'Through the writings of such thinkers as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, and Mill, we will examine central issues of modern Western political thought. Understanding modernity to entail a turn from political legitimacy based on the will of God to political legitimacy based on the conscious designs of human beings, we will focus on the significance of this turn for questions of sovereign power, the relationship between rulers and ruled, human nature, and the meaning of freedom.'

'This course offers a history of women in performance, from the colonial era to the present day. Americans inherited a European theatrical economy that was largely male dominated, though actresses played a central role on stage and in the public imagination. Today, while serious inequities remain, women are gaining access to the most privileged and powerful positions in a swiftly changing field.

'All the world's a stage. This course surveys the era of literary history that invented this powerful idea. The drama of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is a drama obsessively self-conscious, bursting with disguises, confidence tricks, cross-dressers, rituals, masques, and plays-within-plays. Reading Shakespeare as well as his rivals and peers (Marlowe, Jonson, Webster, and others), we will consider how theater, and the idea of theater, illuminates such concepts as desire, evil, gender, and ideology.

'A topical coverage of development economics used in conventional textbooks does not do justice to the evolution of integrated thinking in the field. A topical organization also does not do justice to the topic linkages or to the important debates in the field. This course adopts a history of macro development economics thought approach with an emphasis on alternative approaches right up to the current debates. While the field started in the 1940s, the influence of classical economists including Marx on the pioneering development economists and the field will also be traced.'

'This course explores a number of economic issues relevant to women in the economy and an introduction to the economic concepts and analytical tools necessary to understand those issues. We will pay particular attention to the issues faced by professional women and women in business. We will examine issues of gender equality and discrimination, the interaction between family roles and work, and the challenges faced by women in running large organizations.'

'The Big Problems of the World are enormously complex and pose daunting challenges for our generation and those of our children and grandchildren. Climate, pollution, energy, and nuclear power are only a few of the increasingly critical issues. A leader, whether she is President or a teacher, in Congress or in the media, in business or as a voter, needs to understand not only the science and technology that underlie the problems and possible solutions but also how science works. How does science define and pursue a problem? Engage in debate? Communicate with the public?

'This two-credit course centers on a ten-day trip to Sicily in mid-May 2014. Its goal is to offer students first-hand experience of the impressive physical evidence of the island's cosmopolitan and diverse heritage, including the influence of Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, Spanish, and (northern) Italian cultures. In doing so, it aims to bring alive both Sicily's contributions to European culture and the challenges it continues to face.

'This two-credit course centers on a ten-day trip to Sicily in mid-May 2014. Its goal is to offer students first-hand experience of the impressive physical evidence of the island's cosmopolitan and diverse heritage, including the influence of Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, Spanish, and (northern) Italian cultures. In doing so, it aims to bring alive both Sicily's contributions to European culture and the challenges it continues to face.

'Anna Karenina (1873) is one of a series of important works Tolstoy wrote pondering love, death, the nature of happiness, and the foundations of family life. Our reading of Anna Karenina will be the centerpiece of this course which will also include works ranging from Childhood (1852) to The Kreutzer Sonata (1889), which shocked and repelled readers with its unsparing depictions of human sexuality and murderous jealousy. Film versions of works will be screened.'

'This course surveys the history of Western dress from Ancient Egypt and Rome through the nineteenth century. By investigating the evolution of fashion, students will gain an understanding of clothing's relationship to the arts, architecture, and its function in society. Classes consist of lectures, discussions, and examination of primary resources. Students will be evaluated based on a series of presentations and research projects.'