Program Codes:
REACH(A)
CORE
Reach Curriculum
All entering students must complete the REACH Curriculum. In the case of students returning to the University after an interruption of study, these students also must complete this new REACH Curriculum.
Freshman Year Experience
The Freshman Year Experience is about helping students as they begin their journey of reaching toward success. These courses are intended to be an introduction to academic writing and thought, as well as college life. Each student is required to take two courses as part of their Freshman Year Experience.
Reason and Faith
Every student is required to take one course (3 credits) at the 100 or 200 level from the Reason and Faith Category.
Introduction to the physiological and molecular techniques and methodologies for studying cells, organelles and macromolecules in relation to cellular activities and maintenance of life.
BIO 142
Short Title : EXPLORING CATHOLICISM
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : CST 100
Course Description : This course will comb the rich history and tradition of Roman Catholicism from the life of Jesus to the contemporary church. It will highlight key social and historical developments, major Catholic thinkers, and fundamental teachings related to Catholic belief, life, and discipleship in the 21st century.
Short Title : THE MANY FACES OF MARY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : CST 210
Course Description : This course will examine the history and development of the cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the economy of salvation from the Christian/Catholic perspective while examining closely those doctrines/dogmas associated with Mary and their place in the tradition of the Church. Special emphasis will be given to the teaching of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (1962-65) on this topic and contemporary theologies of Mary, both from the Christian and other religious perspectives.
Short Title : U.S. CATHOLIC HISTORY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : CST 225
Course Description : This course will introduce students to the history and development of the Catholic Church in the United States beginning with the Catholic presence in the "New World" prior to the thirteen colonies, up to and including the election of the first Catholic president in 1960. The course will examine the post Vatican II church in the U.S. and what those changes meant to Catholcs then and now. Contemporary trends will be examined, including the relationship of the U.S. Church to the universal Church and Vatican, the toll of the clergy sex abuse crisis, the rise of the "Nones," the rapidly changing demographic of the U.S. Church to that which is more ethnically diverse, and a future that may look decidedly different from the past as the number of clergy and religious continue to decline.
Short Title : THEOLOGY OF CHURCH
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : CST 250
Course Description :
This course is an exploration of the origins, historical development, and contemporary doctrine and theology of the Christian Church that would evolve into Roman Catholicism. Particular emphasis will be placed on the theology of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (1962-1965) and contemporary ecclesiologies relevant to the church’s structure today as well as examining future trends in church anthropology.
Short Title : VATICAN II
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : CST 260
Course Description : This course will have three foci. Initially, it will explore the historic context of Vatican II. Second, the course will offer an examination of key theological and spiritual teachings from the documents produced by the Council. Finally, the course will focus on "living Vatican II." Students will engage with churches, communities and organizations that reflect the influence of Vatican II in these the early years of the Council's impact in the world, in Christianity and in Roman Catholicism.
Short Title : CATHOLIC SYMBOLS&SACRAMENT
Active Term : Fall Term / Randomly
Course Code : CST 265
Course Description :
This course will be an exploration into the richness and complexity of Catholic ideas and experience. We will examine elements of the tradition's religious practice, including symbols, rituals, narratives and community. Using a variety of approaches (historical, theological, literary, and cultural), we will address critical questions about Catholic life.
Short Title : CATHOLICISM&SOCIAL JUSTICE
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : CST 275
Course Description :
The collective body of Catholic Social Teaching and its ongoing examination of issues such as economic & ecological justice, poverty, war & peace, discrimination, human rights, and labor conditions are the focus of this course. It will also highlight key members of the Catholic community who have modeled its values & themes such as Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and others.
Short Title : DESERT MOTHERS & FATHERS
Active Term : Spring Term / Odd Years
Course Code : CST 280
Course Description :
The desert mothers and fathers were ascetic Christians whose religious practice-involving the discipline of the body in order to attend to spiritual growth-exerted a profound influence on the development of ancient Christianity. By providing students with exposure to these historically significant figures this course allows students to explore different modalities of Christian being and helps them to contextualize renunciant practices still being practiced today.
Short Title : CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : CST 290
Course Description :
From its earliest time the Roman Catholic Tradition has been enriched and diversified through specific spiritualities embodied by individuals and communities. Through lecture, projects and discussion students will explore historic and contemporary monastic movements, saints and mystics while coming to an appreciation of the variety of spiritual expressions in the Church. Students will analyze and experience spiritual traditions while investigating the dynamic interplay of contemplation and action in the Christian life.
Short Title : CATHOLIC VALUES
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : CST 295
Course Description :
This course will examine the current understanding of moral thought from a Catholic Christian perspective. Historical sources and traditions of morality are explored as well as what makes Christian morality distinctive and relevant in the 21st century. Illustrations, case studies and individual stories will place the material in a contemporary context while challenging students to reflect upon what they really value for a life well lived.
Short Title : PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : PHIL 100
Course Description : An introduction to philosophy through a study of the principles of sound argument, the nature of philosophical perplexity, and selected topics in the theory of knowledge, ethics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion. Lecture and discussion.
Short Title : INTRODUCTION TO LOGIC
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : PHIL 101
Course Description : An introduction to the rules and processes of rational thinking, argumentation, analysis and criticism. Students will learn the elements of logic, become skilled at constructing rationally compelling deductive and inductive arguments, and learn how to effectively analyze and criticize arguments through a study of formal and informal fallacies. Lecture/discussion.
Short Title : PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN NATURE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : PHIL 102
Course Description : An examination of issues involving the nature of persons and human existence. Topics include freedom of action, the relationship of human nature to social reality, the extent to which humans are selfish, the nature of genuine self-interest, the basic problem of human existence, the meaning of life and the good life. Lecture and discussion.
Short Title : PRACTICAL REASONING
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : PHIL 105
Course Description : A practical study of thinking skills with emphasis on critical thinking, critical reading and the correct use of logical techniques in ordinary life. Satisfies the logic elective requirement for Philosophy majors and minors. Lecture/ discussion.
Short Title : PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : PHIL 150
Course Description : Invites students to explore a philosophical problem, theme, movement, school of thought, genre or interdisciplinary topic in depth, using a variety of sources, including both philosophical and non-philosophical literature as well as other forms of media, such as film, music, theater and art, as a means of philosophical interpretation, comprehension, analysis and criticism. Recent course titles: "Revolution," "Consciousness," and "Institutional Sociopathy."
Short Title : PHILOSOPHY & LITERATURE
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : PHIL 200
Course Description : Provides students the opportunity to explore important works of literature with rich philosophical content as well as works of philosophy that are written in various literary styles, examining literature from a philosophical perspective and philosophy as a form of literature. Lecture and discussion.
Short Title : EXISTENTIALISM
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : PHIL 210
Course Description : A study of existentialist thinkers, literature and film. The characteristics of existential philosophy are examined and the ideas of such figures as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre are explored. Existential themes are then used to interpret works by writers such as Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Camus and Hesse and to discuss some selected recent films.
Short Title : PHIL OF SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : PHIL 220
Short Title : AESTHETICS & CRITICISM
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : PHIL 230
Course Description :
An investigation into the nature of art and the aesthetic experience. The ground and function of aesthetic judgments is explored, issues surrounding the evolution of art are examined, and the role of aesthetic experience in the larger phenomenon of human experience is discussed. Lecture and discussion.
Short Title : PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : PHIL 255
Short Title : HIST PHIL TO RENAISS
Active Term : Fall Term / Odd Years
Course Code : PHIL 260
Course Description : A study of the history of Western philosophical thought and culture from its advent in ancient Greece to the Renaissance, emphasizing the great minds and ideas of Western civilization and how these have helped to shape our cultural landscape, focusing on the most significant ideological continuities and ruptures that constitute the historical changes of the Western world. Special emphasis is placed on shifts in conceptual frameworks and narrative forms found in the works of Greek dramatists, the early natural philosophers, Socratic philosophy, and the philosophical systems of Plato, Aristotle, the hedonists, the stoics, and Christian theologians, such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.
Short Title : HIST OF PHIL SINCE RENAISS
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : PHIL 261
Course Description : A study of Western philosophical thought and culture from the Renaissance to the 21st century, emphasizing the great minds and ideas of Western civilization and how these have helped to shape our cultural landscape, focusing on the most significant ideological continuities and ruptures that constitute the history of the modern Western world. Emphasis is placed on the Renaissance and Reformation, modern rationalism and empiricism, and the subsequent movements that grew out of these, such as German idealism, romanticism, scientific materialism, positivism, Marxism, and modern psychology and existentialism. Lecture and discussion. 3 credits.
Short Title : FOUNDATIONS CATHOLIC PHIL
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : PHIL 270
Course Description : An exploration of the rich, complex, and diverse foundations of the Catholic worldview. Students will develop an understanding of the key movements (Platonism, Aristoteleianism, Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Scholasticism, etc.), individuals, and texts that have motivated the growth and development of Catholicism in the ancient, medieval and modern world. Special emphasis will be placed on the conceptual frameworks and narratives of Greek philosophers (Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus), early Christian scriptures (the New Testament), and Christian theologians (Boethius, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas).
Short Title : WHAT IS RELIGION?
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : RLST 100
Course Description : An introduction that provides students with the foundational skills of the academic study of religion in order to apply them to an increased understanding of the role of religion in contemporary society. The course presents a broad overview that will provide students with a foundation for topical courses in the religious studies department as well as the ability to engage religion thoughtfully and knowledgably in other disciplines.
Short Title : SACRED TEXTS
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : RLST 110
Course Description : An introduction to religious studies that examines the origins and developments of sacred texts. The course will focus especially on how later texts and traditions reconfigure earlier traditions in the light of new experiences. By the end of the term the student will have developed the skills necessary to become a close and careful reader of primary texts.
Short Title : WORLD RELIGIONS
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : RLST 115
Course Description : An introduction to religious studies that inquires into the history of religions by focusing on several world religious traditions and their claims about Ultimate Reality, the purpose of human life, the meaning of suffering and alienation, the importance and role of social organization, and ethics.
Short Title : CONTEMP MORAL ISSUES
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : RLST 200
Course Description :
Course explores moral issues both personal and social, in light of Christian Scriptures, tradition and human experience. A Roman Catholic perspective on these issues is emphasized.
Short Title : CHRISTIANITY
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : RLST 205
Course Description :
This course examines the impact of significant Christian thinkers on Western culture. As we will see, the development of a Western Christian heritage was neither monolithic nor predetermined. It is rather the historical result of argument and debate among a plurality of voices throughout the centuries. We will explore the influence these voices have on the way various contemporary Christians groups conceptualize theology and authority.
Short Title : HINDUISM
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : RLST 206
Course Description :
An historical and thematic introduction to Hinduism which will examine its array of beliefs and morals, myths and rituals, philosophies and poetry, gurus and teachers, gods and goddesses. Particular attention will be given to developments in Hinduism including the host of philosophical, historical, social and political contexts that have generated plural expressions of Hinduism in India and have contributed to a more global expression of Hinduism worldwide.
Short Title : BUDDHISM
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : RLST 207
Course Description :
An introduction to the various world views encompassed under the rubric of Buddhism. This course surveys religious, philosophical and ritual developments in the history of Buddhism, beginning in the Indian context and extending throughout Asia and even into the West. The nature of reality, human community, suffering and liberation articulated in various versions of Buddhism will be primary themes for study.
Short Title : ISLAM
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : RLST 208
Course Description : A study of the origins and development of Islam, beginning from the prophet Muhammad to the contemporary era. Special consideration of Islam's religious, social, and philosophical developments, the diversity within Islam, and the interface of Islam as it penetrated into cultures beyond the Arabian peninsula.
Short Title : NEW TEST & CHRISTIAN ORIGINS
Active Term : Spring Term / Odd Years
Course Code : RLST 210
Course Description : This course engages the foundational documents of Christianity and examines how these texts emerged over time as an authoritative collection that came to be regarded as Scripture. In addition to contextualizing these documents in their indigenous religious/philosophical/cultural environments, special attention will be paid to the formation of diverse early Christian communities based on differences in their use of a multiplicity of Jesus traditions.
Short Title : JESUS THE CHRIST
Active Term : Spring Term / Odd Years
Course Code : RLST 230
Course Description : An examination of the development of images, concepts, and doctrines about Jesus of Nazareth. It moves chronologically from New Testament materials to contemporary theological discussions about the person and message of Jesus and their significance for the post-modern world.
Short Title : THE SACRED & CINEMA
Active Term : Spring Term / Odd Years
Course Code : RLST 235
Course Description :
Film has become the dominant medium of popular cultural expression in the contemporary era, and as such offers a vital space where the re-contextualization and re-interpretation of religious themes can be studied. Understanding the use and presence of religious ideas and symbols in film allows perspective on how traditional religious themes are imagined and challenged through contemporary experience.
Short Title : EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : RLST 250
Course Description :
This course examines various traditions of Indian philosophy, specifically the "orthodox" schools (the so-called "six views") and their Buddhist counterpoints. Our concern will be the methods, presuppositions, arguments, and goals in Indian reflection on the nature of the human person (philosophical anthropology), the nature of reality (metaphysics), and the nature and process of knowing (epistemology). The goals of this course include showing the traditions of systematic, critical thinking in India and highlighting, where appropriate, their significant parallels to Western philosophical thought.
Short Title : PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : RLST 251
Course Description : This course investigates various issues and arguments within philosophy of religion, including: the problem of evil, arguments for God's existence, the concept of religious experience, divine omniscience and omnipotence, religious language, miracles, life after death, and the justification of religious belief. 3 credits.
Short Title : RELIG PERSP HUMAN RELATION
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : RLST 255
Course Description : This course will examine the many ways religious and cultural traditions have interpreted the dynamics of human relationships, including (but not limited to): concepts of relating to oneself, to others (or, friendship), relationships with divine, sexual relationships, the status of one's gender in relation to others, as well as definitions of marriage and family. The course offers descriptive, comparative and critical analyses of the teachings of individual theorists (religious, cultural, and/or philosophical) in order to better understand how religious and cultural perspectives bear on the questions and controversies about human relationships in the modern world.
Short Title : AMERICAN RELIGION
Active Term : Fall Term / Odd Years
Course Code : RLST 265
Course Description :
A survey of religious beliefs and practices in an American context. This course examines various expressions of American religiosity and aims to contextualize, understand, and analyze the variety and plurality of the American religious landscape.
Short Title : GLOBALIZED RELIGION
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : RLST 266
Course Description : This course provides a basic introduction to the descriptive and explanatory models in the sociological study of religion that prove helpful in examining the enculturation of diverse traditions such as Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism into the U.S. religious landscape. In addition, this course examines strains of anti-immigration in the United States that resist such efforts of religious enculturation. Finally, this course acknowledges the distinctiveness of these enculturated religious traditions in order to move toward a pluralistic engagement of religious traditions.
Short Title : RELIGION & VIOLENCE
Active Term : Spring Term / Odd Years
Course Code : RLST 267
Course Description : This course is designed to explore the complex ways in which religious people appear to be motivated by religion toward violence or peace. It will look at the history of violence in religious traditions, modern movements and developments most closely associated with religious violence, structures of religious life and identity that appear to lead to acts of violence, specific case studies, and finally pathways toward peace.
Short Title : WOMEN & SCRIPTURE
Active Term : Fall Term / Even Years
Course Code : RLST 270
Course Description : An exploration of the biblical texts dealing with the themes relating to women: their presence and neglect, images, and roles. The course will study the contributions, challenges and significance of women in Scripture with particular concern for contemporary interpretations by Jewish and Christian women.
Short Title : LIBERATION RELIG & SOCIETY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : RLST 275
Course Description : This course examines the origin and growth of liberation theologies in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the United States. Students will be introduced to the work of major liberation theologians and the diverse contexts in which liberation theologies are done. The critical roles they play within diverse religious, cultural and societal contexts and the impact of economic globalization has upon them will also be considered.
Short Title : RELIGION,SCIENCE,& MAGIC
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : RLST 295
Course Description : This course examines the complex historical relationship between the fields of scientific and religious enquiry. This course approaches these issues historically and thematically using case studies to understand and to analyze distinctive modes of inquiry about truth claims.
Liberal Arts Experience
Each student is required to take 3 courses (9 credits) at the 100 or 200 level from the following areas of the Liberal Arts Experience, with no more than 2 courses from any one category.
*Note that no two prefixes in the Liberal Arts Experience can be the same.
Short Title : DRAWING I
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ART 100
Course Description : Studio Experience designed to develop perception, skill and creativity. Includes demonstrations, practice, and projects in various techniques from gesture to final form renderings. Taken in the freshman year. Open to Art majors only.
Short Title : PAINTING I/WATERCOLOR
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ART 101
Course Description : Studio experience designed to develop skill and creativity. Includes demonstrations, practice, and projects in various techniques from transparent watercolor to gouache.
Prerequisites : ART 100
Short Title : CERAMICS I
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ART 102
Course Description : A beginning level 3-dimensional art course designed to present a foundation for the technical and aesthetic aspects of ceramic art. Lecture, demonstration, discussion and studio experience will be emphasized. Includes hand building, wheel throwing, glazing, and firing gas and electric kilns.
Short Title : SCULPTURE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ART 103
Course Description : A 3-dimensional art course primarily for the art major/minor. This class is designed to present fundamental methods of sculpture. Emphasis is on several in-depth studio experiences which demonstrate perception, technique, design, production and communication.
Short Title : PRINTMAKING I
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : ART 104
Course Description : Studio experience designed to develop skill and creativity. Includes demonstrations, practice, and projects in various techniques including intaglio, planographic, relief and monotype.
Prerequisites : ART-100 ART-125
Short Title : PAINTING I/ACRYLIC
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ART 105
Course Description : Studio experience designed to develop skill and creativity. Includes demonstrations, practice and projects in various techniques from alla prima to hard edge. Prerequisites: Art 100, ART 125. 3 credits.
Prerequisites : ART-100 ART-125
Short Title : PHOTOGRAPHY I
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ART 106
Course Description :
Studio experience in digital photography including camera operation, lighting, design, Photoshop and Idea generation. Students must have a DSLR digital camera approved by the instructor.
Short Title : ART APPRECIATION
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ART 110
Course Description : A survey of the visual arts including painting, sculpture, and architecture. Includes the study of artists, design, significant art works, and art criticism. For Non-art Majors only.
Short Title : ART HIST: ANCNT TO MEDIEVAL
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : ART 122
Course Description : This course provides a survey of art and architecture from Prehistoric times to the Medieval Ages. Recommended for Upperclassmen. 3 credits.
Short Title : ART HIST:RENAISS TO MODERN
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ART 123
Course Description : A survey of art and architecture from the Renaissance to the 20th Century. Recommended for Upperclassmen.
Short Title : AMERICAN CLASSICS
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ENG 155
Course Description :
A survey of major writers, established within the traditional canon of American literature, with attention given to their individual achievement and contribution to American literary and cultural development. Authors may include Franklin, Emerson, Dickinson, Hawthorne, Twain, Frost, Hemingway, and others.
Course Code : ENG 220
Course Description :
A study of representative prose and poetry of Old English and Middle English from Beowulf to Chaucer, including Old English heroic poems, elegies, gnomic verses and riddles, and works such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Short Title : RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
Active Term : Fall Term / Odd Years
Course Code : ENG 224
Course Description :
A study in the literary milieu in England from the early 1500s to 1600 with authors such as Wyatt, Surrey, Shakespeare, and Milton.
Short Title : RESTORATION & 18TH CENTURY
Active Term : Fall Term / Even Years
Course Code : ENG 228
Course Description :
A comparative study of the historical, cultural, and literary movements underpinning the development and influences of the Neoclassical Age in England, focusing on such authors as Dryden, Congreve, Pope, Haywood, and Johnson.
Short Title : ROMANTICISM
Active Term : Spring Term / Odd Years
Course Code : ENG 230
Course Description :
A close examination of some of the major ideas and influences in British and continental Romanticism, with special emphasis on the development of Romantic literary theory through the works of such writers as Goethe, Hoffman, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats.
Short Title : VICTORIAN LITERATURE
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : ENG 234
Course Description :
A comparative examination of the historical and literary movements of the British Victorian period. The study covers a range of poetry and prose by authors such as Tennyson, Arnold, the Brownings, and Rossetti.
Short Title : BRITISH/IRISH MODERNISM
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ENG 238
Course Description :
The course examines modernist poetry, fiction, and drama written in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland through the works of such writers as Hardy, Joyce, Woolf, Yeats, Synge, Auden, Shaw, Forster, as well as a more recent group that includes Greene, Murdock, Durrell, Stoppard, Larkin, O'Brien, and Beckett.
Short Title : AMERICAN RENAISSANCE
Active Term : Randomly / Odd Years
Course Code : ENG 253
Course Description :
Between 1820 and 1865, American literature came of age with the period's extraordinary cultural and social upheavals. A study of the most important writers of the period, such as Poe, Emerson, Douglass, Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau, Whitman, and Dickinson.
Short Title : AMERICAN REALISM
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : ENG 261
Course Description :
A study of the regional voices and the literary movements of realism, including local color and naturalism, that marked the years following the American Civil War through the works of such writers as Davis, Jewett, Chopin, Gilman, Chesnutt, Howells, James, Twain, and Crane.
Short Title : AMERICAN MODERNISM
Active Term : Spring Term / Odd Years
Course Code : ENG 263
Course Description :
A study of the modernists writing from 1910 to 1945, along with the writers of the Harlem Renaissance and of the 1930s Depression. Poets include Frost, Eliot, Pound, Williams, Stevens, H.D., Moore, Hughes, and fiction writers such as Faulkner, Cather, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Hurston.
Short Title : MUSIC IN SOCIETY
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : MUS 100
Course Description : An exploration of music from medieval chant through rock, and an examination of its impact on politics, culture, history and education. There is a strong emphasis on the acquisition of listening skills as the primary vehicle for fully comprehending musical meaning, style and form. The course is international in scope, including music traditions from around the world. Students are encouraged to reflect on music's relevance to their studies at Mercyhurst and their daily lives.
Short Title : THEATRE APPRECIATION
Active Term : Randomly / All Years
Course Code : THEA 101
Course Description :
An introduction to the live performance experience through the study of the various elements of theatre and performance, the history of theatre from ancient Greeks to modern times, and dramatic literature.
Short Title : ACTING I
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : THEA 110
Course Description :
This course examines the development and evolution of the Stanislavski system of acting from its inception at the Moscow Art Theatre to modern times. Students will explore the elements of the actor's psychophysical technique - given circumstances, imagination, concentration of attention, relaxation of muscles, units and objectives, faith and a sense of truth, emotion memory, communion, and adamtation - and how they can be used to craft a believable performance onstage.
Short Title : ACTING II
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : THEA 220
Course Description :
This course is an in-depth exploration of the basic principles of acting and the creative process introduced in Acting I. These skills, including expansion of improvisational skills, action and text analysis, character analysis and transformation, communion, etc., will be focused toward advanced work in scene and monologue study, specifically dealing with early and contemporary realism.
Prerequisites :
THEA 110
Short Title : SCRIPT ANALYSIS
Active Term : Spring / Even Years
Course Code : THEA 245
Course Description :
This course is designed to introduce students to approaches to script analysis useful to actors, directors, designers, theater critics, playwrights, and other theatre practicioners. Students are given practice in the application of selected methods of analysis related to given circumstances, structure, characters, theme, motivational units, and production metaphors. These methods of analysis are designed to foster the development of critical thinking skills, including metaphorical thinking.
Short Title : TOPICS IN THEATRE HISTORY
Active Term : Fall Term / Odd Years
Course Code : THEA 290
Course Description :
This course explores a theme, period, movement or genre in theatre history through the reading and discussion of representative plays and their production.
Short Title : PLANT SCIENCE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : BIO 110
Course Description : An introduction to the study of plants including their biology and ecology. Topics include basic structure and function of cells and organs, plant growth and development, and systematics of higher plants. Emphasis is on the impact of humans on plant life and plant community structure. Does not fulfill Biology major requirements.
Corequisites :
BIO 111
Short Title : PLANT SCIENCE LAB
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : BIO 111
Course Description : Laboratory and field studies of plant communities and the effects of humans on plant diversity within controlled community structures. Identification of higher plants is stressed as well as identifications of human, ecological and/or pathogen caused distress in plant systems.
Corequisites :
BIO 110
Short Title : HUMAN BIOLOGY
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : BIO 120
Course Description : A basic biological study of man, examining human evolution, organ systems, genetics, behavior, and human interaction with the environment. Does not fulfill Biology major requirements.
Corequisites : BIO 121
Short Title : HUMAN BIOLOGY LAB
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : BIO 121
Course Description :
A laboratory class designed to demonstrate through models, microscopic work, and dissection the information presented in BIO 120.
Corequisites :
BIO 120
Short Title : FUNCTIONAL HUMAN BIOLOGY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : BIO 130
Course Description : This course provides a general understanding of human biology with an emphasis on biophysical aspects of movement. Specific topics include basic biochemistry, cell biology, histology, and visceral systems of the body. Designed for Sports Medicine and Dance majors. Does not fulfill Biology major requirements.
Corequisites : BIO 131
Short Title : FUNCTIONAL HUMAN BIO LAB
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : BIO 131
Course Description : Laboratory exercises in biochemistry, cell biology and human tissues and organ systems, with special emphasis on musculoskeletal, articular and neuromuscular systems, evaluated from an athletic minded perspective.
Corequisites : BIO 130
Short Title : CELLULAR&MOLECULAR BIO
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : BIO 142
Course Description :
Introduction to the biology of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, including the structure and function of membranes and organelles, especially mitochondria and chloroplasts. Also included are studies of the molecular structure and function of DNA, with emphasis on the organization of the eukaryotic genome, transcription and translation.
Corequisites :
BIO 143
Short Title : CELLULAR&MOLECULAR BIO LAB
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : BIO 143
Course Description :
Introduction to the physiological and molecular techniques and methodologies for studying cells, organelles and macromolecules in relation to cellular activities and maintenance of life.
Corequisites :
BIO 142
Short Title : ECOL&EVOL BIO OF ORGANISMS
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : BIO 146
Course Description : Introduction to the ecology and evolutionary biology of organisms, including population growth, species interactions, ecosystem cycles, mechanisms of evolution, speciation, the diversity of life on Earth, and an introduction to population and Mendelian genetics.
Corequisites :
BIO 147
Short Title : ECOL&EVOL BIO OF ORG LAB
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : BIO 147
Course Description :
A laboratory course that elucidates concepts taught in BIO 146 from a largely experimental perspective.
Corequisites :
BIO 146
Short Title : CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : CHEM 101
Course Description :
A survey of fundamental chemical principles. Satisfies a liberal studies and core requirement.
Corequisites :
CHEM 102
Short Title : CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES LAB
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : CHEM 102
Course Description :
Experimental work corequisite to Chemical Principles.
Corequisites :
CHEM 101
Short Title : GENERAL CHEMISTRY I
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : CHEM 121
Course Description : First of two-course sequence that provides an introduction to general chemistry required for science majors. Emphasizes quantitative chemical principles. Prerequisite: Chemical background equivalent to one year of high school chemistry and MATH 111 or mathematical equivalent to two years of high school algebra.
Corequisites : CHEM 122
Short Title : GENERAL CHEMISTRY I LAB
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : CHEM 122
Course Description : Experimental work corequisite to General Chemistry I.
Corequisites : CHEM 121
Course Code : CHEM 123
Course Description : This course will focus on the evolving science of life chemistry. The broad subject of biochemistry will be explored from the molecular level covering DNA/RNA and other protein structure, synthesis and function as well as Genome sequencing, enzymes, hemoglobin carbohydrates, and other regulatory systems of the human body.
Course Code : CHEM 124
Course Description : The lab will explore the role of RNA/DNA proteins, genomes, carbohydrates and other biochemical functions of the human body.
Short Title : QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
Active Term : Fall Term / Odd Years
Course Code : CHEM 230
Course Description :
This course provides a foundation in analytical chemistry through the systematic study of steps in the analytical process. Topics include: statistical analysis, equilibria, electrochemistry, chemical separations and spectroscopy.
Prerequisites :
CHEM 131, CHEM 132
Corequisites :
CHEM 231
Short Title : MATHEMATICS APPLICATIONS
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : MATH 110
Course Description : Mathematics Applications invites students to experience mathematics in the context of its relationship to a single field of application, such as Art, Music, Sports, or Politics and Elections. Specifically, we will discuss functions, graphs, trigonometry, probability, statistics and logic. The goal is to help students see the extent to which mathematics is bound to areas of their interest and therefore awaken in them a new interest in the subject.
Short Title : COLLEGE ALGEBRA
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : MATH 111
Course Description :
A course in algebra fundamentals, topics include sets, relations, functions, exponents and radicals, equations, inequalities, and polynomial and rational functions.
Short Title : TRIGONOMETRY & FUNCTIONS
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : MATH 112
Course Description : This course will include a further exploration of functions, exponential functions, logarithmic functions, trigonometry functions and additional topics in trigonometry.
Short Title : MATH FOR NATURAL SCIENCE
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : MATH 118
Course Description : This course has been designed for students who wish to take calculus or physics, but who are not prepared for college calculus based on our mathematics placement score and department recommendation. This course is a one semester replacement for the two semester combination of College Algebra and Trigonometry and Functions. Topics will include fundamental concepts of college algebra, pre-calculus, and a preparation for calculus. More specifically, the topics will include factoring, integer and rational exponents, simplifying algebraic expressions, function notation, polynomial and rational functions. While many of the topics covered are similar to those in typical college pre-calculus courses, there is more theoretical coverage and emphasis, a faster pace is maintained, a greater depth of understanding is required and additional material on applications is taught. Prerequisite: MATH Placement score of at least 54. 4 credits.
Short Title : PROGRAMMING I
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : MATH 146
Course Description : An introduction to computer programming, with an emphasis on the development of good programming habits and skills utilizing Python an object-oriented language. Topics will include programming basics such as loops, decisions, lists, functions, file I/O, arrays, objects, classes, inheritance. Prerequisite: MATH Placement score of at least 46. 4 credits.
Short Title : LINEAR ALGEBRA
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : MATH 150
Course Description : This course is an introduction to the algebra and geometry of Euclidean 3-space and its extensions to Euclidean N-Space. Topics included are systems of linear equations, determinants, vectors, bases, linear transformations and matrices. Prerequisite: MATH 170. 4 credits.
This course is a continuation of General Physics I; calculus skills are required. Topics include: waves, electricity and magnetism, light and optics, and thermodynamics. Problem solving and the relationships between physics and the fields of biology, biochemistry, and chemistry continue to be emphasized.
MATH 170, PHYS 201
PHYS 206
Short Title : MACROECONOMICS
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ECON 105
Course Description : A study of mixed capitalism in aggregate form designed to provide the student with a knowledge of the American economic system. Topics include the causes of recession, unemployment, inflation and the uses of fiscal and monetary policies. 3 credits.
Short Title : MICROECONOMICS
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ECON 106
Course Description : A course emphasizing the economic activities of individual consumers and producers. Topic coverage includes demand-supply analysis, the costs of production and price and output determination by the market structure.
Short Title : ECONOMICS OF POVERTY
Active Term : Spring Term / Odd Years
Course Code : ECON 250
Course Description :
This course introduces students to economic theories of poverty, ways to measure it (and the problems associated with these measures), and a description of the success and failures of public policies designed to curtail it. It features a blending of economic reasoning from theoretical and empirical perspectives, which will become part of the students' toolkits in their further endeavors, and a critical comparison of the economics approach and Catholic social teaching. The students will come out of the course becoming critical and intelligent participants in public policy debates and learn to form their own policy recommendations based on their analysis.
Short Title : ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ECON 260
Course Description :
The primary goal of this course is to enhance the student's understanding and ability to critically assess contemporary environmental policy. It aims at equipping students with the economic methods and tools used to analyze environmental issues, combining theoretical analysis with discussions on specific environmental policies as applied to water and air pollution, energy issues, climate change, and human health issues. Analytical techniques for estimating the effects of proposed programs are examined. Strengths and weaknesses of benefit-cost analysis in the regulatory process are explored in the context of political economy. Current environmental policy is evaluated.
Short Title : HISTORY DETECTIVES
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 100
Course Description : This course will cover key skills such as using archives, reading secondary literature, familiarizing with historiography, approaches to history and lenses of analysis, etc.
Short Title : US HISTORY TO 1865
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 101
Course Description : This course is a broad survey examining American history from the start of the first European settlements in North America in the seventeenth century to the end of the Civil War. Over the course of the term students will explore the important social, political, economic, and cultural issues that emerged from Europe's colonization of the New World, and how these developments shaped the founding, and early formative history of the United States.
Short Title : US HISTORY SINCE 1865
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 102
Course Description : This course broadly examines the major political, social, economic, and cultural trends in America from the end of the Civil War through the end of the Cold War. Particular emphasis is placed on the factors that contributed to the rise of the United States as a political and economic world power, and how those developments broadly shaped the course of American society.
Short Title : AMERICA SINCE 1945
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 103
Course Description :
In this course students examine the social, economic, political, and cultural forces that have shaped the United States since World War II. We explore the politics and Cold War culture of the 1950s, American foreign policy throughout the period-especially Vietnam-as well as the social change movements of the 1960s, the sobering and transformative events of the 1970s, the subsequent enduring imprint on the American political and economic landscape left by the "Reagan Revolution," and the rise of lone-superpower militarism since the end of the Cold War. In many ways, this course is a critical examination of the roots of contemporary America.
Short Title : EUROPE HIST TO RENAISSANCE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 145
Course Description : This course examines the genesis of the ancient civilizations that centered on the Mediterranean, their collapse and replacement by feudal kingdoms, and the origins of the great powers of 20th century Europe. Particular attention is devoted to understanding the dynamics of long term success and failure, and the interaction of religious and political institutions.
Short Title : EUROPE HIST SINCE RENAISS
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 146
Course Description : This course traces the transformation of Western society from an agrarian society with firmly entrenched and rigid notions about class, gender and religion to a modern, industrialized and predominately urban society. The emphasis is on the political, economic, social and intellectual forces that were active in this turbulent transformation.
Short Title : WRLD HIS I:AGR TO ZHENG HE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 170
Course Description : This course presents a broad survey of the ideological, economic, political, social, and cultural historical forces at work in shaping our global past, examining the manners in which human societies have organized themselves to meet the challenges of rising human populations, demands on natural resources, contacts with diverse cultures and values, and new ideas and ideologies. We will concentrate on human societies from the experiments with agriculture (ca. 10, 000 BCE) to the voyages of Zheng He and Columbus (ca. 1500 CE).
Short Title : WRLD HIS II:EXPLR-ATOMIC
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 171
Course Description : In this course students examine the major issues that have shaped the human experience from the age of exploration and discovery (1500) to the present. We examine the major social and cultural conflicts, major political developments, and analyze the interactions between diverse peoples and societies around the world and the ways that religion, gender, and violence influenced their development. This course is an examination of critical events throughout world history that have shaped our present society. 3 credits.
Short Title : WORLD GEOGRAPHY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 175
Course Description : In this introductory course we will study selected regions of the world, emphasizing the demographic, cultural, political, economic, and historic patterns of different regions. We will pay close attention to human-environmental interactions. A goal of this challenging course is to apply geographic concepts to identify and describe relationships between people and places.
Short Title : WAVES PAST,LEADERS FUTURE
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : HIS 200
Course Description : This course broadly explores the maritime history of Lake Erie including the interaction between native peoples and European empires, the Age of Sail, the War of 1812, and industrialization. The course concludes with an examination of Lake Erie's future. In addition, students will live onboard and sail the historic Brig Niagara under the tutelage of its experienced crew.
Short Title : COLONIAL AMERICA
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 211
Course Description :
This course examines the emergence of Colonial America, with the founding of the Jamestown colony in 1607, to the eve of the Revolutionary crisis in 1763. During the semester students will explore the creation of viable political, social, economic structures, emphasizing the transition of colonial North America from a series of isolated colonial outpost to imperial provinces. Among the topics to be considered include: community and family relations, colonial religious patterns; slavery and race relations; and internal and external tensions.
Short Title : REVOLUTIONARY AMERICA
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 212
Course Description :
This course, in the broadest sense, covers the history of America from the start of the revolutionary crisis through the Constitutional debate, 1763-1787. Students will explore the origins, meaning, and consequences of America's Revolution, looking at how the struggle for independence from England impacted America society, politics, culture, and economics, eventually giving rise to the United States.
Short Title : EARLY REPUBLICAN AMERICA
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 213
Course Description :
The period 1781 to 1848 was bookended by the two defining moments in early American history-the end of hostilities with Great Britain and the Mexican-American War. Although the interim period was not marked by any large-scale military conflict, domestic political and social disputes engaged Americans from all walks of life. Caucasian, African and Native Americans; men and women; rich and poor; eastern and western; northern and southern-all possessed different visions of what the United States should be. This course will explore the intense struggle conducted by these disparate Americans to forge a nation.
Short Title : PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 214
Course Description : This course covers the history of Pennsylvania from the prehistoric period through the modern era, emphasizing the major social, intellectual, cultural, political and economic developments that have occurred throughout the commonwealth's long and diverse history. In addition, emphasis will be placed on the contributions of Pennsylvania and its inhabitants to the American nation and the world.
Short Title : AMERICAN INDIAN HISTORY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 215
Course Description :
American Indian History examines pertinent themes, issues, and events relative to Native Amricans from pre-contact to the recent past. Native Americans were (and are) resiliant and adaptive peoples who countered massive invasions by maintaining and modifying tribal identities, traditions, communities, spiritualities and connections to the physical environment. This course employs a multidisciplanary approach. Indeed, the only way to understand native peoples and their past is to embrace multiple perspectives. We will therefore rely on the words and wisdom of historians, anthropologies, and of course, Native Americans.
Short Title : CIVIL WAR&RECONSTRUCTION
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 216
Course Description :
This course broadly examines American society and politics from the Jacksonian Era through the end of Reconstruction with major focus on that great American tragedy, the Civil War. During the semester students will explore the economic, political, social and cultural forces that brought forth the conflict between the states, the war that ensued, and the new nation that emerged in its aftermath.
Short Title : MAKING MODERN AMER 1877-1920
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 217
Course Description : This course explores a period in American history characterized by massive and, often times, disruptive, economic, political and social changes and looks at the diverse efforts Americans made to adapt to these changes. In the four decades following Reconstruction the United States saw the rise of modern industrial capitalism. It was also a period marked by unprecedented rates of immigration, rapid urbanization, and growing economic, racial and gender inequalities. Responding to increasing tensions a reform impulse swept the nation as Americans attempted to come to terms with modernity. By the early 20th century, so many reform movements were at play that Americans began to speak of a Progressive Era, an age marked by nascent idealism, and beneficial economic, political and social changes. In all, America by the end of World War I in many ways barely resembled the nation of the Reconstruction Era.
Short Title : WORLD WAR II
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 219
Course Description : This course examines the history of World War II, the most widespread, costly and destructive war in world history. We will explore the origins of the war, the strategies pursued by the participants, the major events in the Pacific and European theaters from the 1930s until 1945, as well as the impact of the conflict on Americans and American society here at home. Finally, we will consider the national and international significance of the war, as well as the national memory of the war, including its depiction and commemoration in cultural forms such as museums and Hollywood film.
Short Title : US ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 221
Course Description : With a wide-angled multidisciplinary lens, students in this course explore the central importance of nature and the environment in American history. From Thoreau to pink flamingoes, we trace shifting conceptions of "nature" in American cultural history. In addition, we survey the history of environmental change, focusing on the historical impact of human activity upon local and regional environments from New England to California. Finally, students examine the often contested political and legislative response of Americans to environmental problems since the late 19th century.
Short Title : THE VIETNAM WAR
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 224
Course Description : This look at the Vietnam War begins by examining the history of Vietnam but focuses on the American experience. Three central questions are addressed: How and why did the U.S. get involved? What was the nature of that involvement and what went wrong? And what were/are the lessons/results of the war?.
Short Title : EXPL AMER CULT 1920-PRESNT
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 225
Course Description : This course explores main currents of modern (post-1920) American culture, with a focus on popular cultural forms. An examination of the historical and cultural roots of enduring American myths such as individualism, endless abundance and success provides the theoretical framework for the course. An American Studies theoretical foundation allows students to then engage in a lively survey of select periods and themes of American popular culture over the past century. Students will examine the rise of consumerism, the centrality of the automobile and The Road as forces in American life, the ways in which race and gender are constructed through popular culture forms, and the transformative role of technology in the lives of Americans. 3 credits.
Short Title : THE TURBULENT SIXTIES
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 226
Course Description : Students in this course will explore in depth "The Sixties," one of the most transformational periods in all of American history. We will pay special attention to the ways in which the dramatic changes emanating from the mid-1950s through the early 1970s on a range of issues and topics-race and gender relations, the health of our democracy, America's role in the world, our relationship with the natural and built environments, among many others-continue to shape the nation today.
Short Title : HISTORY OF AMERICAN WEST
Active Term : Fall Term / Even Years
Course Code : HIS 230
Course Description : Although there are earlier "wests" in American history, the focus in this course is on the trans-Mississippi West, that mythic landscape which has shaped so much of both American history and our national identity. There we encounter the native peoples who first inhabited the region and the European Americans who largely supplanted them and sought to tame an unforgivably vast, unceasingly sublime landscape. Students encounter explorers, trappers, cowboys, gunslingers, railroad builders, gold rush miners, cattle barons, homesteaders, sightseers, dam builders, Dust Bowl migrants, and more, all of whose encounters with the West are the stuff of legend and history.
Short Title : AFRICAN AMERICANS IN FILMS
Active Term : Spring Term / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 232
Course Description :
The role of African-Americans in cinematic films has varied widely, ranging from "brutal savages" in D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation to dynamic and powerful leaders as seen in Spike Lee's Malcolm X. This course explores the African-American experience through the cultural medium of cinema. Particular emphasis will be placed on examining how Hollywood represented African-Americans and thereby reinforced, shaped and altered public perceptions of race and the role of blacks in society. The course will also investigate how historical developments in turn influenced the depiction of African-Americans in film, examining the modern Civil Rights struggle within the context of the film industry. 3 credits.
Short Title : HIST OF SPORTS IN AMERICA
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 233
Course Description : This course explores the significance of sport in American History, broadly examining the development of sports in American society, from the colonial period to the present. Students will study how unorganized athletic activities were transformed into mass spectator sports at the collegiate and professional level. Particular emphasis will be placed on the ways in which sports reflected and informed issues of race, class, gender, ethnicity and politics.
Short Title : HISTORICAL DOCUMENTRY FILM
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 234
Course Description : This course will introduce the student to the history, theory, and impact of historical documentary cinema. Through extensive readings and viewings, we will review and analyze the evolution of the historically focused documentary film genre and the varieties of approaches adopted by historical documentary filmmakers from the 1930's to the present.
Short Title : INTR PUBLIC HIS&MUSEUM STD
Active Term : Fall Term / Odd Years
Course Code : HIS 235
Course Description :
In this class students explore the broadly encompassing field of public history, examining first issues of popular memory -- how and why certain histories are remembered and others forgotten or repressed. We survey the history, purpose and functions of history museums, exhibits, and historic sites, as well as other sub-fields such as cultural landscapes, oral history, and documentary film. Through extensive readings, discussion, field trips and assignments, we examine why and how American history is so fraught with tension and discord over its public representation.
Short Title : INTRO HIST PRESERVATION
Active Term : Fall Term / Even Years
Course Code : HIS 236
Course Description :
In this course students will study the evolution of the preservation movement in the U.S. from its historic roots to the state of the field and the challenges facing it today. We examine shifting theoretical approaches, as well as the various forces driving preservation. Students gain an understanding of the tools preservationists use today, including historical research, state, federal and local law, community organizational support, and the application of scientific and technological methods to building preservation.
Short Title : INTRO ARCHIVE&RECORD MGMT
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : HIS 238
Course Description :
Archival work is essential to preserving a culture, country, or institution's history. While public history provides a public interpetation or preservation of history -- museums, documentaries, monuments -- archives work to preserve and organize historical records for researchers to interpret. Through this couse, students will get a broad introduction to various aspects of archival work, like arrangement, preservation, research services, and management. The class will go on to look at arrangement and description, the foundation of archival work, in great detail through examination of description tools and projects based on the Ridge Archives and their personal collections. At the end of this course, students will not only have a foundation of archival knowledge, but also practical skills that can be applied to future internships or graduate education.
Short Title : MUSEUM STUDIES II
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : HIS 240
Course Description :
This course exposes students to fundamental approaches and best practices employed by history museum professionals. Students learn the changing nature of methods adopted by curators and educators to care, preserve, and interpret artifacts to the public. Through various class projects, students have opportunities to apply concepts presented in the course.
Short Title : ANCIENT GREECE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 245
Course Description :
We will survey ancient Greek civilizations from the Bronze Age through the integration of the Greek world into the Roman hegemony. The emphasis is on the varying intellectual, political, aesthetic and social forces that came into play at various stages of Greek history and the ways in which these shaped modern Western values.
Short Title : ANCIENT ROME
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 246
Course Description :
This course surveys ancient Roman History from the early Iron Age through the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century CE. The emphasis is on the military, political, aesthetic and social forces that came into play at the various stages of this history. Given the decisive influence of this history on the American founders, we are especially interested in understanding the political transformation from republic to monarchy that took place over the period c. 100 BCE to c. 100 CE.
Short Title : MEDIEVAL EUROPE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 247
Course Description : This course plots Western European History between the collapse of the Roman Empire and the 14th century. Featured topics include the Carolingians, the Crusades, the dramatic conflict of Popes and Kings and the origins of modern warfare.
Short Title : 20TH CENT EUROP THRU FILM
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 250
Course Description :
The images available to us in movies, both feature films and documentaries, are valuable tools for studying the past. War is more powerfully imagined by non-veterans when it is conveyed through a movie depicting trench warfare (A Very Long Engagement). The tensions of the Cold War are more accessible in a movie that draws viewers into the lives of men and women surviving in and resisting a Communist state (The Lives of Others). Every film is also a primary source. Like a fourth-century vase or a nineteenth-century newspaper, it is a product of a specific set of conditions and intentions that have a lot to tell us about the time, place, and people that produced them. As such we will watch movies created by European directors, some of them made close to the events they depict, some of them well after the fact, which will allow us to examine the short twentieth century through film.
Short Title : FREN REVOLUTN THR SIMULATN
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 255
Course Description : This course teaches students through an innovative pedagogy that includes role-playing, debate and critical thinking. Students act as members of the National Assembly and steer the course of the revolution themselves! What better way to learn history than through playing a game. As members of the National Assembly students will use primary source materials as evidence in an attempt to persuade the assembly to follow their factions values and agenda.
Short Title : HISTORY OF IRELAND
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 260
Course Description :
This course will provide an introduction to the history of Ireland from its reputation as the "island of Saints and Scholars" during the European Dark Ages to the rise and fall of the "Celtic Tiger" at the end of the twentieth century. We will craft an understanding of the complicated relationship between Ireland, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the British Empire, issues that are central to modern Irish history. We will cultivate a sense of the political, cultural, economic, and social changes and stagnations that made the partitioned island what it is today, as well as a familiaritywith the strong historiographical traditions that have challenged and, sometimes, rewritten historical narratives.
Short Title : BRITISH EMPIRE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 261
Course Description : This course offers a critical survey of the British Empire from its early modern beginnings in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and America through to decolonization in the post-World War Two era.
Short Title : VICTORIAN BRITAIN
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 262
Course Description : This course will probe the depths of British history under the reign of Victoria with discussions to include political and economic developments in Britain during the nineteenth century; the expansion and reinvention of empire; ideas about race, gender, sex, and class; the explosion of industrialized cities; the fostering of science and inquiry; the experience and suffering of the colonized; and more.
Short Title : 20TH CENTURY WORLD HIST
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 270
Course Description :
In this course students survey the major issues that have shaped the 20th century human experience from the beginning of World War I to the present time. The course assesses the causes and consequences of global violence so prevalent in the 20th century. It is centered on teaching an appreciation for non-western cultures and considers relations between non-western powers (specifically, Middle Eastern, African, and Asian countries) and European and American powers. We examine the development of modern warfare, new political ideologies, and the fall of communism. 20th Century World History exposes students to diverse perspectives and key social, cultural, and political events that shaped our world today.
Short Title : IMPERIAL RUSSIA
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 271
Short Title : SOVIET RUSSIA
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 272
Course Description : This course surveys Soviet history from its inception in 1917 to its collapse in 1991. We explore the fundamental political, social, economic, and cultural changes that occurred during the building of communism in the Soviet Union. In tracing the development of communism we will consider the violent efforts to build a socialist society and its origins, the new Soviet culture that formed, and the development of Soviet nationality policy. We will examine the ways that the newly minted Soviet Union weathered and rallied during World War II, postwar efforts to reinstitute stability, and the breakup of the USSR.
Short Title : MODERN MIDDLE EASTERN HIST
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 274
Course Description : This survey course will introduce students to the modern Middle East. The course will chart Middle Eastern History from the 1300s to the present. We will investigate the transformation of the Middle East as it meets the West, its interaction with Europe, and we will examine the Middle East's age of independence. Throughout the course, we will examine various themes, including gender, religion, and class. We will cover the following topics: European imperialism in the Middle East and its affects, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iranian Revolution, and the petroleum era, radicalism, while placing them within the broader framework of the modern Middle East. We will conclude by addressing recent developments in the region and its outlook for the future.
Short Title : DIGITAL HIST: 101 TO 3.0
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : HIS 296
Course Description :
This course will provide an overview of the development of the digital history field, engage students in assessing existing digital history projects and scholarship, and ultimately require that they pursue a project of historical significance using digital resources and tools.
Short Title : AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : POLI 100
Course Description :
Introductory course in political science stressing how policy-making is done at the national level. Beginning with the Constitution, an introduction is given to the three main branches of the U.S. government. Attention is also given to elections, economics, political parties, interest groups and the federal system.
Short Title : WINNING THE WHITE HOUSE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 103
Course Description : The course introduces students to the exciting world of electoral politics by exploring strategies, tactics, institutions involved in presidential elections, and by following the presidential election in real time. In addition to engaging readings, lectures and multimedia experiences, students will participate in an election simulation.
Short Title : GLOBAL ISSUES
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : POLI 105
Course Description : An overview of significant global issues, such as human rights, arms proliferation, regional conflicts, and sustainable development, with attention to the scope, causes, and consequences of these issues. Special emphasis will be placed on theories of global civil society and the role of NGOs and transnational advocacy groups in mobilizing responses to these issues. The contributions of the constructivist perspective in international relations, with theoretical insights drawn from both political science and sociology, will be explored and debated in readings and assignments.
Short Title : DEBATING THE PRESIDENCY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 107
Course Description :
This course explores the evolution of the American presidency from its conception in 1787 to the present. Over the course of the semester students will learn how presidential elections, the relationship between the President and Congress, and various presidential powers have changed over time, and be provided the opportunity to debate the merits of this evolution. Special attention is given to the current president and most recent presidential election.
Short Title : EXPLORING THE LAW
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 130
Course Description : This is an introduction to the liberal arts study of law. It examines fundamental questions about the nature and functions of law in society. Topics include legal reasoning, discretion, wealth and power, role of the police, profession of law, juries and community participation, conflict resolution, and the conflicting images of law relative to freedom and obedience.
Short Title : AMER POLITICAL ACTIVISM
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 150
Course Description :
This course is an introduction to the ways Americans have spoken out in opposition to their government, laws, institutions, and social mores. We will examine how and why people protest, analyze its effectiveness, and contemplate the current and future state of political activism. Topics include the history of American political activism, anti-war protest, Civil Rights, women's liberation, unconventional protest, consequences of activism, and modern political activism.
Short Title : CONTEMP ENVIRON ISSUES
Active Term : Randomly / Even Years
Course Code : POLI 202
Course Description :
This class will address a varying collection of contemporary environmental issues, with the focus determined by the professor who is offering the course. Issues addressed may include environmental racism, sustainable development, smart growth, ecoterrorism and radical environmentalism, and other current issues of importance. The investigation focuses on the substance of the issue as well as policy alternatives.
Short Title : LIBERALISM VS CONSERVATISM
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 218
Course Description : The course is an examination of the two major political ideologies in contemporary American politics. It is designed to illustrate the connections between the two ideologies and the outcomes of American politics, e.g. public policy, law, political culture, and public discourse. The course also traces the intellectual roots of conservatism and liberalism. Seminal thinkers of each ideology are discussed and their contribution to the various strains of liberalism and conservatism are explained.
Short Title : CAMPAIGNS,STRAT&U.S. ELEC
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 220
Course Description :
This course emphasizes a blend of political science perspectives and practical considerations in modern campaigns. The subject material focuses on the nature of mobilization, competition, negative advertising, strategic polling, and changing tactics of Internet campaigning, as well as encouraging critical thinking through campaign simulations.
Short Title : THE VIETNAM WAR
Active Term : Randomly / Even Years
Course Code : POLI 224
Course Description : This look at the Vietnam War begins by examining the history of Vietnam but focuses on the American experience. Three central questions are addressed: How and why did the U.S. get involved? What was the nature of that involvement and what went wrong? And what were/are the lessons/results of the war?
Short Title : AMERICAN LEGAL PROCESS
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 225
Course Description :
This is an introduction to the liberal arts study of law. It examines fundamental questions about the nature and functions of law in society. Topics include legal reasoning, discretion, wealth and power, role of the police, profession of law, juries and community participation, conflict resolution, and the conflicting images of law relative to freedom and obedience.
Short Title : US ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 229
Short Title : POLITICS OF MIGRATION
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 233
Short Title : WORLD POLITICS
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 236
Course Description : An examination of influences on world politics using theory and practice of international relations. Historical and contemporary case studies are used to enhance theoretical and conceptual analysis of state and non-state actors' behavior in world politics.
Short Title : COMPARATIVE POLI: AFRICA
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 240
Course Description :
Africa is a resource-rich region, comprising 53 states. Endemic poverty, pervasive corruption, patronage and ethnic cleavages are often used to describe the entire region. Yet, it is inaccurate to paint the region with such a broad brush. Within Africa, there is diversity as some states perform better than others on many politico-economic indicators. Thematically, this course examines the complexities of politics in Africa. Specifically, we will explore the interaction of political culture, institutions, and domestic and international actors and the political outcomes they produce in African countries.
Short Title : COMPARATIVE POLITICS: ASIA
Active Term : Randomly / Even Years
Course Code : POLI 241
Course Description :
A comparative study of a variety of political systems emphasizing Asia. Survey of topics/problems related to economic development, democratization, government structure, and foreign relations with the United States. Specific countries examined include China, Japan, India, Indonesia and South Korea.
Short Title : COMPARATIVE POLI:EUROPE
Active Term : Randomly / Odd Years
Course Code : POLI 242
Course Description :
A comparative study of a variety of political systems emphasizing Europe. Survey of topics includes government structure, political parties and coalitions, social movements, European integration, economic transition, and foreign relations with the United States. Special emphasis on Britain, France, Germany, Poland and the European Union.
Short Title : COMPARATVE POLI:LATIN AMER
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 243
Course Description :
This course explores thematically the political and economic experiences and challenges faced by countries in the region of Latin America. Located in the backyard of the United States, Latin America is a region with a rich history and political legacy: from colonial domination to independence, from authoritarian regimes to democratic governance, from economic crises to membership to the world's exclusive G-20 club. At the end of the course, you should have an understanding of the factors that shape politics in the region and the future directions of Latin American politics.
Short Title : COMP POLI:CNTRIES CROSSRDS
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 244
Course Description :
The later part of the 20th century saw an unprecedented surge in democratic movements all over the globe. From East Central Europe and Central Asia to Latin America and Africa the global "wave" of democratization seemed to be reaching into all corners of the world. Some observers declared an ideological victory for economic and political liberalism, and Francis Fukuyama has famously proclaimed the "end of history." Yet, the path of these new democracies has been nothing but uniform and in many cases the initial euphoric democratic transition failed to produce effective consolidated democracies. This course examines the political strife of the countries at crossroads and attempts to explain the successes and failures of democratization efforts in the strategically important regions around the world.
Short Title : POLITICAL CINEMA
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 246
Course Description : The course is designed to allow the students to experience the multidimensional nature of political films, including their influence on individual, social, national and global levels. The goal of the course is to engage students in a deeper critical evaluation of select films in order to gain a broader understanding of the role cinematic art plays in enhancing our understanding of the world around us. The students will be given analytical and theoretical tools with which to critically evaluate the motion pictures and the intentions of their creators, directors, and writers. As a creative art form the film gives us an opportunity to whiteness and experience familiar and unknown life situations though different interpretive lens. The students will be given an opportunity to convey their own political messages in short films of their making.
Short Title : LEADERSHIP
Active Term : Randomly / All Years
Course Code : POLI 250
Course Description : In this course the subject of leadership is studied from many different perspectives. The questions studied include: What is leadership? Is there a moral aspect to leadership? What are the types of leaders? Why do followers follow? 3 credits.
Short Title : ETHNIC CONFLICT
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 282
Course Description :
A study of the sources, conduct, and settlement of ethnic conflicts. Theories of identity, nationalism, causes of conflict, changing international norms, and post-conflict reconstruction are examined in the context of real-world examples.
Short Title : SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 289
Course Description : Is it possible to have a social "science" or are there other, better ways to engage in systematic, principled thinking about political and social phenomena in order to produce valid knowledge? What should be studied and how should it be studied? In this course we explore the ideas of some of the founders of contemporary social science such as Marx, Weber and Durkheim along with many other prominent recent thinkers who helped create and shape the study of social science as it has evolved from the 19th to the 21st century.
Short Title : RESEARCH METH SOC SCIENCES
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 290
Course Description : An introduction to reading, writing, and conducting both quantitative and qualitative research in the social sciences. Special attention is given to the logic of research design, including: research questions, variables, hypotheses, and data analysis. This course is important particularly to those students going on to graduate school and to those who plan on working in politics.
Short Title : AMER POLI PARTIES&INT GRPS
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : POLI 293
Course Description :
An overview of the history and function of political parties and interest groups in the American political system. In addition to analyzing the influence of parties on voter behavior, elections and the organization of government, this course explores the power, tactics and formation of interest groups within the context of several theoretical frameworks.
Short Title : GEOPOLITICS
Active Term : Randomly / All Years
Course Code : POLI 299
Short Title : LANGUAGE & CULTURE
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 107
Course Description : This course is designed to introduce students to the complex study of language and its role in culture and society. We will begin by examining what constitutes language. Although not a major portion of the class, language structure, including morphology and syntax will be covered. We will examine how language is used by different peoples to construct and maintain social values and relationships, worldviews, and personal identities. Some questions addressed throughout the semester include: How do children acquire linguistic competence in their language? How is language used by people of different genders, ethnicities, socioeconomic classes, and geographical placement? This course is primarily lecture-based format, but students will have an opportunity to engage in their own anthropological linguistic fieldwork.
Short Title : WORLD GEOGRAPHY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 109
Course Description : Geography is the branch of knowledge that examines spatial patterns in the physical and human environments on the earth. Three geographic themes will be explored through an exploration of the world at different scales from the global to the regional: Physical/Spatial (physical processes and ecosystems), Human Systems (relationship of human populations to the landscape and to each other), and Places (regional and local patterns). Students will explore current issues in world geography through individual research projects.
Short Title : WORLD CULTURES
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 112
Course Description : In this course, the student is exposed to the basic subject matter and methods of modern socio-cultural anthropology. The great diversity of contemporary and recently extinct human culture is examined from a comparative and evolutionary perspective with an emphasis on the differences and similarities between so-called modern state level societies and their less complex antecedents.
Short Title : PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 120
Course Description : Physical anthropology examines the "human animal" from a biological and cultural perspective. It is the study of human origins and our contemporary and past physical and genetic diversity.
Corequisites :
ANTH 121
Short Title : PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY LAB
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 121
Course Description : This lab course will provide an opportunity for students to obtain hands-on experience with human bones, fossil human casts, primate observation and forensic anthropology specimens.
Corequisites :
ANTH 120
Short Title : STORIES THRU ANTH&MAT CULT
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 124
Course Description :
This course examines classical and major discoveries through time, such as King Tut's tomb. New approaches to topics include archaeology research through Beads and Mardi Gras, Gravestone memorialization, Garbology studies of Yesterday's Trash, and the Monumentality of Burning Man. Through the lens of material culture interpretation, topics will include Evolution, the Rise of Agriculture and Complex Societies, Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, current Cultural Anthropology, Linguistics, and Gender Studies, the destruction and preservation of historical sites, and museum preservation.
Short Title : INTRO TO GENDER STUDIES
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 125
Course Description : This interdisciplinary course will cover the theoretical foundations and history of the gender discourse, and address topics central to the discipline of gender studies. The economic, political, ideological and social forces that shape the cultural construction of gender will be discussed and the consequences examined. The discussion will also include the intersection of gender, race, and socioeconomic class, biology and gender, and the gendered body. Through a variety of exercises/discussions and works of fiction, attention will be given to the connection between gender issues and life experiences. Students will also engage with course topics via lectures, readings, and films.
Short Title : ARCHAEOLOGY
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 130
Course Description :
This course examines the methods, goals, and substantive results of contemporary anthropological archaeology. An emphasis on the archaeological techniques and concepts archaeologists use for making sense of the past are stressed, and numerous case studies are presented which explore past human practice from the development of human culture through to contemporary society, with a particular focus on humanity's unique relationship with material culture and the environment.
Corequisites :
ANTH 131
Short Title : ARCHAEOLOGY LAB
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 131
Course Description :
This laboratory course provides the student basic exposure to contemporary archaeological field methods from both a theoretical and hands-on perspective. Topics include: archaeological survey techniques; mapping; excavation procedures; screening and data retrieval; field and lab processing; and documentation.
Corequisites :
ANTH 130
Short Title : PREHIST E NORTH AMERICA
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 200
Course Description : The course is designed to introduce students to the prehistory of our continent's eastern "half," from initial occupation to European contact. We will survey the cultural history of this vast and varied region and focus on specific issues, problems, and debates that currently dominate research in this field. Particular attention will be given to the archaeology of the Great Lakes region and Pennsylvania.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 130
Short Title : PREHIST WEST NORTH AMER
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 201
Course Description : Anthropology 200 and 201 are designed to thoroughly introduce the student to the grand sweep of North American Prehistory. From the initial peopling of the New World to the rise of settled village life and the evolution of non-state-level societies, the prehistory of North American is presented against an ever-changing backdrop of flora, fauna and climate with an emphasis on the complex interplay between humans and their environmental matrix.
Short Title : CULTURES IN CONTACT
Active Term : Fall Term / Even Years
Course Code : ANTH 204
Course Description : This course examines the interface between Native American and Euro-American cultures from the arrival of Leif Ericsson in coastal Canada in the A.D. 990s through the better-documented landing of Columbus on 12 October 1492 to the progressive expansion of the frontiers and the ultimate displacement, transformation, or extinction of aboriginal eastern North American societies. The course focuses on the nature of the contact period as it is documented both historically and archaeologically and employs models and theoretical constructs from both Old and New World archaeology to elucidate the issue of cultures in collision.
Short Title : HISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY
Active Term : Spring Term / Even Years
Course Code : ANTH 205
Course Description :
This course provides students with the basic methods and protocols of contemporary historic archaeology. The focus of the course is both thematic and historical, focusing on major topics in contemporary historic archaeology with case studies focusing on Post-Colombian archaeology in North America, with an emphasis from initial settlement to early industrial development.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 130
Short Title : MESOAMERICAN PREHISTORY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 207
Course Description :
The course treats the prehistory of the area lying between the southern borders of the greater American Southwest and the northern borders of South America. It examines the archaeological sequence of the study area from the initiation of human occupation to Euro-American Contact. The course emphasizes the cultural and social changes in human societies during this period, couples with a particular emphasis on art and ritual practice and architecture.
Prerequisites :
ANTH-130
Short Title : LATER EUROPEAN PREHISTORY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 209
Course Description : This course chronicles the history of human occupation in Europe for 8000 years, from the Upper Paleolithic to the emergence of state societies and Roman expansion c. 500 B.C. Particular emphasis is placed upon the regional cultural variability, the relationship between human communities and their landscapes,monument construction, culture contact and trade, the development of social stratification and political centralization, and recent theoretical conceptualizations of various periods and regions. Students have the opportunity to concentrate on particular regional, cultural, and temporal problems.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 130
Short Title : IROQUOIAN PREHISTORY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 215
Course Description :
A detailed look at the lifeways, material culture, social-political relations, and culture history of the peoples who occupied what we typically consider to be the Iroquoian region from the earliest settlement up to and including the European contact period.
Prerequisites :
ANTH-130 ANTH-131
Short Title : PLANTS AND PEOPLE
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 216
Course Description : People depend on plants for food, clothing, shelter, medicines, and a host of other daily needs. This course examines the varied and complex interrelationships between plants and people. Major topics include domestication processes, the Green Revolution, intentional and unintentional modification of plant communities, and an examination of those plants that provide drugs, food, beverages, and fibers necessary to daily life.
Short Title : CONCEPTS IN ARCHAEOLOGY
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 219
Course Description : This course is intended to provide sophomore level Anthropology/Archaeology students with a contemporary heuristic framework for successful interpretation of archaeological signatures. Topics only introduced in the Freshmen level sequence of Archaeology and World Cultures that pertain to the archaeological interpretation of past human practices and, the archaeological techniques for reconstructing past human practices will explored in depth, thus providing a necessary foundation for upper division coursework in Anthropology/Archaeology. The course is divided into eight thematic areas, and encounter with course topics will be obtained via directed reading, lectures, seminar style discussion and projects, and the preparation of essay papers.
Short Title : NATIVE AMER CONTEMP SOC
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 220
Course Description : This course is intended to introduce students to the diverse lives and livelihoods of Native Americans in contemporary society with an emphasis on the range of issues facing Native peoples today. The course is not an historical survey summarizing the rich cultures of the several hundred-plus indigenous nations of North America. Rather, it provides an overview of the salient issues affecting contemporary Native peoples' social, cultural, economic and political activities. Lecture topics include, but are not limited to, colonial legacies, popular culture and stereotypes, indigenous identities, tribal-federal relationships, sovereignty, cultural survival and revitalization, research issues and ethics. Prerequisite: ANTH 112. 3 credits
Prerequisites :
ANTH 112
Short Title : PUBLIC ARCHAEOLOGY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 223
Course Description :
Public Archaeology is about engaging the public at all levels in order to share archaeological findings and promote stewardship of cultural resources so that the public can appreciate and construct their own past. The course covers American Historic Preservation history and legislation, NAGPRA, Cultural Resources Management, heritage conservation and planning, Section 106 and ARPA permitting, tribal and public consultation, evaluation and mitigation of archaeological resources, National Register Procedures, and archaeological interpretation and education for the public.
Short Title : ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD METH
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 224
Course Description : This course is designed to expose students to the full spectrum of field methods now in use in contemporary anthropological archaeology. The rationale, technical details, and expected results of a wide array of field methods are presented in the context of the location, characterization, and full scale data recovery of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 130
Corequisites :
ANTH 225
Short Title : ARCHAEOLOG FIELD METH LAB
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 225
Course Description : A Corequisite of ANTH 224, this course will provide hands on experience with the field methods now in use in contemporary anthropological archaeology.
Corequisites :
ANTH 224
Short Title : ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD METHODS
Active Term : Fall Term / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 227
Course Description :
This course provides students with an opportunity to combine qualitative ethnographic field work with an anthropological analysis of ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and gender in contemporary United States society. Students have an opportunity to engage in observation, conduct interviews, and learn to write, transcribe, code, and analyze field notes while engaged in their own mini field work project. Each student designs his or her own project, choosing the setting and topic. Classes alternate between discussion of research, readings, and ethnographic case project development, descriptive writing, and social behavior analysis.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 112
Short Title : ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD METH II
Active Term : Spring Term / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 228
Course Description : This course is designed to build upon ethnographic field techniques students learned in ANTH 227/Ethnographic Field Methods and expose students to a full spectrum of field methods utilized by contemporary socio-cultural anthropologists. As part of the coursework, students will participate in an ethnographic field school here in Erie, PA and engage in "anthropology at home" This course combines classroom study, as well as fieldtrips, with practical experience. Students have the opportunity to engage in their own fieldwork project, choosing the ethnographic techniques most appropriate to the particular project, analyzing, and finally writing up and presenting the results of the project.
Prerequisites :
ANTH-227
Short Title : LITHIC STUDIES
Active Term : Fall Term / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 229
Course Description : Lithic artifacts comprise a significant component of most archaeological assemblages and are, consequently, a primary source of data from which inferences regarding human behavior can be derived. Following a review of the history of stone tool technology and the mechanics of their production, students will learn to conduct several analytical methods and interpret their results. Throughout the course, we will explore the practical, logistical, social, and environmental factors involved in technological decision-making, while considering the theoretical lenses through which archaeologists examine data in pursuit of cultural and behavioral information.
Short Title : COLLECTIONS&CURATION MGMT
Active Term : Spring Term / Odd Years
Course Code : ANTH 233
Course Description :
This course provides an introduction to archaeological curation and management in both museum and non-museum settings and provides students with skills and strategies to respond to research and preservation needs in these arenas. Topics to be covered include the curation crisis, federal regulation responsibilities, curation standards, collections storage and housing, database/cataloguing systems, and public access and use of collections.
Short Title : ANALY LAB METH PREHIS ARCH
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 236
Course Description : This course is designed to acquaint the student with the methods and techniques of processing, classification, analysis, curation, and documentation of the major classes of prehistoric artifactual evidence. The specific classes of data to be examined include, but are not limited to, lithic, ceramics, perishables, macrofloral remains, pollen and phytoliths, and biomolecular residues. Analysis of these materials will also involve addressing a number of anthropological themes such as dietary reconstruction, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and construction of chronologies.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 130
Corequisites :
ANTH 237
Short Title : ANALY METH PREHIS ARCH LAB
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 237
Course Description : A Corequisite of ANTH 236, this course will allow students to employ the methods and techniques of artifact analysis using various "live" collections curated by the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 130
Corequisites :
ANTH 236
Short Title : ANALY LAB METH HIST ARCH
Active Term : Fall Term / Odd Years
Course Code : ANTH 238
Course Description : This course will introduce students to the analytical and classificatory methods used in the treatment and processing of historic materials recovered from archaeological investigations. Emphasis will be placed on colonial and nineteenth century materials of the eastern United States. Students will assist in the analysis of materials from ongoing Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute field projects.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 130
Corequisites :
ANTH 239
Short Title : ANALY METH HIST ARCH LAB
Active Term : Fall Term / Odd Years
Course Code : ANTH 239
Course Description : A Corequisite of ANTH 238, this course provides an opportunity for students to assist in the analysis of materials from ongoing Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute field projects.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 130
Corequisites :
ANTH 238
Short Title : HUMAN ADAPTATION
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 240
Course Description : This course examines the biological, physiological and evolutionary responses of the human body to short and long-term stresses, and cultural adaptations to those stresses. Studies of native populations living in stressful environments will be discussed and include the effects of extreme heat and cold, solar radiation, and high altitude hypoxia. Other issues to be examined include the problems of malnourishment, disease, and cultural solutions to those problems. To provide an understanding of how these stresses affect the human body, a number of biological topics will be touched upon including growth and development, physiology, genetics, and human diversity.
Short Title : BIOLOGY, RACE&CULTURE
Active Term : All Terms / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 241
Course Description : This course examines in depth the cultural construct that is Race, and the biology behind phenotypic (visible) and genotypic (genetic) Human Diversity. First, race as a cultural construct and the biology of human diversity are briefly introduced. Second, the history of the definition of race is presented from its inception in the 1700s to the present. Next, the course examines the range of human biological diversity, and discusses the pertinent laws of human biology, the genetics that shape these laws, and the environments which can trigger and cause diversity in human opulations .
Short Title : FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 242
Course Description : The value of the application of anthropological principles in the field of criminal investigation has only recently been realized. This course will explore methods by which forensic anthropological principles are used to search for and recover evidence from a variety of crime scenes, as well as reconstruct the life history of the human victim.
Prerequisites :
MATH 170, CHEM 121, CHEM 122 BIO 146
Short Title : ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 246
Course Description : This course examines key anthropological concepts, theories, and approaches to religious practice in traditional and modern societies. Cross cultural examples of myth, ritual, shamanism, symbolism, magic, and witchcraft, as well as the connection between religion and other spheres of sociocultural practice will be addressed. Additionally the relationship between religion and conflict, ecology, gender, politics, and power will be examined.
Short Title : NAVAJO ETHNOLOGY
Active Term : Randomly / Randomly
Course Code : ANTH 248
Course Description : This course provides an opportunity to engage with anthropological work on the Navajo of the Southwestern United States. Lectures will be given on Navajo history, language, religion and ritual, gender and kinship, economics, and the place of the Navajo in an increasingly globalized world. Hands-on/experimental activities like weaving, cooking, and traditional storytelling will be undertaken to better understand time-honored Navajo practices.
Short Title : ZOOARCHAEOLOGY
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 250
Course Description : The analysis of faunal remains from archaeological sites can provide valuable information regarding prehistoric diet, seasonality, and socioeconomic factors. In this course, all aspects of zooarchaeology will be discussed, and students will analyze a vertebrate faunal assemblage from an archaeological site and produce a publishable-quality report.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 120, ANTH 130
Corequisites :
ANTH 251
Short Title : ZOOARCHAEOLOGY LAB
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 251
Course Description : A Corequisite of ANTH 250, will give students the opportunity analyze a vertebrate faunal assemblage from an archaeological site.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 120, ANTH 130
Corequisites :
ANTH 250
Short Title : PALEOANTHROPOLOGY I
Active Term : Fall Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 270
Course Description : This two-course sequence (ANTH 270/ANTH 272) follows the development of the human species from our remote primate forbearers through the appearance of fully modern Homo sapiens. The student is familiarized with the methods and the data of human paleontology and comparative primatology and is shown the complex relationships which exist between biological and cultural evolution. Part I focuses on primate evolution and the evolutionary history of Australopithecines.
Prerequisites :
ANTH 120, ANTH 130
Short Title : PALEOANTHROPOLOGY II
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 272
Course Description : Part II will deal with the biological and cultural history of the genus Homo from its roots in the Plio-Pleistocene through the Holocene until the Neolithic.
Prerequisites :
ANTH-270
Short Title : PALEOANTH II LAB
Active Term : Spring Term / All Years
Course Code : ANTH 273
Corequisites :
ANTH 272