An introduction to the empirical study of economic policies. This course will focus on quantifying the impact of policies through the lens of economics and statistics. Through research articles, reports, and other media, we will explore how economists measure the effects of policies and test economic theory. Policy applications may include labor and health policy, economic development, and other policies at the microeconomic level.

A research seminar in which we will think not merely about Shakespeare but with him, engaging a variety of topics that concerned him as deeply as they do us. These include virtue, authority, nature, faith, the mind, and difference. We will read the plays and poems alongside thinkers who preceded Shakespeare and influenced his time as well as those who came after and learned from him in turn. We will encounter both established figures such as Plato, Lucretius, and Freud as well as modern critical methodologies such as new historicism, cognitive theory, and ecocriticism.

The purpose of this course is to prepare students for the challenges that accompany auditioning for film and theater. During the semester students will be asked to work on a series of monologues (between four and six) that range from classical to contemporary in style. Time will also be spent on cold readings, taped auditions, resume and headshot workshops, and singing auditions. The pace will be brisk and students will be required to perform or present material almost every week.

To what purpose(s) have Shakespeare's plays been staged, and how has staging practice changed and developed? Our focus will be broad, covering such matters as acting, directing, set and costume design, and criticism and dramaturgy. Units will include period and modern dress productions, realist staging and the reaction against it, changing acting styles, "historically accurate" productions, global and decolonized Shakespeare, topical and political productions, and gender and race in casting. Several key plays will form the core, including A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth.

John Tukey once said "the best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard" -- but when do statisticians learn how to play nice with others? In Statistical Consulting and Communication, students will implement techniques and methods they have learned elsewhere while simultaneously developing skills for communicating results to peers, collaborators, and clients, including best practices for reproducible research, technical writing, and public speaking.

This course investigates the historical imbrication of modern concepts of "disability," "queer," and "trans." First, we trace the circulation of ideas about race, gender, sexuality, and disability within institutional medicine in the late 19th and early 20th century. Following this, we explore the individual experiences and political movements of people hailed under the categories of "disabled," "queer," or "trans" from the 20th century to the present.

An Italian masterpiece and one of the most important collections of short fiction in the history of world literature, The Decameron is also the story of ten college-aged Florentines who isolate themselves in the countryside in an attempt to escape from the plague. Sound familiar? The community they form and the tales they tell each other are as pertinent to our lives today as they were in the years of the bubonic plague.

In a culturally and socially diverse society, discussion about issues of difference, conflict and community are needed to facilitate understanding between social/cultural groups. In this intergroup dialogue, students will actively participate in two days (16 hours) of semi-structured, face-to-face meetings with students from other social identity groups. Students will learn from each others' perspectives, read and discuss relevant reading material, and explore their own and other groups' experiences in various social and institutional contexts.