2017-2018 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Courses of Instruction
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United States History |
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HST 227, 228 - Twentieth Century America to 1945 1 course unit
An examination of the changes in Americn political culture arising from the nation’s transformation into an urban, industrial nation. Topics to be emphasized include the reform traditions of Progressivism and the New Deal, the rise of American internationalism, and the development of a modern American culture. The course also uses appropriate era feature films to illustrate major themes in the nation’s development.
Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 228).
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HST 229, 230 - Recent US History Since 1945 1 course unit
An analysis of post-World War II America focusing on the fragmentation of the national consensus on domestic and foreign policy. Topics to be emphasized include The Cold War, McCarthyism, the civil rights revolution, the counter-culture of the 1960s, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Reagan years, and the 1990s and beyond. The course also relies on feature films as documents from the appropriate era to illustrate major themes in the nation’s development.
Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 230).
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HST 235 - American Civil War & Reconstruction 1 course unit
A study of the period from the end of the Mexican War to the end of Reconstruction (1848-1877). Explores the causes of the Civil War, the course of the war, and reconstruction following the Confederate surrender. Focus will be on the campaigns, battles, and generals of the war, as well as social, cultural, economic, and political developments of the period.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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HST 321, 322 - America Confronts a Revolutionary World: Foreign Policy Since 1890 1 course unit
This course analyzes the causes and consequences of America’s development as a world power. Topics to be considered include the rise of an American diplomatic tradition during the colonial/Revolutionary era, nineteenth century continental expansion, and the evolution of American internationalism in the twentieth century. Primary emphasis is given to twentieth century developments.
Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 322).
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HST 323, 324 - Constitutional History of the United States 1 course unit
This course traces the evolution and application of constitutional theories and concepts from our English forebears to the US today. The great controversies which reached the Supreme Court are examined in light of contemporary political and cultural values and of their enduring national importance.
Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 324).
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HST 325, 326 - American Economic History 1 course unit
This course, emphasizing the post-1860 period, examines both the roots of American economic growth and the impact that growth has had on American ideas, culture, and institutions. Topics to be considered include the rise of big business, changes in the internal structure of the business establishment, shifting attitudes of government toward business, development of a corporate culture, and the modern American economy.
Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 326).
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HST 327, 328 - Women’s America 1 course unit
Women, whether as daughters, wives, mothers, workers, scholars, or political activists, have played pivotal roles in American history. This course, an overview of American women’s history from colonial times to the present, examines the variety of women’s experiences through time by analyzing the myriad roles they played in the family, society, economy, and national politics. Specifically, using gender as its primary lens of analysis, this course seeks to uncover the broader contexts of American women’s experience by examining the dynamic interplay of women and men, values and culture, and discussing how structures of power linked especially to gender, but also to class and race, shaped women’s lives and mediated their experiences in the private and public worlds of America.
Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 328).
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HST 333 - American Military History 1 course unit
This course will explore the role that military combat has played in American history. Its primary focus will be on the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I and II, and Vietnam. Students will discuss the causes of America’s wars, the primary military operations involved in each, and the impact each had on American society. Extensive reading and writing, independent thinking, and wide-open class discussions will be the highlights of the course.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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HST 339 - Popular Protests: Parades, Riots, & Mass Movements in U.S. History 1 course unit
While American life has always had its critics and reformers, certain movements have gained mass appeal, sweeping large numbers of citizens into action (and into the streets). This course examines such social movements in order to think about both the issues that have stirred Americans and various modes of popular protest from speeches and parades to riots to marching on Washington. We will consider not just what Americans of various eras sought from their government and their fellow citizens, but also the language of protest and what it might tell us about citizenship, public space, community, belonging, and power. We will examine the contexts that have given rise to mass action and continuities across protest movements over time. Specific examples will be drawn from at least three periods of American history and may include abolitionism, women’s suffrage, labor movements, the Civil Rights and modern feminist movements, and others.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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HST 341 - Environmental History of the United States 1 course unit
An environmental history of the United States from the English settlement to the present. An examination of the ideas and attitudes that shaped human impact on and interaction with the land and the environment. The course will also explore the influence of legislation, judicial decisions, and governmental policy upon the environment. In addition, it will examine land-use patterns and their significant changes over the past 400 years. The readings will emphasize relevant primary writings and recent scholarship.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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HST 345 - Disease & Medicine in American History 1 course unit
This course focuses on the complex interplay of disease and medicine in the context of American culture and society over the last two centuries. It will examine the changing concepts of disease, the increasing success with which medicine has healed the body, and the development of the medical professions from the late eighteenth century to the present. It will also explore the ways in which Americans have employed diseases as social and cultural metaphors.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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HST 347 - History of Public Health in America 1 course unit
This course will explore the history of public health in America from the late seventeenth century to the present. It will examine the history of medical crises that evoked a public health response, including the development of formal institutions of public health and the environmental, industrial, and social aspects of public health in the contexts of the changing medical, political, and social environments of the United States. Topics to be considered include epidemic diseases, environmental problems, industrial medicine, social issues such as smoking, and development of departments of public health on local, state, and national levels.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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HST 357, 358 - Alternative America: The Losers’ History of the United States 1 course unit
Much of the history we read is written by the winners of past conflicts. This course examines major events in America’s past, such as the ratification of the Constitution, the sectional conflict of the antebellum era, and the industrialization of the late nineteenth century, from the perspective of the losers in those conflicts. We will consider the criticisms made by the losers and their alternatives to determine how different the United States might have been had they prevailed.
Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 358).
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HST 365, 366 - The African American Experience I: to 1896 1 course unit
This course examines the history of African Americans from colonial times until 1896, the year the Supreme Court sanctioned the notion of “separate but equal.” Specifically, it uses the writings of African Americans and other primary sources critical to their history to examine how events (such as the rise of slavery, the push for abolition, the Civil War, the start of Jim Crow) and cultural influences (such as race, class, gender, the law, Christianity, and family life) shaped African American lives and experiences until the end of the nineteenth century.
Meets general academic requirement DE and HU (and W when offered as 366).
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HST 367, 368 - The African American Experience II: since 1896 1 course unit
This course examines the history of African Americans from 1896, the year the Supreme Court sanctioned the notion of “separate but equal,” to the present. Specifically, it uses the writings of African Americans and other primary and secondary sources to examine how events (such as the rural exodus to urban centers after Plessy vs. Ferguson; the origins, progress, protest, and organizations of the modern civil and human rights movements; and urban renewal programs) and cultural influences (such as race, class, gender, the arts, the law, and the Church) shaped African American lives and experiences in the twentieth century.
Meets general academic requirement DE and HU (and W when offered as 368).
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Internship and Independent Study/Research |
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HST 960 - History Internship 1 course unit
Limited number of internships available for qualified seniors in such areas as museum and archival work.
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HST 970 - History Independent Study/Research
Each independent study/research course is to be designed in consultation with a faculty sponsor.
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Innovation and Entrepreneurship |
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INE 101 - Introduction to Innovation & Entrepreneurship 1 course unit
Students explore the basic concepts in the continuing processes of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. In the context of the entrepreneurial enterprise, some fundamental concepts from economics, accounting, budgeting, management, marketing, finance, and operations will be introduced, and students will investigate new opportunities, including client needs, sources of funding, and intellectual property. The course may include readings, speakers, videos, and entrepreneurial enterprise software simulations. Students will develop a feasibility study for a new product or service.
Meets general academic requirement SL.
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INE 201 - Business Plan Development 1 course unit
Student teams will identify an entrepreneurial opportunity, select a concept and develop it through the creation of a formal business plan. Students will investigate the competitive environment, conduct marketing analysis and surveys, develop requirements and/or prototypes, and consider the components of successful strategies for marketing, production, finance, publicity, distribution, etc. As a result of the business planning project, students will gain a better understanding of team building and management. The teams will formally present their plans to a panel of potential “investors”.
Prerequisite(s): INE 101 Introduction to Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Meets general academic requirement SL.
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INE 970 - Innovation and Entrepreneurship Independent Study/Research
Each independent study/research course is to be designed in consultation with a faculty sponsor.
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INE 975 - Innovation & Entrepreneurship Project Workshop 1 course unit
As juniors or seniors, students will apply their knowledge and experience in a venture of their own or work in the community. The experiential components of the Workshop will be augmented by lectures, presentations, and in-depth interactions between students and Workshop faculty. At completion of the Workshop, students will document and critically reflect on their Workshop experience and present these results to students, faculty and the community.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of all other courses for the Innovation & Entrepreneurship minor
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Intergroup Dialogue |
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IGD 150 - Intergroup Dialogue .5 course unit
In our pluralistic society, it is vital for people to develop the capacity to address issues of difference and inequality in honest and productive ways. Students in this class will engage in facilitated dialogues about social identity with other students whose identities differ from their own. Participants will read, view, and discuss scholarly and artistic material about social difference, give voice to their own experiences, and listen to and learn from the views of others. The class will investigate how systems of oppression such as racism and sexism affect different groups and examine processes of alliance-building to combat those systems. Regular writing assignments will provide opportunities for students to extend and deepen their in-class learning. Students will also explore ways to apply what they learn through the dialogue process toward goals of transformative change and social justice at both interpersonal and communal levels.
Meets first 9 weeks of the semester.
Meets general academic requirement DE when two IGD courses are taken.
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Italian |
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ITL 101 - Elementary Italian I 1 course unit
This course introduces students to the language and culture of modern Italy. Grammar and vocabulary are taught through a student-centered, interactive approach, enabling students to learn through communication. Since every language is inextricably linked to the culture of the people who speak it, students learn about the culture of Italy through the study of authentic artifacts of contemporary Italian culture, such as films, music, and other media. This course is designed for students with no prior knowledge of Italian. Assignment by placement test. Four class hours per week.
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ITL 102 - Elementary Italian II 1 course unit
This course is a continuation of ITL 101. It begins with a brief review of the topics covered in ITL 101 and then builds upon that foundation to expand and strengthen students’ language skills and cultural competency. Like ITL 101, this course is student-centered and interactive, enabling students to learn through communication. Since every language is inextricably linked to the culture of the people who speak it, students continue to explore the culture of Italy through analysis of authentic artifacts of contemporary Italian culture, such as films, music, and other media. This course is designed for students with limited prior knowledge of Italian. Assignment by placement test. Four class hours per week.
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ITL 203 - Intermediate Italian I 1 course unit
This course is the first semester of the Intermediate Italian language sequence. Students continue to deepen and refine their knowledge and command of Italian language and culture, building upon the skills acquired in Elementary Italian. In lieu of a standard textbook, language is taught through Spunti, a program of Italian instruction uniquely designed by the Muhlenberg Italian faculty. Italian 203 uses authentic examples of Italian cultural production, such as films, songs, commercials, and literary excerpts, as the starting points (or spunti) for analysis of grammar and exploration of contemporary Italian culture and society. Each spunto provides varied activities for the improvement of students’ linguistic and cultural competence in a dynamic and communicative environment. This class is designed for students with basic prior knowledge of Italian. Assignment by placement test. Three class hours per week.
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ITL 204 - Intermediate Italian II 1 course unit
This course is the second semester of the Intermediate Italian language sequence. Students continue to deepen and refine their knowledge and command of Italian language and culture. In lieu of a standard textbook, language is taught through Spunti, a program of Italian instruction uniquely designed by the Muhlenberg Italian faculty. Italian 204 uses authentic examples of Italian cultural production, such as films, songs, commercials, and literary excerpts, as the starting points (or spunti) for analysis of grammar and exploration of contemporary Italian culture, society, and history. Each spunto provides varied activities for the improvement of students’ linguistic and cultural competence in a dynamic and communicative environment. This class is designed for students with a strong foundation in basic Italian. Assignment by placement test. Three class hours per week.
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ITL 970 - Italian Independent Study/Research
Each independent study/research course is to be designed in consultation with a faculty sponsor.
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International Studies |
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IST 101 - Introduction to International Studies 1 course unit
This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the various approaches applied by analysts from disciplines, such as political science, sociology, history, and economics in order to understand and address issues, such as development, domestic environmental problems, public health, internal conflict, state formation and governance, human rights, facing peoples and states within the international community, and issues such as the impact of globalization, international conflict, global climate change and energy issues, the global impact of disease, etc., facing the international community as a whole.
Meets general academic requirement SL.
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IST 970 - International Studies Independent Study/Research
Each independent study/research course is to be designed in consultation with a faculty sponsor.
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Jewish Studies |
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JST 109 - Jewish Experience in a Secular Age 1 course unit
This course will explore secular Jewish experiences in the modern west. We will examine how traditional Jewish society has been transformed by new ideas and new social realities by exploring the many and multifaceted ways that Jews have constructed modern, secular identities in the wake of those transformations. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, as well as film and literature, this course will consider the ways in which Jewish identity has been defined and redefined in the modern period across Europe and the United States. Particular attention will be paid to questions of gender and the ways that men and women each experienced processes of modernization and secularization.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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JST 201 - American Jewish Life & Culture 1 course unit
This course will offer a history of Jewish life in the United States. It will examine the different ways that American Jews have defined Jewish life in America and consider the challenges faced by Jewish immigrants as they worked to build a distinctly American Jewish culture. The tension and balance between religious meaning and the value placed on secularism in America form a vital part of this study.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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JST 203, 204 - From Zion to Zionism: History of Jewish Nationalism 1 course unit
The very words Zion and Zionist have become powerful political signifiers both within and without Jewish communities, as well as in international discourse. Why are these words so hotly contested, and what do they signify? This course examines the historical evolution of modern Zionism. It considers the different religious, political, and cultural forms that Jewish nationalist thought has taken over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and situates these ideas within their historic and geographic contexts. Students will read the works of Jewish nationalist thinkers like Theodore Herzi, Max Nordau, Ahad Ha’am, Yitzchak Baer, Simon Dubnow, and Louis Brandeis and analyze their competing visions of Jewish nationhood and the specific historical concerns that fuel the emergence of different nationalist ideologies.
Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 204).
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JST 970 - Jewish Studies Independent Study/Research
Each independent study/research course is to be designed in consultation with a faculty sponsor.
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Languages, Literatures, and Cultures |
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LLC 211 - Books Without Borders 1 course unit
This course is a survey of world literature from a transnational perspective. We will learn to close read literary, visual and cultural texts from diverse cultures and geographies. The study of world literature is a mode of cross-cultural reading that goes beyond the Western Canon without excluding it. Many of our course texts emerge from and comment on contact zones and boundary spaces between cultures, places, and bodies. We will ask how such texts interrupt construct and inspire lived experience. Furthermore we will study relationships between texts to uncover how they reflect on, depend on, or revise one another. We will also explore the process, politics, and implications of translation. This course challenges students to learn the tools of textual analysis that make us receptive to form, genre, and historical context. We will discuss how world literatures can shape who we are, what we value, and what we imagine for the future. Class taught in English.
Meets general academic requirement HU and DE.
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Mathematics |
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MTH 101 - Topics in Mathematics 1 course unit
Topics selected from various areas of mathematics such as discrete mathematics, logic, number systems, geometry, probability, and graph theory. Designed to give the student an appreciation of mathematics as an integral part of our culture, this course includes applications to various other disciplines. Intended for students with no prior college-level mathematical experience. Not open to students who have completed MTH 119 Statistical Analysis or any higher-numbered mathematics course.
Meets general academic requirement RG.
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MTH 104 - Statistical Thinking 1 course unit
An introduction to basic concepts in statistics. Emphasis is placed on the ability to interpret and critically evaluate statistical claims. Statistical inference is explored through randomization and simulation. Intended for students who want an appreciation of statistics, but who do not seek training in carrying out statistical analyses themselves. Students who have received credit for MTH 119 may not enroll in MTH 104. Department permission required for students who have been placed in MTH 119 Statistical Analysis .
Meets general academic requirement RG.
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MTH 114 - Fundamentals of Mathematics 1 course unit
A study of fundamental mathematical principles underlying the concepts of number and shape. Topics include number systems, number theory, measurement systems, geometry, and functions with emphasis on applications and problem solving.
Meets general academic requirement RG.
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MTH 116 - Symmetry & Shape: Introduction to Geometry 1 course unit
An introduction to the geometric concepts underlying elementary mathematics: properties of circles, polygons and polyhedra, measurement systems and indirect measure, scale and proportion, symmetry, congruence, informal Euclidean geometry, geometric constructions, and transformational geometry. Applications feature mathematical patterns found in art and nature: the golden ratio, Platonic solids, tessellations in the plane, frieze and wallpaper patterns, scale drawings, 3-D drawing, one- and two-point perspective, and viewing point.
Meets general academic requirement RG.
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MTH 119 - Statistical Analysis 1 course unit
Designed for all students interested in learning to summarize and analyze data. Topics include exploratory data analysis, sampling distributions, simulation, bootstrapping, randomization distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, regression analysis, sampling procedures, experimental design, analysis of variance, and chi-square analysis. R with Rstudio is introduced for statistical computing and analyzing real-world data. Students may not receive credit for MTH 104 Statistical Thinking after taking MTH 119 Statistical Analysis.
Prerequisite(s): 3.5 years of high school mathematics.
Meets general academic requirement RG.
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MTH 121 - Calculus I 1 course unit
Differentiation of algebraic and transcendental functions, application of the derivative to related rates, max-min problems, L’Hôpital’s Rule, and graphing. Introduction to integration, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
Prerequisite(s): 3.5 years of high school mathematics.
Meets general academic requirement RG.
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MTH 122 - Calculus II 1 course unit
A continuation of MTH 121. Applications of the integral, integration techniques, numerical integration, infinite sequences and series, Taylor Series, and improper integrals.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 121 Calculus I .
Meets general academic requirement RG.
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MTH 219 - Statistical Models 1 course unit
This course is an intermediate applied statistics course that builds on the statistical data analysis methods introduced in MTH 119 Statistical Analysis . Emphasis will be placed on the use of statistical software to process data, fit statistical models, and assess the models’ performance. Topics covered will include experimental design, analysis of variance, multiple regression, variable selection, model comparison, and logistic regression.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 119 Statistical Analysis or MTH 332 Mathematical Statistics .
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MTH 223 - Calculus III 1 course unit
Focuses on extending techniques from one-dimensional calculus to multivariable calculus - including limits, continuity, derivatives, finding maxima and minima, integrals, and finding volumes. Topics include parametric equations, vectors, vector-valued functions, curves and surfaces in space, line integrals, vector fields, divergence, curl, the fundamental theorem of line integrals, Green’s theorem, and the Divergence theorem.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 122 Calculus II .
Meets general academic requirement SC.
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MTH 226 - Linear Algebra 1 course unit
Matrices and systems of linear equations, determinants, real vector spaces and inner product spaces, linear transformations, eigenvalue problems, and applications.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 122 Calculus II .
Meets general academic requirement SC.
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MTH 227 - Differential Equations 1 course unit
A study of the theory, methods of solution, and applications of differential equations and systems of differential equations. Topics will include the Laplace Transform, some numerical methods, and applications from the physical sciences and geometry.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 122 Calculus II .
Meets general academic requirement SC.
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MTH 240 - Transition to Abstract Mathematics 1 course unit
An introduction to abstract mathematical thought with emphasis on understanding and applying definitions, writing arguments to prove valid statements, and providing counterexamples to disprove invalid ones. Topics may include logic, introductory set theory, and elementary number theory, but the focus is on the process of reasoning rather than any particular subject or subdiscipline. It is strongly recommended that mathematics majors complete this course by the end of the sophomore year.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 122 Calculus II .
Meets general academic requirement W
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MTH 314 - Applied Mathematics & Modeling 1 course unit
Models describing physical and economic conditions will be constructed, analyzed, and tested. The computer will be used in model verification.
Prerequisite(s): Any 200-level MTH course.
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MTH 318 - Operations Research 1 course unit
Linear programming, the transportation model, dynamic programming, decision analysis, game theory, and inventory and queuing models.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 226 Linear Algebra .
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MTH 328 - Codes & Ciphers 1 course unit
This course is an introduction to the classical and modern methods for encoding secret messages (cryptography) and the science of breaking codes and ciphers (cryptanalysis). It blends the history of secret writing, the art of creating codes, and the mathematics underlying the theory and practice of encryption and decryption. Topics include substitution and transposition ciphers, applications of number theory to cryptanalysis, Vigenere and Hill ciphers, statistical methods in cryptanalysis, RSA encryption, and other public-key ciphers.
Prerequisite(s): Any 200-level MTH course.
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MTH 331 - Probability 1 course unit
A study of probability, discrete and continuous random variables, the binomial, normal, Poisson, chi-square, t, and F distribution.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 122 Calculus II .
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MTH 332 - Mathematical Statistics 1 course unit
A continuation of MTH 331. Topics will include estimation, hypothesis testing, regression, correlation, and analysis of variance.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 119 Statistical Analysis and MTH 331 Probability .
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MTH 337 - Mathematical Analysis 1 course unit
Rigorous treatment of the real number system, sequence and function limits, continuity, differentiability, intermediate and mean value theorems, uniform continuity, the Riemann integral, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
Offered in alternate years.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 223 Calculus III and MTH 240 Transition to Abstract Mathematics .
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MTH 342 - Advanced Geometry 1 course unit
An axiomatic approach to Euclidean geometry. The exploration of non-Euclidean geometries, including hyperbolic geometry. The study of transformational geometries.
Offered in alternate years.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 240 Transition to Abstract Mathematics .
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MTH 345 - Combinatorics & Graph Theory 1 course unit
An advanced course in discrete mathematics emphasizing counting and finite structures. Topics include fundamental laws of counting, generating functions, recursion, partitions, existence and optimization problems, graphs and digraphs, networks, the relationships between graphical invariants, lattices, Latin squares, design and coding theory, and Ramsey Theory.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 240 Transition to Abstract Mathematics .
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MTH 353 - CUE: Landmarks of Mathematics 1 course unit
This course examines major developments in mathematics of historical importance from ancient through modern times. An emphasis is placed on concepts from geometry, algebra, calculus, analysis, number theory, and modern mathematics. The course focuses on the context in which mathematical results were discovered and the lives of the discoverers/creators.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 240 Transition to Abstract Mathematics .
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MTH 370 - CUE: The Art of Problem Solving 1 course unit
Intended for students who enjoy solving mathematical problems in a variety of areas and who want to strengthen their creative mathematical skills as well as their ability to write and present mathematical arguments. Topics include recreational problems (concise intellectual challenges), contest problems (precisely formulated mathematical challenges), logic problems (generally qualitative in nature), and modeling problems (quantitative and posed in a context).
Prerequisite(s): MTH 240 Transition to Abstract Mathematics and at least one 300-level mathematics course.
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MTH 970 - Mathematics Independent Study/Research
Each independent study/research course is to be designed in consultation with a faculty sponsor.
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MTH 975 - CUE: Directed Research 1 course unit
Students will design, execute, and complete a mathematical research project which involves at most two students. This project will be supervised by a department faculty member. A project can involve original research initiated at Muhlenberg or it may be a follow-up independent study to extend summer work completed during a Research Experience for Undergraduates. A CUE project must be formally proposed by the student(s) and approved by the department by the end of spring semester of the junior year. Project requirements will include a paper detailing the mathematical work completed and a presentation at an appropriate local/regional/national mathematics’ meeting outside of Muhlenberg, as well as any additional requirements imposed by the faculty supervisor. Open only to mathematics majors who are completing their last two semesters in which they registered for classes on campus.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 240 Transition to Abstract Mathematics , departmental and instructor approval.
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Media and Communication Required |
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COM 201 - Media & Society 1 course unit
Examines influences of mass media on participatory democracy and its cultural forms and the history, production, representation, and consumption of media in society. Introduces students to social science approaches to the study of communication phenomena, including the logic of inquiry, standards of evidence, and grounds for making claims about communicative behaviors. Topics may include social media, images and effects, corporate media culture, organizational structures of journalism, emergence of consumer culture, the Internet and digital media environments, and audience identification and interpretation of media.
Meets general academic requirement SL.
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COM 231 - Documentary Research 1 course unit
Explores the American tradition of social documentary, focusing on milestone projects, including the work of James Agee and Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, William Carlos Williams, and Robert Coles. Oral, visual, and textual modes of production are examined. Special focus is given to new digital forms of representation and their impact on production, distribution, and consumption. Framing this investigation are the ethical issues that emerge when rendering and representing individuals’ lives. Students are introduced to the fundamental skills of investigative research, interviewing, gathering and interpreting information, and using print and electronic archives and research, and produce their own multi-media documentary projects.
Required 8-week lab.
Prerequisite(s): COM 201 Media & Society .
Meets general academic requirement W.
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COM 301 - Media Theory & Methods 1 course unit
Explores classic and contemporary media theories and research methodologies, including the historical and philosophical foundations of paradigm formation in media research, the social and institutional contexts that led to the emergence of the communication discipline, and current controversies within the field. This course builds upon principles and concepts introduced in Media & Society.
Prerequisite(s): COM 201 Media & Society and COM 231 Documentary Research .
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Discovery These introductory courses emphasize the breadth of media and communication. They provide an overview of different sub-specializations within the field.
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COM 208 - Global Media 1 course unit
Provides a comparative analysis of the principles guiding the organization, development, and operations of media systems in different political, economic, social, and cultural contexts. Considers the global expansion of mass media and the increasing connections of world citizens in a “global community.” Compares the production, distribution, reception, and effects of mass mediated messages in countries around the world. Topics explored include media systems and their social and political contexts, media and revolution, global media intersections with local audiences, and politics of international news and entertainment flows.
Meets general academic requirement DE.
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COM 212 - New Information Technologies 1 course unit
Explores the prospects and problems that surround the introduction and diffusion of new information technologies in society. Students consider the social, political, economic, and cultural impacts of new information technologies on personal privacy, self-identity, social relationships, information access, and global citizenship. Thematic focus varies from semester to semester with case studies drawn from gaming, social media, virtual communities and realities, and computers and the organization of work and learning.
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COM 218 - Media & Patriotism 1 course unit
This course looks at the contested relationship between media and government in both historical and contemporary contexts. Students explore the representation of war in American news and entertainment media, taking an historical view of popular narratives around military interventions from conventional wars to the twenty-first century war on terror. Students will develop an understanding of the historical relationship between American foreign policy, popular history, media, and the press. Among the questions to be explored are the public’s right to know, reporters’ access to information, and government censorship.
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COM 220, 221 - Free Culture 1 course unit
This course explores current debates surrounding free culture, specifically, 1) the history and development of notions of copyright in the nineteenth century and “intellectual property” in the twentieth century, 2) processes of media convergence and digitalization in today’s media, 3) the development of the free, open source software (FOSS) movement in the late 1970s and the challenge to proprietary software found in the Linux operation system, 4) digital distribution of music, the Napster debate, and remix culture in the music industry, 5) Wikimedia and the new power of “crowdsourcing” in knowledge labor, 6) Net neutrality, and 7) the philosophy and development of the digital commons, enshrined in the Creative Commons license and the legal implications of such licenses for artists, musicians, audiences, and citizens. Students will use an open source computer OS (Linux) and free software tools to contribute to a class digital project on a topic related to the free culture movement.
Meets general academic requirement SL (and W when offered as 221).
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COM 223, 224 - Feminist Media Studies 1 course unit
Feminist scholars have long studied the relationship between gender and media. This course will explore how television, film, popular music, and cyber culture play a central role in representing, defining, circulating, and constructing gender. This class takes a multi-media approach; for example, we will study how cultural forms depict different gendered characters on TV shows like Sex and the City and Modern Family, how certain genres are particularly open to queer interpretations like the musical, and how teen girls appropriate the magazine format to produce and circulate their own stories. This course will be oriented historically to examine how gender roles are constructed by media in specific historical contexts, and then how those representations change (or do not change) over time. Since much research on gender and the media has historically focused on femininity, this course will likewise focus on femininity, but we will also study the relationship between media and masculinity and sexuality, as well as how gendered identities are always also informed by other relations of power, such as race, class, ethnicity, and age.
Meets general academic requirement SL and is a cluster course when offered as 223.
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COM 225 - Journalistic Traditions 1 course unit
Introduces students to the great traditions of interpretive, documentary, and advocacy journalism and photojournalism. Includes analysis of exemplary works in the tradition and provides some opportunities to develop skills through individual projects.
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COM 240 - Introduction to Film Analysis 1 course unit
Introduces different strategies and different approaches for analyzing film and video texts, including formal, narrative, social/cultural, and feminist. Students will develop an understanding of the grammar, vocabulary, and conventions of film and video production and the factors that shape viewers’ reception.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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COM 242 - Twentieth Century Media: Film, Radio, & Television 1 course unit
Analyzes the historical development of radio, film, and television genres, technologies, and formats and considers the cultural, economic, political, and social climates in which they evolved.
Meets general academic requirement HU
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COM 251 - Introduction to Moviemaking 1 course unit
Introduces basic concepts of time-based visual media (film, video, digital) with an emphasis on the perception, operation, and experience of moving images, kinesics, and the structure and aesthetics of cinematic language. Students will learn how to work with cameras and audio and post-production equipment
Meets general academic requirement AR.
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Structure These courses use media and communication theories and methodologies to provide in-depth exploration of significant media and communication institutions, traditions, or cultural forms.
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COM 210 - Media Law 1 course unit
Introduces the philosophy, history, development, and current interpretations of U.S. media law; explores constitutional rights, laws, precedents, and public concerns which guide U.S. media, the public, the courts, regulatory agencies, and policymakers.
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COM 244, 245 - Media & Social Movements 1 course unit
Examines the interrelationship between mass media and twentieth century social movements in the United States. How have actors within social movements used mass media to raise awareness, mobilize, and/or demand redress? How have various mass media portrayed those movements, actors, and events? Using an historical approach, we will explore how context - technological change, political, social, and economic climates - deeply influence how mass media and social movements interact. Primary attention will be given to social movements during the age of the Cold War (1945-1990), including the Civil Rights/Black Power, the New Left, the New Right, Feminist, and Gay Rights Movements. Students will be challenged to consider local examples of present-day social change advocacy in relation to media use and representation.
Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 245).
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COM 312 - Media Industries 1 course unit
Considers the forces (legal, political, economic, historical, and cultural) that shape what we watch on television, read in books, or hear on the radio. Explores a wide range of print and electronic media industries as well as developing media like the Internet. Economic and critical analysis is used to examine both the institutional forces and individualized decisions that ultimately shape the content and format of mass media messages. Selected topics include media conglomeration, target marketing, media integration and digital television, and globalization of media markets.
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COM 314 - Audience Analysis 1 course unit
Examines the concept of audiences from a variety of qualitative and quantitative research perspectives: as “victims,” users, subcultures, and market commodities. Television ratings, public opinion polls, and other strategies for measuring audience feedback are analyzed and assessed.
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COM 316 - Propaganda & Promotional Cultures 1 course unit
Examines the historical development, social roles, communicative techniques, and media of propaganda. Thematic emphasis varies from semester to semester with case studies drawn from wartime propaganda, political campaigns, advertising, and public relations.
Meets general academic requirement SL.
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COM 341 - Social Media & the Self 1 course unit
Explores the performance of identity on social networking sites like Facebook and Tumblr, against the backdrop of the history of consumer culture. A core theme is the tension and overlap between ideals of authenticity and self-possession. Other themes include subcultural style, emotional labor in the workplace, and self-help culture. Students explore the online self with the emergence of the internet and into the Facebook era, with an emphasis on changing definitions of public and private, algorithmic memory, gender and sexuality, and the economics of sharing.
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COM 344 - Documentary Film & Social Justice 1 course unit
Examines documentary and other non-fiction based modes of film, video, and digital media production and the assumptions these forms make about truth and authenticity and how they shape our understandings of the world. Both historical and contemporary forms will be considered.
Meets general academic requirement AR.
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COM 346 - Exploratory Cinema 1 course unit
Examines the origin and growth of “avant-garde” cinema. Traces the history of film and video art from the early 1920s to the present, focusing on its structural evolution, thematic shifts, coexistence with commercial cinema, and its impact on contemporary media.
Meets general academic requirement HU.
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COM 370 - Popular Culture & Communication 1 course unit
Traces the development of popular forms with emphasis on the ways that social class has structured access, use, and creation of cultural artifacts and practices. Topics explored include both commercial and non-commercial forms of amusements, leisure, and entertainment.
Prerequisite(s): COM 201 Media & Society .
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COM 372, 373 - Race & Representation 1 course unit
Explores the social construction of the concept of race and barriers to communication erected by prejudice, discrimination, and marginalization of minority voices. Examines topics in multicultural, cross-cultural, and interpersonal communication as well as analysis of documents, personal narratives, and media images. Primary emphasis is placed upon African American experience in the U.S.
Meets general academic requirement DE (and W when offered as 373).
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COM 374 - Gender, Communication, & Culture 1 course unit
This course explores how culture establishes, maintains, and cultivates gender through forms of social movements, communication, and institutional structures, particularly commercialized media. Students will examine how youth and adults are socialized to think, talk, and make sense in American culture; the implications of these differences for the construction of gendered identities (e.g., masculinity, femininity, transsexuality), communication, and relationships; and the construction of gender in media, including digital and print advertising, television programs, the Internet, books, magazines, video games, and the cinema.
Prerequisite(s): COM 201 Media & Society .
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COM 378, 379 - Sport, Culture, & Media 1 course unit
Explores the cultural artifacts, historical developments, and related systems of power that comprise sport media. Students observe, document, and analyze mediated sport and its prominence in our cultural environment. Includes analysis of the conventions of sports journalism (electronic and print) and transformations in those arenas. Emphasizes writing.
Prerequisite(s): COM 201 Media & Society .
Meets general academic requirement W when offered as 379.
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COM 442 - Children & Communication 1 course unit
This course investigates the meanings of media in children’s lives. It adopts a cultural historical approach to understanding the role of media in children’s cognitive, social, and moral development. Looking at children’s interactions with media artifacts, it considers how childhood is constituted by the languages and images of media and situates these interactions within the broader political economic context constructing the child consumer. Children’s media studied include television programs, video and computer games, films, books, toys, and the Internet.
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Practice These courses provide students with opportunities to become producers, not merely consumers, of print, video, digital, and audio information. Each course gives students in-depth opportunities to put theory into practice in research, writing, or digital media production.
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COM 216 - Communication & Public Relations 1 course unit
Explores public relations from a critical perspective with emphasis on communication theory and research into public relations practices. Topics include the origins and development of public relations, its role in society, principles of public relations theory and practice, and the ethical issues raised by various philosophies and practices of public relations.
Prerequisite(s): COM 201 Media & Society .
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COM 256 - Introduction to Interactive Web Design 1 course unit
This course explores how (and what it means) to create, design, and build your own digital online cyberspace environment. The class focuses on visual (game) encounters, virtual reality, and mobile media. Students map out original project idea(s) learning and using multimedia apps and HTML code. This course is for students exploring the convergence of art, music, film, and media. Working on their projects, students learn the skills for conceiving, designing, and constructing a Web 2.0 (interactive) environment. This class does not require students to have any pre-existing design skills or computer knowledge.
Meets general academic requirement AR and is a cluster course.
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COM 334 - Health Communication 1 course unit
Examines interpersonal as well as mediated dimensions of health communication, including theories and case studies that address issues in physician and patient communication; gender, race, and cultural constituents in health communication; social marketing techniques for the production, distribution, and assessment of health-care information; the design and implementation of public health campaigns; and the use of communication technologies in the production of health communications.
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COM 336, 337 - Environmental Communication 1 course unit
Explores theories, models, and strategies for production and assessment of environmental communications. Examines environmental media and campaigns; provides students with skills to identify and solve problems in environmental communications and in the production of environmental media. Emphasizes writing.
Meets general academic requirement W when offered as 337.
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COM 338 - Organizational Communication 1 course unit
Explores theories, models, and strategies for internal and external communication within organizations. The constituents, constraints, values, practices, and media of organizational cultures are investigated from historical, cross-cultural, and contemporary practices. Primary emphasis is on the corporate experience in the United States.
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COM 351 - Video Production 1 course unit
Refines an understanding of video/television concepts and operations through the application of advanced production techniques. Provides hands-on experience beginning with the development of a professional project, treatment, script, and storyboard. Focuses on production tools and skills, class workshops, and outside exercises that facilitate becoming comfortable with camera and editing equipment and with the overall production process. Conceiving, coordinating, shooting, and editing the project, production teams will encounter real-time pressure and problem-solving situations.
Required lab.
Prerequisite(s): COM 251 - Introduction to Moviemaking .
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COM 361 - Radio Production 1 course unit
Introduces the tools, techniques, and principles of radio production. Students develop awareness of sound, the ability to structure information on the radio, and the capacity to sustain attention and build an audio documentary. Students will plan, produce, and evaluate audio projects in a variety of modes, including news, documentary, dramatic, and commercial.
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COM 367 - Studio Workshop in Television & Film 1 course unit
Beginning with a survey of the promise and demands, historical, economic, and political circumstances surrounding community television, this course broadens students’ exposure to television formats beyond mainstream commercial media. The course examines the history and innovation of community television in the United States and overseas. It provides students an opportunity to explore how to channel ideas into practice by expanding students’ established skills (research, writing, scripting, producing, directing, multi-camera and audio strategies, staging and lighting, post-production). Toward that goal, the course engages students in the production of a regular series of documentary, narrative, and experimental television and film projects that will be realized during a multi-week intensive studio experience. Multimedia and interdisciplinary projects involving theatre, art, dance, and music will be welcome.
Prerequisite(s): COM 251 Introduction to Moviemaking recommended.
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COM 376, 377 - Youth Media 1 course unit
This course introduces students to the theory, practice, and impact of youth media programs in local and international contexts. Students will also use media production to participate in fieldwork activities that contribute to HYPE, a media/youth development program housed in the department of Media and Communication at Muhlenberg College. Class projects will document and explore the possibilities of media making to promote young people’s twenty-first century skills of digital communication and critical literacy, and their participation as agents of community change.
Prerequisite(s): COM 201 Media & Society and COM 231 Documentary Research .
Meets general academic requirement W when offered as 377.
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COM 431 - Documentary Field Work 1 course unit
Develops advanced skills in documentary inquiry and practice. Provides tools and opportunities for developing skills in interviewing for archival, journalistic (print and electronic), social scientific, and administrative purposes. Course is organized around the design and development of individual or group documentary projects in selected media. Completed project(s) will be exhibited in some campus or public forum, e.g. submitted to campus newspaper, aired on campus radio or television, or displayed on the department website.
Prerequisite(s): COM 231 Documentary Research or instructor permission.
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Internship |
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COM 960 - Communication Internship 1 course unit
Designed to provide both an educational experience and an opportunity to work with professionals in practical preparation for a career; the internship includes a significant academic (written and/or production) component. Under faculty supervision, students will serve as interns with newspapers, television and radio stations, advertising agencies, public relations firms, publishers, health, environmental, sports, and human and public service organizations. Students must have completed the sophomore year. Does not count toward the nine courses required by the major.
Prerequisite(s): COM 231 Documentary Research and instructor permission.
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COM 970 - Media and Communication Independent Study/Research
Each independent study/research course is to be designed in consultation with a faculty sponsor.
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CUE Courses |
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COM 401 - CUE: Seminar in Media & Communication 1 course unit
Each seminar has its own focal topic and includes an inquiry-driven project requiring students to generate an integrative research or grant proposal and oral presentation about their proposal. The grant proposal is designed to build on the core scholarly-knowledge assignments in the department’s required-course sequence. Focal topics may include children and communication, media reform, race and representation, media and the home, or media and social theory. The Seminar in Media and Communication is offered at least once a semester by different members of the department on a rotating basis.
Seniors only
Prerequisite(s): COM 301 Media Theory & Methods
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COM 467 - CUE: Advanced Video Production 1 course unit
Students explore the convergence of video and digital media while studying the problems of constructing narrative and documentary texts within emerging experimental formats. Through their research-production projects, students learn to work with more advanced visual and organizational concepts and tools. Legal and ethical issues involved in media production are considered. Students present ongoing work and final projects in either an online or broadcast venue.
Prerequisite(s): COM 351 Video Production
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COM 470 - CUE: Media & Communication Honors Seminar 1 course unit
Each year this course will have a different thematic focus which will allow honors and non-honors seniors to engage with faculty and visiting lecturers in challenging dialogues and research experiences, culminating in the production and presentation of an original research project or creative work based on the seminar theme. Provides students with extensive opportunities to work closely with faculty mentors in developing their research project and creative work.
Prerequisite(s): Enrollment limited to majors during the senior year.
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