Apr 24, 2024

2020-21 Undergraduate Catalog

2020-21 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions

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Theater Arts
	TH 330 Directing This course is intended as an introduction to directing for the stage. The principles of working with actors and leading a team of designers accompany a series of small assignments leading to a final directing project. The course includes theory and practice in play directing: play selection, playscript interpretation, composition, movement, business management, casting, rehearsal, performance, director/designer and director/actor relationships. Students focus on perception and expression as a means of drawing inner and physical expression from others. The course requires prompt preparation of scripts, direction of scenes and one-act plays, and theater laboratory. Prerequisite: Two 200-level Theater courses.
	TH 341 Acting in Modern Theater This is a scene study of modern classic writers, such as, Ibsen, Strinberg, Chekhov, and American writers O’Neill, Miller, Hellman, Wilson, and Vogel. Studio course with lab requirement.
	TH 343 Commedia del’ Arte Not regularly scheduled.
	TH 344 Acting Shakespeare The course begins with helping the student to feel the very heartbeat of the work, the students/actors have to know how to decipher and understand a text that may feel strange on the tongue, and they have to discover the text’s tone and tempo, mine its inner richness, and learn how to speak the text with ease. Lectures cover background with studio work and seminars built around improvised scenes along with scenes and monologues that are to be rehearsed outside the class for performance and critique during class. Studio course with lab requirement.
	TH 345 Acting in Film and TV In this course, students learn to deliver performances that are truthful, based on instinct rather than intellect. Participants work with student directors in preparing scenes selected from film, television, theater, or original material to be recorded on videotape for in-class presentation, discussion and critical analysis by the instructor. Studio course with lab requirement.
	TH 349 Advance Scene Study Advanced Scene Study is a workshop class aimed at upper level acting majors or others who have a serious interest in acting. Students in consultation with the instructor and other members of the theater arts faculty will work on scenes that will strengthen identified weaknesses and take advantages of identified strengths to codify and deepen the understanding of the principles of acting. Individualized instruction will be given to each student as they work in class on scenes. Students will be expected to work at least 5 hours a week with partners outside of class. Students will present to the instructor and invited members of the theater arts faculty 4 prepared scenes for evaluation and comment. Prerequisite: TH 241 or permission of the instructor.
	TH 350 Playwriting Using the creative approach, the course examines several forms of scriptwriting (e.g., playscript, the screenplay and scripts for audio/visual media), introduces tools of critical analysis through critique of student’s original work, and presents practical aspects of marketing the stage of screenplay. No previous experience required.
	TH 360 Audition Techniques This course is designed to help young actors begin to negotiate the world of the audition. Students hone their audition skills in a supportive atmosphere, through hands-on workshops focusing on various types of auditions: contemporary and classical monologues, commercial voiceovers, dance, and cold-copy commercial. By meeting and auditioning for working artists and casting directors from the professional world, students will gain insight into what awaits them in the real world as theatre artists, and refine the skills that will help them audition more effectively in all contexts.
	TH 361 Seminar: Modern Drama This course is exploration of the styles and techniques of modern century theater, including selected British, American, and Continental plays by modern dramatists such as, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Shaw, Synge, O’Neill, Pirandello, Brecht, and Pinter. Prerequisite: Junior standing or above.
	TH 365 Theater for Young Audiences This is a course in the multiple aspects and practices of children’s theater in America. The course examines the theatrical conventions and structures of this distinct area of theater. It explores the multiple areas of children’s theater from performance to puppetry. The course includes writing a paper on a children’s theater or practitioner in America. The art of children’s theater is a loss of our present inhibition and a willingness to rediscover the child within. We discuss and explore all areas of performing for children. No previous experience required.
	TH 370 Career Internship in Theater Arts This is a working internship for one semester at a professional theater, television, or radio station. Prerequisite: Junior standing or above.
	TH 389 Independent Study In-depth study and research culminates in a substantial paper or performance project. Prerequisite: Junior standing or above; a minimum GPA of 3.0 and permission of the Department Chair.
	TH 392 Musical Theater Scene Study Musical Theater Scene Study examines and develops the various elements/techniques used to craft process for the musical theater actor. Specific focus is placed on partnering methods and ensemble collaboration through the active preparation and performance of musical theater scenes. Prerequisite: Prerequisite: TH 150, TH 241 or TH 293 or permission of the instructor.
	TH 392 Musical Theater Scene Study Musical Theater Scene Study examines and develops the various elements/techniques used to craft process for the musical theater actor. Specific focus is placed on partnering methods and ensemble collaboration through the active preparation and performance of musical theater scenes. Prerequisite: TH 150 , TH 241 or TH 293 or permission of the instructor.
	TH 393 Special Studies in Theater Arts This is an advanced course on special topics such as Solo Performance, Performance: From Ritual to Theater, autobiographical Adaptations: Ethnographic method for playwriting and performance, Spirituality and Theater, Movement Theater and the New Vaudeville, or New Perspectives on Theater Adaptation. The course is designed as a means of addressing the interdisciplinary nature of the art of theater and poses subjects of interest to students and faculty. Prerequisite: Two Theater courses 200 level or above. Topics may vary; may be repeated for credit.
	TH 490 Advanced Workshop in Theater This course is individual or small-group projects in acting styles, directing full-length plays, scene and lighting design, theater management, or other theater areas. It may involve directing or designing of a major college production, a formal advanced class, or other approved topics. Prerequisite: Individualized projects require the approval of the instructor.
University Seminar
	US 200 The Science of the Paranormal Parapsychological phenomena—psychokinesis, after-death communications, pre-birth memories, out-of-body experiences, for example—are documented by cultures all over the world, but are considered pseudoscientific by most mainstream scientists. This course investigates accounts and analyses of parapsychological experiences to try to determine whether the scientific community’s view of the available research is paradigmatic or the result of conclusive evidence. Students will examine pop culture’s enthusiasm for supernatural/preternatural phenomena via first-hand narratives and cultural practices; assess the believability of phenomena via current academic scholarship, popular sources, guest speakers, and in-class experiments; and interpret phenomena through Eastern, Western, indigenous, and secular lenses.
	US 201 A Terrible Beauty: Ireland in the 20th Century An undergraduate workshop course providing an interdisciplinary approach to the cultural myths and political realities of twentieth-century Ireland portrayed in important works of Irish film and literature.  Open to students from all majors, this discussion course focuses on Ireland’s colonial and post-colonial conflicts with England (the UK), including Ireland’s massive, ongoing emigration, the Risings & Easter Rebellion, War of Independence, Civil War, Civil Rights Movement in the North, & The Troubles followed by the fragile 1998 Good Friday Peace Accord.  The course probes cultural heritage underlying these ongoing conflicts, recognized in such themes as emigration and the myths of the West (including links to the U.S.); the role of women in Irish culture; and Ireland’s developing global identity created by a long historical relationship (social, political, economic, military, & cultural) joining the peoples of the U.K, the U.S., and Ireland.  Songs, fiction, historical & political documents, poetry:  All stand as living testimony to the discord and violence experienced by the Irish people whose diaspora & suffering, defiance & death, chart a century of boundary crossings whose paths continue into the 21st century.   This course focuses on creative texts—Irish films and literature that students must keep up with for class discussions—supported by extensive background documents from historical, social, political, and journalistic sources. Prerequisite: EN101
	US 203 Songwriting: A Blend of Poetry and Music This course will be directed toward students who consider themselves poets and are interested in adding music, and/or musicians looking to write lyrics and investigate poetry, and/or for students that just want to write songs and be a part of a songwriting team. Either way, this interdisciplinary class is designed to teach students to make beautiful, memorable (maybe even sellable) songs. It will give them an understanding of some of the best songs ever written and how/why they became so good. In this class students will be poets, musicians, critics, and scholars.
	US 204 Buddhism and the Beats: Dharma Bums, Zen Lunatics and Crazy Wisdom The writers and artists who are identified as “beat” collided in San Francisco, New York City, Boulder CO and “on the road” smack in the middle of the twentieth century. In early fifties America, these budding writers were attracted to Buddhism as an alternative to the era’s prevalent social and religious values-epitomized by the likes of religious leader Billy Graham and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. For Beat writers, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Joanne Kyger, Allen Ginsberg and Diane DiPrima, Buddhism was an antidote to what they saw as the spiritual and cultural stagnation of a society corrupted by Cold War politics and rampant consumerism. An overarching goal of this University Seminar will be to make connections between the Buddhist sources and the voices and visions of the Beat generation. Students will read selected works of these writers alongside the Beats’ favorite Buddhists scriptures and texts. Students will engage in close reading, intertextuality, discussions and inquiry-based learning. Through responsive, reflective and creative writing students will explore how the Beats incorporated Buddhist thought and philosophy into their fiction and poetry.
	US 205 Philadelphia Then & Now This course explores metropolitan Philadelphia’s past and present in order to examine how history shapes the places in which we currently live, work, and play. The course uses a historical lens through which to view a range of contemporary subjects including: wealth and poverty; suburban sprawl; architecture and space; local literature and visual art; watersheds and other environmental resources; urban politics; regional mass media. Students explore aspects of urban Philadelphia as well as of Philadelphia-area suburbs and “vacationlands.” In addition to doing weekly assigned readings, students also take individual and group trips to locations around the region and conduct research designed to provide them a more complex understanding of and deeper relationship to the Philadelphia region. Note: US205 can count toward the History major and minor.
	US 208 Great Trials in History This University Seminar explores a dozen famous trials chosen to represent conflicts in different areas of intellectual and cultural/social history including philosophy, religion, science, art, and literature. Subjects include Socrates, Galileo, the Salem Witch Trials, John Brown, Oscar Wilde, the Scopes Monkey Trial, Nuremberg, and Robert Mapplethorpe. Texts include books, films, articles, and websites. Note: US 208 can count toward the Criminal Justice, History and Philosophy majors and minors.
	US 209 Social Action and Social Change This University Seminar presents students with an opportunity to learn about and participate in issues related to inequity, social justice, and social action. Using concepts grounded in the social sciences as an analytical framework, the course begins with an examination of the ways in which the development of individual and group identity is structured within social systems and institutions that also exercise power over these individuals. This power is exerted differentially across societal groups leading to inequity and structural violence. Using this framework, members of the class will then read, study, and learn about the ways in which grassroots movements around the world have used social action at the local level to bring about social change. Moving out of the classroom, students and faculty members will explore social change groups in the Philadelphia area and connect electronically with similar groups in other countries.
	US 211 From Hippies to Hipsters: The Legacies of Counter Culture What exactly is a counterculture? Do they still exist? Didn’t they disappear with the Hippies? How do they benefit society? This seminar will answer these questions (and many more) as students examine how the 1960s counterculture represented a major departure from mainstream ideology – one where the youth began to question the idealized American way of life. Yet, counterculture isn’t just a singular decade. Instead, we’ll explore (through literature, art, film, and discussion) how counterculture extends beyond the 60s and into the contemporary moment where hegemonic resistance and American bohemia is alive, well, and redefining the way all of us live. Topics such as civil rights, gender, race relations, sexuality, war, drug culture, environmental issues, politics, and more will be on the table. Not only will students think critically in class, but they will also literally extend beyond the boundaries of our classroom as they interact, interview, and experience first-hand the work of an individual whom they deem to be a countercultural agent of change. Ultimately, throughout the course, students will be inspired to reexamine their own weighted identities and enact tangible change in their own society.
	US 214 Evolution: Conflicts from Darwin to Intelligent Design This course examines the conflicts raised by the theory of evolution, from the reception of Origin of Species in the 1860s, to the Scopes Trial in the 1920s, the legal struggle over scientific creationism in the 1980s, and the appearance of intelligent design in the 2000s. The course surveys evidence from paleontology (the fossil record) and genetics and explores scientific objections and difficulties such as the blending inheritance problem, rudimentary organs problem, the”missing link,” and others. In addition, the course considers the origin of American fundamentalism in connection with the Scopes trial, the rise of Social Darwinism and the spread of eugenic ideas. Note: US214 can count toward the Philosophy major and minor and the Religion minor.
	US 215 Truth and Beauty: Mathematics in Literature Throughout history, mathematics has been an inspiration to poets and writers. Math itself is one of the major expressions of the mysteries, beauty, and truth of our universe, and literature about math enhances this expression. Just as science has led to science fiction (and creative non-fiction), so math has led to something analogous. From Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions (Edward A. Abbott) to Adventure of the Final Problem (a Sherlock Holmes adventure by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle) to the stories of Aldous Huxley, Martin Gradner, Ian McEwan, Greg Egar, and others, to the poetry anthology Against Infinity (ed., Jet Foncannon and Marian Robson) to the poetry collection My Dance Is Mathematics (JoAnne Growney) and Crossing the Equal Sign (Marion Cohen), writings involving math have taken their place among humanity’s body of literature. This course explores some of the mathematical writings through the ages, as well as the math that inspired them. Prerequisite: MA 100 and EN 101
	US 216 Social and Ethical Issues in Sports There’s a lot more to sports than what takes place on the field or the court. Just read the sports page on any particular day - there are stories of steroid abuse, recruiting violations, academic eligibility, playing hurt, gambling, paying college athletes, diversity and gender issues, violence, hazing, graduation rates of student athletes, youth sports, moral and religious issues, issues related to the Olympics and politics, and the media’s relationship to sports. In this seminar, students will read, view and discuss texts that delve into these and other issues. Learning will occur through course readings, class discussion, lecture and writing assignments. Class trips are planned to Citizens Bank Park, Wachovia Center, Temple University and Comcast SportsNet studios.
	US 220 Education Stories: Films about Schools and What They Teach Us Films depicting exemplary teachers and principals and their successful students have long provided many Americans their sense of how quality educational environments are created. But how much can one really learn about education from these cinematic treatments? This University Seminar includes screening and discussion of numerous films to probe them for their major themes relating to innovative teaching techniques, genuine concern and respect for students, and students’ responses in the form of high achievement and improved personal behavior. And the University Seminar compares and contrasts these films with the latest scholarly research investigating the factors and influences that correlate with successful schools and students and review and critique key educational and psychological theories of education. Written assignments, participation in classroom discussions, and small groups oral classroom reporting help students to develop written and oral communication skills. Note: US 220 can count toward the Psychology major and minor.
	US 221 We Inquire We Design This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of physical science that provides the foundation for understanding of energy and engineering design. Students work in teams to engage in science and engineering design practices of asking questions, developing and using models, planning and conducting investigations, analyzing data, revising models, using mathematics and computational thinking, and engaging in argumentation based on evidence.
	US 222 Everything & Nothing: Visualizing Math, Philosophy & Culture Everything (the universe, infinity, oneness, completeness) and Nothing (vacuums, emptiness, zero, absence) are usually taken as opposites but are often ironically synonyms for each other. This University Seminar provides an investigation of these concepts in mathematics, religion, philosophy, science, and literature, taking students into intriguing but also possibly scary territory.
	US 223 From Gothic England to American Horror: Alfred Hitchcock’s Film Although Alfred Hitchcock is noted for witty, clever, and suspenseful movies, this workshop course will focus on the suspense thriller films and their themes connected to spy intrigues, crimes of murder, and searches into bizarre worlds of horror. This University Seminar will approach the director’s British films as reflecting social issues of violence connected to families (especially women’s roles) as expressed in the Gothic genre. Concentrating on Hitchcock’s American movies, the second half of the course will explore the films’ social themes through the genre of Horror. We will explore the rich artistic texture of the course films, analyzing them visual narratives in the genres of Gothic and Horror tales. To this end, the course will review basic elements of film analysis, providing a critical vocabulary allowing students to analyze this visual/verbal cinematic medium; the style focus will be on the way films use space as a visual language of fiction (editing, framing, mise-en-scene, etc.). A discussion class focused on film viewing, discussion, and interpretation.
	US 225 Outcasts, Rebels and Other Normal People This University Seminar focuses on compelling stories of individual and collective struggles and transformations in the midst of social oppression. Topics explored include identity, conformity, prejudice, rebellion, personal and societal transformation, pluralism, social reform, human rights and freedom. Authors include James Baldwin, Simone de Beauvoir, Frederick Douglass, Mohandas Gandhi, Khaled Hosseini, Martin Luther King Jr., Peter Matthiessen, Arthur Miller, and Walt Whitman.
	US 226 Shakespeare on Stage, Page and Screen in 21st Century This University Seminar asks the questions: Why do we still read and perform Shakespeare? How can these centuries-old play texts, written in a style of English that we no longer speak, still be meaningful for us today? This course seeks to answer these questions by approaching Shakespeare from three distinct perspectives: Shakespeare in performance, Shakespeare as literature, and Shakespeare on film. Using a combination of methodologies and approaches, this course fosters a fuller appreciation for how Shakespearean texts written for an Early Modern audience might resonate with present-day American cultural sensibilities. Students examine how aspects of performance, cinematic imagination and literary analysis can work together to create urgent and relevant meanings for modern audiences. Particular attention is paid to the study of visual imagery associated with Shakespeare—including the examination of visual evidence from Elizabethan/Jacobean England, and the analysis of how scenic, lighting and costuming choices can communicate meaning in contemporary film and performance contexts. Students also work actively with the play texts in class, “on our feet,” to acquire a physical and kinesthetic sense of how live performance helps condition and contributes toward our understanding of a dramatic text.
	US 228 Science in Visual Arts Art and Science may seem to be polar opposites, however, they are inseparable disciplines in many ways. They share the same desire to understand and investigate the world by organizing our perception. The main content of this course examines the question “Why we see what we see?” We address this question by looking at visual arts through the lens of science. Understanding how we visually perceive artworks and how our brain processes that information enables both art and science students to not only enrich their knowledge but also gain interdisciplinary perspectives. As a result, students create informed artworks and innovatively approach scientific research.
	US 229 3-Dimentional Programming and Storytelling with Alice This course is designed to introduce students to computer programming through the use of the “Alice” programming language. “Alice” is a very simple introductory language which students will almost immediately be able to use to create animations.
	US 230 International Computer Ethics This University Seminar examines the ethical consequences of the expansion of computer usage in our society and internationally. The course aims to give students a solid grounding in ethics in general and the ethical dilemmas that are unique to computer applications. Note: US 230 can count toward the Computer Science or Computing Technology majors and minors or the Philosophy major and minor. Non-major students who want an introduction to computer programming might consider US 229 3-Dimentional Programming and Storytelling with Alice
	US 233 Copy!-Right? Creativity and Copyright “Blurred Lines” (2013) infringed on Marvin Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up.” Or not. A person’s perspective on copyright and other intellectual property issues (inventions and patents, anyone?) can depend a lot on if they’re using someone else’s work or their work is getting used. This course explores how different ways of thinking about IP both protects and hinders creative expression. Visual and performing creators—formal or informal—will all gain something from taking it. Students create two transformative works of artistic expression as a basis for considering the different issues in actual practice.
	US 234 Representations of the Spanish Civil War This University Seminar examines perceptions of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and their international implications. Topics discussed include the significance of the war, the political and social background of Spanish events and society, and how the conflict was been by Spanish, American, Canadian, English, and French writers and philosophers. Texts include journalistic perspectives as well as autobiographical accounts and poetic responses. Spanish and international films and documentaries are screened covering topics such as women’s participation in the war and the origins of global responses to the war. This course is a bilingual course and is taught in both Spanish and English. Readings are in both Spanish and English. Prerequisite: SP 102 Note: US234.1 can count toward the History, International Studies & Spanish majors and minors.
	US 235 Born Digital: Voice of the Net Generation This University Seminar investigates how digital natives—a term used to describe a generation of youth born after 1982 that has grown up with computers, video games, cell phones and digital music players—process, relate to and create information differently than their predecessors. What kind of world are digital natives creating? In essence, students in this course examine their own behavior and attitudes regarding the use and effects of digital technology tools in their lives and in the lives of their peers. Assignments consist of readings, individual and team-based ethnographic research, creation of online content and field trips in real and virtual space. Students will be expected to contribute to discussions in class and online using such tools as discussion forums, blogs, wikis, YouTube videos and data mashups.
	US 236 Christian, Jewish and Muslim Spain: From Eden to Exile This course will examine the coexistence of the three principal religions: Christianity (Catholicism), Islam, and Judaism during the middle Ages. Tenets and beliefs of each religion will be examined in detail. Art and architecture reflecting the three religions will be analyzed and will include such national treasures as the synagogues in Toledo, The mosque in Córdoba, The Alhambra in Granada and the cathedrals of Santiago de Compostela and Seville. Topics discussed will include the Spanish Inquisition, The Catholic kings, the reconquest, and medieval life in Europe at that time. The historical time period will cover roughly from 700-1492. Readings will include various poems written by writers of the three religions, El Cid, La Celestina and historical documents of the epoch. Teaching the coexistence of the three religions exposes students to different ideological discourses embodied in cultural fields of the time. The class will also examine the three religions and their role in Spanish society today. This course is a bilingual course and will be taught in both Spanish and English. Readings will be in both Spanish and English. Prerequisite: EN 101 and SP 202 Note: US 236 can count toward the History, International Studies and Spanish majors and minors
	US 237 The Impacts of Music, Film & Digital Media on Social Movements This University Seminar will analyze the affect of music, film and digital media on the process of social movements. Social change is the transformation of culture and social organizations over time. Social movements are a type of group action that brings about change in existing cultural and political beliefs, mores and ultimately, laws. This course will focus particular attention on the last half of the 20th century, when the world witnessed unprecedented change in the areas of civil, women’s, and gay rights, as well as an explosion of technology for personal and political expression.
	US 238 Rethinking Children’s Animated Films This course asks students to look beyond the marketing strategies that position classic children’s films as “innocent”, “magical”, and “fun for the whole family” in order to consider more carefully and objectively what lies beneath large media companies very successful, synergistic product promotion. In particular, the course would focus on the following: the evolution of media industries into an oligopoly where six or seven media conglomerates own most of the media in the US; the justification for media corporations promoting and protecting corporate images and marketing plans for classical animated films in particular; the appropriation and changing of original storylines to serve many purposes and ideas of not only the writers and producers; an exploration of the appeal for children of all ages as audience(s); film analyses to reveal subtexts embedded in the films (e.g. racial stereotypes, gender roles, consumerism); a study of how these subtexts have the power to impact our understanding of self and society; and, a look at the reception of children’s films by critics and consumers both at home and abroad in an increasingly global market. Particular emphasis will be placed on the Disney corporation as well as Dreamworks SKG, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and Hanna-Barbera Productions.
	US 239 Why Poetry Persists Plato and Aristotle argued that poets come nearer to documenting vital truth than history does. Is this possible? What do poets contribute to society? This is a seminar with a workshop component, designed for students with or without experience in poetry writing, who have a genuine interest in poetry. Students begin as detectives, researching and examining various roles poets have played throughout history. As ethnographers, we attend Philadelphia-area poetry readings to witness these roles in action and personally connect with the artists. We also host an Arcadia Poets Symposium on campus, where published poets among Arcadia’s staff, faculty and student body share and discuss their work. Students choose one of these poets as the focus of a written, journalistic profile. As creative writers, students consider their own roles, crafting poems inspired by poets we read and see perform. Finally, as editors and publishers, we contribute to a web-based Arcadia literary journal focused on exploring the craft and capacity of poetry. This course has a Writing Designation and requires 4 papers as well as a portfolio of revised, polished poems.
	US 241 Invisible Women: An Exploration of Female Entrepreneurship This course introduces students to the psychological, sociological and economic dimensions of entrepreneurship as they review extant research on female entrepreneurs. Students will develop their understanding of the female entrepreneur’s (psychological) motivations for starting and owning a business, the (sociological) network of relationships she establishes to support and sustain her business and the (economic) resources that her business uses and creates.
	US 242 Place, Space and the Global World: Exploring Immigrants and Identity In this University seminar, the lens of place is used to explore issues of immigration, migration, and ethnic identity. Immigrants and migrants have arrived, settled, built communities, laid down roots and moved on, with others arriving after them leaving layers of material traces that give significance to the present, document the past, and point to the future. They have left material traces and maintained connections with home villages in previous centuries of immigration as well as in contemporary times. Forms can be aesthetic expressions, hold memories and give meaning to everyday lives, and are symbolic of who we are in an increasingly globalized world. Students learn how different disciplines use place as an interpretive mode to understanding the relationship of ethnicity to place(s), how difference (ethnicity, gender, race) is delineated in space, the politics of public space, issues of memory and place (including transnational connections), and globalization and place. A diverse range of reading assignments, images, video, and four field trips to Philadelphia will augment class discussion. The class visits a Puerto Rican urban garden and casita, a Palestinian mosque and deli, the 9th Street Market, and Chestnut Hill. The students hear first hand from the people who work and live in these places their significance for them and the connections or disconnections of meaning they hold. An interdisciplinary approach is also reflected in the kinds of assignments required of students. In introducing students to the topic of diversity and difference, the concept of worldview and how it varies cross-culturally and over time is discussed. An ethnographic fieldwork project is required in which students must interview at least one person. During the course of the semester, through in- class exercises and take-home assignments, students are guided step-by-step in the methodology of conducting original research.
	US 244 Ear Cleaning: Form, Pattern, Experience An experimental music course focusing on composition and exploration of sound and space. No previous musical background is required. Students incorporate experiments with shape, form, pattern and experience to perform original compositions for found and low-tech musical instruments.
	US 245 Music & Story Telling This seminar offers the student the opportunity to study the performing arts, literature and music. The student response to the works read and viewed will be in the form of discussions and written assignments that vary from character analysis to formal research on a particular writer/composer/work. The uniqueness of the course lies in studying the connection between music and storytelling, in ballet, in plays and novels made into film and in Opera and modern dance.
	US 246 Investigating Fusion Forms in Performing Arts The purpose of this University Seminar is to provide students with an opportunity to observe and analyze examples of the fusion of performance forms and styles; and eventually create a theatrical piece with text and music that reflects their ideas, beliefs, and also shows how they would like others to understand their point of view. Using the notion that “Art Imitates Life”, this course will draw subject material from important personal and community ideas, and extend out to global issues that affect us all. This course will explore the vast resource of pre-existing works including: drama and literature in all forms, opera, films and film score music, musicals, and instrumental music of all types and from many time periods. Individual ideas will be shared and collaboration will be encouraged. Students will be expected to produce their own work, either original or adapted from existing literature or musical scores, using the University as their stage.
	US 248 Flying Solo: The Art of Solo Performance The “Solo Actor” has evolved from the ancient Greek and Roman mimes through the historic portrayals of presidents (GIVE “EM HELL HARRY) and literary greats (MARK TRAIN TONIGHT and THE BELL OF AMHERST) to the provocative rants of “everyman/woman” in productions like Eve Ensler’s THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES and Anna Deavere Smith’s LET ME DOWN EASY. Shows can include satires, impersonations, anthologies, adaptations, and recitals, but can also be classified as more personal autobiographical performance pieces. Hybrids combine a variety of performance types including mime, dance, music and poetry. What they have in common is that they are performed by one artist whose purpose is to tell a story to an audience.
	US 249 Princesses and Super Heroes: How Media Shape Children’s Gender and Sexuality This media literacy course asks students to critically examine the varied kinds of media children and youth consume, and the messages media sells. Students learn to identify, explore, understand, critique and articulate the ways in which media shapes children’s understanding and attitudes towards their gender and sexuality development. Through a variety of classroom experiences, students explore how Disney and superhero movies and marketing sell narrow images of femininity and masculinity. At the end of the course, students create a media product used to educate others about media literacy, as an invitation to take action against passive consumption of media products, and falling in the trap of marketing.
	US 250 Exploring Art in Philadelphia Exploring Art in Philadelphia is a class that utilizes integrative learning to investigate the variety of artistic venues available in Philadelphia and surrounding region. This sophomore level seminar course meets twice a week: once a week on the Arcadia Glenside campus and once a week at the scheduled arts venue in the Philadelphia/ Glenside area. The meetings on campus introduce, explore and investigate the organizing principles governing Art and Design, explore content and concept in contemporary art and practice that students will experience at venues off campus. Student presentations and focused art projects will illustrate specific ideas we will see in class. Exploring Art in Philadelphia serves as a way for students to connect what they are learning in the classroom to the variety of venues and experiences in the cultural artistic landscape around them. The course offers a working definition, through varied examples, of the artistic zeitgeist in the Philadelphia region.
	US 251 The Hero Culture: A Quest for Truth The main purpose of this course is to provide each student with an opportunity to develop their own answers to the question, “What makes a person extraordinary?” Students will begin the course by examining established “heroes”, both real and imaginary, and compiling a list of the traits they possess and actions that they perform that the students deem worthy of the word “heroic.” Students will then be presented with lesser-known real-life individuals and fictional characters, those they normally might not connect with the word “hero”, and asked to examine them as potential repositories of excellence. They will be called on to ask themselves: What elements of this person or character are constructive or even potentially destructive to our ideas of self and the society we live in? What can I learn from their behavior? What of them do I see in myself, and what qualities do I value more than others? What does the word “heroic” really mean – to others and to me? Should I reexamine, change or expand my personal definition of heroism? How can I become more heroic in my daily life? By pursuing their individual responses, students will move away from traditionally accepted views of the “heroic” to formulate a more personalized vision of greatness. By making inter-connections with fundamental sociological issues, students will be encouraged to integrate their heroic visions into their own philosophies of human existence.
	US 253 Science Fiction and Social Reality This University Seminar will explore a few, select portions of the genre of contemporary science fiction focusing on several key themes that address the world outside the classroom primarily by reading several novels, and watching and discussing television and movie videos. We will examine how science fiction - at once entertaining, inspiring, serious, instructive, and funny - reflects and shapes our current and future culture, beliefs, behavior and selves. Students will read and watch texts in thematic units to gain an understanding of how science fiction frames questions about social issues and change. Students will also do research on a contemporary social issue and have a chance to create and present their own work of science and speculative fiction that addresses how they would like to reflect and/or shape the conversation and the world of their own future with regards to that social issue.
	US 254 Coming Out: Claiming Our True Identities This University Seminar uses the intellectual practice of Visual Literacy to explore the idea of coming out; what it has meant historically and what it means in society today as it is applied to undocumented workers, the illiterate, addicts, LGBTQ people, and others. Through the use of pictures, videos, personal and professional artwork, and texts, coming out is pondered from many directions in multiple social and political contexts.
	US 255 Grand Constructions; Stonehenge to Skyscrapers This seminar will chronologically examine the development of architecture within the context of the social, cultural and religious influences that shaped its form and function. Beginning with the early examples of the Druids and Egyptians, with their monolithic and circle structures, to medieval castle fortifications to present day skyscrapers - art and architecture are meant to evoke an emotional response in the viewer and to reflect the importance of specific societal unification. By looking back through the lens of history we can begin to make comparisons between ancient architecture and its relevance to modern architecture. We can trace the transformation of architecture from public space to private space and how even the concept of space has changed. The rise and fall of empires, war, famine, and advances in technology are all reflected in the architecture of a civilization. What does architecture say about us as a society and what, if any, are its limits?
	US 256 Lying Maps (& Other Spatial Fictions) This is a geohumanities course in learning how to see hidden realities in the everyday world, and in learning to identify the values that are buried beneath seemingly ordinary surface of our daily lives. Specifically, we will be making an interdisciplinary investigation into how the spatio-visual world is understood in the fields of cultural geography, art history, urban studies, and cartography. Our starting premise will be that if you stand on a hilltop and survey the environment as it spreads out in front of you, what you see is emphatically not what you get. To unpack this conundrum we will explore landscapes, cityscapes, and maps while asking questions like: what does it mean to decode a landscape? How can you “read” a cityscape as you walk down the street? What can we learn about a culture’s values by examining its built form? How is examining built forms different from interpreting or reading a map? How do maps and other visual representations actually help re-shape the physical world, rather than just report on what already exists? In what ways do maps lie? What contradictions exist between how places are represented and what they actually are?
	US 257 Chinese Film: A Window on China This course uses film to introduce students to China’s rich culture, values, and history. We consider the question of whether there is a uniquely Chinese style of filmmaking and how that might differ in style, aesthetic, and financing from the Hollywood model. Class time is spent watching recent films from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as discussing the relevance of the themes raised in these films both for Chinese and American audiences.
	US 258 African American Religious History: From Slavery-Free This course surveys the religious history of African American slaves. The course examines the origins of Black religion in America, the aspects of African religion that were retained by the slaves, how African slaves were evangelized and converted to Christianity, the nature of the Christianity to which the slaves were converted and what was distinctive about religion in the slave quarters. The course will build your writing, analytical and research skills through completion of writing assignments, online discussions, readings, study of the Library of Congress’ narratives of former slaves and a research paper.
	US 259 Japanese Cinema and Anime (4 credits) This course seeks to provide a board introduction to Japanese Cinema Studies, examining the social and historical context of various film movements throughout Japan’s unique century plus history of work within the film medium. This course will approach the history of Modern Japan from a film historic perspective, examining the greater societal context that allowed film movements such as ‘Daikaiju’ (giant monster), Anime, satirical ‘splatter films’, and politically motivated softcore pornography to thrive in the Japanese market.
	US 260 Eco-Cinema and Climate Change The coming century brings grave uncertainty about our lives on the planet. Climate change may after our ways of life; our relationship to each other, and our collective future. This course examines the process of climate change in documentary films, fiction films, and reports issued by various government and agencies around the world. We will chart the end of the Anthropocene- man-made-climate through these sources to assess how we are representing the most crucial global issue of the moment. Documentary films include: Darwin’s Nightmare (2004), An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Up the Yangtze (2007), Gasland (2010), Chasing Ice (2012), Before the Flood (2016), An Incovenient Sequal-Truth to Power (2017), and The Age of Consequences (2017). Fiction films: The Day After Tomorrow (2004), The Last Winter (2006), Wall-E (2008), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Downsizing (2017), and Geostorm (2017). We will examine scientific reports on impact of climate change on water availability and purity, air and pollution, radiation, mobility, etc. Assignments include weekly class participation, evaluations of films, a research project on a specific aspect of climate change and visual project/statement representing the urgency of climate change.
	US 261 Representations of the Holocaust This course will examine perceptions of the Holocaust, the systematic state-sponsored persecution of Jews, Gypsies, gays, communists, and people with disabilities by the Nazi Regime and its collaborators. We will analyze the international implications, repercussions, and genocide. Topics discussed will include the significance of the Holocaust, the political and historical events preceding it, philosophical debates about good and evil, theories of violence and authority, memory and survival, gender and holocaust representation, and the concept of a willing perpetrator. Readings will include various accounts of the Holocaust, both fictional and autobiographical and we will study their effects on the reader. We will also examine visual culture and the Holocaust such as photos, movies, and comics and how popular culture shapes public memory. Prerequisite: EN 101 Note: US261 can count toward the minor in German.
	US 262 Sex, Sin & Kin: The Genesis, Evolution and Future of Gender The ways in which whole sets of ideologies and practices function to define, direct and limit gender and gendered activities differ markedly according to time, place and culture. The purpose of this course is to explore key issues and debates in the history of women and men, in cross-cultural perspective, within the framework of the relationship between gender and change. The main focus of the course is the gendered experiences of women in the modern world, specifically the West, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Far East, with selected references to historical antecedents in the pre-modern world. Students examine the variety of ways in which women have reflected upon and reacted to the gendered conditions of their lives. We explore representations and self-representations of women within and external to specific cultures. This includes understanding how the categorization as male and female determines so many aspects of individual lives and personal power, the power of groups, and the larger systems of power they confront. The course also raises the question of the future direction of gender, social responsibility and change. Assignments consist of readings in anthropology, history, gender theory, literature, and memoirs. We explore thematic topics through primary and secondary sources. Writing assignments include journaling, reflective essays, the generation of an interview protocol and an oral history project. Students also analyze film, art and communication media and possibly a theatre production. Students are assessed on individual and team based research and reflection, culminating in the creation of a collective oral history and film project. Note: US 262 can count toward the History and International Studies majors and minors.
	US 263 Postcolonialism on Screen This course is primarily interested in how colonial and postcolonial subjects and identities have been constructed, negotiated, contested, and resisted. Thus, a fundamental question asked here is: How has the colonial experience restructured thinking about race, culture, class, economy, politics, and sexuality? To explore these key issues and questions, this course will examine how films have represented different themes in postcolonial studies. Students will read key texts in postcolonial studies and then attempt to understand how issues raised in these texts are represented in film. Note: US 263 can count toward the International Studies major and minor.
	US 264 Humor in Black & White: Multicultural Responses to Social Issues A pie in the face makes everyone laugh. But if a joke is racist, sexist or homophobic, is it still funny? How far is too far in humor, and how much does that standard depend on your place in society? Humor isn’t just black & white, it’s all shades in between, and in the class we will laugh a lot as we explore how people of all backgrounds use humor to discuss social problems, taboos, and complications. We will study humor and comedy from Ben Franklin to Kevin Hart through various genres including literature, cinema, live stand-up performances, and web-based media. Students will be asked to research both the social issue and the humorous response through historical, psychological, and cultural lenses. Topics will include sexism, classism, substance abuse, gender identification, physical disabilities, international relations and homophobia.
	US 265 Jewish Humor This course is taught from a historical perspective from the shtetls of Eastern Europe, to Jewish life in the U.S. between 1880 and 1924, to the Catskills of the 1940s (known as the Borscht Belt Comics), Lenny Bruce in the 1950s, Woody Allen and Jackie Mason in the 1960s and 70s, and including contemporary Jewish humorists such as Joan Rivers, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Adam Sandler, Sacha Baron Cohen, Chelsea Handler, and Sarah Silverman. We will analyze Jewish humor and its origins as a defense against suffering and persecution. We will watch films such as “Annie Hall,” and “Borat” as well as clips of Seinfeld episodes and stand-up comedians and analyzing the humor from a visual perspective such as the use of props, shticks etc. We will examine Jewish humor, which originally started as a response to oppression, hardship, and terror and what happens when that oppression disappears. Focus is on importance of comedy in Jewish culture and in the immigration and assimilation of Jewish people.
	US 266 Understanding the Age of Genocide This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study and understanding of genocide from several theoretical foundations and perspectives, including political science, international law, peace and conflict resolution, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and history. The course will harness different perspectives on the formation of genocide in modern and historical settings, while highlighting the potential avenues for preventing future genocidal acts. Subjects covered will include the underpinnings of the concept of crimes against humanity, the psychology of group violence, historical revisionism, transitional justice, reconstruction, reconciliation, trauma healing, the responsibility to protect and humanitarian intervention, and conflict prevention and resolution. These main themes will be highlighted through numerous genocide case studies from each continent, as well as exploring lesser known or contested historical cases. The course will also feature guest lectures from genocide survivors, opportunities for research and reflection, and a simulation on humanitarian intervention in a contemporary genocide case. Note: US 266 can count toward the International Studies major and minor.
	US 267 Evil and its Controversies The traditional problem of evil is how the existence of evil can be compatible with the belief in an all-good, all-powerful God. Modern approaches focus instead on describing and explaining evil. Do monsters exist? If so, what explains them? Psychosis, brain disorders, or something else. How is it that ordinary people can turn to evil when their situation encourages it? Texts will include philosophical, theological, psychology, anthropological, neurological, literary fiction, and films, both documentary and fictional.
	US 268 Utopia/Dystopia In this course students examine the development of utopian thought from several disciplinary angles-philosophical, political, literary, religious, and architectural. In doing so students will also explore the myriad ways in which utopian longings have manifested themselves, from philosophical treatises and novels, to experimental living on communes and urban planning. As students examine a number of different utopian ideas-ranging from Plato’s Republic to the modern development of Disney’s private town, Celebration-they will ask the following questions: what motivates people to try to construct a perfect world? Whose definition of utopia is used to construct these alternate societies? Can one person’s utopia be another person’s dystopia? What do utopian and dystopian expressions tell us about a society’s values? In pursuit of answers to these questions students will write short critical responses to weekly readings, compose two formal papers, and work collaboratively with a group to develop the contours of an original utopian community.
	US 269 Steampunk Difference Engines This course examines the multifaceted genre/subculture that is ‘Steampunk.’ From its literary roots in the Sf/Fantasy genre, to its current expressions in aesthetics, literature, fashion and artwork, the class will seek to understand what the term means, what work it encompasses, and what issues it seeks to address. Most visibly characterized by its romanticizing of the Victorian era, its fashions, it manners, and its technologies. Steampunk also grapples with historic tensions, and tries to address the inequalities that resulted from colonialism and the gender/sexual/social inequality of Victorian society. By examining critical essays, fiction, and created art, the course enables students to engage with these issues, and come to see how Steampunk’s reimagining of our past becomes an engine that allows us to explore how society accepts and grapples with difference, an issue that still troubles us to this day.
	US 270 First Amendment Abridged This class will focus on First Amendment rights. It is the foundation upon which we chose to build this country, and, yet, it is arguably the most debated and morphing of all rights. Why? We will look at precedent setting court cases that deal with First Amendment issues such as book banning, hate speech, obscenity, restriction during war time, etc. We will examine moments in time and the cultural climate that provides the rationale for our legal and moral attitudes about freedom of speech and expression and censorship. You will come to understand what you consider to be your guaranteed right to freedom of expression and when and how you are willing to have those rights abridged (if at all).
	US 271 Great Cases in International Law This course introduces students to international affairs through some major cases of international law, discussing their political and historical circumstances, the process and the outcome, with a conclusion on the impact on contemporary international affairs. Through the cases, the students examine some core principles of international law, including international human rights law, international criminal law, and the law of armed conflict, and discuss their parallel with rules of the domestic legal systems. The course also introduces students to the relevance of international law in domestic legal system and the complexity of issues of international affairs. The course offers an overview of the most unique, pervasive, and influential international law cases with, in some instances, a particular interest for the United States.
	US 272 Getting It Off Your Chest In this course, students will gain insight into researching, writing, and marketing Editorials and Op-Eds. We will discuss the importance of Editorial Page in newspapers. We will learn how to conceptualize, formulate, and write various forms of Editorials and Op-Eds. We will discuss the structure and functions of the newspaper editorial board. Students will be exposed to various research and writing techniques essential to Editorial writing and will be encouraged to market their Op-Eds to newspapers for publication.
	US 273 Visual Propaganda of Armed Conflict Armed conflicts have occurred in the historical record for thousands of years and the use of propaganda to support such endeavors has occurred nearly as long. While the development of new weapon technology and combat tactics has evolved over centuries, the use of propaganda has been present to justify the conflict, recruit participants, raise national awareness, or to present images of war to the population. Some of these images have become the most iconic of our time. From the early photography used during the U.S. Civil War, propaganda posters of the World Wars, the televised images of Vietnam, to the images of today, the use of propaganda in armed conflict has impacted the way individuals perceive armed conflicts around the globe. In this class, students will explore the complex dynamics of conflict with a focus on evaluating the impact of propaganda. Utilizing primary and secondary sources, the students will gather information on the strategic use of propaganda and examine its psychological, artistic, and nationalistic elements.
	US 275 Scientific Ethics This course examines the different types of ethical systems as the foundation for decision-making. Topics include consideration of contemporary value conflicts associated with the impact that science and technology have on society, such as stem cell technology, gene therapy, and drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Each topic is critically examined from the scientific, ethical and legal viewpoints. Assignments incorporate readings, discussions, position papers and debates.
	US 276 The Secret Symbols of Pop Culture This course provides an in-depth exploration of the way we are constantly manipulated in movies, television shows, art, and advertisements through the use of mystic and religious symbols, names, and even colors. In this seminar, students are given a survey of the following topics: heroes’ journeys, heroines’ journeys, alchemy, ring composition, morality plays, mythology, Christian symbolism, and the symbolism used by the Mormon, Buddhist, and Jewish traditions. The class combines lecture, and discussion of each topic. Students are tested each week with an example of pop culture that they must analyze, parsing out each piece of symbolism embedded in the work. The class is progressive and the pieces used in turn become more complex so that students may see multiple layers of symbolism. In addition, students keep a journal, collecting images associated with each week’s topic. At the end of the course, they use their knowledge to create an original work, layering multiple levels of symbolism into the work.
	US 277 Pop Psychology and Pseudoscience: What is Credible? This course will explore some of the most popular beliefs in psychology and science and arm students with the tools needed to evaluate claims to determine if enough evidence exists to support belief. For example, is going to bed angry really a bad thing? Can a positive attitude cure illnesses? Do repressed memories exist? We will also explore new age therapies, claims of ESP, alien abduction, and natural remedies for illnesses. Through reflections, writing assignments, and class discussion, we will explore the origins of these and other psychological and pseudoscientific beliefs, why they persist, and what is real.
	US 278 The Art of Peacebuilding Cross-cultural conflicts permeate social landscapes worldwide and peacebuilding initiatives have embraced creativity in attempt to bridge such conflicts. In this class, students explore the complex dynamics of conflict with a focus on evaluating the impact of the arts as a method of peacebuilding. Utilizing primary and secondary sources, the students analyze the strategic use of arts (music, visual art, dance, theater, and spoken word) as methods of promoting peace and conflict resolution in regions of political and social unrest.
	US 279 Environmental Science & Policy This seminar explores environmental pollution, its underlying sciences-toxicology, pollution chemistry, and environmental science- and the law and regulations governing pollution, looking to see the links between these two disciplines. Lectures, in-class exercises and a project (report and presentation) for groups of students will provide the students with an understanding of the current state of law and science on pollution.
	US 280 Exploring Entrepreneurship in the Arts This course explores the relationship between art making and entrepreneurship with an active focus on self-discovery. Using the seminar format, classes consist of group discussions, lectures, group projects, independent work (readings/videos/blogs), guest speakers, and field trips. The course relies on technology in the form of an online syllabus, iPads, and electronic versions of all readings/texts, link to theorists, artists, writers, galleries, business people, films, videos, case studies, and other online content; accounting and marketing software, e-commerce, social media platforms, etc. The use of current technology is meant to make course interaction relevant, immediate, and integrated with students’ experiences. The course is organized to include three units. “I models” includes a historical and visual survey of entrepreneurship in the arts, including visual, theoretical, and quantitative analyses of artist/entrepreneur case studies, guest speakers, online resources and videos. In “II: Creative Notions: Philosophies/Ethics/Commerce,” students address the questions and concepts raised in the process of blending art with commodity, contracts, copyright, intellectual property, etc. In “III: Practice: Business Planning for a Creative Enterprise,” students carry out a practical application of course concepts, using both visual and quantitative reasoning in their arts-entrepreneurial business plan development.
	US 281 Drawing Connections: The History and Practice of Drawing This seminar explores connections between the history and studio practice of drawing in the Western tradition. Students will examine the historical development of perspectival systems, nature drawing, the role of under drawings and sketches, changes in techniques and materials, and developments in paper conservation. They will then investigate these concepts more profoundly through the exploration of technique in the studio. Visits to drawing collections at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and National Gallery of Art will allow students to analyze relevant concepts in the work of draftsmen, such as Leonardo, Raphael, Rembrandt, and others. The course will begin with the development of drawing practice from the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries, and will continue to a discussion of modern works. As an integrated learning experience, the course structure will allow students the unique opportunity to gain practical experience in the historical techniques learned in lecture, giving them a broader perspective in the development of the discipline.
	US 282 Silence Our culture values sound, voice, music and noise. Unaware of our own senses in the midst of modern life, we have lost the meaning of silence. Silence is always defined in negative terms, as absence of sound, as a void and as a gap to be filled. We are not comfortable with silence. This course examines the philosophical meaning of silence across cultural and religious traditions. We will ask a number of questions: What is silence? How other cultures understand silence? What is the place of silence in Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam? Are paintings silent? Are images silent? Is there a place for silence in architecture? Can/Must we travel far away in search of silence? Is it possible to find/seek silence? How do we understand silence on its own terms? Did sound technology destroy silence? Is silence an environmental issue? Is Death an experience of silence? How did modernism change our understanding and experience of silence? Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or higher.
	US 283 Walking This course is about “learning to walk” in our thinking, in the spaces around us and in the two cities near us: Philadelphia and New York City. We will learn from Jean-Jacques Rousseau how to become advocates for walking for contemplation. We will follow Walter Benjamin’s path as flâneurs in the spaces around us. This course explores the philosophy and the politics of walking. In addition to essays, philosophical works, travelogues, maps of our living spaces, and films, we will reflect on one of the most urgent philosophical and political issues of our time. Exercises will include essays, group symposia, walking diaries, and examining the relationship between walking and representation in film.
	US 284 Arts Leadership and Management This seminar explores topics related to arts and culture leadership and management. Course content focuses on practical skills necessary for careers as professional artists, curators, administrators, and leaders of arts and culture organizations. This includes administrative principles, program development, practical applications, and trends in the current arts and cultural environment. Topics will also include: principles of nonprofit management and structures, concise business writing, grant writing, demographics research, fundraising, arts education, ethical practice in community-based arts programs, marketing, communications, and leadership styles. The course will include established and emerging arts leaders as key guest speakers.
	US 286 Myths, Metaphors, and Morals in the Whedonverse Joss Whedon, an American television and film screenwriter, director, and producer has become one of the most iconic and influential movers of pop culture. He is the creator of multiple cult shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Dollhouse and has been intimately involved in major film franchises including Toy Story, and The Avengers. Currently, Joss Whedon has more scholarly books and articles written about him and his artistic visions than any other living writer today. Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted as a TV series in 1997 and is to this day considered one of the most artistic, and metaphor-ridden shows to successfully document the teenage experience. How did the show reach this level of cultural importance and popularity? Can we understand its rise and appeal through deconstruction? In this course we’ll be studying Joss Whedon as a writer, artist, and director. We’ll explore the artistry behind his shows, attempt to understand the ways he drew on myth and created lasting images and storylines that feel timeless, as well as explore the underlying morals that seem to guide his storytelling choices. We’ll explore the psychology, mythology, philosophy, feminism, writing, and directorial choices of one of today’s most important story tellers.
	US 287 Short Story and Photography This course will examine that relationship through a close reading of several short stories (by Julio Cortázar, Italo Calvino, John Updike, Raymond Carver, Cynthia Ozick, William Faulkner, Bing Xin, Dorris Dörrie, E. Annie Proulx and others). We will proceed with the thesis that the relationship between short story and photography arises out of one of the fundamental paradoxes of photography: photographs are borne as “moments in time,” but their survival depends on the irresistible and inevitable stories they generate. With that in mind, the course will include exercises in writing short stories as responses to existing and new photographs.
	US 288 Psychology of Music This course examines central issues at the intersection of psychology and music. Students explore psychological and musical explanations of acoustics, perception, cognition, and memory; musical development and acquisition of expertise; communication of emotion and meaning; and the neuroscience of music. Together we also analyze musical examples from sociocultural and evolutionary psychology standpoints. Additionally, we will attend live musical performances and analyze these according to the course themes. Guided by the principles of psychology, students complete a capstone project involving a musical composition, performance, or analysis. Prerequisite: Students should have the ability to read music, or experience playing an instrument, or MU101.
	US 289 Beyond Standing Rock: Indigenous Cultures and Languages of the Americas This course examines perceptions of indigenous peoples in the Americas through multiple perspectives and cultural lenses, starting from the debated time of their initial arrival on the American continents, through the different times and places of European contact, and into the 21st century. While mainstream media represents Native Americans as a monolithic whole, we learn how there is no homogenous group of “Native Americans”. Rather, there are thousands of indigenous nations in North and South America, who speak thousands of languages, and we survey this vast and rich cultural and linguistic diversity. The course material provides overviews of major social, economic, and political issues concerning indigenous survival and cultural persistence, but focuses on how language revitalization and reclamation relate to self-determination, federal recognition, land claims, environmental and sacred sites protection, and casinos and economic development. We identify and interpret these issues in the cases of groups such as the Wampanoag/Wôpanâak, the Apache/Nde, the Sioux/Lakota, the Cherokee, and the Iroquois/Haudenosaunee. Students will have the opportunity to visit the American Philosophical Society to examine their Native American Collections. A strong emphasis is placed on dialogue, collaboration, and decolonization in our efforts to understand indigenous nations and question our own assumptions about other human beings.
	US 290 Science Fiction, Fantasy & the Environment This course explores the ecological vision of selected Fantasy and Science Fiction works (both literature and film). We investigate how the alternate views of the environment presented in works of fantastic fiction encourage us to rethink our assumptions regarding the human-made problems which affect our environment today. We also use these works to examine our personal relationship towards the environment and consider the duty we have, if any, to help preserve and protect the world around us. Can fantastic fiction spur real world action? We attempt to answer this question by reading excerpts from The Lord of the Rings, and works by Ursula K. Leguin, Paolo Bacigalupi, and Ray Bradbury, among others. We also watch several visual works, including the movie Soylent Green and Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke.
	US 291 Stocking Up for the End of Days This University Seminar examines the historical and cultural influences behind humanity’s fascination with the end of the world through the analysis of Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic narratives of the 19th to 21st centuries. The narratives in this Cultural Legacies course, which include fiction, graphic novel, and films, will shed light on the cultural and historical factors that result in this phenomenon. Students will work with these texts and scholarly articles to compose papers which compare and contrast the social and psychological factors that contribute to this genre across different time periods and cultures. Students will also write to discover, presenting and defending a hypothesis about humanities fascination with this topic.
	US 292 Sociology of the Simpsons Using The Simpsons television show as a road map, this course will explore several social themes across American culture as they are portrayed in broadcast media, emphasizing and improving students’ own sociological imagination. The Simpsons is America’s longest running sitcom, and has provided countless hours of entertainment while making community issues relevant and relatable. In this course we will examine many different social themes through the eyes and lives of the main characters and the universe that they occupy. Our emphasis will be on how wide the spectrum of social issues The Simpsons encroaches upon, as well as how broadcast media uses vehicles like The Simpsons to discuss social issues and concerns affecting American society. Through assignments and readings, students will gain a deeper understanding and hopefully a new outlook on how social issues can be discussed openly and through the media. Students will employ their sociological imagination when they create a script for an episode of The Simpsons that involves a social concern, as well as an opportunity to explore a social topic and its impact in broadcast media in more depth through several research assignments.
	US 293 Untapped: Exploring the Socio-Cultural and Scientific World of Beer This course introduces students to the world of beer, by exploring the cultural, historical, social, and political dimensions of this beverage as well as the science and technology that is used in the brewing process. Students will trace the historical legacy of beer to several ancient empires (i.e. Mesopotamia, Aztec, Egypt, and China), and also evaluate the contemporary state of beer in the United States. In addition to the cultural and historical coverage, students will also examine the brewing process by creating their own home brew, which will be evaluated by faculty/staff. Lastly, students will visit a local craft brewery, and will be responsible to visit another local brewery. There is a $10-dollar fee associated with this course to be used to obtain brewing supplies.
	US 294 Fashion, Italian Style Why do we immediately associate Italy with style and fashion? The course traces the origins of ideas of personal style and social grace in the courts of the Italian Renaissance and their transformation through modern history. Italy provides a perfect case study to observe the evolution of fashion from traditional handcrafting to one of main national industries, leading to the establishment of Made in Italy as a global brand, both in clothing and in industrial design. Special attention is paid to fashion advertising images, and how they reflect or problematize dominant notions of gender and nationality. An additional focus is on Italian cinema, both as it portrays the fashion industry and as it uses fashion in costume design and set decoration. Films will be screened with English subtitles, class discussion all readings are in English; no knowledge of Italian required.
	US 295 European Cinema: Politics, Melodrama, Entertainment The class will focus on recent European cinema, in particular how popular genres (melodrama, comedy, etc.) reflect on the socio-political struggles of contemporary Europe. We will consider productions from several European countries (France, Italy, Germany, Spain, UK, etc.) to examine how such films comment on social reality in confronting issues that are challenging public opinion in Europe and around the world. We will examine how these films appeal to the audience’s emotional response, whether that is tears, laughter, anger, or fear. Social issues to be examined will include especially immigration and racism, economic crisis, class differences, and sexuality and gender expectations.
	US 296 Culture of Cuisine: The co-evolution of food and pottery This course investigates how food and pottery arise in tandem in response to similar social opportunities and available natural resources. We study the history of cuisine from how the advent of agriculture led to the creation of vessels made of clay to an exploration of the modern diversity of cuisines throughout the globe. Students make work in ceramics and food informed by a personal narrative that considers history, heritage, and individual perspectives through the expression of their own identity in the creation of vessels and meals. The class will culminate in a collaborative feast conceived of and executed by students.
	US 297 Bruce Springsteen and the American Dream This course centers on the career of Bruce Springsteen and the manner in which his experiences and creative works mirror and reflect the American working-class experience, social events, economic environments and American culture in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In this course, students will analyze the lyrics of Springsteen’s many songs to garner an understanding of how he uses words, metaphors and analogies to communicate both hope (escape/future success is ever possible), and despair (a failed promise and its sour residue) for those who believe in the American Dream.
	US 298 Kitchen Chemistry This is a science course for the non-science major student. This hands-on course will tangibly show how scientific principles are used every day. Everyone eats food, and most people are interested in knowing some cooking techniques. A household kitchen is full of applied science. Most of the topics in this course are in the chemistry discipline, but many of the topics cross over into biology and genetics, as well as material science and physics. Portions of the course will focus on how humans perceive taste, where food comes from, and how food is digested, The three types of macro-nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins; will be described and characterized. Other portions of the course will investigate the physics and chemistry of cooking; such as, the transfer of heat from burner to pot to water; and taking advantage of the physical property of freezing point depression to make ice cream. Many of the investigations are done in class time, but some of the investigations are to be done by students at home (or in the dorm kitchen), such as observing the effect of different types of pans on the texture of brownies. In several of the food experiments, data will be compiled from all students then be averaged, graphed and/or calculated to show a specific quantitative relationship, such as measuring the distance between hot spots in a microwave oven and then using that data to calculate the speed of light.
	US 299 World War I: History, Literature and Film A century ago the Great War was raging. No one knew the death and destruction that would take place and certainly no one anticipated a sequel. Many current global trends and events can trace their origins to World War One. This seminar investigates the historical analysis, the films and the literature of this war from contemporaries to the present. In recent years a renewed interest has produced new documentaries with a different emphasis than fifty years ago. Students will read classic literature from the period including Henri Barbusse’s Under Fire and analyze films from All Quiet on the Western Front to War Horse. Students will learn how the portrayal of the horrors of the First World War has evolved this past century.
	US 333 Rites of Passage This course explores maturity and learning about life, with a particular focus on wisdom and how we can be guided by it. Topics explored are: attitudes, expectations, identity, maturity, virtue and the search for meaning, purpose, love, friendship, and direction. The focus is on each main character’s rite of passage and the challenges that come at particular age junctures. Authors include Jane Austen, James Baldwin, Ian McEwan, Arthur Miller, Per Petterson, and Oscar Wilde. Wisdom texts include: the Daodejing, The Holy Bible, and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Note: US 333 can count toward the Religion minor.

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Course Descriptions

TH 330 Directing

TH 341 Acting in Modern Theater

TH 343 Commedia del’ Arte

TH 344 Acting Shakespeare

TH 345 Acting in Film and TV

TH 349 Advance Scene Study

TH 350 Playwriting

TH 360 Audition Techniques

TH 361 Seminar: Modern Drama

TH 365 Theater for Young Audiences

TH 370 Career Internship in Theater Arts

TH 389 Independent Study

TH 392 Musical Theater Scene Study

TH 392 Musical Theater Scene Study

TH 393 Special Studies in Theater Arts

TH 490 Advanced Workshop in Theater

US 200 The Science of the Paranormal

US 201 A Terrible Beauty: Ireland in the 20th Century

US 203 Songwriting: A Blend of Poetry and Music

US 204 Buddhism and the Beats: Dharma Bums, Zen Lunatics and Crazy Wisdom

US 205 Philadelphia Then & Now

US 208 Great Trials in History

US 209 Social Action and Social Change

US 211 From Hippies to Hipsters: The Legacies of Counter Culture

US 214 Evolution: Conflicts from Darwin to Intelligent Design

US 215 Truth and Beauty: Mathematics in Literature

US 216 Social and Ethical Issues in Sports

US 220 Education Stories: Films about Schools and What They Teach Us

US 221 We Inquire We Design

US 222 Everything & Nothing: Visualizing Math, Philosophy & Culture

US 223 From Gothic England to American Horror: Alfred Hitchcock’s Film

US 225 Outcasts, Rebels and Other Normal People

US 226 Shakespeare on Stage, Page and Screen in 21st Century

US 228 Science in Visual Arts

US 229 3-Dimentional Programming and Storytelling with Alice

US 230 International Computer Ethics

US 233 Copy!-Right? Creativity and Copyright

US 234 Representations of the Spanish Civil War

US 235 Born Digital: Voice of the Net Generation

US 236 Christian, Jewish and Muslim Spain: From Eden to Exile

US 237 The Impacts of Music, Film & Digital Media on Social Movements

US 238 Rethinking Children’s Animated Films

US 239 Why Poetry Persists

US 241 Invisible Women: An Exploration of Female Entrepreneurship

US 242 Place, Space and the Global World: Exploring Immigrants and Identity

US 244 Ear Cleaning: Form, Pattern, Experience

US 245 Music & Story Telling

US 246 Investigating Fusion Forms in Performing Arts

US 248 Flying Solo: The Art of Solo Performance

US 249 Princesses and Super Heroes: How Media Shape Children’s Gender and Sexuality

US 250 Exploring Art in Philadelphia

US 251 The Hero Culture: A Quest for Truth

US 253 Science Fiction and Social Reality

US 254 Coming Out: Claiming Our True Identities

US 255 Grand Constructions; Stonehenge to Skyscrapers

US 256 Lying Maps (& Other Spatial Fictions)

US 257 Chinese Film: A Window on China

US 258 African American Religious History: From Slavery-Free

US 259 Japanese Cinema and Anime

US 260 Eco-Cinema and Climate Change

US 261 Representations of the Holocaust

US 262 Sex, Sin & Kin: The Genesis, Evolution and Future of Gender

US 263 Postcolonialism on Screen

US 264 Humor in Black & White: Multicultural Responses to Social Issues

US 265 Jewish Humor

US 266 Understanding the Age of Genocide

US 267 Evil and its Controversies

US 268 Utopia/Dystopia

US 269 Steampunk Difference Engines

US 270 First Amendment Abridged

US 271 Great Cases in International Law

US 272 Getting It Off Your Chest

US 273 Visual Propaganda of Armed Conflict

US 275 Scientific Ethics

US 276 The Secret Symbols of Pop Culture

US 277 Pop Psychology and Pseudoscience: What is Credible?

US 278 The Art of Peacebuilding

US 279 Environmental Science & Policy

US 280 Exploring Entrepreneurship in the Arts