This research seminar will attempt to accomplish two goals; to examine some of the significant issues in the history of African American workers since Emancipation and to introduce you to some of the most recent scholarship addressing those issues. We will begin with general studies of the history of capitalism in the U.S. and Black workers then proceed to a study of: 1) The role of Black labor in several industries, 2) Black women as workers, 3) Black labor and the Black power movement and 4) Herbert Hill's critiques of organized labor and the labor history establishment.

Remembered primarily for being the decade when popular music demanded a reality check, the 1970s will be the framework for a critical and analytical survey of some of the more fertile developments and influential ideas that originated, flourished, and/or declined in that era. Topics will include minimalism, jazz-rock fusion, reggae, disco, punk, and the accompanying multiculturalism that informed social/political/economic conditions that bred these styles.

This course asks what it means to create, consume, and analyze music across lines of cultural difference. In what ways do a repertoire's features become associated with -- or bound to -- the people who create it? As we listen and analyze across cultural lines, what aspects might be translated or lost; what might be gained? What distinguishes modes of interaction such as influence, hybridity, and appropriation? How do systems of power and oppression impact our thinking on these questions?

This course asks what it means to create, consume, and analyze music across lines of cultural difference. In what ways do a repertoire's features become associated with -- or bound to -- the people who create it? As we listen and analyze across cultural lines, what aspects might be translated or lost; what might be gained? What distinguishes modes of interaction such as influence, hybridity, and appropriation? How do systems of power and oppression impact our thinking on these questions?

This seminar explores the history of formalized, institutional music education in Europe and North America, focusing on the Middle Ages to the present. Topics include monastic and cathedral schools; conservatories and their roots in orphanages and vocational schools; music programs in pre-school, K-12, and higher ed (including Mount Holyoke); approaches to music within disability education; formal training in jazz, popular, traditional, and experimental musics; and the politics of degrees and accreditation.

This course analyzes the tug-of-war between the executive and legislative branches in the making of U.S. foreign policy. We will discuss the powers given by the Constitution to the President and Congress in foreign affairs. We wll also discuss how each branch has over time claimed informal powers. Issues studied include conflicts in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East, climate change, cybersecurity, trade wars, nuclear non-proliferation, global pandemic, and immigration. Case studies are drawn from the Bush Sr. to the Biden administrations.

As numerous controversies have made clear -- from Galileo's heresy trial to contemporary disputes over vaccination -- the purportedly neutral and objective results of scientific inquiry are in practice hotly contested and profoundly political. Students in this course will critically examine science and technology as social practices, in the hope of becoming more responsible users of these powerful tools.

across social identity groups. Behavioral research is construed widely here to include data that directly assesses behavior in lieu of self-reported perceptions of behavior. This distinction is critical as self-reported behavior is frequently a poor predictor of actual behavior. Increasingly, behavioral methods include the use of technology such as eye-tracking and virtual reality.

Every day we encounter binary decisions including: did we recognize the person, did we get accepted for a job, did the customer order an appetizer? Each of these decisions have two response options, which makes traditional analyses difficult. In this course, we will use Signal Detection Theory to better understand how these binary decisions can be analyzed and understood. This course will investigate how we perceive the world and how binary decisions can be interpreted. Students will learn how to design a binary decision study, analyze it, and how to communicate their findings.

This course presents a comprehensive introduction to sport and exercise psychology from three perspectives: participation (e.g., positive youth development, mental health challenges and benefit, injury and role transition/loss), coaching/leadership, and clinical interventions such as sport psychology or physical activity interventions. Students will complete a project in each area (i.e., reflection on your life through sport; coaching evaluation; mental skills training program).