Arts and Literature

56:606:521:01 European Art 1780-1880
Cross Listed: 50:082:340:01
Prerequisite: 50:082:101 or 102 or 103 or permission of instructor
M 1:20 pm – 4:10 pm
Location: ATG-218
Instructor: Professor Pilliod

Description: Considers the development of European art from neoclassicism through Post-impressionism in France, England, Germany, and other countries.

56:606:610:01 Literature of Childhood
Cross Listed: 56:350:594:01
M 6 pm – 8:40 pm
Location: ATG-226
Instructor: Professor Singley

Description: A study of classic and contemporary literature read and enjoyed by children and adolescents, including fairy tales, folklore, fantasy, picture books, chapter books, the adolescent novel, and poetry.

56:606:609:01 Contemporary Art
Cross Listed: 50:082:354:01
Prerequisites: 50:082:101 or 102, or 103 or permission of instructor
T/TH 1:30 pm – 2:50 pm
Location: FA-227
Instructor: Professor Rosenberg

Description: Art in America and Europe 1940 to 1980. Includes discussion of Surrealist, Abstract Expressionist, Minimalist, Pop, Op, and Conceptual Art, Happenings, and site-specific and direct metal sculpture.

56:606:511:01 Roman Art
Cross Listed: 56:350:595:01
T 6 pm – 8:40 pm
Location: ATG-218
Instructor: Professor Fitter

Course Description: The course description will be updated when it becomes available.

Cultural & Criticism

56:606:501:01 Studies in the Ancient and Medieval Eras
Cross Listed: 50:082:310:01
Prerequisite: 50:082:101 or 103 or permission of instructor
T/Th 4:30 pm-5:50 pm
Location: FA-227
Instructor: Professor Rodriguez

Description: Art of the Middle Ages in Europe from fourth to fourteenth centuries. Includes examination of the art of the Byzantine, Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque, and Gothic periods.

56:606:631:01 Structure of the English Language
Cross Listed: 56:615:520:01
W 6 pm – 8:40 pm
Instructor: Professor Epstein

Description: Just the mention of grammar makes most people nervous, and it makes English majors very nervous. Most English majors harbor that darkest of secrets: they don’t know grammar. Worse, English majors know that they are expected to be expert grammarians, ready and able to diagram a sentence or name the parts of speech of a sentence at the drop of someone else’s hat. If you suffer from grammar guilt (or even if you don’t), this course is for you. You will not be expected to pretend to know what you don’t, nor will you be humiliated or embarrassed by any lack of knowledge. Instead, we will see how intricate and interesting the grammar of English really is, and that learning grammar needn’t be a frightening experience. We will take a linguistic approach to grammar– we will systematically examine how language works, how to take it apart and how to put it back together. In particular, we will focus on the structure of the sounds (phonology), the words (morphology) and the sentences (syntax) of American English, as well as the meaning of it all (semantics). We will also see how the application of grammatical concepts can help us better understand both ordinary speech and the language of literary texts. And, last but not least, we will discuss how our (lack of) knowledge of the principles of grammar contributes greatly towards the existence of dialect discrimination in American society.

Course requirements: The final grade will be based on quizzes and a final paper.

Age of Revolutions

56:606:522:01 Colloquium in Early America, 1763 – 1820
Cross Listed: 56:512:505:01
T 5 pm – 7:40 pm
Location: 429 Cooper Street, second floor conference room
Instructor: Professor Shankman

Description: This graduate research colloquium is open to any graduate student who has completed either History 505, Readings in American History 1763-1820 or History 506, Readings U.S. 1820-1898. Students will spend the semester researching and writing a research paper of between 30 and 40 pages treating some aspect of the period of the readings course they completed.

Historical Analysis

56:606:671:01 Writing Publicly
Cross Listed: 56:512:679:01
TH 5 pm – 7:40 pm
Location: Class will meet in the History first floor conference room, 427/429 cooper street)
Professor Woloson

Description: This course will involve historical research leading to written assignments aimed at the public in order for students to develop a portfolio of writing for various public and professional audiences. The emphasis of this course is on skills in writing, editing, and historical research. Examples of this kind of work include blog posts, museum exhibit text panels, online exhibits, docent materials, articles for professional public history journals, encyclopedia entries, annual reports, newsletters, and press releases.

56:606:672:01 Public Digital History
Cross Listed: 56:512:531:01
M 5 pm – 7:40 pm
Instructor: Professor Mires

Description: Historians play a vital role in creating an engaged and informed citizenry. This seminar provides an in-depth examination of the opportunities, issues, and controversies that arise for historians and the public in settings such as historic sites, museums, and archives, and in the digital realm. The seminar also serves as an introduction to research in public history, a field of scholarship with local, national, and global dimensions.

56:606:673:01 Literary Cultures of Childhood
Cross Listed: 56:163:580:01
M 6 pm – 8:40 pm
Instructor: Professor Vallone

Description: This course examines changing concepts of childhood as reflected in a range of literary and cultural texts from a variety of cultures and periods. We consider the representations of children and childhood throughout literature and culture; the impact of the concept of childhood on intellectual and aesthetic traditions; the role of childhood in imagination and memory as well as in actuality; and the notion of childhood as a discursive category useful for understanding human subjectivity and the human condition.

Philosophy and Religion

56:606:641:01 Religion and Democracy
Cross Listed: 50:840:322:01
M/W 2:40-4:10 pm
Instructor: Professor Yates

Description: Critical examination of contemporary theories of liberalism and democracy as they relate to the inclusion of religious citizens in political contexts. Topics include the defense of religious freedom and tolerance, the use of religious reasons to justify laws regulating abortion and marriage, and the ideals of mutual respect and understanding in pluralistic political societies.

56:606:642:01 Race, Politics, and Religion
Cross Listed: 50:840:393:01
M/W/F 10:10 a.m – 11:05 a.m.
Location: ATG-124
Instructor: Professor Miller

Description: This course examines how religion shaped the political and racial priorities of American History. Topics include the role and definition of civil religion, the struggle George Washington had with defining the role of religion in a new republic, the impact of slavery, and the social construction of whiteness.

56:606:643:01 Theory of Knowledge
Cross Listed: 50:730:336:01
M/Th 11 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
Instructor: Professor Connolly

Description: An examination of the nature of knowledge, as well as the possibilities and limitations on obtaining it. Topics of study include truth, justification, rationality, and skepticism. Satisfies requirement in metaphysics/epistemology for Philosophy Major and Minor. Formerly 50:730:412.

Politics and Society

56:606:621:01 Dystopian Government in Futuristic Fiction
Cross Listed: 50:790:302:01
M/W 6 pm – 7:20 pm
Instructor: Professor Shames

Description: Using the lens of futuristic fiction like 1984, Brave New World, Brazil, Wall-E, Handmaid’s Tale, and Blade Runner, supplemented with democratic and political theory from Aristotle, Machiavelli, Arendt, Mansbridge, Rawls, and Foucault, this course examines what makes for “good” versus “bad” government. What are the proper limits of governmental surveillance and authority? Who should decide what government does, and how it does it? How intertwined, if at all, should government be with the economy? With religion?

56:606:623:01 Civil Liberities in Times of Emergencies
Cross Listed: 50:730:426:01
T/Th 1:30 pm – 2:50 pm
Instructor: Professor Tarr

Description: This course examines the effect of war and other national emergencies on the protection of individual rights and the balance that should be struck between national security and individual liberties. Although the course focuses primarily on national emergencies throughout American history, it will also examine how other countries have sought to strike the balance between national security and liberty.

Human Freedoms and the Constitution
56:606:624:01
Cross Listed: 50:790:442:01
T/TH 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Instructor: Professor Tarr

Description: The Constitution and basic civil liberties issues. Analysis of Supreme Court decisions dealing with freedom of speech and press, rights of defendants, freedom of religion, discrimination and equality, and the right to privacy.

56:606:625:01 International Negotiations
Cross Listed: 56:834:556:01
T 3 pm – 5:40 pm
Instructor: Professor Chevrier

Description: Course description will be updated as they become available.

Studies in Psychology

56:606::652:90 Parenting
Cross Listed: 56:830:457:40
T 6 pm – 8:40 pm
Instructor: Professor Meier

Description: This course will explore psychological ideas and research relevant to parenting. Students will learn about different theories and applications in the field of parenting psychology and they will examine the roles of parents and caregivers on the growth and development of their children. Psychological constructs such as learning, motivation, cognitive processes and social construction will serve as basis to understand contemporary parenting practices. Students will have the opportunity to discuss current issues that impact parenting and they will examine different types of contemporary families. The course will be framed by “My Virtual Child” – an online tool through which a student will become a parent and raise his or her own child throughout the semester

Studies of the 20th Century

56:606:531:01 Twentieth-Century American Fiction
Cross Listed: 56:352:522:01
M 6 pm – 8:40 pm
Instructor: Professor Barbarese

Description: Novels and short fiction from a range of authors, beginning with James and including Wharton, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Nabokov, Mailer, O’Connor, Capote, Pynchon, Barthelme, Roth, Morrison, Cheever, DeLillo and McCarthy. The course will investigate the paths American fiction, from Modernism through Post-Modernism, has pursued since Daisy Miller, in particular the American emphasis on the novel as historiography. Two to three short papers and a seminar report.

Cultural Diversity

56:606:542:01 Women in Revolution
Cross Listed: 56:512:537:01
T 5 pm – 7:40 pm
Instructor: Professor Bernstein

Description: In this course, we shall examine women’s roles in modern European history to discover how concepts of gender have affected our understanding of Europe’s past and influenced the fates of European women and men. Although we begin by looking at women in pre-industrial Europe, our focus will be on the ways that liberalism, feminism, industrialization, socialism, and urbanization contributed to the transformation of European society, and on how women went from chattels to citizens.

Capstone

56:606:689:01 Capstone Research

Independent study of special interest to the student, under supervision of an advisor chosen by the student in consultation with the program director Professor Charme.

Research in Liberal Studies

56:606:690:90

See Professor Charme

Matriculation Continued

Matriculation Continued

Continuous registration may be accomplished by enrolling for at least three credits in standard course offerings, including 56:606:800:01 research courses, or by enrolling in this course for 0 credits. Students actively engaged in study toward their degree who are using university facilities and faculty time are expected to enroll for the appropriate credits.

See Professor Charme