Genetically modified organisms. Human-machine neural interfaces. Designer babies. Personalized medicine. Gene therapy. Synthetic organisms. Society is at an interesting intersection where some of these technologies are commonplace and some are at the early stages of being implemented. We will cover the science, history, and ethics surrounding these (and other) technologies that may change what defines humanity of the future. Students will each choose a specific biotechnology to explore in a semester-long series of projects.

The State has become the dominant political institution, claiming dominion over every speck of habitable land on the planet. But omnipresent as it seems, the modern State is a relatively new development in human affairs. What is the State? How did it originate, outcompete other political forms, and come to divide up the world? Why have people resisted and fled the State for as long as it has existed, and what tactics did resistance take? How does the State make itself appear to be natural, inevitable, and necessary?

While the climate crisis presents urgent scientific challenges, climate issues are also deeply political, economic, cultural, and epistemological. While news outlets routinely cover climate events in Europe and the USA, far less is said about the colonial histories and entrenched inequalities that put communities of colour at far greater risk of climate-related devastation. Despite producing a minute fraction of the world's carbon emissions, historically marginalized communities consistently suffer the worst effects of planetary warming.

In this course, students will focus on workflow and techniques for creating polygonal surface models for game assets, character models and 3D environments for animation and video games, as well as 3D prototyping for physical game assets. This class will focus on poly resource management, modeling workflow and the creation of 3D assets from conception/reference art through modeling, basic materials, lighting and rendering.

In this course, students will learn to create dynamic worlds with diverse populations, mythology, and characters for games, animation and other media. Students will use a variety of techniques and processes to develop and design worlds for their concept. World building gives a rich and dynamic canvas on which to develop characters, obstacles, motivations, macro and micro issues, and conflicts and resolutions. Such practice allows for more robust and consistent worlds in which to set singular or serial events in linear and non-linear ways.

This interdisciplinary course critically engages a range of frameworks (geopolitical, historical, sociological, literary, cultural) to study the complex and contested reality of Cuba. The course will begin by critiquing and decentering the stereotypical images of Cuba that circulate in U.S. popular and official culture.

Little is known about the medieval Empire of Ethiopia despite its fantastic achievements in the fields of architecture, book culture, and religion. Ethiopians converted to Christianity in the 4th century and developed a distinct tradition of religious literature, unique art forms, and imperial power politics. Centering Ethiopia, we will analyze parallel developments, synergies, and interchanges with European/Mediterranean societies.

This course is taught in conjunction with Security in Context, an international research initiative on peace, conflict and international affairs as they intersect with processes such as climate change, global inequalities, and warfare. Traditionally, security has been understood through the prisms of militaries, policing, borders, and surveillance. However, for many populations around the world, these traditional practices of security lead to insecurity in their daily lives: economic precarity, social dislocation, imprisonment or marginalization.

Science proceeds as a series of scientific revolutions, each revolution bringing new frameworks and new modes of understanding. Thomas Kuhn coined the term "paradigm shift" to describe these revolutions, with sciences passing from one paradigm, one way of understanding and organizing the world, to another. Kuhn also famously claimed that psychology has no paradigm, and I believe he was correct. Though it's not for lack of trying - there have been many attempted revolutions, but none of them have been completely successful at providing a shared paradigm. Psychological science is still divided.

Reading can be taught. Revision can be taught. Though perhaps the only sound pedagogical tool for poetry is imitation. Writing can be introduced to people, but ultimately, only poems can teach poetry. Received poetic forms such as sonnets, villanelles, sestinas, pantoums, and ghazals, can understandably appear difficult, daunting even, so, in this workshop, students will extensively read, examine, imitate, and workshop poems that adhere to, as well as rethink or reimagine, common (or niche) received poetic forms and conventions.