This course will be a laboratory exploring the movement capacities of the human body as selected for aesthetic and expressive purposes. Students will investigate expression in movement by working with sensation, space, time, focus and attention to detail. They'll deepen their knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics to increase movement efficiency and safety, and they'll work to expand their rhythmic and dynamic range in longer and more complex movement phrases.

This course is designed for students interested in merging social activism, performing arts and teaching. It teaches students to use movement, dance and theatre in settings such as senior centers, schools, prisons, and youth recreation centers. In studio sessions, students will learn how to identify, approach, and construct classes and dance exchanges or events for community sites. Much of the time will be spent together off-site in various locations throughout the Pioneer Valley, where students themselves will create and lead movement/theatre experiences.

The science of Ecology investigates the distribution and abundance of organisms and their interactions with biotic and abiotic environments. This course will serve as an introduction to major areas of ecological study: population, community, and ecosystem ecology. Topics will include how populations are distributed in and limited by their environments, how organisms interact, how niches are determined, how ecosystems are structured, and how energy and nutrients flow through the biotic environment. A basic text in ecology as well as primary literature will guide lectures and discussions.

In this performance-based introductory class, students will begin to develop the skills and techniques of jazz performance, including ensemble playing and improvisation. Students will study the forms and concepts of jazz composition and theory and apply them in the composition and performance of repertoire. They will learn to compose elements of jazz pieces and will present their original work in a spring concert performance. There will be assigned readings and a short, final paper.

In 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of author Salman Rushdie for what were perceived as his blasphemies against Islam in the novel The Satanic Verses. Literary critics have called this an ironic situation in which the people about and even for whom Rushdie is writing react with such hostility. How do writers endeavor to build bridges between people and cultures in their work? And how do those intentions sometimes backfire and burn bridges instead of build them?

LEFT COAST: Why is America's future born on the Pacific Coast? Skeptical? Consider that iPod (or iPad) on your desk. The computer beside it. The Google onscreen. The Starbucks in your hand. The Kindle in your future. The movie and/or TV you'll watch tonight. Nikes and Levis. Suburban sprawl and the 747 soaring above it. This class will explore how the so-called Left Coast came to be the seat of American free-thinking.

It seems like today almost everyone you meet has a psychological disorder, is taking medications, or seeing a psychologist. Why is this? Is it something in our culture? our environment? our genetics? This course will examine psychopathologies such as Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Eating Disorders, Schizophrenia and others from multiple perspectives. We will examine the role of culture, experience, and brain development in the development of these disorders using psychological and neuroscientific perspectives.

This course will introduce students to the production of animated short films with the tools and techniques of three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics. Readings and lectures will cover the theoretical foundations of the field, and the homework assignments will provide hands-on, project-based experience with production. The topics covered will include modeling (the building of 3D objects), shading (assignment of surface reflectance properties), animation (moving the objects over time), and lighting (placing and setting the properties of virtual light sources).

From energy systems, to economic crises, to protection against terrorists; from supplying new food organisms, to drone warfare in the Middle East; our modern society turns to science for solutions. But the sciences also proliferate side effects -- ranging from toxic military pollution, through unforeseen biological disruption, to global warming & political backlash. Do we need "new ways of knowing" to address the personal/political problem of combining disciplinary excellence with social good? Participants study reconstructive knowledge and APPLY it to their own work.

The majority of this class will be held outside. Each week we will visit a different field site and spend the afternoon untangling the natural history of the landscape at that location. We will examine how plant and animal communities in western Massachusetts are shaped by processes such as geology, hydrology, weather, fire, and human land use. Students will be expected to learn skills in species identification and landscape interpretation. Class work will include a final group project as well as weekly assignments.