May 16, 2024  
College Catalog 2018-2019 
    
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College Catalog 2018-2019 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Courses

 

Religious Studies
  

  • RELI 611 - Independent Project

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • RELI 612 - Independent Project

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • RELI 613 - Independent Project

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • RELI 614 - Independent Project

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • RELI 621 - Internship

    A maximum of one internship may be applied toward the religious studies major. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • RELI 622 - Internship

    A maximum of one internship may be applied toward the religious studies major. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • RELI 623 - Internship

    A maximum of one internship may be applied toward the religious studies major. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • RELI 624 - Internship

    A maximum of one internship may be applied toward the religious studies major. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • RELI 631 - Preceptorship

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • RELI 632 - Preceptorship

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • RELI 633 - Preceptorship

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • RELI 634 - Preceptorship

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • RELI 641 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Offered every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • RELI 642 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Offered every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • RELI 643 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Offered every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • RELI 644 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Offered every semester. (4 Credits)

Russian
  

  • RUSS 101 - Elementary Russian I

    A structured introduction to the basics of the Russian sound system and grammar, as well as speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. Some exposure to Russian culture. For beginning students. No prerequisites. Russian language classes (unless otherwise stated) are proficiency oriented, and aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Intermediate and advanced courses are taught in Russian as much as possible. Most classes meet three times per week with an additional weekly class period devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation classes are taught by Russian native speakers. Every fall. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 102 - Elementary Russian II

    Continuation of RUSS 101 ; further development of the same skills. Russian language classes (unless otherwise stated) are proficiency oriented, and aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Most classes meet three times per week with an additional weekly class period devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation classes are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 101  with a grade of C- or better, or consent of instructor. Every spring. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 151 - “Things Don’t Like Me”: The Material World and Why It Matters

    We all have a contentious relationship with our material reality. The blankets are tangled, the roads are icy, the colors of the walls are wrong, the sun is too hot, the universe is too big. Once our basic needs are met, why do we continue to adapt, transform, and refine our physical environment? Why and how do human beings invest objects with meaning - and at what cost to others? What is the difference between persons and things, and is the distinction as clear-cut as it seems? How do the objects that surround us shape the world of ideas, emotions, and other essential aspects of human existence? Drawing upon the insights of scholars from such fields as history, literature, anthropology, visual art, architecture, and material culture studies, we will seek answers to these questions. We will read literary texts and analyze how the authors reflect as well as imagine material reality, and how they deploy concrete objects to create meaning in their work. The course will consist of mini-lectures, class discussion, oral presentations. We will meet outside of class for film screenings and a visit to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Alternate fall semesters. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 194 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 203 - Intermediate Russian I

    In the second year of Russian, students learn to operate in basic social and cultural environments. Conversational skills needed on the telephone, public transport and other daily situations, listening and reading skills such as television, newspapers and movies, and various modes of writing are studied. Russian language classes (unless otherwise stated) are proficiency oriented, and aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Intermediate and advanced courses are taught in Russian as much as possible. Most classes meet three times per week with an additional weekly class period devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation classes are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 102  with a grade of C- or better, or consent of the instructor. Every fall. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 204 - Intermediate Russian II

    Continuation of RUSS 203 ; further development of the same skills; added emphasis on reading and discussing simple texts. Students are usually prepared for study in Russia after they have completed Intermediate Russian II. Russian language classes (unless otherwise stated) are proficiency oriented, and aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Intermediate and advanced courses are taught in Russian as much as possible. Most classes meet three times per week with an additional weekly class period devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation classes are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 203  with a grade of C- or better, or consent of instructor. Every spring. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 245 - Nabokov

    Cross-Listed as ENGL 245  

    There is a risk in studying Vladimir Nabokov, as those who have can attest. At first, you find he is an author who understands the simple pleasures of the novel. He crafts wondrously strange stories-often detective stories-in language often so arresting you may find yourself wanting to read passages aloud to passers-by. Then, you may discover within the novel little hints, here and there, of a hidden structure of motifs. The hints are in the synaesthetic colors of sound, in the patterns on the wings of butterflies, in the tremble of first love, in shadows and reflections, in the etymologies of words. Soon the reader has become a detective as well, linking the recurring motifs, finding clues are everywhere. By then it is too late. The risk in studying Nabokov is that you may not see the world the same way again.

    Nabokov’s life is itself remarkable. He was born into Russian nobility, but fled with his family to Western Europe after the 1917 Revolution. His father took a bullet intended for another. After his education in England, Nabokov moved to Berlin, and then to Paris, where advancing Nazi troops triggered another flight, this time to the United States. He was not only an accomplished poet, novelist, and translator, but also a lepidopterist. Nabokov found and conveyed both the precision of poetry and the excitement of discovery in his art, scientific work, and life.

    In this course, we will read a representative selection of both his Russian (in translation) and English language novels, including Lolita and Pale Fire, two of the finest novels of the twentieth century. We will explore various aspects of Nabokov’s life and art in order to arrive at a fuller understanding of how cultural synthesis inspires artistic creation.

      Alternate years, spring semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 250 - Terrorism and Art: The Spectacle of Destruction

    Cross-Listed as INTL 250  
    Russia presents an excellent case study for the topic of political violence. Terrorism as a means of political persuasion originated in the land of the tsars; Russian history features an incendiary cycle of repressions, revolts, and reprisals. Studying the origins and depictions of these events in works of art reveals how culture mediates between the world of ideas and the sphere of action. We will consider the tactics and motives of revolutionary conspirators as well as the role that gender and religion played in specific acts of terror. We will explore the ways in which Russian revolutionary thought and action served as a model for radicals around the world. The Russian case will provide a framework for in-depth study of examples of terrorism from Algeria, Ireland, Germany, the U.S., and the Middle East. Texts will include novels, poems, manifestos, letters, journalistic accounts, and films, as well as readings in cultural history and political theory. Taught in English. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 251 - 19th Century Russian Literature

    19th-century Russian authors reflect on imperial expansion in Romantic poetry and fictions about dashing horsemen, jaded dandies, and Caucasian beauties (Pushkin, Lermontov). Realistic prose (Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev) celebrates and satirizes provincial life and glorifies the center-s power, while also showing its crushing bureaucracy, its self-destructive underground men, its poor clerks, and dens of prostitution. Writers interrogate autocracy, serfdom, incipient industrialization and women-s equality. Nihilists, Westernizers, and Slavophiles philosophize about free will, national identity, life, and death. The course concludes with Chekhov-s short stories and innovative plays. Readings include all major genres and some theory. This course is topical and themes vary depending on faculty/student interests and areas of expertise. Specific theme will be announced in advance of registration. Lectures, readings and discussions are in English. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 252 - Experiments in Living: 20th Century Russian Literature and Culture

    In the twentieth century, political and artistic revolutions in Russia had repercussions far beyond its borders; we can still feel the effects to this day. How do artists respond to and shape historical events? How did writers in twentieth-century Russia transmute fear, violence, and chaos into art? In this course we will consider novels, stories, and poems, as well as paintings, music, and film reflecting upon the Bolshevik revolution, the Stalinist terror, World War II, the Thaw, {i}glasnost{ei} and {i}perestroika{ei}, and the turmoil of the post-Soviet era. We will become acquainted with major artistic trends including Symbolism, Futurism, and Socialist Realism; and observe how in each case, matters of style went hand in hand with the desire to change the world. Our readings will convey the fantastic schemes of the utopian thinkers at the turn of the century; artists’ responses to and participation in the political, scientific, and sexual experimentation of their time; and the survival of creative expression in the midst of unimaginable hardships. We will discover how and why some cultural figures chose to serve, and others to resist, the state, and what fate had in store for them. We will learn how provocateurs and innovators such as Mayakovsky, Akhmatova, Babel, Zoshchenko, Bulgakov, Solzhenitsyn, Brodsky, Pelevin, and Tolstaya explored the relationship between art and ideology, exile and creativity, laughter and subversion, memory and survival, individual psychology and historical cataclysm. All reading will be in English. Offered in alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 255 - Fierce and Beautiful World: Russian Culture Before the Revolution

    Like the legendary knight Ilya Muromets who lay still for decades, then arose and stunned the world with mighty feats, Russia is a force to be reckoned with again. In 2007, Vladimir Putin was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. What do we know about his country, and about the people who chose him as their leader? When you think of Russia, what comes to mind? Slender birch trees or brutish bears? Do you imagine soulful wonder-working icons, finely-wrought samovars, onion-domed cathedrals, opulent palaces, folkloric lacquer boxes, whimsical nesting dolls, delicious pastries, delicate ballet dancers? Or do you picture revolutionary nihilists, vodka-soused ruffians, tyrannical tsars, masters flogging serfs, or a troika racing at breakneck speed toward an unknown destination? Only a country so vast could accommodate such contradictions. Studying Russian culture offers a way to confront the paradoxes of the human condition, in particular, the opposing yet complementary drives to create and to destroy. The great poet Tyutchev declared that “you cannot understand Russia with your mind.” In this course we’ll take his cue and approach Russia through the senses. Russian culture offers a feast for the eyes, in visual art from icons to popular prints, the work of realist painters and the pioneers of abstract art; decorative art from wood carving to Faberge eggs; churches built without nails and palaces made of ice; boisterous folk dances and the Ballets Russes. Sound, too, plays a major role in Russian culture, from church bells to balalaikas, bawdy chastushkas to Tchaikovsky. We’ll discover the cultural significance of tea-drinking, traditional foods, and most of all, alcohol. We will consider the ways in which Russian art and ideas made an indelible impression on world culture. As we examine case studies from medieval times through the end of the tsarist period, we will ask such “burning questions” as: why does art have such a privileged status in Russian society? What exactly is the Russian soul? What is Russia’s relationship to the West: does it belong to Europe, to Asia, or does it possess a unique essence and destiny? Russia embraces its duality, and this may account, in part, for the distinctiveness and the vitality of Russian culture. All readings will be in English. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 256 - Mass Culture Under Communism

    Revolution to the fall of communism. For each period in Soviet history, changes in the production and consumption of culture will be considered with specific examples to be discussed. Topics dealt with in the course include the role of mass media in society, popular participation in “totalitarian” societies, culture as a political tool. Popular films, newspapers and magazines, songs, radio and TV programs, etc., will serve to analyze the policies that inspired them and the popular reactions (both loyal and dissenting) they evoked. Taught in English. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 257 - Tolstoy’s War and Peace

    In 1851, a dropout from the university, Lev Tolstoy volunteered to serve in the Caucasus, where he also launched his writing career. Later he examined Napoleon’s war with Russia in War and Peace , while gradually gaining fame for his stance against imperialist wars and violence. His doctrine of non-resistance against evil was to inspire his last piece of war writing, Hadji Murad as well as other thinkers from Gandhi to Martin Luther King. Though most of the semester will be devoted to the “non-novel,” “loose baggy monster,” War and Peace we interrogate it in the context of Tolstoy’s evolving ideas and 19th century Russia and Europe. We conclude with a close reading of Hadji Murad , Harold Bloom’s “personal touchstone for the sublime prose fiction.” While pondering Tolstoy and Russia, students are introduced to various critical approaches to literature and various reactions to Tolstoy both on page and on stage. In English. Lectures, discussion, writing, and oral presentations. Alternate years, fall semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 261 - Making History: Russian Cinema as Testimony, Propaganda, and Art

    Cross-Listed as HIST 261  
    Through the study of Russian films starting from the silent era up to the present day, the course will explore how storytelling in cinema differs from that in history and fiction, as well as how power relations, technology, and aesthetics shaped cinematic depictions of major historical events in Russia and the Soviet Union, from medieval times to post-Soviet era. Students will view and analyze films that are among the essential Russian contributions to world cinema, by directors including Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, Mikhalkov, and Sokurov. Course readings will draw upon film theory, history, fiction, and memoirs. We will use our readings to create a conceptual framework for examining the films as narratives about real events, as vehicles of propaganda, and as imaginative works of art. In addition to attending weekly film screenings and discussing the films and readings in class, students will give presentations on topics of their choice arranged in consultation with the instructor. Alternate spring semesters. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 265 - Translation as Cross-Cultural Communication

    Cross-Listed as INTL 265  
    When communication takes place across language barriers, it raises fundamental questions about meaning, style, power relationships, and traditions. This course treats literary translation as a particularly complex form of cross-cultural interaction. Students will work on their own translations of prose or poetry while considering broader questions of translation, through critiques of existing translations, close comparisons of variant translations, and readings on cultural and theoretical aspects of literary translation. Prerequisite(s): Advanced proficiency in a second language required. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 270 - Wrongdoing in Russian Literature

    The Russian word for crime literally means “overstepping,” in the sense of crossing a boundary. What happens, however, when that boundary shifts, as it did in the twentieth century with the Bolshevik Revolution? Or what if the society that defines the criminal is itself “wrong”? Throughout its history, Russian literature has returned almost obsessively to the theme of transgression. We will take a cross-cultural approach as we juxtapose Russian texts with those from other literary traditions, bringing out a similar and contrasting views of wrongdoing in Russian culture and that of “the West” against which Russia has traditionally defined itself. Readings will introduce course participants to an intellectual axe murderer, a malicious barber, a female serial killer, demonic hooligans, men pushed over the edge by classical music, and others on the wrong side of the law. Central to the course will be the question of how fiction writers present crime and how their artistic choices influence the way readers think of such seemingly self-evident oppositions as good and evil, right and wrong. We will address such themes as: the motives for and the moment of crossing over into crime; the detective as close reader/the criminal act as a work of art; gender and violence; crimes of writing; the (in)justice of punishment and the spectacle of state power. We will explore St. Paul’s “underworld” history and how it has been reinvented as a tourist attraction. Students will be encouraged to apply ideas arising from our readings to current events, studying the means by which contemporary instances of wrongdoing (and the trials intended to make things right) are represented in the mass media, and analyzing how true-life stories are turned into allegory and myth. Offered every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 272 - The Post-Soviet Sphere

    Cross-Listed as  
    The USSR’s 1991 dissolution ended one of history’s great experiments. Socialism sought to dissolve ethnicity and overcome ethnic conflict with a focus on equality. Instead it exacerbated nationalism and created-separated identities. But how? Topics include ethno-creation, control, and resistance; ethnic animosities and the USSR’s destruction; new states after 1991; “diaspora” populations beyond ethnic homelands; local rebellions; new “native” dictatorships; and recent international organizations. . (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 294 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 363 - Orientalism and Empire: Russia’s Literary South

    Since the 18th century to the recent wars with Chechnya, contradictory views of Russian empire building have been reflected in Russian literature. Students first explore recurring Russian ideas of empire, such as “Moscow the Third Rome,” and “Eurasianism,” as well as the constructs of East/West as factors in Russian identity thinking. The course focuses on the Caucasus region, Russia’s “Oriental” south, starting with a brief history of imperial expansion into the area and concentrating on its literary expression in travelogues, Classicist and Romantic poetry, Oriental tales, short stories, and novels. We will ponder general “orientalist” imagery and stereotyping (the noble savage, the brave tribesman, the free-spirited Cossack, the sensual woman, the imperial nobleman/peasant, the government functionary, and “virgin” territory) together with ideas of nation and identity based on this specific region. We will read classics of Russian literature (Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Tsvetaeva), but also lesser known authors, some justly and others unjustly forgotten by the canon (Osnobishin, Elena Gan, Iakubovich, Rostopchina). We will supplement our literary readings with a variety of critical and historical texts, as well as films. In English. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 364 - Culture and Revolution

    Cross-Listed as  
    This course examines the relationship between cultural and political change during four very different revolutions: in France of 1789, in Russia of 1917, and the more recent events in Iran and South Africa. How do people change when governments are overturned? How do revolutions shape the consciousness of their citizens? Do people understand events as revolutionaries intend them to? To answer these questions, we will examine symbols and political ideologies, mass media outreach, education and enlistment, changing social identities, the culture of violence, popular participation and resistance, as well as other issues. Readings will include such diverse sources as Voltaire and Rousseau, Marx and Lenin, Khomeini and the Koran. We will read contemporary accounts, both sympathetic and antagonistic, and look at popular culture to see how events were understood. Fashion and etiquette, comics and caricatures, movies and plays are among the materials used. Taught in English. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 367 - Dostoevsky in Translation

    Dostoevsky lived an extraordinary life. After achieving instant fame with the publication of Poor Folk, he languished in near obscurity for many years. He was sentenced to death for participation in a political society and was reprieved by the tsar just minutes before his scheduled execution. He served four years of hard labor in prison and another five years in exile in Siberia. He suffered from debilitating epilepsy and a compulsive gambling habit, and he struggled with massive debt. Yet by the end of his life the Russian public hailed him as a prophet and Russia’s greatest living writer. Like his life, his novels are extraordinary. They plumb the dark depths of the human soul, confronting the reader with issues of life and death, good and evil, and the presence of evil in God’s universe. In this course we will read Dostoevsky’s four great novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov, as well as the misunderstood anti-nihilist work Notes from Underground. Taught in English. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 394 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 488 - Senior Seminar

    Seminars on selected topics in Russian language, literature, or culture, designed to serve as an integrative capstone experience for majors. Recent topics are “Investigating Russian Web and Press,” “The Contemporary Short Story,” and “Forbidden Art and the Performance of Dissent.” Conducted in Russian. Since the topic changes from year to year, we recommend that sufficiently advanced students repeat this course. Prerequisite(s): three years of Russian ( , followed by a semester abroad) or approval of instructor. Every spring. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 494 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 601 - Tutorial

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 602 - Tutorial

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 603 - Tutorial

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 604 - Tutorial

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 611 - Independent Project

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 612 - Independent Project

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 613 - Independent Project

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 614 - Independent Project

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 621 - Internship

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 622 - Internship

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 623 - Internship

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 624 - Internship

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 631 - Preceptorship

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 632 - Preceptorship

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 633 - Preceptorship

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 634 - Preceptorship

    Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 641 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 642 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 643 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • RUSS 644 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (4 Credits)

Sociology
  

  • SOCI 110 - Introduction to Sociology

    The course introduces students to the sociological imagination, or “the quality of mind essential to grasp the interplay of individual and society, of biography and history, of self and the world,” as C. Wright Mills described it. The enduring value of a sociological imagination is to help students situate peoples’ lives and important events in broader social contexts by understanding how political, economic, and cultural forces constitute social life. Sociology explores minute aspects of social life (microsociology) as well as global social processes and structures (macrosociology). Topics covered vary from semester to semester, but may include: socialization, suburbanization and housing, culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class stratification, deviance and crime, economic and global inequality, families and intimate relationships, education, religion, and globalization. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 170 - Work, Identity, and Inequality

    This course will examine recent transformations in the U.S. economy - including deskilling, downsizing, and the rise of the service sector - and it will consider how each of these “transformations” relate to issues of identity, community, family formation, structural inequality and national culture. Work has changed so quickly in the last three decades that we have yet to fully comprehend the micro level consequences in our daily lives and the macro level consequences for American culture and global processes. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 175 - Sociolinguistics

    Cross-Listed as LING 175  
    Sociolinguistics is the study of the linguistic diversity. Language and culture are so closely tied that it is nearly impossible to discuss language variation without also understanding its relation to culture, and diversity in language often stands as a symbol of ethnic and social diversity. This course introduces students to the overwhelming amount of linguistic diversity in the United States and elsewhere, while at the same time making them aware of the cultural prejudices inherent in our attitude towards people who speak differently from us. The class involves analysis and discussion of the readings, setting the stage for exploration assignments, allowing students to do their own research on linguistic diversity. Offered every spring. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 180 - Sociology of Culture

    When sociologists look at culture they look at things like people’s leisure activities, consumption patterns, style, membership in subcultural groups, and the arts. A common thread throughout most of these studies of culture is how social class and culture intersect. For example, how do people’s class backgrounds influence their forms of cultural expression in terms of their leisure activities, their beliefs, their personal style, or whom they want to hang out with? This course will explore these issues, focusing on class as a common theme. Specific topics include: the role of artists and people’s development of aesthetic taste in the arts; social forces that push us towards conformity or towards individualism; subcultural groups; and how people make distinctions between themselves and those who they describe as “other.” Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 190 - Criminal Behavior/Social Control

     The use of imprisonment as a form of criminal punishment is only about as old at the United States. Currently, 1 in 100 adults in the United States are in prison or jail. How should we understand the growth of this form of criminal punishment? How is it similar to other methods to react to and to attempt to control unwanted behavior? What are the social consequences of these formal institutions of social control? In this course, we examine these developments in the processes and organization of social control, paying particular attention to criminal behavior and formal, legal responses to crime. We study and evaluate sociological theories of criminal behavior to understand how social forces influence levels of crimes. We examine recent criminal justice policies in the United States and their connections to inequality, examining the processes that account for expanding criminalization. Finally, we compare the development of formal, bureaucratic systems of social control and informal methods of social control, paying attention to the social and political implications of these developments. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 194 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 205 - Public Schooling in America

    As Frederick Rudolf aptly noted, the history of American education “is American history” and reveals “the central purposes and driving directions of American society.” The advent of mass schooling represents a profound exercise in collective self-definition. As with much else in a democracy, deciding whom to teach, what to teach, and how to teach have been subjects of lively debate in the US from the early nineteenth century to the dawning of the twenty-first. This course offers a broad overview of the overarching political controversies durrounding the historical development of public schooling in America. We begin with a survey of 19th-century movements to define elementary schooling as the chosen instrument for nation-building, for safeguarding democratic self-governance, and for resolving with the cascading social disorders implicated in the rise of urbanization, mass immigration, and industrial capitalism. The rise of high schools in the early twentieth century is the second major topic of interest, and more specifically, progressive-era debates about the relationship between public schools and colleges and universities. This era begets the great ideological fault-lines underlying educational theory and practice in the US that lasted the 20th century into the 21st. The dramatic post-war reconstruction of public schooling is the third major focus of the course. We explore the proliferation of federal government mandates to secularize, integrate, assimilate, equalize, multiculturalize, and expunge racism and sexism from the curriculum, all the while raising academic standards for all. With these directivescame vastly expanded government funding for social science research trained on evaluating public schools’ efforts to realize these new benchmarks of educational progress. We observe this rebirth of the social sciences as arbiters of educational policy debates. The final section of the course revolves around contemporary disputes over school choice policies and the federal No-Child-Left-Behind initiatives. These latest campaigns to democratize academic excellence have followed a familiar, recurring script of US policy making since the 1980s: deregulation, de-centralization, consumer choice, managerial and administrative prerogatives in public agencies re-invented in the image of governance in the corporate sector, and the elaboration of benchmarks to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of educational practices. We consider how recent experience indicate limitations to privatization, corporatization, and marketization as solutions to the educational crisis, and perhaps, suggest the beginnings of a renewed search for answers to the riddle of public education. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 210 - Sociology of Sexuality

    What is social about sexuality? Sexuality and its components (desire, pleasure, love, the body) is something more than a personal or individual characteristic. It is socially constructed. Sexuality has been configured during different historical time periods as sin, as a means of fostering alliances between powerful families, as perversion, as a means to pleasure, as a symbol of love, and as personal identity. These different sexual configurations are connected with larger social-historical trends such as the development of capitalism, the use of rationalized technologies, and the expansion of scientific-medical discourse. In this course, we explore how sexuality has been constructed through history. We examine how categories shape our understanding of sexuality such as male/female, heterosexual/homosexual/queer. We also will address issues such as child sexuality, prostitution, images of sexual minorities in the media and heteronormativity. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 220 - Sociology of Race/Ethnicity

    This course explores historical and contemporary perspectives on racial and ethnic groups in American society, including African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, European Americans, and Americans of Middle Eastern descent. The goal is to develop an understanding of socio-historical forces that have shaped the lives of racial and ethnic groups in America. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 222 - The Medical Industry

    This course provides an overview of the political, economic, cultural, and scientific foundations of the US health care industry. Select topics include: What is the secret to a long life? What is the basis of medical knowledge about health and illness? How do we know if medical care hurts or helps us? What is distinctive about the professionalization of medicine in the US compared to other nations? Why did the US health care industry develop under auspices of markets rather than government-provided public goods? Why is it so difficult to achieve universal health insurance coverage in the US? How will the Obama health reforms work?  Annually. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 230 - Affirmative Action Policy

    The course provides an introduction to US affirmative action policies in education and employment. The first section surveys the historical development of affirmative action in public schools and universities, evaluates alternative approaches to fostering diversity in higher education, and examines the most recent Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action in college admissions. The second major focus of the course is the origins and evolution of affirmative action in employment. This latter section provides an overview of the dynamics of racial and gender discrimination in employment and how affirmative action policies have endeavored to institutionalize equality of opportunity in labor markets. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 232 - Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship

    Cross-Listed as INTL 232  
    This course is focused and driven by student team project work. Students will prioritize social problems / issues for which they would like to engage in the creation / implementation of a solution. They will spend the semester working to more deeply understand the problems, research successful and failed attempts to resolve the problem in other contexts, and to generate a solution that includes a well researched model for introducing sustainable social change. It is through this engagement that students will grapple with the challenging realities of practice and implementation. Students will study several methodologies including Lean Startup, Human Centered Design, Participatory Poverty Assessment and Impact Gap Analysis. Students will learn through their own experiences and utilize case studies comparing problems, their root causes and the entrepreneurial approaches deployed to address them from various countries and cultural contexts. Fall semester (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 250 - Nonprofit Organizations

    Nonprofit organizations are important elements of the public sphere. They are one of the principal means by which we generate, concentrate, and channel our humanitarian and civic impulses. Sociological perspectives on nonprofit organizations presented in this course combined historical and contemporary accounts of the political, economic, and culture dimensions of the third sector: the panoply of private associations devoted to public purposes. Some of the learning goals are to develop an understanding and appreciation of: the legal frameworks that specify the permissible activities of nonprofit organizations; the ethical dilemmas that nonprofit organizations and professionals encounter as they envisage and strive to fulfill their service mission; theoretical scholarship aimed at explaining and justifying the diverse roles of nonprofits organizations in US society; the historical evolution of the relationship between the nonprofit, governmental, and commercial sectors; the challenges of governing and managing nonprofit associations; the transformation of civic engagement in the US; and, the day-to-day workings of nonprofit organizations through a case study based on students’ involvements with and studies of associations of their choice. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 269 - Social Science Inquiry

    Social science presents claims about the social world in a particular manner that is centered on theoretical claims (explanations) supported by evidence. This course covers the methods through which social scientists develop emprically-supported explanations. The course covers three main sets of topics: the broad methodological questions posed by philosophy of social science, how social scientists develop research design to generate relevant evidence, and methods with which social scientists analyze data. For both the research design and analysis sections, we will concentrate on quantitative research, learning how to use statistical software. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 270 - Interpretive Social Research

    This class introduces students to the methodologies and analytic techniques of fieldwork and ethnography: participant observation, interviewing, and the use of documents. Students will read exemplary, book-length studies and will conduct an extensive field research for their final project. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 272 - Social Theories

    This course is designed to engage students with the most sophisticated and useful schools of thought available in the social science disciplines. The course raises a number of questions: How can we best understand the complexities of self and society? Are these units of analysis useful in and of themselves? Are they contained in an essential body or polity that we can identify as some unitary entity called Jenny and John Doe, American, French, Arab/Jew, black/white, modern/primitive, developed/underdeveloped, Oriental/ Occidental, homo/heterosexual, male/female? Or are they socially produced units that have no essence in-of-themselves, produced and made real only through performance with the “Other”? Furthermore, is there something unique about modernity that has fundamentally transformed the notions of our selves, bodies, polities, races, and civilizations? If the answer to the last question is in the affirmative, how and why did this come to be the case, and what consequences does it hold for our understanding of the past and of the future? These are the kinds of questions that great figures in sociology have been asking since the nineteenth-century, including classic theorists like Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx, as well as more recent writers such as Ervin Goffman, Michel Foucault, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Edward Said. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 275 - Comparative-Historical Sociology

    Cross-Listed as POLI 250 
    The course introduces students to principles of cross-national and cross-cultural analysis. The class begins with a survey of the basic methodological orientations that distinguish various modes of analysis in the social sciences. The lectures and discussions in this section provide a general introduction to the logic of causal analysis, explore the relative strengths and weaknesses of differing methodological approaches to understanding social phenomena, and specifically, consider in greater detail the distinctive blend of theoretical, methodological, and empirical concerns that inform comparative-historical social science. The substantive topics of the course include: the Social Origins of the Modern State; the Sociology of Democracy and Authoritarianism; the Sociology of Revolution; and The Rise of the Welfare State. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 280 - Indigenous Peoples’ Movements in Global Context

    Cross-Listed as  
    During the last three decades, a global indigenous rights movement has taken shape within the United nations and other international bodies, challenging and reformulating international law and global cultural understandings of indigenous rights. The recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights in international law invokes the tensions between sovereignty and human rights, but also challenges the dominant international understandings of both principles. In this course, we examine indigenous peoples’ movements by placing them in a global context and sociologically informed theoretical framework. By beginning with a set of influential theoretical statements from social science, we will then use indigenous peoples’ movements as case studies to examine the extent to which these theoretical perspectives explain and are challenged by case studies. We will then analyze various aspects of indigenous peoples’ movements and the extent to which these aspects of the movement are shaped by global processes. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 283 - Economic Sociology

    Economic activity is a form of social activity: people attribute meaning to economic activity, they pursue such activity in relation to others, and this activity is patterned and organized. Starting from these premises, economic sociologists ask a wide range of questions, such as: How do people find jobs? What historical and social legacies affect prospects for development? How do art dealers know how to set prices on unique original works of art? What social arrangements influence economic inequalities? In what ways do people mix economic activities and intimacy? By surveying recent developments in economic sociology, this course introduces students to the kinds of questions that economic sociologists ask, the types of evidence they use, and the range of answers they generate. Students do not need a background in economics or sociology for this course. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 285 - Asian American Community and Identity

    Cross-Listed as AMST 285 
    This course introduces the basic issues and problems that shape the Asian American experience. The main learning objectives are: to identify and dismantle stereotypes about Asian Americans; to create a common vocabulary for describing the Asian American experience; to explore the historical and sociological foundations of Asian American community and identity; and to cultivate an appreciation of various theoretical approaches to race and ethnicity. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 290 - Islam and the West

    How can we best understand the complexities of the present U.S. “War on Terrorism”? Should it be understood as a clash between two different cultural systems, one modern and democratic and the other feudal and fanatic? Or, is the violence systemic, taking a variety of forms in different parts of the globe? What role does power and inequality on a global scale have to do with it? These and many other questions will be dealt with in this course. We will trace the conflict historically to assess moments of violence and tensions and other periods of calm and symbioses. Finally, we will analyze how modernity transformed the relationship between Islam and the West, Jew and Arab, male and female, and nation/race and identity. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 294 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 301 - Language and Alienation

    We are living in the midst of an “irony epidemic,” where two of the most frequently used expressions in current American English are “like” and “whatever.” Both of these are literally advertisements that words are not the real thing (at best, they are “like” it), and that they don’t matter (since “whatever” you say is equally a matter of indifference). This course takes as its point of departure the sarcasm and irony in spoken American English, and proceeds to an investigation of how the peculiar message of sarcasm (“I don’t mean this”) is conveyed in other languages, and in the media. Not surprisingly, the study of cheap talk connects intimately with aspects of pop culture. More surprising, however, is the idea that the cheapness of talk is not only a currently recognized property of our language, but that it might serve to define the very essence of human language in general and offer insights into the origins and nature of our ability to speak at all. Prerequisite(s): one course in Linguistics. Two years in every three. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 310 - Law and Society

    Law is omnipresent in contemporary social life. How should we understand this development and its consequences? How does law operate to the advantage or disadvantage of various members of society? Can law be the source of significant social change? This course examines the development of a formal, legal system and the ways in which such a system connects to other parts of society. We begin by focusing on individual experiences and understandings of law and what these tell us about how law fits into the larger social order. We then evaluate explanations about the connections between social and legal development. We also consider how the “law in action” operates by examining empirical studies of legal institutions and the limits and potential of law as a source for social change. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 335 - Families and Social Change

    This class focuses on the relationship between families and larger social institutions, including governments, economic institutions, and labor markets. This course also explores how various societal forces shape relationships within contemporary American families, as well as considering other historical forms and understandings of the family. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 370 - Political Sociology

    What is the nature of power within society and how does it relate to the development of nation-states? This course explores the development and operation of nation-states, examining how civil society and state practices relate to each another. We examine how the system of nation-states came into existence and what contemporary developments mean for the future of nation-states. We consider the nature and consequences of both citizenship and nationalism, trying to understand how these relations between individuals and states have developed. We also examine contemporary developments that might change citizenship, such as how we should understand national citizenship given the development of international human rights.   Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 394 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 480 - Senior Seminar

    This senior seminar serves as the capstone experience for sociology majors. This class provides students with an opportunity to develop a synthetic understanding of their sociology course work and to conduct prospective research that may culminate in honors projects. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 494 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 611 - Independent Project

    Students may explore sociological topics not covered in regular course offerings or pursue more advanced study of topics represented in the department curriculum through an independent project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 612 - Independent Project

    Students may explore sociological topics not covered in regular course offerings or pursue more advanced study of topics represented in the department curriculum through an independent project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 613 - Independent Project

    Students may explore sociological topics not covered in regular course offerings or pursue more advanced study of topics represented in the department curriculum through an independent project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 614 - Independent Project

    Students may explore sociological topics not covered in regular course offerings or pursue more advanced study of topics represented in the department curriculum through an independent project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 621 - Internship

    Internships allow students to participate in an off-campus learning experience. Students may engage in internships in a variety of settings that match their academic goals, including nonprofit organizations, government, and business. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 622 - Internship

    Internships allow students to participate in an off-campus learning experience. Students may engage in internships in a variety of settings that match their academic goals, including nonprofit organizations, government, and business. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 623 - Internship

    Internships allow students to participate in an off-campus learning experience. Students may engage in internships in a variety of settings that match their academic goals, including nonprofit organizations, government, and business. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 624 - Internship

    Internships allow students to participate in an off-campus learning experience. Students may engage in internships in a variety of settings that match their academic goals, including nonprofit organizations, government, and business. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 631 - Preceptorship

    Preceptors may assist faculty members organize and teach courses with an emphasis on leading discussion groups, preparing study sessions, and individual tutoring. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 632 - Preceptorship

    Preceptors may assist faculty members organize and teach courses with an emphasis on leading discussion groups, preparing study sessions, and individual tutoring. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • SOCI 633 - Preceptorship

    Preceptors may assist faculty members organize and teach courses with an emphasis on leading discussion groups, preparing study sessions, and individual tutoring. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (3 Credits)
 

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