The second half of a two-semester sequence. Students continue to practice all four language modalities: reading, listening, writing and speaking. The course incorporates a variety of activities that are based on a range of topics, text types and different socio-cultural situations. Authentic texts (poems, short stories, TV programs, films, songs and articles) are used to create the context for reviewing and expanding on grammar, syntax and vocabulary. Prerequisite: RES 221 or equivalent.

The four-skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) introduction to the Russian language with the focus on communicative skills development. Major structural topics include pronunciation and intonation, all six cases, all tenses and verbal aspect. By the end of the course, students are able to sustain conversation on basic topics, write short compositions, read short authentic texts, as well as develop an understanding of Russian culture through watching, discussing and writing on movies, short stories, folk tales and poems. This is a full-year course.

What is it like to be a believer? What sort of evidence is needed for religious belief to be justified? Can doubt coexist with faith? This course investigates connections between religious belief and acts of knowing, trusting, searching, and doubting. The class examines personal testimonies along with philosophical and literary reflections on belief and doubt.

Commonly associated with pre-modern societies, the term "blasphemy" has taken on new life in today’s technologically-connected world. This course examines the notion of blasphemy--its meanings, the invisible boundaries it presupposes both in some of the world’s major religious traditions and in secular contexts, and the different ways of seeing it often signifies. Based on case studies, it explores contemporary public uses of the term, the competing understandings of the "sacred" it often assumes, and the cultural and political challenges the term presents in a globalized society.

The ubiquitous message is to work harder and be more productive. In doing so, the promise is stability, good lives and good jobs. What if this is all wrong? What if “rest” is what humans are really missing? This course explores this question by reading sociologists, historians, psychologists, public health scholars, critical disability scholars, Jewish philosophers, Black Christian activists and Zen masters. This course considers how “rest,” as conceived by these diverse people, encompasses visions for just economic systems and antiracist praxis, as well as the flourishing of ecosystems.

Offered as PYX 301 and ENG 301. Conceived as the culmination of an undergraduate poet’s work, this course features a rigorous immersion in creative generation and revision. Student poets write a chapbook manuscript with thematic or stylistic cohesion (rather than disparate poems, as in prior workshop settings). For Poetry Concentrators, this course counts as the required Capstone; for English majors in the Creative Writing track, the course counts as an advanced workshop and may count toward the fulfillment of the "capstone experience" requirement.