We will read short fiction and narrative essays from published authors in order to better understand the decisions they made and how those decisions serve their narratives. In other words, we will read and try to understand their decisions by trying to read them as writers would. Authors to include Ellison, Kincaid, O'Connor, Alexie, and Adichie. Students will write two creative pieces of writing, one non-fiction and one fiction, for discussion and workshop. Students will also meet individually with the instructor.

This course develops the basic geometric, algebraic, and computational foundations of vector spaces and matrices and applies them to a wide range of problems and models. In addition to containing real finite dimensional vector spaces, linear independence, linear transformations and inner product spaces, the course will cover eigenvalues and eigenvectors, diagonalization, and linear programming theory with applications to graph theory, game theory, differential equations, Markov chains, and least squares approximation. Basic programming will be taught and used throughout the course.

Examine the function of the nervous system with particular focus on mechanisms at work in the brain. The course will link current advances in cell, molecular and developmental physiology research in the context of neuronal functional mechanisms. Topics may include neurotransmitter function and regulation, brain area function, integrative intracellular signaling pathways, neuroendocrine control.

This course will use a natural science lens to explore the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with a specific focus on the food-water-energy nexus. We will explore the implementation of the goals on a global scale as well as efforts underway locally and regionally. Students in this class will read primary literature, complete case studies, work collaboratively and independently on sustainability projects and actively participate in small group and class discussions and activities.

This course (combining NS: 150, 250, and 350) examines agriculture as a set of ecological systems and issues, focusing on organic and/or sustainable methods, and agroecology. It refers to ecology in the sense of interactions between organisms (e.g., pests and predators) and the larger sense of environmental impacts (e.g., pollution; climate change), along with key related social issues and solutions.

The problem of evil won't go away. Despite repeated attempts to dismiss the concept of evil as archaic and outmoded, it continues to haunt contemporary culture and thought. In literature, evil becomes a particularly prominent theme in the 19th century. Is literature intimately--or necessarily--connected to transgression, and to evil? We will explore 19th- and 20th-century literary as well as philosophical texts that take up the fascination with evil, and explore the difficulties thinkers have in confronting and making sense of it.

We will read at least one entire work of Lucian (e.g. the "True Histories") in the original Greek, emphasizing large quantities of prepared reading as well as sight-transition. Prerequisite: Two third-year courses (or their equivalents) in ancient Greek are recommended but not required.

Topics course: This seminar explores the complexity and history of Shariʿa Law in Islam. It examines the formation of a variety of schools of Shariʿa from very early Islamic history until today and the way Muslim jurists have maintained the relevance of Shariʿa to their respective societies and times. It covers the theory and application, purpose, sources (e.g., Qurʾan, Muhammad, customs), hermeneutical tools (e.g., reason, public good, doubt) and the Shariʿa laws themselves.

This course introduces the history of philosophy of religion and enters into its major debates: Is there a God? Can religious belief be squared with the existence of suffering and evil? What is the relationship between faith and reason, between faith and doubt? Can religious or mystical experience be trusted? Is there reason to hope for life after death?

This course is an introduction to various approaches that have characterized the modern and postmodern critical study of religion. The course explores the development of the field, addressing fundamental theoretical and methodological issues as well as their implications. The first part of the course focuses on the interdisciplinary nature of religious studies, examining approaches found in disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, psychology and phenomenology. The second part examines the application of these approaches to the study of particular religious phenomena.