Liberal Arts

Curriculum & Courses

Learning Outcomes

  • LA_SLG1) Ways of Knowing Students: Students will demonstrate awareness and appreciation of multiple ways of knowing, as reflected in the fields of study and areas of expertise within the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

    LA_SLG2) Cultural Breadth and Global Awareness: Students will demonstrate familiarity with a range of cultural, social, and intellectual traditions in the context of a changing, globalized world.

    LA_SLG3) Critical and Analytical Thinking: Students will be able to analyze, evaluate, and construct arguments, engaging with ideas, evidence, and artifacts.

    LA_SLG4) Effective Communication Skills: Students will be able to speak and write effectively, communicating with precision, clarity, and rhetorical force.

  • HUM_SLG 1) Students will study and question how crucial ideas about human and non-human nature, knowledge, experience, and value have been developed, supported, and/or expressed in major areas of the humanities, such as philosophy, religion, literature (including poetry and the dramatic arts), and music in various cultures and time periods.

    HUM_SLO1.1) Students will demonstrate understanding of the methods used in the humanities, such as argumentation and interpretation.

    HUM_SLO1.2) Students will demonstrate understanding of the crucial ideas in the humanities as they have been explored in different cultures and times, and/or in connection to issues that currently affect individuals and societies across the globe.

    HUM_SLO1.3) Students will evaluate claims and the evidence and/or reasons given in support of these claims, as found in primary and secondary sources.

    HUM_SLO1.4) Students will construct their own claims and defend them in written and/or oral forms, and using proper methods of documentation (e.g. citation and bibliography).

  • SCI_SLG1) Students will increase their knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the natural world, science, and mathematics.

    SCI_SLO1.1) Students will demonstrate knowledge of the nature of science and/or mathematics as a knowledge making process. 

    SCI_SLO1.2) Students will develop and evaluate claims that involve a scientific or mathematical component.

    SCI_SLO1.3) Students will display curiosity about nature, natural science, and/or mathematics.

    SCI_SLO1.4) Students will confidently attempt reasoning tasks that involve a scientific or mathematical component.

    SCI_SLO1.5) Students will demonstrate appreciation for the role of science and/or mathematics both in everyday life and in contemporary issues.

  • FYS_SLG1) Students will learn to embrace the writing process and establish writerly habits, while developing guided critical reading, thinking, and writing skills necessary for their success in upper-level course work. Students will learn to collaborate and to take their work, and the work of their peers seriously, thereby establishing best practices of critique.

    FYS_SLO1.1) Students will formulate inquiries emerging from readings of texts.

    FYS_SLO1.2) Students will establish research methods.

    FYS_SLO1.3) Students will analyze and synthesize multiple texts and cite evidence. 

    FYS_SLO1.4) Students will construct a complex claim and an argument.

    FYS_SLO1.5) Students will practice the writerly process (i.e. revision, reflection, and peer review).

  • SOSCI_SLG 1) Students will question and explore how human behavior, societal arrangements, and cultural practices vary across time and space.

    SOSCI_SLO1.1) Students will demonstrate understanding of the investigative methods used in the social sciences. 

    SOSCI_SLO1.2) Students will evaluate and develop claims based on primary and secondary sources. 

    SOSCI_SLO1.3) Students will communicate clearly in written and oral forms.

    SOSCI_SLO1.4) Students will write citations and bibliographies in accordance with one or more social science disciplines.

Courses

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

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

Class Number

1356

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

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

Class Number

1013

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

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

Class Number

1334

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

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

Class Number

1009

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Sharp 409

Description

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

Class Number

1014

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

The First Year Seminar Program at SAIC gives students the opportunity to develop their analytical writing skills while studying compelling subject matter. Consequently, this course plays two roles. First and foremost, it serves as a writing studio, a forum in which students develop their capacity to construct effective written arguments. The course also explores contemporary world events in detail; the analysis of this material provides the grist for student writing in the course. Modern technology allows for the nearly instantaneous distribution of news and images around the world. As a result, people in the twenty-first century are bombarded with information about contemporary events. However, much of this information has a superficial character: a dizzying array of media, ever concerned with viewership, stresses drama and controversy over context and complexity. Further, the treatment of events often reflects the agenda of the medium providing that treatment. In this course, we will look at global issues in depth, with particular attention to historical context. We will also seek multiple perspectives as we wrestle with the intricacies of diplomacy and war; commerce and culture. Specific topics of study will proceed from what is happening in the world, and students will be required to explore a variety of different news sources as the basis for their writing. Written assignments will include 15-20 pages of formal work, including weekly journal entries and three short papers.

Class Number

1335

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

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

Class Number

1010

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Sharp 706

Description

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

Class Number

1376

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

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

Class Number

1339

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

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

Class Number

1357

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

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

Class Number

1340

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

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

Class Number

1385

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 301

Description

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

Class Number

1378

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

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

Class Number

1341

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Sharp 409

Description

Taiwanese director Edward Yang is a poet of film. His intimate epics exhibit a mastery of form characterized by meditative narrative rhythms, long takes, medium shots over close-ups, and a detached, static camera. In this class, we will formally analyze three films¿Taipei Story (1985), A Brighter Summer Day (1991) and Yi Yi (2000) to understand how cinematic techniques work together to create meaning in a film. We will also examine the films within the broader context of the Taiwanese New Wave. First Year Seminar I is an intensive writing course. In class, we will engage deeply with course materials in productive discussions that will foster critical thinking and inform student writing. In addition to weekly homework assignments and in-class writing, students can expect to compose and revise 15-20 pages of formal writing through a process approach to hone their argumentative skills and build their confidence in expressing their ideas clearly and effectively.

Class Number

1379

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

This class will examine the American short story and survey its origins and development over the past two hundred years. Our study of the American short story will begin with formal elements of fiction, including how writers use and innovate within traditional storytelling practices, and then we will widen our scope and consider historical and cultural contexts. This literature is challenging and controversial--and studying it will help refine our own thoughts and modes of expression, too. The reading list includes (among others) Nathaniel Hawthorne, Kate Chopin, Sarah Perkins Gilman, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Raymond Carver, Juhumpa Lahiri, Amy Tan, Sherman Alexie, and Z.Z. Packer. Individual interpretations will be emphasized, and a slow-and-close reading of both the literature and our own writing will be practiced. This class will also engage in the process of writing, including prewriting (inquiry and brainstorming), drafting, peer review, and revising. Written assignments will include personal reflection, analysis, and synthesis. FYS I develops college-level writing skills, prepares one for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts courses, and allows one to improve expressing their ideas in writing.

Class Number

1342

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

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

Class Number

1358

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

The First Year Seminar program at SAIC gives students the opportunity to develop their analytical writing skills while studying compelling subject matter. Consequently, this course plays two roles. First and foremost, it serves as a writing studio, a forum in which students can develop their prose style and their ability to construct effective written arguments. The course also explores the relationship between artistic expression and the ideologies that characterize a given culture. Artists live in a specific cultural context. Their works reflect the influence of the dominant ideas of that culture, and often serve as a conscious commentary on those ideas. In this course, we will examine the impact of ideology upon art in a variety of world cultures, with an emphasis on cultural comparison.

Class Number

1359

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

This FYS I class explores the art of writing about feelings. Readings will include work by Jenny Odell, Jenny Zhang, Zadie Smith, and others. FYS I develops college-level writing skills and prepares one for FYS II and upper-level Liberal Arts courses. In our FYS I class, we will develop our critical reading, writing, and thinking skills by focusing on writing as a process. Students can expect to compose and revise 15-20 pages in multidraft formal writing assignments in addition to homework and in-class writing. Peer review and one-on-one writing conferences with the teacher should also be expected.

Class Number

1360

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course will approach the art of critical thinking and writing through the study of social and political philosophy. Readings will confront us with a wide range of positions for and against democracy, from Ancient Athens to current-day social movements. Our focus will be on recognizing and assessing their core arguments, discussing them critically together, and translating our conclusions into persuasive academic-level essay writing. Is genuine democracy an impossible ideal, only suited to Gods? Can the state express the will of the people through the constitution, the vote, and other procedures of public discourse, or is democracy best conceived as an anarchic force that challenges all institutional authority? Are ¿the people¿ the sum of individuals, a common power, or a potentially-criminal mob? Taking a stance on such debates will allow us to refine the skills essential to good essay-writing: summary, analysis, citation, organization and logical flow, but also suspense, effective use of stories and examples, and mystery. These skills form the necessary foundations for FYS II and upper-level Liberal Arts classes. Students can expect to produce 15-20 pages of scaffolded, revisable, formal writing that includes two essays as well as preparatory homework assignments and in-class writings. In-class workshopping of student papers should also be expected.

Class Number

1343

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

In this class, we will discuss the works written by contemporary Asian American writers. As FYS I is a writing class, we will examine these works with the lens of writers. How do these writers create space for themselves and others? Who are they making space for? What problems do they confront? What tools do they use? Our goal is to practice our critical thinking skills as well as our writing skills through studying the works of writers such as: Chin Chin, Grace Lin, Priya Parker, Esme Weijun Wang, Cathy Park Hong, and others. We will also utilize SAIC¿s amazing resources like the Service Bureau, the Art Institute, the writing center, the diversity department, and Title IX office. In this class, students will exercise their voices and embrace the writing process. They will think of writing beyond what happens on the page. Students will be required to write weekly reflections, multiple drafts of an argumentative essay of their chosen topic, and do a class presentation. Students in FYS I should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing. Attendance is extremely important and heavily weighted.

Class Number

1344

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

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

Class Number

1361

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

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

Class Number

1393

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

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

Class Number

1362

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

We associate colonization with large-scale consequences of violence and diaspora. But what about the less obvious impacts of colonization, those that have become everyday and have rewired the minds of a culture? In our class we will examine subtler forms of colonization on South Asians, particularly those who live in America and the UK. By turning the word anglophile in our hands, we will study how colonization continues through the English language, colorism, and the model minority myth. In addition to readings, we will watch films (such as The Reluctant Fundamentalist) and listen to albums (Riz Ahmed¿s The Long Goodbye). In our FYS I class, we will develop our critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. This is a studio writing class in which we will focus on writing as a process. We will freewrite, formulate conceptual questions for the readings/films/albums, write responses, and compose and revise 15-20 pages in multidraft essays. Students will direct the topic of the final essay based on their individual inquiry. FYS I develops college-level writing skills, prepares one for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts courses, and allows one to improve expressing their ideas in writing.

Class Number

1345

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 816

Description

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

Class Number

1363

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

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

Class Number

1364

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

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

Class Number

1346

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

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

Class Number

1366

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

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

Class Number

1347

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

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

Class Number

1386

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

This class serves as an introduction to the basic concepts of existentialism through a study of a couple of foundational texts by one of its principal philosophical proponents: Jean-Paul Sartre. The class will focus on existentialism¿s response to a newly emerging awareness of the contingency of moral values. With respect to this problem, we will explore central existentialist concepts such as freedom, and authenticity. The course is writing intensive: students should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. two essays and two in-depth revisions) in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing and discussion.

Class Number

1348

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

In this writing-intensive course, we'll read coming-of-age novels and memoirs from influential contemporary writers. Students will engage in close readings of texts that interrogate concepts of resilience, racism, and economic and class oppression as childhood struggles. Writers will include Jeannette Walls, Allison Bechdel, and Kiese Laymon. CONTENT WARNING: The content and discussion in this course will necessarily sometimes engage with issues of human suffering, including physical and sexual abuse. Students will write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing. In-class activities include peer review, workshopping, and free writing to generate paper topics, including a formal, argument-driven paper.

Class Number

1367

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

In this writing course, students will read and write about different forms and movements of contemporary poetry, ranging from 1951 to the present, including sonnets, prose poems, Black Arts Movement, confessional poetry, and free verse. Not only will students be introduced to a wide range of poets¿like Gwnedolyn Brooks, Cathy Song, Li-Young Lee, Garret Hongo, Jericho Brown, Ada Limon, Layli Long Soldier, Franny Choi, and Billy Collins¿but students will also add to the curriculum by presenting poets of their own choosing. Individual interpretations will be practiced through a slow-and-close reading, and written assignments will include a sequence of shorter papers and end with a longer project where students will compose and share their own anthology¿all of which will add up to at least fifteen pages of revised writing. The process of writing will be practiced throughout this course, from brainstorming, to drafting, to peer review and revising. FYS I develops college-level writing skills, prepares one for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts courses, and allows one to improve expressing their ideas in writing.

Class Number

1349

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

This course will focus on texts by ancient and medieval women dating from the earliest years of recorded writings and spanning time up to the Renaissance. Who were the women writing during those mysterious periods? To whom were they speaking and what did they dare to say? For some of them, relatively few of their works have survived for us to read, so our investigation will include consideration of a combination of factors that are relevant to each such as historical perspectives, specific life circumstances, and, of course, the content of their writing. Writers we will study will include Sappho, Sei Shonagon, Hildegard of Bingen, Christine de Pizan, and Akka Mahadevi, among others. As a First Year Seminar I course, the essay writing focus of this class will be to develop and build skills in writing response and analytical essays related to assigned readings, research, and class discussion. The final project will be a research-based presentation, with a creative component.

Class Number

1368

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

This writing intensive seminar introduces the anthropological study of time and ethnographic writing about time. From Doctor Who and the Tardis, to keeping or losing track of time like Alice in Wonderland down the rabbit hole, notions of temporality vary across time zones, culture, and space. Using ethnographic writing, this course examines time as a social and historical phenomenon. From agricultural rhythms of rural life in Africa and the Pacific Islands, to astrological and archaeological accounts of time from Celtic and Greek mythology, students will explore the social lives of calendars new and old. This includes other timekeeping tools like clocks and chronological standards in modes of transportation for buses, trains, and planes, including communication and recordkeeping systems like banks, phone records, and emails. Specific emphasis will attend to the objective and subjective understandings of time and the various temporal forms of daily life, drawing from contributions of ethnographic research and social science writing to the study of time from a cross-cultural perspective. Course activities center around developing analytic skills in the genre of ethnographic writing through in-class free writing, generating observational field notes and journaling, two formal and revisable essays, and peer review.

Class Number

1369

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

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

Class Number

1387

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

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

Class Number

1338

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

Adolescents feature prominently as saviors and remakes of the world in culture stories and myths from around the globe, as well as in contemporary young adult fantasy. Anthropologically, adolescents are potentially powerful agents of change because they are imperfectly socialized and not yet tied to conservative adult roles and norms. In this course students will develop their skills in writing at the college level as well as critical reading and analysis of Young Adult Fantasy novels and scholarly works on the genre and the phenomenon of adolescence. Students will read three novels in totals by authors such as Terry Pratchett, Diana Wynne Jones, Nnedi Okorafor, and Garth Nix. They will also read a small number of scholarly work by anthropologists and scholars in the genre of Young Adult Literature as a point of deeper entry into a body of literature that is often dismissed as simplistic, and a phase of the life cycle that is underscrutinized. Through scaffolding of short writing assignments, including peer review, students will produce three essays, resulting in approximately 15?20 pages, total, of formal, revisable writing.

Class Number

1365

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

Through thoughtfully crafted writing, can we begin to identify and address how problems of class, race, and gender are intertwined in ways that maintain oppression and inequality? This course attempts to do so by breaking down the critical writing process and providing a guided experience in college-level writing, thereby forming the necessary foundations for FYS II and upper-level Liberal Arts classes. Student writing will explore the American class-based system and its connections to race and gender. Course materials include essays by bell hooks, Donna Langston, and Audre Lorde, as well as screenings, such as interviews with Isabel Wilkerson discussing her book Caste. These course materials will act as points of departure as well as models of writing for our critical examination of class in American society and its role in maintaining systems of oppression and inequality. Critical writing skills are developed through 15-20 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. two multi-draft essays and one in-depth revision project) in addition to homework exercises and in-class writings.

Class Number

1375

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205