Courses

This course explores basic concepts relating to personal health and wellness. Physical, mental-emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental dimensions of health will be explored. Topics include stress management, sexuality, nutrition, drug use, and international concerns, among others. The focus of the course is on strategies for enhancing one’s personal health. As a result of taking this course, students will acquire health-related knowledge through the use of current, reliable, and valid sources of information; determine their health risks and protective factors through the use of personal assessments and thoughtful reflection; apply health-related concepts, theories, and information to their personal lives. Recommended for students in their first or second year.

This course provides a basic introduction to and overview of the field of sociology, including basic concepts, terms, major theories, methods, perspectives, and approaches employed in the discipline. The course examines the major social institutions that are the subject of the field and the sociological approaches employed to understand these institutions and their functions.

This course offers an overview of the principal perspectives and content areas in psychology and prepares students to take upper-level psychology classes. Students explore different research methods in psychology as well as the distinction between basic and applied research and how this distinction is manifested in present-day divisions of psychology. Topics may include social and developmental processes, neurobiology, personality, psychological disorders, sensation and perception, learning and memory, language, and applied areas.

This course provides students with opportunities to practice a range of conventions, standards of proof, and ways of knowing that characterize language in the concentration areas that make up the SUA liberal arts education: the humanities, environmental studies, social and behavioral sciences, life sciences, and international studies. In the process, students develop critical reading and thinking skills as well as competence in written and oral English so as to produce coherent, interesting, thoughtful, and largely error-free papers that are congruent with appropriate standards of academic discourse.

Introduction to the basic structure and function of modern Spanish, covering the basic sound system, grammatical structures, basic vocabulary/expressions, and writing. Important cultural aspects of the language are also discussed.

Continuing development of the fundamental aspects of modern Spanish as in SPA 101 with more emphasis on vocabulary/ expressions and grammatical structures.

This course explores the major religious traditions today to identify their common patterns and points of difference and to find methods of understanding and engaging human life in its religious depth. Topics include distinctive practices, primary stories, scriptures, relation to society, and attitudes on issues of nature, life-and-death, justice, and global citizenship.

Aims at further developing students’ Spanish language proficiency in the six aspects of listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar, and cultural understanding.

Continuation of SPA 201 while further enhancing students’ proficiency level in listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar, and cultural understanding. Relevant linguistic, sociolinguistic, and cultural information to prepare students for Study Abroad studies is included.

 This course is a historical and cross-cultural examination of women's and gender issues from a transnational perspective. The multidisciplinary approach draws on the humanities, social sciences, life/physical sciences, environmental sciences, and other fields of study. Course materials are based on research that views women from their perspectives as they engage with issues of patriarchy, sexism, racism, heteronormativity, and more. The course offers a holistic approach to the study of sex, gender, and sexuality. It considers how these are reflected in culture and history, how they shape social, political, economic, and institutional organization as well as personal experience and perception, and how they interact with issues of race, ethnicity, nationality, and class, among others. The course engages students in finding solutions as they examine historical and intellectual roots in worldwide movements for social change and equality.

This course is an introduction to the primary research methods used by social scientists. Fundamental orientations and approaches that underlie social science research will be introduced. Students will learn various qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection, data analysis, and results reporting. Emphasis in this course is on students putting these methods into practice by developing real-world research questions and engaging in hands-on research activities.

This introductory course asks students to evaluate the centrality of slavery to the history of the United States. We examine how the enslavement of Africans and the conquest of the continent affected the development of capitalism, governments, and cultures in the US. Developing these themes entails comparisons across places and time periods. The course identifies a nascent global system, comparing the US with selected locations in South America, West Africa, and the Caribbean. Students make comparisons of the past and the present, seeking to understand how the era of slavery constructed race formations and other legacies for the contemporary world. Throughout, students gain an introductory narrative of American economic and political history and acquire an introduction to empirical methods, critical theory, and current scholarship. Cross-listed as SBS 242.

Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes and how those processes affect behavior. Originally thought of as the “scientific study of knowledge”, cognitive psychology touches on all of the mental processes related to the acquisition, retention, and use of knowledge, including attention, perception, memory, language, problem-solving, and decision making. In general, this course is designed to help you learn: (1) how to turn big, imprecise questions about the human mind into concrete, empirical questions, and (2) how to find and evaluate scientific evidence to answer these questions. The class will include interactive lectures with live demonstrations, videos from experts in the field, weekly lab activities, and exams on course content.

This course introduces students to major classical, contemporary, post-structural, and post-modern sociological and cultural theories and theorists. Students obtain both a conceptual foundation and historical perspective of theories used in sociology and cultural studies. In addition, they become familiar with various themes associated with sociological theories. The application and linkage of theory with contemporary social issues and social science research is also a feature of this course. 

What is democracy? Why is democracy desirable? Is ti desirable? How has democracy evolved over time? What causes countries to democratize -- does democracy come from within a country or from global influences? How do countries transition to democracy? Is democracy better suited to some peoples than others? How does democracy vary across world regions? Who benefits from it, and who loses? What are the alternatives?

This course addresses these and other questions in a comparative context. Students are expected to leave the course with a critical, nuanced view of democracy as well as knowledge of both democratic and non-democratic countries. We will keep tabs on elections from around the world as we examine key theories related to democracy. Above all, I want students to understand more fully why we have democracy and why people fight to create it, but also to recognize its shortcomings. Democracy is not the only thing that matters in politics, but it matters a great deal. I hope this course encourages you to value democracy and consider how to contribute to its strength in wherever you find yourself.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the state of social movements and social change in 20th Century. Students become familiar with the history of the field, recent developments and its current status. Case studies of social movements and social change may be analyzed cross-nationally. Students also examine empirical studies and theoretical frameworks associated with social movements and social change.

This course takes a scientific approach to understanding how and why music is such an important and prevalent aspect of human life. We will explore theories and review empirical research that measures the impact of music on health, psychological well-being, cognitive thought processes (like memory & attention), childhood development, social bonding, personality, and emotion. By the end of the course, students will gain exposure to a wide array of topics in music psychology, and will gain the skills necessary to critically analyze scientific research on music. The course will include active participation during lectures/discussions, activities to measure musicality, short writings on a variety of topics, creative tasks, and a final research project tailored to student interests.   

This course is designed to enhance students’ oral fluency and comprehension in Spanish while at the same time increasing their own intercultural awareness. In addition, it is specifically tailored to prepare students for their study abroad (SA) semester. As such, the main objective of the class is to use Spanish as a vehicle to promote their awareness of key concept related to interculturality (e.g., essentialism, stereotyping, otherising). In each class students will be invited to reflect on different types intercultural encounters and how these encounters shaped/will shape their upcoming SA experience: these encounters will be real ones (from students’ own experiences meeting new people) mediated (through videos, narratives, readings) and improvised (through roles plays and improvisations).

Bodies as sites of meaning, modes of representation, political signifiers, and lived experiences are of central concern to work across the disciplines. Taking as its purview the production, regulation, and circulation of bodies in the context of late capitalism and globalism, this course considers how bodies are politically, socially, sexually, racially, culturally, metaphorically, and historically constituted, and promotes the invention of insurgent forms for reading and writing bodies that do not reinscribe the body in narrative myths and dualistic structures that dominate conventional understandings of bodies.

What does it mean to become leaders for the creative co- existence of nature and humanity? To gain an awareness of the interdependence of ourselves, others, and the environment? These questions, central to SUA’s mission, will guide our course work as we explore questions of social and environmental justice, sustainability, and our relation with nature in the age of the Anthropocene. Students will go on self-guided field trips to natural settings to engage more deeply with environmental topics through lived experience. They will write about contemporary environmental challenges in a variety of genres. In particular, public/advocacy, natural history/science, and creative/nonfiction writing will be emphasized. Students will undertake an ambitious intellectual project, conduct extensive, in-depth inquiry and present their work to relevant audiences.

This course introduces students to major social problems in America and other societies. Students learn to apply sociology concepts and theories to social problems and to analyze them from diffrent perspectives and comparatively across different countries and cultures. Emphasis will be placed on class discussions, problem solving and student projects and reports.

Designed to develop a high level of proficiency in spoken Spanish. Aims at further developing listening and speaking skills while learning more advanced language functions and lexicon. Discussions are based on current issues affecting our world. A wide variety of media resources will be used, such as newspapers, television, radio, and video.

This course explores writing for social change, including rhetorics of civic engagement, rhetorics of protest and resistance, and rhetorics of civil disobedience. Students will study the impact of rhetoric and writing on activism, public protest, and social change and compose genres that can support civic engagement, intervene in social injustice, and support agency and activism. Students will also reflect on ethical uses of language and means of persuasion. The class is conducted as a writer’s workshop in which students share their work and learn from one another. Students will be asked to generate theoretically informed critical/ creative interventions that grapple with civil disobedience, unruly rhetorics, and social change.

Designed to develop reading and writing skills while strengthening the mastery of vocabulary, language usage, and grammar. Main reading materials consist of short essays, literary and expository writings. Writing activities include letter, journal, and expository writing.

The objectives of this course are to introduce students to the theories and empirical research currently addressing the neuronal basis of human behavior. This combination lecture/seminar-based course, including bioinformatics research projects, will provide introductions to the basic concepts of brain neuroanatomy and biochemistry, molecular neurogenetics, evolutionary psychology, and human genomics, with readings and discussions from selected books, reviews and research articles. Emphasis will be placed on how disruptions of typical brain function, resulting in disorders such as autism, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and depression, can reveal how the brain mediates our most fundamental experiences.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

A systematic study of the more complex structures and forms of Spanish grammar with emphasis on mood, tense, and voice. Grammatical analysis, vocabulary building, discussion, and written practice are integrated to provide a solid foundation for students wishing to do more advanced work in Spanish.

Social psychology may be defined as the influence of actual, imagined, or implied others on individual cognition, emotion, and behavior. Course content progresses from intra-psychic to interpersonal topics to small-group processes. Students learn and evaluate social psychological research methodology and think critically about course topics and presented research. They also learn to apply theories and concepts to real-world situations as appropriate.

How do we create a vibrant social-economy that gives opportunity to all, especially in a region where sustained growth and equality have long been elusive goals? In the last three decades, millions of Latin Americans have risen out of dire poverty, much of the region overthrew military dictatorships, and Latin American commodities have expanded into vast new markets (especially Chinese). Nevertheless, the promises of ending poverty, sustained growth, and governments that work for the best interest of the majority of Latin Americans have been maddeningly elusive. Arguments for revolution or authoritarianism are again on the rise and Latin America may be a bellwether for the world. For example, the region's policymakers have been among the first to experiment with the possible "limits" or extremes of economic policy, such as communism and central planning, or neoliberalism and unregulated markets. In addition, there is no other region in the world that can compare to Latin America's mix of 1) enormous natural resources relative to small population; 2) inequality in multiracial societies; and 3) high levels of violence without formal warfare. The elite of Latin America, like almost everywhere, have no intention of creating egalitarian societies if it means a reduction in their own resources. Therefore, across these diverse societies, "development" is utopian in its ultimate imagined manifestations. For this reason, cultural studies and anthropology are not excluded, but students will mostly read texts by economists and political scientists.

This course provides an overview of the growing field of positive psychology, which is the scientific investigation of positive experiences, positive character strengths, positive relationships, and the institutions and practices that facilitate their development. Consideration will be given to conflicting viewpoints and their respective empirical support, including the benefits of balancing positive with negative emotions, the measurement and development of happiness, and the implications of deliberately attempting to increase it.

This course provides an introduction to a wide variety of psychological disorders and their treatments. Definitions of “abnormality” and methods of disorder assessment are examined. Different perspectives on the causes of disorders as well as their treatments are compared and contrasted. Topics include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and personality disorders. Upon successful completion of the course, students will have a greater understanding of how psychological disorders are discussed both in professional circles and in the lay media.

This seminar is designed to explore the dynamics and interplay of race, socioeconomic status and political and economic interest groups in impacting the differential access, use and outcomes of some groups and countries regarding natural resources and the natural environment. Specifically, the course will focus on how racial/ethnic, economic, cultural and country background impact individual and group access to a healthy and productive natural environment and supporting resources. We will explore alternatives for increasing environmental justice and issues related to access and to increasing the quality of life for disadvantaged groups. Global environmental issues that highlight the questions of justice and injustice also will be examined. An important broad goal of the course will be to integrate social concern for the natural environment with increasing consciousness of race/ethnic, class, gender and country disparities in issues of environmental equity and justice.

The Summer Research Program, which occurs between the first and second years, is a non-credit-bearing instructional option designed to enable graduate students to conduct MA thesis research. This may include work at one or more discrete locations in the United States or abroad. Students may identify a field site(s) where they can obtain first-hand experience and pursue research in an area of scholarly interest.

Experimental critical writing is a slippery genre that challenges and breaks down traditional genre distinctions, sidestepping and/or transforming conventional expository protocols. A hybrid form, experimental critical writing challenges disciplinary boundaries and borrows, as it pleases, from various genres – personal essay, historical writing, memoir, non-fiction, drama, diary, autobiography, fiction, reportage, poetry, rant, and manifesto. Exceeding genre and discipline boundaries, experimental critical writing produces new epistemologies not possible within forms bound by conventional constraints. This course will uncover some of the rhetorical possibilities traveling under the name “experimental critical writing;” explore emergent “alternative” theoretical and methodological frameworks related to the production of knowledge; blur the boundaries between disciplines, genres, the academic and non-academic; and consider what it means to produce new knowledge as a socially and ethically responsible global citizen.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

This course will introduce students to the genre of poetry.  Students in this course will explore the craft techniques associated with writing poems, including description, imagery, metaphor, lineation, rhythm and syntax.  With these in mind, students will imitate contemporary poems and invent and revise their own.  Furthermore, this course will be an intensive study of poetry and the writing processes associated with it.  The class will be conducted as a writer’s workshop, in which students share their work and comment on that of their classmates.

This course teaches the following substantive lessons: 1. Students will learn how to conduct policy research and offer recommendations to solve a problem and execute that solution. 2. Public policy is a political process. This class will focus upon various aspects of that process including problem identification, agenda-setting, policy-making, and implementation. Policy Brief In this course, you will write one policy brief in four parts. The policy briefs answer each of these questions: 1. What is the policy problem under investigation? Why is this issue a problem? 2. According to scholarly research, what are the causes of the problem? According to scholarly research, what are the consequences of the problem? According to scholarly research, what are the best solutions to ameliorate the problems? Scholarly sources include refereed-journal articles, books written by academics, and research reports. They don’t include newspaper articles or stories. 3. How do places similar to the place under investigation address these problems? Be specific. What are the effects of their efforts? 4. How have places employed best practices to address these problems? Be specific. What are the effects of their efforts? 5. Based on your research and your answers to parts 2-4 above, which course of action should the place under investigation take to address these problems? Why? 6. Use the logic model to specify how the place under investigation should implement this policy. 

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

This course introduces students to different genres of creative nonfiction, including autobiography, memoir, personal essay, reflection, and reportage. The course provides students an opportunity to practice these genres and emphasizes creativity of expression. Students are encouraged to experiment with a variety of first-person forms and write about subjects that they know about and that are important to them. Students will study the work of contemporary writers from a craft perspective in order to develop and hone their writing strategies. The class is conducted as a writer’s workshop in which students share their work and learn from one another. Students will prepare and submit an end-of-semester portfolio of their writing.

This course will introduce students to the genre of fiction.  Students in this course will explore the craft techniques associated with writing short stories, including narrative structure, characterization, setting, point-of-view, imagery and theme.  With these in mind, students will imitate contemporary short stories and invent and revise their own.  Furthermore, this course will be an intensive study of fiction and the writing processes associated with it.  The class will be conducted as a writer’s workshop, in which students share their work and comment on that of their classmates.

This course is an intersection of political science and the law. It uses the constitution, laws, and the courts to show us how checks and balances, separation of powers, and federalism operate. In the class, students will read and brief U.S. Supreme Court cases that deal with the following areas: the power of the Supreme Court and the Court’s decision-making process, separation of powers and checks and balances, and the American federal system. The course explains why the president receives greater leeway in foreign relations than domestic affairs and the United States Supreme Court’s role in this determination. It also explains how the Court shaped changes in the American Federal System, which morphed from dual federalism to various forms of cooperative federalism over time. This course is designed to enhance student understanding of the American legal system, American national institutions, the Constitution, the American federal system, and the Supreme Court.

Visual rhetoric can be understood as visual argument (or an argument using images). This course encourages students to explore and write about non-traditional forms of rhetoric drawing from a wealth of topics related to film genres, ancient rhetorical genres and film studies. This is not a film appreciation course but rather, a writing and rhetoric course, which encourages students to engage with the way in which visual culture communicates and makes arguments. Each week, we will explore and write about a different film genre and its particular concerns. Our analyses of movies in this course will turn on the fundamental examination of how meaning is created through the power of artistic vision and visual technology.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

For the first time in history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. Cities are the epicenter of many great things, such as entertainment, the arts, parks and recreation, museums, medical care, and employment. They also have more than their fair share of problems, such as crime, poverty, racism, and homelessness. This course examines theories about who governs cities and why and how cities are governed. The course focuses upon the policies that address urban problems. It pays special attention to political institutions, machine politics, informal actors who influence politics, the role of the national and state governments in city politics, and the politics of racial and ethnic minorities in cities. Power, race, and participation are three dominant themes that run throughout this class. Through this course, students will also better understand how culture, demographics, and politics affect California cities. They will devise solutions to major problems in one of the state’s urban areas. Even though this course focuses upon American cities, the lessons learned in it allow students to understand and examine cities throughout the world.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

This course provides an overview of the principal theories of personality and human behavior. A wide range of perspectives on personality are presented and evaluated. Students investigate and evaluate various measures of personality assessment and different methods of researching personality. Basic principles of personality structure and personality development are covered. On completion of the course, students will be able to recognize, critique, compare and contrast various theoretical perspectives on personality, as well as apply these theories to real-world situations.

This course is intended to provide a basic knowledge of regression analysis relevant for carrying out empirical work in the social sciences. Regression analysis is the application of statistical methods to testing social science theories/hypotheses using data. The Classical Linear Regression Model is the main focus of the course. Students will gain experience in collecting data from various sources, analyzing data through regression and statistical analysis, interpreting results and writing research papers.

If there is a central organizing concept in political science, it is power. One of the fundamental issues in the study of power is choice: who gets what, when, and why? This course examines the relationship between power and choice. It focuses on the wide variety of ways political analysts have conceptualized power and politics in the United States. Through a close and careful reading of a select number of representative texts, the course examines the theoretical underpinnings, ideological content, and political implications of eight major paradigms of American politics: liberalism, conservatism, Marxism, elite theory, pluralism, race, feminism, and neo-conservatism. Lectures will provide students with the necessary background to situate each paradigm within its proper historical, intellectual and analytical context.

This course is an overview of the fundamentals of experimental research methods. This course provides the tools for students to understand a variety of experimental research designs and the accompanying descriptive and inferential statistics used to evaluate the data obtained from those designs (which include chi-square, t-tests, analysis of variance, etc.). Students will gain experience in designing and conducting experiments, analyzing data, interpreting results, and writing research reports.

This course is an introduction to the primary Qualitative Research Methods as they are used in the Social Sciences such as content analysis, interviewing, participant observation, and case studies. The course will introduce students to the main epistemologies and worldviews of qualitative methods, explore what kinds of questions about social behavior qualitative methods are used to answer, discuss ethical issues related to qualitative research and writing, and engage in the application of various qualitative methods to a research question designed by students. Students will also learn how to construct a literature review and write a research report using qualitative research design.

This course is designed to provide an introduction to the specialization of developmental psychology. Principles of lifespan development will be discussed and applied to all stages of development, from conception to death. Special emphasis will be placed on biological, cognitive, and psychosocial domains of development. Throughout the course, the influence of contextual factors, such as culture and historical time, will be considered, as well as the utility of a multidisciplinary approach to the study of human development. Practical applications of course material to “real world” examples will also be emphasized.

This course introduces students to traditional and contemporary principles, theories, models and research on leadership across cultures and sub-cultures within various societies. It will examine leadership from an interdisciplinary perspective, thereby drawing upon theories and research in psychology, political science, anthropology and women studies. The course will also examine leadership in practice through the exploration of a variety of leaders, leadership styles and challenges for diverse gender and racial/ethnic groups in various societies. Students will also learn about and have a basis for reflecting on and assessing their leadership skills, styles and what it means to be a leader in an increasing diverse and global world.

The study of American trade politics occupies a special place in the history of political science and policy studies. It has contributed to new insights into the role of economic groups in American politics, the creative and often independent role of state and public officials in the national policy process and the impact of international structures and processes on domestic politics and policymaking. This course examines the formation of American trade policy since World War II, when the United States assumed the mantle of global leadership and embarked on a world historic project designed to create an open international trading system. Organized around an exploration of state-society relationships at the intersection of international and domestic economies, the course seeks to answer an interrelated set of questions: who defines America’s national trade interest; under what conditions do they define it; and where does their power come from?

This course is an overview of how human behavior has been found to vary across cultural contexts and is designed to challenge students to evaluate the nature of human difference between and within social groups. Psychological research methods will be introduced and applied to understanding seminal studies in cross-cultural psychology. Topics will include cultural variations in perception, cognition, identity, socio-emotional development, health behaviors, and emotional regulation. Diverse cultures and cultural change will also be examined with a special emphasis on the East-West contrast.

What is the state?  How is it organized?  How do different countries select leaders, where is power located, who rules, and who is excluded?  Under what conditions do people obey the state, resist it, or transform it?  Which societal configurations challenge state control?  How do states gain the legitimacy to rule?

INTS/POLI 365, State - Society Relations in Comparative Context, provides students with a conceptual understanding of the composition of states in diverse societal contexts.  The course begins with a discussion of regimes, leading to the first assignment, in which students assess the regime of a country of their choice.  The second part of the course is concerned with defining the state and understanding its institutions.  This will motivate the second assignment, in which students will design what they feel to be an ideal institutional configuration for their country.  The third part of the course pushes back, looking at societies and how they undermine your designs.  Your third paper will consider resistance from various societal forces.  You will then assemble and revise your three papers to form a broader paper on state / society relations.

Students will develop a heightened understanding of democratic and non-democratic regimes, how electoral systems turn votes into seats, the tradeoffs in different systems, and how these systems interact with a myriad of societal forces that may resist the state (sometimes for good reason).

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

This course examines how the development of children's cognitive competence and their academic achievement from early childhood to emerging adulthood interface with relevant educational environments, such as the home, school, and culture. This course draws material from social psychology, human development, and educational research, as well as relevant topics from sociology and politics. Throughout the course, students will also discuss and debate enduring and current, sometimes controversial, issues in education.

The course will provide an overview of the growing field of Sport Psychology, which involves applying psychological science to sports. Topics will cover how sport psychologists assist athletes and teams in setting and achieving sports, fitness, and exercise goals. Topics will also include theoretical foundations of behavior, psychological interventions for performance problems, adherence and maintenance of gains, and the impaired athlete.

This course examines the path of development of the American national state, from its roots during the Colonial Period, when the thirteen colonies existed on the periphery of the European state system and world market economy, through the emergence of the United States as a global military and economic superpower during the Post-World War II period. Taking its analytical cue from Alex de Tocqueville, the course places a consideration of the constitutional organization of the American national state and changes in the balance of power between the President and Congress, and the national government and state governments, in global perspective: America’s two century move from the periphery of the European-centered international state system and world market economy to its current position of supremacy within it.

This course is aimed at understanding different theoretical approaches to studying gender, sexuality, identity, sexism, exchanges of women, patriarchy, labor, otherness, oppression, and theoretical change. In addition it will cover more abstract interrogations of theoretical assumptions within explicative frameworks of post-modernism, post-structuralism, social constructivism, post-colonialism, materialism, transnational feminism and also critical and queer theoretical frameworks. Different feminist perspectives will be covered such as liberal, Marxist, radical, standpoint, etc. Special attention will be given to the exploration of power relations and other forms of inequality. We will also spend significant time engaging with feminist/ queer critiques of knowledge production, notions of perspective, representation, identity, and objectivity.

Designed to acquaint students with general trends of Spanish civilization and culture. Includes historical, economic, political, ideological, and artistic developments of Spain from prehistoric times to the present. Significant aspects of each period are discussed while shedding light on Spain’s everyday life culture and its values, aesthetics, political and economic circumstances.

Designed to examine the historical and cultural development of Latin American countries. Includes historical, economic, political, ideological, and artistic developments of Latin America from prehistoric times to the present. Significant aspects of each period are discussed while shedding light on Latin America’s everyday life culture and its values, aesthetics, political and economic circumstances.

This course examines how epidemiology informs global health policy and governance. Students will develop the ability to design, critique, and interpret epidemiological studies, with direct application to human health, disease, and clinical medicine in global contexts. They will practice integrating scientific evidence into policy and governance decisions, producing professional work such as policy memos, consulting presentations, and grant proposals modeled on the application structure required by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The course emphasizes critical analysis, clear communication, and the integration of liberal arts perspectives to address complex challenges in global health.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of social disparities in health, with an emphasis on sociological contributions to the area. Students will examine the social determinants of health and health inequities in various country contexts. Links between health outcomes and social factors—such as the social identities we inhabit (social class, gender, race), the relationships we have, and the places where we live, work, and play—will be identified and examined. Theoretical explanations for the relationships between these social factors and health disparities will be critically explored, along with possible policy solutions for achieving health equity. In particular, this course emphasizes the importance of examining multiple levels of social life, from individual behaviors to social relationships to public policy, for understanding the causes and consequences of health disparities. This course satisfies the upper-level writing requirement for graduation.

This course satisfies the Upper-Level Writing Requirement

This course casts a panoramic view on the literature production of Spain and Latin America, focusing on their historical, cultural and socio-political relationship. The course’s goal is to equip students with the practical abilities to analyze a literary text in Spanish as well as with a basic knowledge of the major historical trends and literary movements. Reading, literary analysis, and discussion of the canonical and most relevant works will be organized by genres (prose, poetry, theatre).

This sociolinguistic course expands understanding of the historical development of Spanish and awareness of the great sociocultural diversity within the Spanish-speaking world and its impact on the Spanish language. It surveys Spanish as a language which has undergone a series of transformations since its birth in the Iberian Peninsula, and as the offspring of Latin, in order to explain the diversity and regional variety that exists across the Spanish-speaking world today. In addition, this course revises traditional narratives and explores the notion of ‘Spanish’ as a collection of speaker-based language systems that have been shaped historically by many different forms of multilingual and multidialectal language settings.

Designed to explore differences/similarities between literary works and films from Latin American and Spain. It will explore and contrast the treatment of societal and cultural topics on both sides of the Atlantic.

Survey of contemporary issues portrayed in Latin American and/ or U.S. Latino literary production and popular culture. This course will include regional topics and/or written and audio-visual materials about popular culture and mass media.

The body is at once material and symbolic and exists at the intersection of multiple discourses. It is an object of regulation and control, a site of meaning creation, the location of contentious political struggle, a place where power operates, and situated within contextual time, space and place. In this seminar, we will draw on interdisciplinary sources and use a range of theoretical traditions to consider ways in which the body is constituted by these discourses.

Body and embodiment studies encourage and enhance theory, research, and scholarship on a wide range of embodied dynamics.  These “body dynamics” are understood through micro and macro sociological analysis of the political, social and individual bodies. Themes and topics included are: human and non-human bodies, bioethics, morphology, anatomy, body fluids, biotechnology, genetics; but also theories of embodiment, virtual bodies, productivity of bodies, changing bodies, bodies and inequality, bodily meanings, bodies and identity, the natural environment and bodies, deviant bodies, abjection, and more.

How are we situated to the body? What is a subject, object or abject? How are distinctions made between the normal and pathological? Are bodies subordinate to the mind? How are bodies commodified? How are bodies categorized and constituted by discourses of race, class, gender, sexuality, ableism, and more?