American schooling continues to fail Black and brown learners. As a result of cognitive psychology and education research, we have excellent understanding of human learning, its social and cultural nature, and the varied approaches to teaching, testing and assessment that lead to success. There is strong evidence that implementing these ideas would improve learning for all, including those who are under- resourced.

This painting course will introduce students to the fundamentals of working with paint. In addition to a material exploration of painting, we will also investigate the conceptual possibilities available to contemporary painting. We will anchor our discussion around one central question, "What is a landscape?" We will begin to answer this question through practice by creating paint from pigments found in nature. We will then explore notions of representation and abstraction through various painting performances in the studio and outside.

This course focuses on the broad fundamentals of western music and music theory, including music literacy (how to read western music notation). We will study concepts such as pitch, melody, timbre, and texture, and learn about rhythm, intervals, scales, chords, and harmony. We will also develop our musical understanding through composing music and through "deep listening" in classwork and concerts. Students are required to attend a once/week ear training class, either Monday or Thursday evening, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. No prior music training or literacy is required.

This beginning-level course invites students to develop movement, making, and performance practices as vehicles for thinking about and supporting new beginnings. The course will function as dance class, rehearsal, and research seminar where we will examine assumptions about whose bodies are afforded the opportunity to be expressive, and learn to trust what our bodies already know.

This course examines questions of race, gender/sexuality, and disability in science fiction, horror, and fantasy film and television. It investigates how and why people in different social positions have been constructed as foreign, freakish, or monstrous. In addition to exploring the relationship between sex/gender norms and hierarchies based on race/species or class/caste, we will also consider the following questions: Does the figure of the alien/freak/monster reconfigure the relationship between bodies, technology, and the division of labor?

Introduction to Studio Art Practices - The Generative Drift: In this drawing-centered course, we will be surveying and responding to a range of mediums, (im)material sources, and transcultural artists. Students will gain experience with new and alternative studio processes to create guided and self-directed projects. While we will approach the course from a drawing perspective, students may use mixed media, sound, performance, found materials, alongside traditional drawing mediums. Discussion of readings and lectures will be paired with experiential labs and critiques.

This course introduces students to key concepts in the study of electronica. The course will teach students to think critically about electronica's social, historical, ideological, and technological dimensions. Introductory lectures will examine the musics and establish/introduce critical terminology, musical features, timelines, and analytical frameworks. Specific subgenres such as triphop, house, techno, dub, ambient, trance, dubstep, jungle, and drum 'n' bass will be covered through readings, lectures, documentaries, and listening sessions.

Graphic design is a creative and critical practice at the intersection of communication and abstraction. The process of learning graphic design is two-fold, and students in this course will engage both areas: first, students will develop knowledge and fluency with design skills--in this case, software (Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator); second students will address the challenges of design head-on through discussion, practice, iteration, critique and experimentation.

This course invites students to train in contemporary dance technique and build collaborative performance through the lens of multiplicity. When we move, are we just one body or are we more? The body is capable of moving and organizing itself in myriad ways. Our bodies carry our histories, influences, our knowledge of ourselves, and our ties to one another. In the studio and beyond, we will engage dance as a method to embrace and move with our unique capacities and histories. And we will experiment with movement as a way to find new neural pathways and possibilities.

Stand up, sketch comedy, satirical news, and memes: How do these and other humor-related cultural forms allow us to speak the unspeakable, to challenge and/or uphold the status quo, and to consolidate community? What are the limitations of these cultural forms? In this discussion-based and writing-intensive course, students will grapple with humor's many social functions, and consider the extent to which humor is an effective means of addressing wars, white supremacy, rape culture, presidential power, and other weighty issues.