Discover how the forces of nature shape our understanding of the cosmos. Explore the origin, structure, and evolution of the earth, moons and planets, comets and asteroids, the sun and other stars, star clusters, the Milky Way and other galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the universe as a whole. In lab, learn the constellations and how to use the telescopes. Use them to observe celestial objects, including the moon, the sun, the planets, nebulae, and galaxies. Learn celestial coordinate and timekeeping systems. Find out how telescopes work.

Discover how the forces of nature shape our understanding of the cosmos. Explore the origin, structure, and evolution of the earth, moons and planets, comets and asteroids, the sun and other stars, star clusters, the Milky Way and other galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the universe as a whole.

Investigation of the influence of the German playwright,poet and theorist Bertolt Brecht on international cinema, particularly since the 1960s. Reading of key Brecht texts (both literature and theory), screening of film and video works from European New Waves, New German Cinema, U.S. feminist film/video, as well as Asian, Latin American and African films.

The fight for equity in education is one of the most critical and enduring themes in the African American struggle to fully exercise their citizenship rights. This course will explore the ways in which local African American communities fought to create educational spaces for their children and for future generations.

Who is a "person" before the law? Does the color of one's skin trump one's entitlement to rights? Do rights even matter? How has the judiciary participated in racializing the nation's "non-white" populations, and what ideological and material effects have its decisions produced?

This course will explore the questions surrounding the coming of the American Civil War (1861-1865), the war itself, Reconstruction (1866-1877) and how we have come to remember those events today. As much a writing seminar as a history class, the course will focus on selections from the voluminous writing the conflict produced: letters, journals, diaries, and autobiographies. We will study poetry, short stories and novels; biographies and scholarly monographs and articles on the various debates surrounding the war. These forms of writing will also serve as models for student written work.

This course serves as a thorough introduction to Buddhism through the life, times, and teachings of its founder: Siddhartha Gautama; the Enlightened One; the Buddha. We will read a selection of the Buddha's own discourses - the original Buddhist sutras/suttas - from the Pali canon on themes such as the human condition, karma and rebirth, the path to liberation, meditation, and mindfulness.

This course provides an introduction to the philosophical literature of Chinese Buddhism. It is structured around the four major Chinese Buddhist philosophical schools: Consciousness Only (Weishi), Flower Garland (Huayan), Heavenly Platform (Tiantai), and Meditation (Chan/Zen). Readings are predominantly drawn from the domains of Ontology, Epistemology, Phenomenology, Philosophy of Mind, and Philosophy of Language. Buddhist topics studied include: Suffering, No-Self, the Perfection of Wisdom, Emptiness, the Bodhisattva Path, Expedient Means, Totality, the Three Truths, and Suchness.

This Division III seminar will be organized around students' Division III Independent Study Projects. Students will be responsible for presenting their Division IIIs in progress several times during the semester and for providing serious, thoughtful written feedback on one another's work. We will also address general and shared issues of conducting research, formulating clear and persuasive analysis, and presenting results both orally and in writing. The primary purpose of the seminar is to provide a supportive and stimulating intellectual community during the Division III process.