Category Archives: Spring 2026

Expressive Culture: (CORE-UA 9732)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Wed
Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Wed

For more than four centuries, opera has made us cry and laugh, and it still speaks to us today about ourselves and our lives. It does so by telling us stories of love and death, of power and despair, through a unique way of combining words, music and stage action, and ever new styles of performance. This course is designed to develop an understanding of the details of such combination and the way they cooperate in making an opera work in general and for us today. It does not develop chronologically, but through exposure to a selection of major works by Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini. The presentations will be organised around individual operas, exploring their historical background, text and music, performing issues, reception history, and adaptation to other media (not necessarily in this sequence). Each opera will also be taken as a vantage point to explore one main thematic issue, while broader issues – such as genre, the development of formal conventions of librettos and music, Italian opera and its terminology, modes of production, cultural expression, social factors that give rise to certain narratives, how opera fits into the larger history of ideas in Western culture – will build up over the course.

College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Life Science: Brain and Behavior (CORE-UA 9306)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue
Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

The relationship of the brain to behavior, beginning with the basic elements that make up the nervous system and how electrical and chemical signals in the brain work to effect behavior. Using this foundation, we examine how the brain learns and how it creates new behaviors, together with the brain mechanisms that are involved in sensory experience, movement, hunger and thirst, sexual behaviors, the experience of emotions, perception and cognition, memory and the brain’s plasticity. Other key topics include whether certain behavioral disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can be accounted for by changes in the function of the brain, and how drugs can alter behavior and brain function.

College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Expressive Culture: Music in Prague Field Study (CORE-UA 9731)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Wed

This is a chance to immerse yourself in the musical culture of Prague. You will attend five music performances together with the class and two on your own. Each of the concerts will be in a different style, and performed in a different sort of venue. Each concert will be preceded by a lecture/listening session, often involving the actual performers; you will also be assigned a reading excerpt relevant to the music you will hear. The concerts, scheduled about once every two weeks on evenings between Mondays and Thursdays, will be supplemented by architecture walks and film showings, which will usually take place during class time. In addition, you will undertake a “Personal Connection Project”, in groups of two or three, in which you will choose a local genre, performer or composer to research. The research will include reading relevant contextual material, attendance at a live concert or rehearsal, and an interview with a performer. You will share your project with the class in an oral presentation, which will take place at the end of the semester. after which you will submit your conclusions in a final paper, in lieu of a final exam.

College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Expressive Culture: Film (CORE-UA 9750)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu,Mon
Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu,Mon
Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu,Mon,Tue
Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu,Mon,Tue

The course description for this CORE class varies on the location where taught. Please view the course description in the course notes below.

College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Expressive Culture: Images (CORE-UA 9720)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Thu
Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Thu

Contemporary Art in Britian. Contemporary art raises vigorous debate and criticism. But what is contemporary about contemporary art? We consider some key issues in dealing critically with contemporary art with a focus on work on display in exhibitions in London, both major national collections and private galleries, exploring art produced since the late 1950s through case studies of the work of individual artists and through themes which include photography, representations of the body, gallery display, video practice, and installation art. Topics include how contemporary art came to look as it does, with a focus on British art; the different forms of material and presentation artists have employed; why and how diverse audiences are addressed; and how markets, national prizes, and private collections shape the kinds of art produced and inform public taste. We also look at the collection and display of contemporary art, on a private and a public scale; dealer galleries, and issues of curation. Critical and historical writings by artists and theorists will be considered.

College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Intro to Web Development (DM-UY 2193)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

In this course, students focus on client-side programming. Assignments are arranged in sequence to enable the production of a website of professional quality in design and production. This studio stresses interactivity, usability, and the quality and appropriateness of look and feel.

Integrated Digital Media (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Visual Foundation Studio (DM-UY 1123)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

This course allows students to harness the power of visual language in order to convey messages and meaning. The elements of visual foundation that will be covered include components (color, texture, image and typography), composition, and concept. Although non-digital mediums will be addressed, the understanding and use of industry-standard software is also a primary goal.

Integrated Digital Media (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

3D Modeling (DM-UY 2133)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

In this studio, students will learn to produce and render high-quality 3D models. Upon completion of this course, students will have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of modeling, texturing, animation and lighting using industry standard software. Students may create content for video games, web, film, or other interfaces.

Integrated Digital Media (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Motion Graphics Studio (DM-UY 2173)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

Motion graphics can be found in a wide range of media: broadcast, web, animation, and film to name a few. This course will allow students to explore the elements of time and space to convey messages and meaning through type, image, and sound for the screen. Individual creativity will be stressed as well as the understanding and use of industry-standard software for developing motion graphics. | Prerequisite: DM-UY 1123

Integrated Digital Media (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Audio Foundation Studio (DM-UY 1113)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

This course is an orientation to the essential concepts and practices of digital audio. It is a creative and theoretical foundation studio that combines an orientation to sound and listening with fundamental techniques of digital audio production: recording, editing, and mixing. The course covers topic areas such as microphone and field recording techniques, recording studio best practices, audio editing, DAW (digital multi-track) production, and mixing.

Integrated Digital Media (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Ideation & Prototyping (DM-UY 1143)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

In this class, the creative process will be investigated in order to generate ideas for art, design, technology, and business endeavors. The course will show how ideation, design research & thinking, and prototyping can inspire, inform, and bring depth to what one ultimately creates. Students will expand their arsenal of design research skills, learn how to think critically about their audience, content, form, and processes, as well as, understand the importance of utilizing more than one research and design strategy.

Integrated Digital Media (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Still and Moving Images (DM-UY 2263)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

This course provides an overview of image making and presentation techniques, from still to moving. Students will also be introduced to experimental image making. This course will cover introductory still and video camera use, as well as how to begin integrating image within media. Students will gain practical and analytical skills through workshops, assignments, critiques, technical instruction, readings, screenings, and discussions.

Integrated Digital Media (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Introduction to Media Studies (MCC-UE 9001)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

Introduces students to the study of media, culture, and communication. The course surveys models, theories, and analytical perspectives that form the basis of study in the major. Topics include dialogue, discourse, mass and interpersonal communication, political economy, language, subject-formation, critical theory, experience, and reception. Liberal Arts Core/CORE Equivalent for Societies and the Social Sciences.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Introduction to Visual Culture (MCC-UE 1412)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

This course covers key issues, theories, and concepts in the field of visual culture, focusing on the social role of images and visuality (the power relations of looking, being seen and unseen). Topics include modern forms of visuality and visual technologies, concepts of spectacle, museums and image collections, image icons, taboo images, how images relate to memory, how images circulate through various social arenas such as art, advertising, popular culture, comic books, news, science, entertainment media, video games, theme parks, architecture, and design.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Critical Making (MCC-UE 1033)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed

Critical making is hands-on hardware practice as a form of reflection and analysis that draws on the literature of media studies and digital humanities. We turn to the physicality of computation and communications infrastructure, taking objects apart both literally and figuratively to understand how they work. In the process we learn to interpret and intervene in the material layer of digital technologies, using prototyping, reverse engineering, hardware hacking and circuit bending, design fiction, electronics fabrication, and other approaches.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Consumption, Culture and Identity (MCC-UE 1409)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

This course offers students the opportunity to engage with theories of communication & culture through the context of consumption & contemporary consumer society. Our focus will be on the role of commodities & consumer practices in everyday life & in culture at large. We will give particular attention to consumption’s role in the construction of social & cultural identities. Students will consider critical responses to consumer culture, including the resistance & refusal of consumption as well as the attempted mobilization of consumption toward social change.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Media Events and Spectacles (MCC-UE 1065)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

This course examines the role played by media events & spectacle in the shaping of belief, attitudes, & actions, with particular attention paid to the concept of the masses & its changed meaning over time. The course examines concepts of mass culture, the decentralization of cultural forms, & the rise of convergence culture. It explores the history of the media event & the theories that have shaped it, & the role of spectacle in society from the Renaissance to modern society to the age of digital media.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Media and Culture of Money (MCC-UE 1404)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

Departing from the premise that money and finance are not simply a system but also a culture, this class considers how money, finance, and economics are shaped in part through media representations. We examine historical ways of thinking about money, the centrality of financial markets in 20th-21st century globalization, and the examination of financial systems in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown. Students explore the role of money media in shaping attitudes toward consumerism, financial decisions, and finance systems.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Media and Music (MCC-UE 1037)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed

This course investigates the mediation of music & music-like sounds in both private & public life. Commercial venues, from restaurants to rest rooms, pipe Muzakl into its spaces; radios broadcast more music than any other content today; soundtracks imprint the texture of signifying associations for television shows & films; we carry personal playlists on mobile music players; & musical media & technological, ideological & metaphysical dimension; as well as the relation of music to mass media (radio, television, the internet) & the film and music industries.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks