Jun 15, 2024  
2015-2016 Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Catalog 
    
2015-2016 Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions


 

History and Culture

  
  • HC 832 - A Disunited Kingdom: England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales c. 1800-2000

    3 credits
    When and why did the United Kingdom come into being? What were the steps which led to its conception? Was the creation of the United Kingdom a symptom of national coherence or of disunity between the countries that made up the Union after 1801? Did a new national identity come into being as a consequence, or did old allegiances and loyalties become more deeply embedded? Who were the beneficiaries of the Union? Was the United Kingdom ever really united? Is the eventual breakup of the reconstituted United Kingdom inevitable? These and other questions will be addressed in this course, which examines the interaction between the component parts of the United Kingdom between 1800 and 2000. A number of key topics will be explored through readings in literature and contemporary social observation, including the steps to political union, the role of economic change, religion and education, poverty and social welfare, the rise of political radicalism, and the changing face of national iden
  
  • HC 833 - Modern British and Imperial History

    3 credits
    The world as we know it today was shaped very largely by Great Britain and its Empire. This course surveys the political, social, economic history of modern Britain and its relationship to the larger world. It will cover the rise and fall of British power, industrial society, popular culture, “Victorianism”, social reform, “the English national character”, the First and Second World Wars, the “Swinging Sixties,” and the Thatcher Revolution.
  
  • HC 834 - The Victorian Mind

    3 credits
    This course surveys the great public intellectuals of nineteenth-century Britain, including Thomas Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, John Henry Newman, Charles Darwin, Matthew Arnold, Lewis Carroll, John Ruskin, William Morris, and Oscar Wilde. It addresses such issues as industrialism and its discontents, the class system, democracy and elitism, the definition of culture, educational policy, religion and science, and the social role of the artist. Course may be repeated.
  
  • HC 835 - Memory and Commemoration in Irish History

    3 credits
    In Ireland, history, memory and commemoration have traditionally played a significant role in shaping contemporary political developments. But they have frequently been divisive, with popular (and even academic) memories of the past being constructed in such a way as to serve current ideological ends. Following an introduction to the key issues in Irish history, the course will focus on a number of major historical events, including the founding of the Orange Order in 1795, the republican uprising in 1798, the Great Hunger of 1845-50, and the Easter Uprising in 1916. These events will be explored in the context of how memory and commemoration have been utilized by different religious and political traditions. The involvement of the Irish diaspora in this process, particularly in the United States and Britain, will also be explored. The course will examine traditional and nontraditional sources such as songs, wall murals, and films. Where appropriate, the Irish experience will be co
  
  • HC 836 - Visual Representation in Irish History

    3 credits
    Visual representations of Ireland have had a significant role in shaping views of the Irish in both positive and negative ways. They have also been divisive, with popular images and caricatures being used to serve particular ideological or social ends. Yet visual images have often been underused as a research tool by historians. This course will focus on a number of key events in Irish history, including the history of the Orange Order, the 1798 Uprising, the Great Hunger, Irish Emigration, the Easter Rising, and “the Troubles”. Each topic will be explored by examining contemporary images, and by assessing how these representations have been utilized over time by different religious and political traditions. The representations of the Irish diapsora, in Britain and in the United States, will also be explored. Students will be encouraged to make use of non-traditional sources such as cartoons, photographs, statues, wall murals, postage stamps, flags, maps, films, and coins. Where ap
  
  • HC 837 - Women in Irish History: Poets, Patriots, Pirates, and Presidents

    3 credits
    From St. Brigid in the fifth century to President Mary MacAleese in the twenty-first century, women have played pivotal roles in the development of Ireland. Moreover, the large number of emigrant Irish women in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries made their influence felt throughout the world. The remarkable contribution of women to the struggle for Irelands independence was recognized in the 1916 Proclamation, though the 1937 Constitution sought to reassert the primary role of women as wives and mothers. This course will examine and evaluate the contributions of women modern Ireland and ask why their involvement was ignored for so long by Irish historians. It will also assess the role of key figures in the making of Irish history, and will explore the place of women in Ireland today.
  
  • HC 838 - Northern Ireland: The Rocky Road to Peace

    3 credits
    Following its inception in May 1921, politics within the Northern Ireland state was dominated by sectarianism and religious conflict. In order to maintain Protestant hegemony, the civil rights of the minority Catholic population were eroded, both overtly and covertly. Tensions came to a head in the 1960s, but his course will demonstrate how the seeds of violence were sown much earlier. Key events of the conflict such as Bloody Sunday, internment, the murder of Lord Mountbatten, the hunger strikes, the Enniskillen and Omagh bombings, and the steps to the Peace Process will be examined. There will be a special focus on various government enquiries and on accusations of police collusion that have accompanied these investigations. The course will make extensive use of primary evidence.
  
  • HC 839 - Topics in British and Irish History

    3 credits
    Spring 2016:  The purpose of this course is to allow students to assess the impact of Ireland and its migrants upon the wider world. Although we will examine the influence of Irish immigrant populations in different countries around the world, we will also be seeking to complicate the traditional narrative of Irish history, which sees Ireland as an oppressed nation whose impoverished residents fled to seek economic sustenance elsewhere. We will debate whether Ireland itself was guilty of colonizing, or participating in the colonization of other peoples of the world, as well as being a victim of this process. We will also challenge some of the triumphant popular histories that have sought to place the Irish nation on a pedestal in world history. Finally, we will look beyond the impact of Irish people living abroad, to examine what role the spread of Irish political ideology had in other countries. Looking at world history over a broad expanse of time, we will try to come to some consensus as to how the measure the influence of the Emerald Isle upon the rest of the globe. Course may be repeated.
  
  • HC 840 - Modern British Intellectuals

    3 credits
    This seminar explores the major observers and critics of British society in the twentieth century, including the Fabian Society, the Bloomsbury Group, the modernists, left-wing and right-wing intellectuals of the 1930s, and the “Angry Young Men.” It deals with the great public controversies over socialism, feminism, imperialism, the world wars, sexuality, Britain’s role in the world, and the theater of ideas. Course may be repeated.
  
  • HC 849 - RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITYOF THE BLACK DISAPORA

    3 credits
    This s seminar is a study of the African religious heritage brought by African people who came to the Americas through the forced migrations of the Trans-African slave trade. It uses the history of religions method to explore how African the fundamental worldview of the [African] captives was. Using “Transformationalism” as discursive category the seminar posits that eventually, as a result of their environment, the Africans created a coherent faith/spirituality which preserved and revitalized the basic aspects of indigenous African religions and spirituality while blending them with Christianity, as well as other traditions native to the Americas. Historical developments, syncretism, “transreligiosity” (simultaneous participation), and cultural camouflage are some of the themes explored in this seminar. The religious traditions discussed include: Candomble: Afro-Brazillian Religious Culture; Cuban and Cuban-American Santeria; Haitian Vodou; Trinidadian Shango; the Rastafarian Movement of Jamaica; and the Black Church in the United States. In this seminar, we approach the study of religion as:

    • a socio-cultural construction (something created and given meaning and importance through human agency and interaction)
    • located within the broader social and historical contexts of society, in this case global community with an overwhelming economic basis
    • a structure for organizing life on both macro (societal) and micro (individual) levels, in this case the religious dynamic in shaping the life of the African diaspora in the Caribbean basin, North and South America.
  
  • HC 853 - Modernity and Its Discontents: 19th Century European Intellectual History, 1750-1900

    3 credits
    An examination of the foundational texts of modern thought from the Enlightenment to Nietzsche. In this seminar we will study works of philosophy, political theory, and literature by Rousseau, Kant, Marx, Durkheim, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Thomas Mann amongst others, and examine how the enlightenment project was transformed during the tumultuous years of the Nineteenth Century. We will play particular attention to debates that surrounded the French Revolution, consider the development of German philosophy from Kant to Marx, and analyze how late 19th-century thinkers wrestled with the Enlightenment tradition.
  
  • HC 854 - Confronting the Crisis of Reason: 20th Century European Intellectual History

    3 credits
    This course explores the rich intellectual life of the twentieth century, tracing how key thinkers responded to the political, social, and philosophical challenges of European modernity. The class examines the fraught re-working of the Enlightenment heritage; the promise and perils of politics as a means of redemption; the search for ethical commitment and moral order in the absence of absolutes; the critique of power as it operates in knowledge, institutions, and technology; and different visions of liberation. Individual units are devoted to psychoanalysis, western Marxism, existentialism, feminism, structuralism, and post-structuralism; featured thinkers include Freud, Heidegger, Schmitt, Adorno, Horkheimer, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Foucault, Derrida and Habermas among others.
  
  • HC 855 - Topics in European History

    3 credits
    Topics vary with instructor expertise. Course may be repeated.
  
  • HC 860 - Exploring the Nation: Nationalism and Its Evolution

    3 credits
    In this seminar we will examine what nationalism is, and how and why it has developed over time. We will examine scholarly debates on what factors led to the creation of nationalism, and whether it is an entirely modern phenomenon, or an ideology with roots in our distant past. We will discuss how the characteristics of nationalism have changed over time, and try to understand why. We will explore how nationalism can be both a source for good, providing people with joy and a sense of meaning and belonging on the one hand, while also being an agent of evil, leading to ethnic cleansing and genocide. The course will begin with an introduction to some of the canonical works on nationalism, such as Ernest Gellner’s Nations and Nationalism and Benedict Anderson’s ubiquitous Imagined Communities. Readings such as Eric Hobsbawm’s Nations and Nationalism since 1780 and Brian Porter’s When Nationalism Began to Hate will also be included, in order to help us understand the evolution of nationalism in the nineteenth century. The course will conclude by focusing on the intersection between nationalism and post-colonial identity, as discussed by Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth and Srirupa Roy’s Beyond Belief: India and the Politics of Post-Colonial Nationalism. 
  
  • HC 863 - The Crisis of Modernity: German Expressionism

    3 credits
    This seminar explores the crisis of modernity in history and culture before, during, and after World War I.  This crisis is exemplified in the movement of German expressionism, which first erupted as a reaction to perceived culture of conformism in the early twentieth century.  Although German expressionism initially greeted World War I as an opportunity to re-imagine and re-configure society, it soon became disillusioned with the war due to its destructiveness.  After the war, many German expressionists struggled with the role of art in society.  Texts include not only works of history, art history, and literature, but also films such as Robert Wiene’s 1919 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Murnau’s 1922 vampire film Nosferatu, Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction classic Metropolis and 1931 thriller M.
  
  • HC 864 - Music and Modernism in Paris, 1900-1945

    3 credits
    In the early decades of the twentieth century, artists, writers, and musicians from around the world viewed Paris as the most vibrant and cosmopolitan capitol in Europe.  Arriving in the city either by choice or as refugees from the continent’s many political and economic crises, they joined their French counterparts in creating — and debating — new innovations in creative expression.  In this course, we will explore the various forms of music created and performed in Paris during this period that have since been labeled as modernism.  This includes many of the mainstays of the twentieth-century repertoire, from Debussy’s operatic adaptation of Maeterlink’s Symbolist drama Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902 to Messiaen’s composing of an idiosyncratic quartet while a prisoner of war in 1941.  While we will devote substantial time to listening (and viewing) these and other pieces, we will also explore the ways in which recent scholars have moved away from defining modernism as a catalogue of stylistic innovations to considering modernism as a contested label, as well as the wider social and political implications of modernist cultural production.  In the final weeks of the semester students will give a presentation on a person of their own choosing who was connected to music and modernism in Paris from 1900 to 1945. No prior musical experience is necessary.
  
  • HC 869 - Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah: The Greatest Holocaust Film Ever Made

    3 credits


    SHOAH, Claude Lanzmann’s 9.5 hour film about the Holocaust, has been described as one of the greatest use of film in the 20th century. Unlike other Holocaust films, SHOAH  has no scenes of atrocities or horrors..Rather Lanzmann takes the viewer to the places where these atrocities occurred (now often amazingly pastoral and peaceful) and “re-tells” the story of the Holocaust through interviews 35-40 years later with people who were there “then.” In this course, we will engage in close study of the film, looking at its structure, its philosophy, and the “story” it tells. Why—after 30 + years—is it still considered to be a transformative document in the way the world understands the Holocaust?

     

  
  • HC 871 - The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade & the Making of the Modern World

    3 credits
    This world history course focuses on the global dynamics of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, its impact on world history from the 16th to the 19th century and its repercussions today. The course raises a fundamental question, “What were the origins and dynamics of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and how has it shaped economic, political, religious, gender and racial identities in the modern world?” Through lectures, discussion, journal writing, book reviews and research in primary documents, students study the nature of global interactions between peoples and cultures through several humanities disciplines such as history, literature and religion. The seminar also focuses on the centrality of Christianity as (1) an incentive and rationale for slavery from the 16th to the 18th centuries; (2) the foundation for moral arguments against slavery in the 19th century; and (3) one of the central components behind cultural change and identity formation for over three centuries. The nature of g
  
  • HC 874 - The Empire Strikes Back: The Struggles for Independence from the British Empire, with Special Reference to China, India, and Ireland

    3 credits
    In 1921 the British Empire was the largest empire in history, including one-quarter of the world’s population. Yet, starting with the loss of the American colonies in the eighteenth century, the history of the British Empire was also a history of multiple struggles to achieve independence by the colonised territories. But independence was often slow to come, and the outcome was sometimes partial and piecemeal, creating fresh problems for the new governments. With special attention to China, India, and Ireland, this course will examine the struggles to win independence from Britain. It will ask why limited Home Rule was granted in some British territories but not in others during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, what steps were taken by the native populations to achieve political independence, how the British state responded to these challenges, what was the longer-term legacy of the British Empire, and what lessons can be drawn by imperial powers in the twenty-first
  
  • HC 876 - Topics in Global History: A History of Empires and Imperialism

    3 credits
    In the global history of humankind, the empire has been the dominant political, social and economic entity for almost all people in every part of the world. As late as the middle of the twentieth century, several political organisms proudly declared themselves to be “empires”. Only in the last few decades has it become unfashionable for a state to be labelled an empire, although whether this means that empires no longer exist is a different question entirely. In this course then, we will examine what exactly an empire is, and what characteristics also us to say whether a state is or is not an empire. We will explore the nature of empires and imperialism in a global context and try to understand how these entities and ideologies have shaped our world today. Our readings will aim to reflect recent and emerging directions in the study of both Western and non-Western empires across time in a way that will foster awareness and understanding of the global dimensions of the topic. Course may be repeated.
  
  • HC 877 - Modern Jewish Intellectual History 1650-1950

    3 credits
    This course will explore the impact on Jewish thought and religion of modernity, beginning with the radical critique of religion by Baruch Spinoza. The course analyzes the Haskalah, or Hebrew Enlightenment, from its inception by Moses Mendelssohn in late eighteenth century to the emergence of the Reform movement, as well as its various permutations in Eastern European Jewish thought, through to the emergence of Zionism. It will conclude with an overview of the post-Holocaust denominations of American Judaism with a particular focus on the theology of Mordechai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism.
  
  • HC 878 - The Lens of History: Documentary Photography and Photojournalism in the United States and Europe, 1850 to 1950.

    3 credits
    Documentary photography and photojournalism are often valued for their presumably direct connection to events, locations, and individuals of historical significance. In this seminar we will trace the history of modern documentary photography and photojournalism, with an eye towards critically considering the use of photographs as historical “evidence,” unpacking the “truth value” of photography, and reflecting on how photography constructs historical memory and functions in an archival context. Readings may include: Alan Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs: Images as History, Matthew Brady to Walker Evans (Hill and Wang, 1989); Shawn Michelle Smith, Photography on the Color Line: W.E.B. DuBois, Race, and Visual Culture (Duke, 2004); Elizabeth Edwards, The Camera as Historian: Amateur Photographers and Historical Imagination, 1885-1918 (Duke, 2012); and Georges Didi-Huberman, Images in Spite of All: Four Photographs from Auschwitz (University of Chicago, 2012)
  
  • HC 879 - A History of Empires and Imperialism

    3 credits
    In the global history of humankind, the empire has been the dominant political, social and economic entity for almost all people in every part of the world. As late as the middle of the twentieth century, several political organisms proudly declared themselves to be “empires”. Only in the last few decades has it become unfashionable for a state to be labelled an empire, although whether this means that empires no longer exist is a different question entirely. In this course then, we will examine what exactly an empire is, and what characteristics also us to say whether a state is or is not an empire. We will explore the nature of empires and imperialism in a global context and try to understand how these entities and ideologies have shaped our world today. Our readings will aim to reflect recent and emerging directions in the study of both Western and non-Western empires across time in a way that will foster awareness and understanding of the global dimensions of the topic.
  
  • HC 883 - Knowledge in Motion: Local Science, World Contexts

    3 credits
    This course surveys the history of science from the dawn of agriculture to the present day, seeking to move beyond classic accounts of “the West and the rest” to examine the history of science in the global contextand in the process, to challenge our very notions of science itself. Topics to be explored include the history of ancient, Arabic, and medieval European science and mathematics; the “Scientific Revolution” and the new uses of mixed mathematics in astronomy and natural philosophy; and the integration of biological and other field sciences with larger colonialist and nationalist projects. We will broaden our understanding of the contributions of various world cultures to the history of science, and explore the ways in which particular local cultural realities make certain kinds of scientific developments possible. We will pay particular attention to places and practices of knowledge (school, laboratory, field, museum, journal); the relations of science/mathematics and religio
  
  • HC 884 - Gender, Sexuality, and Medicine in Modern Europe

    3 credits
    Medicine has played a crucial role in the way we understand and experience gender and sexuality in the modern era. Recent years have seen the emergence of a growing body of historical literature that addresses these issues, concentrating on such themes as attempts to control sexual behavior, ideas of femininity and masculinity in clinical diagnoses, the “invention” of homosexuality, and the impact of gender on the production of medical knowledge. In this seminar we will explore some of these themes by examining several distinct settings in which modern medicine has helped shape and been shaped by ideas about gender and sexuality.
  
  • HC 885 - History of the Body

    3 credits
    From eugenics to bodybuilding, tattooing to anorexia, cosmetic surgery to reproductive technology: in modern times the body has been the site of the most personal and the most political battles. Various experts and historical actors have sought to understand, discipline, and shape it to conform to a variety of agendas. Rather than remaining unchanged over time, the human body (and our experience of it) has evolved in response to such pressures. This seminar explores major themes in the history of the body in the modern Western world. We will probe the myth of the ideal body and explore historical attempts to construct a “normal” body. We will examine a wide range of practices through which individuals have attempted to shape their identities through the reshaping of their bodies. Finally, we will explore the medicalization of the body and the role of science as an authoritative discourse in this process.
  
  • HC 886 - Topics in the History of Science

    3 credits
    Topics vary with instructor expertise. Course may be repeated.
  
  • HC 887 - Topics in Visual Culture

    3 credits
    Topics vary with intructor expertise.
  
  • HC 888 - Gender in American History

    3 credits
    It’s been nearly 30 years since Joan Scott’s call for historians to use gender as “A Useful Category of Historical Analysis.”  Since then, gender analysis has become one of the staples in historians’ tool kit.  In this class, we will explore gender as a category, a historically and culturally contingent construct, which while seeming “fixed” and “natural,” is actually highly unstable and subjective.  We will explore the ways gender is used to signify relationships of power, especially through symbols and representations that become “naturalized” in the public consciousness.   That is, what does it mean to “be a man” or “be a woman” at different places and times in American history? How are those meanings used to exert power and control?  How do people challenge that power structure?  What happens when those meanings are no longer useful in society? How does society change those meanings?  What do those categories mean for political and social organizations and institutions?  For people’s subjective identities?  This seminar-style class will explore these questions through the use of gender as an analytical tool, within the context of American history.  Emphasis will include the interaction of gender with other analytical categories, and uses of gender analysis in differing sub-disciplines in history.
  
  • HC 889 - History of Sexuality in the Contemporary West

    3 credits
    This seminar explores some of the major themes and milestones in the history of sexuality in the United States and Europe. Our examination begins in the late nineteenth century, with the emergence of a “modern” sexuality. Following a theoretical introduction to the field, the course will address, among other topics, the invention of homo- and hetero- sexuality; sexual citizenship; challenges to sex- and gender- binaries; sex work and the regulation of sexual bodies; and race and disability in the construction of normative and queer sexuality.  
  
  • HC 890 - Anthropological Perspectives on History and Culture

    3 credits
    This seminar introduces participants to some of the major social theories and debates that inform anthropological analysis. Over the course of the semester, we will examine a range of theoretical perspectives concerning such topics as agency, structure, subjectivity, history, social change, power, culture, and the politics of representation. Ultimately, the seminar is intended to provide a thoroughgoing examination on the history and uses of social theory in anthropology and its relevance to the fields of History and Cultural Studies. Beginning with early approaches to the culture concept and the origin of society through the development of anthropology as a discipline in Europe and America to contemporary debates, this seminar will require students to critically engage both theory and ethnography. In so doing, we shall be concerned with the historical and philosophical origins of particular critical perspectives and their importance for an understanding of society and culture.
  
  • HC 891 - The Classical Tradition in the 19th and 20th Centuries

    3 credits
    Major landmarks in the history of ideas, both American and European, historical and literary, engaged with the past of Greece and Rome. How did major thinkers, and even the most radically innovative movements, use and change that tradition in order to move forward? Topics covered include the Renaissance, the American founders, the French Revolution, the modern humanistic university, Romantic philhellenism, Matthew Arnold, Friedrich Nietzsche, James Frazer, Modernism, James Joyce, Leo Strauss, and current issues. No prior knowledge of classical antiquity is required.
  
  • HC 892 - Utopias and Utopian Thought

    3 credits
    Since ancient times the perceived ills of the world as it isin short, of historyhave led people to imagine a perfect world. Utopian dreams can take the form of fiction (hopeful, satirical, or dystopian), religious movements, revolutionary programs, alternative communities, or symbolic enactments seen in festivals and Worlds Fairs. Can we radically change the conditions of human nature and society in the real world? Topics include Platos Republic,the Bible, Mores Utopia,the French Revolution, utopian socialists and Marx, Edward Bellamy and William Morri, We and twentieth-century dystopias, theorists, the World Wide Web, and the future of utopia.
  
  • HC 893 - The History of the Book

    3 credits
    A global survey of the social, economic, and political history of print, and its use as a medium to disseminate ideas. Topics include the history of printing, literacy, publishing, reading, censorship, intellectual property, the profession of letters, academic literary studies, canon formation, lexicography, libraries, and journalism.
  
  • HC 894 - Topics in the History of The Book

    3 credits
    Topics vary with instructor expertise.”
  
  • HC 895 - Topics in Memory Studies

    3 credits
    This course topic explores the study of public memory through a historical approach, in order to analyze issues of identity politics and political transition. Topics will analyze why certain forms of memory emerge when and where they do, and in what form (museums, postcards, annual parades, or temporary artistic spaces); including the impetus to remember, appropriate forms and technologies of memory, monuments, the production of a memorial site, and the inaugural rituals associated with its public unveiling, and the life of the “monument” or the national memory of an event, period or person. Also explored is the impact when second and subsequent generations inherit sites and public memories. Topic varies. Course may be repeated.
  
  • HC 896 - Topics in Modernism

    3 credits
    This course topic explores the Modernism movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including literature, history, culture, art, and music. Topics will investigate the activities and output of those who felt the “traditional” forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social and political conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world. Topic varies. Course may be repeated.
  
  • HC 990 - Research Tutorial

    3 credits
    All Ph.D. and M.A. students must take a Research Tutorial, normally in their final semester of course work, where each student will produce an original and publishable scholarly paper. The tutorial introduces students to archival research, the apparatus of scholarship, and the art of presenting papers at conferences and publishing them. Students in this tutorial work mainly independently but under faculty supervision. Dean’s approval required for registration.

Internship

  
  • INTG 900 - Internship

    1 credits
    This course allows students to supplement their academic knowledge with hands-on experience through work in their field of study. Students will put into practice to gauge its effectiveness in real life settings. Students will be monitored by an adviser and complete a project relating to their internship. Given the intense nature of the Caspersen School programs, it is advised that students begin internships soon after arriving at Drew to obtain the maximum benefit. Successful completion of 3 credits of internship allows the student to receive Internship Certification, which is placed on the student’s official transcript. This course can be repeated with a new project. Signature of instructor required for registration.

Masters Arts Teaching

  
  • G CR T1F - Student Teaching Prep

    9 credits
    For Master of Arts in Teaching Students not registered for courses while preparing for student teaching semester; not repeatable
  
  • MAT 800 - School & Society: American Schooling from its Origins to the Global Era

    3 credits
    This course provides students with an overview of the history and philosophy of education in the United States. It investigates key issues such as literacy, diversity and equity, the education of teachers, and school reform from historical and contemporary perspectives. Major educational philosophies are studied as they develop and change in various historical eras. The course also examines how globalization and large scale immigration are affecting schooling and youth.
  
  • MAT 801 - The Adolescent Learner

    3 credits
    This course focuses upon adolescent development from both psychological and cross- cultural perspectives. Major theories of learning and cognition are studied in-depth, with an emphasis upon their application to the adolescent learner. (Fieldwork required in suburban setting)
  
  • MAT 803 - Integrating Technology in the Content Classroom

    3 credits
    This course explores the impact of new information, communication, and media technologies on the global economy. Students learn how to integrate technology into the content area classroom.
  
  • MAT 804 - Human Diversity

    3 credits
    This course focuses upon the socio-cultural context of education in the Global Era. It examines the role of language and culture in identity formation, communication and learning styles. It explores racism, discrimination, and structural factors that contribute to inequality of opportunity. In addition, the course includes: principles and strategies for teaching students from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds, English Language Learners, and methods for working with students’ families (Fieldwork required in urban setting)
  
  • MAT 808 - Instructional Design and Assessment

    3 credits
    This course provides a theoretical orientation to curriculum design and assessment. Students learn to design units aligned to state and national content standards using Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s Understanding by Design (UbD) as a framework. Students study current debates in assessment and learn to create and utilize traditional and authentic assessments for both formative and summative purposes.
  
  • MAT 809 - Methods of Teaching in the Student’s Content Area

    3 credits
    will be offered in the disciplines of Math, Science, Social Studies, English and World Languages) This course examines the key debates in the respective fields of study and provides students with essential pedagogical content knowledge and strategies. It builds upon the theoretical, philosophical, and cognitive foundations developed in the School and Society and the Adolescent Learner by concretely demonstrating the differences between direct and constructivist approaches and focuses upon lesson plan development. The course is taken in conjunction with a core course in the students’ content areas.
  
  • MAT 810 - Differentiated Instruction for Children with Exceptional Needs

    3 credits
    This course provides students with an understanding of the major types of learning disabilities. They study current special education law and learn how to interpret and institute an IEP. In addition, they learn how to modify curriculum to accommodate students’ learning needs as well as to integrate differentiated instruction into the Understanding by Design framework. (Fieldwork in an inclusive setting required) EDUC 303
  
  • MAT 811 - Content Area Reading: Adolescent Literacy

    3 credits
    This course provides a theoretical understanding of adolescent literacy as well as strategies to enhance comprehension and writing in students’ specific content areas. Differentiation of instruction for English Language Learners and Students with Special Needs is addressed.
  
  • MAT 812 - Historical Inquiry

    3 credits
    This course examines cutting edge pedagogy in History education.The focus is on learning to teach with primary source documents, developing classroom oral history projects and teaching secondary students how to create simple historical narratives in the The course is co-taught by a historian and a history educator.
  
  • MAT 813 - Constitutional Issues in U.S. History

    3 credits


    This course provides students in the social studies track with a solid foundation on the creation of the nation’s founding document as well as the significant social, economic, and political debates involving its interpretation from 1789 to the present. Course learning objectives include developing a thorough understanding of the document’s parts, of the debates surrounding ratification and the Bill of Rights, of the major amendments, and of the major court
    decisions involving the Constitution’s changing interpretation in U.S. history.  Course readings include Kermit Hall et al. American Legal History: Cases and Materials, 4th edition (2010), Peter Irons, The Steps to the Supreme Court (2012), Garrett Epps, Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America (2007).

     

  
  • MAT 814 - Collaboration with Families, School and Community

    3 credits
  
  • MAT 821 - Topics in Biology

    3 credits
    Topics include: Cellular and Molecular Biology, Virology, Immunology, Molecular Genetics, Animal Behavior, Biology of the Mind and systems of Nerobiology. Course may be repeated. To be determined.
  
  • MAT 821L - Topics in Biology Lab


  
  • MAT 822 - Laboratory Methods in Chemistry

    3 credits
    This course covers practical and pedagogical topics involved with the preparation and implementation of high school chemistry lab experiments and demonstrations. Through in-lab activities, we will critique, teach and design experiments that expose high school students to the methods (and excitement) of chemistry and engage them in scientific inquiry. Specific topics include the integration of lab activities with the course curriculum, computer interfacing and lab technology, proper lab techniques, preparing for lab activities, safety and environmental considerations and waste disposal, and evaluation of student reports. Prerequisite: Completion of a chemistry or biochemistry major including general and organic chemistry. Summer second session annually.
  
  • MAT 823 - High School Mathematics from an Advanced Perspective

    3 credits
    In this course, students revisit high school mathematics from an advanced perspective. Attention is given to theoretical foundations, the interrelatedness of topics, generalizations and abstractions, multiple perspectives (for example, geometric and algebraic; functional and set-theoretical), and the use of technology to explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas.
  
  • MAT 824 - Hispanic Humanties Seminar (Seminario en Humanidades His)

    3 credits
    n advanced seminar on a topic relating to the language, culture, and/or literature of the Hispanic world. Emphasis on research and critical thinking. Same as: SPAN+180 Spring Semester.
  
  • MAT 825 - Understanding Special Populations

    2 credits
    MAT students will attend sessions on –site, in centers and agencies serving students with specific disabilities to develop in-depth knowledge from classroom observations and discussion with experts in the field.  These sessions, held every other Friday in the fall semester, will provide observations and seminars with program staff and University faculty.  
  
  • MAT 831 - Biology of the Mind

    3 credits
    An introduction to the biological basis for the mental processes by which we think, perceive, learn, and remember. General topics include anatomical organization of brain function, how cells in the brain communicate with each other, and the interplay between nature versus nurture in neural development. Does not meet requirements for major or minor in biology. Meets: Four hours of class. Annually.
  
  • MAT 832 - Systems Neurobiology

    3 credits
    The neurons of the nervous system are organized into systems that can be defined on the basis of function, anatomy or neurochemistry. This course explores the development of these systems, coordination of the activity within each system, and clinical disorders arising from malfunctions. The laboratory uses current neuroanatomical, pharmacological and neurochemical techniques to explore structure and function. Meets: Three hours of class and Three hours of laboratory. Prerequisite: BIOL+9 and BIOL+22 and CHEM+6 and CHEM+7
  
  • MAT 833 - Diseases of the Brain

    3 credits
    Description pending.
  
  • MAT 834 - Vertebrate Morphogenesis

    3 credits
    Vertebrate anatomy and embryology integrated into a single sequence relating adult morphology to embryological development and adaptation. Stresses basic principles of vertebrate organization, functional considerations of morphology, homologies among vertebrate structures, and evolutionary relations of vertebrate groups. Laboratory work includes comparative studies of various vertebrate types and field trips to the Bronx Zoo and American Museum of Natural History. Fulfills laboratory requirement for major. Meets: Three hours class, three hours laboratory. Prerequisite: BIOL+7 and BIOL+9
  
  • MAT 835 - Immunology

    3 credits
    An introduction to the principles of immunology. Stresses the nature of antigens, antibodies, and antigen-antibody interactions; humoral and cellular immune responses governing antibody production, hypersensitivities, transplantation, tolerance, autoimmunity, and neoplasia. Includes discussions on immunogenetics, immunoregulation, and the concept of immune networks. Meets: Three hours class. Prerequisite: BIOL+7 and BIOL+9 and BIOL+22 and CHEM+25
  
  • MAT 836 - Conservation Biology

    3 credits
    An exploration of the major principles of conservation biology-the study of maintaining biological diversity. We will examine the foundations of conservation biology, its biological concepts (principles and theories), and the applications of such concepts to preserving biodiversity. This course emphasizes the application of evolutionary and ecological theory to the preservation of threatened species, but also considers economic, political and philosophical perspectives. Classroom activities will facilitate understanding of the principles of conservation biology, and field trips will provide direct exposure to the practice of conservation biology. Appropriate for students in biology and environmental studies. Meets: Three hours class. Prerequisite: BIOL+150 or 160, or permission of instructor. Offering to be determined.
  
  • MAT 837 - Topics in Neurosciences:

    3 credits
    An in depth study in subjects related to neurosciences for students in the Master of Arts and Teaching program. Topics are announced at the time of registration and could focus on any area of neurosciences. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 838 - Scientific Inquiry in the Urban Classroom

    3 credits


    MAT teacher candidates preparing to teach in the Sciences (Biology, Chemistry or Physics) will participate in development of an instructional program to be implemented in an urban school setting.  These students will utilize information derived from their Laboratory experience in the Science content courses (CLA content courses at Drew) to develop lessons in scientific inquiry appropriate to the assigned students and school setting.  This year’s instruction will be developed in alignment with the Environmental Justice Curriculum project in conjunction with the Ironbound Community Corporation and the Oliver Street School in Newark, NJ.   MAT science candidates, under the supervision of Science and Social Studies faculty at Drew, will develop the scientific inquiry component of the project in collaboration with the social justice aspect which is being developed by the Social Studies teacher candidates.  This meets the requirement for the urban field work component of the MAT Program. Both Science and Social Studies teacher candidates will work with eighth grade students to develop virtual exhibits for a museum website. Possible topics include: Dioxin and the river cleanup, the fight to reduce air pollution and toxic waste.

    Science teacher candidates will select a topic, receive a packet of resources from the Ironbound Community Corporation and develop a Project Based Lesson culminating in a web based project.  They will co-teach an introductory lesson to the class and then each work with a group of students to develop the project. 

  
  • MAT 839 - Selected Topics in Biology

    3 credits
    An in depth study in subjects related to biology for students in the Master of Arts and Teaching program. Topics are announced at the time of registration and could focus on any area of biology.
  
  • MAT 840 - Selected Topics in Physics

    3 credits
    Occasional elective courses on physics topics. Amount of credit established at time of registration. Prerequisite: Varies with topic; consult course listings, or contact the program dir. To be determined.
  
  • MAT 841 - Physical Chemistry I

    3 credits
    A study of the basic principles of quantum mechanics, atomic spectroscopy, molecular spectroscopy, and structure. Topics include quantum mechanics of translation, vibration, and rotation, application of quantum mechanics to atomic spectra and atomic structure, molecular orbital theory of diatomics and conjugated polyatomics, electronic spectroscopy of diatomics and conjugate systems, vibrational spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, and elementary nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Laboratory experiments emphasize the use of the above mentioned spectroscopies in the determination of molecular structure. Meets: Three hours class, three hours laboratory. Prerequisite: CHEM+26 and MATH+8 and PHYS+12
  
  • MAT 841L - Topics in Biology Lab


    Required topics in Biology Lab.
  
  • MAT 842 - Intermediate Inorganic Chemistry

    3 credits
    A systematic study of modern inorganic chemistry beginning with the chemistry of the main group elements. Topics include periodic trends and chemical relationships and unusual bonding interactions. Focuses on the chemistry of the transition elements, including stereochemistry and isomerism, bonding (crystal and ligand field theory), magnetic and spectroscopic properties, metal-metal bonds, metal clusters, organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry. Meets: Three hours class. Prerequisite: CHEM+25 Fall semester.
  
  • MAT 843 - Biochemistry

    3 credits
    A study of the fundamental principles of protein biochemistry with an introduction to metabolism. Topics include chemistry of amino acids, relationship between protein structure and function, enzyme kinetics and mechanisms, regulation of enzymatic activity. The laboratory focuses on the application of biochemical principles to the solving of biological problems in living systems. Laboratory experimental methods include protein and nucleic acid characterization, purification of enzymes, enzyme kinetic measurements, and forensic biochemistry. Meets: Three hours class, three hours laboratory. Prerequisite: CHEM+26 Corequisite: CHEM+118. Fall semester.
  
  • MAT 844 - Biochemistry Lab

    1 credits
    Basic techniques of experimental biochemistry including spectrophotometric and chromatographic techniques. Projections will include protein quantitation enzyme assay, dipeptide sequencing, characterization of a simple sugar. Meets: Three hours of laboratory. Prerequisite: MAT 843  Same as: CHEM+118
  
  • MAT 845 - Special Topics in Environmental Science

    3 credits
    Occasional elective courses interdisciplinary or disciplinary topics related to the environment.
  
  • MAT 846 - Special Topics in Environmental Studies

    3 credits
    Occasional elective courses on interdisciplinary or disciplinary topics related to the environment. Amount of credit established at time of registration. Prerequisite: Varies with topic; consult course listings, or contact the program dir. To be determined.
  
  • MAT 847 - Special Topics in Environmental Studies

    3 credits
    Occasional advanced elective courses on interdisciplinary or disciplinary topics related to the environment. May be repeated for credit as topic changes. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 848 - Modern Physics

    3 credits
    A descriptive and mathematical introduction to topics in contemporary physics. Topics include special relativity, early quantum theory, the Schroedinger equation and its applications, and additional selected topics from general relativity, atomic, nuclear, solid state, and elementary particle physics. Prerequisite: PHYS+11, 12 AND MATH+8. Same as: PHYS+103 Offered fall semester.
  
  • MAT 848R - Modern Physics Recitation


    Required recitation for MAT 848 .
  
  • MAT 849 - Topics in Chemistry:

    3 credits
    Topics include: Physical Chemistry ll, Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, Advanced Organic Chemistry, Advanced Topics in Inorganic Chemistry. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 850 - Topics in Physics

    3 credits
    An in depth study in subjects related to physics for students in the Master of Arts and Teaching program. Topics are announced at the time of registration and could focus on any area of physics. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 851 - Topics in English

    3 credits
    Topics include: Holocaust Theatre: Resistance, Response, Remembrance, The Literature of Addictions, The Journey Back to Self. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 852 - Topics in Writing: Creative Writing

    3 credits
    Most creative writing workshops aim to help a developed draft to become a presentable piece.  This one focuses instead on finding and caring for inspiration, on keeping it alive and well not only through a first draft but as seedstock for future efforts.  The workshop should be especially useful for bare beginners and for experienced writers who feel “stuck,” whether in general or in some particular genre.   
  
  • MAT 858 - Topics in Theatre Arts

    3 credits
    An in depth study in theatre related subjects for students in the Master of Arts and Teaching program. Topics are announced at the time of registration and could focus on any area of the theatre.
  
  • MAT 861 - Introductory Statistics

    3 credits
    Presentation and interpretation of data, frequency distributions, measures of center and dispersion, elementary probability, inference and sampling, regression and correlation; use of a standard statistics software product. Designed for students in the social and biological sciences. Meets: 150 minutes weekly, with an additional 50 minute recitation. Corequisite: MAT 861R  Same as: MATH+3 Every semester.
  
  • MAT 861R - Introductory Statistics Recitation


  
  • MAT 862 - Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science

    3 credits
    Mathematical topics central to the study of computer science: elementary logic and set theory, modular arithmetic, proof techniques, induction, recurrences, counting, generating functions, graph theory, matrices, Gaussian elimination. Meets: Weekly for three 65 minute periods. Same as: MATH+23 Fall semester.
  
  • MAT 863 - Number Theory

    3 credits
    A mathematical investigation of the integers: prime numbers, unique factorization, congruence, theorems of Fermat and Euler, quadratic reciprocity, Diophantine equations, applications in cryptography and coding theory. Meets: 150 minutes weekly. Prerequisite: C- or better in MATH+17 Same as: MATH+108
  
  • MAT 864 - Mathematical Physics

    3 credits
    An introduction to methods used in solving problems in physics and other sciences. Calculus of variations and extremum principles. Orthogonal functions and Sturm-Liouville problems. Fourier series. Series solutions of differential equations. The partial differential equations of physics. Transform and Green’s function methods of solution. Nonlinear equations and chaos theory. Prerequisite: MATH+104 and PHYS+11
  
  • MAT 865 - Real and Complex Analysis

    3 credits
    Topics include properties of the real and complex number systems, introduction to point set typology, limits of sequences and functions, continuity, differentiation and integration of real and complex functions, and infinite series and uniform convergence. Meets: Weekly for three 65 minute periods. Prerequisite: MATH+17 and MATH+100
  
  • MAT 866 - Probability

    3 credits
    The fundamentals of probability theory including discrete and continuous random variables and their distributions, conditional probability and independence, joint probability distributions, expected values, moment generating functions, laws of large numbers, and limit theorems. Special topics selected from random walks, Markov chains, and applications as time permits. Meets: Weekly for three 65 minute periods. Prerequisite: MATH+17 and MATH+100 Same as: MATH+129
  
  • MAT 867 - Topics in Mathematics

    3 credits
    Topics include: Foundations of Higher Mathematics, Linear Algebra, and Mathematics seminar. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 868 - Object Oriented Programming

    3 credits
    Designing, writing, and testing structured computer programs. Decomposing problems; writing function definitions; conditional and iterative control constructs; using class libraries. Problem-solving through programming with classes and vectors; algorithm correctness; recursion. Java will be the language of instruction. Meets: Three times weekly for 65 minutes plus once a week for a 75 minute laboratory. Prerequisite: C- or better in CSCI+1. Same as: CSCI+2
  
  • MAT 869 - Topics in Computer Sciences

    3 credits
    An in depth study in subjects related to computer sciences for students in the Master of Arts and Teaching program. Topics are announced at the time of registration and could focus on any area of computer sciences. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 871 - Topics in History

    3 credits
    Topics include: The Age of Revolutions, c 1688-1917, Studies in British History: The empire Strikes Back: the struggles for Independence from the British Empire, with special reference to China, India and Ireland, Abe Lincoln: Man, Myth and Memory, 1848: The Springtime of the People. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 872 - Topics in French

    3 credits
    Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 873 - Topics in Italian

    3 credits
    Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 881 - Selected Topics in Spanish

    3 credits
    Topics include :Environmental Representations: Nature, Nation and Self in Spanish America, Linguistics, Intercambios Translanticos: Una Historia cultural de la comida de los siglos 16 al 21, Literature of the Conquest of Latin America, Spanish Grammar in Action. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MAT 882 - Literature of the Conquest of Latin America

    3 credits
    A study of the artistic, intellectual, and social aspects that distinguish the various Spanish-speaking groups in the United States. The course surveys Spain’s cultural presence in North America from the early 16th century to the mid-19th century through the works of early explorers, oral narratives, and the role of the missions. In addition, the concept of traditional and contemporary borderlands and its geographic and psycholinguistic implications are explored to analyze issues of marginality, bilingual-bicultural issues, and nationalism. Primary emphasis is on contemporary authors and trends. Same as: SPAN+136 Spring semester.
  
  • MAT 883 - History, Society, Fiction in the Lit. of Mexico & Hisp. Car

    3 credits
    This course studies one of the major contemporary narrative genres in Latin America, the “cuento fantastico,” which includes the much popularized notion of magical realism. Same as: SPAN+146
  
  • MAT 884 - Spanish Grammar in Action

    3 credits
    Same as: SPAN+126
  
  • MAT 885A - Spanish Composition I

    1 credits
    This course provides a grammar review with special attention to the development of accurate oral and written expression. The objective of this course is to improve written proficiency. Emphasis on acquiring expressive vocabulary and knowing the rhetorical norms of different writing styles: academic writing, formal and informal correspondence, creative, argumentative, etc. Through daily written assignments, including exercises in translation, students should increase control of writing across various contexts. Prerequisite: SPAN+102, placement, or special permission.
 

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5