Poetry is an act of discovery. We write to discover what we don't know or understand about ourselves and the world around us. To make these discoveries we must pay attention: practice close observation, question our assumptions, and test our truths. 

We must also pay attention to what’s happening in our bodies as we write: the breath, pulse and heartbeat that gives poetry life. When we practice embodied writing we include our whole selves in our creative work. 

This course, an introduction to media studies, examines the relationship between contemporary media forms and the environment with an emphasis on media’s role in the ongoing global environmental crisis. We will analyze the environmental aspects of a range of media objects including science-fiction films, documentary photographs, reality TV shows, video games, and others. But we will also explore the environmental impact of broader media technologies like video streaming platforms and fiber-optic cable networks.

[Before 1800] Students will learn how to read and write about anglophone poetry from different time periods by focusing on one particular poetic form: the sonnet. Students will have opportunities to engage with poets and the local poetry community, handle rare books, and learn how to use the library’s resources, with a view to writing both poetry reviews and argumentative essays about poetry. As one of the most enduring poetic forms in the Western tradition, the sonnet is a form that contemporary engage with in order to have a dialogue with poets from the past.

Home is where we live in every sense, but "home" is more than the physical structure we reside in: it is also the psychological, societal, emotional, and even the mythical. In this course, we will read a variety of fiction and non-fiction and explore the importance of space, be it physical or metaphysical, as well as the construction of home. We will consider how these terms (whether we accept them, shun them, or experience them via travel and immigration), dictate to us and others a sense of self and identity via our own writing.

How does migration transform identity? Which techniques do writers use to express and recreate this complex experience on the page? What role can language and narrative technique play in forging a sense of self and home? How might writing be related to refuge? Reading across genres of poetry, fiction and memoir, this class explores how writers have described the experience of locating themselves while departing, arriving or living in between. The course will cover topics such as alienation, assimilation, generational memory, survival, nostalgia, hybridity, and transformation.

A double course, to be taken with permission of thesis advisor.

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Independent scholarly work; assessment based on completion of substantial thesis project.

Independent work on an extended academic, creative, or pedagogical project on a topic relevant to the field. Thesis progress will be assessed by the department at the end of the first semester as a precondition for entrance to the next semester of thesis work. 

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Independent scholarly work; assessment based on completion of substantial thesis project.

(Offered as EDST 352, AMST 352 and SOCI 352) This course serves as the foundational course for the Educational Studies major. Public education has been a fundamental social good in the United States for hundreds of years. It has also been an object of significant disagreement. What should be the goals of education? Who should have access to education and who should control that education? These questions raise even more basic questions. What sorts of things are valuable for human beings? How does a just society distribute the goods that it produces?

The course provides an introduction to major issues and policies that have shaped contemporary education in various countries. We begin by surveying the general features of education systems and highlighting basic issues confronting education internationally. Next, we focus on select countries to examine in-depth issues and challenges related to educational access, quality, and equity; teacher quality and professionalism; democratic education; and educational reform in the context of globalization.