Graduate Courses

Modern music theory employs a wide array of analytical techniques that contribute
to the understanding of many different musical styles, including classical Western, popular, Jazz and post-tonal music. This course explores the most important and widely used techniques, clearly defining their scope, applicability, and integration into the research workflow. Cultivating independent research skills, the course equips students to navigate relevant scholarly literature and engage with analytical techniques in a manner tailored to their specific projects.

Examination of selected theories of psychotherapy, including metatheories in clinical and counseling psychology with a focus on evidence-based practice (utilizing best available research, clinician expertise, and the context of client characteristics, culture, and preferences) in psychotherapy. Students will develop their own personal theoretical and practice orientations.

Course examines and critiques the conceptual and empirical literature on career from a contextual perspective that includes the radical changes occurring in the social context of work in contemporary times. A focus of the course will be the design of educational and therapeutic practices responsive to this social context as well as the research needed to inform these practices.

This course will provide students with a thorough grounding in Heinrich Schenker's theory of tonal structure. The associated analytical technique will be developed through weekly assignments and a final project. A number of specialized topics - including the theory's implications to performance, composition, and improvisation - will be explored through readings from the Schenkerian literature.

This course enables the student to integrate knowledge in physical therapy with motor learning, human growth and development, nutrition, pharmacology, medical diagnostic techniques, orthopedic surgery and performance as a disabled athlete and their impact on the musculoskeletal system.

This course will explore semiotics & performance theory by comparing the modes of performance used in media (including television, film, radio, advertising, theater, music & visual art) with social performance in general. Readings will draw from classic & contemporary work in semiotics, performance theory & linguistic anthropology, analyzing media & art forms from around the world.
Students will engage with the theoretical concepts & analytical models encountered in class by applying them to a media form, performance or piece of art of their own choosing.

Examines Shakespeare in performance and in the classroom. Dramaturgy, scene analysis, and youth theatre included.

Examines Shakespeare in performance and in the classroom. Dramaturgy, scene analysis, and youth theatre included

This course examines literature and research findings for evidence that supports treatment of children and youth with autism in a variety of settings. Students’ clinical and educational experiences are used as a basis to examine the efficacy and effectiveness of intervention through a strength based lens.

The relationship of higher educational institutions to other social institutions in American society. The development of this relationship and its consequences and implications for the internal structure and functioning of higher educational organizations and for society at large. Issues surrounding role of students, faculty, administration, and external interests are examined.

This course examines the meaning and study of culture through a sociological lens. The first goal of this course is to provide a solid, introductory grounding in some of the many ways in which the term culture has been used in the study of societies. The second goal is to raise questions about the relationship between culture and structures and to provide analytical tools to understand institutions (like schools) as sites of culture-building and cultural struggle.

Rigorous examination of the social development of children & adolescents based on current theoretical positions & research. Topics include social learning, identification, sex & gender roles, friendships, peer-group relationships, & social development in different cultural contexts.

This course introduces students to the concepts, frameworks & models to systematically build successful, socially-conscious businesses that are both sustainable & public health-driven. Topics will include how to 1) identify & analyze need-gaps, 2) develop a sustainable-food business concept, 3) identify a profitable niche in the global, social-justice oriented market, & 4) raise capital in innovative ways. The course will also provide access to domain-specific resources including key industry participants, industry experts & research partners.

Consideration of the role of educational institutions in fostering, preventing, and maintaining equalities and inequalities in American society.

Mental health counselors are in a unique position to utilize their knowledge and
skills to advocate for clients that are part of the LGBTQ+ community. This course will introduce students to social justice and advocacy efforts in the mental health profession. Students will learn practical skills to provide consultation services to agencies and organizations that serve LGBTQ+ communities. Students will also have opportunities to practice drafting and creating proposals for consultation services and delivering workshops and presentations that center the mental health of LGBTQ+ clients.

This class introduces social justice art pedagogy in preschool and elementary schools as “situated practice,” that is both teaching and learning take place within particular historical and societal contexts. Students develop knowledge and skills to plan, organize, and facilitate meaningful, socially relevant art curricula for students with varying needs and abilities, paying attention to learning processes, motivation, communication, classroom management and the inter-relationship of art to speaking, critical thinking, writing, reading and other curricular subjects.

Integration of art education theory and practice in secondary school art classrooms that address the question of the role of art in our democratic society. Developing socially and culturally relevant curricula. Researching and planning appropriate instructional strategies that address student interests and issues, including motivation and classroom management through assessment in order to plan and/or modify students' teaching practices. Through a systematic approach such as action research, students reflect on and analyze their own teaching practices and develop a portfolio of their teaching experience, thereby learning to be reflective practitioners.

This course will cover the origins of social justice theory and its current-day relevance for higher education educators and practitioners. Students will explore models of oppression and empowerment and learn to infuse social justice frameworks into curricular and extracurricular programming.

This course is intended for students who have experiences working in schools or clinical settings and examines interdisciplinary connections to counseling using a postmodern framework. Emphasis is placed on learning practical applications of social justice theory, narrative theory, and trauma-informed interventions as they apply to the sociocultural aspects of counseling. Focus on the utilization of critical thinking skills applicable to intersectional identities, and the effects of intergenerational and historical trauma on communities and families.

What is the cultural work performed by or with the technology of paper? How can history of paper supplement and enrich recent histories of printing technology and printed artifacts like 'the book'? What would it mean to imagine a paperless future? Organized around discussions of readings in common, this course considers the history, production, circulation and use of paper in the social production of knowledge, the shared imagination of value, and the mutual relations of consumers and commodities.