This course is an introduction to the use of quantitative data in sociology. It focuses on the ways in which data is collected, analyzed, and presented to make sociological arguments. Students will be asked to analyze data for both regular assignments and a final paper. The aim of the course is to show how to understand the uses of different types of survey data, and to create and analyze simple statistics and multivariate statistical models using statistical software.

This course applies concepts from political ecology to study how governance, broadly defined, works in relation to the environment. Using case studies of international environmental issues, we will explore how people make decisions about the environment in a policy realm. We will discuss the role of various agents, such as governments, scientific bodies, and nongovernmental organizations, in the decision-making process. We will reflect on who has access to decisions; how scientific data is used; how environmental ideas become powerful; and how policies are legitimated.

The four-skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) introduction to the Russian Language with the focus on communicative skills development. Major structural topics include pronunciation and intonation, all six cases, basic conjugation patterns, and verbal aspect. By the end of the course the students will be able to initiate and sustain conversation on basic topics, write short compositions, read short authentic texts and comprehend their meaning, develop an understanding of the Russian culture through watching films and listening to songs.

This course examines the origins and development of sociological theory in the nineteenth century. Focusing on the three most important representatives of the classical tradition in sociology - Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim - we consider in detail the ideas of each, compare their perspectives on emerging industrial society, and assess their contemporary significance.

We explore the history of human-environment interactions in North America from precolonial times to the present from different cultural perspectives. How have such human activities as migration, colonization, and resource use depended on or modified the natural world? How have different cultural perceptions of and attitudes toward environment shifted through time and helped to reshape American landscapes? Case studies include ecological histories of Native America and Euro-America, slavery and land use, wilderness and conservation, and environmental racism and social justice.

Designed to promote curriculum-to-career, this hands-on course prepares students for independent research, research internships, or research careers.Student pick topics of interest and share weekly assignments. Over the course of the semester, we examine methods for designing research and for gathering and analyzing information, and we discuss using data to inform policy. We speak with Mount Holyoke alumnae who have conducted research during internships, for honors theses and independent study, or for policy institutes after graduating.

This course uses a sociological framework to examine the nature and structure of modern industrial societies. To identify central trends in society and culture, this course covers several basic themes, such as social inequality and social interaction, that have appeared repeatedly in the works of major social thinkers.

The four-skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) introduction to the Russian Language with the focus on communicative skills development. Major structural topics include pronunciation and intonation, all six cases, basic conjugation patterns, and verbal aspect. By the end of the course the students will be able to initiate and sustain conversation on basic topics, write short compositions, read short authentic texts and comprehend their meaning, develop an understanding of the Russian culture through watching films and listening to songs.

An introduction to reading and writing about nature, this seminar will attempt an exchange across distinct approaches to observing and describing the world around us. Do lenses of culture, discipline, and gender determine how we see and experience nature, environment, and place? Course work will include reading such authors as N. Scott Momaday, Henry David Thoreau, bell hooks, Leslie Marmon Silko, Mary Oliver, Terry Tempest Williams, Wendell Berry, and Annie Dillard; field trips; and writing assignments--weekly field notes and journals, analytical papers, and personal essays.

This course uses a sociological framework to examine the nature and structure of modern industrial societies. To identify central trends in society and culture, this course covers several basic themes, such as social inequality and social interaction, that have appeared repeatedly in the works of major social thinkers.