Undergraduate Courses

Focus on particular topics available allows students to broaden skills and expression. Past topics have included the figure, the landscape, pastels, and charcoal. Topics are chosen as a result of both faculty and student interest.

This course seeks to investigate what history, & particularly recent history, tells us about the role of art in contemporary culture. We will look at the concept of the avant-garde & the notion of “criticality” that dominates the current art system & how that shapes art making, education, patronage, dissemination, & canonization. Mostly, we will ask ourselves questions like, what, if any, is the artist’s (& writer’s) responsibility as a producer of culture? What role does art play in global culture? How do politics affect aesthetics?

Not Available.

Course topics will vary from semester to semester.

This course will introduce social studies majors to the history of historical scholarship (historiography) on the American past. Reviewing the philosophical, political, and methodological shifts in American historical scholarship, the course focuses on debates among historians about the key political events, leaders, social institutions, and protest movements in U.S. history. Learning about the contested nature of historical discourse will enable prospective social studies teachers to teach students that history consists of more than names and dates, that history is a discipline involving critical thinking about, and diverse interpretations of, the past.

Introduces students to the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which priorities shared humanity and collective consciousness across public and private life. Students define and analyze Ubuntu in the context of South Africa and the US, and examine individualism and collectivism, forgiveness and reconciliation and their implications for nation-building. Students experiment with concepts of Ubuntu in collaboration with students in South Africa and apply these concepts to contemporary social problems. Meets Steinhardt Core requirements for Texts & Ideas.

The best art teacher is life and experience and visiting a new place is the best way to see with new eyes. The aim of this course is to incorporate art into your daily life and Berlin into your art work. Using creativity as a vehicle for personal transformation and exploring your fears, fantasies, Ideas and reactions to the society we live in, you will be required to complete three projects. This is an interdisciplinary studio course with required readings, discussions, films and field trips. Students are encouraged to work in any medium of choice; painting, photography, video, performance, sculpture, etc.

Not Available.

This course explores the political, social, cultural, and economic development of Latinx communities in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and elsewhere across the United States. By exploring relational and comparative histories of Latinas/os, we address such themes as migration, labor, race, and empire. We also examine the movement of Latinas and Latinos within and between the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. We use a variety of primary and secondary sources and texts to illuminate various dimensions of the Latino past.

Explores why the 1960s witnessed the greatest upsurge of student activism in American
history. Assesses student movements’ impact on race and gender relations, US foreign policy, free speech,
and the university. The backlash against Left student activism from anti-radical politicians, the FBI, and
CIA will be probed, as will the rise of conservative student activism. Examines debates over the meaning
and legacies of this turbulent era’s youth revolt. Liberal Arts Core/CORE Equivalent- satisfies the
requirement for Societies and Social Sciences.

Students learn to use the city as a classroom to learn about science and sustainability in the urban environment. Students explore place-based environmental education by visiting non-formal settings such as parks, botanic gardens, museums, field stations, and public and private organizations and consider their roles as teachers and learners to link activities with inquiry, reflection and practice. Students learn and understand how to develop linkages between formal and non-formal learning by designing educational activities for learners of all ages.

Course provides students with internship experience via arts-based research and
performance projects with the Verbatim Performance Lab (VPL). Students support all stages of the VPL process including project development, data collection, creation and production, dissemination, and assessment. Students attend biweekly lab meetings, receive individualized supervision and mentoring, give an oral presentation on their assigned project at a lab meeting, and generate an original written project proposal incorporating VPL’s techniques. Permission of
instructor required.

Assignments, critiques, & demonstrations expand skills & knowledge in the use of the video camera as an art medium. This class stresses technical & conceptual skills & the exploration of the experimental possibilities of the medium.

The course approaches video games through the lens of political economy. This means examining games foremost as commodities, transactional goods through which various modes of economic life occur. This course is designed to introduce students to the structure and economics of the game industry since its emergence in the 1970s, particularly across the United States, China, and Japan. Special attention is brought to the dramatic industry changes catalyzed by digital distribution, mobile gaming, live streaming, and other contemporary developments.

The course approaches video games through the lens of political economy. This means examining games foremost as commodities, transactional goods through which various modes of economic life occur. This course introduces students to the structure and economics of the game industry since its emergence in the 1970s, particularly across the United States, China, and Japan. Special attention is brought to the dramatic industry changes catalyzed by digital distribution, mobile gaming, live streaming, and other contemporary developments.
Examines the emergence of video games as sites of contemporary cultural production & practice. Special attention is given to the symbolic & aesthetic dimensions of video games, including their various narratives forms and sub-genres, & concentrates on their interactive dimensions. The course provides insight into the emerging trends in the interface between humans & media technologies. The course also situates video games within the business practices of the entertainment industries.

Village records is a team-structure course in which students operate an independent record company. Decision-making on the operational & artistic levels leads to strategy formulation. Implementation of strategy & record label management concepts & techniques are central to this course. Specifically, students administer all aspects of a record label including but not limited to: artist selection, creative design, manufacturing, marketing, promotion, publicity, & sales.