An introduction to a broad range of vocal music, from the Middle Ages to the present, and an investigation of such issues as text setting, interpretation, extended vocal techniques and the use of technology as it relates to vocal performance. Topics of study includes chant, 19th-century art song and opera. Composers to be considered include Mozart and Wagner as well as such recent and contemporary figures as John Cage and Steve Reich, and popular and crossover artists including Duke Ellington, the Rolling Stones and Bjork.

Topics course. A senior-level course in Mathematical Optimization. Develops geometric and algebraic views of linear programming in parallel. Proof-based treatment of the Simplex Algorithm and LP Duality. Introduction to classical models in combinatorial optimization (including problems in networks and scheduling). Also covers: modeling logical constraints, integer programming for NP-hard problems, branch-and-bound algorithm, integrality gap, specialized algorithmic methods, dynamic programming, intro to provably-good approximation, and intro to rigorous notions of efficiency.

Functions of several variables; vector fields; divergence and curl, critical point theory; implicit functions; transformations and their Jacobians; theory and applications of multiple integration; and the theorems of Green, Gauss and Stokes. Prerequisites: MTH 211 and MTH 212, or permission of the instructor.

Topics course. Same as ENG 209. In this class, we will study the ways that black essayists negotiate ideas about race through notions of love: what does it mean to figure one's humanity through the miasma of race; and how is love as a concept and the form of the essay relevant to this figuring? Here, we will think about race intersectionally, as a term that is only meaningful if one notices its invocation of gender, class, sexuality.

Applications of the integral, dynamical systems, infinite series and approximation of functions. Situations in science and social sciences in which calculus naturally arises are emphasized. Students may not receive credit for both 114 and 112 Prerequisite: MTH 111 or the equivalent.

Topics course. What did a college education mean to the first generations of Smithies? How did students' experiences vary according to their race, religion and class? How did college alter their ideas about what it meant to be a woman (in terms of work, sports, dress, politics, sexuality and social life)? This course explores the history of Smith College in a broader American and European context, with a focus on the changing identity and experiences of the first three generations of Smith students, from 1875 to 1930.

Topics course. During slavery, white Americans, especially U.S. slaveholders, feared the specter of insurrection. Uprisings at Stono or those led by Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner proved that slaves often fought back. Yet the central historiographical question remains: why didn't U.S. slaves overthrow enslavement like Haitian slaves did on Santo Domingo? Enslaved people challenged slavery in a variety of ways including violence, revolts, maroon communities, truancy, passing, suicide and day-to-day resistance.

Topics course. This course juxtaposes the medieval understanding of religious violence and war in the Western Christian and Islamic traditions with modern understandings of those same phenomena. It traces the intellectual development of these concepts during the Middle Ages, and how medieval conceptions of violence are reinterpreted and redeployed in the 19th through 21st centuries.

Topics course. An exploration of the relationships between war and the political views of soldiers and other participants. This course surveys several conflicts from the last century through the eyes of combatants, considering both national and individual motives for going to war, and evaluating the effects of fighting on the personal politics of soldiers. Core readings include scholarship on political socialization, nationalism, military culture, faith and trauma, as well as accounts of war written by soldiers. Prerequisite: at least one course in international politics.

Topics course. An examination of environmental policy making within the federal government, with special emphasis on how Congress deals with environmental policy issues. A variety of substantive policy areas from clean air to toxic waste is covered. Students complete research papers on an environmental policy topic of their choice. Prerequisite: a 200-level course in American government.