¿portrait¿ are so ubiquitous that they often go underexamined. This class invites students to consider the ¿self¿ on a philosophical level, and to feel out the complex, blurry parameters distinguishing a portrait an artist makes of another from a self-portrait. The historical contexts within which various self-portraits in 20th century art and literature were produced will inform our inquiries into how society shapes the ways we think about/represent our 'selves' and vice versa. These will include artworks by Claude Cahun, Beauford Delaney, Catherine Opie, and Marisol, as well as texts by Joe Brainard, Michelle Tea, Edouard Levé, Nathalie Léger, and contemporary literary critics. Selections from diaries of artists and writers will also feed our interests, including those of Frida Kahlo, Eva Hesse, Franz Kafka, Audre Lorde, and David Wojnarowicz. Finally, we will interrogate the ethics and implications of self-portraiture today, in a culture glutted with them to an unprecedented degree. What does it say about our ability to register and respond to the present moment¿one shaped by large structures and forces¿that our art and literature often operate at the scale of the individual self? FYS I courses develop college-level writing skills and prepare students for FYS II and upper-level Liberal Arts courses. In this process-oriented class, students will build such skills through 15-20 pages of formal, revisable writing (two multi-draft essays) in addition to preparatory homework assignments and in-class writing. Work will be undertaken independently and collaboratively through self-assessment, guided workshops, and peer review.

Class Number

1516

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 816

Description

FYS I:Writing About Film

Class Number

1477

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 608

Description

Bird talk is talk about birds, about flight and flying, migration, metamorphosis, and song; about bird-beings and human beings, who want to be birds or, at least, bird-like, and about artists whose art is avian inspired. Readings for this writing course include essays and a selection of myths, tales, and poems; visual texts include bird-art at the Art Institute. Students write and revise several essays, including a comparative textual analysis and a verbal-visual ¿field guide¿ of their own design.

Class Number

1499

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

Photography can count as a forensic technology, a form of official identification, a documentary record, and a means of surveillance. Yet photographs can also be deceptive, particularly in our age of digital manipulation. In this writing-intensive course, we will examine the circumstances under which photography is treated as art and/or evidence. Readings will cover a range of subtopics from social media & selfies to political photography, from advertising & Photoshop to family albums. Writing assignments ? totaling 15-20 pages over the course of the semester ? will emphasize analysis, argument, research, revision, and other academic writing skills.

Prerequisites

Must complete AAP: Academic Foundations Seminar (AAP1001) and Foundations Writing Workshop (AAP 1011)

Class Number

1120

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Sharp 409

Description

FYS (EIS) are theme-based writing courses designed for first-year international students who have successfully completed their English for International Students Fluency course, with an emphasis on teaching Academic English skills to English Language Learners. Students will improve their Academic English skills by learning to embrace the writing process and establish writerly habits, while developing guided critical reading, thinking, and writing skills necessary for their success in future course work at SAIC. FYS (EIS) sections offer different topics. For example, students may investigate modern and contemporary art movements or analyze popular visual culture or media. 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. Students investigate the class topic through close readings and class discussions. They explore and develop their ideas by writing short responses and longer multi-draft papers which may include analytical, argumentative, expository, and/or evaluative 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 and short homework exercises may be included. Through peer review and workshops, students learn to collaborate and to take their work, and the work of their peers seriously, thereby establishing best practices of critique. Classes are capped at 12 students and individual meetings to discuss each student's papers should be expected.

Prerequisites

Must complete English Fluency I (EIS 1021)

Class Number

1121

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 301

Description

This writing intensive First Year Seminar introduces students to the anthropological study of the senses and how to communicate sensory experience through ethnographic writing. By close examination of ethnographic texts, films, podcasts, and other multimedia, students will explore how cultures 'make sense' of the everyday and increasingly globalized world. With emphasis on written assignments, we approach the notion of perception as more than a purely physical act, and through structured participation and deliberate observation, students will learn how sensory experiences are deeply related to our own histories and cultural identities. Course activities center around developing analytic skills in the genre of ethnographic writing, and critically engaging with cross-cultural examples of sensual mediations of reality. Topics range from how the senses shape the aesthetics of daily life through color, odor, and flavor, to the significance of communication and information of technologies in the era of virtual reality, slime videos, and the online autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) community.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1503

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

FYS II further develops the skills learned in FYS I, with specific attention to writing for readers. Throughout, students will learn, practice, and analyze principles of writing such as argument, introductions, conclusions, and more. But all of this with a view to motivating and convincing particular readerships. After several introductory weeks of finding and reading pieces from your fields of interest, we begin short written assignments that focus on a certain writing principle of the week. By the third or fourth week, each student will have selected a research topic that they will focus on for the remainder of the course. Those who do not already have some notion of a topic beforehand will be supported with suggestions of artists, critics, and movements across the far-reaching areas of study at SAIC. Students can expect most class days to be divided into three parts: peer analyses of the previous week's writing, lecture and exercise on a new principle of writing, and in-class time for writing and research. The course depends on and flourishes from the peer analyses, and the samples of writing that students find in their fields of interest. From these, students experience how, as a reader, it is to read both the better and the worse, and how to improve from the latter to the former: Writing is a process, to which revising for readers is essential. The variety of topics, techniques, styles, and discourse communities provide the opportunity not only to become well-versed in your particular field of interest, but competent to discuss and critique other fields, whether adjacent or otherwise. From week to week, the written assignments become slightly longer, with students writing in total 20 pages of formal, revisable writing.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1487

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

Allusion, reference, sample, quote¿These words are often used when discussing art, music, and literature. But what do they really mean? Although sampling is a term specific to contemporary music, using existing works to create new ones is not a new idea. Through reading, writing essays, and a final research paper and presentation, students will probe the meanings of these words in relationship to their own work, while exploring the ways in which artists, musicians, and writers have mined our cultural archive.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1504

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

In this writing-intensive course, students will work to improve their writing skills through an exploration of environmental ethics, the branch of thought devoted to understanding what makes the nonhuman world valuable, how we human beings should conceive of our relation to and role within that world, and what obligations we owe to the beings that populate it. After a brief introduction to philosophical ethics in general, we will study several texts outlining some of the major approaches to environmental ethics, including anthropocentrism, biocentric egalitarianism, and ecofeminism. These readings will be drawn from a range of disciplines, historical eras, and cultural sources. Students will have the opportunity to explore topics of further interest in the field of environmental ethics through their written work, which will make up the bulk of their coursework and will comprise two major essays, amounting to between 20 to 25 pages of formal, revisable writing. Students will also complete several short homework assignments and in-class writing exercises. The overarching goal of the course is to deepen students¿ understanding of and facility with the standards and rigors of evidence-based argumentation and analysis.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

2215

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

Generative art, resulting from creative practices involving automation and artificial intelligence, has existed for decades if not centuries. Already in 1970, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago created a department called Generative Systems to study and experiment with art practices harnessing new technologies. Still, with the recent release of powerful text-to-image generators and natural language processors, many are celebrating, dreading, and warning of a brave new world where machines can automatically create ¿art¿ which once would have required countless hours of human labor, experience, and courage. ¿We¿re Witnessing the Birth of a New Artistic Medium,¿ reported The Atlantic in September 2022. In November, The Guardian asked, ¿When AI can make art ¿ what does it mean for creativity?¿ Artists were understandably outraged when an AI-generated artwork, Théâtre D'opéra Spatial won first place for digital art in the Colorado State Fair¿s fine arts competition. Together we¿ll experiment at the intersection of technology and art, exploring what it means to make art when algorithms can automate parts of the creative process. Whether you believe that auto-generative AI democratizes or dehumanizes artistic creation, rather than dismiss or fight an inevitable future of auto-generative artificial intelligence in art, we¿ll discover how emergent technologies can enhance human creativity and promote humane artistic practices. FYS II develops college-level writing skills, preparing students for upper-level Liberal Arts courses. Students will create original research (and textual art) around topics including authenticity, mimesis, copyright, autonomy, automation, (non)human creativity, and the evolving markets for artistic work. We¿ll develop and refine the writing skills learned in FYS I while experimenting with generative writing and research methods. Students will leave this course with a portfolio of original, publishable writing, as well as a foundational grasp of the history and futures of generative art. Readings and screenings may vary but will focus on pioneers in the creation, curation, and market of generative art. Some of the scholars and artists we will engage with in this course include Sonia Landy Sheridan, Georg Nees, Frieder Nake, Vera Molnár, Margaret Boden, and Francesca Franco. Students will create 20-25 pages of formal, revisable, and publishable writing across three short essays and two in-depth revisions. Students will also learn to write a research paper, using scholarly constraints to enhance creativity.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1505

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 517

Description

This class explores some of the basic questions and issues in the philosophy of love, from ancient Greece to the contemporary world. What is the nature of love? WHat is Platonic love? What does love demand of us? How is romantic love sensitive to the social context in which we find ourselves in contemporary, capitalist, society? Texts include Plato's Symposium, Badiou's In Praise of Love, and Illouz's Consuming the Romantic Utopia (excerpts). FYS II will build upon the foundational writing skills students began learning in FYS I, with the introduction of more rigorous argumentation and research. Eventually, writing will be more self-directed in this FYS II class. Students should expect to write 20 to 25 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. one conversation essay and one research project, both with multiple drafts) as well as homework exercises and in-class writing. Much in-class writing will be included, as emphasis is on development of the intellectual skills of reading and responding critically, which forms the basis of each student's career at SAIC. Furthermore, peer review, class workshopping of student papers, and individual meetings to discuss each student's writing should be expected.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1488

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

This course explores the literary genre of fantasy, including the subgenre of science fiction. Through the lenses of Russian literature and film we will investigate fantastic¿s sister genres: ¿the uncanny¿ or ¿the marvelous.¿ We will examine how classical Russian writers and cinematographers, ranging from Gogol, Nabkov, Bulgakov to Tarkovsky, engaged with the fantastic, the supernatural and developments in science and technology. We will study how political ideology and resistance helped shape Russian fantasies and fears in the 20th and 21st centuries in literature and film. Students will be expected to write 3 persuasive papers, 6-7 pages each, aimed to develop persuasive, analytical and critical thinking skills.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1520

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 608

Description

Where is the line between a work of art and 'real life,' and what happens¿aesthetically, ethically, politically¿when artists and writers question, blur, subvert, or conceal it? To what extent is an author part of the fiction they create? What is 'true' in a fictional or virtual world, and who decides? Though these questions¿implicit in any kind of aesthetic figuration¿are as old as art itself, they have taken on a particular urgency as mistrust and disinformation¿and the technologies that enable them¿increasingly pervade our lives. The course, then, takes these issues as a focal point as students build upon the foundational writing skills they began learning in FYS I, introducing more rigorous argumentation and research. Among the topics we might consider are the concepts of the persona, the shibboleth, and the 'fourth wall'; trompe-l'oeil painting; the poems of Ossian; Fernando Pessoa's heteronyms; Borges's Pierre Menard; Brecht's 'alienation effects'; pseudonyms (as a means of personal liberation, as a response to oppression); camp (in its emphasis on artifice over naturalism); forgeries and disputed attributions; NFTs and Artificial Intelligence. Students will produce 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing, as well as informal at-home and in-class assignments. The course involves extensive peer review and collaborative work, and culminates in a research paper on a topic of the student's choosing.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1511

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

In our class we will read contemporary poetry from authors responding to historic and current political injustices. We¿ll also read about the political events themselves to gain an understanding of the authors¿ creative works. The poems and poetry collections are written by individuals but they shed light on the political impacts that affect the collective of humanity. Readings often include works by Layli Long Soldier, Rajiv Mohabir, and Don Mee Choi. In our FYS II class, we will develop our critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. This is a studio writing class focusing on writing as a process that includes freewriting, formulating conceptual questions for the readings, writing responses, and composing and revising 20-25 pages in multidraft essays. Students will direct the topic of the final essay based on their individual inquiry and research. FYS II develops college-level writing skills, prepares one for upper-level Liberal Arts courses, and allows one to improve expressing their ideas in writing.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

2218

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

The Foundations Writing Workshop is a process-based writing course that serves as students' initiation to the foundations of academic writing in a school of art and design. Students engage in the writing process, learn strategies for exploring topics, and develop their knowledge of the concepts and terminology of art and design through the practice of various kinds of written compositions. Analysis of essays and active participation in writing-critiques are integral components of the Workshop.

Class Number

1053

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 301

Description

The Foundations Writing Workshop is a process-based writing course that serves as students' initiation to the foundations of academic writing in a school of art and design. Students engage in the writing process, learn strategies for exploring topics, and develop their knowledge of the concepts and terminology of art and design through the practice of various kinds of written compositions. Analysis of essays and active participation in writing-critiques are integral components of the Workshop.

Class Number

1059

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 301

Description

The Foundations Writing Workshop is a process-based writing course that serves as students' initiation to the foundations of academic writing in a school of art and design. Students engage in the writing process, learn strategies for exploring topics, and develop their knowledge of the concepts and terminology of art and design through the practice of various kinds of written compositions. Analysis of essays and active participation in writing-critiques are integral components of the Workshop.

Class Number

1054

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

The Foundations Writing Workshop is a process-based writing course that serves as students' initiation to the foundations of academic writing in a school of art and design. Students engage in the writing process, learn strategies for exploring topics, and develop their knowledge of the concepts and terminology of art and design through the practice of various kinds of written compositions. Analysis of essays and active participation in writing-critiques are integral components of the Workshop.

Class Number

1058

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

This is the first of two English language fluency courses for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students improve their academic English skills by reading and responding to art appreciation and art history texts. Texts are analyzed for formal as well as contextual information. Students learn how to integrate their own observations and knowledge with information gained from reading and lecture. Students also build competence and confidence in college-level writing. Topics include formal analyses and/or critical responses to works of art. Presentations and class discussions also give students practice communicating their knowledge through speaking.

Class Number

1061

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 301

Description

This is the first of two English language fluency courses for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students improve their academic English skills by reading and responding to art appreciation and art history texts. Texts are analyzed for formal as well as contextual information. Students learn how to integrate their own observations and knowledge with information gained from reading and lecture. Students also build competence and confidence in college-level writing. Topics include formal analyses and/or critical responses to works of art. Presentations and class discussions also give students practice communicating their knowledge through speaking.

Class Number

1062

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Sharp 706

Description

This is the first of two English language fluency courses for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students improve their academic English skills by reading and responding to art appreciation and art history texts. Texts are analyzed for formal as well as contextual information. Students learn how to integrate their own observations and knowledge with information gained from reading and lecture. Students also build competence and confidence in college-level writing. Topics include formal analyses and/or critical responses to works of art. Presentations and class discussions also give students practice communicating their knowledge through speaking.

Class Number

1072

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

This critique course is offered for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students build competence in giving critiques, participating in class discussions, and giving presentations. Students make artwork to present to the class. They learn and practice the vocabulary of visual and design elements and use these to analyze and critique their own and their classmates' works. Students practice a variety of critique formats by using formal, social-cultural, and expressive theories of art criticism. They discuss and critique works both verbally and in writing.

Class Number

1063

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

This critique course is offered for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students build competence in giving critiques, participating in class discussions, and giving presentations. Students make artwork to present to the class. They learn and practice the vocabulary of visual and design elements and use these to analyze and critique their own and their classmates' works. Students practice a variety of critique formats by using formal, social-cultural, and expressive theories of art criticism. They discuss and critique works both verbally and in writing.

Class Number

1073

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

This critique course is offered for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students build competence in giving critiques, participating in class discussions, and giving presentations. Students make artwork to present to the class. They learn and practice the vocabulary of visual and design elements and use these to analyze and critique their own and their classmates' works. Students practice a variety of critique formats by using formal, social-cultural, and expressive theories of art criticism. They discuss and critique works both verbally and in writing.

Class Number

1065

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

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

1074

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1075

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1066

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

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

1076

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1067

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1077

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1068

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1069

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1078

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1070

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

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

1079

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1081

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

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

1082

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1083

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1084

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

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

1085

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Description

This literature survey examines a great variety of material from the period, giving students a broad sense of the history of literature in English. Readings include some combination of poems, plays, essays, prose narratives, sermons, satires, and letters, by writers ranging from anonymous ballad makers to popular novelists. We will read a range of writers, from stalwarts of the English tradition like Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Austen, and Keats to Americans Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson, to other lesser-known figures.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1644

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

An introductory course in reading, writing, and conversational Spanish.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1683

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

An introductory course in reading, writing, and conversational Spanish.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1679

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

Arabic I ???? is a fully integrated introductory course for students with no background in the language. The course is designed for beginning students whose learning objectives and needs are in any of the following categories: continued language study, business purposes, or travel. Students will learn to speak and understand Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and read and write Arabic script. Students will develop speaking and listening skills through audiovisual media, interactive fun activities, and paired dialogue practices. There will be a strong emphasis on oral proficiency needed to provide the necessary framework to communicate clearly and effectively. These objectives will be achieved through the following approaches: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural studies.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1686

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

An introductory course in reading, writing and conversational French.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1684

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

An introductory course in reading, writing and conversational French.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1685

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

Chinese I is designed for beginners who take Chinese as a foreign language. Students who speak Chinese as their native language are not allowed to attend this course. Students who have taken Chinese study in the past are required to take the evaluation test and gain approval of the instructor to enroll.

Students will study the Chinese Mandarin sound system PIN YIN, the basic strokes from the Chinese Calligraphy, Chinese numbers, common Chinese Radicals and Lessons 1-5 of <> (Level 1 Part 1). Students can speak and write systematically more than 150 essential vocabulary words, master the key grammatical structures, build the real-life communicative skills. They will also write and tell a story about themselves and their interests on Chinese paper utilizing 150 characters.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1680

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

Chinese I is designed for beginners who take Chinese as a foreign language. Students who speak Chinese as their native language are not allowed to attend this course. Students who have taken Chinese study in the past are required to take the evaluation test and gain approval of the instructor to enroll.

Students will study the Chinese Mandarin sound system PIN YIN, the basic strokes from the Chinese Calligraphy, Chinese numbers, common Chinese Radicals and Lessons 1-5 of <> (Level 1 Part 1). Students can speak and write systematically more than 150 essential vocabulary words, master the key grammatical structures, build the real-life communicative skills. They will also write and tell a story about themselves and their interests on Chinese paper utilizing 150 characters.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1681

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

An introductory course in reading, writing, and conversational German.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1682

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

This seminar interrogates the concept of pleasure. Pleasure occupies a fraught space in feminist and queer theory. This course examines several ways that people have theorized pleasure as a space for politics, a space for conservatism, or a way to think about racialized difference. This course is not interested in defining what pleasure is, but it interrogates what the stakes of talking about pleasure have been within contemporary theory and culture. Beginning with an examination of pleasure in the context of early twentieth century sexology, this course looks at the sex wars of the 1970s, the turn toward pleasure as a space of protest, and ends by thinking of ways to imagine pleasure outside of current paradigms of sexuality. The course takes gender, race, and sexuality as central analytic components.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1138

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

This course welcomes students interested in the field broadly called ¿queer theory¿--even if they don¿t have a background in women¿s, gender, or sexuality studies. It requires neither expertise nor past experience precisely because the primary question the class experiments with is: ¿What could queer theory look like if we begin from the premise that its model subject is not white?¿ The syllabus is organized around how ¿queer theory¿ is differently distributed and taken up by various fields of inquiry/analysis, methodological approaches, and traditions of activism and cultural production. We¿ll use many genres and forms of queer of color theorizing as points of entry into concepts central to queer/critical thought (like intimacy, power, subjectivity, labor, sex). We¿ll read legal scholars (like Kenji Yoshino, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Ian López) alongside theorists of performance/performativity (like E. Patrick Johnson, José Muñoz); we¿ll put historical manifestos (like those by Radicalesbians, the Combahee River Collective) in conversation with contemporary literary manifestos (like Joshua Chambers-Letson¿s); we¿ll treat graphic novels (like Jaime Cortez¿s Sexile) as works of philosophy and works of political philosophizing (like writing by Cathy Cohen, C. Riley Snorton, Jeff Nunokawa) as poetic/aesthetic; we¿ll watch web series (like Brown Girls) and we¿ll write a lot. We¿ll use short, though frequent, critical reflections to frame class discussions and you¿ll use longer paper and/or creative projects to consolidate/present your learning.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1139

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality

Location

MacLean 608

Description

This course examines masculinity as a dynamic, socially constructed identity, actively shaped and expressed through public presentation, clothing, and social interactions. Rather than seeing masculinity as a fixed or universal concept, we explore how it is influenced by race, sexuality, class, national identity, and geographic location. We critique the Western-centered, static notions of masculinity, traditionally tied to virility, whiteness, and heterosexuality, by highlighting diverse masculinities from around the world, including racialized masculinities, female masculinities, and queer and trans masculinities. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship in performance studies, gender and sexuality studies, critical race theory, and queer and trans theory, the course examines how masculinity is ¿done¿ and ¿undone¿ in different cultural and historical contexts.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1142

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

Symbiosis describes the relationships that bind organisms in a life together. Symbioses can be between species or within species¿bee to flower, mother to child, and even parasite to host. Drawing from ecological, evolutionary, and behavioral research, we will carefully consider the dynamics of cooperation and dependency across cells, food webs, and even urban neighborhood. Studying symbiosis is not only a window into a myriad of extraordinary biological relations, it is also fundamental to systems thinking in the context of sustainability. Weekly readings, in-class exercises, small collaborative projects will be integral to our study, leading to an understanding of how observation and experiment can help us unpack the many complexities of living together.
We will consider the work by Lynn Margulis, Robin Wall-Kimmerer, Charles Darwin,Suzanne Simard, Harry Harlow, Thomas Schelling, Vi Hart, and many others.
Weekly readings, in-class and out-of-class exercises, small collaborative projects.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1886

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art and Science, Sustainable Design

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

Dinosaurs are the most diverse group of land vertebrates on our planet. Today. Birds are the only group to survive the catastrophic asteroid impact 66 million years ago that wiped out all other dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are a fascinating group through which to learn the fundamentals of evolutionary biology and explore how organisms respond to rapid climate change. This course explores the evolution of dinosaurs with a focus on the emergence of bird-like forms, the origin of birds, and the repeated evolution of flight. We will use critical thinking to investigate the traits that underpin the incredible evolutionary success of birds and explore the serious issue of mass extinctions.
This class will demonstrate the importance of art to the field of paleontology to convey concepts and new findings both to the public and between scientists. For example, several prominent paleontologists started as artists, and critical concepts, like the warm-bloodedness of dinosaurs, were first proposed by artists, exemplifying the interconnectedness of art and paleontology.
The coursework will consist of 6 classwork assignments, a short answer midterm, and a final art project that encourages students to use art to express scientific understanding of the uniqueness of living dinosaurs. This course will leverage the incredible natural history resources available at the Field Museum through two mandatory class visits.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2269

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

How are pigments made? How were they made in the past? Why do they produce the colors they do? It all comes down to the chemicals they contain. This course will introduce fundamental concepts relating to the production of pigments, and how this relates to their use and utility throughout art history. Topics will range from the nature of light and its interaction with matter, to principles of organic and inorganic chemistry in pigment production, investigating the history and economics of pigment production relating to natural and synthetic methods. The practical lab component of the class will explore principles of these chemical reactions, and the production of certain pigments using synthetic and natural (e.g. lake pigment) processes.
Students will learn about the chemistry of color, the structure and behavior of molecules, and the historical development and use of pigments in art.
Class work will involve experimental work, collaborative group work, critical analysis, and engagement with current concepts in the scientific literature of pigments. We will use qualitative homework, quizzes, lectures, and a final research project to combine understanding of chemical principles with artistic practice.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2264

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

Earth is full of a spectacular diversity of life forms as a result of more than 4 billion years of evolution. However, human modification of ecosystems has significantly altered natural habitats and landscapes, impacting the organisms inhabiting them. This course explores the causes and consequences of biodiversity loss, and how the field of conservation biology, an inter-disciplinary field, brings together different areas such as ecology, social science, genetics, anthropology, communication, sociology and restoration to identify problems and solutions to the loss of ecosystems and species. This class begins by exploring why biodiversity is important and valuable from different angles, disciplines, and instrumental arguments, while exploring the main consequences of biodiversity loss. In collaboration with Chicago¿s multiple conservation agencies, the class then turns attention to local efforts of conservation of land and aquatic species, as well as ecosystems. Course work includes discussion, worksheets, quizzes, online videos and readings, as well as talks by invited speakers. There will be required field trips to the Lincoln Park Zoo, and The Field Museum.
There are two textbooks are an integral part of the course (Introduction to Conservation Biology by Anna A. Sher and 'The Hidden Universe: Adventures in Biodiversity' by Alexandre Antonelli). A large component of the course content will be obtained by reading the textbooks prior to class and by studying on your own. Additional handouts, readings and videos/podcasts, are posted on this course¿s Canvas page.
In this course students will develop a final project on a conservation topic of their interest, which will be developed throughout the semester. Other assignments include invited speaker talk summaries, fieldwork handouts, quizzes and class activities.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2272

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Community &amp; Social Engagement, Art and Science

Location

MacLean 112

Description

Plants are not only fundamental for human survival and well-being, but they also sustain other life forms in all terrestrial ecosystems. This course examines the life of plants and their intrinsic interactions with each other, other organisms (herbivores, mycorrhizal fungi, seed dispersers, pathogens, etc.) and the environment. Topics discussed include how different plant species compete for resources and space, how plants have adapted to extreme ecosystems, and their interactions with multiple other organisms in natural, urban and agricultural ecosystems. These topics will be further explored in lab and field projects, readings and podcasts. We will dive into different interactive demos, activities, labs and field trips that collectively offer diverse opportunities for you to see plant science in action. An overarching focus of these activities is citizen science as a tool for environmental sustainability, equity, and research that supports communities beyond academia.
Two textbooks ('Trees' by Paul Smith and 'The Light Eaters by Zöe Schlanger) are an integral part of the course. A large component of the course content will be obtained by reading the textbooks prior to class and by studying on your own. There will be additional handouts, readings and videos/podcasts posted on Canvas.
Students will develop a zine on a tree species of their preference throughout the semester. They will also set up a 3-week experiment at the end of the semester to test for different factors on plant survival and growth. Other assignments include lab reports, class activities, invited speaker summaries, and quizzes.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2268

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

This course investigates minerals ¿the foundation of our planet¿ from both scientific and cultural perspectives. We will learn the foundational principles of mineralogy¿ including crystal structures, geological formation environments, and mineral identification¿ and explore how these materials become gemstones through human intervention. With this grounding in geology and chemistry, we will also examine how humans have valued, manipulated, and mythologized minerals and gems throughout history: considering the ethics of gem mining and trade, critically assessing pseudoscientific claims around crystals and healing, as well as visit Chicago institutions that showcase the scientific and artistic beauty of minerals.
Lectures and labs will introduce students to mineral identification and the tools of gemology, such as microscopes, polariscopes, and refractometers. Readings will draw from scientific texts and essays exploring the cultural history of gems and crystals. We¿ll examine works by artists who use minerals as subject or medium, visit museum collections and local jewelry designers, and engage with contemporary discussions on sustainability, ethics, and pseudoscience. Students will connect scientific insight with creative interpretation through projects and field experiences.
Students will be evaluated by a mixture of weekly journals, labs, a midterm exam, and a final art project with written essay component.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2265

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

The Moon, our closest celestial neighbor, is a cornerstone for understanding planetary formation and evolution. This course offers an in-depth exploration of its origin, development, and significance within the broader context of Solar System science. Although the Moon is just one of many worlds, its nearness and the rich archive of data from the Apollo missions, along with the renewed investigations planned through the Artemis program, make it an unparalleled laboratory for understanding planetary processes. We will examine the Moon through geochemistry, cosmochemistry, petrology, and isotopic analysis, introducing what isotopic studies are and why they illuminate lunar history, while also delving into its origins, surface processes, and the technologies used to investigate them.
Lectures and discussions will draw on data from the Apollo missions, lunar meteorites, and modern spacecraft such as Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Artemis. We will examine scientific papers, mission imagery, and isotopic datasets to explore how the Moon formed and evolved. Students will also engage with real NASA scientists, documentaries, animations, and artistic interpretations of lunar
exploration, connecting scientific understanding with creative expression through hands-on activities and visual projects inspired by lunar geology and chemistry.
Students will be evaluated by a mixture of weekly quizzes, journal assignments, labs, a midterm exam, and a final project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2266

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

This course will explore tropical ecosystems, where biological diversity peaks. The beauty and extreme variety of tropical life forms have not only provided scientists with a frontier for the discovery of new species, new drugs, etc., but have also inspired people from across disciplines. This course will provide an introduction to studies of living organisms and ecosystems in the tropics, ecological relationships among species, the influence of tropical biodiversity on different disciplines, and issues surrounding the conservation of tropical species and ecosystems. Course work and assignments include presentations on specific tropical organisms, types of ecosystems, and the multiple dimensions of people and forests¿ interactions in the tropics, as well as short writings and artistic interpretations. The course includes one or two required field trips.
We will read the book 'A Neotropical Companion' by John C. Kricher (2017) as well as sections of historic accounts of tropical explorers, and recent indigenous literature. Invited speakers will talk to the class about their research and conservation work in the tropics.
Students will answer quizzes on assigned readings, make oral presentations on preferred topics and tropical naturalists, and work on a zine during the semester. In addition, there will be a 'talent show' of tropical species, and discussions and analyses of invited speaker talks.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2270

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

Description with small clarity edits: Patterns found in living organisms¿including spirals, stripes, branches, concentric circles, and spots of all sorts¿self-organize in space and time. Developmental biologists, modelers, and designers have long explored these patterns. In this seminar, we will read experimental and review articles about how biological patterns form. Students will keep journals, and groups will present and lead class discussions on examples of different patterns. The scientific findings we discuss are ones that often inform sustainable design and biomimicry in engineering.
Readings are published experimental and review articles in the field of Biological Pattern Formation, chosen by the presenting student groups, with guidance from the professor. Each seminar will focus on one pattern, for example spirals, with several articles presented, perhaps on shells, inner ear cochlea, or ram's horns.
Student groups will present clusters of articles and guide class discussion; those students not presenting participate in the discussion and keep journals. A written, final paper is completed by each student on their choice of pattern.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2271

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

Description with small clarity edits: Patterns found in living organisms¿including spirals, stripes, branches, concentric circles, and spots of all sorts¿self-organize in space and time. Developmental biologists, modelers, and designers have long explored these patterns. In this seminar, we will read experimental and review articles about how biological patterns form. Students will keep journals, and groups will present and lead class discussions on examples of different patterns. The scientific findings we discuss are ones that often inform sustainable design and biomimicry in engineering.
Readings are published experimental and review articles in the field of Biological Pattern Formation, chosen by the presenting student groups, with guidance from the professor. Each seminar will focus on one pattern, for example spirals, with several articles presented, perhaps on shells, inner ear cochlea, or ram's horns.
Student groups will present clusters of articles and guide class discussion; those students not presenting participate in the discussion and keep journals. A written, final paper is completed by each student on their choice of pattern.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2273

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

MacLean 608

Description

Cosmochemistry lies at the crossroads of chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy, and biology, helping us answer fundamental questions about our Solar System's formation and evolution. About 9 billion years after the Big Bang, our Sun ignited, and 4.6 billion years of chemical evolution followed- shaping planets, asteroids, moons, and more. This course explores the origins of planetary materials, Earth's composition, and why studying extraterrestrial samples is key to understanding our home planet. Where did water come from? What led to life's emergence? How can this knowledge guide space exploration? Through cosmochemistry, we uncover the processes that shaped our world and beyond.
Lectures will provide the foundation for the material covered in this course. In addition, we will read recent publications from scientific journals and other selected texts, engage in class discussions, watch videos, listen to a podcast about NASA's Apollo missions, and participate in hands-on lab work to understand meteorites. By the end of the course, you will be able to:

1. Describe the processes involved in the formation and evolution of planets and other astromaterials, and summarize the evidence for this narrative.
2. Identify and characterize different meteorites types. Explain why they are crucial for cosmochemistry research.
3. Explain the relationship between Earth and other Solar System materials.

Students will be evaluated by a mixture of weekly assignments, quizzes, a group midterm project, and an individual final art project with a written component.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2267

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course reads major historical catastrophes as represented in comics (graphic novels or graphic memoirs). Students will explore the ways this medium conducts a dialogue between history and memory, on the one hand, and image and text, on the other.
Course texts include Art Spiegelman's Maus, Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do, Joe Sacco's Footnotes in Gaza, and Nora Krug's Belonging. Students will also read theoretical material on comcis (e.g. Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics) as well as standard historiography on the various historical events at the center of each book/comic we read.
Students will write two short essays (2-3 pages), one creative project, and one 7 page final essay.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2278

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

Bacteria, viruses, and fungi are abundant in nearly all environments on Earth. From the fresh waters of Lake Michigan to salty seeps buried deep below the ocean surface, microbes have developed specific niches that allow them to inhabit even the most inhospitable parts of our world. In this lab course we will dive into the rich history of our planet¿s most ancient life forms to better understand their role on an Earth that is changing more rapidly than at any other point in its history. We will also consider the cultural contexts of microbes, including their crucial roles in the development of agriculture, fermentation, and even the air that we breathe. Hopefully by the end of this course you will appreciate how invisible worlds have shaped nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives.

While this will primarily be a lab course, the lecture and reading material will explore popular scientific texts in the field including Ivette Perfecto and John Vandermeer's analyses on food security and biodiversity, Jennifer Mcintosh's work on aquifer microbial ecosystems and groundwater security, and a handful of works from microbial ecologists who study a wide diversity of ecosystems on Earth. Social and cultural analyses of modern ecology by Richard Lewontin, Anna Tsing, Robin Kimmerer, and Ivette Perfecto will also be used in class. Labs will cover cultivation, analysis, and identification of microbes, their niches in the environment, and their roles in the cycles that govern all life on Earth!

Course and labwork will include in-class assignments, scientific readings, hands-on labs, a final project, and maybe even a field trip.

Class Number

2287

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art and Science, Sustainable Design

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

This course proposes that hip-hop is the most literary of all musical genres. We understand hip-hop best when we apply the same critical questions to these songs that we apply to short fiction, autobiography, and other literary genres. Our fundamental goal is to see the ?art? of hip-hop more clearly. Good observation leads to good argument, and at heart, this is the fundamental skill we will be practicing. Personal taste in music is an extraordinarily subjective position and often involves unconscious preferences and inclinations. Discovering why we feel the way we feel, and learning how to argue for something ?unprovable? is the fundamental goal of rhetoric; in doing so we aim to strengthen our writing skills across all subject matter.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1123

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

American and European literary tradition has long included authors that contemporary readers would recognize as queer. Yet works that openly address queer sexualities and gender are relatively new. In this course students read a variety of works starting from ?the invention of homosexuality? (1890s) to the present with particular focus on issues germane to the genre: societal constraints on content, the subtext of cloaked sexuality, and authorial responsibility to the queer community. Assignments include two 10-page literary analysis papers. Readings include works by Walt Whitman, James Baldwin, and Susan Sontag.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1124

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

Description

Ocean Vuong, a contemporary writer, has traversed spaces of literature and art, teaching, and pop culture. Through his writings and conversations with fellow creatives, Vuong has become a cultural icon. In our discussion-based course, we can consider the many aspects of Vuong including writer, photographer, meditator, educator, and on. Through reading his collection of poems Time is a Mother and his novel The Emperor of Gladness, viewing his photography, and listening to talks between Vuong and others, we will analyze subjects Vuong returns to, such as language, memory, queerness, Buddhism, and migration. We will freewrite, formulate conceptual questions, write responses, and compose 2 essays based on individual inquiry and analysis. The course aims to go beyond academic study of literature, and to connect Ocean Vuong¿s texts and conversations to our own creative practices and lives.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2207

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

Description

Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 1800 poems, publishing only a few anonymously in her lifetime. Many know her as a recluse, ¿the woman in white¿ who rarely left her room in her family¿s home in Amherst, MA, though her poems prove her radicality, edginess, and performativity. Her poems¿ imagistic slants, lilting rhythms, and urgent breaks open possibilities that continue to inspire experimentation by poets and artists around the world. In this course we¿ll first ground our discussions by learning about Dickinson¿s life¿her family, friendships, education, cultural influences, and political contexts¿and we¿ll lean into her fascinations by slowly and closely reading her poems together. Then we¿ll spend time with some of her correspondence and see how her letters, along with her poems, enact and embody her queerness, feminism, environmentalism, and social critique. Digitized versions of her original fascicles, as well as some fragments and unbound sets, will allow us to examine her hand script and consider how her poems exist as physical art objects. Thrillingly, her poems invite and resist our knowing; they push back against easy summary and exert their own questions, satire, and sass. As we delve into her work, we¿ll also enjoy a diverse group of modern and contemporary poets and artists who have been sparked by Dickinson¿s poems, placing them in dialogue with Dickinson in our own expanded room.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1649

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

Walt Whitman?s influence on American poetry is as prodigious as it is constant. Even today, one-hundred and twenty-five years since his death, the force of his verse continues to be felt. In this course you will conduct a thorough investigation and reading of Whitman?s poetry, including and especially the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, and also his subsequent major poems, including ?Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,? ?Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking,? ?I Sing the Body Electric,? ?As I Ebb?d with the Ocean of Life,? and ?When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed.? You will also read Whitman?s major prose, including ?Specimen Days.? With Whitman in hand, you will explore part of his legacy by reading poetry by Hart Crane, Federigo Garcia Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Allen Ginsberg, and Ronald Johnson. Alongside, we will read essays by D.H. Lawrence, Robert Duncan, Harold Bloom, and C.K. Williams. And we will watch the film Howl.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1663

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

This class will follow the lead of contemporary Italian mythographer Roberto Calasso whose celebrated recounting of myths from Vedic India and ancient Greece sheds light on today¿s global civilization. Readings of Calasso will be supplemented with selections from original texts (the Bhagavad Gita and Plato¿s Symposium), classic poetry (Baudelaire¿s ¿Flowers of Evil¿) and films (Peter Brook¿s ¿Mahabharata¿), and invitations to explore mythic work in the Art Institute collection.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2159

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

Description

What does it mean to think well? In this course we will explore classical logic from a modern formal point of view as a prerequisite for investigating this question. Topics covered will include propositional logic, truth tables, validity and soundness of arguments, inductive vs. deductive logical systems. There will be significant emphasis on natural deduction as a type of game that features its own particular set of permissible moves?much like chess or checkers. This is not a course focused on rhetoric or debate, but rather on the experimental creative process of constructing logically sound arguments and the way in which abstract information can be organized visually. In our exploration of these subjects, collaborative learning techniques will be utilized extensively. This will include in-class group work, regular homework assignments, a two-stage collaborative midterm. The final will be a self-directed project. A familiarity with any kind of mathematics, such as a high-school-level understanding of algebra, would be helpful, but it is not required.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1865

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

This course is both a broad introduction to Shakespeare and an opportunity to delve deeply into some of his most enchanting, disturbing, maddening, and comical works. Students should expect a good amount of reading (as well as a good amount of learning how to navigate the challenging aspects of his language and style). We will likely read at least one play from the following major genres (paying the most attention to the last): history, comedy, romance, and tragedy. We will also consider performances and adaptations and spend time on a broad selection of Shakespeare's sonnets. Students will engage in multiple formats of peer discussion, take turns presenting material, and complete regular writing assignments in response to the reading.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1667

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

Is there such a thing as 'new' mathematics? You can't just discover a new number after all. This course will give insights into contemporary mathematics, emphasizing how the partner processes of abstraction and generalization lead to new discoveries and insights. We will consider classical mathematics in this light, and then apply the same methods to thinking about shapes, surfaces, knots, maps. Crucially throughout we will apply the methods and way of thinking to questions of social justice and political arguments to show that abstract mathematics is highly relevant to our daily lives. Hands-on activities will emphasize the visual and structural aspects of mathematics, reshaping your view of what math means. No previous proficiency in mathematics is expected, only curiosity and an open mind about the subject. The textbook for the course is 'How to Bake Pi' by Eugenia Cheng. All content will have the aim of developing skills in logical reasoning, and appreciation of rigorous logical arguments. Assignments will take the form of math problems, open book quizzes, writing assignments and class participation. No memorization will ever be required.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1876

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

Is there such a thing as 'new' mathematics? You can't just discover a new number after all. This course will give insights into contemporary mathematics, emphasizing how the partner processes of abstraction and generalization lead to new discoveries and insights. We will consider classical mathematics in this light, and then apply the same methods to thinking about shapes, surfaces, knots, maps. Crucially throughout we will apply the methods and way of thinking to questions of social justice and political arguments to show that abstract mathematics is highly relevant to our daily lives. Hands-on activities will emphasize the visual and structural aspects of mathematics, reshaping your view of what math means. No previous proficiency in mathematics is expected, only curiosity and an open mind about the subject. The textbook for the course is 'How to Bake Pi' by Eugenia Cheng. All content will have the aim of developing skills in logical reasoning, and appreciation of rigorous logical arguments. Assignments will take the form of math problems, open book quizzes, writing assignments and class participation. No memorization will ever be required.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1881

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

This course examines the tradition of writing by women from the 17th century to the present. Students will be introduced to a variety of literary genres, including semi-private forms, such as diaries, journals, and letters; captivity narratives; pulp novels; melodrama; suffragist writings; poetry; avant-garde fiction; drama; feminist theory and criticism, and more. The course incorporates texts from a range of multi-cultural contexts and stresses close readings and research in the final projects. Authors include, Anne Bradstreet, Mary Rowlandson, Phillis Wheatley, Louisa May Alcott, Kate Chopin, Lydia Maria Child, Frances Harper, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edith Wharton, Nella Larsen, Willa Cather, Djuna Barnes, Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude Stein, Flannery O?Connor, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Maxine Hong Kingston, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Gloria Anzaldua, and Toni Morrison.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2164

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 920

Description

This course surveys various ideas in math in search of an understanding of what mathematical thinking is. The aim is to consider the underlying thought patterns of a particular math topic. What is that type of math used for? Why and how did it develop? What does it help humans do? What does it tell us about how humans think abstractly? Topics typically include deductive reasoning and logic, coding, geometry and the link to algebra and music, proofs, probability and statistics, symmetries, tilings. Classes are typically run in an interactive lecture style. Students work many steps and examples along with the lecture. This allows students to use their own experience to learn of the strengths, weaknesses, and mental leaps found in the various topics. Students will look for connections between different topics and their use, and also for the use of mathematical thinking in their own lives and work.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1870

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

Issac Newton is credited with creating mathematical models of the laws of classical physics as well as being an inventor of infinitesimal calculus, but is less well-know as an alchemist despite almost a tenth of his writing being dedicated to the subject. Far from being an isolated example, this is a surprisingly normal occurrence when considered against what we know of the history of mathematics. In this course we will examine the shared history and similar ontological and epistemological structure of mystical and mathematical practice Babylon in the early second millennium until now.
Some relevant topics that this class will investigate include: epistemology, ontology, access to knowledge, collective acceptance of new knowledge, what constitutes forbidden or obscene knowledge, the irrationality of the square root of 2, Cantor's project, occult mathematical practice in the second world war, basic algebraic geometry, the psychology of new religious movements and secret societies, recent history of mathematics and natural science, mathematical logic, what ¿is¿ truth, systems of inference, symbolic representation, combinatorics, chaos magic, aesthetics of mathematics, meditation and more.
Course work may vary, but will primarily consist of weekly reading and short quizzes in addition to less frequent writing assignments.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2171

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

In this course, we'll look at classic bildungsroman through the lens of class, gender, and race. Beginning with Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte, we'll examine how nascent ideas about feminism are expressed in the highly patriarchal, aristocratic England of the 1830s. Next, we'll read The Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) by Jean Rhys, a 'prequel' to Jane Eyre, which depicts the impact of Emancipation on Jamaica's formerly enslaved population and their former enslavers, with an emphasis on mental health, cultural oppression, and power. Finally, we'll read Annie John (1985) by Jamaica Kincaid, which depicts a young girl coming of age in colonial Antigua as well as the clash of British education and values with Caribbean island beliefs. All three books engage with issues of mental well-being, women's rights, and hierarchies that dispossess girls and women of their power, whether through medicine, religion, or educational institutions. Some of these heroines triumph, others fail, but all the works illuminate how cultural climate and history impact the everyday lives of young women coming of age.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2206

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 920

Description

Personal essayists, according to Philip Lopate, 'are adept at interrogating their own ignorance. Just as often as they tell us what they know, they ask at the beginning of an exploration of a problem what it is they don't know--and why.' In this course, we'll read many essays, including work from 10th-century Japan (Sei Shonagon), 16th-century France (Montaigne), and 21st-century America (Kiese Laymon). We'll explore the many forms a personal essay can take--lists, letters, traditional narrative--to see how writers explore topics that range from trauma to the quotidian concerns of meal prep. We'll discuss how nonfiction functions as an artform distinct from academic scholarship, yet how research elements can be integrated into the personal essay to add depth to a topic.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1659

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

Mastering a body of literature in the context of its specific historical, sociological, and ideological period is emphasized. The period and works vary.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1673

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

The mitigation of and adaptation to the challenges of today's world relies heavily on our scientific understanding of nature and the universe we live in. In this course, we will look at specific areas of physics - energy, radiation, fluid, thermodynamics - and investigate how they relate to our changing planet. We will look at energy production such as solar, geothermal, wind, nuclear; the physics of extreme weather, for example hurricanes and fires; and tipping points or positive-feedback loops. We will also investigate how understanding the natural world can gives us ways to work with it, e.g. passive solar systems, broad levees, mitigation of urban heat islands. Not all topics will be covered in each class, as flexibility will be allowed for student interest and current events. The course includes regular homework covering factual information, readings for discussion, some hands-on work, and a short research project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2155

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

Finding alien life across cosmic distance has challenged the limits of human imagination and technology for millenia. In this course, we will look at the fundamental questions that animate the search for life beyond Earth, delve into the scientific methodologies that we use to detect and recognize life, and unpack the sticky social questions of what it means to search for life (and what happens if we succeed!). Students will emerge understanding the many technical approaches to finding alien life, the ways human social values and pressures affect the pursuit of these methods, and an appreciation for the ways in which the search for alien life is intertwined with the study of life on our own planet. Last but not least, this course aims to help students contextualize reports and announcements about discoveries related to the search for life, and ask questions that will enable them to understand the significance of those reports.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1879

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

Rising out of a relatively obscure urban youth movement in the 1970s, hip-hop would become one of the world's preeminent forms of artistic expression wielding tremendous influence in the world of music, fashion, dance, and popular culture. Created primarily by teenagers in New York¿s South Bronx to amplify their creative and socio-political voices, hip-hop also served an important role in preserving the heritage and cultural identity of Black and Brown communities in the United States. This course will explore hip-hop¿s musical and cultural roots examining its distinguishing characteristics, aesthetic practices, and position in the world. The course begins by exploring the African and Caribbean music and dance traditions that helped shape hip-hop practices, from drum rhythms to syncopated vocal delivery, and communal performance circles. We will explore the music production process, lyric construction, narrative storytelling, and encoded messages. We will also examine how advancements in technology have played critical roles in making hip-hop more accessible due in part to the affordability of personal computers, the shift from analog to digital music formats, and the creation of the Internet. Additionally, we will explore the associated elements of fashion, dance, language, and entrepreneurialism connected to hip-hop. Students will be assigned quizzes, music and song analysis, video feedbacks, a midterm album presentation, and a creative independent (or collaborative) final project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1648

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

Description

What does it mean to hear the world through ?imperial ears?? How can music and sound be used to decolonize minds, bodies, and land? What can listening to music teach us about the interwoven relationships between colonizing and decolonizing forces? This course will address these questions and others through examining the diverse roles of music in various colonial and postcolonial contexts. We will study a range of topics that include British colonialism?s impact on music and sonic practices; the role of music in resistance movements in Africa and Asia-Pacific; and the capacities of music to negotiate, oppose, and refigure colonial legacies. This course aims to strengthen our abilities to hear and critique the echoes and reverberations of coloniality across time and space. Most importantly, we will center our attention on the sounds and songs of indigeneity with an emphasis on the role of musicians and communities involved in generating freedom from oppression. Coursework may include short writing assignments, essays, presentations, and podcasts.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1657

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

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

1645

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

This course follows migrations both forced and voluntary from Africa across trade routes to the Caribbean and Brazil as a frame for examining musics traditional and popular. In addition to examining these specific musics and musical instruments we will consider how musics from the Afro- Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian experiences influence Latin and South America and the Untied States. This course emphasizes selected ethnographic reading, seminar discussion, individual ethnographic experiences, and the chance for students to connect knowledge from the seminar to real world performances and musicians.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1675

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

This course provides an introduction to the physics of sound and how it is percieved by the ear. We produce and store sound in many different ways, using it in medicine, environmental studies and even in new methods of refrigeration. This course covers the concepts and application of acoustics, including sound wave theory, sound in music and musical instruments, recognition of musical sound qualities, auditorium acoustics and electronic reproduction of sound.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1877

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

This is a course on music and cinema in the late-20th and early-21st centuries. The focus will be on original scores for full-length films made over the last forty years, with historical, contemporary, and animated subject matter. Students will learn about the history of film scoring and evaluate uses of music by featured composers in selected films. Topics include narrative underscoring, musical motives, diegetic and extradiegetic music, and sonic signifiers of time and place. Course objectives include building strong audio-visual listening skills and acquiring the vocabulary to speak and write about film music and its historical and cultural contexts effectively. Screenings and viewings will vary but typically include examples of feature-length films with original music by composers including Terence Blanchard, Wendy Carlos, Alexandre Desplat, Patrick Doyle, Danny Elfman, Michael Giacchino, Philip Glass, Hildur Gu?nadottir, Joe Hisaishi, James Horner, Quincy Jones, Dario Marianelli, Ennio Morricone, Rachel Portman, Howard Shore, Gabriel Yared, and Hans Zimmer. Readings will vary but typically include works by musicologists and film theorists such as Michel Chion, Rebecca Coyle, Dean Duncan, Julie Hubbert, Lawrence Kramer, Frank Lehman, Richard Leppert, and Laura Mulvey, as well as film critics and journalists. Students will write 15-20 double-spaced pages during the semester, including revisions based on instructor and peer feedback. Assignments may include discussion threads, a close listening essay, an original research paper, and an oral presentation.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1651

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

This class provides a basic introduction to the conceptual and quantitative framework necessary to understand the physics of the dynamical world around us. Some questions we address are: What do we need to know to describe motion? How do we model the movement of objects (kinematics)? What makes an object move (interactions, dynamics)? What different ways do we have to think about motion (forces, energy)?

Reviewing skills in algebra as we go, we cover Newton's laws of motion and the analysis of physical systems in terms of forces and energy. We study the motion of objects on surfaces and those moving through the air. We take an introductory look at the forces of gravity and surface forces like friction and the so-called normal force. Some time will be spent studying the lack of motion, or static equilibrium. Laboratory and problem solving explorations help us develop important physical concepts and scientific reasoning skills. Applications are drawn from everyday phenomena as well as topics in architecture and design.

Assignments include weekly homework, in-class problem solving and lab activities, two to three exams, and a short final project on a topic of the student's choosing.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1131

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

2137

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

Form and structure from Western classical music traditions have much in common with that of contemporary popular music. The forms, performance practices, and rhythmic and harmonic structures established long ago in the music of the streets and courts of Europe were conveyed by colonial and economic forces into the musical cultures of many continents where they were absorbed and transformed into the diverse and vibrant popular music of today. This course is a study of the astonishing historical consistencies underlying the formal construction, performance, and social functions of contemporary dance music, songs, and instrumental music. With the music you listen to today as the starting point of our studies, we will examine the musical structures of creators like Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky, Son House, Duke Ellington, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Imogen Heap, Beyonce, and Steve Reich to reveal the underlying architecture which ties all of these traditions to the music on your own playlist. We will also study how those forms of music illustrate the social and economic systems which sustain them. Much of our work and assignments will be in deep listening, the practices of musical analysis, and the visualization of musical forms.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2180

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

Creative Ethnography is an artistic, scholarly, and experimental genre that situates creative practice within the social, political, and cultural contexts that give it meaning. Yet this genre, and the scholarship of music, dance, and performance more broadly, has also come under considerable criticism for the ways in which it can reproduce harmful power dynamics between researcher and subject. In this course we will consider these issues of knowledge, representation, and power as we make our own creative ethnographies of musicians, dancers, and performers in the SAIC community. Each week we will engage ethnographic texts, films, and audio projects that represent musicians, dancers, and creative practitioners. We will critically examine ¿classic¿ music and dance ethnographies, such as Maya Deren¿s Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti and Steven Feld¿s Voices of the Rainforest, while also centering more recent examples from BIPOC and queer scholars who are pushing the boundaries and politics of the form. We will draw on supplementary readings from the fields of ethnomusicology, performance studies, anthropology, and dance studies in order to build a shared vocabulary for discussing these works. Students will create their own ethnographies of musicians and dancers in the SAIC community in the audiovisual medium of their choice.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1670

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

Musicking is an analytical methodology developed by musicologist Christopher Small which redefines music as a verb and a performance of social relations wherein producer and audience reciprocally participate. This course uses this approach as a starting point towards broader definitions of participatory culture and investigations of other sensorial media that intersect or compliment musical participation. We examine music's unique position in 'Visual' Studies, fluidly situated between so-called 'high' and 'low' artforms, between pop-culture and creative practice.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1674

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

What does the climate crisis sound like? How can music increase, reduce, and stop carbon pollution? Why is it necessary to interrogate the relationship between the culture industries and climate disasters? This course examines the intricate connections between music, sound, and anthropogenic climate change, with a particular focus on the entwined forces of colonialism and capitalism. Drawing on scholarship in ethnomusicology, historical musicology, sound studies, and environmental studies, we will explore how musical practices and media industries contribute to environmental degradation and perpetuate the inequities of the climate crisis. We will also study how music and sound can inspire and support more sustainable ways of living. Coursework will include oral and written assignments, along with activities where students apply research methods to their own engagements with this urgent existential issue.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1678

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

How can a genre of music both perpetuate toxic masculinity and create spaces in its performance for those outside of normative gender expectations? In 1999, Joan Morgan confronted this question by describing her feminism as a hip-hop feminism, or a feminism that does not sit ?comfortably in the black and white of things.? In this course, we will expand on Morgan?s conceptualization of hip-hop feminism to more broadly examine how expressions of gender intersect with various musical performance practices. Our discussions will explore topics such as asserting masculinity in Japanese taiko performances to reorienting femininity in early American blues to reclaiming pre-colonialization conceptualizations of gender outside the Western gender binary in Indian hijra musical communities. This course will draw from a variety of feminist movements?including transnational, Chicana, Third World, and Black feminisms?to understand how musical performance practices are not only dependent on expressions of gender but also dependent on expressions of other identities such as race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and ability. Course work will include writing assignments and class presentations that focus on raising the audibility of musicians casted to the margins because of their gender identity.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2186

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

This course investigates the relationship between eroticism, excess, artistic practice, and modes of representation. Taking an interdisciplinary and transgeneric approach (with readings in theory, history, philosophy, psychology, and literature), the course will treat a variety of mediums, with special emphasis on painting, drawing, and adjacent practices. Instructors frame the concept of ?erotics? as a mode of practice that investigates and integrates sex, gender, and a variety of ambivalent movements, for example, the play of form and formlessness, figuration and monstrosity, taboo and transgression, attraction and repulsion, incorporation and excretion, abjection and sublimity. Key ideas discussed in class include sex/uality, gender, difference, bodies, ritual, violence, representation, desire, ?perversion.? Students will read texts from art theory and history, psychoanalysis, literature, and psychology. Throughout the class, they will be asked to synthesize course readings and discussions with their own artistic practice.

Prerequisites

Studio Symposia - Students must enroll in both PTDW 3298 and HUMANITY 3298

Class Number

1126

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality, Class, Race, Ethnicity

Location

280 Building Rm 124

Description

This course investigates the relationship between eroticism, excess, artistic practice, and modes of representation. Taking an interdisciplinary and transgeneric approach (with readings in theory, history, philosophy, psychology, and literature), the course will treat a variety of mediums, with special emphasis on painting, drawing, and adjacent practices. Instructors frame the concept of ?erotics? as a mode of practice that investigates and integrates sex, gender, and a variety of ambivalent movements, for example, the play of form and formlessness, figuration and monstrosity, taboo and transgression, attraction and repulsion, incorporation and excretion, abjection and sublimity. Key ideas discussed in class include sex/uality, gender, difference, bodies, ritual, violence, representation, desire, ?perversion.? Students will read texts from art theory and history, psychoanalysis, literature, and psychology. Throughout the class, they will be asked to synthesize course readings and discussions with their own artistic practice.

Prerequisites

Studio Symposia - Students must enroll in both PTDW 3298 and HUMANITY 3298

Class Number

1126

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality, Class, Race, Ethnicity

Location

280 Building Rm 124

Description

Amid global environmental and political turmoil and local grassroots activism, we will traverse regenerative urban spaces with different organizational frameworks and ideas about what it means to be with others and what it means to include the non-human. This course explores these new modes of being, with fellow humans and among other species and things, in a changing world. The course is structured around critical readings, as well as community-based projects in North Lawndale.

This course generally meets at Homan Square 5-6 times a term.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1928

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

This course is 'not quite introductory' because it is more specific, more experimental, and far less thorough than a survey class on major textual and conceptual touchstones of the field of Asian-American Studies. It has twin goals: the first, to organize encounters with a variety of textures and styles of representation, political action, and cultural production loosely defined as, or associated with, 'Asian-American.' This means that in addition to theoretical texts intended to anchor and stage each unit, we will also be reading across genres of analytic objects, like the blog, memoir, novel, documentary, and play. The second, to treat these studies of Asian American life/living as extended cases, immanently constitutive, of the study of politics. Units will be thematically organized around conceptual concerns that include: economies of labor, circulations of stereotype (from terrorist to model minority), articulations of the nation and citizenship in the context of diaspora, and food.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1929

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course critically examines how land structures political and economic power, fuels conflict, and inspires collective resistance. We investigate how land has supported systems of colonialism, state sovereignty, and capitalist expansion, and how it continues to be a site of dispossession, contestation, and life-affirming practices. The course will guide students through alternative ways of conceiving land that move beyond dominant regimes of ownership and control. These perspectives emphasize care, interdependence, and autonomy, and offer foundations for political resistance and collective action.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1946

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

The topics of physical, chemical, geological, and biological oceanography are discussed in this course. The ocean as a stew of nutrients (chemical oceanography) which feeds marine life (biological oceanography) and in turn is controlled by the shape and makeup of its container (geological oceanography) are considered. Additional topics include reef formation, fisheries, ocean circulation, seabed mining, coastal development and hazards, and offshore drilling.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1880

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

In this course, students will develop the skills they need to recognize and evaluate arguments, wherever they find them: journalistic media, social media, advertising, and even the arts. They'll do this by learning how to identify argument patterns, how to draw out implicit arguments, and how to avoid common mistakes in reasoning, both psychological and formal. Students will primarily learn through guided practice, and through the work of philosophers like Vaughn, Nguyen, and Setiya.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1647

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

The oceans and the animals that dwell there are a key resource to planet earth, providing food, medicine, the bases for sacred cultural customs, and much more. However, they are in trouble. This course is a survey of marine ecosystems and the organisms that make them up from diatoms and dinaflagellates, to seahorses and great white sharks. We will discuss the abysmal forecast for the future of the planetary sea and how we can change the outcome now.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1869

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Sustainable Design

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

The course is an historically structured survey of ethical theory. The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the major ethical theories developed over the history of philosophy and to apply these theories to contemporary social and political problems, such as the authority of government, the significance of consent and democratic rule, charity, friendship, war, and the distribution of wealth. Class time is focused heavily on discussion of the intuitions brought to bear to defend and explain these theories, such as our own impressions of when and why someone is morally responsible for what they do. Major texts include Plato?s Gorgias and Crito, Aristotle?s Nicomachean Ethics, Augustine?s On the Free Choice of the Will, Kant?s Groundwork, Nietzsche?s Genealogy of Morals, Mill?s Utilitarianism, Nozick?s Anarchy State and Utopia, and Rawls? Theory of Justice. 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

1671

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

What makes Earth unique? In this course, we place the study of the Earth in the context of other Solar System bodies, comparing their surfaces, interiors, and atmospheres. We begin with a study of universal concepts including light and gravity, and we apply this knowledge to our investigation of why the planets are so diverse. We explore the planets' formation processes as an explanation for some of their differences, and we look to other newly discovered solar systems as a way to contrast with ours. Finally, we examine what makes Earth suitable for life, and we consider whether life might exist elsewhere in the Solar System ? as well as whether humanity could someday leave Earth.

We will use the textbook ?The Cosmic Perspective: The Solar System? (Bennett et al.) and the Mastering Astronomy website. Each week, we will also discuss recent articles describing new discoveries in the field, chosen and presented by the students.

Course work typically includes a 5-minute oral presentation, a 5-page research paper, in-class labs, 2-3 weekly reading questions, two homework assignments, and a final exam.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1872

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

Today western societies put science on a pedestal. As a result, science informs anything and everything from city planning to whether you should put soy or oat milk in your latte. Does science deserve this reputation? If it does, what is the thing that makes science so special and authoritative? Or should we be worried about the domination of culture by science? In this course, we will study those questions with an eye on high-profile cases of scientific fraud and types of statistical manipulation known as 'p-hacking.' The reading list includes articles and book chapters by Paul Feyerabend, Alan Chalmers, Karl Popper, Imre Lakatos, Thomas Kuhn, Larry Laudan, David Goodstein, Jerry Fodor, Aubrey Clayton, Jacob Cohen, David Lykken, John Ioannidis and Richard Smith. 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

1655

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

Most of us consider friendship an essential element of a happy and complete human existence. However, friendship is subject to contingencies that are mainly out of our control (e.g., loss of a friend through death). This endangers our chance for happiness. So by including friendship in our concept of a complete and happy life we seem to put our happiness in jeopardy. Why then insist on cultivating friendship and giving it an important role in happiness? In this course, we explore the role of friendship in Aristotelian, Kantian and utilitarian (Mill's) accounts of morality. While all three philosophers recognize the importance of friendship and its role in human happiness, friendship figures differently in their moral theories, a difference that can be partly explained by the differences in the larger questions each of these thinkers asks.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1642

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

This course provides a broad overview of philosophical discussions of race and racism in American, African, and Latin & Caribbean culture. In this overview, we will focus on issues concerning the experience of race and racism, epistemological issues concerning racial distortions and ignorance, and ethical and political issues concerning racial oppression. Some of the central questions that we will address are: How should we understand the concept of race and the processes of racialization through which people come to see themselves as having a racial identity? What are the different kinds of racial injustice that we can identify, and the different kinds of exclusion, subordination, marginalization and stigmatization that can be part of racial oppression? How should racial oppression be resisted? How should racial violence be stopped? How should we build racial solidarity and fight for racial justice? We will also explore the connections between race and other identity categories such as gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, religion, nationality, etc. Some authors we will read are Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. DuBois, Alain Locke, Franz Fanon, Charles Mills, Sally Haslanger, Kirstie Dotson, and Quayshawn Spencer.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1654

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course is a study of moral and political problems related to biology, health, medicine and biotechnology. We will begin by examining competing philosophical accounts of biological functions, health, and the ethics of the physician-patient relationship. What is health and why should we care about it? How should we understand the distinction between physical and mental health? Should the distribution of healthcare be left primarily to private or public institutions? What values ought to govern physician-patient relationship, how might those values may conflict, and how should such conflicts be resolved? In the second part of the course, we will turn to some specific ethical challenges related to biotechnology, including abortion, genetic manipulation, human enhancement, and physician-assisted suicide. We will close the course by surveying the field of public health ethics, with particular attention to ethical issues related to global pandemic preparedness and response.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2122

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 816

Description

Non-human animals are, whether directly or indirectly, an important part of human lives, and human beings are an important part of animals¿ lives. Human beings are always preoccupied with moral questions, and such questions have been recently finally brought to bear, with intense focus, on the lives of non-human animals and how human beings ought to relate to them. This course addresses some of these questions: (1) Do animals have moral standing? If yes, what does this mean and what is this moral standing? (For example, do they have rights or is it their sentience that matters?) (2) May we consume animals or their products? If no, why not? If yes, under what conditions? (3) Under what conditions may we experiment on animals? (4) What is it about animals¿ nature, as opposed to plants¿, that leads some to claim that it is wrong to kill or use them but not wrong to kill or use plants? (5) May we hunt animals in the wild? May we interfere in their lives to help lessen their difficult lives? (6) What are some debates surrounding the ethics of zoos and aquariums? Finally, (7) what are morally acceptable and unacceptable political activism on behalf of animals? Students will gain an understanding of important issues and theories in animal ethics; critically evaluate their own moral convictions; and learn to construct arguments and explain philosophical ideas. Among others, authors we read are Carol Adams, Carl Cohen, David DeGrazia, Rosalind Hursthouse, Alastair Norcross, Mark Rowlands, Tom Regan, Peter Singer, Roger Scruton, and Nick Zangwill. 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

2128

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

Esotericism refers both to a field of knowledge hidden from common view and a moral reality suggesting secrecy, occultism, danger, conspiracy and vast quantities of arcane lore and revelation. This course introduces students to a basic theory of esotericism - hidden knowledge revealed to the enlightened or initiated ? while exploring historical instances of esotericism beginning with the Neo-platonists and Alexandrian magicians, and discussing movements such as Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, the Freemasons, Renaissance Magic, Theosophy; fields such as astrology, alchemy, mysticism, witchcraft and music; and figures such as Hermes Trismegistus, Isaac Luria, Marcilio Ficino, and Carl Jung. Texts will include a general history, source texts, selected essays, and some films.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2277

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

This course examines basic questions in the philosophy of art from the analytic tradition. Some major questions include: What is the definition of ?art?? What is the role of artistic intentions in interpreting and evaluating art? What connections are there between art, on the one hand, and beauty and aesthetics, on the other? What are aesthetic (artistic) principles and how do they differ from aesthetic (artistic) judgments? Are aesthetic or artistic judgment objective or subjective, and how do they connect to issues of taste? What connections are there between art and ethics? And what is the value of art? Philosophers that we study include Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and contemporary ones such as George Dickie, Jerrold Levinson, Monroe Beardsley, Kendall Walton, Noel Carroll, Berys Gaut, Marcia Muelder Eaton, Carolyn Korsmeyer, Paul C. Taylor, Richard Shusterman, Frank Sibley, and Malcolm Budd. 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

2123

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course examines both the explanation and justification of central concepts and ideas in political thought. These include, but are not confined to, the nature and scope of political (governmental) authority in its various forms (e.g., democracy, monarchy, and dictatorship), social contract theories, citizenship, nationalism, cultural pluralism, political obligations, civil disobedience, revolutions, and terrorism. Readings range from historical to contemporary sources, including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, Adorno, Rawls, Dworkin, and Nozick. 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

1650

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art/Design and Politics

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

Fungi are members of a kingdom of organisms that is distinct from plants and animals. They are exceptionally enigmatic, not just to everyday people, but to scientists as well. This course serves as a primer to the world of fungi, defining what fungi are and what they are not, and providing a conceptual understanding of these organisms. We explore the taxonomic diversity of fungi before considering their diversity from an ecological perspective. Students learn to identify different forms of fungi, grow them in the lab, and perform experiments to understand how they function. Finally, this course evaluates the importance of fungi from a practical human standpoint (food, medicine, art, spirituality), and discuss important questions to be addressed in the scientific field of mycology.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1873

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

Fungi are members of a kingdom of organisms that is distinct from plants and animals. They are exceptionally enigmatic, not just to everyday people, but to scientists as well. This course serves as a primer to the world of fungi, defining what fungi are and what they are not, and providing a conceptual understanding of these organisms. We explore the taxonomic diversity of fungi before considering their diversity from an ecological perspective. Students learn to identify different forms of fungi, grow them in the lab, and perform experiments to understand how they function. Finally, this course evaluates the importance of fungi from a practical human standpoint (food, medicine, art, spirituality), and discuss important questions to be addressed in the scientific field of mycology.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1874

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

This course engages jazz and blues traditions on three interrelated fronts: as a set of historically situated practices emergent within the context of the African diaspora; as critical strategies of resistance, collectivity, and self definition; and as dynamic systems of sonic signification, meaning, and value. Lectures, readings, discussion, and critical listening will introduce students to the historical contexts, soundscapes, and discourses of jazz and blues, as well as the musical and social structures at work in their creation and reception.

Throughout the semester we will critically consider the writings of musicians, historians, ethnomusicologists, and critics, as well as musical recordings, filmed performances, and documentary films. Through this students will synthesize foundational theories and concepts relating to the study of music, race, gender, and diaspora; cultivate their skills as critical listeners and musical analysts; and will integrate these capacities within a final project due at the end of the semester.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1656

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

The world today may seem like it spirals further and further into chaos. But increasing disorder has always been a fundamental requirement of natural processes like chemical reactions. Balance, stability, order and chaos are as fundamental to how the world works on the microscopic level as they are in our daily lives. This class will explore our events, institutions, and art through the lens of chemical concepts such as entropy, equilibrium, catalysis, and kinetics. Class work will involve collaborative group work, critical analysis, and engagement with current concepts in the scientific literature across a range of disciplines. We will use quantitative in-class assignments, qualitative homework, quizzes, an exam, and a final project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2099

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

Consumption is central to our lifestyles and identities in contemporary societies. What you wear, what you eat, what you watch ¿ in short, what you buy¿ seems to confirm who you are or how you want to display yourself to society. What does it mean to be a consumer, and how does that specific identity intersect with other identities, such as a citizen, a producer, and an artist? In this course, we will explore various arguments about consumption in modern society to understand the development and significance of this specific economic and cultural behavior.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1938

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 608

Description

The law is the gateway to all things. It opens doors to some activities, and it closes doors to others. As citizens, our contact with the legal system usually occurs when we have gone awry of the law. But the reach of the law is much greater than our usual contact with it. In this course, we will study one such aspect of the law¿its effects and influences on the environment. The course will begin with a general introduction to the legal system. Then we will examine environmental law and policy, including major cases. Throughout the course, we will ask ourselves how these laws¿writing, implementing, and enforcing them¿affect art and artists.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1931

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

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

2134

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

This course explores Chicago history from the early nineteenth century to the present. Focusing on issues of race, class and gender, it gives special attention to the development of the city's industrial economy, the lives of workers, and conflicts over labor relations and civil rights. Other significant topics include popular culture, consumerism, and political corruption. Readings include The Dominic Pacyga's Chicago: A Biography (2009) and Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle (1906).

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2184

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 608

Description

Christianity has been the dominant religious and cultural idiom of the West for the past 1700 years, defining the West?s history, politics, literature, and spirituality. Because of this supersaturation, much of Christianity?s texture and depth is taken for granted, misunderstood, or lost. In this course, we examine scripture, theology, mysticism, and art so as to recover some of Christianity?s hidden knowledge, especially from the complex vantage of the United States, the most successful and powerful Christian nation in the history of the world. In addition to readings from the New Testament, we read the work of scholars, historians, and artists including Bernard McGinn, Vladimir Lossky, Linda Woodhead, Marilynne Robinson, and Chester Brown. 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

2121

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

The course is a general introduction to politics in the United States, closely examining several current policy debates. Significant attention is given to the ways that the critical engagement and intervention of artists, writers, and other creators contribute to and shape these debates. Topics include but are not confined to Iraq and the politics of war, globalization and economic change, immigration 'reform,' global warming and environmental politics, cultural policymaking.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1935

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art/Design and Politics, Class, Race, Ethnicity, Economic Inequality &amp; Class

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

Neuroscience is a fascinating field of study in which the mechanisms of brain function are being unraveled at an incredibly fast pace. This course will focus on the foundations of neuroscience, moving from the cellular level to understanding entire systems. We will extend our knowledge of how the brain works to further understand thoughts, beliefs, emotions, personalities, and how memories and experiences are formed. This course will also explore current methods in neuroscience research and experimental design.

Readings will be pulled from neuroscience textbooks, current research articles/reviews, and other texts from well-known neuroscientists. Building from a systematic approach to understanding the brain, we will also discuss how the experience and production of art impacts and shapes our minds.

Course work includes weekly reading and written homework assignments. The final consists of a written paper which will focus on a topic of neuroscience that the student is particularly interested in, as well as a short oral presentation of their topic to their peers. Active participation, willingness to creatively hypothesize about brain function, and an interest in the mind are required in order for us all to learn and enjoy!

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1882

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

This course is a survey of modern Chinese history from the late imperial Qing dynasty through the 20th century. The purpose of this course is to articulate the ways in which China has dealt with social, political, and economic turmoil since the late imperial period and how this turmoil has related to challenging developments in East Asia, which are a microcosm for globalization. The context of this history includes Western encroachment since the Opium War in 1839, Japanese imperialism, the Cold War confrontation, and China?s rise at the end of the century. Throughout the course, we will examine China?s long 19th- and 20th-century efforts to nationalize global challenges and form cultural and political unity at various levels of the society. The class meets twice a week and will be conducted in a lecture/guided discussion format. Students must attend both the lecture and discussion classes on a regular basis and are expected to actively participate in discussion.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1933

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 608

Description

This course is an introduction to the history of Latin America in and part of the modern world from the independence movements of the 1810s to the present. The course is organized thematically as well as chronologically. We will cover political and economic regimes and transformations, as well as social and cultural movements, and will travel from the deserts of the US-Mexico border to the Amazon rainforest and the glacial archipelago of Patagonia. Source materials will include everything from revolutionary priests to tango celebrities and some of the world?s first female heads of state. By the end of the course, we will have worked through a history of Latin America on its own terms, but also within a modernizing world.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1925

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

1934

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

Description

Home to nearly one-fourth of the world¿s population today, South Asia is a vast and chronically understudied region. This survey course will cover over two hundred years of the history of South Asia, a region that includes modern-day Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and India, and South Asian communities and diasporas that we encounter around the world today. From the mid-eighteenth century to the present, South Asia has undergone numerous transitions¿from Mughal sovereignty to British colonial rule, from colony-state to independence and post-colonial nation-building and the creation of new nation-states. In this course, we will explore a range of themes that defined, shaped, and transformed this diverse region, such as imperialism, British colonialism and its mercantile roots, religion and communalism, the questions of statehood, authority, and belonging, and the long-lasting legacy of the struggle for independence and Partition that still haunt South Asia today. Alongside such macro-scale topics, we will also dive into discourses of caste, gender, religion, culture, and ethnicity, as visualized through art, architecture, textiles, film, fiction, and poetry.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1939

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

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

1130

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

This introductory class concentrates on mammalian classification and general structural features. Skeletal and other anatomical comparisons are made as the more 'primitive' mammals are compared to the more 'advanced' mammals. The survey portion of the course begins with egg-laying and pouched mammals, then examines shrews, bats, hooved mammals, rodents, rabbits, carnivores, and primates. Unusual mammals such as pangolins, aardvarks, whales, and tapirs provide insight into evolutionary and ecological processes. This liberal science class includes both lecture and laboratory components. Some labs take place at the Lincoln Park Zoo and/or the Shedd Aquarium.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1866

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

Hyperdiverse, ecologically dominant, and aesthetically complicated¿ no other animal can rival the significance of insects on this planet. Not only are insects an ideal lens for exploring anatomical form, evolution & ecology, biological conservation, and animal behavior, they are also a means to examine conceptions of the human and the natural in the broadest sense. Through field trips, short labs, and a variety of media this course is a way to become a natural historian of the planet¿s most diverse fauna. Note: this course may require you to collect and handle insects.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2153

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

Lakeview - 1503

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

1871

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Sustainable Design

Location

MacLean 620

Description

Drugs are substances that can alter processes in our minds and bodies. Humans have explored the use of such substances throughout recorded history. In this course we will establish the foundations of systems biology necessary to understand how drugs act on receptors and alter neurotransmitters in the human body, and how they are metabolized and excreted. We will survey a range of drugs (legal and illegal) and discuss how they work, enabling a critical consideration of how they are used and abused in contemporary society. Students will confront real-world media and current debates about medical and recreational drugs with a focus on the role of the underlying science.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1867

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 707

Description

Within an over 3.5 billion-year history of biological life on Earth, an extraordinary diversity of life forms evolved. Since the formulation of the evolutionary theory by Charles Darwin, biologists have used different data to understand how the diversity of organisms evolved. We will discuss the data that are being used to trace the evolution of organisms, from morphology, anatomy, ultrastructure, development, chemistry, to genetics, and now even the entire genome of organisms. Using examples, we will explore how these characters have shaped our understanding of evolution and how breakthroughs by new techniques or discoveries have resulted in paradigm shifts. We will discuss the major lineages of the tree of life, focusing on major shifts in biological diversity and mass extinctions. This will be achieved by a mixture of lectures, group discussions, and reading of review texts in this class, with an emphasis on the impact that discoveries have had beyond evolutionary biology. Coursework includes lectures, discussions, and readings (journal articles, book chapters). For each of the readings, students are required to submit summaries. There will be required a field trip to the Field Museum.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1895

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

The balance between the ecosphere and the technosphere is dependent on human actions in urban areas around the world. This survey course looks at environmental issues such as renewable and exhaustible resource use; air and water pollution; worldwide population growth; the waste stream; sustainable and conventional energy use; agricultural methods and food consumption; human health and toxicology; hazardous and toxic chemicals; climatic factors related to human activity; and political and economic decisions which affect environmental quality.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2204

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

Daily there are news reports about newly discovered genes, about advancements in genetic engineering, or about ethical questions involving genetics and health, identity, security, and more. Without a clear understanding of what genes are, it is hard to make sense of these claims. This course will help students understand genetics, drawing from a range of source materials from science journals to popular podcasts. We will approach genetics broadly, discussing what is life, the biochemistry of DNA, and gene expression, then move toward more advanced topics like heredity, epigenetics, and bioengineering. The class incorporates lab activities such as isolating genetic material, and also addresses how the basic science relates to contemporary issues including GMO's, forensic science, biohacking, eugenics, and behavioral genetics. Assignments vary, but typically include weekly reading responses and midterm and final presentations.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1868

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

Earth is home to diverse life. These organisms interact with and influence both one another and the environment. We will begin the semester by exploring the nature of these interactions, their structure and importance, and the diversity of life on Earth, while also gaining insight into the scientific method and the data and approaches utilized to generate an understanding of the world around us. We will then shift to discussing the origins of diversity and how both the Earth and life on it have changed through time. Armed with a richer perspective of this diversity and its origins, we will then move towards the present to discuss current threats endangering this diversity (such as climate change), and actions we can take to mitigate this loss. Together, students will ultimately acquire a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the world around us, while also considering our place in and impact on it. It is hoped that this greater cognizance will serve as inspiration for students and their artistic work, while also leading them to more deeply consider the fascinating evolutionary history underlying many of the materials used in their work.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1875

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Sustainable Design

Location

Lakeview - 1503

Description

The explanation of complex biological concepts, testing of predictions, and the presentation data all often rely on visual representations of phenomena. In this course students examine how scientists use graphs, models, and imaging technologies to both assist scientific research as well as communicate their ideas clearly as part of 'scientific method.' Students enter the process by picking a biological concept or question, analyzing its methods and representation, and developing their own independent project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2152

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

This introductory course is used to historicize globalization as well as to understand its contemporary dimensions. Emphasis is placed upon analyzing the rationales underlying globalization, the emergence of institutions making globalization possible, manifestations of globalization in culture (especially art and popular culture), and resistance to globalization as shaped by race, nation, gender, class, and their intersections. Possible authors and texts include Saskia Sassen, Deciphering the Global: Its Spaces, Scales and Subjects; Anita Chan, et. al., Chen Village: Revolution to Globalization; Ann Marie Stock, On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking During Times of Transition; Valentine Moghadam, Globalizing Women: Transnational Feminist Networks; and McKenzie Wark, A Hacker Manifesto.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1943

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

This course offers students an introduction to the field of political theory through a wide-ranging engagement with a diverse cross-section of political thought from across the planet. As such, we will engage political thought and thinkers not only from the ¿Western¿ canon but also the thought and writings of minoritized thinkers and groups¿including Indigenous, Black, and feminist thinkers, as well as political thought beyond ¿the West.¿ In so doing, we will consider how various thinkers have thought through problems and questions of political community and belonging, freedom and domination, modernity and tradition, and have sought to (re)imagine their own conditions and possibilities.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1937

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

Description

The course will engage students in the basic principles of economics in order to foster an understanding of the global economy, public policy, and personal investment. Linking the global, public policy, and the personal in a course appropriate for art and design undergraduates, key topics covered in the course include: supply and demand, market equilibrium, labor markets, the division of labor, firm competition and monopoly, corporate social responsibility, international trade and ?trade wars,? income inequality, public finance and public choice, markets for insurance, investment and capital markets, externalities and property rights, regulation, prohibitions, and the tragedy of the commons.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1137

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 920

Description

From viruses to vaccines, zombie-making fungi to tick bites that make you allergic to meat, fascinating, terrifying, mundane, and sometimes just outright bizarre diseases surround us every day. In Disease Dynamics, we will explore the basic science behind what causes different types of diseases, how our bodies naturally defend against them, and how medical innovations like antibiotics, vaccines, and insulin work to combat these diseases and disorders. Students will walk away from this class with an understanding of how their bodies together with science attempt to fight the ever-shifting, ever-present threats of disease they face each day. The course will survey topics including the immune system, autoimmune disorders, infectious diseases, vaccines and antibiotics, cancer, genetic disorders, and gene therapy. Coursework will include readings, quizzes, discussions, and an art-infused final project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1885

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

The human mind is one of the most fascinating and complex subjects of modern science. How can we
possibly hope to understand it? This course will use the tools of psychological history and science to suggest
answers. Recent and contemporary readings in psychological research and theory building, such as the nature
of psychology & psychological research, learning theory, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology,
psychodynamic psychology, & group and social psychology. Students will be evaluated for receiving credit in the class based on class participation, their written work (three papers) and their performance on three in-class exams.'

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1932

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

This class will introduce students to the thought of the two major Ancient Greek thinkers, Plato and Aristotle. For both thinkers we will begin by exploring their basic metaphysical beliefs, then examine how those beliefs lead them to ethical and political reflections that are both parallel and contrasting. Finally, we will ask how art fits into their vision. We will read broadly from their works, with special emphasis on Plato¿s Republic and Aristotle¿s Nicomachean Ethics.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1658

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 608

Description

In the first scene of Marlowe?s Dr. Faustus, the main character systematically dismisses the foundations of medieval European thought. The play represents the profound skepticism of the late Renaissance, a skepticism that takes formal philosophical form in the thought of Rene Descartes. Over the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a new intellectual orthodoxy arose in Europe, one that continues to influence global thought and culture to this day. In this course, we encounter the varied approaches to truth, self, nature, and power that combined, sometimes dramatically, to produce this new modern worldview. The course closely examines the work of some of the seventeenth and eighteenth century European philosophers: Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Anne Conway, John Locke, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant, to name a few. However, the course places their work in its cultural context by exploring the religious, scientific, and political thought of the period, as well as literature and the visual arts. 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

1646

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

It is the purpose of this course to examine theories of psychological development across the lifespan, from birth to death. Students will learn theories of development as they apply to each stage of life and will apply their learning in case analyses, interviews, observations and presentations. There will be an emphasis in the course on the application and integration of a fairly wide array of theories to real life persons and situations. Students will learn to apply an array of developmental theories to explain developmental phenomena as they occur in case material, will be able to compare, contrast and integrate ideas from different theories and paradigms of developmental psychology. Readings will vary but may include C. G. Jung, J. Bowlby, E. Erikson, J. Piaget, M. Ainsworth, H.S. Sullivan, D. Levinson, G. Vaillant, K. Dabrowski and others. Students can expect a required final paper, and additional quizzes and shorter writing assignments.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2135

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

An introduction to the psychology of sensation, perception, and attention. Perceptual processes of behavior, including attention, are studied in addition to the basic neurobiology of sensation. Traditional and current topics including color, space, and motion perception, attentional selection, sensory memory, perceptual organization (Gestalt groupings), pattern recognition, and the cognitive and social aspects of perception may be reviewed.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1944

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality

Location

MacLean 608

Description

It is the purpose of this course to examine the many theories that fall into the psychodynamic paradigm. This will include examining the work of Freud and those who have branched off from his basic ideas? such as Adler, Jung, Reich, Klein, Fairbairn, Kohut, Guntrip, Winnicott, Erikson, Mahler, Stern, Sullivan, Jacobson, Bion and Lacan, to name but a few. Students can expect a required final paper, and additional quizzes and shorter writing assignments.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

2101

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

The course will include information related to basic conceptualizations of so-called ?abnormal behavior,? historical perspectives on psychopathology, research methods and progress, and contemporary and emerging issues in mental health. Readings will include books and articles that reference, among other sources, information from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5 (DSM 5). Students will be evaluated for receiving credit in the class based on class participation, their written work (three papers) and their performance on three in-class exams.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1924

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

Psychology is relatively new as a distinct discipline in science or social science, and relatively old as a part of philosophy of mind. In this course we will consider a spectrum of issues and approaches beginning with ancient concerns and theories and ending with contemporary developments.

We will consider thinkers and theories, beginning in ancient Greece, that have addressed human concerns which now fall under the disciplines of academic and clinical psychology, and philosophy of mind. Readings may include some thinking as old as Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes and other philosophers, and as new as contemporary theories in cognitive science and artificial intelligence.
Requirements for Credit: participation in class discussions through weekly essays responding to the readings, and/or brief in-class discussions based on the readings. A mid-term and a final paper will be required. The final paper is expected to be an expanded and re-written final draft of the mid term paper.'

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1936

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

An introduction to approaches in psychology to some of the major religions of the world, which may include spirituality in some general sense, mystical traditions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. The course may examine, for example, psychological research concerning religion and human development, mystical experience, conversion, new religious movements (cults), and mental health. At the conclusion of the semester, students will understand the major research trends regarding religious experience, conversion, personality and religion, and religious behavior, and the theories on which that research is based. A mix of papers, quizzes, class discussion and presentations will be required.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1140

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

This course provides an introduction to social theories of visual communication and to methods of critiquing, producing, and displaying visual representations of cultural phenomena. Drawing primarily from anthropology and ethnographic research, students will explore the significance of visual images to represent and document identity, behavior, and everyday life. This includes examining how even ways of viewing - sight - are shaped, and also vary by and within, culture. Influences from film, photography, and graphic design provide examples of how the social sciences may incorporate these technologies from other disciplines, into behavioral analysis and to understand culture. However, the consequences of visual content creation and circulation (unintended or otherwise), features heavily in the course topics such as: travel photography, photojournalism, social media, and digital activism. Course readings and ethnographic films focus on documentary developments spanning the 20th century - from the silent picture era, scientific cinema, and cinéma vérité - to internet media like virtual reality, gifs, screenshots, and Tik Toks. In reviewing this learning content, students will conduct comparative analysis of still, moving, and digital images while also creating their own visual content in the process. Learning activities include in-class breakout groups and students presentations, as well as independent work involving ethnographic drawing, a photo essay, film critique paper, and meme ethnography research project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1926

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

The scientific story of what a human is and how we ?became? human covers 6 million years of biological and cultural evolution. In this course, we look to the fossil record and living nonhuman primates to examine selective forces that influenced the human biological form as well as technology/culture as a factor that complicates the study of humans from a biological perspective. Topics include the origins of language, art, self expression, and spirituality.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1927

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

In this course, students will read anthropological writing on these radical social movements to understand how they are organized, their strategies and their demands, their successes and their failures, and their dreams for another world. We will focus on three areas of concern: abolition, or the struggle to dismantle prisons and policing; decolonization, or the struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination; and anti-capitalism. We will also seek to understand how these movements intersect with others, including environmental justice, feminism, and anti-racism.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1942

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 620

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