Selected 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.
All Semesters
Fall 2010
AIS 490 Section 01 American Indian Cultural and Restoration through Museum Studies
Introduction to American Indian cultural items from tribes across the United States as reflected in preservation, presentation, and display in non-Native museums. Themes to be explored include the acquisition of cultural items, consultation with Native American tribes, classification of cultural artifacts, and tribal-museum contracts and agreements to allow for display of non-religious American Indian materials.
COMM 590 Section 01 Qualitative Research Methods
Through presentation of scholarly readings and immersion into one’s own in-depth research project, this course is designed to explore a variety of qualitative research approaches in communication studies, taking into account issues of epistemology, methodology and representation.
CWL 420 Section 01 The Comic Spirit
Prerequisite: CWL 320I or consent of instructor
Seminar involving intensive study of the theory and the history of comedy in its many forms, dating from the classical period of western and other cultures to the modern era, focused on an analysis of masterworks from each period.
CWL 402/502 Section 01 Voices of Exile in North America
Prerequisite: One course in literature or consent of instructor
An interdisciplinary course in cultural studies focusing on twentieth-century representations of exile primarily by Francophone exilic writers of Middle Eastern origins in Canada. The course will also deal with the Arab American experience after 9/11.
CWL 448/548 Section 01 Comics and Graphic Novels
Prerequisite: One course in literature or consent of instructor
This interdisciplinary class examines the sequential art and narrative of a sophisticated and complex medium bearing close affinities with art, film, and literature. Students learn about and appreciate this visual medium by ‘reading’ graphic novels and comics from around the world.
EDEL 599 Section 01 Formative and Summative Assessments in Arts Education
Students will acquire foundational knowledge in the development and implementation of formative and summative assessments.
EE 405 Section 01 Introduction to Smart Grid and Current Power Issues
The Smart Grid class explains what makes a grid “smart”. The class explains technologies for smart metering, distribution, load balancing that can be used to reduce brown-outs or blackouts in the information age. It will also analyze the effects a Smart Grid will have on the distribution grid, its design and operation, including issues of cyber security. Develop understanding and design interconnections, both optical and electrical. Memory as it applies to the systems and interconnect design will also be explored (SAN, NAS, etc.) Explore design and system modeling/simulation tools, and measuring techniques.
EE 590 Section 02High Speed Communication Circuits
Prerequisite: EE 430 or consent of instructor
Design of integrated circuits for high speed data communication. Serial communication standards. Transceiver architecture. High speed and broadband circuit design techniques. Serializer, deserializer, clock recovery circuits. Channel equalization. Jitter and channel interference issues.
EE 590 Section 03High Speed Interconnects in Digital Systems Design
Prerequisite: Graduate standing
Develop understanding and design interconnections from chip to system level, including new bus technologies, fast interconnections, both optical and electrical. Memory as it applies to the systems and interconnect design will also be explored (SAN, NAS, etc.) Explore design and system modeling/simulation tools, and measuring techniques.
EE 590 Section 04 Selected Topics in Solar Energy
Prerequisite: Graduate standing in MSEE
Solar systems for electric and thermal energy generation. Crystalline and thin film PV cells. Grid-tied and off-grid systems. Solar thermal collectors. Pressurized and non-pressure thermal solar systems. Performance evaluation and modeling.
LING 490/590 Section 01 Introduction to Research Methods
Introduction to quantitative, qualitative and mixed method research in linguistics; basic-statistical methods; and writing a research report.
MICR 490/590 Section 02 Interaction of Microbes with Other Organisms
Prerequisites: MICR 211 with a grade of “C” or better; MICR 371 or BIOL 370.
This course will explore beneficial and harmful interactions of microbes with other microbes, plants and animals including humans, with an emphasis on the use of genetic, molecular and cell biological and genomics approaches in the study of these interactions.
PHIL 491/591 Section 01 Philosophy of Religion and Locke
Prerequisite: 6 units of philosophy or consent of instructor
This course will be dedicated to the philosophical theology of John Locke. We will examine some of the neglected parts of the “Essay” and Lock’s other writings on philosophical theology and religion. In doing so, we will try to better ascertain Lock’s views on man, the world and God.
PHIL 496/596 Section 01 Reasons for Action
Prerequisite: 6 units of philosophy or consent of instructor
This course reviews recent work on reasons for action, i.e., what we have reason to do. Are there reasons of self-interest? How about moral reasons? Are reasons subjective or objective? How can we resolve conflicts between different kinds of reasons?
R/ST 690 Section 02 Ancient Wisdom Literature
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
Wisdom Literature from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and ancient Israel considered including biblical, Dead Sea Scrolls and early Jewish and Christian texts. The course also examines the goddess figure of “Woman Wisdom” as well as ancient dialectic on questions of good and evil.
SOC 490 Section 01 Religion and Social Change
Course explores the relationship of religion as an important social institution to the phenomenon of social change. We will consider the role of religion in social movements in the United States and examine instances of social change inside religious institutions.