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A total of 33 courses have been found.
Comparative study of culture, social organization.

‘Culture’ consists of the ideas and behaviors that people acquire as members of a social group.  These are inherent in the various ways in which people adapt to and utilize their environment, organize and identify themselves, interact with one another, and express their thoughts and feelings.  When we speak of “a culture,” therefore, we are basically referring to a particular people’s way of life.

This course is an introduction to Cultural Anthropology—the comparative study of culture based on descriptive information drawn from various societies (that is, groups of interrelated, interacting people) all over the world.  The course is intended to (1) introduce the fundamental concepts that constitute the discipline of Cultural Anthropology, (2) promote a greater appreciation for the richness and diversity of culture throughout the world, and (3) provide students with a better understanding of other ways of life, as well as deeper insight into their own.

Social Sciences Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity
Selected world problems from an anthropological perspective; current dilemmas and those faced by diverse human groups in recent times and distant past.

This course examines how anthropological approaches can help us understand and address significant social problems facing populations across the world. A key objective is that students develop the ability to apply key anthropological concepts to analyses of both endemic social problems and current events.  Special attention will be paid to ways that race, gender, and social and economic inequality shape world problems, and social responses to them, at levels from local to global.

International and Global Issues Social Sciences
Cross-cultural approach to urban anthropology; urbanizing processes, migration and adaptation, aspects of class and ethnicity in urban settings, urban economic relations.

From the favelas of Brazil to the townships of South Africa, the social dynamics of urban places has served as a long-standing area of interest in the discipline of anthropology. Today more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, with this number projected to grow further. In order to address the growth and importance of urban social formations, the course will take different approaches to understanding the culture of cities. Class readings will derive from anthropology, history, geography and urban studies in order to offer a multidisciplinary perspective on urban space and society. Further, case studies will be drawn from the United States, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere in order to offer a cross-cultural perspective.

As we move into the twenty-first century, it has become common to think of social life as increasingly connected across formerly separate domains of existence. In keeping with this shift, this course will take an approach to understanding culture and society that takes seriously the interconnected social, political, economic and cultural dynamics associated with the contemporary phase of globalization. For the analysis of urban space and society, much work has focused on the rise of neoliberal models of socio-economic organization and their effects on everyday people. This point of focus will serve as a common thread in the course, which will give students the requisite knowledge to answer the following questions over the course of the semester:

  • How do urban environments and the experience of urban space influence the behavior of people?
  • What social and institutional mechanisms do groups of people develop in order to meet their material and cultural needs in urban spaces?
  • How does social inequality manifest in urban settings?
  • How have groups of people gone about changing challenging social conditions they face in their everyday lives? This course will take a cross-cultural approach in introducing students to the ways that anthropologists and social scientists have understood the cultural complexity of urban areas around the world. Within this broad focus, the emphasis will be on how people living in urban areas navigate their lives within a set of historically particular political, economic, institutional and cultural conditions.
International and Global Issues Social Sciences
Long-term patterns of human-environment interactions surveyed through archaeological case studies; varied scales of human impacts, including animal extinction, habitat destruction, agricultural practices, urban growth, state-level societies. International and Global Issues Social Sciences
Overview of museum history, function, philosophy, collection, and curatorial practices; governance and funding issues; exhibition evaluation and audience studies; examples from Stanley Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History, Old Capitol Museum, and Medical Museum.

As museums collect and preserve artifacts and objects from our world, they reflect the values, creativity, and aspirations of human culture. This course provides a broad overview of the past and present of museums while taking a good look into future possibilities.  Using examples from various types of museums (e.g., art, history, natural history, science, culturally specific) this course presents the foundations of museum studies and explains how museums function.  Students will investigate evolving approaches to collection and curatorial practice; governance and operations; audience and community engagement; and ethical issues. A variety of career pathways will be explored and students are encouraged think and contribute to a larger conversation about the significant role museums play in our society. 

Social Sciences
Overview of the field of gerontology from a bio-psycho-social framework; how the human body and brain age, effects of these biological changes on physical and cognitive functions, and interaction of these individual factors with societal contexts; broad perspective to give students a foundation in gerontology, paving the way for more advanced courses in biology of aging, psychology of aging, and global aging; for students from a wide range of disciplines and levels, no prior knowledge of aging required.

This course covers the social, psychological, and biological aspects of aging. Major topics include demography of aging, health, economic issues, primary relationships, and social services.  Evaluation of student performance may include any combination of papers, exams, class presentations, and class participation. The specific evaluation procedure and the percentage of the grade assigned to each aspect of the evaluation is delineated in a course outline distributed by the individual instructor within the first two weeks of the semester.

 

Social Sciences
General overview of everyday life communication, theories and research techniques used to understand it; sheer depth and complexity of processes in communication that occur in everyday lives and which appear to be trivial; how to observe conversations and identify what is really happening in them; ways in which scholars explain everyday communication and how it works; applications of theoretical thinking to explain processes of everyday communication. Social Sciences
Processes and effects of mass communication; how mass media operate in the United States; how mass communication scholars develop knowledge.

 

 

 

Social Sciences Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity
Introduction to public health; emphasis on issues, challenges, achievements, careers; historical events that serve as a foundation for public health practice.

This course will provide students with an introduction to the field of public health. Students will be introduced to key disciplines, methods, and topics in public health practice and research. Foundational concepts used throughout the course include social determinants of health, health equity, behavioral theories and epidemiological methods. Lectures will cover a wide range of current public health topics, including infectious disease, maternal and child health, agricultural health, health policy, and indigenous health. Students will also hear from graduate students in public health and explore career options in public health.

 

 

By the end of the course, student should be able to:

Identify the differences between population-based health and individual-based health.

Describe how scientific evidence is utilized to develop public health practices and interventions.

Describe the major disciplines in public health.

Describe various career paths in public health.

Explain the major achievements of public health, including the impact they have had on the health of the population.

Apply creative problem-solving strategies to address specific issues in public health.

Describe future challenges for public health in the 21st century.

Social Sciences
Nature and causes of crime; the criminal justice process, correctional treatment, crime prevention.

This course is an introduction to the study of crime.  The course begins with a discussion of the extent and patterns of crime in the United States, and then reviews the basics of the major explanations of the causes of crime.  The heart of the course focuses on introducing students to research on the major categories of crime, sometimes called the “criminal behavior systems,” including:  property crime, violent crime, corporate crime, organized crime, political crime, and drug crime.  

This course has online proctored exams, all of which will be administered via Proctorio, an online proctoring service. 

Generally, students will need:

  1. a computer with 2 GB of free RAM
  2. a reliable internet connection
  3. a webcam capable of scanning the testing environment
  4. a working microphone
  5. a quiet, private location
  6. the Google Chrome browser with the Proctorio extension installed
Social Sciences
Introduction to scientific study of language use; language approached from a multidisciplinary perspective, integrating theories and methods of psycholinguistics, neuropsychology, and communication sciences and disorders.

Provides an overview of theoretical approaches to the study of language. Topics include: origins of language use by humans; components of language (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantic); processes involved in learning and using language (under normal and special circumstances); cognitive and brain mechanisms of language.

Social Sciences

Language Acquisition 1, 2, 3 s.h.

Models of children's language acquisition; child language/communication development from infancy through school age, in context of current developmental research.

Utilizing a combination of class projects and lecture content, this course covers the development of language skills from birth through age 18, including all components of language (syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics). You will learn about the time course of typical language development, learning mechanisms involved in typical language development, the application of scientific methods to studying language development, observation methods, and the ability to describe language differences.

Requirements:

for CSD:3118—LING:3001 and PSY:1001; for LING:3118—LING:3001 or LING:3117

Social Sciences
Organization, workings of modern economic systems; role of markets, prices, competition in efficient allocation of resources and promotion of economic welfare; international trade.

This course introduces students to the tools used by economists to analyze markets and social issues. Students will gain an understanding of how individual economic agents, such as households and firms, make decisions and interact in markets and how markets allocate inputs among producers and output among consumers. Students will also learn how to evaluate the successes and failures of market systems and how government policies affect the economic well-being of the nation as a whole and of particular groups in the population.

Requirements: BBA students cannot use this course for GE CLAS Core Social Sciences
Social Sciences
National income and output, unemployment, and inflation; economic growth and development; money and credit; monetary and fiscal policy; government finance; international finance.

This course introduces students to the study of economic activity at the national level. It analyzes how households, firms, and the government interact and how they affect and are affected by economic growth, unemployment, and inflation. The goals of the course are to teach students to use the economist's lens to view the world more clearly and to give them the tools to understand and analyze aggregate economic measures, monetary and fiscal policies, and the role of the United States in a global economy.

Requirements: BBA students cannot use this course for GE CLAS Core Social Sciences
Social Sciences
Global environmental challenges; ecological, economical, cultural, and geographical causes and effects; underlying science and potential solutions to global issues of sustainability. GE: Sustainability.

The demands on earth’s resources have never been greater, leading to a wide array of environmental impacts on a grand scale. This introductory course profiles the leading global environmental issues of our time, particularly those associated with land use, population change, pollution, energy, and climate change.  The class adopts an interdisciplinary perspective that emphasizes their causes, consequences, and solutions. The major goals of the course are to: 1) explore the most urgent global environmental issues and their relationships with physical, social, biological, and economic processes; and 2) introduce you to basic geographic concepts in the context of current environmental challenges.

International and Global Issues Social Sciences
World regions including their physical environment, culture, economy, politics, and relationships with other regions; students learn about conflicts within and between regions.

Examination of contemporary global society, focusing on world regions, including physical environment, culture, economy, and politics of each region and relationships between regions; analysis of current conflicts within and between regions, including social, religious, political, and economic issues.

International and Global Issues Social Sciences

Examination of contemporary economic geography; types of national economies, uneven development, role of government in shaping economy, multinational corporations; foundation for understanding national economies and economic statistics; contemporary issues including economic globalization, commodification of nature, de-industrialization.

Why are various economic activities located in different places? How are these locations changing? What is globalization and how does it affect local economies? This course, designed for students in all majors, examines the economic geography of the world. During the first 12 weeks, we focus on important factors that affect the location and distribution of economic activities across the globe. Major topics include population distributions, variation in regional economies, natural resource distribution, industrial location, foreign investment, and international trade. The remaining weeks are devoted to examining the position of selected nations and groups of nations in the international economy. Here, the key topics are world economic development, regional economic structures, and regional growth and decline. Class meetings include lectures and discussions. Final grades are based on four assignments, two midterms, the final exam, and participation. One or more sections may be assigned to a TILE classroom.

International and Global Issues Social Sciences
Introduction to mass communication theory as it relates to practical applications in the media industry and American society.

How do news and entertainment inform us? Does advertising persuade us? Does playing violent video games make people more aggressive? Do repeated images of very thin women and very muscular men shape our own body image? This course introduces students to mass communication theory as it relates to practical applications in today's society. Students need to understand how theories can explain the role of media in our lives as individuals and as a social group, especially if they want to study journalism or public relations. This knowledge is important to help guide and critique today's changing media industries. Four exams and two short papers are required.

Social Sciences

Structure and processes of American national government; how the United States manages political conflict; impact of the U.S. Constitution; effect of public opinion, interest groups, and media on government; role and evolution of Congress, presidency, bureaucracy, and Supreme Court.

This course is a general introduction to American government and politics. Topics covered include the Constitution, civil liberties and civil rights, voting behavior, political parties, interest groups, Congress, the presidency, and the courts.

Social Sciences
Patterns and basis of political behavior of American electorate; trends in voter turnout; vote choice; ideology, partisanship, and public opinion.

This course is an introduction to the political behavior of the American electorate. The basic goals of this course are to explain political behavior and investigate the consequences of it. In this course, political behavior is broadly defined, and topics include voter turnout, vote choice, partisanship, ideology, issue attitudes, public opinion, socialization, and representation. In class, we will mainly address the following questions: Who votes? Who votes for whom? What moves public opinion? In order to address these questions, we will explore literature, controversies, and theories of political behavior.

Social Sciences
Common problems, literature, analytic techniques.

At the turning point of Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore tells students at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, “We are all facing dark and difficult times.” Yet Harry’s times are ours; and many of their troubles are political: racism, sexism, terrorism, totalitarianism, environmental catastrophe, elitism, imperialism, bureaucracy, mass society, torture, war, and worse. This course uses Potter takes on politics as dark arts, as well as our defenses against them, to explore political thought and action for our dark times.


Introductions to political theory typically acquaint students with several ideologies and movements in politics. But in everyday life, we usually practice politics as styles of personal action. Some of these styles enact ideologies such as liberalism or conservatism, some pursue movements like environmentalism or populism; yet many don’t link to prominent ideologies or movements. Fortunately the Potter books focus on many styles of action in speaking to our troubles. So this course analyzes Potter novels for their takes on our several kinds of politics.


Each Potter book educates Harry and his friends in at least two styles of personal action, and often they are political contraries. For example, the first three books contrast perfectionism to conformism, fascism to populism, and realism to idealism. Potter and company enact these as personal styles of conduct available to most of us readers, and likely practiced by people we meet. The Rowling novels also probe bureaucratic, conservative, nationalist, and other styles.


We read a Potter novel every two weeks. To replace lectures, we also read chapters from the teacher’s book on Defenses Against the Dark Arts: The Political Education of Harry Potter. All are available from the University Bookstore in the Iowa Memorial Union. This approach lets us use class time for discussing Potter issues as our issues. The Covid-19 pandemic has the course meeting online rather than in a classroom. But since we use a seminar format, our Zoom sessions twice a week can work largely as if we are talking in person.


Classes are for discussing politics in each novel’s characters and situations, linking to our political situations, and debating their implications for current action. Students take short-answer tests on politics in several novels. Students also write two brief exercises in analysis on Potter politics, each a maximum of five double-spaced pages.

Social Sciences Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity

Politics worldwide, including all regions and levels of development; wide-ranging themes, including regime types, political change, political culture, public opinion, government structures, state-society relationship, electoral systems, public policy issues.

Comparative politics examines political realities in countries all over the world. It looks at the many ways governments operate and the ways people behave in political life. This course serves as an introduction to comparative politics, presenting the major themes and issues of comparative politics, helping students to understand how the political theories and concepts of comparative politics work in the real world.

 
International and Global Issues Social Sciences
Political dynamics in postcommunist countries of east-central Europe and Eurasia; imperial legacies, ideology and practice of communist politics, patterns of democracy and authoritarianism.

We first examine the Soviet Union: its founding, political evolution, and what life was like for its citizens. The Soviet period continues to exert a strong influence on politics in the 15 countries that were once part of the Soviet Union as well as on the Soviet satellite countries. Knowing the Soviet legacy is vital for understanding the current issues in all these countries, stretching from the Baltic republics to Central Asia and Mongolia. The course then turns to the politics of the largest Soviet successor country, Russia. Students will master Russia’s formal political institutions and its informal political processes, the country’s political economy, how Russian citizens interact with the political system, and how Russia deals with other countries. Russia’s political system is a leading example of one type of authoritarianism, making Russia a valuable point of comparison with other countries. Russia is also a regional great power and a significant emerging economy. It represents a major world culture, with contributions to literature, science, music and athletics rivaled by few other countries. Knowledge of Russian politics can therefore benefit all future citizens and should be particularly valuable for those who will go into government service, the non-profit sector, journalism, the military, or international business.

 

This course fulfills a general education requirement in:

  • International and Global Issues

 

It also fulfills a requirement for the following degrees or programs:

  • Political Science
  • International Relations (Regional Politics and Relations)
  • International Studies (Development; or Russian, East European and Eurasian)
  • International Business Certificate

 

This course will be offered online with both synchronous and asynchronous elements. Online class meetings (via Zoom) will be held from 11:00A - 12:15P on Tuesday, January 26, on Thursday, January 28, and on each subsequent Thursday only. Course modules will combine pre-recorded lecture videos, readings, films, discussions and group activities. Grades will be based on 8 quizzes; three short writing assignments; and class participation.

International and Global Issues Social Sciences

Survey of key issues in international relations, including causes of wars, different types of theories of international relations, international organizations, and global environmental problems.

The goals of this course are threefold: 1) to introduce students to the basic facts and characteristics of world politics, 2) to explore the multitude of tools and theories used by scholars in order to understand world politics, and 3) to encourage students to begin to try their own hands at making sense out of a complex and interesting subject. Topics include the international system, leaders, theories of decision-making, the role of public opinion, international conflict, arms control, deterrence, international regimes and institutions, cooperation, alliances, democratic peace, and trade and interdependence.

International and Global Issues Social Sciences
Foreign policies: goals, basic themes and general patterns, problems encountered by policy makers, means employed in dealing with other nations and international organizations, processes by which policies are formulated, factors that influence structure of policies.

Since its founding, the U.S. has grown from a relatively small power to the most powerful nation in the world. How did the U.S. go from a small power to the world’s leader? How are American foreign policy decisions made? What are current foreign policy issues facing the United States? This course examines all of these questions by looking at the history of American foreign policy, examining how different branches of government attempt to influence foreign policy, and discussing current foreign policy debates facing policy-makers. Topics covered include the causes and consequences of major wars like World War 2 and Vietnam, American Exceptionalism, and U.S. policy towards terrorism and the Middle East.  Students are evaluated based on two non-cumulative exams, quizzes, a short paper, a presentation, and participation in section. This course is appropriate for any student. No prior knowledge or skills are required. This class fulfills requirements for the Political Science, International Relations, and the Ethics and Public Policy major.

International and Global Issues Social Sciences
Historical and philosophical foundations of counseling psychology; theories, application, and work of counseling psychologists.

Have you ever wanted to learn more about counseling and psychotherapy approaches to addressing mental health? Are you curious how contemporary social and cultural issues have an impact on our mental health? Have you wondered how psychologists can enact change at the individual and societal level? This course is designed to answer these questions and to provide an overview of the profession of counseling psychology.

Counseling psychology is a profession that helps clients remedy problems, engage in prevention strategies, and develop and enhance their strengths and skills. Counseling psychologists also study social and cultural factors of mental health, such as race and racism, sexism, and other forms and systems of oppression, as well as social justice and community activist approaches to create change at the individual and societal level.

Specific topics to be covered in this course will include the definition and history of counseling psychology, the theory and practice of psychotherapy, career counseling, multiculturalism and social justice, suicide, counseling skills, social/cultural issues, ethics, and various applications of counseling psychology.

Social Sciences
Psychology as a behavioral science.

Why do we act the way we do?  This course introduces psychology as the science of behavior. Psychological science addresses the major experiences of every person:  How do we perceive the world around us?  How do we learn, remember, and think?  How do we develop?  What causes mental illnesses, and how can those illnesses be treated?  To answer these questions, the course focuses on sensation and perception, learning, child development, memory and cognition, neuroscience, psychotherapy, abnormal behavior, and social influences on behavior. Course format consists of lectures and a discussion section. Requirements include assigned readings in the text, class lectures, short papers, and participation in discussions. Students also are required to become familiar with research methods in psychology either by participation in research studies or through brief reviews of selected research literature. Readings are primarily taken from a text, but additional readings and class materials may be assigned.

Social Sciences
Introduction to abnormal psychology; scientist-practitioner model, training, ethics, research methods in clinical psychology; current approaches to intellectual, personality, behavioral assessment; theories, research on treatment of psychological disorders.

This course is designed to introduce you to the concepts and methods of the science of clinical psychology. It has three areas of emphasis: 1) fundamentals of scientific clinical psychology; 2) evidence-based psychological assessment; and 3) evidence-based psychological intervention.  This course will provide an introduction to (a) major theoretical models and research methods in scientific clinical psychology; (b) several psychological problems, with topics varying by semester but commonly including problems that are particularly relevant to college students (e.g., depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, and eating disorders); (c) the general principles underlying the construction, administration, and interpretation of evidence-based clinical assessments; and (d) empirically supported approaches to psychological intervention. You are urged to reconsider your decision to take this class if you are reluctant to examine these topics in a scientific manner.  Taking this course should make you a more informed consumer of claims about contemporary clinical psychology and may assist in your evaluation of clinical psychology or other related potential career goals. This course is not designed to provide extensive information on the nature of psychological disorders (see Abnormal Psychology course) or to provide you with the skills to assess and treat psychological problems.

Prerequisites: PSY:1001
Social Sciences
Current research in developmental science; prenatal development, brain development, motor and physical development, perceptual development, language development, cognitive development, aspects of socio-emotional development; emphasis on modern theoretical approaches.

When do infants learn to reach, crawl, and walk? When do children learn their first words? When do children learn to read? These questions, although interesting, all focus on what happens at different ages. But as you will learn in this course, developmental science is not just about children or child development—it's also about how human behavior changes over time. Thus, the main questions developmental scientists ask revolve around the word "how": How do infants learn to reach? How do children learn their first words? How do children learn to read? Emphasis is placed on understanding the processes that underlie child development at multiple levels--from neurons to neighborhoods--and across multiple time scales. Topics include prenatal development, brain development in children, motor and physical development, perceptual development, language development, cognitive development, and aspects of social and emotional development. Lectures, supplementary readings, and discussion section exercises will give you an appreciation for how science is conducted by stepping back from the "facts" in the textbook to explore current research in developmental science and how this research impacts the real world.

 

Prerequisites: PSY:1001
Social Sciences
Individual human cognition; perception, attention, memory, language, learning, problem solving, decision making, thought considered from viewpoint of information processing.

How do humans think? How does memory work, and how do we prevent ourselves from being distracted? These questions center around problems in cognitive psychology, the area devoted to understanding thought processes. This course will provide a general introduction to human cognition, focusing on topics such as the brain mechanisms of cognition, perception, attention, memory, language, categorization, imagery, and intelligence. Students will learn the major theories and findings in various areas of cognitive psychology. The class also will discuss the contribution of other perspectives on cognition, such as relevant work in computer science and neuroscience. Readings are primarily taken from a textbook, but additional readings and class materials may be assigned.

Prerequisites: PSY:1001
Social Sciences

How individuals are organized into social groups, ranging from intimate groups to bureaucracies, and how these influence individual behavior; nature and interrelationships of basic social institutions (family, education, religion, economy).

Sociology is the systematic study of the social world. Sociologists study many phenomena, such as small groups, organizations, cultures, and societies. Some of the topics we will cover are what some may call a “social problem,” for example, crime or poverty. Sociologists also examine social institutions like education, religion, and family. We will build on and probe beyond popular understandings of these topics, to achieve a deeper level of critical analysis. Moreover, we will explore the kinds of questions sociologists ask, why and how they ask them. In other words, the goal of this course is to learn how to “think sociologically.”

Social Sciences

Introduction to a range of theories that seek to explain behavior of people within their groups, and dynamics between groups, at various levels of society.

Social Psychology is the study of influences on, processes of, and results from social interaction and our relationships with other people. This course presents an overview of theory and research in social psychology. Social psychology borders both sociology and psychology and brings together insights from both fields. Students already have some familiarity with much of this course’s content simply by being a competent member of society. They have formed opinions about other people, tried to change somebody’s mind, tried to get into and possibly out of a romantic relationship, wondered about who they really were, been a member of a group, and so on. The goal of the course is not to tell students things you are aware of; rather, it is to offer a sociological perspective about daily life and explore fundamental processes that constitute our world. We will cover issues about how and why people think, feel and behave as members of a shared social reality.

Social Sciences
Relationships between leisure and economics, sociology, other social sciences; effect of leisure on individual and group behavior; antecedents, motives, consequences of leisure behavior.

This course examines leisure and play from a social science perspective. Psychology, sociology, economic, and political science literature is used to inform the phenomenon of leisure behavior. Psychological readings emphasize individual motivation for play. Sociological literature informs how social groups use leisure and play as part of culture. Economic topics include the work ethic, overwork, and retirement. Political aspects of leisure behavior are examined through consideration of the prospects for a better society.

Social Sciences