With each new semester comes a variety of new courses for students to choose from. Departments are continually adding to their list of available coursework, with the intent to broaden students' perspectives.
Many departments have made changes to their course curriculum. The computer science department revised their basic courses so that their curriculum would become more appealing to non-majors. The chemistry department is currently launching a degree program in biochemistry. Furthermore, the English department will now offer a creative writing major, and a minor, as well.
The following is a list of courses available for the first time in the fall 2005 semester, as submitted by respective departments.
Family Communication: CMMA-493
This course explores how family communication creates and reflects family life. Students will study family communication within the family unit and in relationship to global and societal problems. Topics of discussion include areas such as intimacy, rituals, values, power, gender and balancing work-family roles. A focus on communication frames will apply to all aspects of discussion and examples of specific communication processes to be studied include: self-disclosure, chronicling, managing difficult conversations and family stories.
Sports Communication: CMMA -393
Both amateur and professional sports in contemporary America will be the focus of the course. The course will have a communication slant and is divided into four sections: producing sport, consuming sport, organizing sport and enacting sport. Students will look at various types of media including film, television and print. The class will examine the impact and outcomes associated with presentations of sport by focusing on how spectators, fans and viewers are affected by and use sport media.
Studies in Leadership and Communication: CMMA-493
The focus of this course is on the communicative behaviors leaders enact, both theoretically and practically, in order to encourage and participate in what scholars have coined as "learning organizations." The course begins by looking at definitions of leader and manager, and by discussing the responsibilites of each role. The ultimate goal of this course is to have students develop both a leadership philosophy and a series of skills associated with creating and maintaining effective leadership.
American Decades: ASTD- 310
This course explores American culture and society since World War II. The focus will be on how Americans have adapted to a rapidly changing and increasingly uncertain world, preserving old values while developing new symbols and meanings. In conjunction with the course, students will help to organize a revival film series with Monday night showings of classics such as "It's a Wonderful Life," "Rebel Without a Cause," "In the Heat of the Night," "Easy Rider" and "The French Connection."
Prisons in American Culture: ASTD-330
Using history, social theory, film, fiction and autobiography, the course surveys the cultural history of incarceration in America and examines the place of incarceration in American culture. The focus will be on ways in which prison has served as a mirror of American cultural concerns since the early nineteenth century. Students will examine movies, art, fiction and protest literature by and about prisoners, as well as the history of imprisonment-a practice in which America leads the world.
Cross-Cultural Human Development:PSY-A427
People grow up and grow older in different cultural settings, and this course is designed to explore the cross-cultural differences and similarities in human development, encompassing the entire life span from birth to old age. Topics will include how the developmental niche, goals and methods of child rearing and family structure and function differ cross-culturally and internationally.
Fundamentals of Leadership: MGT-B405
This is a course about leadership in organizations and is intended for undergraduates with little or no training or experience as leaders or managers. The course is designed to provide understanding of the dynamic interactions of personal characteristics, technical skills, interpersonal influence, commitment, goals and power necessary for both leader and follower effectiveness in the complex organizations that typify modern society and commerce. The goal of the course is to portray the nature and process of leadership in such a way that students become intrigued with the concepts, research and issues in the field.
From Page to Stage: THR-240
It has been said that stories are not only a nice way of finding the truth, but the only way. This course explores the relationship and limitations between fact, fiction, truth, reality and art. Using basic story-telling techniques, small groups will examine a historical period or social movement and determine what it says about the human condition. Throughout the course, students will read many plays that convey this same message, such as "The Laramie Project," "Belle of Amherst" and "Luther."
Introduction to Dance: THR-264
Students will develop an understanding of the movement philosophies and techniques used in ballet, modern and jazz dance. Lectures, readings, discussions, videos, live performance and rigorous physical training will be used to develop the students' ability to analyze, appreciate and perform each dance form. The course focuses on dance history and theory, and dance technique and applications.
Chemistry CH-360
This course provides a survey of biochemistry. Topics include (a) structure and properties of amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids and nucleic acids, (b) behavior of enzymes, (c) metabolism: glycolysis, citric acid cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, (d) information transfer: replication, transcription, translation.
Biochemistry I: CHA-462
An upper level, one semester, undergraduate course focusing on biomolecules. Topics covered include biological buffers, thermodynamics, amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, membranes, nucleic acids, recombinant DNA, enzymes and molecular motors. Christians in the
Middle East: THA-349
Many people have the tendency to forget that Christianity has its origins in the Middle East. Up to this day, there are still important Christian communities in the Middle East that can trace their beginnings back to the earliest periods of Christian history. These Middle Eastern Christian communities differ from one another with regard to their ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, comprising the range of languages from Syriac, to Armenian, Georgian, Coptic and Ethiopic.
Theology and the Environment: THA-269
In his 1990 World Day of Peace Message, "The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility," Pope John Paul II emphasized that the ecological question is a moral issue and, as such, he posited, "An educational in ecological responsibility is urgent: responsibility for oneself, for others and for the Earth." This course explores what the Christian theological tradition has to say about humankind's relationship with the rest of creation, and how that relationship should be lived at this time.
Poverty, Wealth and Justice: THA-369 (02)
This course will examine how people in the U.S., as individuals and as a society, view poverty and wealth. It will also consider the tradition of Catholic social teaching on economic justice. It will explore the causes of poverty, the types of poverty and the possible links between poverty and crime. Accordingly, it will focus on social justice and the moral responsibility claims that it might make upon individual citizens, as a society and as a Church, concerning issues related to poverty and wealth.
Gospels as Narrative Theology: THA-329
This course is a research seminar that will investigate the narrative character of the Gospels. Specifically, students will learn and utilize various forms of narrative criticism to examine the meaning of the "stories" of the "Good News" as recorded in the Gospels. Since the Gospels were intended to be read from beginning to end, and not as isolated passages, the course will examine the Gospel stories as stories by examining how the author(s) employ literary devices to communicate to the listener(s)/reader(s).
Medieval Middle East: HS A 382
The subject of this course is the history of the Middle East from the rise of Islam up to the Mongol conquests in the 13th century. It will follow a chronological, as well as thematic, line, starting off with late antiquity, the rise of Islam, teachings of Muhammad, first Islamic empires and associated religious, cultural, intellectual and political developments. A number of sessions will be devoted specifically to topics of cultural, religious and intellectual significance.
Race and Religion in the Americas: 1492-1992: HAS-393
This course examines the spread of Roman Catholic Christianity from the 15th Century through the 20th Century in Africa, Latin America and the United States. This course focuses on colonial Latin America and the Caribbean, the anti-bellum South and southern colonial Africa.
Age of Witchcraft and Magic in Early Modern Europe: HAS-393
Between 1450 to 1750, authorities across Europe burned tens of thousands at the stake, most of whom were women, for witchcraft. This seminar will explore the broad context of magic and popular religious culture in the early modern period.
Modern Europe Since 1945: HAS-393
This course will examine how European societies rebuilt and transformed themselves after the catastrophic WWII. This course will begin by examining the process of economic, political and moral reconstruction that took place within the context of the Cold War. It will subsequently examine the transformation of western European societies through increased economic prosperity, heightened consumption, Americanization and the move toward European unity. It will analyze how these forces enabled these societies to overcome longstanding tensions of class and religion.
Foundations of Political Theory: Politics and Truth: POLA-170
What does "truth" mean? What is its relationship to our political life? Does democracy require truth? Can truth thrive in any other type of government? This course is an introduction to political theory by way of an examination of these questions. The class will examine the political thought of several writers, analyzing the authors' perspectives on these questions together in class. Readings include works by Sophocles, Plato, Machiavelli, Mill, Marx, Nietzsche, Arendt and contemporary thinkers.
Politics and Rhetoric: POLA-393, CMMA-393
This class focuses on the study of the relationship between politics and rhetoric. People have long accused politicians of using rhetoric to pander to audiences and get what they want regardless of the truth. Politics, especially democratic politics, depends on the persuasive force of communication to persuade and motivate others. So what exactly is the relationship between speech and politics? Does communication reflect political reality or create it? This course will focus on these questions, moving between classical writings on rhetoric to contemporary democratic political theory.
Service Learning: POLA-393
This service learning course draws on Fr. Quirk's years of experience as executive director of Catholic Charities' Commission on Housing and as chair and vice-chair of the Saint Louis Public Housing Authority. The course will combine classroom sessions with applications in the field.
West European Politics: POLA-251
This course offers comparative study of political and governmental institutions and policy processes. Particular emphasis is placed on the European Union.
The Oxford Christians: ENGL 353
In the modern world, C.S. Lewis would have been denied tenure and J.R.R. Tolkien would not have made a full professor. Professor Shippey, once upon a time Tolkien's successor and one of Lewis' very last pupils, will consider all these issues and others in this course on "the Oxford Christians."
