LBA
107/207:Composition I / Honors Composition I
(3 hrs.)
(Required of all students.)
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: Composition and Research II / Honors Composition
and Research II
(3 hrs.)
(Prerequisite: LBA 107 or LBA 108.) (Required of all students.)
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. Composition
and Research 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 142: Social Science: Peacemaking in the Modern World
(3 hrs.)
Usint the resources of philosophical and religious ethics, students in this course examine theories of war, terrorism, justice, and peace, as well as principles of nonviolence and alternative methods of conflict resolution.
LBA
151: Cultural Studies: Seven Pleasures
(3 hrs.)
This course provides an opportunity for students to study art as
aesthetic experience across cultures and time. Specifically, the
course explores seven basic ways of enjoying works of art: the pleasures
of illusion, narrative, pattern, emotion, form, the unconscious
and the intellect.
LBA 152: Literary Studies: Women's Folklife, Women's Culture
(3 hrs.)
The study of folklore is extremely tied to culture and place. There are many genres of folklore; this course will focus on the genres of non-narrative verbal folklore (jokes, toasts, sermons, riddles, personal experience narratives), material culture (especially women's crafts and the decorative arts such as baskets, quilts, pottery, baskets, weaving, and painting, but also foodways), folk belief (superstition, weatherlore, folk wisdom, folk remedies), customs (traditions and rituals, such as birthdays), and performative (body) gestures (dances, greetings, games, ritual gestures). Mere identification and collection is only the beginning; one must then think about why the group in question continues to pass down the item of folklore. What purpose does it serve? Often this will lead to deeper conversations about power relations between adults and children, men and women, those in power and those who are not.
LBA 153: Cultural Studies: Women in Music
(3 hrs.)
This course takes an historical, international perspective on the study of women's contributions to classical and popular music as composers and performers. (new course)
LBA 154: Cultural Studies: World Music
(3 hrs.)
World Music is an interdisciplinary liberals arts course that unites the study of world cultures and music. By its very nature, music creates connections. To the individual performer or listener, music has the unique power to unite the body, heart, intellect and spirit in a single experience. Music connects performers with audiences. Music links individual members of an audience in a common experience. At the highest level, music is inextricably connected to the culture from which it springs. Our study of World Music will involve the examination of music drawn from a myriad of cultural traditions, with particular focus given to how music reflects the culture that brings it to life.
LBA
161: Historical Studies: American Culture and 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 172: Historical Studies: Unruly Women
(3 hrs.)
Students in this course study the history of women in the United States through the perspectives of women that challenged the norms of society through their actions, lifestyles, race, and gender, focusing in part on women in Missouri's history.
LBA 173: Historical Studies: America 1960-1990: Domestic and Global Perspectives
(3 hrs.)
Students in this class will study America's involvement in the world through the lenses of human rights, race, roles of women and gender, poverty, the environment, and globalization. (new course)
LBA
181: Social Sciences: Psychology of Creativity
(3 hrs.)
This course provides the student with an introduction to the psychological foundations of creativity, including biological, social, familial, and cognitive factors. Basic psychological principles will be studied to expand the student's understanding of the creative process.
LBA 182: Social Sciences: Interest Groups and Contemporary Society
(3 hrs.)
Interest Groups and Contemporary Society introduces the nature of social and political interactions to students in terms of a pluralist society. Traditionally, courses on American politics and society convey information about group struggles in institutional terms, where interests are aggregated in a democratic decision-making process and institutions seek to change the environment in which group struggles occur. In this class, however, we will examine the nature of interest groups from a competitive and cooperative perspective, as they seek to change society and obtain resources for their members; that is, the focus is on group dynamics and societal change rather than how institutions aggregate preferences to cause societal change. At the end of the course, you will be able to answer the questions as to why and how groups form, which are successful over the long-term, and which groups fade away and why. Additionally, you will understand the role of groups in American society from both a First Amendment perspective as well as a political reform point of view.
LBA
214: Honors - Literary Studies: Contemporary International Fiction
(3 hrs.)
This course investigates the elements of fiction by reading six
contemporary novels from around the world. Students will examine
the historical, cultural, sociopolitical, and economic context of
the literary readings and explore themes common to contemporary
literature.
LBA
218: Social Science Core 1: Government and Economics
(3 hrs.)
This course focuses on the national and trans-national relationships
between governments, especially the United States government, and
economic systems, corporations, institutions, and agreements.
As the first of the two Social Science Core Courses offered in the
second year of the LBA program, this course helps students learn
about some of the most powerful forces in the world at the same
time as it gives them opportunities to sharpen their reading, writing,
researching, reasoning, and speaking skills.
LBA
219: Social Science Core 1: Global Village
(3 hrs.)
LBA
225: Literary Studies: Short Stories from Around the World
This course is designed to offer an introduction to the contemporary
short story and its various modes. While special attention
is given to work written in the past decade, selections will include
influential and pioneering work from the middle of the 20th century.
A portion of the selected work will be dedicated to international
and women writers.
LBA
228: Literary Studies: Southwestern Border Literature
(3 hrs.)
Focusing on Chicano/a fiction, poetry, and memoir, this course offers
an introduction to contemporary literature emerging from the Mexico/U.S.
border. Students will examine the historical, cultural, sociopolitical,
and economic contexts of the literary readings and explore themes
of La Casa/El Barrio/La Lucha: Home/Neighborhood/The Struggle.
LBA
238: Literary Studies: Coming-of-Age Literature
(3 hrs.)
This class focuses on coming-of-age narratives, a specific and well-documented
genre of literature representing the transition between childhood
and adulthood, an intense and memorable time filled with conflict:
first love, lost love, rebellion against authority. Readings
will include a variety of novels, short stories, essays, and scholarly
and popular articles on developmental theory.
LBA
248: Literary Studies: Educating Rita: Teachers/Plays
(3 hrs.)
LBA
251: Honors Cultural Studies: China and the Arts
(3 hrs.)
LBA
258: Literary Studies: The Female Hero in Folktales
from Around the World
(3 hrs.)
The course will require students to read and actively participate in class dialogue and discussion of three anthologies of tales from around the world, as well as a critical work by Jungian analyst and storyteller, Clarissa Pinkola Est é s. Students will write four short essays, including argument, comparison/contrast, research, and creative writing. They will also use writing informally in a series of in-class exercises as a tool for inquiry, discovery, learning, thinking, and communicating. Student's will also be selecting a country and researching a tale to prepare for an international storytelling fest we'll stage in class. Requires students to apply the steps and techniques used by professional storytellers to learn and tell the story for the class audience.
LBA
340: Honors Social Science: Terrorism Perspectives on Acts of Violence
(3 hrs.)
LBA
380: Introduction to Global Ethics
(3 hrs.)
