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2017-18 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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Spanish |
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SP 389 Independent Study: Spanish
(2 to 4 credits)
In-depth study of an author, movement, genre, or a theme such as advanced grammar.
Prerequisite: Senior standing with 30 credits already approved, a minimum GPA of 3.0, consent from a faculty to direct the course, and authorization from the chair.
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SP 490 Senior Thesis
This is a Capstone project for senior Spanish majors, exploring cultural issues in the Hispanic World, both inside and outside of the United States. Seminar format, culminates in a project consisting of 20-25 pages written in Spanish and a public presentation. The course develops along one year (Fall, 4 credits; Spring, 2 credits) and the theme must be approved by the instructor.
Prerequisite: All previous major courses requirements completed, and Senior Standing.
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SP 491 Senior Thesis II
(2 credits)
This is a second semester course culminating in the conclusion of your thesis and final capstone presentation.
Prerequisite: SP 490
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Sport Management |
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SPM 261 Introduction to Sports Management
The course provides and overview of the field of sport management. The focus of this course is to cover basic fundamental knowledge and skill sets of sport manager, as well as to provide information on sport industry segments (i.e., professional, collegiate, non-traditional, and youth and community sport) for potential job emplyment and career choices.
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SPM 267 Event Management
This course addresses the management skills necessary to plan, implement, and evaluate sport or recreation events. There are theory and practice components in this course.
Prerequisite: SPM 261
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SPM 270 Practicum I
2 credits
Students will undertake a 5-10 week (minimum of 40 hours total), part-time supervised entry-level experience. This course provides observation of higher level management operation and participation in day-to-day duties in a selected sport organization. The work site needs to be approved by the course instructor. The focus on quality learning experience and partnership with the business community are main components of the practicum program and combine to provide distinct and meaningful educational opportunities for students. Before registering this course, students must consult with the course instructor to discuss about securing a practicum position.
Prerequisite: SPM 261 . Before registering for this course, students must consult with the course instructor to discuss securing a practicum poistion.
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SPM 330 Sport Law/Ethics
This course is to provide students with an examination of the legal environment in which professional and amateur sports presently operate. Focus is placed on contract law, labor law, constitutional law and antitrust law. In addition, this course includes an examination of selected ethical and moral issues current in the conduct of American sport such as the ethics of competition, equality, and excellence, and the place of athletics in education.
Prerequisite: SPM 261
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SPM 331 Sport Economics
This course is designed to provide a better understanding of economic theories along with knowing the conditions of scarcity and human interactions in the sport industry.
Prerequisite: SPM 261
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SPM 361 Leadership and Management in Sport
This course provides students with an applied knowledge of the general concepts of leadership and human resources within a sport management context. Student will develop their abilities to synthesize and integrate human resource management and organizational behavior, particularly from a leadership perspective, with sport management practices.
Prerequisite: SPM 261
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SPM 370 Practicum II
2 credits
This is a upper level field experience course that allows students to practice and demonstrate their developing skills and competencies in their chosen career (e.g., college athletics, pro sports). Students undertake a 5-10 week (minimum of 40 hours total). This course provides observation of higher level management operation and participation in day-to-day duties in a selected sport organization. The focus on quality learning experience and partnership with the business community are main components of the practicum program and combine to provide distinct and meaningful educational opportunities for students.
Prerequisite: SPM 261 and SPM 270 . Before registering this course, students must consult with the course instructor to discuss about securing a practicum position
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SPM 380 Sport Budgeting and Finance
This course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the budgeting and finance principles used in sport organizations. Focus is placed on financial budget analysis as well as revenue enhancement and expense control for sport organizations. In addition, students are exposed to economic impact analysis, public subsides, broadcast rights, player costs, sponsorship, and sport facilities.
Prerequisite: BA 201 , SPM 261 , junior standing or with instructor’s permission.
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SPM 381 Consumer Behavior in Sport
This course is based on theories developed in psychology and marketing and builds a bridge to sport consumer behavior. A common thread in this course is to provide a better understanding of how individuals make decisions and judgments in spectator sport consumption setting. To this end, various theoretical frameworks and practical implications relevant to sport consumer behavior are examined.
Prerequisite: SPM 261
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SPM 470 Internship
The internship course is considered to be one of the most critical components of the Sport Management Major. Students will undertake a 10-15 week (minimum of 80 hours total), full-time supervised internship. This course is expected to enhance the students’ academic experiences via a required industry analysis, weekly logs and a portfolio, and provide networking opportunities and additional field experience. Before registering this course, students must consult with the course instructor to discuss about securing an internship position.
Prerequisite: SPM 261 , SPM 270 , & SPM 370
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Theater Arts |
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TH 101 The Actor’s Instrument
(3 credits)
The focus of the work is on relaxation, alignment, breathing, the development of free resonance flow, and good articulation of vowels and consonants.
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TH 102 Voice and Speech II
(2 credits)
Actors are introduced to the progression of voice exercises in Kristin Linklater’s “Freeing the Natural Voice.” The focus of the class is on developing techniques that foster the connection between the acting impulse and the voice.
Prerequisite: TH 102.
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TH 131 Theater Dares You
This course for non-majors deepens students’ engagement with this communal art form. The perspective from which we set out to survey the theater is that of an audience member. Informed and literate audience members are crucial to theater; without an audience there is no performance. We start by demonstrating why this particular art form is/ has been ubiquitous not only globally today, but down through the annals of time, as well. The students are introduced to the cluster of different artists typically employed when a show is being created: writers, designers, directors, casting, actors, etc. A broad survey of genres and styles of plays is presented. Aside from seeing and thoroughly assessing five to seven LIVE productions during the course of the semester, class projects are designed for students to explore theatrical possibilities for telling their own stories.
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TH 140 Fundamentals of Acting
Students work on basic acting skills such as developing the ability to produce free, imaginative, and purposeful behavior in relation to environments, objects, and other persons; individual silent exercises; and group exercises. This work leads to in-class performances of selected scenes from a variety of American contemporary plays with special focus given to the sensory requirements in the text.
No previous experience is required.
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TH 141 Role Play and Improvisation
In exploring the dimensions of theatrical self-expression, this course employs lecture, discussion and classroom activities to raise issues that stretch self-awareness through dramatic interaction involving imagination and creativity. Through theater games and dramatic situations, students learn a variety of performance skills and find themselves exploring their own creative and artistic possibilities.
No previous experience required.
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TH 150 Improvisation
Work on improvisation is central to the formation of an actor; it is a kind of research—a way of working through which the actor’s experiences pass to nourish their imagination. Without the help of a playwright or director, the actor creates and presents a full dramatic life. Improvisation develops the faculties of invention, imagination and concentration and at the same time gives the actor a sense of freedom.
Studio course with lab requirement.
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TH 159 Applied Voice for Musical Theater
(1 credit)
This course is an intensive study of the voice in the private studio. The teacher works with the student to improve vocal technique, to learn new vocal literature, to enlarge knowledge of diction and develop basic language skills, and to pursue other activities designed to better the voice for the musical theater actor. This course involves a 45 minute private lesson once per week at a time scheduled between the applied instructor and the student, a one-hour studio class once per month and public performances twice a semester in recital/cabaret format.
Prerequisite: Acceptance into the Musical Theater concentration (within the BFA degree in Acting; by audition only) or express permission of the instructor is required.
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TH 165 Method Acting
Long after the impact of Brecht, Artaud, Grotowski, Lecoq and Peter Brook, the art and practice of acting is still turning on the revelations and teachings of Constantine Stanislavsky. If the Stanislavsky “system” or “method” is applied literally, it leads merely to realism, but applied systematically with discrimination it can become the grammar of all styles. While based on the teachings of Stanislavsky, this course includes insights by other famous acting teachers such as Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, Lee Strasberg, Michael Chekhov and Stella Adler. This is an initial acting course with a focus on the practical and playable aspects of the “system’s” training, providing the actor with a resource to operate completely on his or her own in any and all production situations.
Studio course with lab requirement.
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TH 191 Stage Practicum and Crew I
(0 credits)
This course includes scene construction, rigging, costume construction, drafting and stage lighting. It examines theater architecture and elements of scene, costume and lighting production. All students in the first year of the program are assigned on a rotating basis throughout the year to various crews that build and run the shows in the Theater performing series.
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TH 192 Stage Practicum and Crew II
(0 credits)
This course includes scene construction, rigging, costume construction, drafting and stage lighting. It examines theater architecture and elements of scene, costume and lighting production. All students in the first year of the program are assigned on a rotating basis throughout the year to various crews that build and run the shows in the Theater performing series.
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TH 199 Theater History
This course is a study of the development of the physical theater and concurrent developments in dramatic literature and musical theater. It surveys styles in acting, directing, dramatic criticism and production from historical, analytical and performance perspectives. It requires individual and group projects. Attendance at theater productions is included when possible.
No previous experience required.
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TH 200 Movement Training for Comfort, Power & Grace
(2 credits)
The course gives students a reliable way to feel better in their bodies. The course provides an understanding of how bodies function and gives each student insight into his or her personal habits outside this design that create tension in the body. Students learn to move more freely and gain new understanding of their aches and pains. Students come away with a working knowledge of the musculoskeletal system and how to cultivate true core support and to balance functioning of all muscle groups. We review the newest research in back pain and neuroplasticity, study the respiratory system and breathing patterns, and study how perception contributes to our bodily feeling and use patterns. The class is catered to anyone with an interest in feeling better and moving with increased ease and coordination. Assignments include exercises around public speaking, working at the computer, and lifting challenging objects (including an evening in the weight room). Students gain increased powers of self-observation, impulse control and improved coordination.
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TH 201 Script Analysis
There’s no other way to say it: Reading plays is difficult. To read a play in print is to encounter a work of art in unfinished and incomplete form. Visual artistry, physical presence and live audience dynamics are reduced to flat, static words on a page. In this course, students explore and practice with various techniques for reading and analyzing scripts: techniques designed to help theater artists discover more fully the dynamic potential of theatrical texts as blueprints for live performance. Students work with several techniques for analyzing play texts, explore conventional play genre labels (tragedy, comedy and tragicomedy), and examine the ideas of key theorists in Western theater history (Aristotle, and Brecht), to discover different perspectives from which plays may be read and evaluated critically. Class discussions, online discussions and writing assignments provide opportunities to develop and refine the critical/analytical skills addressed in course readings.
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TH 203 Voice and Speech III
(2 credits)
Actors explore second half of the Linklater voice progression. The focus is on developing each actor’s full vocal range. In addition to the voice exercises, students work on a variety of texts chosen to support their growing acquisition/skills.
Prerequisite: TH 102 .
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TH 204 Voice and Speech IV
(2 credits)
The focus is on speech. Clarity of articulation and effective use of vowels is developed by learning the International Phonetics Alphabet.
Prerequisite: TH 203 .
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TH 210 Yoga
(2 credits)
This course introduces study in the Indian exercises of relaxation and energy focusing. No previous experience necessary. May be repeated once for credit.
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TH 211 Stage Makeup
(2 credits)
This course seeks to illuminate the actor’s quest for character through a concise, easily understood exploration of the connection between makeup and character, emphasizing the total visual impact of the character on the audience and discussing in depth the contribution of props and costume to the overall effect. The course is intended to help performers. Students bridge the gap between understanding a role and expressing that understanding in tangible form. (Theater Acting majors only.)
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TH 212A Advanced Yoga
(2 credits)
This course is suitable for students who have a basic understanding of yoga and want to deepen their practice through exploration of intermediate yoga postures and techniques that promote mental clarity, relaxation, and total well being. An emphasis will be placed on the chakra system, the subtle energy centers in the body.
Prerequisite: TH 210 or previous yoga experience (approved by instructor).
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TH 220 Special Topics in Stagecraft
(3 credits)
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TH 221 Dance and Choreography
(3 credits)
Movement is inherently dramatic. Explore the wide range of movement that exists within our bodies and the world around us. This is a studio course that explores the elements of dance making and the craft of choreography through the manipulation of time, space and energy. The movement material explored is pedestrian movement and stylized dance. Each student works within his or her own technical skill level to uncover the endless possibilities of movement within the human body and the vast opportunities for communication of the human experience. No previous experience necessary.
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TH 222 Stage Combat I
(3 credits)
Starting with the basics of hand-to-hand combat, or weaponless fighting, the students are introduced to the idea of personal safety, how to be safe and remain safe onstage, including all the fundamental moves every actor needs to get by in this business. Students then study and practice the art of the sword and learn the techniques that keep the actor safe long after training is over. Coursework includes training in unarmed and single sword. No previous experience required.
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TH 223 Stage Combat II
(2 credits)
Picking up from basic stage combat, the student is drilled in the sword and works toward its perfection. An emphasis on fencing with the foil epee and saber becomes part of the student’s regimen to teach better coordination and focus, as well as the practical applications thereof. The latter part of the class is dedicated to the quarterstaff and its use. Students explore the weapon through exercises and choreography. Basic certification with Fight Directors Canada is possible upon completion of training.
Prerequisite: TH 222 .
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TH 224 Stage Combat III
(2 credits)
Rapier and Dagger: The traditional weapons of Shakespeare’s day; picking up from single sword technique, the additional weapon is added to the non-dominant hand, i.e. dagger. The student practices in this double fence style until he or she can use them with facility. Broadsword: The basics of this classic medieval weapon are taught in much the same way as the rapier. Starting with the rudimentary footwork and guards of the weapon, the cut and parries are taught and drilled. The students explore the use of the broadsword through choreography and styles taught. Basic certification with the Society of American Fight Directors is possible upon completion of training.
Prerequisite: TH 223 .
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TH 228 Dance Techniques for Musical Theater
(3 credits)
This beginning level dance technique class focuses on styles and performance elements of dance for musical theater. Through warm-up exercises and movement combinations, both set and improvisational, students will build a foundation of skills needed to dance in musical theater productions. Disciplines explored include jazz, ballet, African, tap, modern dance, partnering, ensemble work, solo work, floor work, hip hop and improvisation. Students will improve stamina, strength, range of movement, and performance commitment, and will acquire a deeper understanding of the challenges of musical theater dance.
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TH 230 Modern Dance
(3 credits)
This is a modern dance technique class focusing on the connection and coordination of the upper and lower body. To this end, emphasis is placed on increasing abdominal strength, thereby gaining freedom and fluidity in the limbs. Warm-ups and exercises increase strength, stretch and stamina. Traveling sequences are geared toward gaining rhythmic accuracy and coordination. Class combinations and exercises increase in length and difficulty throughout the semester.
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TH 231 Intermediate Dance
This is a modern technique class that builds on the foundation in TH 230 Modern Dance . Emphasis is placed on increasing accuracy of articulation and range of movement and moving the body as a cohesive unit. As the body gains strength and flexibility, each student is encouraged to find his or her own stylistic voice and individuality in movement.
Prerequisite: TH 230 /TH 221 or instructor’s permission.
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TH 241 Acting: Scene Study
This is a scene study class focusing on characterization and motivation. Students rehearse and perform contemporary plays as a means of furthering skills and craft. Both performance and personal journals are maintained on a continuing basis, and outside rehearsals on scenes are expected. The emphasis is on interpretation of the playwright’s intentions and finding actable, interesting choices for the actor. Studio course with lab requirement.
Prerequisite: TH 150 and permission of instructor.
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TH 252 American Women Playwrights
This course surveys some of the most influential plays written by American women of the 20th century. The course examines how female writers have participated in, responded to, and helped to shape the prevailing currents of American drama. No previous experience necessary.
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TH 253 African American Drama
This course views the social, political and cultural history of 19th- and 20th-century United States through the lenses provided by a diverse selection of African American playwrights and other theater artists. The plays (which range from one act to full-length, from the tragic to the satirical) address a variety of issues, including slavery and its abolition, civil rights, inter-racial relationships, Black Nationalism, women’s rights, and gay rights. Classes include script, scene and character analyses as well as student-directed and acted readings from selected scripts. The course also explores the educational applications the theater arts can have in related fields.
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TH 254 Introduction to Dramaturgy
(3 credits)
What the heck is a dramaturg? What does a dramaturg do? Why do we need dramaturges in the theater? This course explores the theory and practice of dramaturg as a creative art. Together we examine the responsibilities of a dramaturg in helping to shape a theatrical production and complete practical exercises that will help to build the skills and sensibility needed for real-life dramaturgical work. Members of the class attend and discuss theater productions and work together on dramaturgical research for a Theater Arts program’s production.
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TH 260 Puppet Theater
Starting with a survey of object animation traditions spanning Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States, students develop an understanding of how puppets have and continue to be used as a vibrant medium for communicating sophisticated ideas and the needs of the people they represent. From this historical and cultural foundation, students create their own original works of puppet theater by writing, developing, designing and building an animated short. The focus is primarily on puppet theater geared toward adult audiences utilizing non-narrative storytelling.
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TH 261 Stage Design
This is a two-part program of study: scene design for display, culminating in a scenic model; and stage lighting theory and practice, culminating in a full light plot. The course examines the history of design and its influence on the actor’s art, tools and techniques. It surveys the practical and theoretical elements of lighting instruments, their function and design. It includes theater laboratory and assistance in the actual lighting of a production.
Offered in even years.
Prerequisite: No prerequisites required.
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TH 262 Costume Design
This is a two-part program of study: costume design for display, culminating in a full-costume plot. This examines the history of design and its influence on the actor’s art, tools and techniques. It surveys the practical and historical elements of costume, their function and design. It includes theater laboratory and assistance in the actual costuming of a production.
Offered in even years.
Prerequisite: No prerequisites required.
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TH 263 Stage Construction
(3 credits)
This course includes scene construction, rigging, costume construction, drafting and stage lighting. It examines theater architecture and elements of scene, costume and lighting production.
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TH 264 Stage Management
(3 credits)
This course is divided into pre-production, rehearsal period, tech/running, and maintenance of production segments. The objective is to thoroughly introduce the student to the different venues of theater, from small storefront theater to large regional theaters. Although the emphasis is on management practices for theater venues, there is an element of the practical, day-to-day “nuts and bolts” in the stage management process.
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TH 266 Craftwork Applications
This offering focuses on expanding the student’s skill set to include highly employable, specialized techniques utilized in the entertainment industry, fine arts and theatre. Through project based exercises, students explore leatherwork, thermoplastics, millinery, simple circuits, sculpting, mold making and casting as a means to develop creative expertise, fine craftsmanship and critical thinking skills.
Prerequisite: None.
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TH 267 Lighting Design
This course provides an introduction to the art of lighting design for the theater: from the reading and analysis of a script, through the design process and a completed production. Students will develop a sense of how lighting contributes to the audience’s understanding of a play, learn about the theories and concepts that inform lighting design, work with the various kinds of lighting instruments and other tools at a lighting designer’s disposal, and explore how the learn the qualities of light can be manipulated to shape audience perception of the human form, sculpt theatrical space and serve the needs of a theatrical production. Course work will also help students understand the basic scientific concepts of light and electricity, and master the technical demands of executing lighting designs in the theater.
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TH 293 Acting a Song
Acting a Song is a workshop class aimed at beginning actors or others who have an interest in musical theater and performance. Musical theater is often first point of contact for students of theater, yet high school theater settings often do not allow the time needed to explore the process of performing a song effectively. Using songs from the American Musical Theater cannon the course seeks to reinforce lessons learned in Improv and Scene Study. Each student will memorize and perform two solo songs and one duet. Students will work with a live accompanist in class and will be required to bring to class a recording device that will allow them to record piano parts to the songs they are working on so that rehearsal away from class is possible.
Prerequisite: TH 150 or TH 241 or permission of the instructor.
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TH 299 Global Traditions of Theater and Performance
(3 credits)
This course investigates non-Western theatrical histories, performance practices and dramatic texts from across the globe. We will read and discuss play scripts, watch and analyze performances on video (or live performances, if and when the opportunity arises), and investigate some of the cultural histories, folk traditions, religious ritual practices and other contexts that inform the theatrical lives of these global regions. We will use the study of theater and performance as a means of approaching the cultures of unfamiliar societies, and seek understanding of how these theatrical traditions compare and contrast with our own. Units of study include China, India, South Africa, Nigeria, Caribbean, and South America.
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TH 300 Advanced Theater Practicum
(2 credits)
This course is an in-depth study in performance or production culminating in a performance project. The Theater Arts adviser must approve topic and project.
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TH 301 Neutral Mask
(2 credits)
Neutral mask work is central in actor training because it enables the actor to experience in its most startling form the chemistry of acting. Because the face is hidden, all expression depends on the body—the mask becomes an energizing force leading the actor to depend upon the richness of his or her inner life within a calm and balanced body. The mask then is a tool to help the actor to strengthen his or her inner feelings and power of concentration, develop physical powers of outward expression and diminish self-consciousness.
Studio course with lab requirement.
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TH 303 Business of the Arts
(3 credits)
Students learn how the entertainment industry works and how to get started upon a career.
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TH 305 Voice & Speech V
(2 credits)
Breath work, vocal sounding and physical alignment are focused on poetry.
Prerequisite: TH 204 .
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TH 319 Stage Combat IV
(2 credits)
Stage combat in production. This course is for those interested in careers in stage combat. The course begins with the acquisition of new weapons forms, which are then incorporated into a “fight show.” From auditions to performance, the students address all aspects of mounting these productions, including staging their own fights: the productions are treated as professional work.
Prerequisite: TH 224
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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.
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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.
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TH 343 Commedia del’ Arte
Not regularly scheduled.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 or Director of Theater.
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University Seminar |
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US 202 Envisioning Sustainability: Contemporary Art & Environmental Science
This course serves to explore the relationship between contemporary art and environmental science using sustainability (global interdependence) as a conceptual nucleus. The course is based on the lecture and lab structure. The ‘lecture’ will be the scientific analysis of data and information and the ‘lab’ will be the corresponding creative process (to include long and short-term experimental projects). The class does not unfold in a linear fashion; rather the scientific content forms a framework for the artistic work. The studio art component serves as a lens through which to view issues of sustainability. Public exhibitions of the work developed throughout the course serve to link art and science and visually represent the scientific data and other findings of the course content. Consider the saying ‘think globally act locally’: The scientific analysis component is the GLOBAL and the experiential creative work (i.e. the collection of personal data and material) is the LOCAL. Students make a tangible connection between local choices and their corresponding global effects.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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US 207 Global Citizenship: Who in the World Are We?
What does it mean to be a citizen of the world? This course will explore this question from a historical, political, cultural and personal perspective. Students will develop a clearer understanding of what citizenship is, a clearer understanding of the ways citizenship is changing as a result of globalization, and a strategy to enact change in an era of globalization.
The class will explore the question of where ones identities come from. The class will look at global issues, such as climate change, crimes against humanity, and global poverty. What role have global citizens played in addressing these issues in the past? What will the emerging role of “global citizens” be in the future? Students will ultimately be required to take a perspective on what citizenship in a global era means for each of them. What are the rights and responsibilities associated with being a global citizen?
Finally, we will raise questions about social change. Historically, how have definitions of citizenship been used to bring about social change? How is this different in light of globalization? How can global citizens have a positive influence on global issues? What are the change mechanisms through which they can act?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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US 217 Democracy, Education and the 21st Century
In this course you participate in field work in an actual student led civic action or advocacy organization in your university community and you produce a record and critique of this service learning in the medium of digital storytelling. Course readings and work examine the history of civic participation and democratic action in the United States as well as contemporary issues in civic education. In this University Seminar other class sessions will develop competencies in using new media communication tools and participatory learning in the twenty-first century. An interest in producing digital media and digital social networking is required, and it is suggested that students have access to a smartphone or tablet computer. The course is open to undergraduates of all majors and years.
Required reading and outside of class time is significant and only recommended for highly engaged students.
Prerequisite: Students who are engaged and interested in community and civic participation are encouraged to enroll. An interest in digital media tools and communication is required.
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US 218 God Onstage
This course tackles the long-standing and complex transactions between the theater arts and theology. These two fields engage with two of the most important questions a person can ask: “What does it mean to be human?” and “Does human existence mean anything?” God Onstage tracks the intriguing and, at times, surprising relationship between these two fields: Although largely alienated from each other in Western culture today, this seminar’s investigation will uncover an intimate rapport between these two fields that not only stretches way back in history, but is also widespread in most people groups globally today.
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US 219 Forging Truth: How We Use Story to Make and Know Reality
Forging Truth is a class devoted to understanding how stories-both real and imagined-shape the way that we see the world. Some questions that the class will investigate are as follows: Is there really a difference between fiction and non-fiction? Can the story elements in sitcoms, advertisements and video games actually affect the way we think about things in the real world? In what ways can we or can’t we trust the stories that journalists tell us? How have stories shaped us into the people who we are today? Through dedicated reading, writing and discussion on and about a diversified assortment of texts that incite these questions, students will learn to better understand the narrative forces that seek to influence their lives daily.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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US 223 Community Action & Change in John Sayles Films
This University Seminar examines historical and cultural conflict and community-building themese through the camera lens of John Sayles. This director’s films made between 1980-2012 provide moving stories and deep commentary on the struggles of multicultural communities and family stability, in search of the American Dream amidst cultural dislocation and violence. Students will learn to analyze film aesthetics anf images representing social conflict in this Visual Literacy course; and to study and understand the deep cultural interconnections and interdependence among communities from differing racial, national, ethnic, and class backgrounds that make up American society.
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US 224 The World Made Modern
This is a multi-disciplinary approach to the cultural and intellectual history of the development of the modern world. We will begin from the point of view of Western European civilization, but in each unit we will look at the issue of its interactions with the rest of the world. We will draw on the following disciplines: art history, literature, political science, and the history of science. Our aim will be to study the development of the world we live in without assumptions of Western cultural superiority and with an appreciation of cultural difference as well. The key term will be “modernization”: what do we mean when we talk about living in a modern world, or when China undertakes a campaign for “the four modernizations”; how did the idea and practice of modernization develop?
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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.
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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.
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US 227 Insects and Human Society
This course will bridge a gap between discrete areas of inquiry, namely sub-disciplines of biology (entomology) and anthropology. The primary emphasis will be the significance of insects in the lives of humans, both their negative impacts and the positive ones that are so frequently overlooked. In addition to learning about the biology of insects, this course will address the nature of our competition with insects for food and natural materials, the extent and severity of insect-borne diseases, insects as pollinators and subjects of scientific study, and how insects have influenced art, economics, etc. Writing will be a central component of this seminar. Writing assignments and activities will supplement course content and provide opportunities for students to improve their writing via practice and feedback, to learn how to provide effective peer critiques, and to learn how to edit one’s own work.
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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.
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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.
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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
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US 233 Copy!-Right? Creativity and Copyright
Copy!-Right? Focuses on the relationship between creative expression and intellectual property law, specifically, copyrights and trademarks. The course will provide an overview of how copyright and trademark law have developed in the United States, and the implications it has for artists, musicians, designers, teachers, and anyone else engaged in the cultural creative discourse. It explores how intellectual property law both protects and hinders creative expression by discussing issues related to fair use, cultural preservation, and the “moral” rights of the artist. Students will have the opportunity to create several transformative works of art as a basis for considering the different issues in actual practice.
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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.
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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.
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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
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