2015-2016 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Courses of Instruction
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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 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 at another institution. 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 B or 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 - Communication in the Global Community 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.
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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 & War 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 B or SL (and W when offered as 221).
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COM 223 - 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.
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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 A or 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 H or HU
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COM 251 - Fundamentals of Visual Communication 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
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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 H or 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 B or 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 A or 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 A or H or 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 D or 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 440 - Film Theory & Criticism 1 course unit
Investigates the principal theories of film, considering the film text as a mode of communication, as an art form, and as an ideological practice. Explores how film and video control the production of pleasure and meaning during reception. Students view a variety of films representative of specific cultural and historical contexts and are introduced to relevant theories and their application.
Prerequisite(s): COM 240 Introduction to Film Analysis or permission of instructor.
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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 321, 322 - Writing for the Media 1 course unit
Provides intensive writing experiences in a variety of formats. Introduces students to the different conventions of writing for print media, radio, and television. Class structure, assignments, and timed writing exercises are designed to simulate a working media environment.
Prerequisite(s): COM 201 Media & Society or ENG 205 Creative Nonfiction Writing or ENG 275 Theory & Methods of English Studies
Meets general academic requirement W when offered as 322.
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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 - Fundamentals of Visual Communication .
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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 365 - Hypermedia 1 course unit
Focuses on emerging electronic interactive media. Through an exploration of cyberspace, virtual reality, and electronic multimedia applications, such as video game playing, the class examines the conceptual dimension of interactive media and its production. Each student will conceive, design, and produce an interactive project in a digital environment.
Prerequisite(s): COM 231 Documentary Research or permission of instructor.
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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 231 Documentary Research . COM 251 Fundamentals of Visual Communication 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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CUE Courses |
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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 or COM 365 Hypermedia .
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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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COM 490 - CUE: Digital Media Design Lab 1 course unit
Students plan, develop, produce, and present CUE productions (whether video, web-based, digital storytelling, audio, animation, documentary, print, or multimedia) in a collaborative workshop setting. Students planning to enroll in this course prepare a project proposal to be approved by a CUE faculty advisor late in the junior year. Students design and develop a website, blog, e-book, or e-portfolio to present themselves as graduates prepared for positions in media related fields or students prepared for advanced graduate study in the discipline. They build their websites/e-portfolios to include representative work - writing, research, media artifacts - as well as representations of learning in the context of co-curricular activities (community service, student organizations, etc.), internship profiles, and study abroad reflections.
Prerequisite(s): Enrollment limited to majors during the senior year.
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COM 965 - CUE: Communication Practicum 1 course unit
Designed to provide both an educational experience and an opportunity to work with professionals in practical preparation for a career, the practicum 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.
Prerequisite(s): COM 231 - Documentary Research and instructor permission; enrollment limited to majors during the senior year.
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Music |
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MUS 101 - Introduction to Music 1 course unit
This course focuses on Western music in its historical and cultural contexts while also introducing students to issues of music perception, taste and musical values, and the role of music in our everyday lives. The emphasis is on Western art music (beginning with music of the Middle Ages through the present), but students will also explore current popular music. By understanding more about the musical past, students will deepen their connection to and understanding of the musical present. No musical background is needed. May not be counted toward the music major or minor.
Meets general academic requirement A or AR.
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MUS 102 - Fundamentals of Music 1 course unit
An introductory survey of the elements of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, tone color, form, and expression. Skill development in reading, writing, listening, and analyzing music. Analytical studies in various styles and periods are included and connected to the other arts, which may include poetry and the visual arts. Primarily for students without extensive musical training. This course can be used as preparation for Music Theory I. May not be counted toward the music major or minor.
Meets general academic requirement A or AR.
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MUS 111 - Music Theory I 1 course unit
The foundational course in music theory introduces the materials and structural elements of tonal music: scales, key signatures, intervals, chords, rhythm and meter, and the principles of voice-leading and harmonic progression. Students will develop written, aural, and keyboard skills; incorporate those skills into listening and analysis; and connect the concepts of music theory with interpretation and performance.
Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music is assumed.
Meets general academic requirement A or AR.
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MUS 112 - Music Theory II 1 course unit
Continued development of skills from Music Theory I and introduction to additional concepts: small forms, non-chord tones, seventh chords, secondary functions, and modulation. Increased emphasis on listening and analysis and integrating theory and performance.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 111 Music Theory I or exam.
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MUS 140 - Introduction to Electroacoustic Music 1 course unit
A study of the development and practice of electroacoustic music from its earliest forms in Europe and the United States. Included will be the early history of electronic instrument design, the tape studio, and the arrival of early digital technologies including MIDI. Introduction to sequencing programs such as Digital Performer. Individual and class projects in basic synthesis techniques and hardware sampling. Reading, listening, and composition projects.
Meets general academic requirement A or AR.
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MUS 211 - Music Theory III 1 course unit
Further development of skills and the study of chromatic harmony: altered chords and borrowed chords, modulation to distant keys, and extended chromatic techniques. Introduction to twentieth century compositional procedures and analytical techniques. Analysis includes logical reasoning and argumentation.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 112 Music Theory II .
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MUS 215 - Women in Music 1 course unit
This course is an interdisciplinary survey of the history of women in music. From Sappho in ancient Greece to today’s pop divas, women have been active as composers, performers, patrons, teachers, and scholars. As the subject of musical works, women have been alternately deified, as in opera, and vilified, as in Eminem’s rap songs. As we study the roles of women in music, we will investigate the origins of feminist music criticism and consider the future of feminist thought in music.
Meets general academic requirement A or AR.
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MUS 217 - American Music 1 course unit
The subject of this course is vernacular and cultivated music of the United States from the Colonial period to the present. Students will come to understand how musical life not only reflected contemporary issues and events, but actively shaped them, exerting a powerful influence on American history and culture. Topics may include sacred and secular vocal and instrumental music; the musical traditions of African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans, and Anglo-Celtic Americans, among others; the influence of European and African practices in concert music and jazz; and the rise of musical institutions in the context of the developing nation. Students may undertake an archival assignment using Special Collections in Trexler Library and complete a culminating research project on music in the Lehigh Valley.
Meets general academic requirement A or AR.
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MUS 219 - Opera 1 course unit
This course approaches opera from an interdisciplinary perspective, celebrating the genre as one that brings together music, literature, drama, performance, and design. Course repertory will explore opera from its origins to the present, with greatest attention to works by Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Debussy, Berg, and Adams. Reading, listening, and viewing assignments; course may include field trips to performances; reviews; semester project. Offered every other year.
Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music or permission of the instructor.
Meets general academic requirement A or AR.
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MUS 221 - Music History I: Medieval to 1750 1 course unit
This course concerns the history of music from the early Christian period through the mid-eighteenth century and addresses current debates in historical musicology. Readings, score analysis, listening, and writing assignments trace the development of composition and performance practices and their relationship to cultural and intellectual perspectives. In these ways, students will consider music as a way of knowing our world and the composers, performers, patrons, and listeners who made this music possible. Topics may include Gregorian chant, the development of polyphony, sacred and secular vocal music during the Renaissance, the rise of national styles, the music of the Lutheran Baroque, ending with the High Baroque, and music by Johann Sebastian Bach and George Fredric Handel.
Meets general academic requirement A and W or AR and W.
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MUS 222 - Music History II: 1750 to the Present 1 course unit
This course concerns the history of music from the mid-eighteenth century through the present and addresses current debates in historical musicology. Readings, score analysis, listening, and writing assignments trace the development of composition and performance practices and their relationship to cultural and intellectual perspectives. In these ways, students will consider music as a way of knowing our world and the composers, performers, patrons, and listeners who made this music possible. Topics may include mid-eighteenth century musical styles and schools, the Viennese classicists (Haydn and Mozart), Beethoven and the Romantic expansion of form and technique, opera, the beginnings of modernism (Debussy, Stravinsky), and more recent developments since World War II extending into the twenty-first century.
Meets general academic requirement A and W or AR and W.
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MUS 223 - Jazz Theory & Improvisation 1 course unit
A study of improvisational techniques from the jazz tradition. Readings and listening assignments; analysis and performance projects; semester project.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 112 Music Theory II .
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MUS 229 - World Music 1 course unit
A study of the role of music and musical-theoretical systems in non-Western cultures. Class discussions based on primary and secondary source readings and writing assignments are balanced with music practicums to insure musical-theoretical, historical, and cultural issues are grounded in musical performance. Issues of authenticity, power, and cultural confluences are examined through a variety of methodological approaches to develop analytical and creative thinking skills. A culminating research paper and aural presentation provide students with an opportunity to explore an area of their own interest in greater depth, refine their written and aural communication skills, and increase breadth of knowledge for the entire class.
Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music or permission of the instructor.
Meets general academic requirements A or D or AR and DE.
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MUS 233 - Global Pop 1 course unit
In recent decades, popular music has emerged as a primary site for understanding and participating in global culture. As listeners, we enjoy sounds from around the world every day, from K-pop to hip-hop, gospel to bhangra, räi to the Eurovision Song Contest. Whether or not it’s marketed as “world music,” pop music often achieves global appeal even as it arises out of a particular local identity and regional musical style. What is the relationship between local and global music? How are indigenous and folk musics transformed when they begin to reach mass audiences? What role do technology and commercialism play in constructing identity on the global stage? In this course, students will apply these questions to popular musics from around the world, drawing ideas from readings in critical theory, postcolonial studies, and ethnomusicology. The course will culminate in a semester project.
Meets general academic requirements A or D or AR and DE.
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MUS 235 - History of Jazz 1 course unit
A study of Jazz that traces its roots and origins from late nineteenth century blues and ragtime to recent innovations in the twenty-first century. Swing, the big band era, bebop, modal jazz, free jazz, and “modern” jazz will be explored through primary and secondary source readings, score analysis, class discussions, writing, and listening assignments that examine technical, cultural, and performance issues. Topics will include gender, race, representation, power, authenticity, and identity. Various approaches to improvisation will be considered relative to compositional and theoretical strategies, historical and cultural trends, and performance practices to facilitate the development of analytical and creative thinking.
Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music or permission of the instructor.
Meets general academic requirement A or AR.
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MUS 237 - Pop, Rock, & Soul 1 course unit
In this course, students will explore the vital role of popular music in U.S. society, gaining a deeper understanding of this music’s relationship to politics, the marketplace, technology, and racial, sexual, and class identities. Students will develop music analytical skills to help them identify key stylistic features of pop music’s various genres, including rhythm & blues, rockabilly, doo-wop, soul, folk rock, psychedelia, progressive rock, funk, disco, new wave, and hip hop. Throughout the semester, we will investigate these styles by studying a repertory of hits by performers and producers including Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Phil Spector, The Supremes, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, The Clash, and Public Enemy. In discussions, listening exercises, and writing assignments, students will engage with recent scholarship from the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, history, sociology, and popular culture studies.
Meets general academic requirement A or AR.
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MUS 240 - Computer & Algorithmic Music 1 course unit
Continuing study of computer applications used in various musical settings. These will include sequencing programs such as Digital Performer, live performance programs such as Ableton Live, interactive programs MaxMSP, and recording software Pro Tools. Periodic quizzes on programs and composition projects.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 140 - Introduction to Electroacoustic Music or permission of the instructor.
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MUS 242 - Perception of Music 1 course unit
This course is an interdisciplinary study of music from the perspective of psychological principles of perception and cognition. We will survey musical memory, perception of musical form, notation and its effect on how we perceive music, emotion in music and aspects of performance. Examples will be taken from different historical periods and cultures. Students will be expected to perform simple pieces, present research in class and write numerous short papers.
Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites: MUS 102 Fundamentals of Music , MUS 111 Music Theory I , or permission of the instructor. Students should be reasonably fluent in reading music.
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MUS 313 - Form & Analysis 1 course unit
A study of musical forms from the smallest units of sectional forms (motive, phrase) through binary, ternary, rondo, and sonata forms. Analysis of music of all common-practice periods embodying various structural principles and incorporating historical context and performance implications. Extensive analysis and listening; may include reading and writing assignments.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 211 - Music Theory III .
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MUS 317 - Counterpoint 1 course unit
A study of composition focusing on the contrapuntal practices of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Readings from historical treatises and secondary source readings, analysis of selected compositions addressing technical, performance, and musical-rhetorical issues. Intensive written exercises leading to several compositional projects.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 112 Music Theory II or permission of the instructor.
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MUS 327 - History of the Symphony 1 course unit
A study of the historical evolution of the symphony and related genres. Compositional and cultural issues associated with the symphony’s development, including gender, power, representation, absolute versus program music, and the symphony as a narrative medium will be examined. Primary and secondary source readings, score analysis, class discussions, writing, and listening assignments will emphasize the development of analytical and creative thinking.
Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music or permission of the instructor.
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MUS 329 - Schubert & Schumann 1 course unit
Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann both worked in intimate art forms: German art song (or Lied, pl. Lieder) and chamber music. Students will study the German Romantic movement and its poetry, the roles of composer and performer, and the musical materials Schubert and Schumann chose to express meaning. We will also sample what various scholars have said about this music as a cultural phenomenon, an object of analysis, and the subject of studies in the performance of identity and gender. Students will be able to perform for the class, and the culminating experience will be an informal event, open to the public, similar to the Schubertiades held during Schubert’s lifetime-a gathering of friends to share in music-making.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 211 Music Theory III or permission of the instructor.
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MUS 331 - The English Ayre 1 course unit
A study of the English Ayre and its cultural role in late-Elizabethan and Jacobean England. This course will examine the structural and rhetorical practices shared by poets and composers applying analytical techniques specific to the ayre’s texts, music, and their synthesis as song. These analyses will be placed within the social and political contexts of the period to demonstrate the ways in which the ayre reflected its cultural milieu and articulated social trends. Texts for the course will include treatises on poetic, music-compositional, and performance practices from the late 16th and early 17th centuries and secondary sources readings in literary theory and musicology. The analyses of musical, literary, cultural, and performance practices will be applied in weekly practicums in class to create informed performances of the English Ayre repertoire culminating in a concert performed by the class.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 111 Music Theory I and MUS 112 Music Theory II .
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MUS 333 - Haydn & Mozart 1 course unit
This course explores the music, biography, and reception of Joseph Haydn and W. A. Mozart, balancing historical views of these composers with critical evaluation of their significance today. What did these two men have in common, what made them unique, and what can their lives and music tell us about eighteenth century culture? Students will approach their vocal and instrumental music from the perspectives of style, structure, compositional process, and aesthetics. Close attention to biography and reception will uncover the composers’ relationships with audiences and patrons, and invite consideration of notions of celebrity and cosmopolitanism in the eighteenth century. Students will also attend to the variety of contexts in which Haydn and Mozart circulate today, even as commodities and brands. This course will incorporate multimedia resources (films, documentaries, websites) and may include a field trip to a performance.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 211 Music Theory III or permission of the instructor.
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MUS 335 - Techniques of the Avant Garde 1 course unit
A study of the compositional techniques and styles of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Exploration of recent pitch languages and music in which aspects other than pitch become central features. Influence of technology, rock styles, and other issues will be discussed. Score study, analysis, and written exercises leading to compositional projects in a variety of styles. Reading and listening assignments; semester project.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 211 Music Theory III .
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MUS 340, 341, 440, 441 - Composition Workshops 0.5 course unit
This course alternates between group meetings and individual lessons. Group meetings will provide an introduction to orchestration and instrumentation, as well as score study. Students will present sketches and have these sketches sight-read by the group. On alternating weeks students will have individual lessons. A Student Composers concert will conclude each semester.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 211 Music Theory III or permission of the instructor.
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MUS 350 - Orchestration 0.5 course unit
A systematic study of the capabilities of the instruments of the orchestra in musical composition. A thorough understanding of these capabilities will be mastered through a study of selected works for solo instruments, chamber works, and orchestral literature. Readings and listening assignments; analysis and written exercises; semester project.
Prerequisite(s): MUS 211 Music Theory III .
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MUS 450 - CUE: Senior Seminar 1 course unit
This seminar for senior music majors explores selected issues and debates in current musicological thought through the application of critical methods from the fields of ethnomusicology, historical musicology, and music theory. Organized around a series of broad topics, readings for discussion will feature diverse repertories, including Western art music, non-Western art musics, popular musics, and folk musics. By reaching across scholarly fields and repertories, students will consider a wide range of music and writing about music, and will think critically about the relationships among music, ideas, and society - thereby synthesizing prior department experiences. The seminar culminates in a major research project on a topic of the student’s choice.
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Applied Music Study in voice, piano, organ, and the various string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Departmental permission is required for enrollment. Depending on the instructor, students take either thirteen 45-minute lessons or ten 60-minute lessons per semester. A minimum of five hours individual practice time per week is expected from each student. Attendance at recitals, concerts, and/or studio classes may be required. An additional fee is charged for this instruction which is not refundable after the drop deadline. Applied Music may not be taken on a pass/fail basis and may only be taken as an audit when it constitutes an overload and when it does not constitute the initial semester of a student’s applied music study; permission from both the instructor and department chair is required in this exceptional case. Two semesters of Applied Music may be used to complete the general academic requirement in the Fine Arts (A or AR).
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MUS 900 - Class Applied Music 0.5 course unit
Class study in voice, piano, conducting, or diction, as available. An extra fee is charged.
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MUS 901 - Individual Applied Music - First Area 0.5 course unit
Individual lessons. An extra fee is charged.
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MUS 911 - Individual Applied Music - Additional Area 0.5 course unit
Individual lessons in another area. An extra fee is charged.
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MUS 920 - Techniques Course 0.25 course unit
Technique development for students involved in the Moravian Music Education Certification Program.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
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MUS 931 - Applied Music - Senior Recital I 0.5 course unit
Preparation for a senior recital. An extra fee is charged.
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MUS 932 - Applied Music - Senior Recital II 0.5 course unit
Preparation for a senior recital. An extra fee is charged.
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Performing Ensembles Ensembles are offered only as zero course unit experiences graded on a satisfactory (S) or unsatisfactory (U) basis.
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MUS 935 - College Choir 0 course unit
College Choir is a large mixed chorus, open to all students by audition or permission of the instructor. Previous choral experience and music literacy skills are helpful but not required. Students are introduced to a wide variety of sacred and secular music in various styles and languages. In addition to learning pieces for performance, students also investigate their repertoire in terms of historical context, social significance, religious and philosophical tradition, stylistic interpretation, textual meaning, poetic construction, and music compositional techniques. Singers hone their musicianship skills (hearing, sight-reading, intonation, ensemble awareness), increase their musical vocabulary, expand their stylistic horizons, improve their abilities in diction and text interpretation, and develop a confident and professional stage presence. The College Choir rehearses twice weekly, performs several times each semester, and constitutes the musical core of the annual Candlelight Carols services in December.
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MUS 936 - Chamber Singers 0 course unit
Chamber Singers is a small, select choral ensemble open to all students by audition or permission of the instructor. Advanced musical skills are required. Students are introduced to a wide variety of sacred and secular music in various styles and languages. In addition to learning pieces for performance, students also investigate their repertoire in terms of historical context, social significance, religious and philosophical tradition, stylistic interpretation, textual meaning, poetic construction, and music compositional techniques. Singers hone their musicianship skills (hearing, sight-reading, intonation, ensemble awareness), increase their musical vocabulary, expand their stylistic horizons, improve their abilities in diction and text interpretation, and develop a confident and professional stage presence. The Chamber Singers rehearse twice weekly and perform several times each semester, including the annual Candlelight Carols services in December.
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MUS 937 - Women’s Ensemble 0 course unit
A female-only select vocal ensemble that performs choral concerts of various styles each semester, both on and off-campus.
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MUS 938 - Opera Workshop 0 course unit
The Opera Workshop is designed to give advanced vocalists an opportunity to explore and perform operatic solo and ensemble pieces. Members should be concurrently enrolled for Individual Applied Music or College Choir. Open to advanced students by instructor permission.
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MUS 939 - Collegium Musicum 0 course unit
This ensemble is dedicated to the performance of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. The members of the Collegium study early music performance practices and perform on period instruments. The ensemble performs one concert each semester.
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MUS 940 - Chamber Orchestra 0 course unit
The Chamber Orchestra consists of 20-30 string players plus winds, brass, and percussion, and performs works from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. The ensemble performs one concert each semester.
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MUS 941 - Musica da Camera 0 course unit
This ensemble performs chamber music for winds and strings from the Baroque to the twentieth century. Rehearsals are collaborative, and students take leadership roles. One concert each semester and special events by request.
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MUS 942 - Wind Ensemble 0 course unit
The Wind Ensemble provides performance opportunities in traditional and contemporary concert music for interested and qualified wind and percussion players. Open to all students with permission of the director. Rehearsals are held twice weekly. Participation in all performances required.
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MUS 943 - Jazz Big Band 0 course unit
The Jazz Ensemble is a select group of 20-25 members which performs a wide variety of jazz styles. There is one rehearsal a week and several performances take place during the year.
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MUS 944 - Jazz Improvisation Ensemble 0 course unit
This group is devoted to the study and performance of improvised music. Students participating in the ensemble explore traditional, progressive, and experimental forms of jazz in order to develop a wide range of approaches to improvisation. The ensemble performs one concert each semester.
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MUS 950 - Small Ensembles 0 course unit
Various types of small groups including flute ensemble, percussion ensemble, chamber music, etc.
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Neuroscience |
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NSC 201 - Mind & Brain 1 course unit
The major trajectory of this course is to evaluate the project of neuroscience, and in so doing, assess the possibility that the mind is manifested in and caused by the brain. We will consider neural arguments about various states of mind, including dreaming, language, selfhood, agency, attention, and intention from a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. Class discussions will center on working definitions of consciousness, experimental approaches to consciousness and self-knowledge, and dysregulations of mind. A laboratory will explore systems of consciousness from a physiological and phenomenological perspective. Three class hours and one and one-half laboratory hours per week.
Meets general academic requirement S or SC.
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NSC 301, 302 - States of Consciousness 1 course unit
Critically examines the recent attempts by neuroscience to resolve the neural correlates of various states of consciousness. Our class conversations will broadly center on the philosophical and physiological traditions that guide this work. We will closely study the putative neural underpinnings of several states of consciousness, including sleep/dreaming, pain, meditation, ecstasy, and coma; in parallel, we will discuss how the resolution of neural function shapes and is shaped by social structures and cultural meanings.
Prerequisite(s): NSC 201 Mind & Brain .
Meets general academic requirement W when offered as 302.
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NSC 304 - Receptors & Channels 1 course unit
A critical discussion of the structural and physiological principles of neurotransmitter receptor and ion channel signaling. Course lectures will introduce the foundational theories and methods of molecular pharmacology, biophysics, and structural biology. Topics discussed will include structural determinations of membrane proteins; receptor-ligand interactions; allosteric signaling of receptors; channel kinetics; and protein-protein signaling associations. Relevant primary literature will be introduced through class discussions and independent critical analyses.
Prerequisite(s): NSC 311 Neurons & Networks or BIO 220 Biochemistry or permission of instructor.
Meets general academic requirement W.
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NSC 310 - Brain & Behavior 1 course unit
An examination of the biological basis of behavior in humans and other animals. Topics discussed will include neuroanatomy; sensory and motor systems; psychopharmacology and drug abuse; motivated behaviors; learning and memory; and neurological and psychological disorders. Research methods of behavioral neuroscience will be introduced through class discussions, relevant primary literature, and laboratory investigations. Three class hours and three laboratory hours per week.
Prerequisite(s): PSY 101 Introductory Psychology .
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NSC 311 - Neurons & Networks 1 course unit
An exploration of the molecular and cellular foundations of nervous system function. Topics discussed will include the ionic and electrical properties of neurons; the biochemistry of synaptic signaling; structure and function of ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors; neuronal and synaptic plasticity; and the functional regulation of basic neuronal circuits. Research methods of cellular and molecular neuroscience will be introduced through class discussions, relevant primary literature, and laboratory investigations. Three class hours and three laboratory hours per week.
Prerequisite(s): BIO 152 Principles of Biology III: Molecules & Cells .
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NSC 401 - CUE: Advanced Seminar in Neuroscience 1 course unit
This course serves as a graduate-style seminar for the senior neuroscience major and will stress reading and discussion of primary texts, independent research writing, and critical analysis of timely issues within the field. Topics discussed may include synaptic mechanisms in memory and learning; analysis of simple neuronal circuits; cortical architecture; neuroendocrinology; the neural basis of sleep and dreaming; pain mechanisms and integration; neurogenetics; neural and psychological disorders; and/or the relationship of neuronal function to behavior and consciousness. Three class hours per week.
Prerequisite(s): NSC 201 Mind & Brain , NSC 310 Brain & Behavior , and NSC 311 Neurons & Networks .
Meets general academic requirement W.
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Public Health |
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PBH 200, 201 - Issues in Public Health 1 course unit
Using a topical approach, this course is designed to introduce students to the wide variety of disciplines associated with the field of Public Health. Based on the issue or issues selected as the focal point of the course, students will examine the global impact of disease from various points of view-historically, biologically, economically, psychologically, and politically. Students will explore the roles of those in Public Health such as epidemiologists, health care managers, media broadcasters, health specialists, environmentalists, and public policy makers in maintaining the health safety of the public.
Meets general academic requirement W when offered as 201
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PBH 250 - Fundamentals of Epidemiology 1 course unit
This course will cover the basic concepts of epidemiology and biostatistics as applied to public health problems, with emphasis on the principles and methods of epidemiologic investigation and appropriate summaries and displays of data. Topics include study design, measures of disease frequency and association, bias, confounding and effect modification, causality, screening and disease surveillance.
Prerequisite(s): PBH 200, 201 Issues in Public Health and MTH 119 Statistical Analysis or PSY 103 Psychological Statistics
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