Curriculum & Courses
Learning Outcomes
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- 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.
- 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.
- Critical and Analytical Thinking: Students will be able to analyze, evaluate, and construct arguments, engaging with ideas, evidence, and artifacts.
- Effective Communication Skills: Students will be able to speak and write effectively, communicating with precision, clarity, and rhetorical force.
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- 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.
- Students will demonstrate understanding of the methods used in the humanities, such as argumentation and interpretation.
- 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.
- Students will evaluate claims and the evidence and/or reasons given in support of these claims, as found in primary and secondary sources.
- 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).
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- Students will increase their knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the natural world, science, and mathematics.
- Students will demonstrate knowledge of the nature of science and/or mathematics as a knowledge making process.
- Students will develop and evaluate claims that involve a scientific or mathematical component.
- Students will display curiosity about nature, natural science, and/or mathematics.
- Students will confidently attempt reasoning tasks that involve a scientific or mathematical component.
- Students will demonstrate appreciation for the role of science and/or mathematics both in everyday life and in contemporary issues.
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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.
- Students will formulate inquiries emerging from readings of texts.
- Students will establish research methods.
- Students will analyze and synthesize multiple texts and cite evidence.
- Students will construct a complex claim and an argument.
- Students will practice the writerly process (i.e. revision, reflection, and peer review).
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- Students will question and explore how human behavior, societal arrangements, and cultural practices vary across time and space.
- Students will demonstrate understanding of the investigative methods used in the social sciences.
- Students will evaluate and develop claims based on primary and secondary sources.
- Students will communicate clearly in written and oral forms.
- Students will write citations and bibliographies in accordance with one or more social science disciplines.
Courses
| Title | Catalog | Instructor | Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading Art | 1001 (001) | Alexander W Jochaniewicz | Fri
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
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 |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS I:Consider This | 1001 (001) | Joanna Anos | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
Consider the ordinary and extraordinary, the word and world, this color, this art, this way of seeing and being. Writing topics are various in this writing course, but learning objectives are the same: for students to discover the complexity of their thinking through exploration and inquiry and to broaden their expressive and analytical skills. Readings will include writings by essayists, naturalists, and artists. Students maintain a writer¿s notebook, prepare short compositions, and write and revise several essays.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS I: The Places You'll Go | 1001 (002) | Peter Thomas | Tues
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
This writing course emphasizes close reading of texts, critical thinking, and the analysis of problems and concepts arising in works about travel experiences through the writing of essays. We will use the writing process as a means to achieving insight, and students will be asked to employ brainstorming, freewriting, drafting, outlining, re-writing, revising, and editing. Throughout the term, students will be asked to reflect on their development as they establish their own writing process that will enable them to develop new understandings and clearly communicate them in essays for this course and beyond. Writer Pico Iyer says, ¿We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.¿ New places are alluring. New places are disruptive. In this course, we¿ll read accounts of those who ventured to distant lands and discovered new territories within themselves. We will read the likes of Langston Hughes, Bernard Cooper, Jamaica Kincaid, Flannery O¿Connor, George Orwell, Susan Sontag, and others, as we see what these writers found when they lost themselves abroad. Students will join the well-traveled, too, as they write about a not-usual place, even if it¿s right here in Chicago. In addition to short writing assignments and in-class journals, students should expect to write and revise 4 essays totaling 15-20 pages of formal prose.
|
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS I: Copyrights and Wrongs | 1001 (003) | Jennie Berner | Thurs
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
In this writing-intensive course, we will explore the line between originality and plagiarism in a variety of fields including art, media, technology, music, business, entertainment, and medicine. In what contexts is copying an art? A science? A crime? How much should we be allowed to borrow from the work of artists and writers who have come before us? Do we owe them anything when we do? What are the economic, social, and political implications of copying? Readings will cover a range of subtopics such as genetic cloning, music sampling, artistic forgery, cultural appropriation, film adaptations, drug patents, fan fiction, body modification, and fair use. We will also analyze the work of artists and writers whose work speaks to some of these issues, including Kenneth Goldsmith, Fred Wilson, Jeff Koons, Sherrie Levine, DJ Dangermouse, and Jen Bervin. Writing assignments ? totaling 15-20 pages over the course of the semester ? will emphasize analysis, argument, research, revision, and other academic writing skills.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS I: Writing for Space-Making | 1001 (004) | Mika Yamamoto | Fri
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
Writers can have the power to create space for communities that are marginalized in society, but this work is never easy. In this class, we will examine the works of writers who have attempted this and analyze the success and cost of such attempts. Our readings will include works by: Esme Weijun Wang, Rupi Kahur, Ryka Aoki, Patsy Mink, and others. We will also utilize SAIC¿s amazing resources like the Service Bureau, the Art Institute, the writing center, the diversity department, and Title IX office. In this class, students will exercise their voices and embrace the writing process. They will think of writing beyond what happens on the page.Towards this end, each class begins with mindfulness and connection activities. Students will be required to write weekly reflections, multiple drafts of an essay, and do a class presentation. Students in FYS I should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing. Attendance is extremely important and heavily weighted.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYSe: Laughing Matter | 1002 (001) | Sophie Goalson | Mon
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
As an art form, humor is often considered menial and unrefined. In reality, 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, Franz Kafka, Calvin Trillin, Jade Chang, Percival Everett and others, we will get to the heart of what makes something funny, and how humor has changed over time. Students will build on foundational academics habits with weekly short writings. To complete the course, students must write 3 papers (one analytical, one argumentative, and one creative.
PrerequisitesMust complete AAP: Academic Foundations Seminar (AAP1001) and Foundations Writing Workshop (AAP 1011) |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYSe:Near-Death Experiences | 1002 (002) | Peter Thomas | Mon
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
This writing course emphasizes close reading of texts, critical thinking, and the analysis of problems and concepts arising in works about near-death experiences through the writing of essays. We will use the writing process as a means to achieving insight, and students will be asked to employ brainstorming, freewriting, drafting, outlining, re-writing, revising, and editing. Throughout the term, students will be asked to reflect on their development as they establish their own writing process that will enable them to develop new understandings and clearly communicate them in essays for this course and beyond. Some of us have had a near-death experience in which our survival felt in doubt. Almost all of us have had nearness-to-death experiences in which we glimpse the passing of some other person or creature and must contend with death?s significance. In this course, we?ll study short works that explore what nearness to mortality reveals to us. We?ll read Virginia Woolf, Tim O?Brien, Annie Dillard, Lu Hsun, Tobias Woolf, Wole Soyinka, and Nancy Mairs, among others, as we examine how death?s presence has impacted these writers in unanticipated ways. Students should expect to write and revise 3 major essays in addition to short writing assignments, totaling 15-20 pages of formal prose.
PrerequisitesMust complete AAP: Academic Foundations Seminar (AAP1001) and Foundations Writing Workshop (AAP 1011) |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYSe: Visions of Apocalypse | 1002 (003) | Jacob A Hinkson | Tues
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
Why are we fascinated with the end of the world? Throughout history, human beings have contemplated the apocalypse¿whether as a fulfillment of religious prophecy, as the result of atomic war, or as a consequence of climate change. This class will examine apocalyptic visions in art, film, literature, and music. In their research and writing, students can expect to explore the aspect of this subject that matters most to them and/or that inspires their curiosity. 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.
PrerequisitesMust complete AAP: Academic Foundations Seminar (AAP1001) and Foundations Writing Workshop (AAP 1011) |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYSe: American Poetry | 1002 (004) | Alexander W Jochaniewicz | Thurs
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
This course will chronologically survey American poetry from its earliest periods to recent times. Students will be introduced to a wide spectrum of the finest poetry ever to be written, including (among others) poems from Phyllis Wheatley, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen, e.e. cummings, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Amit Majmudar, Terrance Hayes, Sherman Alexie, Garrett Hongo, and Natalie Diaz. Individual interpretations will be emphasized and slow-and-close reading will be emphasized, both in class and in formal writing assignments. In addition, students will be introduced to methods of literary study, appropriate terminology, and (art) historical contexts to help orient scholarship¿including how poets across time and space operate and innovate within literary conventions. Students will also write about poetry in both personal responses and formal analyses and will practice the process of writing, including prewriting, drafting, peer reviewing, and revising. FYSe 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.
PrerequisitesMust complete AAP: Academic Foundations Seminar (AAP1001) and Foundations Writing Workshop (AAP 1011) |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| First Year Seminar Enhanced (EIS) | 1003 (001) | Annette Elliot-Hogg | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
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.
PrerequisitesMust complete English Fluency I (EIS 1021) |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| First Year Seminar Enhanced (EIS) | 1003 (002) | Diane Worobec-Serratos | Thurs
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
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.
PrerequisitesMust complete English Fluency I (EIS 1021) |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| First Year Seminar Enhanced (EIS) | 1003 (003) | Maryjane Lao Villamor | Wed
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
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.
PrerequisitesMust complete English Fluency I (EIS 1021) |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Americana Music | 1005 (001) | Andrew Lindsay | Tues
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
¿Genre¿ and tradition in music are nebulous terms, yet we can¿t escape them. Examining these genre distinctions consistently reveals two things - the history and tradition that helped birth the genre ¿category,¿ and the web of influences between genres that make such distinctions unstable. Nowhere is this ¿instability¿ more apparent than in American music, a country whose relatively young socio-political history makes the notion of ¿tradition¿ especially complicated. ¿Americana¿ is an overarching term to describe a variety of American musics, in an attempt to smooth over some of the complicated relationship between genre and tradition. One thing we will explore in this course is the effectiveness of that endeavor. Complicated spaces, of course, are fertile ground for argument, and that is the primary skill we will practice in this course. We begin with short writing assignments that force students to make arguments about our texts. Our class discussion allows us to workshop these claims, and we write larger papers that demonstrate the ability to take greater risks with our theses. In this course we will focus on the core skills of reading and writing, preparing us for all our future coursework at SAIC. Students learn to make nuanced observations about the texts we study, observations which form the basis for the argumentative papers we write. This course will focus on artists representative of the various genres said to populate Americana music. Special attention, however, will be paid to those artists who trouble the genre definitions, such as the Staple Singers, Gillian Welch, and Sturgill Simpson. Assignments consist of informal, observational journals, short papers and a larger Final Paper at the end of the course.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II:Romantic Fairy Tales | 1005 (002) | Irina Ruvinsky | Tues
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
Please confirm/update desc: Unlike traditional folk fairy tales, intended primarily for children, the German Romantic Kunstmärchen (literary fairy tales) were written for an audience of adults. German Romantic philosophers, who believed in Nature as an ideal and the primacy of the individual creative imagination, saw the fairy tale as the perfect medium for the expression of these ideas. The timeless, mythical qualities of the fairy tale were seen by these thinkers as a way to bring the realm of the supernatural to earth, making the irrational and the magical part of our everyday existence. Unlike the traditional fairy tales, in which everyone lives happily ever after, the Märchen emphasizes the struggle between negative and positive forces in which death and disaster often prevail and man is caught in the tragic dichotomy between the real and the ideal. In this course we will explore these and other themes by reading the works by such authors as Novalis, L. Tieck, E.T.A Hoffman and Kafka. Students should expect to write 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing, in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing. 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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II:Life Account | 1005 (003) | Suman Chhabra | Thurs
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
In our creative practices we take our lives into account. You determine the format to share your story. In this course we will read different forms of autobiography: graphic novels, memoirs, essays, poetry, and journals. We will look at the various creative forms writers use to convey information about their lives, discuss why we make artwork about ourselves, and study how each form connects with readers. Though we will read about individual experiences, we will consider their impact on the collective. Readings often include works by Ocean Vuong, Trevor Noah, Diana Khoi Nguyen, EJ Koh, and Kazim Ali among others. In our FYS II course, 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 20-25 pages in multidraft essays. 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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Race and Horror | 1005 (005) | Michael R. Paradiso-Michau | Thurs
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
All FYS 2 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 learn to collaborate and to take their work, and the work of their peers seriously, thereby establishing best practices of critique. This FYS 2 course will explore the interconnected meanings of race, horror, and monstrosity. In particular, we will focus on the presentations and representations of racial difference in the Americas. From Birth of a Nation (1915) to Get Out (2017), and from the transatlantic slave trade to contemporary #BlackLivesMatter movements, African-American struggles for dignity and inclusion have produced ¿philosophies born of struggle,¿ i.e. avenues of critical thought and activism with an eye toward social liberation and freedom from daily fear.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Speech and Voice | 1005 (006) | Stephen Williams | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
How have artists in literature, theater, music, and other sound-based media represented or incorporated the human voice into their work? This FYS II course builds on the writing and thinking skills students began to develop in FYS I by introducing more advanced argumentation and research methods. To guide our inquiry, we might consider questions such as: How do we understand 'authentic' or 'common' speech, what accounts for its claim on our attention, and what are the politics around it? How does its apparent spontaneity relate to formal aspects of a work of art? Why do diverse folk traditions put human speech in the mouths of animals? How do we experience, on the one hand, divine or oracular voices understood to come from beyond humankind, and on the other, AI-generated simulacra? What does it mean to appropriate another's voice, and why is spoken language such a significant marker of individual and collective identity? How have new technologies of amplification, reproduction, and distribution changed how we hear ourselves? Sources we may consider include: Wordsworth, European opera, Brecht / Weill, Lotte Lenya, Cathy Berberian, Derek Walcott, Kamau Braithwaite, Linda Rosenkrantz, Meredith Monk, Bernadette Mayer, Pere Gimferrer, Nathaniel Mackey, American hip hop. Students can expect to produce 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing, as well as regular in- and out-of-class assignments. The course builds toward a self-directed research paper on a topic of the student's choosing.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Conspiracy Theories | 1005 (008) | Jennie Berner | Wed
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
In this writing-intensive course, we will be using the theme of ¿conspiracy theory¿ to explore what constitutes legitimate (and illegitimate) knowledge in academic, public, and virtual spaces. Our access to information today is unparalleled, but it also demands a kind of vigilance. How do we identify credible sources? What counts as expertise? And how do we think critically about the information we encounter? In addition to analyzing a range of conspiracy theories (e.g. assassinations, alien abductions, false flag operations, artificial diseases, New World Order, and vaccine controversies), we will also consider the broader social, psychological, and political forces that contribute to conspiracy thinking. Course readings will cover a wide array of subtopics including hoaxes, pseudoscience, and fake news. Writing assignments ¿ totaling 20-25 pages over the course of the semester ¿ will emphasize summary, analysis, argument, research, revision, and other academic writing skills, culminating in a research project that allows you to explore unorthodox explanations of a public event, issue, or phenomenon of your choosing.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Recreation & Play | 1005 (009) | Raghav Rao | Mon
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
Description
Discretionary time is time that is not constrained by the necessities of life. It is the domain of recreation and play. This class invites students to critically engage with modes of recreation: hobbies, games, outdoor activities, media consumption, creative pursuits, and vice. Through texts and discussion, students will inquire into how society produces and is produced by its modes of recreation, and how social relations are impacted through its dynamics. They will also bring greater attention to themselves and the values undergirding their personal modes of recreation. The focus of this class is to help students develop the skills required to perform academic research. Students will learn how to propose lines of inquiry, shortlist and interrogate sources, reference sources, and synthesize material. Ultimately, the final project for the class will be a high-quality research paper. Over the course of the semester, in total, students will be expected to produce 20-25 pages of material. Texts for the class include Diane Ackerman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Tricia Hersey, Priya Parker.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Art World in Crisis | 1005 (010) | Joshua Rios | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
This class examines recent social and political controversies surrounding the contemporary art world, including crises stemming from the power dynamics of gender, class, race, disability, sexual orientation, and other political commitments to international solidarity. Building on foundational writing skills learned in FYS I, students will gain historical and political context about specific moments in contemporary art when marginalized social groups and their allies have mounted protests and critiques of institutions, exhibitions, artists, and artworks. Informed by history, social theory, literature, art journalism, art history, visual studies, and other forms of study, students will become familiar with general and specific issues of institutional racism, sexism, ableism, classism, and xenophobia within the art world and how artists worked together for social change and institutional accountability. Students will engage in rigorous argumentation and the development of a self-directed research paper. Students can expect to write 20 to 25 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. one article and one research essay, both with multiple drafts), as well as homework exercises and in-class writing. Students can also expect in-class writing exercises with an emphasis on developing reading skills and critical analysis. Other important aspects of the course include peer review, writing workshops, draft reviews, and individual meetings to discuss writing topics and expectations.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II:Paris Noir | 1005 (011) | Anita Welbon | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
Tanner, Hughes, Baker. Prophet, Bearden, Chase-Rimboud. Wright, Baldwin, Himes. African-American visual, literary, and performing artists have journeyed to Paris for a few months, a year, or a lifetime to find what they could not in the United States, a space to fully explore, develop, and execute their artistic vision. This FYSII course examines the history of African American artists in Paris, exploring the cultural, political, and artistic forces that drew them to the city of light. Through short written responses and longer formal papers, students will continue to develop their writing skills as they consider this rich history.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Anthropology of Time | 1005 (013) | Matilda Stubbs | Fri
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
This writing intensive seminar introduces the anthropological study of time and ethnographic writing about time. From Doctor Who and the Tardis, to keeping or losing track of time like Alice in Wonderland down the rabbit hole, notions of temporality vary across time zones, culture, and space. Using ethnographic writing, this course examines time as a social and historical phenomenon. From agricultural rhythms of rural life in Africa and the Pacific Islands, to astrological and archaeological accounts of time from Celtic and Greek mythology, students will explore the social lives of calendars new and old. This includes other timekeeping tools like clocks and chronological standards in modes of transportation for buses, trains, and planes, including communication and recordkeeping systems like banks, phone records, and emails. Specific emphasis will attend to the objective and subjective understandings of time and the various temporal forms of daily life, drawing from contributions of ethnographic research and social science writing to the study of time from a cross-cultural perspective. Course activities center around developing analytic skills in the genre of ethnographic writing through in-class free writing, generating observational field notes and journaling, two formal and revisable essays, and peer review.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II:Evolution of Tragedy | 1005 (015) | Peter Thomas | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
This writing course emphasizes close reading of texts, critical thinking, and the analysis of problems and concepts arising in tragic drama through research and the writing of essays. We will use the research and writing process as a means to achieving insights, and students will be asked to employ brainstorming, freewriting, drafting, outlining, re-writing, revising, and editing. Throughout the term, students will also be asked to reflect on their development as they work to establish their own research acumen and writing process that will enable them not only to achieve insights, but also to clearly communicate them in assignments for this course and beyond. What is the difference between bad news and tragedy? How can watching the story of a character come to great misery make an audience feel uplifted? We will consider notions of character, fate, tragic flaw, and nobility as they relate to the tragedy. What defines a tragedy? And who is allowed to be a tragic hero? In this course, we will explore the tragic form, from ancient Greek classics to Shakespearean dramas to more modern variations. We will study works by Sophocles, Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Sophie Treadwell, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Anne Carson. In addition to short writing assignments, in-class journals, and quizzes, students should expect to write and revise 3 essays totaling 20-25 pages of formal prose.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II:Sherlock Holmes | 1005 (016) | Terri Griffith | Fri
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
When Sherlock Holmes made his debut in 1887, no one, especially not his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could have predicted the success of the first consulting detective. Sherlock Holmes has been adapted on the stage, to film, television, comic books, board games, video games, and by other authors into their own detective novels. Even today, we are surrounded by new versions of this favorite character. In this writing course, students will begin by writing essays based on canonical works, then move to writing critical analyses of contemporary interpretations, ending by imagining the future of Sherlock Holmes.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: The New Hollywood | 1005 (017) | Jacob A Hinkson | Thurs
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
In this writing intensive course, we will develop the skills of argument-driven composition as we examine the aesthetic shift in American cinema from the classic Hollywood studio system of the 1940s-1950s to the ¿New Hollywood¿ of the 1960s-1970s. What was the studio system, and how did it end? What system of production took its place? In tracing the cultural and economic shifts that led to the creation of the modern Hollywood, we¿ll also track the reinvention 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 Mark Harris. These materials will inform multiple argument-driven essays which students will draft and revise over the course of the semester. Students should expect to write 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing, in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing. 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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: The Rocky Childhood | 1005 (018) | Eileen Favorite | Wed
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
In this writing-intensive course, we'll read coming-of-age novels and memoirs from influential contemporary writers. Students will engage in close readings of texts that interrogate concepts of resilience, racism, and economic and class oppression as childhood struggles. Writers will include Jeannette Walls, Allison Bechdel, and Kiese Laymon. CONTENT WARNING: The content and discussion in this course will necessarily sometimes engage with issues of human suffering, including physical and sexual abuse. 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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II:Hello Home | 1005 (019) | Suman Chhabra | Wed
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
We have all left our homes to venture here. Perhaps it has been a physical, mental, spiritual, or emotional journey away from home. Now what? What do we think of ourselves in our new homes? What can we understand about ourselves and our previous homes now that we have left them? In this course we will read fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and poetry by South Asian diasporic writers. These writers have left India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka themselves or are first generation in a new country. Readings often include works by Mira Jacob, Deepak Unnikrishnan, Durga Chew Bose, Faisal Mohyuddin, Mohsin Hamid, and Kazim Ali among others. In our FYS II course, 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 20-25 pages in multidraft essays. 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
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Curating Quandaries | 1005 (020) | Diane Worobec-Serratos | Wed
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
FYS II builds upon the foundational writing skills developed in FYS I, with the introduction of more rigorous argumentation and research. Students will hone their skills and work toward greater independence in writing tasks while critically examining the act of curation. From personal wardrobes and social media accounts to the sometimes-violent legacy of museum collections, curation is all around us. If curation means to care for items in a collection, what does that care entail? As a form of cultural production, whose needs are being cared for? Whose are being neglected? Which voices are amplified, and which are silenced? In a broader context, can curation be an emancipatory practice in the struggle for social justice? As artists, what is our responsibility in selecting, grouping, and caring for our work? To investigate these questions, in the first part of the course, students will explore a variety of curatorial geographies, looking critically at how commodification, patriarchal racism, and colonial capitalism have informed and disrupted curatorial practices over time. Later, students will apply the reflections and insights from course readings and activities to research a curatorial endeavor of their choosing. Students will write 20 to 25 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e., one essay and one research project, both with multiple drafts) as well as homework exercises and in-class writing. Writing and class activities will emphasize the development of responding critically to a variety of texts and sources to prepare students for the challenges in their coursework at SAIC. To that end, peer review, class workshopping of student papers, and individual meetings to discuss each student's writing will be required.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Nuclear Problems & Society | 1005 (021) | Aiko Kojima Hibino | Thurs
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
When the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was created in 1942 in Chicago, human society was destined to tackle with an unsolvable conundrum. How could our society possibly justify the augmentation of this enormous power that could destroy our own existence? This course investigates discourses around two major uses of nuclear power in society ¿ nuclear weapons and nuclear energy ¿ and examines them through social justice lenses. Key points of inquiry include: what risks are associated with nuclear weapons and energy and how they have been evaluated in contrast to their benefits, how the damages that were caused by nuclear weapons and energy have been addressed and mended, and whether the harms that were made by nuclear weapons and energy equally impact all groups of people. Building on the basic reading and writing skills introduced in FYS I, FYS II will further students¿ academic skills in writing an independent research paper. Therefore, in this course, students are expected to read primary and secondary sources to collect evidence to develop their critical arguments on nuclear problems.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: The Interpretation of Dreams | 1005 (022) | David B. Johnson | Tues
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
First-Year Seminars can be thought of as writing studios: their purpose is to help you develop your academic writing skills by practicing writing, revision, and critique. Each FYS course is organized around a topic that orients students¿ writing practice; the topic of this course is the interpretation of dreams. Dreams have fascinated human beings for a long time. Whether understood as a source of inspiration, a cause for amusement, a glimpse into the soul, a pool of diagnostic information, or an everyday process of cognitive housekeeping, dreams have been regarded by some of history¿s most penetrating thinkers as essential to the project of making sense of ourselves and our place in the world. In this course we will investigate the writings of some eminent interpreters of dreams, and through the writing process we will develop our own interpretations in response to their ideas. Our readings will draw upon ancient and medieval philosophy (Aristotle, Zhuangzi, Augustine), early psychoanalysis (Freud, Jung), and contemporary dream science. In addition to short homework assignments, students will complete two major papers¿a Texts-in-Conversation Essay and a Research Paper¿which will go through multiple rounds of review and revision. Throughout the course, we will focus on strategies and techniques for effective writing, including idea-generation, composition, revision, and argument-construction.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Writing and Walking | 1005 (024) | Suzanne Scanlon | Fri
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
This course invites students to explore the relationship between walking and writing-two practices that open space for reflection, discovery, and transformation. Writers and artists have long turned to walking as a way of seeing differently, of mapping inner and outer landscapes, of lingering, wandering, or breaking free. In this first-year writing seminar, we will read and write with walking in mind, considering how movement through city streets, rural paths, and unfamiliar places shapes identity, knowledge, escape, and transcendence. Our texts will treat walking as both subject and structure. Authors and artists may include Virginia Woolf, Frank O¿Hara, Agnès Varda, Rebecca Solnit, Harryette Mullen, Garnette Cadogan, Sheila Heti, T Clutch Fleischmann, and Carmen Maria Machado. Together, we will ask how movement shapes thought, memory, perception, and creativity, and what it means for writing to carry the rhythm of a walk. Students will develop their own writing practices in dialogue with these works, producing essays that experiment with form as well as argument. Over the semester, they will complete 20¿25 pages of formal, revisable writing, culminating in a final research project that considers walking as a method for making meaning.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II:The Critical and the Fine | 1005 (025) | Herman Stark | Wed
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
Description
This intense writing course fosters college-level writing skills at a level suitable for upper level Liberal Arts courses. Various types of essays will be executed (e.g., analysis, comparison and contrast) over a number of drafts. As for content, the course targets two aesthetic and philosophical phenomena: the critical and the fine. These phenomena can appear apart (e.g., critical thinking apart from the fine can lead to cynicism and even misology), but they can, in synthesis, produce both philosophy and art of the highest order. M. Gelven's text, The Quest for the Fine, and J. Lynch's The English Language, provide examples from philosophy, art, and language that illustrate paradigmatic syntheses of the critical and the fine. We'll consider, for example, the following distinction: The active voice lends crispness to your writing...but the passive voice works well when the action is more relevant than the person or thing doing the action. By reviewing such instances of grammatical and syntactical precision, across different topics, we will develop our internal sense of the fine. As for the critical, consider the following line by Emily Dickinson: 'Because I could not stop for death...he kindly stopped for me....' It takes the critical touch of a master poet to insert kindly; why, after all, kindly? Do not humans tend to flee death? Is not death a topic to be avoided? Do not many of us rather wish, sometimes idly and sometimes fervently, that we could live forever, or at least longer than we do? Or, has the poet revealed an ambiguity in how one might really feel, and think, about one's mortality? In this seminar, we will learn to make and appreciate such examples in writing, and indeed in writing that displays a heightened criticality and a heightened sense of the fine. Fine and critical writing is expected each week in weekly seminar reports, and over the entire semester in four essays, resulting in 20-25 pages of formal, revised writing.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: (Still) Life-Writing | 1005 (026) | Aaron Greenberg | Wed
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
What is the meaning of life? How does life translate to the page and canvas? In this course, we will practice the art of writing by representing its relations to life. FYS II develops college-level writing skills, preparing students for upper-level Liberal Arts courses. We¿ll focus on still lifes¿among the most enduring, versatile, and overlooked art forms¿which illuminate new perspectives on the lives of artists and the lives of objects we represent. Authors including Lisa Knopp and Norman Bryson will provide critical context for the course, while artists including Alice Neel, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Juan Sánchez Cotán, Jonas Wood, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso will set the table with examples of the genre. However, students will develop writing projects around still life artists of their choice. We will experiment with ekphrasis, the detailed written description of visual art. We¿ll write about art that portrays the interplay of life, death, and (in)animacy, as we consider the history of ideas represented through still lifes including: the limits and possibilities of genre, vanitas, memento mori, and subject/object relations. Students will create 20-25 pages of formal, revisable, and (if they choose) 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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Hollywoodland | 1005 (028) | Zachary Tavlin | Mon
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
FYS II are theme-based writing courses designed for first-year students, with an emphasis on further developing the foundational writing skills students learned in FYS I. Students will continue to hone the intellectual skills of reading critically, and writing responsively, which forms the basis of each student's career at the School. While faculty have autonomy in determining course theme, the theme is an accessory to the writing; the balance in these classes is weighed toward explicit writing instruction and workshopping of student writing, not content. This course provides guided experience in writing college-level essays of various kinds, which may include critical, analytical and argumentative essays, and must include the research paper. It is a policy of the department that at least one essay be a research paper which may involve searching for sources in a library or online, learning to make citations, and preparing an annotated bibliography. A significant amount of time is devoted to the craft of writing, and more sophisticated methods of argumentation and use of evidence and developing independent claims and ideas are explored. Students should expect to write 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing across the course of the semester. A significant amount of time may be devoted to re-writing essays, so as to develop first drafts into final versions. In-class writing, short homework exercises, and workshopping of student work may be included. Individual meetings to discuss each student's papers should be expected.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| FYS II: Creative Nonfiction | 1005 (030) | Alexander W Jochaniewicz | Tues
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
True stories change people, and no other genre does this quite like Creative Nonfiction. While difficult to define, Creative Nonfiction is both experimental and traditional, blending fact with fiction, purpose with style¿an alchemy of poetry, fiction, and drama mixed with nonfiction¿the memoir, the chronicle, the essay¿to reveal what really happened, to me, to them. Entertaining and informative, yes¿personal, perhaps¿transformative, always. Reading Creative Nonfiction¿and writing it¿will change you, forever¿even if only by a single degree, like cracking a combination lock, slowly spinning the dial, your ear pressed against the vault, silently listening for that unmistakable¿click. This course will build upon what was learnt and practiced in First Year Seminar I with an emphasis in research and persuasion. Students can expect reading some killer works of literature and engaging in various stages in the writing process, including topic proposals and individual conferences, researching and reviewing scholarship, presentations and preliminary drafts, and peer reviewing and revising. The first half of the course will be geared towards reading various examples of Creative Nonfiction, examining elements of style and craftsmanship¿and the second half of the course will be more focused on a larger Creative Nonfiction project of the student¿s own discernment. Students should expect to write 20-25 pages of revisable writing, including shorter works of analysis, reflection, and scholarship review, as well as a longer final project. Overall, 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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: ENGLISH 1001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Foundations Writing Workshop | 1011 (001) | Jennie Berner | Fri
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: English Language Fluency | 1021 (001) | Aram Han Sifuentes | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Critique | 1031 (001) | C. C. Ann Chen | Tues
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (001) | Mon
9:45 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
|
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 |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (002) | Mon
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM In Person |
|
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (003) | David P Norris | Mon
6:45 PM - 8:15 PM All Online |
Description
This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.
|
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (004) | Sonia Da Silva | Tues
9:45 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (005) | Sonia Da Silva | Tues
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM In Person |
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 |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (006) | Aram Han Sifuentes | Tues
4:45 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
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 |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (008) | Wed
9:45 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
|
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (009) | Suman Chhabra | Wed
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM In Person |
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (010) | Alicia Castañeda-Lopez | Wed
6:45 PM - 8:15 PM All Online |
Description
This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (012) | Jacqueline M Rasmussen | Thurs
9:45 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (013) | Jacqueline M Rasmussen | Thurs
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM In Person |
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| English for International Students: Tutorial | 1035 (014) | Ned Marto | Thurs
4:45 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
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.
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Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Spanish I | 2001 (001) | Sabra Duarte | Tues
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
An introductory course in reading, writing, and conversational Spanish.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Arabic I | 2003 (001) | Wael Fawzy | Tues
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| French I | 2005 (001) | Elizabeth Chalier-Visuvalingam | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
An introductory course in reading, writing and conversational French.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Chinese I | 2008 (001) | Marie Meiying Jiang | Tues
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM All 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. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| German I | 2009 (001) | Kimberly Kenny | Thurs
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
An introductory course in reading, writing, and conversational German.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Spanish II | 2010 (001) | Sabra Duarte | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
This is a continuing course in reading, writing, and speaking Spanish. Prerequisite: LANGUAGE 2001 Spanish I.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: LANGUAGE 2001. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| French II | 2050 (001) | Elizabeth Chalier-Visuvalingam | Thurs
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
This course is part two of a two-semester sequence. Its goal is to provide students without any knowledge of the French language a solid foundation in the basic patterns of written and spoken French and an understanding of the particular sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in France. These are achieved in several ways: (1) a careful study of French grammar, with a communicative approach, (2) a study of the basics of French phonetics, and (3) a variety of materials such as readings, movies, commercials, etc.
French II is the sequel of French I. Prerequisite: French I or agreement of instructor. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: LANGUAGE 2005. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Chinese II | 2080 (001) | Marie Meiying Jiang | Thurs
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM All Online |
Description
Chinese II is designed for students who take Chinese as a foreign language and have passed the Chinese I course. For the students who have not taken the Chinese I course at SAIC, an evaluation test is required and students must gain the instructor's approval in writing to enroll in this course. Students who speak Chinese as their native language are not allowed to attend this course.
Students will continue to learn the Lessons 6-10 of <> (Level 1 Part 1) to expand vocabulary words and key grammatical structures. The course will aim to expose students to more Chinese culture, help them with Chinese oral presentations and writing about school life, study, shopping, and transportation. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: LANGUAGE 2008. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Survey of Literature II: Unsettling American Lit | 3002 (001) | Jane Robbins Mize | Tues
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
This course will introduce students to modern and contemporary literature by thinking through and against the canon. We will read across genres and traditions while discussing how culture, identity, and power relations impact the production and reception of literature in twentieth- and twenty-first-century America. Through readings such as Nella Larsen¿s Passing (1929) and N. Scott Momaday¿s House Made of Dawn (1968), we will analyze texts that unsettle hegemonic aesthetics and amplify marginalized voices. As such, students can expect to develop as critical thinkers, close readers, writers, and researchers.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| QUEER: Politics and Care in Precarious Times | 3007 (003) | Ivan Bujan | Mon
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
This course examines how queer communities and practices have sustained themselves amid political, social, and cultural precarity - and how such crises have simultaneously generated new possibilities for connection, creativity, and resistance. Drawing on key concepts in queer studies and queer of color critique, the course investigates how art, activism, and collective care have served as strategies for survival, solidarity, and world-making. Through historical and contemporary case studies - including the Tenderloin riots, the Stonewall uprising, the AIDS activist movement, disability justice, and harm reduction practices, among others - we will explore how moments of crisis have fostered resilient networks of care and mutual support. Readings and case studies spanning art, activism, and politics will illuminate how queer politics continually emerge from majoritarian structures aimed at systemic erasure. Ultimately, the course invites students to think about 'queer' not only as an identity but as a political practice of care and resistance in precarious times.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Top: 'Sex in Public' | 3007 (004) | Kirin Wachter-Grene | Fri
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
This course addresses sexuality and the erotics of interclass contact from the end of the 1960s through the present, with an emphasis on LGBTQ+ within a historical nexus of urban life, architecture, law, and struggles for civil rights. In what ways are our sexual lives produced, mediated, and disciplined by publics (and what are 'publics'?). Readings include Samuel R. Delany, Lauren Berlant, Michael Warner, Pat Califia, Gayl Rubin, David Wojnarowicz, Michel Foucault, Jeffrey Weeks, Laud Humphries, Tim Dean, Mireille Miller-Young, and more. We will also learn from guest speakers involved in the leather, kink, and fetish communities. Students can expect to read between 50-75 pages of critical and theoretical material per week and to write about and discuss texts in depth. Students will also take turns as discussion leaders.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
Class Number |
Credits |
DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Russian Soul through Music | 3008 (001) | Katarzyna Grochowska | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
What does it mean to be Russian? What is the Russian mission, and how does it fit into the world? What defines true Russia? These questions have engaged the minds of Russian artists since Peter the Great introduced European ideas to the young Slavic nation in 1698. This course will explore Russia as a complex entity held together by the subtle threads of its native sensibility. We will examine Russian cultural history through various creative works, such as Stravinsky¿s *The Rite of Spring*, as well as artifacts ranging from folk embroidery to the musical traditions of peasant songs. These artifacts will not only represent art but also reveal ideologies and beliefs that embody the essence of a nation. They will demonstrate how art and music are intertwined with politics, customs, beliefs, folklore, habits, and mental landscapes, all of which are potent forces shaping culture.
Examples of Russian music, both classical and folk, ( recordings and Youtube examples), Russian operas and ballets, musicals, folk dances and cinematography; excepts from Russian literature, diaries, plays. Two exams: the Midterm and the final exam. 1. Assigned music to listen to every week, and about 20 pages to read. or 2. Excerpts from operas and musicals to watch, and about 20 pages to read. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Symbiosis: How Life Lives Together | 3010 (001) | Matthew Nelsen | Thurs
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
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. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Chemistry of Pigments: The Theory and History of Pigment Chemistry in Art | 3013 (001) | Gary McDowell | Wed
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
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. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Conservation Biology | 3014 (001) | Camila Pizano | Thurs
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
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. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| The Mathematical Secrets of Music | 3015 (001) | Eugenia Cheng | Mon
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
We will study aspects of abstract mathematics as exemplified by Western Classical Music. We will look at classical music notation, notes and tonality, as well as the sounds that instruments and voices make, and at a broader scale the overall structure of pieces of music. Mathematics will be used to analyse, explain and clarify all these aspects of music. There will be a broad range of math topics from all the major branches of pure mathematics including algebra and group theory, number theory, calculus, fourier analysis and topology. These will be built up from the basics and unlike in a standard math class, the examples will all be aspects of music. The music will be western classical music including works by Bach, Schubert, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Wagner, Janacek, Shostakovich, Britten, Messiaen. Assignments will take the form of math problems, open book quizzes, application of math to analyse existing music, application of math to generate and transform original music, and reflective writing assignments. No memorisation will ever be required.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| The Mathematical Secrets of Music | 3015 (002) | Eugenia Cheng | Mon
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
We will study aspects of abstract mathematics as exemplified by Western Classical Music. We will look at classical music notation, notes and tonality, as well as the sounds that instruments and voices make, and at a broader scale the overall structure of pieces of music. Mathematics will be used to analyse, explain and clarify all these aspects of music. There will be a broad range of math topics from all the major branches of pure mathematics including algebra and group theory, number theory, calculus, fourier analysis and topology. These will be built up from the basics and unlike in a standard math class, the examples will all be aspects of music. The music will be western classical music including works by Bach, Schubert, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Wagner, Janacek, Shostakovich, Britten, Messiaen. Assignments will take the form of math problems, open book quizzes, application of math to analyse existing music, application of math to generate and transform original music, and reflective writing assignments. No memorisation will ever be required.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Mineralogy and Gemology | 3017 (001) | Maria Valdes | Mon
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
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. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Apollo to Artemis: The Science and Exploration of the Moon | 3018 (001) | Maria Valdes | Tues
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
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. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Tropical Ecosystems and Biodiversity | 3019 (001) | Camila Pizano | Mon
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
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. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Origin and Evolution of the Solar System | 3026 (001) | Maria Valdes | Fri
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
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. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Plants and People | 3031 (001) | Camila Pizano | Tues
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
Plants dominate the world and have determined human history since the first origins of our species. In fact, although we talk about ¿plant domestication¿, some may argue that plants have domesticated us humans to their own benefit. This course explores how plants have deeply influenced our lives for thousands of years. We explore the structure and function of main plant groups, plant evolution and domestication, human nutrition and agriculture, commercial products derived from plants and fungi, and their role in human health and the environment. Topics include how plants spice up our lives from flavors to colors, heal, poison, feed and inspire our music, art and literature. There will be required field trips to The Field Museum, Lurie Garden and The Chicago Botanic Garden.
One textbook (Plants and Society) and a popular science book (The Botany of Desire) will be required, but other sources (videos, scientific journal articles, podcasts, etc.) will be used as course materials. Course work includes discussion, worksheets, quizzes, online videos and readings (textbook excerpts, magazine, journal and newspaper articles, book chapters, interviews), as well as talks by invited speakers. |
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| Cell Biology | 3086 (001) | Anna Edlund | Fri
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
This course in an introduction to the structures and functions of eukaryotic cells. Cells are the un-splittable, elemental ¿atoms¿ of life, and all of them share DNA, RNA, proteins and membranes in common. In this class, lecture and laboratory exercises will be mixed to explore molecular compositions, energy transformations, cell division, and replication and expression of genetic material within cells.
Readings will be from the text Campbell Biology: Concepts and Connections, 9th ed. Reece, Taylor et al. (students will not need to buy this textbook). To explore the interplay between personal, societal, historical and scientific perspectives on Cell Biology, several movies will also be viewed and discussed, including 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' and 'Three Identical Strangers.' Students will submit journal entries, laboratory notes, as well as answers to frequent review questions. There will be two mid-terms. Students will select a subject of personal meaning related to Cell Biology and will design a public-facing artwork, photomicrograph, infographic, zine, or public service announcent that shares the structures, functions and/or stories of their subject. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Cont Narr:Love Art/Hate Artist | 3105 (001) | Eileen Favorite | Thurs
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
How do the biographical details of an artist's life influence our attitude toward their work? Should an artist's politics?both personal and public?influence our aesthetic response to the artwork itself? Or does a work of art become its own entity, detached from its creator? Perhaps, as the deconstructionists advocate, a text or image only bears an accidental relationship to the author's conscious intentions, and thus the creator is superfluous to the work itself. In this class, we study the lives and works of such artists as Chester Himes, J.D. Salinger, Patricia Highsmith, and Sylvia Plath, to examine why we tolerate some behaviors and abhor others. By reviewing biographies, journals, films, and the primary text or artwork itself, we wrestle with the question, is it possible to love the art when you hate/disapprove of/dislike the life the artist led? Students will write shared discussion pieces, a 8-10-page research paper on an artist of their choice, and participate in team debates.
CONTENT WARNING: The content and discussion in this course will necessarily sometimes engage with issues of human suffering. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with, including graphic or intense content that discusses or represents racism, mental illness, and sexual or physical violence. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Cont Narr: Asian American Lit | 3105 (002) | Suman Chhabra | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM All Online |
Description
There are fantastic books by Asian American writers but often they are not taught in school, or part of pop culture, or included in the literary canon. Who decides which writers and books are worthy of reading? In this discussion based course, we will critically read, think, and write about texts by contemporary Asian American authors. We will analyze multiple factors that have influenced the creation of the texts and that are explored within them, such as race, diaspora, memory, family, politics, community, and identifying oneself and one¿s artwork. The readings will be across genre: novels, poetry, non-fiction, and graphic novels. Readings often include works by Victoria Chang, Mira Jacob, Alexander Chee, Jenny Xie, Ocean Vuong, Ted Chiang, and Cathy Park Hong among others. We will freewrite, formulate conceptual questions for the readings, write responses, and compose 2 essays based on individual inquiry and analysis.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Cont Narr:Immigrant Fictions | 3105 (004) | Mon
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
|
Description
The works of contemporary authors are explored in relation to particular social, ethical, or artistic issues.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Cont Narr: Cripping the Narrative | 3105 (005) | Terri Griffith | Wed
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
Crip Theory, an intersection of Disability Studies and Queer Theory, forms the theoretical groundwork for this course. Students analyze how works of literature and art reshape traditional storytelling and representations of disability and nonnormativity. Through critical engagement with a variety of texts, students will investigate how experiences of disability influence and transform our narratives. As they engage with literature, art, and theory, students will uncover the ways creative works confront power dynamics, promote inclusivity, and further the goal of social justice.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Masterworks: Beloved | 3110 (002) | Kirin Wachter-Grene | Mon
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
Toni Morrison¿s 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved is an undeniable tour de force, with an impact nearly impossible to describe. Blending historical truth with literary innovation, realism with the supernatural, Morrison creates a work of critical fabulation that constructs a searing portrayal of slavery¿s lasting wounds. With writing that is both lyrical and harrowing, the novel is a landmark in American literature and a vital work for understanding the legacy of slavery in the present. In other words, there is a reason why this book remains one of the most banned and challenged in American classrooms, as we will discuss. The novel¿s powerful exploration of slavery¿s psychological and generational impact, its innovative narrative style, and its profound engagement with the persistence of history and memory make it a staggering literary work to return to again and again with careful, sustained attention. We will slowly and deeply engage with Beloved over the course of the semester, attending to its nonlinear storytelling, stream-of-consciousness narration, shifting perspectives, and breakdown of language, all while situating the novel within social, political, literary critical, and cultural contexts, including Black feminist theory. Students should expect to read, on average, 75 pages of combined fiction and critical secondary materials per week and to write about and discuss them in depth.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| The Novel | 3112 (001) | Todd S. Hasak-Lowy | Tues
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
A study of the nature of the novel as an invented form of literary art. This course typically includes works by a variety of authors representative of a wide range of cultures and historical periods, so that the variety of the novel is explored.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Mathematical Thinking | 3151 (001) | Elizabeth Freeland | Tues
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| LH:Nonviolence: Theory and Practice | 3190 (002) | Todd S. Hasak-Lowy | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
This course offers an introduction to the theory and practice of nonviolence. Students will study nonviolence as a philosophy of social and political change, in large part by reading the writings of important nonviolent theorists and activists, including Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Vaclav Havel. We will also explore the history of specific nonviolent movements, in which this theory has been applied and tested, with special focus on the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In their own project, students will investigate the potential and limits of nonviolent change by researching other nonviolent movements in order to answer questions that arise during our study of this rich, complex topic.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| LH:Speaking Images/Visual Texts | 3190 (005) | Pamela Barrie | Fri
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
From hieroglyphs to haiku?when do images function as words, words as images? Where do word, image and idea meet, and what are the potentials for communication and artistic expression? From the Renaissance fad for emblem poems, to the Asian-inspired poetics of the 20 th century Imagists, these questions have arisen a number of times in the history of the alphabetic cultures, as well as those employing other forms of graphic notation. In this course, we study a diverse range of verbal/visual traditions and movements, the philosophies and theories behind them, and their cultural and aesthetic aims and achievements. Students write a series of short essays in response to the course materials, and also do independent research for a presentation and paper on a particular aspect of the topic.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| LH:Ghost Poetics | 3190 (006) | Zachary Tavlin | Fri
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
Few cultures anywhere in space and time have not taken haunting seriously. Ghosts fill literary and historical space, provoking fear and desire, revenge fantasies and death wishes. This course will draw from poetic traditions spanning the globe and human history in order to experience (at secondhand, at least) and contextualize occult, spiritualist, gothic, and spectral aesthetics as recurring facts of cultural history. Readings from a wide range of global poetry will be supplemented by related non-literary materials (for example, spirit photography and heretical religious tracts) and some contemporary theory that falls under what has been called the 'spectral turn' in cultural criticism. We will look at the ways ghosts and hauntings construct and form subjectivity, both socially and individually. If the dead always return, and history always repeats, how do different traditions conceive ghostliness? In what way are socio-political specters?racial figures, the murdered or 'disappeared,' witches and other types at the margins?dealt with, radically accepted, sheltered, or eliminated in poetry? Is poetry always a matter of haunting?
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| LH:Marxism, Art, and Culture | 3190 (008) | Zachary Tavlin | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
Marxism isn't just about the 'real world' critique of capitalism and the potential rise of communism. Many thinkers and critics who have written in the wake of Karl Marx have tried to articulate what it means (and why it's important) to read like a Marxist, to understand literature, art, and all the rest of human culture as a historical expression of the human condition under capital. This course serves as an introduction to Marxism and Marxist aesthetics, literary criticism, and cultural critique. We will begin by reading Marx and Engels, and then spend most of the semester considering core concepts as they develop over the subsequent century and a half of Marxist art, literary, and cultural criticism. We will ask questions like: what is the relationship between narrative representation, socio-political life, and its underlying economic forces? Do artworks produce autonomous worlds and meanings or are they entirely shaped by capitalism and class society? How do artifacts like novels, poems, theatrical texts, films, or visual artworks theorize history and society? What do the rise of specific forms, genres, and popular cultural practices tell us about social history? To what extent is it useful to read like/as a Marxist (and are there limitations in doing so)?
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Top: Environmental Justice in Literature & Film | 3192 (001) | Jane Robbins Mize | Mon
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
In this course, we will examine how a variety of media¿from bestselling books to experimental films¿have represented and contributed to environmental justice movements. From Silent Spring to Standing Rock, we will engage with texts and films that use subversive storytelling to resist environmental degradation and confront the climate crisis. Our syllabus will focus on Black- and Brown-led movements in North America while also interrogating the meaning and scope of environmental justice worldwide. Throughout the semester, students will also have the opportunity to create small- and large-scale publications that communicate with and about environmental justice movements¿from zines to Tik Toks to protest banners. Ultimately, through our readings, screenings, discussions, and assignments, we will think through the social, ethical, and political implications of making media about the environmental crisis.
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| Discoveries in Physics | 3204 (001) | Elizabeth Freeland | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
This course investigates the process of discovery in science, and in particular in physics. The historical and contemporary physics experiments we will study have led to some of the most profound insights we have about the natural world, be it on the largest scales or the smallest.
The discoveries typically studied include: the search for aether, the discovery of pulsars, the discovery of the Higgs particle, and parity violation. Contemporary topics vary but may include tests of the speed of light, the measurement of gravity waves, or the imaging of black holes. Students will learn the background physics and context necessary to understand the experiments and their results. Additionally, we investigate the process of scientific discovery, the mindset of scientists, and the difficulties and the payoffs of research. We evaluate the culture of science, how that creates and is created by scientists. Finally, we consider the influence of awards, the general public, and the media on scientists, their discoveries, and our perception of them. Assignments include weekly homework reviewing factual material, several guided-journal writings, several in-class labs, two exams, and a short final presentation on a student chosen topic.' PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Physics for Our Changing Planet | 3206 (001) | Elizabeth Freeland | Thurs
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Western Music: Medieval To Mozart | 3210 (001) | Katarzyna Grochowska | Tues
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
This course surveys over 2,000 years of music in Western civilization. Historical, cultural, and social contexts are studied as they pertain to the music. After an introduction to the Greeks (8th century BCE), music such as medieval chants, motets, Renaissance masses, madrigals, Baroque concertos, operas, and Classical symphonies (ca. up to 1800) are studied. Lectures trace the changes from vocal to instrumental practices with closer looks at some representative period instruments. Biographies are used to demonstrate social, educational and geo-political changes, which shaped the final results of composers' creativity: music. European musical centers -- Paris, Venice, and Vienna -- and their musical establishments receive special attention. Students learn a macro-level music vocabulary and are encouraged to use it in their discourse. Each lecture is structured around a composition that exemplifies the most salient features of a particular period. Listening and reading is required before each lecture. Students are assigned two short essays (6 pages each) as well as a midterm and a final exam that focus on listening skills and understanding/usage of music vocabulary.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Astronomy | 3210 (001) | Lucianne Walkowicz | Tues
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
Description
This is an introduction of the study of astronomy through a combination of observation and classroom instruction. Topics include the appearance of the night sky, seasonal constellations, the moon and planetary motions, the seasons, astronomical telescopes, stellar astronomy and evolution, and cosmology. One or two classes at the Adler Planetarium are planned.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Search for Life in Universe | 3211 (001) | Lucianne Walkowicz | Wed
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| Western Experimental Music: Disrupting the Canon | 3213 (001) | Allie n Steve Mullen | Wed
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
Description
A critical survey of Western music from 1950 to the present, this course investigates the western experimental music tradition with a focus on issues of representation. Where are the women and BIPOC composers in studies on western experimental music? What are the implications of classifying certain forms of experimental music over others as `classical¿ music and `fine art¿ music? What do these classifications tell us about cultural values, power, and the privileging of certain musics and voices over others? As we identify the supposed `canonic¿ figures of the period, the techniques they used, the processes they employed, and the creative motivations that drove them, we will note the collapse of tonality, and the influence of popular and `world¿ music styles on Western `art music.¿ We will look at the role of `silence¿ in music, aleatoric or `chance¿ music, total serialism, musique concrète, minimalism, jazz, emerging popular styles, and the appropriations of Black American, Pacific Islander, and Hindustani music traditions. We will study the music and thinking of composers like John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Steve Reich, while asking ourselves why so much more has been written about their work than the work of composers like Daphne Oram. We will also discuss why the works of saxophonist John Coltrane and rapper Kendrick Lamar are not typically classified as 'art' music in Western music studies. The course includes weekly reading and listening, 3 short writing assignments as well as experimental creative analysis, a term paper, and an in-class presentation.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Cont Music: Modern Composers | 3215 (001) | Emily C. Hoyler | Mon
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM All Online |
Description
This is a course on contemporary art music: its history, philosophy, performance techniques, and interdisciplinary worlds. Its aim is to enjoy, explore, analyze, critique, expose, and learn about Western art music and modern composers from the turn of the twentieth century to the present day. The focus is on experimental music, composers, musicians, and conceptualists. Gender, race, class, and privilege are explored as they pertain to the career of the professional artist. Course objectives include building strong listening skills and acquiring the vocabulary to speak and write about music and its cultural contexts effectively. Screenings and viewings will vary but will typically include examples of works by musical artists such as Laurie Anderson, Cathy Berberian, John Cage, Wendy Carlos, Philip Glass, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Arnold Schoenberg. Readings will also vary but will typically include works by musicologists such as Daniel Albright, Joseph Auner, Mark Katz, and Carol Oja, as well as writings by composers about their own music. Topics will include modernism, expressionism, atonality, technology, indeterminacy, minimalism, performance art, and experimental opera and theatre. Students should expect to write 15-20 double-spaced pages over the course of the term, including revisions based on instructor and peer feedback. Assignments may include a close listening essay and an original research paper. Students will present a 10-minute oral presentation on their research paper.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Cont Music:HipHop Sonic Cultur | 3215 (003) | Andrew Lindsay | Wed
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
This course will provide students with all the tools necessary to make provocative, risk taking arguments about the most popular art form in the world. The course will teach students to analyze rap music holistically - students will first develop a musical vocabulary sufficient to make analytical arguments about any style of hip-hop they encounter. Students will be required to listen to a wide variety of music and to listen actively for the core musical elements of rap - from rhythm, to pattern analysis, to sampling, and more. Subsequently we examine rap from a textual perspective. We begin with the form of the lyrics - from rhyme scheme, to metaphor, to narrative perspective - and proceed from there to study the larger, always-provocative narratives that have dominated the history of hip-hop. Rap music is a once-underground, now wildly popular art form that runs the gamut from bubblegum pop to avant garde; students will leave this course prepared to make educated arguments about the most influential art form of their time.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Everyday Electronics | 3231 (001) | Brett Ian Balogh | Wed
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
Much of our everyday experience is mediated by electronics. From toasters to smart phones, the devices we interact with vary widely in their function and complexity, but all are composed of a set of common electronic components and function in ways determined by the connection of these components. This course provides an introduction to electronic theory as it relates to the connection of these components.
Topics to be covered will include but are not limited to reading schematics, DC and AC circuits, passive and active devices, filters, amplifiers and oscillators. Students will not only learn theory, but will also learn by constructing their own circuits by hand and by using circuit simulation and analysis tools in this laboratory course. Student learning will be assessed through weekly homework and laboratory assignments as well as several exams. PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Top: Arab Pop Divas | 3252 (001) | Aliah Ajamoughli | Thurs
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
From Syria to Germany, many Arabs across the globe are united by a core musical practice: every morning they greet the sun to the sounds of Lebanese pop diva Fairuz and greet the moon to the masterpieces of Egyptian superstar Umm Kulthum. Even though these divas reached their musical prime nearly fifty years ago, for many Arabs their music still remains a pinnacle of excellence in the music industry today. This course examines the impact of Arab women and their musical legacy in a culture often Orientalized as misogynistic, backwards, and oppressive. Drawing from ethnomusicology, performance studies, and gender studies, this course takes a radical approach to understanding the nuances of an Arab pop diva and deconstructs Orientalist understandings of Arab culture through musical study. We will not only listen closely to the brilliance of Umm Kulthum and Fairuz but also consider the cultural influence of their predecessors like Asmahan and the innovations of their successors like Nancy Ajram. Throughout the course, students will question why the societal impact of pop music divas is often devalued across cultures and explore these divas as drivers of liberation and political change. By the course¿s conclusion, students will hold a more nuanced understanding of not only Arab culture but also their own culture¿s pop music. Course assignments will include self-reflexive listening journals and a research project on the student¿s Arab pop diva of choice. No previous musical knowledge or Arabic speaking skills are required for this course.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Music and Sexuality | 3255 (001) | Emily C. Hoyler | Fri
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM All Online |
Description
From fin-de-siecle decadence to pop feminism, this course explores issues and representations of sexuality in twentieth-century western music, including opera, musical theater, instrumental music, art song, and popular music. Themes include modernist thought, sonic constructions of sexuality, and gendered roles in music. Drawing from musicology and gender studies, this course will address diverse aspects of the identities of composers and artists through examining authorship, expression, and performance. Course objectives include building strong listening skills and acquiring the vocabulary to speak and write about music and its cultural contexts effectively. Screenings will vary but will typically include examples of works by musical artists such as David Bowie, Benjamin Britten, Ornette Coleman, Madonna, Cole Porter, Prince, Ma Rainey, and Rodgers & Hammerstein. Readings will include works by authors such as Jane Bernstein, Philip Brett, William Cheng, Tammy L. Kernodle, Susan McClary, Sheila Whiteley, and Stacy Wolf. Students should expect to write 15-20 double-spaced pages over the course of the term, including revisions based on instructor and peer feedback. Assignments may include a close listening essay and an original research paper. Students will present a 10-minute oral presentation on their research paper.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| History of Opera | 3260 (001) | William Harper | Tues
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
Often called the ultimate art form, the operatic spectacles of music, storytelling, and ritual were at the core of varying European cultures during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. As such, they influenced and generated many innovations in literature, fashion, visual arts, dance, and music. In this course, we will screen operas such as Mozart?s Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute; the 'gesamtkunstwerk' operas of Wagner such as The Ring of the Nibelungen and Parsifal; examples of the French 'Opera Comique' such as Bizet's Carmen; the Italian opera of Verdi, La Traviata and Rigoletto; the 'verisimo' operas of Puccini, La Boheme, Il Trittico, and Madame Butterfly; and Strauss' radical, early 20th century operas Salome and Elektra. We will also encounter contemporary operas by Kaija Saariaho, Meredith Monk, Phillip Glass and John Adams. The primary resources for our studies are the operas themselves. We will screen operas during each class, review the social and historical contexts for the operas, and examine the compositional and scenographic techniques of the various productions. Course work will include a short paper on each of the works screened and a mid-term and final exam on selected arias from the operas.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Introduction To Philosophy | 3300 (001) | Herman Stark | Tues
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
Description
This course familiarizes students with basic philosophical skills: clear reasoning, examination of the soundness and validity of arguments, and development of consistent positions on certain philosophical issues. The course may be organized historically by studying the thought of major philosophers, beginning with Plato, and ending with the modern era (examples of figures studied: Plato, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, and Nietzsche); thematically (studying major themes in philosophy such as free will and determinism, the existence of God, and the mind-body problem); or by school of thought (studying major trends in philosophy such as pragmatism, analytical philosophy, Marxism, existentialism, and phenomenology). Readings range from historical to contemporary sources, including the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Quine, and Rorty. Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Top:Critical Game Studies: Gaming the Systems | 3300 (002) | Omie Hsu | Mon
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
This is a class where we will think about games with respect to social and political life; it is not a game design course. It puts Game Studies and Critical Theory in conversation with each other in order to invite questions and thought about what the formal, aesthetic, historical, sociopolitical, and affective dimensions of games could teach us about the formal, aesthetic, historical, social, and affective dimensions of politics. We will read games across genre and type - from First-Person Shooter video games to collaborative board games to Role-Playing mobile games to drinking card games (without the drinking). We will also read theory across disciplines and fields - from theories of embodiment (like queer theory or race and ethnicity studies) to debates in game studies (like ludology v. narratology) to concepts behind design elements (like game mechanics or player interaction) to questions of contemporary sociopolitical life (like critiques of capitalism or Science and Technology Studies). Also expect to play some games and to write short, though regular, critical analyses.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Top: Afro-Asian Century | 3300 (005) | Patrick Lynn Rivers | Wed
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
In 2003, Nikhil Pal Singh and Andrew F. Jones co-edited a special issue of positions, an insightful journal delving into the nuances of cultural critique with Asia and its diaspora at the center. Singh and Jones began with an underlying assumption. Specifically, if the 20th century was the American Century, the 21st century would be the century where Africa and Asia¿s historical links (economic, political, and especially cultural) would set the stage for the ascendance of two continents and their diasporas with both converging and diverging colonial pasts. This course is used to revisit this argument by assessing where Africa, Asia, and their diasporas are in the Afro-Asian Century. Course texts mostly consist of readings (scholarly, creative, and journalistic writing) and films that address African and Asian cosmopolitanism and power. This cosmopower unfolds mostly through music, film, kung fu, photography, dance, and literature. All texts will be available on Canvas. Evaluation is based on quizzes, a midterm and final exam, and a short final paper as capstone assignment.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Latinxs Studies | 3301 (001) | Deanna Ledezma | Tues
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
This course introduces students to theories and methodologies foundational to Latinx Studies as well as current trends and debates in the field. Through close readings of assigned texts and classroom discussions, students will study the diverse social, economic, political, and cultural histories of Latines and Latinxs in the United States. The course integrates close textual analysis with in-depth discussions, equipping students with critical tools to analyze the social construction of race and ethnicity, patterns of migration and diaspora, the impacts of colonialism, modes of resistance and activism, and the emergence of pan-ethnic identities. Texts and assignments will vary each year. Readings may include book chapters and articles by Gloria Anzaldua, Frances R. Aparicio, Lilia Fernandez, Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, Albert Sergio Laguna, Claudia Milian, Nancy Raquel Mirabal, and Barbara Andrea Sostaita, among others. Students should anticipate completing in-class writing exercises and reading responses, two short papers, and a final research-based essay and presentation on a topic of their choosing. Students¿ final projects will be organized into a class publication, with each student receiving their own copy at the conclusion of the semester.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Environmental Disasters | 3302 (001) | Jackson Watkins | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
Scientists now know that global warming is causing more hurricanes? or is it? This course will explore how environmental disasters ? both man-made and natural ? impact human society and the biosphere, and how they have changed in both frequency and intensity in response to climate change. Some relevant topics that this class will investigate include: heat waves and cold snaps, links between climate change and vectorborne diseases, tropical cyclones, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, environmental impacts of natural gas fracking and oil spills, El Ni?o, long and short-term species extinction, ecosystem responses to climate change, and more. We will consider current news articles and relevant policy solutions/responses, and class work will involve group work, critical thinking, quantitative practice and analysis of scientific literature.
Course work will include quantitative in-class assignments, relevant scientific readings, qualitative homework, quizzes, an exam and a final project. |
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DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Water:The Science of a Human Right | 3312 (001) | Michele Hoffman | Wed
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
Welcome to Water! This is a 3-credit introductory course on the science of water, it's associated resources, the sustainable use and management of the global water supply, and a conversation and dialogue about global water conflict. Through this course you will learn about the chemistry of water, its form and function, impacts of the quality and quantity of water on human lives and the environment, aspects of human survival that depend on water and the proper disposal of wastewater, the importance of conserving water, and the impact that future policies and economic changes might have on the availability of water in the US and around the world.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Existentialism | 3320 (001) | David B. Johnson | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
Existentialism has left a profound influence on contemporary Western thought, including philosophy, literature, film, theater, and graphic arts. It is a philosophical movement oriented toward two major themes - the analysis of human existence and the centrality of human choice. Existentialist conceptions of freedom and value arise from their view of the individual. According to Existentialist thinkers we are all ultimately alone, isolated islands of subjectivity in an objective world ,who have absolute freedom over our internal nature. Existentialism traces its roots to the writings of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. As a philosophy of human existence, existentialism found its best 20th-century exponent in its foremost representative Albert Camus. Camus believed that the essence of human existence in freedom. He criticized the human tendency toward 'bad faith,' reflected in humanity's perverse attempts to deny its own responsibility and flee from the truth of its inescapable freedom. In this course, we will examine themes of subjectivity, individuality, freedom and meaning that are central to Existentialist philosophy. To arrive at these goals, we will turn to works of philosophy, literature and film. As part of the course we will practice the principles of persuasive writing by learning how to make claims, analyze and make arguments about the works we will be discussing.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Top:Philosophy of Love | 3330 (001) | Irina Ruvinsky | Mon
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
This course examines the role of love and relationality in human life. A basic, innate longing for association drives us in our various endeavors, and relationships permeate every aspect of human becoming. When we examine our love relationships we find trust, mutual reliance, reciprocity, and care, but also a tangle of strife, misunderstanding, angst, and longing for connection. We explore the nature of love through works of philosophy, literature and film. We investigate the distinction between eros, philia, and agape, and discuss ideas of love as a feeling, an action, or a species of ?knowing someone.? We evaluate several philosophical theories of romantic love, and question the tension between the individual?s desire for self-discovery and her responsibility towards others. We address the concept of love from the Platonic, Kantian, and existentialist perspectives. We also read work by Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche and De Beuvoir. Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Top: AI and Critical Thinking | 3330 (002) | Burkay Ozturk | Wed
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
Is there any role for philosophy and religion given the advancement of science? This and related questions motivate the course. We explore them by drawing on mythology, fiction, science fiction, poetry, religion, science, and philosophy. We first explore major world religions by studying their texts, doctrines, rituals, and traditions. The aim is to master core facts and dispel stereotypes. Next, we critically examine some key elements, assumptions, and implications of these religions, including religious language, the self, religious psychology, evil, artificial intelligence, and even time travel. Authors include J.J.C. Smart, David Lewis, John Hick, John Perry, Thomas Nagle, David Hume, Xenophanes, Aquinas, Richard Feynman, Ursula Le Guin, Larry Niven, Aldous Huxley, Emily Dickinson, Yasunari Kawabata, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Hermann Hesse. Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly (daily for Summer semester) reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Top:Environmental Ethics | 3330 (007) | Emily Dupree | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
Environmental Ethics is the study of the ethical connections between our environment and its inhabitants, including ourselves. While ethics has traditionally focused on how people should treat other people, environmental ethics expands this inquiry into questions about how we should treat non-human animals and the environment itself. On what grounds might these kinds of arguments be made? And are these terms -- like 'the environment,' 'nature,' and 'animals,' -- as straightforward as they first appear? In this course we will focus on these foundational questions in environmental ethics, paying particular attention to the foundational philosophical concepts, how they interact with real-world examples here in Chicago, and what duties we might be under as citizens of this globe.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Top: Human Nature and Social Constructs | 3330 (008) | Isaac Shur | Thurs
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
This course treats artificial intelligence not as a marvel of technology but as a test of human judgment. Students learn to dissect the claims, metaphors, and narratives that surround AI, ranging from the myth of ¿thinking machines¿ to the ways algorithms quitely shape taste, belief, and behavior. Our aim is not to celebrate or fear AI, but to learn to think better in its midst. We begin with the foundations of reasoning and evidence: how to tell a good argument from a bad one, how bias lurks in data and language, and how epistemic shortcuts can distort understanding. We then move to the questions of creativity, authorship, and moral agency: When an AI imitates, who is responsible for what it outputs? When it assists in making art or policy, whose judgment counts? Near the end, we turn our attention to the cognitive, political and economic impact of AI on our societies. Throughout, students practice analysis: breaking down complex claims, questioning assumptions, tracing causal chains, and articulating defensible positions amid uncertainty. Readings and exercises will draw from logic, epistemology, philosophies of technology & science, and media theory, paired with case studies from art, design, and contemporary culture. By the end of the semester, students will be able to recognize signs of rhetorical, textual and audio-visual manipulation, evaluate AI-generated material with disciplined skepticism, and construct arguments that withstand scrutiny. Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Top: Ethics / Lit | 3330 (009) | Alex Sarappo | Fri
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
Questions about how to live are central to the study of ethics. Similar questions are central to literature. Are works of literature, then, works of ethics? Our interrogation of this question will cover a varied terrain. We will start with a classic text in philosophical ethics, John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, paying close attention to argumentation and the way its arguments are designed to convince, before considering those same features in responses to that text from both Bernard Williams (a philosopher) and Ursela LeGuin (a fiction writer). We'll then think about Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn--what have philosophers, like Jonathan Bennett, made of its central moral dilemma? How about fiction writers, like Percival Everett? We will then turn to J.M. Coetzee's The Lives of Animals, a novel with a sophisticated and much-debated moral issue at its heart, our treatment of nonhuman animals. Finally, we'll conclude with a study of the philosophy and novels of Iris Murdoch: what can her first novel, Under the Net, help us understand about her philosophy, in papers like 'The Idea of Perfection,' and what can, generally, a writer working within and between ethics and literature help us understand about what keeps the two disciplines apart, and what brings them together?
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Marx, Capitalism, and Human Flourishing | 3330 (011) | Emily Dupree | Tues
3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person |
Description
Capitalism predominates over the world today. In this course, we will engage in a philosophical study of capitalism, using the writings of Karl Marx as our guide. We will consider his analysis of capitalism as an economic system that interferes with human flourishing, the material basis of its world-historical emergence, the ethical issues that arise under this system, and how we might understand theories of labor, globalization, exploitation, and alienation from both ancient and contemporary philosophical perspectives. Readings from this course will also include texts by Aristotle, Frederick Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Frantz Fanon, Silvia Federici, and Nancy Fraser.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Earth's Changing Climate | 3340 (001) | Andrew H. Scarpelli | Tues
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
This course introduces you to the wonder that is the Earth system! Understanding the earth system involves viewing the atmosphere, hydrosphere (water), biosphere (plants), and geosphere (rocks) as interacting reservoirs of a complex system. In this class we will study the origin and history of the Earth and examine how the concepts of systems, cycles, and feedbacks apply to processes that involve water and ice, the dynamics of life, weather and global climate change. This class will give you a solid scientific basis for understanding the Earth as a system, appreciating the fragility of the environment, and confronting the complexity of climate change and global warming. We will consider current news articles, and policy solutions. Class work will involve group work, quantitative practice and critical reflection on Earth processes.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Molecular Media: Structure, Biochemistry, and Material Science | 3414 (001) | Andrew H. Scarpelli | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
As artists, the use of novel media often allow artists to find new means by which to express themselves and explore their message and meanings. Understanding the chemical structures and properties of the materials and components of media often allows for more sophisticated implementation and ease of use. In this course, we will focus on understanding the chemical and biological features of a number of different materials and developing a familiarity with materials as a means of further understanding common materials, identifying sustainable practices, and incorporating chemistry and biochemistry into meaningful creation.
Readings and screenings will vary but typically include peer reviewed articles from science journals, writings on material science and biochemistry, and alternative such as podcasts and online video series. Special focus will be on bio-materials. Course work will vary but typically includes weekly reading responses, a mid-term, and a partnered final project focusing on the properties and production of different materials. |
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DepartmentArea of StudyLocation |
| Top:Globalizing Japanese Pop Culture | 3500 (001) | Aiko Kojima Hibino | Mon
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
In this course, we will take various Japanese pop culture genres including comics, anime, food, fashion, music, etc. and examine the interplay between local and global culturescapes. Students are expected to critically inquire into the reality and complexity of people's lives in Japan as reflected in cultural products and to explore cultural transformation in Japan as a part of the dynamics of globalization. Locally 'common' value and knowledge is challenged as culture traverses borders. From the expansion of Japanese fan communities to the Asia-Pacific region and Brazil, to feminist criticism of gender representation, we will employ case studies to overcome our conscious or unconscious exoticism and to deepen our understanding toward Japanese culture in global context. Key points of inquiry will include: what racial and ethnic relations/tensions underlying global popular culture; economic and political factors driving trends in Japanese popular culture; gender, sexuality, and the politics of representation.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Atomic Age | 3500 (003) | Aiko Kojima Hibino | Mon
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
Description
When the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved in 1942 in Chicago, human society became destined to grapple with an unsolvable conundrum: How could our society justify the augmentation of this enormous power that could destroy our own existence? This course investigates discourses surrounding two major uses of nuclear power in society¿nuclear weapons and nuclear energy¿and examines them through social justice lenses. We will also study creative expressions inspired by the Atomic Age. Key points of inquiry include: what risks are associated with nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, and how they have been evaluated in contrast to their benefits; how the damages caused by nuclear weapons and nuclear energy have been addressed and mitigated; and whether the harms produced by nuclear weapons and nuclear energy equally impact all groups of people.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| Anatomy & Physiology | 3513 (001) | Dianne Jedlicka | Sat
1:00 PM - 3:45 PM In Person |
Description
This course serves as a basic introduction to human anatomy. The skeletal, muscular, digestive, circulatory, nervous, and reproductive systems are covered, with special emphasis on the skeletal system in reference to other mammals (a little bit of comparative anatomy!). The physiological processes of the aforementioned systems are examined allowing students to understand the processes. Laboratories include the use of plastic human and mammal models and dissections of preserved ?recycled? sheep organs (kidney, brain, heart, and eye). Labs designed by students while observing concerts at Chicago Symphony Center will focus on the Nervous system (especially special senses) and the Endocrine system (hormones). Other labs will be conducted at our Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum of Natural History.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| NATURAL HISTORY | 3520 (001) | Dianne Jedlicka | Mon
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person |
Description
This course is an introduction to the principles of ecology, emphasizing detailed field investigations of natural communities. Natural History studies allow for many aspects of knowledge to be applied to the understanding of a Biological concept. Among the topics explored are the dynamics of lake ecosystems, forest succession, trophic structure in streams, dune ecology, and territorial behavior in breeding birds and mammals. Lecture/Discussions examine major themes in modern ecology, including energy flow, nutrient cycling, and species diversity. Selections from nineteenth- and twentieth-century American naturalists (Thoreau, Muir, Burroughs, and Leopold) provide perspective on the relationship of humanity to nature. Global warming and pollution dynamics are explored. Lab activities at the Field Museum of Natural History, Lincoln Park Zoo, and the Shedd Aquarium strengthen the understanding of these concepts.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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| HS:The Cuban Revolution | 3520 (002) | W Douglas | Tues
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
Description
A variety of specific historical studies are offered on a rotating basis. Recent offerings have included The Limits of Reason, a study of European Enlightenment; Sex, Booze, and Baseball, the nature of leisure activities in American cultural life; Space, Heaven, and God, a study of the relationships of religion, astronomy, and cosmology; and War in American History.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| HS: The Medieval Islamic World, 600--1400 | 3520 (006) | Aisha Valiulla | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
Description
For many people, the premodern Islamic world is a fabled Arabian Nights-type place, with princesses, domes, genies, and adventure. Popular depictions such as Aladdin (1992) emphasize deserts and palaces, sword and horse. But what was it really like? This course analyzes medieval Islamic history from the advent of Islam (7th CE) up to the aftermath of the Mongol conquests (13th CE) to understand the political, cultural, and socio-religious contours of the medieval Islamic world. Through the eyes of scholars, travelers, slaves, and merchants, we will explore pluralism, mobility, and cosmopolitanism within the Dar al Islam, which stretched from Spain in the west to China in the east.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| HS:Palestinian/Israeli Conflct | 3520 (007) | Iymen Chehade | Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person |
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.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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Credits |
DepartmentLocation |
| HS: United States - Latin American Relations | 3520 (008) | W Douglas | Wed
6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person |
Description
A variety of specific historical studies are offered on a rotating basis. Recent offerings have included The Limits of Reason, a study of European Enlightenment; Sex, Booze, and Baseball, the nature of leisure activities in American cultural life; Space, Heaven, and God, a study of the relationships of religion, astronomy, and cosmology; and War in American History.
PrerequisitesPrerequisite: First Year English requirement. |
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