SUMMER 2013 SCHEDULE

First Summer Day Session - May 29 - June 26, 2013
Monday - Thursday

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

BIOL 310. Computer Modeling in Biology and Environmental Science. The student will learn the basics of how to use a visual-modeling environment, Stella 1I and Starlogo, to simulate various phenomena in biology, ecology, and environmental science. Computer assignments and models will be tailored to students in their individual major. No computer programming experience is needed and the course is open to any student in the sciences. Cross-listed as ENST 310.  3 credits.

BUS 345. Business Law II. A study of the legal relations created in the various forms of business organizations (sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations). Topics include the substantive law of property including real, personal, and intellectual property, wills, trusts and estates, secured transactions, principal and agency, sales law, insurance, negotiable instruments, and securities regulation. Selected actual cases illustrate practical problems encountered in business. Prerequisite: MSB 330.   3 credits.

CHEM 113. General Chemistry I.  Fundamental concepts and principles common to the various branches of chemistry. This includes descriptive chemistry which deals in a systematic way with the more important elements and the structures, properties and reactions of their compounds. A balance between experiment and theory, between quantitative and qualitative aspects of the course material and between rigor and simplification is sought. Laboratory work emphasizes learning basic techniques, learning to manipulate and interpret numerical data and learning the relationship between experimental measurement and chemical theory through guided, independent work by the student. Primarily for students majoring in the natural sciences. Prerequisite: high school chemistry. 4 lecture-recitation and 3 laboratory hours. 4 credits.

CHEM 114. General Chemistry II.  Fundamental concepts and principles common to the various branches of chemistry. This includes descriptive chemistry which deals in a systematic way with the more important elements and the structures, properties and reactions of their compounds. A balance between experiment and theory, between quantitative and qualitative aspects of the course material and between rigor and simplification is sought. Laboratory work emphasizes learning basic techniques, learning to manipulate and interpret numerical data and learning the relationship between experimental measurement and chemical theory through guided, independent work by the student. Primarily for students majoring in the natural sciences. Prerequisite: high school chemistry. 4 lecture-recitation and 3 laboratory hours. 4 credits.

CJ 355. Criminal Investigation. An analysis of the techniques and methods used by a criminal investigator in order to solve a criminal incident. Examination of the laws and rules of evidence; the collection and analysis of physical and latent evidence; basic investigative leads; forensic science and criminalistics; interviewing witnesses and the interrogation of suspects. Particular investigative procedures employed in the solving of such crimes as homicide, rape, arson, and organized crime will be detailed. Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing. 3 credits.

CJ 374. Juvenile Interventions. Differential procedures and perceptions of the criminal justice system for the juvenile offender. Prevention and control of delinquency; theoretical models, deflection away from institutionalization. Discrete relationships between the community, the victim and the juvenile offenders. 3 credits.

CORE 110. Effective Writing. This course in college-level composition emphasizes writing clearly, effectively, and interestingly for a variety of purposes and audiences. Individual conferences, writing work-shops, journal writing, and regular writing assignments encourage practice in each step of the writing process. A library unit introduces the student to the use of sources in informational writing. 3 credits.

CORE 115. Effective Oral Communication.  This course introduces students to the functions and modes of public message-making, as well as strategies with which to execute them. It requires students to plan, prepare, practice and perform various types of public presentations that provide them with practical experience in developing ideas thoroughly, and communicating ideas effectively through speech. A video portfolio is kept of each student’s performance to document progressive skills development. Emphasis is given to help students perform presentations that are clearly focused, well organized, substantially supported, effectively worded, and confidently delivered. The aim is to help students develop their abilities to express their thoughts, beliefs and experiences in an intelligent and affecting manner, as well as to help them gain confidence in themselves as they do so. 3 credits.

CORE 140A. African Culture. A study of the contemporary culture, values, perspectives and lifestyle of African people focusing on a sympathetic understanding of cultural diversity and appreciation of another way of life. The course is taught in English. No knowledge of a foreign language is required. 3 credits.

CORE 140B. Balkan Culture. This course traces the development of the Balkans as a distinct (and not so distinct) cultural and ideological space from the time of the Enlightenment to the present.  Balkan cultures developed in large part in understandings of the region parlayed against visions of European civilization.  The Balkans were (and are) both “European” and “not-quite.”   We will explore this dynamic through cultural products of the 19th and 20th century: movies, architecture, visual art, novels and consumer culture. 3 credits.

CORE 140I. Islamic Cultures.  A study of the contemporary culture, values, perspectives and lifestyle of  Islamic people focusing on a sympathetic understanding of cultural diversity and appreciation of another way of life. The course is taught in English. No knowledge of a foreign language is required. 3 credits.

CORE 153. The Principles of Economics: Macro Economics. Macro Economics: The theory of national income, aggregate demand and the level of employment, money and banking, and government fiscal policy. 3 credits.

CORE 154. Introduction to Psychology.  A survey of basic core topics, concepts, and principles, including child development, learning, memory, motivation, physiological influences, stress and coping, personality dynamics, social functioning, abnormal behavior, and psychotherapy. Special emphasis is given to showing how psychology is applied to important issues in society, such as delinquency, child abuse, learning disabilities, crime and violence, profiling and forensics, managing stress, the widespread use psychotropic medications, addictions, brain injury, and “greening” the environment. At the end of this course, it is expected students will understand (a) the research principles that make psychology a scientific discipline, and be able to critically evaluate statements about behavior; (b) the biological and psychological factors involved in cognitive and emotional development from birth to old age; (c) anxiety pathologies and psychotic disorders; (d) different counseling techniques; and (e) how to evaluate the use of prescription medication for treating mental disorders.  3 credits.

CORE 157. Introduction to Sociology. The course introduces sociology’s basic concepts, theories, research methods, and subfields, covering such topics as socialization, deviance and crime, family, economic inequality, culture, gender, religion, and social movements. Students will come to understand the many ways in which people’s lives, including their own, are shaped by the social world, and the many ways in which human behavior and interaction serve to reinforce or challenge and reshape our social world.  3 credits.

CORE 163. British Literature Since 1785. This course offers a broad historical survey of selected British poets, dramatists, novelists, and essayists from the late eighteenth century to the present.  We will explore writers and crucial figures such as William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Darwin, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, W.B. Yeats, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bowen, Hanif Kureishi, and others.  Particular emphasis will be put on the political, social, sexual, and economic aspects of British literature since the late 1700s.   3 credits.

CORE 175C. Contemporary Music. An introduction to the musical elements of popular music, exploring the nature of rhythm, meter, syncopation, form, instrumentation, vocal, and instrumental style and a historical survey of rock, pop, and soul music, tracing their development from roots in blues, jazz, gospel, and country music to the music of today. No previous musical knowledge or experience is assumed.   3 credits.

CORE 179F. Introduction to Film Studies. A critical introduction of major concepts of film through study of selected films and/or film genres. This course will introduce the student to some major concepts in film studies and film language (editing, cinematography, sound, special effects, etc.) Course will culminate in an understanding of the many ways films produce meaning through critical interpretations and deep analysis.  3 credits.

CORE 192. Global Geography. A basic survey of the physical and human geography on worldwide scope. Topics include geographic concepts; the physical geography and climate; the human interaction with the environment; and the nature and development of culture. This course is required for all Elementary Education majors.  3 credits.

CORE 250. Catholicism. What does it mean to live in the world as a Christian and as a Catholic? How does it make sense to believe in the creator God, in Jesus Christ who suffered and died  for us, and in the church as a living body of Christ? Especially in this day and age, how does it make sense to hope for the coming of the kingdom of God – a world in which justice and righteousness reign and there is no more suffering and no more tears? This course examines central Catholic hopes and beliefs and explores how to engage them in the joys and sorrows of the contemporary world. In this work, the common ground between Catholicism and other Christian communions is highlighted. 3 credits.

CORE 261. Faith, Morality and the Person. This course addresses the ways Christian and other religious and moral traditions interact with personality and socio-historical conditions to form identity and shape character over time. Special attention is given to the way religious practices and community memberships foster and sustain moral convictions and actions, with a focus on the ways lives of faith can challenge and transform the societies within which they are lived out.  3 credits.

CORE 270. Natural Science I. Study of the scientific approach and what distinguishes it from other approaches to understanding the world. Characteristics common to all sciences will be emphasized. Examples of research and discovery from a variety of sciences will be studied to illustrate scientific methodology, principles and concepts as well as to demonstrate the unity of the scientific approach. 3 credits.

CORE 276. Forensic Biology. The diversity of the fields of study grouped under the umbrella of forensic biology will be discussed.  The education, training, and specialization involved in actual forensic science will be compared to the CSI-style misunderstanding of forensics.  Topics include, but are not limited to: sample collection, documentation, forensic anthropology, serology, DNA analysis, and factors affecting decomposition. Prerequisite: Core 270 or other introductory science course. 3 credits.              

CORE 280. Introduction to Philosophy. An introduction to the central problems and major figures in the history of philosophical thought. Topics include the meaning and purpose of human existence, the ultimate nature of reality, the foundations and limits of human understanding, the foundations and limits of government, the basic norms of right and wrong. 3 credits.

CORE 282. Philosophical Themes: Death and the Meaning of Life. This course explores human responses to death. How should we think about death? Is there an afterlife? Does death show that life is ultimately meaningless? How should we live given the certainty of death? This class explores these other perennial questions about death and meaning through the reading of classic and contemporary philosophers.  3 credits.

ECON 112. Principles of Economics: Micro. Micro-economic principles: the theory of price under various market conditions; the economic function of government; elements of international economics. 3 credits.

ECON 360. Comparative Economic Systems. Analysis of the institutional structure of each type of economy and the ways in which basic economic principles work through such structures to produce economic results. Prerequisite: CORE 153 or ECON 112.   3 credits.

EDUC/SPED 270. Introduction to Special Education. An introduction to the philosophy, practices and principles of special education to meet the educational, psychological and emotional needs of children with exceptionalities in our society. Exceptionalities are examined in depth through: identification, characteristics, and accommodations in comparison to regular education. 3 credits.

EDUC 351. Creative Arts in the Classroom. Designed to develop a student’s critical and aesthetical understanding of the creative arts. Explores historical and cultural contexts of the visual, musical, and performing arts. Included to teach candidates to integrate the creative arts into all aspects of the curriculum. Focuses on appropriate materials, content, and delivery of instruction within the PK-4 classroom in the areas of production, performance, exhibition of dance, music, theater, and visual arts. 3 credits.

EDUC 360. Literacy Foundations for Primary Grades. A course that reviews relevant preschool and elementary children’s literature as a vehicle for further developing the child’s literacy foundations. Candidates will explore a variety of practices for involving the home/family with the school’s ongoing literacy efforts. Students will participate in an early field experience to support literacy foundations in an area school district. Prerequisites: EDUC/SPED 215, EDUC/SPED 260. Current clearances needed. 3 credits.

EDUC 366. Teaching Diverse Students. Designed to assist middle and secondary school content teachers to recognize problems related to teaching diverse students and to emphasize the proper instruction to meet the cognitive as well as the psychological needs of their students. 3 credits.

EDUC 420. Social Studies Methods PK - 4. The six social sciences in elementary curriculum will be discussed. Methods to teach social studies concepts will be reviewed, including literacy activities and integrated content area instruction. Students will participate in a service-learning project to teach social studies lessons in area schools. Current clearances needed. 3 credits.

ENGL 371. Autobiography and Memoir. The class will study and analyze autobiography and memoir and its historical backgrounds. Creative nonfiction, whether it is autobiography, biography, memoir, criticism, travel writing, or some other variety, is a hybrid form.  Caught between fiction and nonfiction, between truth and invention, it is an often neglected "fourth genre."  In this class, we will examine the genre in depth, with special consideration for how contemporary women writers have transformed the genre.  Women, especially in the twentieth century and beyond, have used this form in innovative and imaginative ways, bringing sharply into focus the way many women writers may feel "hybrid" and overlooked themselves.  Part of the course will be devoted to how women in particular have contributed to the genre and how, as I say above, they have "used" this form to express themselves.  3 credits.

MATH 128. Introduction to Statistics, Data Analysis, and Applications to Life Science. Basic methods of data analysis. Emphasis on the use of logical reasoning in analyzing statistical data. Students are taught how to precisely communicate statistical results. Topics include displaying data graphically; measures of central tendency; measures of variability; general laws of probability; normal, t, chi-square, and F distributions; sampling distributions; confidence intervals; hypothesis testing; analysis of variance; two-way tables; use of statistical software. Biological applications are emphasized. Three 50-minute lectures and one 50-minute lab per week. Prerequisite: CORE 098 — Mathematical skills. Closed to students who have taken or who are currently taking MATH 124 or MATH 126. Offered fall semesters. 4 credits.

MATH 129. Analytic Geometry and Calculus I. The first calculus course in a three-course sequence. Intended primarily for chemistry, computer science, or mathematics majors. Topics include equations; inequalities; analytic geometry; trigonometric functions; an introduction to exponential and logarithmic functions; limits; continuity; derivatives; differentials; maxima and minima problems; graphing techniques; the definite integral. Prerequisite: CORE 098 — Mathematical skills. Offered fall semesters.  4 credits.

MSB 305. Organizational Behavior. An introduction to the field of Organizational Behavior. Organizational Behavior is an interdisciplinary field that examines human behavior in organizational settings and concerns the behavioral interactions of individuals, groups, and the organization itself. Prerequisite: MSB 200.  3 credits.

MSB 320. Financial Management. The course introduces basic principles in finance such as cash flow, the time value of money, valuation of the firm and financial assets, and capital budgeting. Prerequisites: MSB 110, MSB 120 and ECON 221. 3 credits.

MSB 330. Business Law I. A study of the nature of law, legal reasoning, and procedures, relating to the court systems, government regulation, administrative agencies, and the private judicial systems of arbitration and mediation. Topics include crimes and torts including economic and business related aspects of each. Special emphasis is placed on contract law, including the formation, breach of contract, and legal remedies. Selected actual cases illustrate practical problems.
Prerequisites: CORE 110, CORE 115, and CIS 110.    3 credits.

PSYC 355. Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence. Study of significant aspects of human development from conception through adolescence. Topics include influences upon the development of social and emotional growth, personality, intellectual capacity, and the acquisition and usage of language. The relevance of these topics to parent effectiveness will be stressed.  3 credits.

SOCS 261. Methods and Statistics of Social Research. The techniques of social research and the role of statistics in compiling and analyzing its results. Topics include hypothesis formulation, measurement, questionnaire construction, interviewing, sampling, statistical tests, scaling, coding, reliability and validity, and the ethics of social research. A vital learning mechanism of the course will be each student’s completion of an original survey research project.

SOC 367. Sociology of Aging. Exploration of aging as a biological, psychological and sociological event. Emphasis on aging as a social problem and examination of problematic conditions such as health, finances, the transition into retirement, individual adaptation to aging, the society’s current inconsistent responses to aging including public and private maintenance programs. 3 credits.