Skip to main content
A total of 33 courses have been found.
Comparative study of culture, social organization.

How and why do human communities develop their ways of living, change these over time, and differ from one another? How is this cultural diversity impacted by globalization, and why does such diversity continue to matter in the 21st century?  Cultural anthropology asks and answers these questions through a comparative lens that includes widely diverse peoples, places and times. The field is known for “making the strange familiar, and the familiar strange,” meaning that it sparks reflection not only about cultural differences but also about what we all often take for granted in our own daily experiences. Through readings, lectures, films and other media, we will explore anthropology’s findings about key lifeways, cultural similarities and differences among peoples across the globe, and consider key questions about how anthropologists produce this knowledge.   

This course combines lectures, discussions, and in-class activities with assignments that are designed to promote critical thinking and analytical writing skills. Graded work includes three exams, class participation/discussion activities, and two short writing assignments—including one in which students get to try out their own ethnographic research skills, by examining key social and cultural features of life on campus.

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.

In the world we live today, what kind of role can anthropology play? We have violence, climate change, economic inequalities, racism and other forms of discrimination. Taking examples from around the world, the class will discuss how everyday people navigate their lives and attempt to address societal challenges amidst constraint. This course offers a venue to think about the problems in relation to anthropology as a scholarly discipline.

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. GE: Sustainability.

Communities across the globe are increasingly concerned that the byproducts from our industrial lives are causing climate change and irreparable damage to our natural environment. Anthropology provides a rich source of information on how humans interact with nature, and provides a baseline for understanding ecosystems’ dynamic pasts, which together can be used to place today's environmental crisis in perspective. Using examples and case studies from around the world, this course surveys the changing nature of human-environmental interactions over the last 60,000 years. The lecture component of the course explores how long-term changes in social organization, subsistence patterns, population growth, and settlement practices have influenced the nature and scale of human impacts on the environment through time. This part of the course is organized around major categories of human impacts including animal extinction, habitat destruction, agricultural practices, effects of urban growth and development, and impacts of state level societies on the environment. The discussion section takes the themes and concepts outlined in lecture and applies them to our modern life to show how our relationship with the environment is an expansion of the human experience for the last several thousand years.

This course satisfies the Social Sciences GE.

Social Sciences Sustainability
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 intends to provide a broad overview of the past and present of museums (and take a good look into future possibilities).  Using examples from various types of museums (e.g., art, history, natural history, science, culturally specific) this course will present the foundations of museum studies and explain how museums function.  Students will investigate evolving approaches to collection and curatorial practice; governance and operations; audience and community engagement; and ethical issues. This course will present the variety of career pathways available in the field and link students to internship and service learning opportunities. This course is meant to encourage students to think about 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
Introduction to sustainability knowledge, skills, and habits as a means to shape one's vision of a sustainable citizen; emphasis on basic skills of literacy, applied math, and finding information; traditional sustainability knowledge areas related to society, economy, and environment; intersecting themes (e.g., informed consumerism, eco-economics, and livable environments). GE: Sustainability. Social Sciences Sustainability
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.  

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
Processes by which people perceive, respond to, create, and use music in their daily lives; basic physics of musical stimuli, psychoacoustics of musical perception, principles of musical cognition, neurological and physiological responses to music, theories of musical learning and development, and social psychology of musical activity; previous musical performing experience helpful but not required.

Processes by which people perceive, respond to, create, and use music in their daily lives; basic physics of musical stimuli, psychoacoustics of musical perception, principles of musical cognition, neurological and physiological responses to music, theories of musical learning and development, and social psychology of musical activity; previous musical performing experience helpful but not required.

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
Application of social science methods and media theory to understanding effects of news, advertising, entertainment, and social media.

We spend more time using media than doing almost anything else. All that media must have some effect on us, but what? In this class we’ll apply the theories and methods of social science to understanding media effects. We’ll explore questions such as: Does violent media really cause violence? Does news influence the political process? How does entertainment media create and reinforce harmful stereotypes? And if media does affect us, what can we do about it? The class fulfills the General Education requirement for Social Sciences.

 

Social Sciences
Governmental institutions, major interest groups; focus on area as a whole.

This course is an introduction to the study of modern Latin American politics, with a specific focus on roadblocks to economic and political development within the region. In particular we will explore Latin America?s cycles of democratic and authoritarian rule, and its political institutions.

International and Global Issues 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

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 is the field that uses evidence to answer questions about the workings of domestic politics by comparing the experiences of different countries. Our study of the topic begins with countries relatively similar to the one most of you know best, the United States. We will investigate why the advanced industrial democracies have pursued such different social and economic policies, the policies that have the most direct impact on the wellbeing of their citizens. In doing so, we will also learn how political institutions differ across democracies and the effects that these differences have on politics. During the second half of the course, we will turn to recently democratizing countries to study how authoritarian regimes maintain power, the circumstances in which they give way to democracy, and the problems often faced by new democratic governments in the developing world. Throughout the course, we will consider how comparison allows us to draw conclusions about political processes. Grades will be based on quizzes, short writing assignments, eight low-stakes exams, 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.

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. 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
Energy is considered the lifeblood of modern societies, and as energy production and consumption accelerates worldwide, it is imperative that energy becomes sustainable or it is derived from resources that can maintain current operations without jeopardizing energy needs or climate of future generations; examination of global transition toward sustainable energy systems from a social science perspective; application of the concept of sociological imagination to understand challenges and opportunities presented by worldwide energy transformation towards sustainability. GE: Sustainability. Social Sciences Sustainability

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