Special Topic Course Descriptions
The courses described below are offered under "Selected Topics" course numbers. Departments offer Selected Topics only occasionally and the selection is different every semester. Selected Topics courses do not repeat material presented by regular semester courses.
Spring 2009
AH 497/597 Section 1 Patronage in the Renaissance
This seminar will explore the relationship of patrons and artists in Europe during the late middle ages and Renaissance. It will address issues involving who was commissioning art and for what purposes, and how the patrons' wishes might be expressed in specific artworks. Intended for advanced majors and graduate students, the seminar will require specialized reading and an in-depth research project.
AH 497/597 Section 2 Modern Architecture
This seminar explores the various technological innovations, formal experiments, philosophical and ideological currents, political and economic factors, and aesthetic concepts that led to and were embodied in the modernist movement in western architecture from the rise of industrialism to the contemporary scene. It will thus determine the salient characteristics of "modernism," and examine significant Southern Californian contributions to this movement.
ART 490 Section 1 Experimental Animation
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
An investigation of a variety of basic animation techniques as alternatives to traditional hand-drawn character animation with emphasis on understanding movement, weight, timing and sequential aesthetics.
A/ST 490 Section 1 Korean Popular Culture in Asia/Asian America
Prerequisites: Upper division standing or consent of instructor.
Examines the phenomenon of Korean popular culture ("hallyu") and its effects in Asia and Asian America. Explores contemporary South Korean culture, society, and economy through television dramas, mini-series, films, and music. Knowledge of Korean language not required.
BIOL 490/590 Section 1 Contemporary Issues in Stem Cell Biology
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
Critical evaluation of current primary literature on stem cell biology including their derivation and induction, characterization, differentiation, and therapeutic potential.
CBA 495 Section 1 International Collegiate Business Simulation Competition
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor, I S 301.
This course provides an experience equivalent to actually running a manufacturing company in competition with other companies run by student teams from US and international business schools. Written reports and a presentation to panel of judges is required.
C/LA 490 Section 10 California-Mexico Higher Education Policy Issues
A travel study survey course on the contemporary and critical issues related to California-Mexico Higher Education policies. The course will involve a 10-day travel/study trip to Mexico City (March 26 to April 5, 2009).
COMM 590 Section 1 Hip Hop Criticism
Prerequisite: Comm 541
Hip Hop Criticism examines the efficacy of various (traditional and nontraditional) critical approaches to the study of hip hop.
COMM 590 Section 2 Political Communication
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
This seminar will focus on the rhetorical presidency and its development across time. We will study inaugural addresses, state of the union speeches, war speeches, policy speeches, and the presidency as a rhetorical institution.
COUN 692 Section 4 Disaster Mental Health
This course will cover current research on disaster mental health issues. It will also review cognitive-behavioral treatment of disaster related trauma. Immediate and post-disaster response strategies will be reviewed.
CRJU 490/690 Section 2 Issues in Urban Justice
Prerequisites: Completion of 300-level core courses or consent of instructor.
A study of the justice system's impact on urban, minority communities. Examines the culture and administration of urban: police departments, courts, mass incarceration, and prison release reintegration programs. Emphasis on the system’s link to urban poverty, unemployment, and social isolation.
CWL 452/552 Section 1 The Mythic Hero: Oedipus and Lear, Ahab and the Judge
Evolution of the tragic hero from the Classical to the Shakespearean, through American Romanticism and into contemporary literature, such as Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.
EDEL 490 Section 01 English Language Learners
This course will examine: 1) language policies and legal decisions in the United States; 2) theoretical underpinnings for teaching English to English Language Learners; research-based strategies for teaching English Language Learners in urban classroom settings. Language policy and theory will be applied to instructional methods for ELLs.
EDEL 490 Section 02 Biliteracy: Teaching English and Korean
Content, methods, and assessment for teaching literacy in K-8 English and Korean bilingual settings. Course lectures, activities, and assignments in English and Korean. Ten hours field work in elementary bilingual and sheltered English/Korean classrooms required.
GBA 695 Section 3 International Collegiate Business Simulation Competition
Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
This course provides an experience equivalent to actually running a manufacturing company in competition with other companies run by student teams from US and international business schools. Written reports and a presentation to panel of judges is required.
GERM 498/598 Section 1 The Aesthetics of Terror
This course will focus on current discussions in German Studies. Students will encounter the visual representation of various forms of terror to determine under what circumstances an aesthetics of terror is possible. For graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
HIST 290 Section 2 Heresy and Witchcraft in Europe
This course will examine the origins, development, content, and effects of both Christian heresy and the appearance of the Witch in Europe, primarily but not limited to Europe.
HIST 290 Section 3 History vs. Hollywood
This course will examine the relations between history and Hollywood; the debates among historians over the relative value of historical films-such as "Viva Zapata!" (1952), "Mississippi Burning" (1988), and "JFK" (1991) and the ways historians have used movies as historical documents.
PHIL 490/590 Section 1 Plato and Nietzsche
Prerequisite: 6 units of philosophy or consent of instructor.
An examination of the starkly opposed positions taken by Plato and Nietzsche as regards the nature and value of moral conduct. A secondary theme will be the character of (Socratic) rationalism. Primary readings: Plato's Gorgias and Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals.
PHIL 680 Section 1 Theories of Truth
Prerequisite: PHIL 382 or consent of instructor.
This course will closely scrutinize the correspondence theory of truth by way of the main arguments and problems haranguing it. Also focused on will be truth's relationship to certainty, and to the varieties of realism (alethic, semantic, scientific, etc.).
PHIL 690 Section 1 Mill's on Liberty and Free Speech
Close analysis of J.S. Mill's on Liberty, especially concerning free speech; contemporary critical dialogue on the text; application to contemporary issues (including Nazi speech, hate speech, pornography, internet). Electronic dialogue with Slovak university students on the contemporary issues is planned.
POSC 493 Section 01 Politics, Culture, and Disaster
Examinations of the political and cultural consequences of disasters, with special emphasis on Hurricane Katrina and its impact upon the city of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, and the nation. Students will travel to New Orleans to engage in service learning work to help in the rebuilding effort.
R/ST 490 Section 1 Ancient Near Eastern Religions: Myth and Ritual
Myth and ritual are lenses on ancient Near Eastern religions. Using myth theory and ritual analysis, the course takes up Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Ugaritic, Hittite, and Israelite myths of creation and journeys along rituals of sacrifice, purity and escape animals.
SPAN 490 Section 1 and 2 Latin American Cinema
A critical and historical overview of the art and politics of Latin American cinema from the 1960's to the present. A study of the New Latin American Cinema as an expression of historical reality and as personal expression.
SPAN 640 Section 1 Theatricality, Performance and Memory in LA
Prerequisite: Spanish 341 or consent of instructor.
This seminar explores theatricality and performance within the analysis of social and cultural practices of memory and national identities during South and Central America's redemocratization processes.
W/ST 490 Section 1 Race and Sexuality in a Global Context
An interdisciplinary study of the relationship between race and sexuality as it shapes global political structures, (European/ US colonialism, law, human rights, global division of labour, militarism), that links US racial/sexual politics with other national and transnational movements for equality.