Graduate & Continuing Studies Undergraduate Catalog and Handbook 2009-2010
Liberal Arts Program
The Liberal Arts curriculum grounds all the College's degree programs, striking an appropriate balance between preparing students for the careers they hope to pursue and educating them for the lives they'll lead in the 21st century. The College provides for all students, regardless of their majors, a women-centered, globally-oriented, ten-course, thirty-semester hour Liberal Arts Program. All students take required Liberal Arts Program (LBA) courses unless they bring to the College advance placement, international baccalaureate or transfer credit that matches these requirements. All Liberal Arts courses, regardless of the topics they cover, provide opportunities for students to sharpen their critical thinking and communication skills.
Students are required to complete coursework in:
Communication – 6 credit hours
Cultural Studies (Arts, Humanities & Religion) – 3 credit hours
History – 3 credit hours
Literature – 3 credit hours
Mathematics – 3 credit hours
Natural Science – 3 credit hours
Social Science – 6 credit hours
Moral/Ethical Issues – PHL350 Global Ethics (3-6* credit hours)
In addition to the LBA courses that fulfill LBA program requirements, students may take other LBA courses for elective credit.
Communication
COM 107: Composition I (3 credit hours)
This course provides students with a wide range of opportunities to sharpen their reading, writing, research and reasoning. At the same time, the course also encourages students to develop their own distinct and identifiable voice.
COM 108: Composition II (3 credit hours)
Prerequisite: COM 107
Students continue to sharpen their skills in critical reading, writing, researching and reasoning with an additional focus on learning.
Cultural Studies
REL 201: Religion Across Cultures (3 credit hours)
History
HIS 172: Unruly Women (3 credit hours)
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.
HIS 210: King Arthur's Britain (3 credit hours)
This course is designed to give an understanding of British culture between 1066 and 1485, one of the most colorful periods of British history, with such people as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II, Robin Hood, and Lady Jane Grey. Students will view the lives of the royalty and the poor, the religious beliefs of the period and what from that period still resonates in our world today – and why.
Literature
ENG 225: Literary Studies: Short Stories from Around the World (3 credit hours)
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 238: Literary Studies: Coming-of-Age Literature (3 credit hours)
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.
Mathematics
BUS 205: Personal & Family Finance (3 credit hours)
Examination and application of basic economics and finance principles as they relate to the individual. Topics include: budgets, banking, housing, taxes, insurance and investments.
MAT 207: Introduction to Statistics (3 credit hours)
Prerequisites: Elementary Algebra or one year of high school algebra and good arithmetic skill
A study of elementary statistics as used in psychology, business or information management. Topics include organization of data, measures of central tendency and variability, the normal distribution, sampling distributions, estimation, statistical inference, correlation, and chi-square tests.
Natural Science
BIO 200: Intro to Crime Scene Analysis (3 credit hours)
The 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.
BIO 247: Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology I (3 credit hours)
This course introduces the structure and function of the human body to those students pursuing careers in the allied health field. The emphasis is on the way in which normal body systems are maintained and how deviations result in illness and disease. The course progresses from a general organization of the human body and of cells, to that of tissues and organs, and then to organ systems. For each system, basic anatomical structures are identified and the fundamental ways in which these structures carry out the activities of that system are investigated. The organ systems explored include (1) skin and body membranes, (2) skeletal and muscular systems, (3) nervous system and special senses, and (4) endocrine, blood, and cardiovascular systems. Underlying the study of these systems, the course will show the student connections between body systems, providing you with an understanding of the interactions of these systems in maintaining homeostasis.
Social Science
LGS340: Understanding Terrorism (3 credit hours)
This course examines different types and characteristics of terrorism. Because of the negative, and often polarizing, connotation of the word, the course will begin by defining terrorism in a way that removes moral judgments attached to this unusual human behavior. Next, the course will examine political terrorism, religious terrorism, and terrorism with other motives. The course will seek to answer whether social or physical environments attract certain people to join violent terrorist organizations. Additionally, the course is designed to dispel commonly held beliefs about who becomes a terrorist and how organizations that use terrorism find willing participants. Are there commonalities among people who commit terrorist acts? What role has the U.S. played in preventing terrorism?
PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology (3 credit hours)
An introduction to the major sub-fields of contemporary psychology. Emphases on the diversity of psychology as a discipline and how psychological principles pertain to everyday life.
PSY 211: Educational Psychology (3 credit hours)
This course surveys the nature and conditions of human learning. We examine methods of assessing intellectual and personality characteristics as well as social dynamics as pupils enter into the learning process.
PSY 310: Developmental Psychology (3 credit hours)
Prerequisite: PSY 111
This course uses major psychological theories to explore the normal stages of development from birth until death. Selected controversial issues and case studies relating to development will also be discussed.
PSY 315: Social Psychology (3 credit hours)
A survey of major topics in social psychology including social perception, social interaction and social influence will form the core of this course with attention to stereotypes, aggression, conformity and persuasion.
PSY 320: Abnormal Psychology (3 credit hours)
Prerequisite: PSY 111
Survey of basic areas of abnormal psychology, history of mental disorders, survey of extent and severity of problems today. Emphases in biological, psychological and social approaches to explaining mental disorders.
PSY 331: Learning Cognition (3 credit hours)
Prerequisite: PSY 111
Provides an introduction to the study of learning and cognition through an examination of the basic learning paradigms of classical and instrumental conditioning and issues fundamental to the structure and function of cognitive theory. Emphases on applied and theoretical findings.
Moral and Ethical Issues
PHL350: Global Ethics (3-6* hours)
(Required of all students.)
This course looks at a broad spectrum of international issues – from global climate change and sustainability, human rights to gender discrimination – in a context that considers both sides of the dilemma and seeks for an ethical way forward. The class uses concepts in economics, philosophy, political science, history, sociology and anthropology in its attempt to analyze global problems and decide how best to address the various ethical issues.
(A student is required to enroll in the six credit hour course in order to meet Stephens College’s residency requirements.)
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