Liberal Arts Classes
LBA 107/207: Text
and Meaning I: Writing, Reasoning, and Researching in the 21st Century
(3 hrs.)
(College Composition, Speech, Digital Literacy)
The first semester of a two-semester sequence, this course provides
students with a wide range of opportunities to sharpen their reading,
writing, research, reasoning, and digital medial skills. At
the same time, the course also encourages students to develop, in
both their writing and their speaking, their own distinct and identifiable
voice. The format of the course will include guest speakers,
class discussions, small group presentations, individual presentations,
formal and informal papers, writing exercises, and peer reviewing.
LBA 108/208:
Text and Meaning II: Writing, Reasoning, and Researching in
the 21st Century
(3 hrs.)
(College Composition, Speech, Digital Literacy)
In LBA 108/208 Text and Meaning II, students continue to sharpen
their skills in critical reading, writing, researching, reasoning,
and digital-film making with an additional focus on learning to
make good use their speaking voices. Text and Meaning II links closely
with the other Liberal Arts course offered in the student’s
Learning Community, supporting and enriching the reading, research,
and writing required in the linked course.
LBA 111: How Things
Work
(3 hrs.)
Explorations of how things work will be used to actively engage students in learning physical science concepts such as simple machines, electricity, magnetism, light, chemical reactions, and polymers. Students will work to develop an understanding of how science explains the world around us and to appreciate how science has improved our everyday lives.
LBA 112:
Appearance Across Cultures
(3 hrs.)
This course will foster an appreciation for diversity of human appearance throughout time and place. Through exploration of how and why cultures/consumers adopt particular coverings and accessories, students will gain an understanding of the common purposes served by dress. Special emphasis will be given to the cultural/sociological aspects of apparel and identity to enable students to possess a more inclusive vision of the social psychology of appearance.
LBA 113/213: American
Culture & Nature
(3 hrs.)
An environmental history of what now is the United States, from
the arrival of the first Asian peoples to populate North America
to the present. In this course human interaction with the natural
environment includes epidemic disease (specifically the 1918 influenza
epidemic) as well as agricultural use and misuse of the land, solid
waste disposal, the capitalist consumption, ethic and environmental
degradation and many other topics.
LBA 121: Crime
Scene Analysis
(3 hrs.)
This course will introduce a number of specialized fields in forensic
science. Through the analysis of hair, fluid samples, DNA
evidence, drugs and alcohol, we will learn basic principles of biology
and chemistry and how they can be applied to solve crimes.
LBA 122: Ancient
Mysteries
(3 hrs.)
This course is a history of archaeology, organized around the study
of famous discoveries. The discoveries themselves hold considerable
inherent interest, with their intrepid adventurers (several of them
women), fabulous treasures and exotic settings, but the purpose
of the course will be to work from the stories of these discoveries
toward a larger question: how do we know what we think we know about
the past? Basic archaeological concepts and techniques will
be introduced, including stratification, typology, remote sensing,
survey and materials analysis. The role of ideology (including
gender ideology) in shaping the interpretation of archaeological
finds will be considered. We will also explore controversies
and ethical issues in the field, such as the stewardship of sites,
the treatment of human remains, and the ownership of cultural patrimony
(matrimony?).
LBA 123: Polymnia:
The Sacred Muse
(3 hrs.)
Polymnia is an interdisciplinary course that explores the relationship
between religion and music. Students will survey major and minor
faiths of the world, focusing on the uses of music in each belief.
The great musical traditions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism,
and Hinduism will each be explored. We will examine the roles that
music plays in sacred rituals and in the lives of believers, discovering
how song is used to express the heart of each human belief.
LBA 131: Knowing
America Through its Commercial Popular Arts
(3 hrs.)
With its focus on the 20th and 21st centuries, this course examines
case studies of mass culture: motion pictures; popular music; the
corporations (such as Disney) which manufacture our entertainment;
the composition of amusement audiences; and the celebrity phenomenon,
among others. The case studies enable consideration of issues
such as the roles of gender and race in United States popular culture;
censorship; the alleged effects of mass amusements on their consumers;
and the possibility of aesthetic achievement in a profit-driven
creative setting.
LBA 132: Symphonie
Fantastique
(3 hrs.)
This course will introduce students to an intriguing repertory of
music, musicians and musical ideas from European and American traditions.
Our subject will be music that expresses the richness of imagination,
the macabre, the strange, and the extraordinary in human life.
The experience of music will be our primary focus, with the expectation
that students spend a significant amount of time building emotional
and intellectual bonds with music.
LBA 133: Seven
Pleasures
(3 hrs.)
This course is an alternative history of art, one that departs from
the Eurocentric-chronological model. We will study art as aesthetic
experience across cultures and time. Specifically, we will explore
seven basic ways of enjoying works of art: the pleasures of illusion,
narrative, pattern, emotion, form, the unconscious and the intellect.
LBA 141: Digital
Media Literacy
(3 hrs.)
Through this course students will get a solid grounding in digital
media, how to use it and how to create it. With a global focus,
students will learn to find, evaluate and make use of media products
from the satellite and the web. The hands-on component of
the course will teach students the basics of taking photographs,
shooting video and preparing multimedia presentations.
LBA 142: Peace
Making in the Modern World
(3 hrs.)
This course examines theories of war, terrorism, justice, and peace,
as well as principles of nonviolence and alternative methods of
conflict resolution. We will study in depth the teachings
of Mohandas Gandhi, and their influence on later activists like
Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as the South African experiment
in national reconciliation following the fall of the apartheid social
system. Practical steps toward a peaceful and nonviolent humanity
will be introduced and personally explored in workshops, with visiting
lecturers, and through role-plays and films.
LBA 143: El Mundo
Maya
(3 hrs.)
Focuses on the Mayan culture. Among the fields explored are Mayan
art, archeology, religion, civilization, geography and ecosystems.
Students will study Mexican history and culture as well as Spanish
language communications skills. Students may elect to go on a field
trip to Mexico at the conclusion of the course.
