Hoos’ List

Introduces six major religious traditions deeply rooted in different cultures including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Examines the historical evolution, the doctrines, beliefs, practices, institutions, and cultural expressions of these religious traditions.

Examines the concept of America and to what extent it is a product of religious mindsets of particular times. Explores multi-media materials, including: Hollywood films, 20th Century folk music, literature of the west, 18th Century primary sources, 19th Century theses on American identity, and 20th Century journalism and criticism.

Focuses on the process of poetry as an ongoing creative journey. Explores the ways in which poets access the subconscious and the irrational and channel them into poems, via the elements of craft including image, metaphor, tone, sound, meter, rhythm and line. Students will keep a poetry journal and write poems in response to exercises designed to help them move beyond their initial "comfort zone."

Explores writing as a process of transforming imagination into reality. Guides students to understand the connection between writing and cartography using poetry and memoir. Course is designed to help the student become a more confident writer and editor.

Analyzes the elements of fiction; structural elements such as character, plot, point of view, and conflict will be discussed in addition to stylistic elements, such as dialogue, setting, and sensory details. Includes readings of essays and short stories by published authors and class critiques of fiction written by the students.

Student learns how to bring together the imaginative strategies of fictional story telling with new ways of narrating true, real-life events. Explores how Creative Nonfiction writing allows you to share your stories in compelling ways, helps you write effectively in professional and personal situations, and provides new ways for you to document real-life experiences as they occurred.

Explores the relationship between the physical body and human identity through such topics as body image, eating disorders, sexuality, aging, disease and its affects on the body by reading and discussion of short stories, poems, and novels. Engages students in frequent formal and informal writing, beginning with personal narratives and journal responses.

Focuses on classic, contemporary, and non-traditional literature about the environment. The course is divided into three sections: nature writing, place-based writing, and environmental writing. Readings focus on issues beyond landscape as gender, race, politics, ethics, and culture all play a part in environmental writing.

Students explore fiction and poetry of U.S. writers ranging from early modernists to contemporary writers, including such prose writers as Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, Ellison, and Morrison and poets such as Frost, Eliot, Stevens, Bishop, and Williams.

Explores the process, form, and voice of writing poetry. Offers the chance to read widely in contemporary American poetry and develop reflective prose essays on poetry, poetics, and the philosophy of poetry.

Examines American novels and short stories since the 1960s in social, historical, and aesthetic contexts. Considers writers such as Morrison and attends to how previously marginalized identities have altered the canon. Asks the following questions: What is postmodernism? How do American narratives negotiate between "fact" and "fiction"? How is the production and reception of literature affected by social issues?

Examines the cultural and commercial contexts of film production, including the directors, the intended audience, and the audience's response. Investigates film structure, how meaning is created, and how this structure can be read and understood. Examines genres, stories, and the ways in which films and their audiences are a part of the larger structure of the culture in which they exist.

Studies the films of Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, two very different but equally creative filmmakers who explored their medium with an intensive imagination. Analyzes such films as Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, Vertigo, and Psycho, examining what makes them work and looking at the cultural and historical context of the films.

Explores the way film echoes and influences the culture that contains it. Examines a number of film genres that were particularly sensitive to cultural and political currents including melodrama, the gangster film, the Western, science fiction, and others. Determines how Post-World War II America saw itself in films.

Examines movie case studies that aroused controversy. Analyzes the messages these movies communicated on the screen. Considers what the filmmakers intended to communicate, and how audiences and media critics responded to the portrayals.

Develops the skills to inspire and cultivate writing and creativity.

Enables students to reflect on what was perhaps the greatest downfall into barbarity, genocide and mass oppression. Examines first-hand accounts of both the Holocaust and crimes of the Communist regimes in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China, and Cambodia. Explores historical, intellectual, cultural, and psychological roots of Nazism and Communism.

Explores changing concepts of the child from medieval times to the present by examining personal memoirs, competing social theories, and literary visions of the child. Examines how childhood has been understood and experienced across different historical periods and in diverse communities, including medieval society, the Romantic and Victorian eras, enslaved children, pioneer and immigrant families, children during the Great Depression, and in contemporary family life.

Explores one significant theme in the social sciences and/or humanities such as liberation, power, equality, diversity, rights, justice, war, happiness, love, and beauty, through the study of one significant and influential classic or contemporary book or work of art. Students engage with the subject and enhance their critical reading, writing, thinking, and discussion skills.

Investigates the idea of approaching art as a form of human evolution. Examines the art of several past and present cultures. Blends art and science to connect aesthetics to an understanding of human nature from the cognitive and biological sciences. Examines existing personal and cultural theories of art and art criticism.

Introduces painting techniques and concepts, with emphasis on the understanding of its formal language and the fundamentals of artistic expression. Explores color theory, linear perspective, pictorial composition , figure/ground relationships, visual perception, spatial concepts, and critical thinking skills.

Examines the cultural elements involved in the interactive process of defining and interpreting the meaning of visual images with regard to how art images are produced, consumed, and made meaningful. Explores images in art history and digital media to investigate the philosophical, social, and cultural influences which affect how we interpret and define the art experience.

Introduces the philosophical concept of the ethical discrimination of actions. Examines primary sources in some detail by presenting prevailing philosophical systems. Studies decision-making in the context of the contemporary world using examples such as business environment, faith and religion, and the political arena.

Explores the relationship between religious faith, forms of reasoning, and scientific explanation. Examines such questions as: What is the nature of religious faith? Is religious faith a rational, irrational, or non-rational belief? Does reasoning undermine faith or strengthen it? Are scientific and religious perspectives compatible?

Examines the anthropological origins of dance history in world cultures. Discusses the importance of dance to define and preserve the historic traditions within a culture. Explores the inherent relationship between dance and music within both the socio-cultural and folk aspects, as well as the ceremonial, religious, and ritual aspects of a culture.

Examines the places where art and medicine intersect. Explores the relationship between art and sanity and the contemplative, cathartic, and expressive possibilities of art as a healing modality. Provides students with a theoretical basis and vocabulary for discussing therapeutic art and a set of tools and exercises for creating it.

Explores the relationship between religion and politics. Examines how the relationship has changed over time and place, what the relationship should be, and how prior religious and/or political commitments affect how answers to these questions are structured.

Writing begins with intuition, moves towards consciousness and strives for clarity. Such movement calls for a steady eye and an enduring approach. Accordingly, this course focuses upon resurrecting the fading art of patience, a faculty required for writing. Students will read widely, respond to assigned readings through weekly essays and share work in a workshop setting with an emphasis on revision. Writing intensive.

Examines the American short story from the perspective of the both reader and writer. Defining recurrent themes and conventions of the genre by reading major stories spanning the last 200 years of American literature, students explore the importance of tradition to the writer analytically in critical essays and experientially in their own short stories.

Investigates the work of contemporary filmmakers, each with a unique style and an approach to film that combines stylistic innovation with a particular cultural vision.

Focuses on African American novels from 19th century through the present. Examines topics such as literary realism and naturalism, protest fiction, and magical realism. Considers race and gender relations, communal and individual identity, and the modern legacy of slavery.

Focuses on plot, point of view, discovery of theme, recognition and reversal, and writing in scene, for writers of fiction, nonfiction, screenplays and memoir. Creates an understanding of how stories are shaped and told. Explores Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, which distills the stories told in every culture into a framework for one's own story.

Explores non-fiction writing. Develops and hones skills needed to write stories and essays that readers are compelled to read. Learn the power of personal narrative and begin to grasp how that power affects a reader by understanding the difference between 'telling' and 'showing'.

Explores the films of Stanley Kubrick and the times in which they were made. Investigates Kubrick as a means to understanding film. Examines how films are to be read, how they tell their stories, how they fit into their historical and cultural moment.

Conduct of Inquiry courses introduce students to major methodologies, content areas and contributions in various social science disciplines.

Conduct of Inquiry courses introduce students to major methodologies, content areas and contributions in the humanistic traditions of various world cultures.

Develops reading, writing, critical thinking, technology and research proficiencies necessary for success at college level and beyond; orients students to the culture of the University and the community of the BIS program. Introduces the breadth of campus resources and addresses academic advising; utilizes the theme of transformation as subject matter for reading, writing and discussion to provide opportunities for multi-disciplinary exploration.

Focuses on theories about the origins of nations; examines the historical and cultural substance of nations; and explores related questions about national identity, nationalism, ethnic violence, and citizenship. Considers contemporary alternatives to national identity, such as supranational movements and multinational organizations.

Provides an overview of the laws governing healthcare institutions and the ethical dilemmas facing healthcare managers and providers; reviews ethical principles utilized to examine health care issues. Evaluates the procedures followed by healthcare organizations in making legal and ethical decisions; addresses such contemporary issues as cloning, euthanasia, and organ donation. Prerequisite: Admission to BPHM or BIS program.

Examines intellectual and social/political upheavals of the early modern period in Europe including the opening of the wider world to European explorers and traders. Considers the mutual impact of Western and non-Western civilizations through the analysis of primary sources including literature, maps, and works of art.

This course examines the current use of the police power in a variety of situations, informed by the past and motivated by the future. Particular emphasis is on contemporary real-life examples to inform the discussion on the proper use of the police power. Those examples are subjected to a variety of perspectives, societal and individual, to gain a fuller understanding of the delicate balance of competing values. 

What is a metaphor? What role does it play in the way we see the world, ourselves and others? What metaphors guide our own thinking - as a society and a culture about politics, crime, illness, ourselves, love and life? If we take metaphor seriously, is it possible to draw a hard line between fact and fiction, between arts and sciences, between the objective and subjective? Does metaphor refute reason? In this course students investigate these and related questions using a variety of media. Texts will be drawn from a spectrum of disciplines including poetry, cognitive psychology, linguistics, philosophy, literature and literary criticism.

Explores Russia's political themes of the 20th century, especially events since the fall of the Soviet Union. Includes Russia's tentative steps towards capitalism and democracy in the last two decades. Employs different analytical tools to craft an interdisciplinary portrait of Russia. Provides an opportunity to substantially improve critical thinking and basic academic writing.

Culture is made of the shared beliefs and experience of individuals, and the stories of the lives of those individuals both describe the culture and prescribe the direction in which it must move. The United States of America has a long series of disparate cultural histories; the purpose of this course is to use first-person narratives to unravel them.

Explores fiction and poetry of Hemispheric American writers ranging from early modernists to the mid-twentieth century.

Explores the myriad meanings of home through such questions as: is home a preposterous notion? Considers and analyzes personal definitions of home. Explores readings from sermons of Puritan New England to personal narrative of Native Americans to testimonials of the homeless.

Focuses on the production of the scientific method from its eighteenth-century roots in natural philosophy, which demonstrates that the methodology which produces science is the same which produces natural philosophy.

Explores the complex, historically-conditioned role of the poet in society as it has played out within two very different cultural traditions: the Western democratic tradition of free expression, as practiced in the U.S. and Western Europe, and the Russian/Soviet/East European tradition of the past century, in which censorship and repression of free speech has been the rule.

Focuses on the the human condition and uses literature to examine the role of memory.

Examines the traditional arts produced on the African continent such as painting, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, metalwork, architecture, and body modification as they are incorporated into age-grade initiation, fertility ceremonies and curative rituals.

Provides students with an overview and understanding of the criminal justice system as a social institution inside of the American institution. Enables students to gain an understanding of the various components of the criminal justice system and its responsibilities to include courts, corrections, and law enforcements.

Explores what was reborn, and why --- specifically art and literature in Europe beginning in the 13th century and continuing through the first decades of the 16th century. Considers materials, techniques, the aims of art-making, and artistic training. Examines through an evaluation of period texts the revival of Classicism in European art, architecture, and philosophy as well as the dynamics between artists, patrons, and institutions.

Examines the history and historiography of 17th century England under the Stuart Monarchs and the Cromwellian Protectorates. Teaches skills in research, composition of an in-depth research project, analytical thinking, and research methodology.

Teaches the examination of 'Culture' not as a monolith, but as a result of specific historical conjunctures and conceits, differing intellectual frameworks, varying modes of social production and reproduction. Considers the transmission of ideas across cultures, historical periods, and disciplines, and the traveling of texts through the press as a producing society.

Explore statistical concepts for public safety decision-making by understanding the logic of inquiry, data analysis, and interpretation. Learn to conduct descriptive and inferential analyses using real public safety data, interpret results, and communicate findings. Students build practical skills to inform effective choices in public safety. No advanced math prerequisite required.

Considers the latest scientific findings about the mind-body connection, offers students the opportunity to experience them through direct mindfulness meditative practices. Explores formal and informal mindfulness practices, the contextual background of mindfulness, and applies them to a variety of professions and settings. Covers a range of contemplative exercises that cultivate emotional balance and the ability to cope with stress.

Provides a broad conceptual introduction to the study of international relations. Traces and debates philosophical, ethical, and political interpretations of world politics from ancient times to the present. Examines applied issues of international relations, such as the use of force; collective security; human rights and development; and environmental, globalization and technological influences in the context of these philosophical traditions.

Examines issues that arise as one studies individual and societal activities from an international perspective. Provides tools that will assist students in more individualized explorations of international studies.

Examines the concept of America and to what extent it is a product of religious mindsets of particular times. Explores multi-media materials, including: Hollywood films, 20th Century folk music, literature of the west, 18th Century primary sources, 19th Century theses on American identity, and 20th Century journalism and criticism.

Introduces students to the study of constitutional law and provides a good grounding in the methods the U.S. Supreme Court uses to interpret our Constitution. Examines the generally accepted methods of constitutional analysis through in-depth studies of landmark cases both historical and contemporary. Lays an initial foundation in an overview of federal judicial, legislative and executive powers.

Examines democracy, free speech, elections and the press; considers the role of a free press in a time of civil discord, challenges to free speech in America at large and on college campuses; evaluates threats to democracy and the electoral process by analyzing Russian hacking and the role of PACs and Super PACs; examines mainstream and social media, "fake news" and posits if democracy can survive in a culture of 24/7 news coverage and "tweets."

Explores several critical issues in democracy, relating to both the United States and countries abroad, such as: the examination of ancient and modern theories of democracy, political parties, the Presidency, voting, foreign policy, and the development of international relations.

Examines the history of American politics since the 1960's. Key areas of study include political factors that influence the way U.S. presidents design their domestic and foreign policy agenda, the role of opposing views from special interest groups and political parties in decision making, and critical decisions made by presidents from civil rights legislation to the Iraq and Afghanistan War and Obamacare and how they affect our daily lives.

Explores topics in American history from the American Revolution through the United States Civil War using scholarship applied to critical visits to historic sites and museums.

Integrates academic learning with professional experience through project-based collaboration using the Riipen platform. Students will work with community and industry partners on real-world challenges that align with their academic pathways. Projects will allow students to apply disciplinary knowledge, practice professional skills, and reflect on the relationship between theory and practice.

The course includes a general review of key concepts and problems in anthropology, including the concept and nature of culture, its relationship to language, economics, politics, kinship and religion as documented among different societies around the globe. The course focuses on ethnographies and on contemporary anthropological research (the study of identity, race and ethnicity).

Examines the media's role in conveying cultural meaning through popular culture. Analyzes the histories and theories underlying media and popular culture; focusing on print, film, radio, television, the internet, and social media. Critiques contemporary popular culture through music, movies, tv programming, advertising, sports, fashion, celebrity culture, language, and collective public expression.

Develops thoughtful and informed perspectives on some of the most intriguing news stories of our times. Examines aspects of current event topics. Students will have opportunities to share their discoveries and report their findings and judgments and discuss the relevant issues.

Explores the causes and consequences of violence. Emphasizes the role of culture, beginning with the social processes of violence, and then covers the individual psychology. Examines how people cope with violence, moving from the individual mind to popular culture and politics. Discusses topics such as violence and honor, the Holocaust, rape, terrorism, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Examines biological and genetic predispositions for major mental illness diagnoses, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar, and personality disorders. Explores current treatment models, including medication and therapy interventions. Engages students in analyzing recent scholarly articles and clinical case studies; and conducting independent research.

Explores major theoretical approaches to understanding the development, structure, and dynamics of personality. Analyzes recent scholarship and various research methods, with projects for students to apply leading theories in real-world social and professional settings.

Examines major theories of social influence and human relations, with a focus on research methodologies and recent findings. Covers topics such as social cognition, self-concept, attitudes, persuasion, conformity, aggression, helping behavior, prejudice, and interpersonal relationships. Provides opportunities for students to critically examine the scientific literature and undertake research assignments to apply theory to modern societal issues.

Students will explore a variety of psychological topics in depth, from these major disciplines within psychology: Developmental, Social, Clinical, and Cognitive, and discuss their impact on the field of psychology and how they apply to behavior and life experience. Learning will be assessed by essay responses to questions posed from journal articles, book chapters, and class discussions and demonstrations.

Gives a fundamental overview of Emotional Intelligence and shows how understanding Emotional Intelligence leads to a beneficial working career and personal life. Presents an E.I. competence framework and reviews basic domains, such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management through various methods to promote learning by doing. Applies theoretical concepts to real world situations.

Explores an individual's psychological development in today's world. Investigates communication and relationships among individuals, families, and societies. Examines cognitive, social and emotional developmental changes that affect one's self and environment. Considers how technology influences many aspects of development including research in genetics, involvement with computers and apps, application of new medical research, and aging.

Explores one significant theme in the social sciences and/or humanities such as liberation, power, equality, diversity, rights, justice, war, happiness, love, and beauty, through the study of one significant and influential classic or contemporary book or  work of art. Students engage with the subject and enhance their critical reading, writing, thinking, and discussion skills.

Provides students with the conceptual framework and methods of economic science necessary for analyzing a variety of contemporary economic problems. The usefulness of these economic concepts will be taught as applications to specific public policy issues.

Examines the economic costs of food, including subsidies, production practices, ecological sustainability and health impacts; analyzes institutional factors contributing to potential market distortions in the food market system; evaluates the factors that characterize the current system such as the reliance on chemical pesticides and organic alternatives.

Introduces the study of race and ethnic relations, including the social and economic conditions promoting prejudice, racism, discrimination, and segregation. Examines contemporary American conditions, and historical and international materials.

Surveys Western attitudes toward magic and witchcraft from ancient times to the present, with emphasis on the European age of witch hunting, 1450-1750.

Designed to serve as an overview and exploration in the ever-growing field of leadership studies, the purpose of this course is to learn about leadership- to be better at leadership, whether in an organization, community, family, or some other context. A wide-range of topics and issues will be examined through historical and modern conceptions, case studies, moral and ethical sides of leadership, and focused looks at crisis leadership.

Examines business management and leadership methods when working with cultural issues in today's international businesses. Addresses challenges and opportunities that different cultures create. Explores through classroom activities how to meet the challenges that may occur and addresses examples of diversity in a global setting.

This course addresses the constitutional role and historical development of the American Presidency. We will also examine the theoretical explanations of the institution's relationship to democratic government, the separation of powers, and the expansion of national administrative power. This broad understanding of the historical and theoretical presidency will inform our consideration of current events and upcoming presidential elections.

Examines the critical foreign policy challenges facing the United States in the 21st century. Explores the principal challenges and opportunities for American policymakers, such as: the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, environmental issues, and human rights and democratization.

This course will examine the role of mass media in the political process focusing on the presidency and includes such topics as print and broadcast news, social media and election campaigns, political advertising, fundraising, and media effects on public opinion and political participation.

Engages students in inventorying their interdisciplinary and extracurricular experiences, and assembling a digital narrative and collection of artifacts (eportfolio). Presents foundational learning experience for students to develop writing, graphic composition, integrative, and self-reflective and -authorship skills. Guides students in developing autonomy and agency, as they produce digital representations of themselves and their achievements.

Focuses on ongoing societal debates over educational technology while exploring local technology resources available at UVa and on the Web in general. Explores web-based tools, information websites, and interactive databases that support communication, research, and design skills, as well as creativity and knowledge presentation in online environments.

Explores ways in which the history and philosophy of technology can inform today's liberal arts students about the role of technology in our society. Covers current and historical topics as well as explores and develops a personal philosophic approach to the application of technology.

Focuses on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, particularly with students' experience with technology integration. Explores contemporary issues of DEI (including access, cultural perspectives, and racial inequality) that affect all levels of learning and areas where learning takes place (business, STEM, etc). Takes a critical look at the history of emerging technologies, and how access and integration have changed for underserved groups.

Drawing on histories and literature, including autobiographies, poetry, and novels, this course focuses on the experiences and mentalities of those who fought in World War I, as well as those who remained on the home front. The realities and myths of the Great War are explored. An emphasis is placed on British, French, and German writings about the Western Front as well as some consideration of the fighting on the Eastern Front and in Turkey.

Covers military, political, social and economic aspects of history's most devastating conflict. Explores the experiences of military personnel and civilians in Europe and Asia.

Focuses on policymakers and public reaction to the War in Vietnam, the 1st and 2nd Gulf Wars and our ongoing War in Afghanistan. Discusses how student demonstrations against the Vietnam War changed our society leading to new laws. Compares and contrasts the various causes of these wars, how America responded, the role of the military and the media during these wars. Examines the role of the President and Congress in conducting these wars.

Explores the causes of war, evolution and advances in military strategy, historical case studies, and contemporary issues of nuclear weapons, humanitarian war, and war against terrorism through major scholarly works, primary documents, films, class discussions, papers, and lectures.

Develops methods, examines issues, and discusses the roles of various actors in world politics. Examines the international system and analyzes the crisis of the Westphalian State System. Provides understanding of conflicts, foreign policy, power, security, alliances, deterrence, bargaining, cooperation, globalization, institutions, and law in international politics.

Examines the work of Hunter Thompson in a study of how 'Gonzo' changed greater American journalism as a whole. Demonstrates how Thompson's role as a public intellectual spread into wider journalism, such as Doonesbury. Portrays Thompson as a premier political critic of each administration who exerted near unparalleled social influence.

Analyzes how history has shaped decisions about war, peace, and political order in the modern era. Includes close examination of the French Revolution, the World Wars, the Cuban Missile Crisis and, Vietnam. Combines policy analysis and historical study to understand the past's paradoxical role in designing the modern world.

Introduces students to psychological disorders and mental health concerns prevalent in today's society. Examines the symptoms of each disorder and various treatments. Explores the impact of mental health disorders on individuals and communities. Helps students develop an awareness of mental health disorders and provides strategies for assisting others.

This course will examine the foundation and growth of the United States military establishment and the exercise of and changes in military strategy and policies as shaped by political, social, and economic factors.  While focusing on the period "book-ended" by the Civil War and Vietnam, the course goes beyond the study of the usual generals, government leaders, and battles and discusses subjects like technology, professionalism, administration, and military policy. 

Examine America's colonial period (to the eve of the American Revolution) as that of a foreign country. Investigates the people, cultures, institutions, and events of the period on their own terms rather than through the lens of modern America. Uncovers the origins of many later American issues and debates;freedom and slavery; warfare; religion and revival; sectionalism; race; class; and commercialism.

Examines the fundamental clashes between liberals and conservatives, including how this split in perspectives developed our modern culture. Focuses on a tolerant, open-minded, and balanced investigation that seeks a broader understanding and appreciation of these diverse perspectives.

Examines the issues of ideology, race, gender, faith, war, the youth movement, as well as the politics of the Great Society social programs and voting rights. Explores music, the draft, and the counter culture, including a new conservatism also present amidst the violence at home and abroad.

Examines the history of American protest movements by looking at music from the 1900s to 2000. Analyzes readings and analyzes music from that period. Explores movements such as the populist movement, labor movements, anti-war protests, the civil rights movement, the women's movement, peace movements, and environmental movements.

Explores Theodore Roosevelt's life. Investigates key political, economic, social, and cultural developments of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that Roosevelt experienced and, in some cases, influenced.

Examines America's colonial period to the eve of the American Revolution. Investigates people, cultures, institutions, and events of the period. Explores later American issues and debates, such as freedom and slavery, warfare, religion and revival, race, class, and how they influenced commercialism.

Examines theories of political economy in their embedded social, historical, and cultural contexts to address relevant contemporary questions about economics in everyday life. Compares multiple theories of political economy, such as (Neo)classical, (Neo)Keynesian, Marxist, and heterodox economics to explore theories of power, institutions, distribution, and collective action.

Analyzes major theoretical approaches to understanding the development of perception, cognition, language, personality, and social interaction. Challenges students to critically analyze assumptions and methods that underlie developmental research findings. Provides opportunities for students to conduct independent research on course-related topics.

Examines the theoretical bases for the study of thinking, consciousness, and the mind, with a focus on current research findings. Topics include learning and memory, language, reasoning, decision-making and cognitive neuropsychology. Challenges students to design a small-scale experiment and connect their findings to applications in professional, personal, or education contexts.

Examines latest research findings in interpersonal communication theories, with a focus on listening, verbal and non-verbal expression, interpersonal conflict, intimate relationships, and workplace communication. Engages students in independent research to apply theoretical constructs to a range of scenarios encountered in professional, social, and relationship settings.

Examines workforce disruption through humanistic and social science frameworks, building skills in critical analysis, professional narrative development, and ethical reasoning for an uncertain labor market.

Explores the sociology of the American family, including: family change through American history; poverty and family life; alternative families (including single-by-choice parenting and gay marriage), and the effects of marriage and divorce on the lives of adults and children.

This course explores systems of social inequality: feudalism, caste and slavery, class, and status groups, primarily in American society, but with reference to Europe and the Indian sub-continent as well. Starting with the fundamental concepts of Karl Marx and Max Weber, students will discuss the theoretical constructs that define systems of inequality, consider some historical examples, and then examine "social stratification" in our own country. Does the United States have a class system? If so, what are its characteristics? Joining the scholarly debate on this issue, students will consider the meaning of equal opportunity and social mobility for achieving the "American dream." The course also explores the empirical consequences of social inequality for every day life: in health and wellness, housing, education, and family structure.

Focuses on the post-1945 period and the evolution of Russian-American relations since the fall of the Soviet Union, through an interdisciplinary lens based on contributions from international relations scholars and practitioners as well as historians, economists, philosophers, and political psychologists in historical and contemporary perspectives.

This course examines both Russian and American foreign policy at several critical points during the conflict. Through major scholarly works, primary documents, films, class discussions, papers, and lectures students will work together to better understand the Cold War and gain a fuller understanding of its political, military, cultural, economic, and ideological impact at home and abroad. The following questions will be explored: 1) How did the Cold War start?; 2) What were some of the important decisions made during the conflict, and why?; 3) Why did the Cold War end the way it did?

Examines all aspects of global warming, emphasizing appropriate government policies such as carbon taxes, cap and trade systems, and clean technologies to limit future carbon emissions. Provides students with economic background and tools to address the public policy issues related to climate change.

Provides foundational overview of the structure and function of the US healthcare system. Promotes critical discussion of history and current status of organizations and delivery systems. Examines challenges facing providers, patients, and policy makers, as healthcare becomes more complex. Utilizes current events and media to explore controversies related to labor, finance, access, and health disparities. Req: Admission to BPHM or BIS Program.

Explores system theories, organizational structure and design, organizational culture, organizational diagnosis, and several basic frames of reference for understanding change.

This course addresses major topics dealing with the phenomenon known as 'globalization' - the ever spreading reduction of barriers to the exchange of goods services, and ideas across national borders. The method of exploration will involve reading a combination of classical and contemporary works (some books, some articles) from leaders and thinkers grappling with globalization, and its various ripple effects and challenges. Revolving around core themes of responsibility and community, democracy and culture, and prosperity and poverty in the age of globalization, readings will include works from Plato, Thucydides, Milton Friedman, Peter Singer, Thomas Friedman, Moises Naim, Robert Kaplan, Bernard Lewis, Aung San Suu Kyi, Salman Rushdie, and Amartya Sen.

Provides foundational overview of the structure and function of the US healthcare system. Promotes critical discussion of history and current status of organizations and delivery systems. Examines challenges facing providers, patients, and policy makers, as healthcare becomes more complex. Utilizes current events and media to explore controversies related to labor, finance, access, and health disparities. Req: Admission to BPHM or BIS Program.