Humanities and Sciences Department

This course is designed to provide a survey of the principles and concepts necessary for understanding and performing basic marketing and self-promotion. Students will apply the research and marketing decision-making skills presented by developing a marketing approach and plan for a particular product. Networking, information meetings, research and promotional tools are among the topics covered. What it means to run your own business will be emphasized.

This course focuses on the way that film reflects and influences society. Students will concentrate on the content of the film (script, period style or historical reference) as opposed to the form (cinematography, design, etc.). The sociological principles of conflict theory, social structure and organization, social control will be studied.

This course focuses on the ways in which films produced in other cultures reflect their societies. Films from Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America are explored to develop a holistic, cross-cultural perspective. Students gain an appreciation of cultural similarities and differences and enhance their intercultural sensitivity. Films viewed in and out of class, oral reports, written essays, class participation and exams are required.

This course provides an interdisciplinary examination of visual culture and how the ways of seeing structures our understanding of the world. The course offers historical and contemporary views of visual culture from a sociological perspective incorporating various critical theories. Through field trips, screenings, readings and discussion, the student focuses on how visual culture is constructed, written about, analyzed and viewed in the larger construction of culture.

This course emphasizes critical skills in writing, reading, and thinking. The student will develop skills in writing unified, coherent, well-developed essays using correct grammar and effective sentence structure. Non-fiction, fiction, research, and poetry are explored as uses of the writing process.

This course stresses oral communication skills. It demonstrates how the use of reasoning, research, evidence, and self-confidence leads to effective speaking. Students learn to give, listen to, analyze, and critique oral communication.

Students develop their communications skills in the area of unique and alternative solutions, creative ideas and brainstorming techniques. Creativity is a process of combining and recombining ideas and this course gives the student the tools to deliberately “turn on” their creativity, to produce and connect ideas for meaningful and useful purposes. Creative processes and the various stages of the processes are reviewed, experienced and further developed.

An educated person needs to know how to communicate in the language of business. This general education course will introduce students to such subjects as cover letters, memos, reports, grant proposals, proof reading, memo writing and billing communications.

This seminar course focuses on different theoretical, conceptual or thematic approaches to examine specific communication issues. Course work includes readings, lectures, discussions, and papers.

For an artist to function in the world of art, a working knowledge of the history of art is required. This course is designed to acquaint the student with the major movements, artists and artworks of the Western world. Beginning with Prehistoric cave paintings, the course will cover such areas as Egyptian, Greek and Roman art as well as the art of Medieval Europe. Discussion will link the ways in which concepts in art develop and change within different cultural and social concepts. Students will apply critical thinking, reflection and investigative skills in the preparation of essays for the course.

This is the second part of a two-semester required course. Please see ART101 for a further description. Beginning with the Renaissance and covering such periods as the Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classical, Romantic, and Impressionism, students will be exposed to the masterworks of some of the greatest figures in Western art. Instruction will be by way of lectures, slide presentations and class discussions as well as through readings and museum visits.

This course focuses on the central role of art in world societies. A broad range of aesthetic expression including painting, sculpture, architecture, textiles, mask, and body decoration will be explored. Emphasis will be placed on art from India, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the cultures of the South Pacific Islands. The development of the visual arts and their contextualization within their social, economic and historical milieu, as well as evidence of cross-cultural commonalities will be examined.

From Catlin’s first depiction of the American Indian, through the Golden Age of Howard Pyle, to Norman Rockwell and beyond, the illustrator has been an important and unique facet of American culture. As reporters, storytellers and merchandisers, illustrators have provided a mirror for each generation and helped to define their age. Through discussions and slide presentations, this course will provide an overview of the styles, thoughts, and methods of the last one hundred years of American illustration.

This course presents a survey of both historical and contemporary trends in American graphic design in various industries (i.e. advertising food, toiletries, etc.) and includes comparison of global design histories and trends. Through a series of lectures, students will be introduced to the theories and methods driving historical and current design as well as the work of leading designers who have set the standards of excellence in graphics. Reading assignments will be made in the areas of graphic design theory and criticism to encourage students to explore both old evolving into new ideas and trends in graphic design.

This course will address the major movements and artists of the twentieth century, in their social and ideational context with reference to historical precedence. The transition of modernism from its European roots, its shift to America and into the pluralism and internationalism of the present is covered. The emphasis of this course is on the dynamism and variety of the historical process with attention to the idea of the artists’ individuality in relationship to their milieu. Lectures, readings, seminars, field trips and weekly writings are part of this class, with focus placed on the student’s ability to verbalize and participate in class discussions.

Influential periods studied include Italian Renaissance, Northern Renaissance, Venetian Art, Mannerism and the Baroque.

This course will examine how technological invention and advancements have influenced and continue to influence art and the art making process. Starting with the birth of photography and ending with computer-generated art, this course will explore how mechanical and electronic inventions have caused/altered art movements as well as created new art forms such as film, video, radio and interactive art.

This course will discuss these art movements in depth and explore the historical and social milieus of Western Europe in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Beginning in the age of French salons and absolute monarchy, this course traces the rise of the bourgeoisie, the revolt against the aristocracy, and the triumph of enlightenment thought.

The purpose of this course is to give students a firm understanding of the skeleton as an architectural framework for the human body and of the muscular system as a system for the production of motion. The course will consist of lecture and lab components as well as some work outside of class, including museum trips to study biological and evolutionary exhibits.

This science class will address issues that are of life-long importance to all students. Subjects will include the effects of drug, alcohol and tobacco use, stress management, diet, wellness and the safe use of artists’ materials.

This course develops conceptual understanding and problem-solving, decision-making, and analytic skills dealing with quantities and their magnitudes and interrelationships. Through lectures and assignments, students will develop an appreciation for mathematics as both a science and an art.

This course examines the basic physics and chemistry of light in the framework of geometrical and physical optics. Topics to be covered are refraction and diffraction, structural color, the nature of light and its interactions with matter, photochemistry, pigments and dyes, and the principles underlying fluorescence and phosphorescence, lasers and holography.

This academic studies class will provide the student with the understanding of the anatomy of the human form and systems of motion. This course will enable students to identify, understand and apply anatomical structures to the human form in a variety of poses. Students will be given an introduction to the history of artists’ use of anatomical information. Finally, this course will empower students to think critically about the use of anatomy within their own drawings.