Fall 2020 Offerings
Courses numbered in the 390’s and 490’s are offered only once or twice and focus on a specialized topic. These courses are rarely appropriate for first-year students.
Please consult WebAdvisor for the days, times, and locations of these sections.
ART 390, Feminist art histories
Professor P. Burleigh
Credits: 4
This course examines the impact of feminism and feminist theory on visual culture from the 1960s to today. Visual culture encompasses the academic discipline of Art History, but also more popular spaces of representation including film, music, and television. Students learn about how feminist cultural producers address systemic inequalities with respect to gender, race, and class. Recognizing that categories of gender and sexuality are constructed differently across cultures, this course takes a transnational approach. There is significant focus on the intersections of feminism and post-human studies, asking how new technology and climate change impact contemporary feminism, queer theory, and the art that they produce.
Prerequisites: None
ENVSC 391, Environmental Design and Grant Writing
Staff, Contact Professor Pallant
Credits: 4
A review of research techniques and experimental design used by environmental scientists working in the field. This couse will cover skills required for submitting successful grants in support of environmental field research.
Prerequisites: ENVSC 210
ENVSC/GEO 392, Climate, Weather, and Their Hazards
Staff, Contact Professor Pallant
Credits: 4
A study of earth’s changing climate and its influence on weather. Students learn basic meteorology with special focus on extreme weather conditions: tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and droughts. The impact of changing climate and weather on the environment, infrastructure, public health, and economies is a central feature in the application of meteorology.
Prerequisites: ENVSC 110 or GEO 110
ENVSC 395, Field Ecology & Conservation
Professor Pearce
Credits: 4
A study of ecological field principles and techniques with a specific emphasis on wildlife and plants in natural and human-disturbed environments. Students use primary literature and student-driven field research to address observations about ecological composition, structure, and function, and compare how various habitat management approaches influence species conservation. Students develop testable hypotheses, design ways to test those hypotheses, collect, analyze, and report ecological data that focus on species and habitat conservation. Independent and group research projects will form the core of lab work at local natural areas. One laboratory per week.
Prerequisites: ENVSC 110 and ENVSC 210, or BIO 220 and FSBIO 201, and permission of instructor.
GERMN 390, Current Issues in German-Language News
Short Title: Current Issues in German News
Professor Ludewig
Credits: 4
A course on current issues in German-language news outlets. Driven by their own interests, students read,
watch, and discuss topics from, for example, politics, culture, technology, sports, and the economy. In
addition to building knowledge of facts about and debates in the German-speaking world today, students
reflect critically and comparatively on the German-language media landscape, what is (not) being covered
and why, and how German-language journalism has evolved over the last 100 years. Students practice both
speaking and writing, taking equal care to improve their vocabulary and grammar. Must be taken on the
letter-grade basis.
Prerequisites: GERMN 250 or appropriate placement.
HIST 390, Inventing Mexico: Nationalism and National Identity in a Global Context
Short Title: Inventing Mexico
Professor K. Haywood
Credits: 4
An investigation of the cultural and intellectual consequences of the Mexican Revolution. Arguments over the rights and responsibilities of citizens, proper and improper ways to represent Mexicans in art and mass media, patriotism, public education and-above all-the definition of “Mexican,” have dominated political discourse and shaped daily life for Mexicans since 1920. This seminar examines some of the books, films, paintings and other artifacts that have played a part in such arguments, and studies historians’ interpretations of the questions of national identity and nationalism in the 20th century.
Prerequisites: One course in Latin American history and permission of instructor.
Note: Students may not earn credit for both HIST 390 and HIST 577.
Professor Orttung
A study of the transformation of Roman society and culture in the time of the emperor Augustus (63 BC-AD 14). Topics include the rise of Octavian /Augustus to power after the death of Caesar, the transformation of the city of Rome into a world capital, and the reactions of contemporary historians and poets to the political and social upheaval of the period. Source materials include primary historical and literary documents, modern scholarship, and a close study of key monuments. Critical comparison of ancient and modern historical interpretation is emphasized in readings, discussion, and in a final research project.
Distribution Requirements: None
NEURO 490 Contemplative Neuroscience
Professor Conklin
Credits: 4
An examination of current empirical literature linking contemplative practice (meditation, yogic traditions) to structure and function of the human brain. Students examine through presentations, discussions, and lecture how and why contemplative practice could influence the central nervous system and human experience.
Prerequisites: PSYCH 206 and PSYCH 207, or BIO 385, or NEURO 120. Corequisite: NEURO 495.
NEURO 495 Contemplative Neuroscience Lab
Professor Conklin
Credits: 2
A series of laboratory experiments and contemplative practices. In the laboratory students learn to assess respiration, heart rate, EEG, eye movement, skin conductance, and blood pressure responses before, during, and/or after contemplative practice. In the studio students learn to practice meditation, yoga postures, and yogic breathing. Designed to complement issues discussed in NEURO 490. One laboratory or studio period per week. Corequisite: NEURO 490.