SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES FOR SPRING 2021

AN 291-IL Ethnographic Film 21st Skills Intercultural Understanding (UU), Creativity (C), Oral Communication (O)

In this interdisciplinary single-unit ILC, students will gain exposure to ethnographic film as a key component of visual anthropology and documentary filmmaking. Ethnographic filmmaking has been a way for practicing social scientists to push the boundaries of their own research while challenging central disciplinary assumptions about representation and “otherness.” Ethnographic films have also made vital contributions to the development of documentary film during the past century, and, more recently, have served as a source of inspiration for contemporary artists. Students will watch and discuss important historic and contemporary ethnographic films, interact virtually with film directors/social scientists, and complete readings relevant to visual anthropology, ethnographic and documentary film, visual studies, and sound studies. All students enrolled in the course will complete reading presentations, a midterm essay and a final essay. (No prior coursework in film, anthropology or sociology is required. This course does not involve a film production component.)

AR291-01 Drawing for Illustration and Animation Instructor: Rob Geronimo 21ST SkillS: A, CC

This class is designed to explore the complete spectrum of premises related to character creation, design and how to successfully integrate them into the production of graphic novels, children’s books, animation, and an editorial series. This class will emphasize the ability to write both visually and verbally in order to create complex and memorable characters and integrate them into visual stories.

AR291-02 Performance/Media Instructor: Fields Harrington 21ST Skills: A, CC, O

This course is an introductory hands-on exploration of the expansive terrain of art-making that includes live performance and mediated image making. Performance is a means of creative expression, a mode of critical inquiry, and an avenue for public engagement, constituted by a diverse field of practices, with a foundational relation to time, place, and documentation. Video, film, and photography each developed through widespread explorations that were deeply entwined with the "capturing" of bodies on film. The course is structured around a series of studies that allow for individual and collective production, complemented by short readings and presentations/screenings of existing works. Each student will develop and present a final project of their choosing based on course investigations.

CS/IS 591 Computer Science Special Topics: Information Tech Management Instructor: Nicholas Gatti, W 2:40-5:50 p.m.

In this course you will learn the fundamentals of Information Technology Management. You will gain the knowledge to be an effective contributor to an IT organization in developing the SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES FOR SPRING 2021 skills to execute essential roles such as, managing IT products and services, building requirements, timelines, budgets, and risk registers.

EN 291 Special Topics: Fiction, Meta-Fiction, and Film, Hurley, MW 1:00-2:30 21st Skills: WW, RR

A genre course, designed to trace the evolution of “realism” in four of its many iterations through various forms of “fiction.” Our goal is to explore that apparent contradiction--between the real and the fictive. We will begin by reading the novels most associated with “realism.” Then we will move on to short stories and novels that are usually described as “meta-fiction,” that is, fiction as a redefinition of what is “real.” Finally, we will conclude the course with film, a medium other than print, to which students will be asked to apply what they have learned when genre conventions reappear in a different medium and through a different conception of reading a “text.”

EN 291 (Special Topics in English: Podcasting - the Rhetoric of Social Movement, Dr. Sabatino, TWTH 10am-1pm Old GenEd and 21st Skills: W & LL, TT, WC

Podcasts have grown in popularity, featuring subjects from politics to entertainment. Students will learn about the fundamentals of podcasting through interviewing, story development, vocal delivery, layering sound, and how to write for a hearing audience. This course will combine the art of podcasting with the exploration of social movements. Social movements include collective action where people come together to defend or resist power with the goal of being agents of change. From a writing studies perspective, we will examine the rhetoric and language of your chosen social movement through a critical discourse analysis approach and the stories the movements tell. By exploring movements on the micro level, students will gain an understanding of how local movements influence larger, macro change. Be prepared to discuss these movements empathetically and respectfully. This course will include hands-on lab time where students will practice recording and editing audio.

FM291-01 Women and Hollywood Instructor: Holly Van Buren 21st Skills: A, O, C, R

This course will examine the role of women, both on screen and behind the scenes. Presented as a non-chronological survey course, week to week, students will explore noteworthy directors, screenwriters, actors, editors, producers, hyphenates, studio executives, and critics -- covering both film and television. Additionally, students will examine exactly how women appear on screen, exploring the earliest representations in 1920s Hollywood to the Bechdel test to intersectionality and trans representation today. A sample of the Hollywood figures to be explored include: Alice Guy-Blaché, Louise Brooks, Dorothy Arzner, Louella Parsons, Bette Davis, Elaine May, Polly Platt, Barbra Streisand, Mary Tyler Moore, Oprah Winfrey, Nora Ephron, Pauline Kael, Thelma Schoonmaker, Mira Nair, Shonda Rhimes, Ava DuVernay, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Laverne Cox, and many more.

SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES FOR SPRING 2021

HI291-HO: History of Pandemics Tuesday/Thursday- 2:40-4:10 pm Dr. Alison Smith 21st Skills: WW, RR, O

This course will trace the important continuities—and discontinuities-- that link our current experience of COVID-19 to ancient, medieval and modern examples of plague and pandemic disease. We will read Thucydides, Boccaccio, Manzoni, Camus and other classic texts, to examine ways that women and men have chronicled their experiences of shared human suffering. Taking a chronological approach, we will also discuss the history of public health and consider ways that different societies have responded politically and economically to epidemic disease, both in the long and short term.

HI291-01: The Silk Road: Central Asia at the Crossroads of Global Exchange Monday/Wednesday- 4:20-5:50 pm Prof. Bahar Jalali 21st Skills: I, UU, R

Over centuries, the Silk Road served as a complex set of linkages between civilizations of the East, West, North and South. Central Asia stood at the crossroads of these linkages in trade, technology, culture, and ideas. This course delves into the historical significance of Central Asia as an integral bridge to our understanding of communication and change, culture and trade, technology and ideas. Today as the world grapples with the complexities of globalization, scholars and policymakers alike may be well advised to more closely examine the long history of the Silk Road countries of Central Asia. Through readings, films, virtual tours, and discussion, we will examine Central Asia in historical perspective as a hub for cultural, economic, and technological exchange.

MM 591G(03) Special Topics: Media Management; Media Economics and Financing:

Tuesday 4:30-6:30 New Professor

A comprehensive overview and understanding of the economic structure of the film and media business; the economic policies and practices of media companies and the economic theories and principles that apply to the micro and macroeconomic aspects of the industry. An overview of the financing, as well as financial, cost and managerial accounting functions specific to media industries, including budgeting, management reporting, valuation and amortization of intellectual property rights, cost control and preparation of financial statements. 3 credits

MM 591G(03) Special Topics: Social Media Branding & Analytics

Students learn the components of vibrant social media brands, and how to become an influencer and create marketing strategies based on influencers; students learn the nature and prevalence of media data and how analytics shape campaigns and trends in media, informing decisions on content and marketing. 3 credits

SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES FOR SPRING 2021

MM 591G(03) Special Topics: Media and the Need for Speed Speed is what has been driving media and continues to make exponential gains and media domination worldwide. Speed weighs in on the popularity and application of various media in every platform, volume and efficiency. Speed affects economies of scale in development, production throughout distribution and marketing; as well as customer adaptation, across a wide variety of medium, from mobile applications to video games. Velocity impacts traditional media as well and is impacting every iteration of new media applications. Speed determines which companies will prevail and those that will perish. In-class course requirements will be augmented with off-line and additional coursework via the Internet. 3 credits

MU 291 ILC: Soundscapes of Science Fiction T/Th 11:20 am - 12:50 pm Instructor Juneau

Soundscapes of Sci-Fi will explore the sounds of science fiction which have ignited the imaginations of our world culture for nearly a century and a half. Students will discover how Sci- Fi literature and music enter into a symbiosis to reach their final frontier: the silver screen. Music of ancient civilizations and non-western cultures will be explored as the sounds often used to depict cultures from distant galaxies. We will then examine the creators themselves and the musicians they have inspired. Examples include Orson Welles and Bernard Herman in The Day the Earth Stood Still, Richard Strauss and Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey, David Lynch and TOTO in Dune, Rock and Roll in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, John Williams and George Lucas in Star Wars... and beyond! Students will engage in the material through lectures, listening material, presentations, and concert attendance. This class will be structured around both instructor and student-led presentations.. The student will be responsible for a capstone project on a subject which incorporates science fiction and music. They will then locate, evaluate, utilize and responsibly share the information via a final paper and presentation.

MU 291-01 Conducting for Instrumental and Vocal Music Monday/Wednesday 1:00pm - 2:30 pm Instructor Juneau

Wave your baton! The art of conducting is one of the most essential tools for any musical artist. This course is geared towards any student involved in musical performance who is interested in learning the art of conducting music in a variety of scenarios. The course will begin with the basic techniques of instrumental and vocal conducting and will move to conducting vocal pieces including songs, vocal works and instrumental pieces for band, orchestra pit orchestra and chamber ensembles. Understandings of the fundamentals of music is needed.

PS 291-01: Cross-cultural Psychology Mondays/Wednesdays- 4:20-5:50 pm Prof. Amanda Arcieri 21st Skills: UU

Are psychiatric conditions related to culture? Among the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, some individuals engage in irrationally dangerous activities without any recollection of the event, a condition called piblokto. Piblokto is an example of what psychologists refer to as a culture- bound condition. This course examines differences in human behavior and cognition that can be SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES FOR SPRING 2021 accounted for by cultural variation. Students will be exposed to recent advancements in psychological research that incorporates diverse perspectives on psychological concepts, such as personality, social behavior, and mental illness. Students will also be challenged to consider their own experiences and how their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors have been influenced by cultural norms.

PS 291-HO-Psychotherapy and the Humanities Fridays – 8:00-11:00 am Dr. Miles Groth 21st Skills: R,O,WC

This is an honors seminar for students interested in the early and ongoing relations between psychotherapy as a form of clinical practice like medicine, nursing and social work and the broad history of human cultural life in which psychotherapy appeared. In a series of readings, lectures, presentations by students and responses to those presentations, and extended discussions the class will explore key texts (primary sources) and figures (psychiatrists and clinical psychologists) in order to discover the extent to which their ideas and recommendations for working with people who are suffering from emotional and other psychological reactions that inhibit their full participation in everyday life are based in ideas that originated with writers and artists, including philosophers, poets and creative originals in the performing artists. Among the figures whose work we will study are Sigmund Freud (Austrian), Carl Gustav Jung (Swiss), Medard Boss (Swiss), R.D. Laing (Scottish) and Jan van den Berg (Dutch). The course requirements include extensive reading, two oral presentations, and a term paper. One unit.

SO291 Special Topics: U.S. National Security - Strategic Intelligence Tuesday/Thursday- 6:00-7:30 pm Prof. Greco 21st Skills: L & R

Strategic Intelligence is an examination of the United States Intelligence Community (USIC), including structural, historical, and current issue perspectives. The course serves as an introduction to the USIC – its organizations, operations and management structure. It also addresses the history of twentieth-century intelligence gathering/covert activities.

TH291: Acting a Song (Non-Majors) Monday/Wednesday 2:40pm to 4:10pm Professor Michelle Pawk and Lauri Young 21st Skills: CC, O Students who are not in the theatre performance concentration but love all things musical theatre can study how to act through song and music. Students will be exposed to a wide range of styles and composers. While there are no prerequisites, a willingness to be bold and perform weekly in front of their peers is a definite necessity as well as a comfort with singing.