Liberal Arts Courses

Topics in 20th-Century US History

Course No. HCS 390X  Credits: 3.0

As the title suggests, this is an entry-level survey course in modern American history, covering the period roughly from the end of Reconstruction to the late 20th century. In this course we will follow a chronological continuum. We will emphasize political, economic, cultural and social history. We will look at those in positions of power and those groups in society trying to acquire rights and power. In 15 weeks, we will be progressing from the period of steam engines and the American frontier to rock ‘n’ roll and the Apollo moon landing — a vast amount of material. The choice of what to include and what to leave out is entirely subjective, and class feedback on those decisions is encouraged. Issues of international importance will be discussed, in some cases in depth, but the main emphasis of the course will be on the domestic transformation.

Sound Art + New Media

Course No. HCS 411  Credits: 3.0

A course on how visual artists (and some composers) use sound in their works. Works discussed in class will include "stand alone" works of sound art, musique concrete, sound sculptures, installation works (using sound as a main component), radio art, film, and internet-based works. Students will be expected to identify differing qualities of sound, and there will be regular listening and reading assignments for each class. Students will also be given written assignments, and will have to compose a work of sound art or sound sculpture as a final project. May be applied as Visual Culture Emphasis course.

Writing + Inquiry I: Basic Composition + Contemporary Ideas

Course No. LLC 101  Credits: 3.0
Faculty Daniel Dorman | Scott Lax

A composition-intensive course that emphasizes basic composition skills, while introducing basic research and documentation skills. Along with cultivating the concomitant skills in critical reading and thinking, this course also introduces an explicitly theoretical approach to contemporary culture. Twenty pages of student expository writing will be required. Offered fall.

Writing + Inquiry II: Research + Intellectual Traditions

Course No. LLC 102  Credits: 3.0
Faculty Donald Modica | Jonathan Rosati | Mark Bassett | Mary Assad
Prerequisite(s) Writing + Inquiry I: Basic Composition + Contemporary Ideas | Writing + Inquiry I: Basic Composition + Contemporary Ideas

An intermediate writing and research course based in readings on the western intellectual and cultural heritage and their global contexts. The course will emphasize the basic research skills involved in both academic writing and studio processes. Twenty pages of student expository writing will be required. Prerequisite LLC 101. Offered spring.

Writing + Inquiry III: Narrative Forms

Course No. LLC 203  Credits: 3.0
Faculty Cori Winrock | Daniel Dorman | Scott Lax | Zachary Savich
Prerequisite(s) Writing + Inquiry I: Basic Composition + Contemporary Ideas | Writing + Inquiry I: Basic Composition + Contemporary Ideas | Writing + Inquiry II: Research + Intellectual Traditions | Writing + Inquiry II: Research + Intellectual Traditions

This course continues to build students' skills in writing, research, critical thinking, and argument, while introducing a survey of narrative forms and critical methods based in narratology to be used in the analysis and understanding of narrative. This course can be taken in either the fall or the spring and must be completed by the end of the Sophomore year. Prerequisites: LLC 101 and LLC 102.

Writing for the Art + Design Career

Course No. LLC 204W  Credits: 3.0

This course offers students the opportunity to develop strong writing skills for the types of writing involved in art and design careers. The first and biggest part of this course is devoted to these career-related forms and is predicated on an exploration of the relationship between the rhetorical and the design arts. The culminating project for this section of the course, therefore, will be a portfolio containing the final versions of each of the writing assignments, designed to showcase visually the collected written works, and thus also to demonstrate the extent to which the student has pursued the relationship between rhetoric and design. Each student's portfolio will contain the types of career documents relevant to her/his own particular emphases or goals within the art/design fields represented by the particular group of students in the class. A later, smaller part of the course will explore the theories and argument strategies of art critical essays and reviews as models for the students' own assignments in critical writing. These assignments will include one art or design show review and one critical essay on an art or design subject selected by the student for the relevance of its subject to his/her own studio work. Class work will focus on writing, tutorials, and peer editing/critique, allowing students ample opportunity to become comfortable with, and even accomplished in, the kinds of writing necessary for self-presentation and critical engagement in visual arts careers. Fulfills Humanities/Cultural Studies distribution requirement. Creative Writing Concentration course.

Arts Journalism

Course No. LLC 205W  Credits: 3.0

In this elective course, students will study various forms and stages of writing about art for publication. In addition to reading and discussing effective examples of published writings on art, students will produce a total of 20 pages of writing throughout the semester in the form of reviews, interviews, profiles, and feature stories. Students will alternately function as writers and editors as they produce written work that is expressly conceived and shaped for publication.

Hybrid Writing

Course No. LLC 206W  Credits: 3.0

Sophomore level writing seminar focusing on inter-genre hybrid writing, with an emphasis on the New Narrative movement, open to all students, of special interest to students interested in writing adventurously and creatively about their chosen art and design forms. The method of instruction for this class will combine short lectures with class discussion, workshops, and in-class writing experiments. The class will be structured around the idea of creative research, and will potentially involve research days utilizing the museum or the library. Peer feedback sessions and a final short critical paper are designed to assist students in developing a constructive, original vocabulary to critically assess both their own creative work and that of others. (H/CS) CWC). Formerly LLC 206WX.