Probabilistic reasoning is a central component of scientific method and underlies most of our everyday judgments and decisions about the world. Yet laypeople frequently commit the most basic probabilistic fallacies, experts do not agree about what probability is and everyone makes bad decisions on some occasions.

This course is designed for students who are uncomfortable with symbolic systems. It provides an elementary introduction to the structure and function of propositional and predicate logic. This includes translating ordinary language statements and arguments into symbolic form; using truth tables to calculate truth values and determine the validity of arguments in finite universes; quantification in infinite universes; direct, indirect and conditional proof techniques in propositional and predicate logic.

Topics course. What makes a Jewish joke? Is it about self-deprecation? The deflation of majority culture? Finding humor in tragedy? Explores the evolution of modern Jewish humor, from Yiddish folk types to the influence of Jewish standup comedians, writers and performers on post-war American popular culture. What do contemporary American comic masters such as Philip Roth, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Sarah Silverman, Larry David and the Coen Brothers have in common with European precursors such as Sholem Aleichem and Kafka? Also includes critical theories of humor by Freud and Bergson.

The modern history of the largest Jewish community in the world, from life under the Russian tsars until its extermination in World War II.

Topics course. This course aims to introduce students to "women" and "gender" as political concepts and uncover diverse approaches to studying women in the context of local, national and transnational politics. We explore feminist policy, activism and methodology alongside global research conceptualizing women as an interest group with a specific focus on the developing world.

Topics course. This course provides an in-depth look at the changing role of women in Italian society. Authors studied include Sibilla Aleramo, Natalia Ginzburg, Dacia Maraini and Elena Ferrante. A portion of the course is dedicated to the new multicultural and multiethnic Italian reality with a selection of texts written during the last 10 to 15 years by contemporary women immigrants. Limited enrollment. Permission of the instructor required. Conducted in Italian.

Designed to support beginning Italian students and improve their conversational skills. This course offers intensive practice in pronunciation, vocabulary, oral comprehension and conversation. It includes class discussions, role-playing and short oral presentations. Prerequisite for the fall course: one semester of ITL 110 or placement exam to ensure correct language level. Permission of the instructor required. Enrollment limit of 12 students per section.

One-semester course designed for students who might have missed the opportunity to take our highly recommended yearlong ITL 110y course. It covers the material of ITL 110y in one semester. Three class meetings per week, plus required weekly multimedia work and a discussion session. Preference is given to all first-year students planning to go to Italy for their junior year. Students should enroll in ITL 220 (or ITL 230 in exceptional cases) the following semester.

Origins, course and consequences of the war of 1861-65. Major topics include the politics and experience of slavery; African American activism and resistance; abolitionism; gender and power; ideologies of race; the role of African Americans in ending slavery; the making of Union and Confederate myths; Reconstruction; white Americans' final abandonment of the cause of the freed people in the 1880s and 1890s.

Topics course. This course explores the politics of decolonization and nationalism in 20th-century Africa, while paying particular attention to the ways in which diverse groups of Africans-women, ethnic and racial minorities, political exiles, youth, and expatriates, among others-articulated their unique views of the "nation" as they made the transition from colonial to self-rule.