Category Archives: Undergraduate

Courses for All IMA Students

Fall 2023 Fall 2024 Spring 2023

Social Impact: Advertising for Social Good (MCC-UE 1051)

With the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of social movements like Black Lives Matter and #metoo, the field of social good advertising has rapidly expanded as brands seek social relevance, governments and nonprofits look to inform, and activists try to persuade. In this course, students will learn to plan and execute powerful social advertising campaigns, while thinking critically about the blurred lines between advertising and information, and branding and politics, in what Sarah Banet-Weiser calls “Shopping for Change.

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

Sections (Fall 2024)

MCC-UE 1051-000 (14065)09/03/2024 – 12/12/2024 Wed11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Railla, Jean

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Undergraduate

Global Media Seminar: Britain and Europe (MCC-UE 9457)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates:

With an emphasis on British and European news and journalism, this course explores globalization from a wide range of theoretical frameworks including political economy, cultural analysis, theories of representation, and critical race and postcolonial studies. It considers how technologies, diasporic and transnational communities, and international institutions impact global communications, and how these networks and organizations are challenging, re-imagining and re-shaping social, cultural and geographic boundaries via mediated discourse.

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

Fall 2025 Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Fall 2023 Fall 2024 Spring 2021

History of Computing (MCC-UE 1170)

This umbrella course focuses on specific time periods, technological developments and cultural contexts relevant to understanding the development of digital computing technology over the course of the 20th century and into the 21st. This course familiarizes students with the social forces and techno-cultural innovations that shaped the computing industry. Specific themes may include: personal computing; Cold War computing; computing and globalization; the quantified self; computational aesthetics; artificial intelligence and machine learning; computing and gender.

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

Sections (Fall 2024)

MCC-UE 1170-000 (14061)09/03/2024 – 12/12/2024 Mon,Wed3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Hassein, Nabil

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Undergraduate
Fall 2023 Fall 2024

Visual Culture/Science and Technology (MCC-UE 1411)

This course examines the imagery of science and technology, the role of visuality in the construction of scientific knowledge, artistic renditions of science, and the emergence of visual technologies in modern society. It looks at how visuality has been key to the exercise of power through such practices as cataloguing and identification; the designation of abnormality, disease, and pathologies; medical diagnosis; scientific experimentation; and the marketing of science and medicine. We will examine the development of the visual technologies in the emerging scientific practices of psychiatry and criminology; explore the sciences of eugenics, genetics, pharmacology, brain and body scans, and digital medical images of many kinds; the marketing of pharmaceuticals, and the emerging politics of scientific activism.

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

Sections (Fall 2024)

MCC-UE 1411-000 (14031)09/03/2024 – 12/12/2024 Tue,Thu12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Almenara, Maria Paz

Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Undergraduate

Middle East Media (MCC-UE 1341)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed

This course examines contemporary media in (primarily Arab parts of) the Middle East and media about the Middle East, and Islam within the U.S. it analyzes the role played by these media in representing and reproducing the perceived rift between Islam and the West. Readings and media examples focus on the politics of culture, religion, modernity, and national identity as they shape and intersect with contemporary geopolitical events, cultural formations, and media globalization.

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

Fall 2025 Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Senior Honors in Media Culture/Communication (MCC-UE 1210)

Seminar for students who have been approved by the department to pursue honors in the major. Extended primary research in Communication Studies, focusing on the development and sharing of individual research projects. Students will enroll concurrently in two points of independent study under the director of a faculty honors sponsor, as outlined in departmental guidelines.

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

Sections (Fall 2025)

MCC-UE 1210-000 (8057)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Mon3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ali, Isra

Fall 2025 Undergraduate

Inquiry Seminar (MCC-UE 1200)

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

MCC Research Inquiry Seminars, taken early in the major, expose students to the department’s culture of scholarly inquiry. Course topics reflect faculty research interests, offering students a chance to explore emerging issues in the field of media studies.

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

Fall 2025 Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Fall 2023 Spring 2024 Spring 2025

Ethics and Media (MCC-UE 1028)

Students who plan on pursuing careers in the media (professional and academic) will be faced with difficulty choices that carry with them potent ethical repercussions, choices that practical training does not properly equip them to approach in a critical and informed manner. The purpose of this course is therefore twofold: 1) to equip future media professional with sensitivity to moral values under challenge as well as the necessary skills in critical thinking and decision making for navigating their roles and responsibilities in relation to them; and 2) honing those same skills and sensitivities for consumers of media and citizens in media saturated societies.

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

Sections (Spring 2025)

MCC-UE 1028-000 (8303)01/21/2025 – 05/06/2025 Mon,Wed8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Cormier, Robert

Undergraduate

Ind Study (MCC-UE 1000)

Credits: 1-6
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:
Credits: 1-6
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:
Credits: 1-6
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:

It should be noted that independent study requires a minimum of 45 hours of work per point. Independent study cannot be applied to the established professional education sequence in teaching curricula. Each departmental program has established its own maximum credit allowance for independent study. This information may be obtained from a student?s department. Prior to registering for independent study, each student should obtain an Independent Study Approval Form from the adviser.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
1-6 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Fall 2023 Spring 2025

Youth in the Middle East (ACS-UH 2613X)

Roughly one third of the Middle East population today is between 15 and 29 years old – a demographic “bulge” which has brought Middle Eastern youths at the forefront of media and government concerns both at the regional and global scale. But from the figure of the young jihadist to that of the Arab spring revolutionary, dominant perceptions of these youths often fall into highly polarized archetypes. Moving the focus away from politics and religion, this course explores the everyday worlds of Middle Eastern youths and the complex interactions – with institutions, peers and family members – which characterize their daily lives. By analyzing multiple youth cultures divided along the lines of gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or social class, students will address the diversity of Middle Eastern youths and question the universality of age categories. A large space will also be devoted to the voices of Middle Eastern youths themselves, from Egyptian literature and Emirati cinema to Moroccan hip-hop. These cultural productions will allow students to look at the way Arab youths use globalized artistic genres to address regional issues and express their fears, hopes and desires.

Arab Crossroads Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2025)

ACS-UH 2613X-000 (4460)01/21/2025 – 05/09/2025 Tue,Thu12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Assaf, Laure

Cultures and Contexts Undergraduate
Fall 2023

Journalism Ideas & Practice (JOUR-UA 25)

This intensive, once-a-week course is designed for students with a serious interest in writing about movies for print and digital media. Students practice various forms of film journalism while developing a deeper understanding of the art form through screenings and close readings of works by Brooks Barnes, Pauline Kael, Peter Bogdanovich, Ellen Willis, James Baldwin and Francois Truffaut. Planned class trips include a major film festival and a tour of the Criterion Collection, a film company specializing in art-house cinema. In addition to discussing individual films and film movements, we will cover essential journalism skills, with guest speakers offering guidance on specific topics like reporting and interviewing techniques. Classwork will include writing exercises, presentations and workshops. By the end of the course, students will have raised their cinema I.Q. and written a variety of film articles that inform and engage.

Journalism (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 14 Weeks

Expressive Culture Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Undergraduate

Management & Organizations (BUSOR-UH 1003)

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

Why do some organizations succeed while others flounder? Whether it be as an employee within a traditional for-profit business, or within one of the wide spectrum of alternative career paths, all of us will ultimately be a part of organizations. This course will help illuminate the key processes and factors that determine why organizations function as they do, drawing upon the fields of management, strategy, sociology, and psychology in the process. Specific topics covered include: Corporate strategy and achieving competitive advantage, Organizational structure and design, Organizational and national culture, Leadership, Motivation and incentives, Groups dynamics, Power & politics within organizations, including a discussion of persuasion & influence and social networks, Judgment and decision-making.

Business & Organizational Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Introduction to Creative Writing (LITCW-UH 1003)

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

This workshop introduces the basic elements of poetry, fiction, and personal narrative with in-class writing, take-home reading and writing assignments, and substantive discussions of craft. The course is structured as a workshop, which means that students receive feedback from their instructor and their fellow writers in a roundtable setting, and that they should be prepared to offer their classmates responses to their work.

Literature & Creative Writing (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 General Elective Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Elementary Arabic 1 (ARABL-UH 1110)

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

This course is designed for learners with no prior knowledge of Arabic. Students who have studied Arabic before or who have prior knowledge of Arabic are required to take a placement test. This is a full semester (or equivalent session) course during which students first learn the Arabic alphabet, then move on to work on the sentence and paragraph levels. It is an interactive course designed to build the student’s abilities in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. At the end of the semester students should be able to carry on a short conversation; ask and answer questions; introduce themselves and others; provide simple biographical information; interact in simple daily life situations; ask for assistance; express likes and dislikes; read short texts; and gain a basic understanding of Arab culture. Types of tasks and assignments required for this course include daily homework assignments, periodic quizzes, brief presentations, short essay writing, and a final exam.

Arabic Language (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 General Elective Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Intro to Marketing (MKTG-UB 9001)

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

This course evaluates marketing as a system for the satisfaction of human wants and a catalyst of business activity. It presents a comprehensive framework that includes a) researching and analyzing customers, company, competition, and the marketing environment, b) identifying and targeting attractive segments with strategic positioning, and c) making product, pricing, communication, and distribution decisions. Cases and examples are utilized to develop problem-solving abilities.

Marketing (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Fall 2025 General Elective Societies & the Social Sciences Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Stage: Text and Performance (ENGL-UA 9412)

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

This course provides an introduction to the dramatic work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Students read and attend representative comedies, tragedies, and histories, their selection to be determined by the plays actually in production in and around London, particularly at the Barbican, New Globe, and Stratford to which at least one excursion will be made. Special attention will be given to the playhouses and the influence they had on the art of the theatre, actors’ companies, and modes of production and performance. Lectures and discussions will focus on the aesthetic quality of the plays, their relationship with the audiences (then and now), the application of the diverse attitudes and assumptions of modern critical theory to the Elizabethan stage, the contrasting structures of Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean drama, the new emphasis on selfhood and individuality, and the major themes of hierarchy, order, and justice, the conflict of Nature and Fortune, the role of Providence, the ideals of love, and the norms of social accord. Opportunities will be given to investigate the interrelations of the plays and other arts, including film, opera, and ballet.

English (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Fall 2025 Spring 2026 Texts and Ideas Undergraduate
Fall 2023

Economics of Media and Entertainment (ECON-UB 120)

The media and entertainment industries (including professional sports) share a series of peculiar features: essentially, they (a) produce an intangible output (e.g., a music recording), which can be distributed in a variety of forms and (b) do so based on an input which is extremely idiosyncratic: the creative output of a person or group of persons (e.g., a singer or a band). Finally, (c) recent technological innovation has changed the balance of power between the various players and led various industry segments to re-invent their business model. This course provides an introduction to the businesses of media and entertainment: value chain, key players, significant trends, etc. It takes a distinctive economics perspective to understanding how the forces of supply and demand have changed the business model of various industry segments.

Economics (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 14 Weeks

General Elective Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate
Fall 2023 Spring 2021

Entertainment Law (MULT-UB 48)

This two-credit course is about key legal aspects of the entertainment industry. Entertainment law is not a separate legal discipline. There is really no such thing as entertainment law. Instead, it lies at the intersection of several areas of law and applies those disciplines to the diverse entertainment industry of products and services. The course will involve a foundational coverage of the following areas: contract, advertising, protection of ideas by contract, copyright and trademark (including the concepts of parody and fair use), rights of publicity and privacy, defamation, and artist representation. This course should prepare you to analyze a wide variety of entertainment law issues at a general level. Entertainment law does not tend towards an orderly system because it lacks overriding organizational principles that would tie together its myriad facets. As such, this course will appear to lack a logical outline in its progression and instead, will examine this corner of law in separate pieces, which will cover doctrine, analytical problem-solving, practical skills related to law (e.g., analytical writing, reasoning skills, argument structure, etc.), and the particular contexts in which issues arise in the entertainment industry. Dealing with more narrow topics, such as constitutional concerns or union representation, or obtaining a much deeper knowledge of specific topics discussed in class, will require additional, specialized study. This class also helps students further develop their reasoning, communication, and listening skills.

Multidisciplinary (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2021)

MULT-UB 48-000 (10639)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Thu2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by

MULT-UB 48-000 (10725)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by

General Elective Liberal Arts & Sciences - Electives Societies & the Social Sciences Undergraduate

TV Nation: Inside and Out of The Box (FMTV-UT 1086)

TV Nation: Inside and Out of the Box gives students the opportunity to experience, first hand, how the world of network television works from two points of view: business and creative. Students will gain an understanding of the business aspect through the vantage point of the network executives and programmers. They will also learn the creative process from development to pitching, from the vantage point of writers and producers in the industry. In TV Nation, students will role play the entire process as the key players who put together a season for broadcast and cable networks. This course allocates as a Craft for Film & TV majors. COURSE SUBJECT TO DEPARTMENTAL FEES.

Undergraduate

Class #
Section #
Meets

Class #: 12845
Section #: 001
Meets: M 6:20-9p


Class #: 12846
Section #: 002
Meets: T 2-4:45p

Fall 2025 Fall 2026 General Elective Spring 2025 Spring 2026 Summer 2025 Summer 2026 Undergraduate
Fall 2023

The Softness of Things: Technology in Space and Form (COART-UT 701)

Through a series of lectures and weekly prompts, this hands-on course introduces a methodology that facilitates the process from thinking to making. Softness is used as both a theoretical and material framework that asks students to rethink the edges of the real and to to engage with structures, organizations, materials and relationships as malleable, fluid, and open to transformation. Students are introduced to foundational concepts through a wide range of examples and readings, and are invited to critically reflect on how these concepts inform and guide their own practice and creative journey. The weekly assignments are meant to help students become comfortable with a variety of techniques and making practices, and in a rapid, playful and experimental manner engage with ideas in an embodied and enacted way. Given that they have a week to complete each assignment, the goal is to help students delve into the core and essential properties of each concept and find ways to express and explore them in their work. The cadence of the lectures and survey of a wide range of artistic practices aims to expose students to different approaches to making, and importantly help them understand how theory and practice are not separate realms but indeed intertwined.

Collaborative Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

COART-UT 701-000 (23562)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Thu 5:00PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington Square
Instructed by Papadopoulos, Despina

Featured IMA Electives Undergraduate