Undergraduate Courses

A seminar course designed to encourage the integration of theory and practice, taken concurrent to third semester of student teaching.

A seminar course designed to encourage the integration of theory and practice, taken concurrent with last semester of student teaching.

Exploration of dramatic play in integrated early childhood classroom.

Materials and strategies for creating an integrated early childhood curriculum with a focus on infusing the curriculum with music and movement activities.

Taken concurrently with the final semester of student teaching, this course focuses on the development, planning, and implementation of curriculum for diverse learners in early childhood and early childhood special education settings. Emphasizes curriculum integration, the role of the environment in supporting curriculum, methods of observation and assessment, and pedagogical practices. Encourages informed experimentation with various pedagogical and methodological practices in order to develop in students the capacity to create curriculum responsive to the diverse learning needs and experiences of young children and their families.

A survey of contemporary theoretical, technological, and socio-economic structures that link music and participatory/interactive media and entertainment forms. 'Interactive' models in the new music industry include social networks, music search and recommendation engines, personalized Internet radio and streaming, mobile music, live entertainment, and the use of music in video games and smartphone applications. These are examined and contextualized with a view to identifying business opportunities for musical entrepreneurs, creators, fans and facilitators.

Study of dance as cultural practice, exploring dance from a broad spectrum of cultures. Focus on theoretical and practical application of key concepts and dance forms as they relate to cultural identity, representation, and education. Includes critical analysis of dance in the studio, film, and written materials. Implications for curriculum and instruction are stressed.

This course is an introduction to visual methodologies and critical theory as well as contemporary practices in art and culture. Students use media and materials of their own choosing to explore and respond to the issues raised through readings, presentations, class discussions, writing assignments, and group critiques.

Building on Interdisciplinary Art Practice I, this course is an introduction to visual methodologies and critical theory as well as contemporary practices in art and culture. Students use media and materials of their own choosing to explore and respond to the issues raised through readings, presentations, class discussions, writing assignments, and group critiques.

Course ​will provide a forum in which to explore & engage the relationship between photography, performance & contemporary art. Through class assignments & readings in contemporary theory we will develop a critical vocabulary for an understanding of the relationship between photography & performance & a forum in which to challenge & push our individual art practice to the next level.

This course focuses on the processes that inform “how one makes the object”, thereby helping students better understand their personal visual language and how to effectively employ it. The lens of history is used to stimulate dialogue, identify influences, and ultimately integrate the individual student’s point of view. Emphasis is on the examination of the larger continuum of historical & contemporary art. Studio meetings and individual critiques form a fundamental aspect of this course. Readings include Thomas Allen nelson, “Kubrick, Inside a Film Artist’s Maze”; Roberta Bernstein, “Jasper Johns, Paintings and Sculpture, 1945-1974, The Changing Focus of the Eye”; Kathy Halbreich, “Social Life”; Yves Alain Bois, “Painting as Model”.

This course provides space and guidance for students to work
on self-driven, individual and group projects in art and media. Course
content consists of texts, site visits, presentations, workshops, and
critiques built around each student's individual practice. Faculty and
guest critics will hold regular studio visits, to help guide students
through their process. Students’ material and technical investigations and
theoretical inquiries will be addressed in group workshops and
demonstrations. This course will culminate in a public presentation of
students’ work.

The artist's body measures the world. In this class student/artists use their own body as a starting point to make art through painting, digital photography, video, and/or performance as well as a mixture of these mediums. These media interchanges allow student/artists to incorporate painting and photography / video into their art at once. Art processes and their mixtures will be taught along with the contemporary history and conceptual ideas of interdisciplinary art to help frame juxtapositions.

This interdisciplinary studio course focuses on a wide variety of creative producers and practices which dissolve the boundaries between art and design. Design is explored as inherently impactful on our experience of the material world and our experience of reality. Focusing on broad areas of culture including fashion, the museum, the store, the government, and the home, we will look at how creative producers employ design tactics to change the way we experience life and living. Each week will be geared towards a specific topic within culture, presented through slide lectures, film screenings, field trips, and guest artists. There will be presentations and critiques of student work created in response to related assignments.

Contemporary environmentalism is an issue dominated by scientific, technical and policy discourse. The terms of this political environmental discussion begs the questions; what role does and can art practice play in the contemporary environmental movement? What have artists contributed to contemporary urban environmentalism? To explore these questions we will use the local urban street as our site of ecological analysis, intervention and exhibition. Building on a history of ephemeral political actions of the “Reclaim the Streets” and other political movements the focus will be on durable or sustainable interventions in urban ecosystems involving both human institutions and infrastructure, and the work of other non human organisms. Students will work on projects that re-imagine our relationship to natural systems.

Course explores Participatory Art and Creative Placemaking.Students will develop site-specific artworks in collaboration with The Prattsville Art Center in Prattsville, NY a small rural Catskill community still recovering from the devastating floods associated with Hurricane Irene. Socially engaged artwork as well as critical ideas institutions, and funders that have been central to these art movements will be discussed within this process. Through this course and collaboration students will explore art in relationship to town planning, social activism, entrepreneurship, and community revitalization.

Using Josef Albers' landmark text "Interaction of Color", this course aims to describe a process of working with color that is applicable to students working in any medium, using drawing as a bridge. Color as a phenomenon is one of the most powerful tools in the artist’s repertoire. It’s relation to perception lies at the heart of our notions of the objective and the subjective. Color will be explored in depth through a series of open-ended projects and a series of short experiment/assignments.

How do educators & activists spread messages about human rights? What might make them more likely to succeed? What are the ethical & political implications of using education as a tool for moral persuasion? Students will engage with these questions, as well as be introduced to the role of the United Nations, NGOs, & state governments in facilitating human rights education. Students will also engage critically with debates over whether the human rights system is an appropriate way to achieve justice in diverse contexts. Throughout the course, students will apply theory on human rights education & activism to real-life examples, as well as create their own advocacy campaign & lesson plan.

The Internet is at the heart of major digital transformations in industry, society and culture. This course introduces key skills in analysis and critique of the technologies involved in networked change, exploring internet imaginaries, histories and emerging phenomena.

Practical work experience in food studies and food management supported by class work, discussion and projects. The objectives of the course are to apply classroom content to work experience; identify career options through professional seminars; work experience, and class discussions; develop professional skills through personal observations, work experience and class assignments and identify resources and professional networks that support employment opportunities in the field of interest.