This course is designed to present an overview of dance as a performing art in the twentieth century. Through readings, video and film viewings, guest performances, individual research projects, and classroom discussions, students will explore principles and traditions of twentieth-century concert dance traditions, with special attention to their historical and cultural contexts. Special topics may include European and American ballet, the modern dance movement, contemporary and avant-garde experimentation, African American dance forms, jazz dance, and other cultural dance traditions.

Designed to explore the art of costume crafts vs. costume clothing, this course teaches students how to create dimensional objects through the use of flat patterning. Students explore how craft work utilizes ways in which sculpture, painting, color theory, sewing, pattern drafting, costume research and theory all come together. Millinery, armor, masks, fabric painting and dyeing, as well as body sculpting will be covered.

In this course, students will explore statistical techniques for designing and analyzing complex survey designs. Sample surveys are used to obtain data on demography, health, and development; to measure attitudes and beliefs; to estimate natural resources; to evaluate the impact of social programs; along with many other uses. The proper design and analysis of these surveys is crucial to their utility. We will cover topics including survey design, ratio estimation, regression estimation, poststratification, imputation, and survey error.

This course studies the emergence of a new kind of cinematography in Costa Rica within the larger context of Latin American cinema's new waves. First, students will view and discuss several recent Latin American films in order to identify broader trends throughout the region. The focus will then turn to the specifics of a nascent brand of Costa Rican cinema that distinguishes itself from those of other Latin American countries through a unique aesthetic linked to the conditions from which they have emerged.

This course studies the emergence of a new kind of cinematography in Costa Rica within the larger context of Latin American cinema's new waves. First, students will view and discuss several recent Latin American films in order to identify broader trends throughout the region. The focus will then turn to the specifics of a nascent brand of Costa Rican cinema that distinguishes itself from those of other Latin American countries through a unique aesthetic linked to the conditions from which they have emerged.

This course will introduce students to key issues and concepts in the study of bilingualism with a focus on communities in which Spanish interacts with other languages in Latin America, Spain, and the United States. One of the main goals of the course is to create awareness about the multidimensional nature of bilingualism as an individual, socio-political, cultural, and a psycholinguistic phenomenon.

While food offers sustenance for the body, it also plays a fundamental role in shaping social life. This course uses food as a lens to understand identity, inequality, globalization, and other issues central to the contemporary social world. We will explore topics such as how food is used to construct identity, how food reproduces inequality, and how food may contribute to or diminish global boundaries.

We will explore the cultural and political impact of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The media's role in constructing meanings will be a main organizing focus of the course. Using readings, discussions, assignments, and films, the course will allow students to form a picture of how 9/11 changed America and beyond.

What is culture? How has it changed over time? This course examines the definition (including religion, language, food, etc.), the social settings in which culture is produced, and the products of culture we consume (literature, film, music, painting, theatre, fashion, popular magazines, graffiti, and television, etc.). Course topics include: how to analyze culture and who produces it, the forces shaping markets for artistic objects and performances, politics and culture, the effects of censorship, globalization, and class differences.

Werefoxes in Moscow? Growing up Post-Soviet in Queens? Faking a trip to the moon? All this and more in Russia's uninhibited, profane, and sometimes disturbing literature of the twenty-first century. This seminar will sample writing from the vibrant Russian literary scene of the 2000's, including translingual literature and graphic novels. They can still write!