This studio/lecture course explores the ecology of nature's architecture and human-built environments as we "study our living place", and let the ecology of place guide design. Students will closely observe and analyze individual and collective environments and landscapes, case-study examples, ecosystems, wildlife, habitats, and human spaces of form and function. Students will utilize whole-systems thinking, knowledge of environmental issues, Earth elements and the biosphere to better understand and creatively build resilient, environmentally responsible design plans.

This course is a critical exercise taught at the intersection of two seemingly incommensurable terms, imperialism and neoliberalism. Charting the genealogies of these terms, we will explore the lines of entanglements that hold these two concepts together as mutually reinforcing projects. In part the course will address how self-governance and self-determination under liberal democratic regimes work to accomplish the neoliberal objectives, hence curtailing the legitimacy of the sovereign will as an essential democratic value.

African cities demonstrate the failure of models of development with the aim and ideal of industrialization. This course examines the empty promises of modernity through the lens of African urban history using fiction, film, and city archives. Beginning with Timbuktu and Cairo, the course explores the emergence and decline of trade entrepots, the rise of colonial cities, and the dilemmas of postcolonial economies and polities. Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Kampala, Kinshasa, Harare, Johannesburg, Lagos, Accra, and Dakar are among the cities studied.

Did African nations become poorer in the 20th century because development initiatives were badly executed? inherently exploitative? ill-timed? Looking beyond the caricatures of evil colonial officers, lazy peasants, or greedy elites, who do we see engaged in productive activity and what are they doing? What concepts and categories illumine our understanding of their actions? How does a careful exploration of the nature of exchange and production in Africa revise our perception of the global economy in the present?

How is our understanding of U.S. history transformed when we place African American women at the center of the story? This course will examine the exclusion of African American women from dominant historical narratives and the challenge to those narratives presented by African American women's history through an investigation of selected topics in the field.

This course will examine the work of contemporary American filmmaker Terrence Malick. While taking into account technical aspects (cinematography, music), ours will be a largely thematic discussion, looking at recurring themes such as good vs. evil, nature vs. culture and spirituality. Selected critical essays will deepen our conversation and reveal some of the myriad literary, philosophical and theological texts that serve as the conceptual underpinnings of Malick's films.

The origin of animals was perhaps the most important event in the history of our planet. In this course we will review the history of Earth, learn basic geology, and then examine the problem of the origin of animals by studying Mount Holyoke College's unequaled collection of Precambrian and Cambrian fossils. The emergence of animals has been called the Cambrian Explosion. We will examine what this means for our understanding of evolution, and review the hypotheses proposed to explain this extraordinary event.

One of the hallmarks of a liberal arts education is to draw on a broad base of knowledge in order to interrogate common assumptions. No one exemplifies this critical approach better than French philosopher Michel Foucault. One of the most influential thinkers of recent times, Foucault revolutionized several academic disciplines and even questioned the very notion of a discipline itself. He did so by revealing the history and transformations of ideas now viewed as self-evident. This first-year seminar invites students to develop similar analytical skills.

This course is an introduction to theories and practices of collaborative learning for students in the Computer Science Megas and Gigas Educate (MaGE) peer mentoring program. We will draw on existing research, practice sessions, and class discussion to craft our philosophies of peer mentoring and to develop effective practical strategies.

This course is an introduction to theories and practices of collaborative learning for students preparing to work as mentors in the Speaking, Arguing, and Writing Program (SAW). We will draw on existing research, practice sessions, class discussion, and our own writing and speaking to craft our philosophies of peer mentoring and to develop effective practical strategies.