This course will provide a literary lens through which to approach the Palestine-Israel Conflict and the narratives, concerns and dreams of those living in its crosshairs. Building upon notion of crossing borders, this course will consider some of the most prominent Arabic and Hebrew-language literary and cultural works of the conflict via thematic units including Empathy, Rage and (In)Justice; History and Memory, The Body and the Senses, and Shaping The Future.

This course provides an introduction to international science fiction cinema. The course will include films from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, and may include films made using a variety of techniques including stop-motion animation, cell and/or digital animation, and various forms of CGI. The course will consider films in their social context, including both the historical, social, and economic contexts in which they were created and distributed, and the history of film in their countries of origin.

Do video games function as unimportant simulations of the real? If digital games are indeed simulations, what can the time we spend playing in digital environments tell us about how other types of simulations (television, the news, the Internet) function? Are games as simulations designed specifically to deceive, distract, and/or entertain, or do video games and their predominance suggest that we have successfully destroyed and disordered our shared realities, as theorist Jean Baudrillard once melancholically predicted would happen?

The purpose of the course is to provide a common experience for Commonwealth Honors College students in their junior year. While recognizing that by the junior year students will be working in a wide variety of disciplinary areas, an interdisciplinary course like this will help honors students at the preliminary stage of thinking about a culminating senior thesis, project or capstone to experience a variety of topics and approaches that can lead to the development of their own senior culminating experience. Why a theme of innovative ideas across disciplines?

The purpose of the course is to provide a common experience for Commonwealth Honors College students in their junior year. While recognizing that by the junior year students will be working in a wide variety of disciplinary areas, an interdisciplinary course like this will help honors students at the preliminary stage of thinking about a culminating senior thesis, project or capstone to experience a variety of topics and approaches that can lead to the development of their own senior culminating experience. Why a theme of innovative ideas across disciplines?

The purpose of the course is to provide a common experience for Commonwealth Honors College students in their junior year. While recognizing that by the junior year students will be working in a wide variety of disciplinary areas, an interdisciplinary course like this will help honors students at the preliminary stage of thinking about a culminating senior thesis, project or capstone to experience a variety of topics and approaches that can lead to the development of their own senior culminating experience. Why a theme of innovative ideas across disciplines?

Throughout the planet, women create common spaces for a better world in response to threats to their livelihood. This course uses the concept ?woman? to refer to bodies feminized by power, to include both transgender and cis women. Students will analyze the axis of oppression and resistance that sit at the core of women?s experiences. Focusing on gender, sexuality, the economy, and ethnic/racial oppression will help students zero on the structural aspect of women?s organizing.

The goal of the course is to better understand randomness and uncertainty, and develop tools to make more informed decisions under uncertain situations. In the beginning of the first semester, the instructor covers some fundamental and relevant concepts from probability, decision theory, and psychology. The presentation will be made in a way accessible to students from all majors and no advanced knowledge will be required. The goal is to lay the foundations for deeper investigation by students in their theses.

In this course, students will conduct an honors thesis by creating an instrument to pursue a biological science research question. Students will be encouraged to coordinate with an existing research enterprise on campus. In the first semester, students will develop a thesis proposal and construct a prototype instrument. During the semester, students will explore case studies about creating/deploying instruments combined with hands-on activities to develop technical skills for instrument development.