Course Catalog System (Course Inventory Management and Review System, CIMRS)

ITRL 300: International Relations

Dr. Dan Wessner — 2024-07-24

What is international relations? How does international politics work? In this course students will be introduced to major theories in IR: realism, liberalism, and constructivism. We will examine how these theories are applicable to different facets of international politics such as grand strategy and international political economy. We will also examine key questions in contemporary politics – such as humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping, and climate change.

SOC 100: Introduction to Sociology

Dr. David Golding — 2024-07-25

This introductory course will survey a range of topics in sociology, including labor, policing, the media, and social movements. The sociological theory that undergirds this course will place power at the center of inquiry. How is power exercised? How does it modulate and govern associations, both between individuals and between groups? How do people form a sense of
self amidst such power relations? The course will begin by distinguishing between “society,” “the social,” and “associations.” These distinctions will guide an exploration of institutionalized power for the first five weeks of this course. Intersecting categories of identity and oppression. Towards the middle of the course, particular focus will be given to the formation of a sense of self through theories of subjectivity and dividuality. The final portion of the course will investigate topics of particular interest to sociologists today, including race, gender, governmentality, and simulation. The theoretical explorations of this course will be grounded in various case studies, such as those of policing in South Africa, gendered representations in Indian media, and mestizaje in the Andes. These case studies are opportunities to explore the merits and limits of social theory.

Prerequisites: None

POL 300: Democracy, Authoritarianism & Regime Transitions

Dr. Dale Mineshima-Lowe — 2024-07-25

What is democracy? How does democracy emerge? Why are some countries democracies but not others? Why is authoritarianism persistent in some countries? These are some of the most enduring questions in political science. This course addresses these questions by examining the political science scholarship on regimes and regime transitions. This is an advanced course in political science, and some introductory courses on political philosophy or political science are required.

Prerequisites: POL 100: Introduction to Political Science

POL 230: Comparative Politics of Southeast Asia

Dr. Dan Wessner — 2024-07-25

This course examines Comparative Politics through the lens of the ten Southeast Asian member states of ASEAN. The subfield of Comparative Politics in the discipline of Political Science hones comparative and contrastive skills to discern the purpose and attributes of various political entities: principally states, societies, and subnational groups, but also militaries, media, and leaders. Drawing on the ASEAN context, this course will examine democratic, non-democratic, socialist, and communist regimes. It will study the political violence, political economy, and political cultures that have arisen in the historical context of Southeast Asian colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, militarism, and independence movements. Students will select one group of regional states to research, present, and write about in terms of ASEAN principles, precarity, and prospects in this age.

Prerequisites: None

POL 100: Introduction to Political Science

Dr. Dale Mineshima-Lowe — 2024-07-25

The course is a broad introduction to the discipline of political science. Students will be introduced to subfields within the discipline: political theory, comparative politics, and international relations. Then, the bulk of the course examines major themes in comparative politics, including the formation of nation-states, political regimes, and political violence. We will also examine themes that cut across the subfields, including globalization, populism, and human rights.

Prerequisites: None

PHIL 301: Philosophy as Practice

Dr. Caesy Doyle — 2024-07-25

We often imagine philosophy is a matter of sitting and thinking about things. But philosophy is also a set of practices, modes of living and ways of life. So how do we think better about philosophy as a practice? And what role does practice have in our present day approaches to philosophy? To be good philosophers, do we need to do more than thinking? Do we need to instead need to put in place new practices, in pursuit of our philosophical goals?

In this course, students will explore the idea that philosophy not only proposes new ways of thinking, but that it also challenges us to adopt a suite of practices relating to the arts of living well.

Students will be encouraged to put philosophical ideas to the test practically, and to cross the boundary between reflection and practice, scholarship and first-person experience, to ask what it might mean to make philosophy a practice, here in the 21st century.

Prerequisites:

PHIL 201: Introduction to Political Philosophy

PHIL 200: Introduction to Ethics

PHIL 201: Introduction to Political Philosophy

Dr. Caesy Doyle — 2024-07-25

This course introduces students to the questions, theories, and classic texts of political philosophy, engaging issues of ethics, citizenship, democracy, representation, shared resources and other features of theoretical approaches to politics. This course will introduce and critically engage students in the fundamental questions of how we are to live in the world with others.

Prerequisites: None

PHIL 100: Art of the Argument

Dr. Lina Kassem(A)/Dr. Satya Sethy(B) — 2024-07-24

This course introduces students to questions about the art (or arts) or argument, and gives them the tools they need to better evaluate, think about and make arguments. The course sees argument as a social practice that exists cross-culturally, and draws upon a wide array of sources to explore the complexities of the human search for agreement and truth.

PHIL 200: Introduction to Ethics

Dr. Caesy Doyle (A)/Dr. Satya Sethy (B) — 2024-07-24

In this course we will confront some of the major ethical issues that arise in our society—the treatment of animals (vegetarianism, experimentation), the beginning of life (abortion, in vitro, PGD testing), the ethics of war (when to go, how to wage), the ethics of politics (what ought our representatives do), the end of life (right to die, suicide, euthanasia), fear of death, the ethics of food, and the environment.

In Ethics, we seek not simply opinions or personal positions on these contentious problems, but hope to make a broader claim about right and wrong. These issues are ethical issues insofar as when we take a position on them we make a claim about what is the right or wrong thing to do. And we are not simply making the statement that this is right or wrong for me, but also for anyone else who is as properly thoughtful and informed as I am. That is, I think I have good reasons for saying such-and-such is right or wrong, and you ought to also be convinced by my reasons.
In order to have such convincing reasons, we will need to say what it means for something to be right or wrong in general. This is where ethical theories come in. An ethical theory makes a claim about what makes something right or wrong in general. If we know that, then we ought to be able to look at each of these specific problems and any cases in which they arise, and evaluate them to see how they ought to be resolved. That will be our goal in this course–to introduce and engage students in the theories of ethics and their application to practical ethical problems so that they develop the knowledge of each ethical theory and the ability to apply them to particular issues.

Prerequisites: None

ECON 111: Introduction to Macroeconomics

Dr. Khondker Aktaruzzaman — 2024-07-24

This course is an introduction to Macroeconomics from a very broad perspective. Macroeconomics analyzes topics such as economic growth, inflation and unemployment. How can the central bank influence the economy in times of crises? What should the government do in order to counteract environmental issues? Why do countries trade with each other? Though ultimately based on the actions of individuals and firms (which we will analyze in Microeconomics), Macroeconomics is concerned with developments on the aggregate level: countries as a whole, government spending, taxation and Central Bank policies. This course is a foundation course which is needed in order to follow higher level courses in the Economics module.

ECON 110: Introduction to Microeconomics (Updated Class Schedule for Section B)

Dr. Khondker Aktaruzzaman (A&B) — 2024-07-23

This course is an introduction to Microeconomics from a very broad perspective. Microeconomics is the science of how people use resources. A large part is about decision making: Which is the best route for going to school, and should I walk or take the bus? Can I get a dog as a pet, should I buy vegetables in the market in the morning or in the afternoon, and why are the prices different in different cities? This course is a foundation course which is needed in order to follow higher level courses in the Economics module.

Prerequisites: None

ITRL 140: Human Rights Theory

Dr. David Golding — 2024-07-17

This course will introduce you to enduring and emergent issues in the theory of human rights. It will begin by situating human rights within the history of colonialism, which undergirds the ongoing debates surrounding universalism and cultural relativism, individual rights and collective rights, and reconciliation after genocide.

In the middle of this course, we will examine human rights case studies from South and Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central America. These provide opportunities to trace the junctures between human rights theory and norms, laws, institutions, and sociocultural groups. The salience and promise of human rights depend on their grounded instantiations, and thus the theory of human rights will never be too far from its practice.

Towards the end of the course, we will explore a variety of emerging approaches to human rights. These will be discussed as a ‘pluriversality’ of possibilities that are yet to be formulated and enacted. By the end of this course, students will be ready to engage with and navigate the rapidly transforming terrain of human rights, in theory and in practice.

STAT 100: Introduction to Statistics

Dr. Mohammed Megheib — 2024-07-24

This course provides an introduction to the quantitative tools for monitoring, analyzing data, and evaluating data. Through practical and real-world applications, students learn statistical methods that can be used in quantitative analysis of real-world problems. This course focuses both on concepts underlying statistical methods as well as problem solving through the use of STATA, a popular statistical software package.

Prerequisites: None

MATH 110: Calculus I

Dr. Win Maw Hlaing Oo — 2024-07-24

This course is an introduction to differential calculus and is designed to meet the needs of Statistics and Data Science students. Topics will cover functions, limits, derivatives and applications. Basic concept of integration is also included.

MATH 100: Introduction to Probability

Dr. Mohammed Megheib(A)/Dr. Muhammad Ayaz(B) — 2024-07-24

This is an introduction to probability for statistics and data science students. There is no prerequisite for this course. In addition to major students, this course is relevant and useful for non-major students.

Prerequisites: None

CS 251: Statistical Programming with R

Dr. Mohammed Meghrib — 2024-07-24

This course will introduce students with higher level statistical programming using R, data visualization with base graphics and ggplot2, reproducible reports with Markdown, and developing dashboards with Shiny.

Prerequisites: STAT 100: Introduction to Statistics

CS 300: Introduction to Machine Learning

Dr. Muhammad Ayaz — 2024-07-17

This course is an introduction to Machine Learning. Requirements for this class are completion of basic Mathematics and Statistics modules, as well as the Introduction to Python. Throughout the class, we will cover the data preprocessing process as well as different types of machine learning models from the realms of supervised and unsupervised learning together with model evaluation metrics.

Prerequisites:

STAT 100: Introduction to Statistics

CS 210: Programming with Python

DATA 300: Data Management (Updated Class Schedule)

Dr. Muhammad Ayaz — 2024-07-17

This course is an overview over important algorithmic concepts and how efficient algorithms depend on the design of suitable data structures.

Prerequisites: CS 210: Programming with Python

CS 210: Programming with Python (Updated Class Schedule and Section)

Dr. Thanda Shwe (A)/ Dr. Aye Hninn Khine (B) — 2024-07-17

This course is an introduction to programming with Python for students without any previous programming experience. Throughout the class, we will cover different data types, writing functions, using packages like Numpy and Python and creating data visualizations. We will also use version control with Git.

Prerequisites: STAT 100: Introduction to Statistics

ARTS 220: Writing Self and World: Exploring Creative Nonfiction

Dr. Will Buckingham — 2024-07-17

In this course, students will explore the challenges of writing creative nonfiction in forms that go beyond the academic essay. In particular, they will explore the following:
1. The craft of memoir and the transformative power of personal storytelling
2. The art of literary reportage
3. The literary essay — bridging the personal and the political.
What is creative nonfiction? The writer Lee Gutkind calls it the art of “true stories, well-told.” This course aims to take students from first steps in writing creative nonfiction to engaging with the global marketplace for creative nonfiction writing.
Students will also read widely both in creative nonfiction, and in theoretical approaches to understanding nonfiction writing. The readings are diverse, and take a global view on nonfiction writing, while placing contemporary creative nonfiction in its historical contexts. As well as focusing on the craft of writing, students will explore questions of ethics, truth and responsibility in nonfiction.
This is a creative writing course. Students will be expected to engage in all individual and collective writing tasks, and will come to understand the possibilities and the challenges of creative nonfiction by writing creative works of their own.
By the end of the course, students will have built up a substantial portfolio of their own work: two assignments, six-micro assignments, and a large.

ARTS 320: Aesthetics

Dr. James Batcho — 2024-07-17

This is an introductory course on aesthetics philosophy and its creative applications. It offers a comparative study of European and Asian traditions and concepts as they relate to today’s artistic practices. By situating these two traditions, you can gain a variety of “creative strategies” in thinking about the possibilities of artistic expression in works of art, while also gaining a theoretical foundation for future academic studies in aesthetics and humanities.

The course is taught in three modules:

Traditions of Thought and Practice
Perception & Form
Contemporary Theory and Practices

Coursework is assessed in the areas of reading, discussion, writing, examination, presentation, and creative practice. “Workshops” will enable students to interpret and apply theoretical concepts in collaborative audiovisual exercises, through the use of photography, moving image, and sound design.

SEM 200: Second Year Seminar I

Dr. Lina Kassem (A&B)/Dr. Will Buckingham (C&D) — 2024-07-24

The four-sequenced seminar courses are part of a one mega-course (16 credits), that share the same objectives and learning outcomes. In Sophomore Seminar 1, we will explore how difference is socially and historically constructed, what it can mean to us, and how it can act on us. We will also ask critical questions on what we already know about differences among humans in today’s world. The Seminar will start with exploring the concept of “the Other”, which is one aspect of difference. We will look into different views on “the Other” from European history and different parts of the world through Ryszard Kapuściński’s accounts and insights. Then we will read Said’s Orientalism to understand power, difference, and otherness. Along with him, we will question knowledge production projects of the European colonizing countries which still condition how and what we know about differences. After this, we will study how “othered(ing) races” were born out of differences in modern, historical events reading Charles W. Mills’ “The Racial Contract”. Next, we will keep reflecting on differences through the literary perspectives of Toni Morrison. This will also lead us into the US context contemplated by Angela Davis. Angela Davis will help us understand the
intersectionality of gender, race, and class and how this embeds oppression, as well as how we can resist such oppression in collective movements. Finally, we will read Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks exploring “gendered otherness” and its intersectionality with social, political, ideological, and economic life across different times and spaces.

SEM 100: First Year Seminar I (Updated Class Schedule)

Dr.Dan Wesner(A)/Dr.James Batcho(B&C)/Dr.Phil Enns(D)/Dr.Dale Mineshima-Lowe(E) — 2024-07-23

The four-sequenced seminar courses are part of a one mega-course (16 credits), that share the same objectives and learning outcomes. In Freshman Seminar I, students will take a cross-cultural perspective on human existence in the context of the many worlds we all occupy: natural, social and existential. Human beings, the philosopher Martin Heidegger once wrote, is "being-in-the-world." In this course, students will experience and explore a wide variety of ways in which we can conceptualize what it means to be situated in the world. Students will explore human existence in the context of post-Darwinian understandings of what it means to be a human animal. Building on this foundation, they will consider what it means to be radically and irreducibly social. Through exploring the work of both Confucian philosophers and evolutionary theories of ethics, they will ask what it means to be a social animal. And they will explore the rich traditions of existentialism to explore what it means to find ourselves here, evolved beings living in society with each other, conscious of our limitations, our freedom and our death. This Seminar I course will give students the ability to move between radically different frameworks of understanding, to derive rich and complex insights into the human experience.

Prerequisites: None

ENCP 100: English Composition I (Updated Class Schedule)

Lori Enns (A&B)/Mia Sasaki (C&D)/Zahnur Rofiah (E&F) — 2024-07-17

English Composition I focuses on foundation skills of university-level writing. The course will take students through all the steps of the expository writing process from pre-writing to revising and proofreading. Students will work through a series of expository essays, including narratives and descriptive pieces. The course will support them in acquiring appropriate critical reading skills, as well as following conventions of standard English in writing. Students will also be introduced to selecting, using, and correctly referencing sources.

Prerequisites: None