Interdisciplinary Studies

INDS 500 - THE INTERDISCIPLINARY MIND: LIBERAL ARTS AND THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE

Short Title: THE INTERDISCIPLINARY MIND

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will unpack and explore the meaning and history of interdisciplinary studies, as well as the various debates and controversies associated with the concept of liberal education. Along the way, we’ll reflect on the role such an education plays in our own intellectual and personal lives while also examining the relationship between this form of education and issues of citizenship, democracy, justice, and the public good. The course will introduce you to the habits of inquiry, analysis, discussion, reflection, and interdisciplinary research that animate graduate-level activity in this program. Ultimately, this work will provide an opportunity for us to wrestle with complex and enduring questions about human life and the search for meaning and happiness while at the same time honing the foundational scholarly skills of writing, reading, and critical thinking. Required for all new students. Department Permission Required.

INDS 501 - THE SHAPING OF WESTERN THOUGHT

Short Title: THE SHAPING OF WESTERN THOUGHT

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Study of the foundational, intellectual and artistic texts of the western tradition from Ancient Greece to Medieval Islam. Consideration of texts and images over time and in their historical development as we reflect on who we are and how we got here. Readings would include: The Gilgamesh Epic, Homer's Illad, Thucydides' War, Plato's Republic, Book of Genesis, Virgil's Aeneid, Gospels of Luke and of Thomas, Augustine's Confessions and The Qur'an. Department Permission Required.

INDS 502 - THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE IN POETRY

Short Title: PERSONAL NARRATIVE IN POETRY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course examines the impulse to view poetry as autobiography. We’ll question what this says about our culture’s relationship to literature. We’ll discuss confessional poetry and a selection of poets who grapple with readers’ perception of autobiography in their poems, exposing students to problems and possibilities in personal narrative poetry. Department Permission Required.

INDS 505 - SHAKESPEARE AND FILM

Short Title: SHAKESPEARE AND FILM

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will examine several Shakespeare plays and their theatrical productions. The instructor will teach each play as a text (and a script) first, and then study the films of these plays in an effort to understand the choices the film-makers have made in adapting Shakespeare's plays to the screen. In this course, then, we will be concerned with studying both Shakespeare's plays and what happens to those plays in the hands of a creative film-maker. Department Permission Required.

INDS 508 - UNDERSTANDING EARTH AND BEYOND

Short Title: UNDERSTANDING EARTH AND BEYOND

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies or Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: In this course, students will gain an understanding of how our planet works, from its deep interior to the oceans, atmosphere, and life. A central theme of the course is to study how our planet works as an interconnected system. For example, we will investigate how plate tectonics makes volcanoes, ocean basins, mountains, continents, and even the atmosphere, and how all these components of the Earth interact with each other to give us the habitable planet we live on. We will learn about how life began on Earth and how life evolved with changing environments. We will also show how the principles of physics, chemistry, biology, and math become beautiful and easy when applied to our planet. Students will come out of this class with a greater appreciation of landscapes and the life around us. The course will also prepare students how to think about societally relevant problems, such as climate change, critical minerals, and natural disasters. Department Permission Required.

INDS 513 - DNA: HUMAN IDENTITY AND ORIGINS

Short Title: DNA: HUMAN IDENTITY & ORIGINS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: "Who am I?" "Where did I come from?" All branches of knowledge address these fundamental questions. This course examines how DNA informs the structure and function of humans, and how humans have in turn used DNA as a source of information to solve mysteries and improve lives. We will introduce the structure of DNA and show how it influences physical traits and is passed on from parent to child. We will review the original goals of the Human Genome Project and discuss how the surprising results that emerged from it have altered the way we view the role of genes in human development. We will examine how breakthroughs in DNA technology have allowed us to answer questions about human origins, worldwide migrations and personal genealogy and aided criminal investigations and medical treatment. This course will also use the specifics of DNA investigation as examples of science in action. Department Permission Required.

INDS 517 - MODERN DRAMA ON FILM AND IN PERFORMANCE

Short Title: MODERN DRAMA

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will focus on drama not only as text but also as performance. We will read modern plays and discuss them as they are often discussed in English courses, concentrating on theme, character, world, imagery, language and dramatic action. In addition, we will also examine the "texts" as scripts, as working papers for actors and directors: in short, as source materials for performance. To this end we will also view movie versions of many of these plays. Department Permission Required.

INDS 525 - PLAGUES AND POPULATIONS

Short Title: PLAGUES AND POPULATIONS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will examine the interaction of pathogens and human societies. It will cover the biological nature of pathogens and disease, the human immune system and therapeutic and societal interventions to prevent and cure disease. Specific diseases will be studied to determine the biology of the disease agent, its exploitation of the human host, its transmission and epidemiology and how the disease impacts the economic, political, social structure and values of the affected populations, and how the response to disease may limit its impact. Department Permission Required.

INDS 534 - HUMAN RIGHTS IN WORLD AFFAIRS

Short Title: HUMAN RIGHTS IN WORLD AFFAIRS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Human rights organizations have gained tremendous attention and credibility among people and governments. While universal human rights may seem timeless, they have a long and checkered political and legal history. The main objective of the course is to explore the increasing yet contested role played by human rights and humanitarianism in contemporary world affairs. Students will undertake independent research on an issue, location, and period of their choosing. Students who have earned credit for MLSC 534 cannot earn credit for INDS 534. Department Permission Required.

INDS 536 - TRADITIONAL CHINESE CULTURE AND ITS MODERN LEGACY

Short Title: TRADITIONAL CHINESE CULTURE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: An analysis of the language, philosophy, religion, art, literature, institutions and social customs of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), the last imperial regime and a crucial bridge between "traditional" and "modern" China. Although this course is intended in part as an exercise in appreciation, it is designed primarily to encourage critical and creative thinking about another place and time. Department Permission Required.

INDS 537 - PROFILES FROM THE PAST: FAMOUS FIGURES IN WESTERN HISTORY

Short Title: PROFILES FROM THE PAST

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: What has happened during the course of time, regarding culture and human experience that has been transmitted from the ancient to the modern world? What ideas and concepts concerning subjects such as politics, art, music, and philosophy have been our legacy from the western past? This course will survey the answers to these questions covering the time of classical Greece through the period of the high middle ages. Department Permission Required.

INDS 539 - IMMIGRATION AND THE STATE: EUROPE AND THE US IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Short Title: IMMIGRATION AND THE STATE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The course traces the history of immigration within and to Europe and to the United States from the late 19th century to the present. How did the United States and the European states elicit, regulate or contain successive waves of labor and colonial migrants, stateless persons and asylum seekers? And what type of legal, political and cultural debates did the "immigrant question" raise in the public sphere since the advent of mass migration? We will discuss key issue regarding immigration including political asylum, guest-worker programs, assimiliation and integration debates, and immigrants and the welfare state Department Permission Required.

INDS 542 - THE EPIC JOURNEY

Short Title: THE EPIC JOURNEY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This class explores some of the classic texts of Western literature, books from the ancient world that have had, and continue to have a formative influence on who we are and how we got here. The works we will study all share a common theme: the epic journey. We explore different variations of this theme, follow ancient travelers on their journeys, and reflect with them about their discoveries. Department Permission Required.

INDS 547 - PROFILES FROM THE PAST II: FAMOUS FIGURES IN WESTERN HISTORY

Short Title: PROFILES FROM THE PAST II

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course covers the span of years from the end of the middle Ages through the eve of the French Revolution. In addition to the study of a selected group of people from these years, there will also be an examination of the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and Absolutism. Department Permission Required.

INDS 548 - HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY SET IN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONTEXT

Short Title: HIST OF INTERSIC PHILOSOPHY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will introduce students to leading figures, ideas and arguments of the history of western philosophy, set in interdisciplinary context in this interdisciplinary MLS program. For a general educated audience philosophy is best approached from multiple perspectives - historical, literary, scientific, religious, artistic - and we will take this approach.

INDS 549 - COMPARATIVE IMPERIAL PLEASURE GARDENS: POWER AND LANDSCAPE

Short Title: IMPERIAL PLEASURE GARDENS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course examines pre-modern designed landscapes used for crating, declaring, and reading social and political claims. While understanding the garden as art form and sacred space, we focus on the relationship between landscape and power in a globally comparative context. Department Permission Required.

INDS 550 - MODERN ASTRONOMY AND OUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE

Short Title: MODERN ASTRONOMY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: An introduction to modern astrophysics beyond the solar system including a brief history of astronomy from antiquity through Galileo and Newton. Our modern understanding of the formation, evolution, and death of stars; the composition and evolution of galaxies; the structure and evolution of the universe will then be surveyed. Department Permission Required.

INDS 551 - PROFILES FROM THE PAST III: FAMOUS FIGURES IN WESTERN HISTORY

Short Title: PROFILES FROM THE PAST III

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will cover the span of years from the beginning of the French Revolution to the middle of the 20th century. In addition to the study of selected individuals such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Czar Alexander I, Cecil Rhodes, Gregor Rasputin, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Mohandas Gandhi, there will be examinations of Romanticism, Nationalism, Imperialism, and Fascism. Department Permission Required.

INDS 552 - CONSERVING BIODIVERSITY

Short Title: CONSERVING BIODIVERSITY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Many scientists have coined the current geological age as the "Anthropocene" in reference to the impact of mankind on the planet. This course will examine biodiversity, how biodiversity influences our lives, the forces that affect biodiversity worldwide, and how we can protect it. Local species and ecosystems will be highlighted.

INDS 553 - SOLVING THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE

Short Title: SOLVING THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course overviews climate science and explores strategies for transforming electricity, transportation, and agriculture to avert the impacts of abrupt climate change. Department Permission Required.

INDS 554 - MY FAVORITE NOVELS - AND GREAT FILMS MADE FROM THEM

Short Title: MY FAVORITE NOVELS AND FILMS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: In this class we will carefully examine four great novels from different eras: "Pride and Prejudice," "Great Expectations," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and "Atonement," to see what makes them so successful. Then we will watch and discuss the great films made from them. Department Permission Required.

INDS 555 - THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Short Title: POL PHIL OF AMER REVOLUTION

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will 1) discuss the significance of some events in Colonial American that precipitate the clarion call the dissolve forever all political ties to Great Britain: 2) discuss the ideological origins of the American Revolution in the key documents, specifically the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Federalist Papers. Department Permission Required.

INDS 556 - HEAVEN AND HELL: FROM DANTE TO MILTON AND BEYOND

Short Title: LITERATURE FROM HEAVEN & HELL

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The ultimate end of human life resides in landscapes defined by aspiration or terror, punishment or reward. Thus heaven and hell are places frequently conjured by the literary imagination. This course looks closely at the implications of such imaginings from Dante’s Divine Comedy to Milton’s Paradise Lost to the present. Department Permission Required.

INDS 557 - EARLY MODERN ISLAMIC WORLD: ART AND EMPIRE

Short Title: ISLAMIC EMPIRES

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Introduction to Islamic empires of the early modern Muslim world: Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal. Focus on art, architecture, literature, religion, kingship, family, which shape the cultural heritage of the Muslim world today. Opportunity to study works of art produced in these imperial workshops at MFAH. Department Permission Required.

INDS 558 - EVOLUTION AND SOCIETY

Short Title: EVOLUTION AND SOCIETY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The science of evolution has come a long way since Charles Darwin first proposed his theory for how species change through natural selection in 1859. This course will provide an overview of modern evolutionary biology, with a focus on its relevance for 21st century society. Department Permission Required.

INDS 559 - ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE

Short Title: ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Environmental Literature will focus on nature essay writers, ecopoets, and ecocriticism. The course will include poetry and other literary writing designed to inspire and creatively capture the natural environment and nonfiction nature writing that highlights major concerns about the environment and aims to transform the thoughts and behavior of society. Department Permission Required.

INDS 560 - WOMEN IN SOUTHERN LITERATURE

Short Title: WOMEN IN SOUTHERN LITERATURE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will consider the role of women in southern literature, focusing mostly on the works of women writers from the 1800's to the 2000's with some readings from male writers as well. Some very early works, including letters, diaries, and captivity narratives will be included, but most of the readings will be modern and contemporary short stories, novels, and memoirs. Department Permission Required.

INDS 561 - HISTORY OF SOUTH ASIA: THE ORIGINS OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN

Short Title: HISTORY OF SOUTH ASIA

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: A broad introduction to the history of the cultural, religious, economic and political systems of South Asia, this course explores the centuries-long development of Hinduism and Buddhism, rise of Islamic state power and establishment of British control, culminating in resistance movements among South Asians and establishment of modern nation states, alongside the wrenching experience of Partition. Department Permission Required.

INDS 562 - MUSIC AND MEDIEVALISM

Short Title: MUSIC AND MEDIEVALISM

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course examines the history and aesthetics of medievalist music in the context of literature, drama, and film. We consider the authentic models for medievalist works, establish the romanticizing methodology, and then observe how medievalism plays out in the concert hall, film, and other media. Department Permission Required.

INDS 563 - A HISTORY OF TUDOR ENGLAND

Short Title: A HISTORY OF TUDOR ENGLAND

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies or Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: At the end of the long and brutal Wars of the Roses, a new royal dynasty emerged in England to great acclaim and relief - and uncertainty. Henry Tudor, who styled himself as Henry VII, began a successful reign and the beginning of a family dynasty lasting a little longer than a century. This course will study the Tudor century. Department Permission Required.

INDS 564 - THE POLITICS OF WORLD WAR TWO IN EUROPE

Short Title: THE POLITICS OF WORLD WAR TWO

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies or Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The course is an in-depth exploration of the Second World War in Europe. Hitler's conquest of Europe elicited political, social, economic and demographic upheavals in all parts of the continent. While closely following the military chronology of the conflict, our course will examine the radical transformations brought about by Nazi rule in Western and Eastern Europe as well as the Balkans. Department Permission Required.

INDS 565 - PAST AND FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE: NATURAL VERSUS HUMAN INFLUENCE

Short Title: PAST AND FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies or Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Have humans really altered the course of natural climate change? Can this course be altered? This course introduces students to the methods used by scientists to study Earth's climate history. We will examine methods used to study Earth's climate evolution over hundreds of millions to decadal time scales. Why did Earth's climate undergo extreme changes from "icehouse" conditions when much of its surface was covered by ice, to "greenhouse" conditions when the planet was much warmer than present? What was the impact of these changes on Earth's inhabitants? Lastly, we will use Earth's climate history as context for understanding the role of humans in altering the course of our planet. How reliable are climate predictions and what can be done to curtail climate change? Department Permission Required.

INDS 566 - MUSIC IN THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION

Short Title: MUSIC IN THE REFORMATION

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies or Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This seminar concerns musical responses to the changing religious climate in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Examination of the concomitant polemics in theology and government, Biblical Humanism and the Devotio Moderna, secular vernacular song, and popular preaching will shed light on the complex interactions between music and society in this age of religious reform. Department Permission Required.

INDS 567 - THE HOUSE OF STUART

Short Title: THE HOUSE OF STUART

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies or Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Although the Stuarts were a royal dynasty in Scotland since the fourteenth century, they arrived in England after the death of Elizabeth I. Unlike the Tudors who preceded them, the Stuarts never gained a great popularity with their subjects. There were, nevertheless, as a result of friction amongst the population, great constitutional developments during their century which continue to shape the United Kingdom until this day. Department Permission Required.

INDS 568 - PSYCHOLOGY OF AGGRESSION AND VIOLENCE

Short Title: AGGRESSION AND VIOLENCE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course provides an overview of empirical research on the social psychology of aggression and violence, flowing from evolutionary/biological perspectives, cultural perspectives, and contextual/situational perspectives. Through exposure to classic and contemporary works in this course, students will get a taste of the breadth of social-psychological research on aggression and violence. Department Permission Required.

INDS 569 - FORESIGHT IN SOCIAL JUSTICE

Short Title: FORESIGHT IN SOCIAL JUSTICE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Foresight in Social Justice will explore and analyze social justice issues, and then suggest positive action for social change. This course introduces students to future studies research, enabling individuals to spot emerging opportunities and threats within the context of social justice and develop innovative responses to serve changing needs. Department Permission Required.

INDS 570 - CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS

Short Title: CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Through this course, students will learn about developmental psychology and developmental outcomes within the context of immigration. Given that the Houston metropolitan area hosts the fourth highest number of children of immigrants in the entire country, this course will provide students with the opportunity to connect theoretical knowledge with community related issues. Throughout the semester, the students will read recent scientific articles and policy-related reports that will provide background information for in-class discussions. In addition, students will engage in class exercises to brainstorm about local and national issues related to the course content. As a semester project, students will select a topic for further exploration resulting in a written essay and oral representation to the class. Department Permission Required.

INDS 571 - MORAL LEADERSHIP IN ECONOMICS

Short Title: MORAL LEADERSHIP IN ECONOMICS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This courses explores how we can be (or become) virtuous and successful leaders. This course helps students to develop personal and professional mission and values statements as aids in good leadership. On the path to developing mission and values statements, students will explore elements of moral psychology and philosophy, emotional intelligence, character development, the formation of communal and personal identities, the purpose and practice of commercial activities from the vantage point of five spiritual traditions, practical examples of institutions applying missions and values (both successfully and unsuccessfully), ideas regarding meaning-making, measuring our success in life, creating a life purpose, and giving voice to our values. The question at the center of the course is whether we can live professional and personal lives that do not conflict, but rather work in concert with the economic dimensions of institutions, especially if we find ourselves leading others in these organizations.

INDS 572 - BIBLICAL ETHICS

Short Title: BIBLICAL ETHICS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This is a course on what the Bible has to say about some of the major moral issues of our time, including the environment, gender and sexuality, religious (in)tolerance, and issues of justice. Department Permission Required.

INDS 573 - WOMEN WRITERS AND HEROINES: FROM MYTH TO REALITY

Short Title: WOMEN WRITERS AND HEROINES

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Women Writers and Heroines will focus on the poetry, fiction, nonfiction writing, and feminist criticism of selected women writers in the 20th and 21st centuries, looking at major literary themes and the characterization and history of women as writers and heroines, including the misrepresentation of women's stories in folklore and mythology. Department Permission Required.

INDS 574 - GREAT LITERATURE, GREAT MUSIC

Short Title: GREAT LITERATURE GREAT MUSIC

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This seminar explores the synergy between music and literature through a selection of works culled from the repertories of Western sacred and secular vocal and instrumental music composed for the church, salon, and theater. Department Permission Required.

INDS 575 - ALL ABOUT BIRDS - AND MORE: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE COURSE

Short Title: ALL ABOUT BIRDS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course is an interdisciplinary science course with birds and humans at the center and includes comparative study of the anatomy and physiology of humans and birds, ornithology with some special focus on sciences beyond biology, connections between ornithology and birding, and interdisciplinary links, with a bird focus, to humanistic disciplines. Department Permission Required.

INDS 576 - THOMAS JEFFERSON AND HIS WORLD, 1740-1830

Short Title: JEFFERSON AND HIS WORLD

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: An examination of the thought and career of Jefferson set in the context of his time in all its complexity. This course will contextualize Jefferson within the era of the Revolution and the consequent creation and growing into maturity of the new nation, including the writing and ratification of the Constitution, the setting of the new government underway, the evolution of political parties, the changing role of the presidency, the evolution of the Supreme Court, international events, economic and cultural changes, and the decline of the political era of the so-called Founding Fathers.

INDS 577 - LATINA/O/E STORIES FROM THE BORDERLANDS

Short Title: LATINE BORDERLANDS LITERATURE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will examine a range of Latina/o/e literature to query how the multivalent nature of borders structure possibility or lack thereof. Similarly, we will examine theory to complement our readings as we navigate the varying ways we can interpret borderlands, from the physical location to carried within the body. Department Permission Required.

INDS 578 - INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN LAW

Short Title: FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN LAW

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will trace the development and interaction of the two great concepts of law and justice in Anglo-American legal, political, and social theory with respect to the individual and the state up to the present day. Readings will include primary legal and philosophical texts. Department Permission Required.

INDS 579 - EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAIRY TALE TRADITION

Short Title: THE FAIRY TALE TRADITION

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course explores the literary fairy tale by examining traditional and contemporary stories and interdisciplinary scholarship related to the genre. Students explore the dissemination and endurance of the fairy tale tradition and how a tale's evolution fits into historical and social frameworks. Department Permission Required.

INDS 580 - EAST ASIAN FOOD HISTORY

Short Title: EAST ASIAN FOOD HISTORY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This subject introduces students to the traditional dietary cultures of China, Japan, and Korea as seen from perspectives of geography, climate, material and social technologies, religion, philosophy, economics, and politics. We will examine such practices as banquet etiquette, seasonal celebrations, tea ceremony, courtesan/entertainment culture, and traditional processing methods, like fermentation, stir fry, and distillation. Department Permission Required.

INDS 581 - EAST ASIAN LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION

Short Title: EAST ASIAN LITERATURE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This subject introduces students to major works of premodern and early modern literature of East Asia. These works span nearly three thousand years and a wide range of genres, including poetry, narrative histories, storyteller tales, drama texts, short stories, and vernacular novels. We will read selections of English translations of the Book of Songs, “Biographies of Assassins,” the Ballad of Mùlán, the Kokinshū, The Tale of Genji, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Peony Pavilion, Story of the Stone (Dream of Red Mansions), The Song of Shim Ch’ŏng, and more. By the end of the course, students will be broadly familiar with major genres and themes of traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese literature as considered from such perspectives as traditional and modern literary criticism, religion and philosophy, translation, performance studies, and cognitive psychology. All readings are in English translation, and no prior knowledge of East Asian languages or literature is required. Students may optionally request instructor assistance with locating and interpreting original language materials. Department Permission Required.

INDS 600 - THE INTERDISCIPLINARY SCHOLAR: RESEARCH, WRITING, AND INTELLECTUAL PRACTICE

Short Title: THE INTERDISCIPLINARY SCHOLAR

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies or Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course equips Master of Interdisciplinary Studies students with practical skills for engaging in graduate-level interdisciplinary research, writing, and professional scholarship. Students will engage with recent interdisciplinary journal articles, learning how to critically analyze research across different fields. Faculty from the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and creative arts will discuss methodologies and problem-solving approaches in their respective disciplines, demonstrating how interdisciplinary research is conducted in practice. Students will explore the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in research and writing, and interdisciplinary approaches in creative projects, exploring how AI transforms knowledge production. Students will develop graduate-level writing and research skills and apply interdisciplinary methods in traditional and creative research contexts. Students will develop effective presentation techniques, including peer feedback on delivery, visual aids, and engagement. Department Permission Required.

INDS 606 - THE HEBREW BIBLE AND ITS INTERPRETERS

Short Title: HEBREW BIBLE/ITS INTERPRETERS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This seminar seeks to acquaint students with the principal parts of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, with the modern, historical-critical study of the Bible as an academic discipline, and a few episodes in the recent history of the Bible in the West. Our reading of the biblical literature will primarily be historical-critical in the sense that it emphasizes that the Hebrew Bible is rooted in the ancient Near East, its history and literature. At the same time we will be sensitive to traditional, Jewish and Christian readings of the Bible as they evolved over two millennia and examine how these faith-based traditions arose, how they differ from modern critical approaches and how the two can complement each other. Department Permission Required.

INDS 612 - THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Short Title: THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls a little over a half a century ago in the Judean desert has been celebrated as the most significant manuscript discovery of the 20th century. Students will study the fascinating history of the discovery and publication of the Scrolls. They will read the most important Scrolls, learn about the beliefs and practices of the Jewish group that authored them and discuss what can be learned from the Scrolls about the nature of Early Judaism and the origins of Christianity. Department Permission Required.

INDS 613 - CHANGING VIEWS OF VICTORIAN ENGLAND

Short Title: CHANGING VIEWS VICTORIAN ENGLD

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Ever since the early days of Margaret Thatcher's prime ministership when she frequently ballyhooed the virtues of "Victorian Values," scholars have been revisiting the stereotypical history of life and lifestyles during Victorian Great Britain. For much of the last century we have perceived Victorians as living soberly prudent lives, living in overstuffed houses, filled with overstuffed furniture. We have commonly depicted the Victorians as persons who revered the institutions of religion, family, country and social convention. This course stresses the result of the most recent historical research which challenges the more traditional views. Department Permission Required.

INDS 614 - PUBLIC SPEAKING

Short Title: PUBLIC SPEAKING

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course is designed to give the student exposure to and experience using basic principles and skills of oral communication in the public context. Emphasis will be on the development of speech organization, support and delivery. Informative and persuasive speeches will be practiced. An important outcome of the course is that the student better understand and appreciate the important role public speaking plays in modern society. Instructor Permission Required.

INDS 615 - TEN MASTERPEICES OF NORTHERN RENAISSANCE ART

Short Title: MASTERPIECES OF REN ART

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will introduce students to the great "masterpieces" of painting produced in Northern Europe during the Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Each week we will focus on a single work of art from this period and explore a constellation of issues around the creation and reception of the painting. Students will learn in-depth methods of visual analysis and interpretation of works within their historical context. These same skills and strategies may be applied to the full range of western painting and provide useful tools for enriching visits to museums or experiences of European travel. Department Permission Required.

INDS 616 - OCEANWAYS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Short Title: OCEANWAYS OF BRITISH EMPIRE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Never in the history of imperial expansion has there ever been anything that compared to the British Empire at its height in the days of Queen Victoria. In size the Empire was supreme, ruling the largest area and the largest number of people. This course will examine these aspects of the Victorian Empire and compare them with imperial activities of the present day. Department Permission Required.

INDS 617 - CREATIVE NONFICTION

Short Title: CREATIVE NONFICTION

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Creative nonfiction takes many forms, including expository writing, personal essay, narrative story-telling, literary journalism, memoir, nature and science writing, travel and food writing, historical narrative, biographical narrative, and academic and cultural criticism. This course is designed to help students read and write creative nonfiction with a focus on the voice, structure, messages, style, and technique found in contemporary creative nonfiction. The material covered applies to the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences. Department Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

INDS 618 - THE AWAKENING OF RUSSIA

Short Title: THE AWAKENING OF RUSSIA

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: There was a spectacular flowering of Russian culture in the aftermath of the death of Czar Nicholas I (1825-55). Ushered in was a relatively liberal ear which, combined with a powerful natural upsurge, yielded a period of remarkable creativity. Department Permission Required.

INDS 620 - MASTERPIECES OF THE POETIC TRADITION

Short Title: POETIC TRADITION MASTERPIECES

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will introduce students to the appreciation and analysis of poetic masterpieces. We will focus on poetry produced in the English and American literary tradition, with particular attention paid to the poems, poets, and cultures that influence the development of those traditions. Department Permission Required.

INDS 622 - THE SCEPTER'D ISLE: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL BRITAIN

Short Title: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL BRITAIN

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: From the murky prehistoric times of Stonehenge and New Grange to the tumultuous times of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, the dramatic combinations of history and myth have continually fascinated lovers of the British Isles. This course will explore ancient and medieval Britain, meandering from prehistoric sites to the early invaders, from the delightful legends of Glastonbury to the centuries of Roman invasions, from the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy to the Norman invasion, and from the hegemony of the Roman Catholic church to the challenge of secular kings. Department Permission Required.

INDS 624 - ADVANCED CREATIVE NONFICTION

Short Title: ADVANCED CREATIVE NONFICTION

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course offers students an opportunity to continue to practice writing creative nonfiction in a guided workshop format. The primary emphasis in the course will be on the professor and students reading and providing constructive feedback on the students' creative nonfiction writings. In addition, the students will read further examples of various types of creative nonfiction writing and complete writing exercises designed to allow them to work on the voice, structure, and technique of their writing. This course is designed for students with experience in writing creative nonfiction, such as completion of MLSC 617 or a similar course or creative writing workshop experience elsewhere. For those who have not taken a creative nonfiction course in the MLS program, consultation with the instructor is recommended before enrolling. Department Permission Required.

INDS 625 - THE SHAPES OF POETRY: A WORKSHOP

Short Title: THE SHAPES OF POETRY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course examines fundamental architecture of poetry. How do poets create a sense of shape? What are the nuts and bolts of a poem? Students will read widely in the history of poetry, from traditional meters and historical forms to contemporary free verse and experimental or open forms. Part workshop and part seminar, this course will feature critical and creative assignments and is designed for writers and non-writers of any level of experience. Department Permission Required.

INDS 626 - THE BROTHERHOOD: LIVES AND LOVES OF THE PRE-RAPHAELITES

Short Title: PRE-RAPHAELITES LIVES & LOVES

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), founded in 1848, was a small group of British artists who boldly challenged the conventions of Victorian-era art and the materialism of industrialized England. While the PRB influenced the British art world for the remainder of the century, this course will focus on the intriguing personal lives of the artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, and John Millais, rather than the art they created. These artists, along with their wives, paramours, and models (often all one and the same) were part of a highly prolific Victorian creative class which for this course will revolve around the locale of central London and the influence of the towering figure of art and architecture - critic John Ruskin. Department Permission Required.

INDS 627 - JOHN RUSKIN AND HIS WORLD

Short Title: JOHN RUSKIN AND HIS WORLD

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will examine John Ruskin (1819-1900), who rose from a troubled childhood to become one of the most influential critics of art and architecture of his century, forever fulminating the notion that art had a moral purpose and especially that art and architecture produced in France and Italy in the Middle Ages. Department Permission Required.

INDS 630 - POST-BOP: JAZZ'S GOLDEN AGE

Short Title: JAZZ'S GOLDEN AGE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: In this course we will explore the music of some of the most influential and important jazz musicians of the period, and we will also study the social, cultural and political context within which the music was created. We will focus in particular on Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and John Coltrane. Department Permission Required.

INDS 631 - INTRODUCTION TO READING AND WRITING FICTION

Short Title: INTRO READING WRITING FICTION

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course provides an introduction to reading fiction critically and writing short fiction successfully. The reading portion of the class focuses on the primary elements of fiction: scenes, tension and conflict, character, point of view, structure, voice, and dialogue. For the writing portion, students will compose original prose and provide feedback on one another’s work in a workshop format. Department Permission Required.

INDS 632 - MUSIC MYTH AND MADNESS

Short Title: MUSIC MYTH AND MADNESS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: A study of biographical narratives about musicians including Bach, Bod Dylan, Thelonious Monk, Mozart, and Schumann. Considers the nature of creativity and inspiration. Examines the extent to which biography borrows from mythology and literary fiction. Materials include memoirs, letters, novels, and films. Department Permission Required.

INDS 633 - HOW TO READ A NOVEL

Short Title: HOW TO READ A NOVEL

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: We will start this course by making one of Jane Austen’s novels our “norm” and then read a survey of the novel’s great variety through the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. As we read the novels, we will keep asking what we mean by narrative, point of view, the nature of character, the paradigm of character relationships each novel creates, and the meaning of the end. Department Permission Required.

INDS 635 - THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY

Short Title: THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: An examination of the origins and earliest history of Christianity, from Jesus to the second century CE. The class is based on a close reading of tests; Jewish texts; texts from the Old Testament; and Christian texts from the second century CE. Department Permission Required.

INDS 637 - THE LITERATURE OF THE SIXTIES

Short Title: THE LITERATURE OF THE SIXTIES

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Some decades are not simply a ten-year period but a cultural phase. The Sixties, it seems, started in 1963 with the assassination of JFK and lasted until 1975, when we withdrew our military forces from Saigon and quit the war we lost. The literature of the period reflects some of this upheaval-new themes, greater candor, many different kinds of experiments.

INDS 639 - EXPLORING THE ARTS

Short Title: EXPLORING THE ARTS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course is designed to introduce students to an array of contemporary and traditional arts practices and to deepen experience and understanding of those arts through writing. Engaging with the arts offerings available during the semester, the course will cover concepts in theater, opera, dance, and art exhibitions. Department Permission Required.

INDS 640 - AMERICA THROUGH FOREIGN EYES

Short Title: AMERICA THROUGH FOREIGN EYES

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The course examines the perceptions and interactions of five regions – Africa, China, France, Mexico, and Russia – with America. Some course content is online, taught by Rice experts of these regions. The course introduces students to various disciplinary approaches to the study of intercultural exchange and representation. Department Permission Required.

INDS 641 - PHILOSOPHIES FROM INDIA AND TIBET: RELIGION, ART, HEALTH, SCIENCE & SPIRITUALITY

Short Title: PHILOSOPHIES OF INDIA & TIBET

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Examining the philosophies and religious traditions from India and Tibet, can give us a broader view of some of the landscape of thought in Asia, from the early Harappan culture and Vedic worldview, to the religious traditions of Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, Bon and Buddhism among others. Department Permission Required.

INDS 642 - ASIAN RELIGIOUS AND MEDICAL TRADITIONS: INDIA, CHINA AND TIBET

Short Title: ASIAN RELIGIONS AND MEDICINE

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Exploring the philosophical and religious traditions of India, China and Tibet, this course will look at their own understanding of well-being and thus, the medical systems and methods they create accordingly-particularly mind-body conceptions and practices. We will thus examine the relationship between body and mind, illness, suffering, treatment, healing, and death. Department Permission Required.

INDS 644 - DEATH, DYING AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SPIRITUALITY IN LIFE: GAINING INSIGHTS FROM EASTERN PERSPECTIVES

Short Title: DEATH & SPIRITUALITY IN EAST

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: It is easy to forget the importance of spirituality in our daily lives until we have a major illness or someone around one has it, or as we notice our changes due to aging. Reading, discussing and using practices from Eastern perspectives may provide some new insights as we move forward more meaningfully in our lives. Department Permission Required.

INDS 645 - THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EMPLOYEE RESILIENCE

Short Title: RESILIENCE IN PSYCHOLOGY

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course will provide an overview of resilience research and practice. We will discuss theory, empirical findings, and practice-based perspectives. The main goal of this course is to broaden and deepen knowledge about major models and approaches that inform our understanding and practice of resilience. Students who have earned credit for MLSC 645 cannot earn credit for INDS 645. Department Permission Required.

INDS 677 - SPECIAL TOPICS

Short Title: SPECIAL TOPICS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture/Laboratory, Independent Study, Internship/Practicum, Laboratory, Lecture, Seminar

Credit Hours: 1-4

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Topics and credit hours vary each semester. Contact department for current semester's topic(s). Repeatable for Credit.

INDS 699 - CAPSTONE SEMINAR

Short Title: CAPSTONE SEMINAR

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Research

Credit Hour: 1

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This seminar course is designed to familiarize students with the academic requirements of the Capstone Project and to assist students with the research, preparation, and defense of the MIS Capstone Proposal. Required for all MIS students planning to register for the capstone in the upcoming academic year, provided they will have completed at least 24 credit hours by the time of enrollment. Department Permission Required. Recommended Prerequisite(s): Completion of at least 24 hours of graduate coursework.

INDS 700 - CAPSTONE I

Short Title: CAPSTONE I

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 1-9

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies or Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Capstone I is the first semester of a two-term culminating experience in the Master of Interdisciplinary Studies program. It provides students with the time and structure to begin executing their approved capstone proposal under the guidance of a Capstone Advisor and Second Reader. Drawing on the foundations laid in the INDS 699 Capstone Seminar, students engage in independent work toward the development of a substantial final project that reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the MIS degree. Department Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

INDS 701 - CAPSTONE II

Short Title: CAPSTONE II

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 1-9

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies or Liberal Studies. Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Prerequisite(s): INDS 699 or MLSC 699

Description: Capstone II is the final course in the culminating experience for the Master of Interdisciplinary Studies program. It serves either as the second semester of a two-term capstone sequence or as a one-semester capstone option for students approved to complete their project in a single term. Students work independently under the guidance of a Capstone Advisor and Second Reader to complete a substantial project that reflects the interdisciplinary and graduate-level rigor of the MIS degree. Department Permission Required.

INDS 750 - INTRODUCTION TO DIPLOMA RESEARCH

Short Title: INTRO TO DIPLOMA RESEARCH

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students. Enrollment limited to students in a Diploma in Liberal Studies degree.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Open only to students in the Diploma in Liberal Studies Program. The purpose of this course is to prepare students for diploma research in general and for the diploma project research in particular. The course will accomplish this by giving students an opportunity to gain knowledge of research in the two chosen disciplines outlined in their Diploma Proposal. Department Permission Required.

INDS 797 - ADVANCED INDEPENDENT READINGS

Short Title: ADVANCED INDEPENDENT READINGS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1-9

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students. Enrollment limited to students in a Diploma in Liberal Studies degree.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This independent study course is designed for students in the Diploma in Liberal Studies (DLS) program who wish to pursue a focused area of study not covered by existing coursework. Under the supervision of a faculty advisor, students will engage in deep reading and research related to one or both of their chosen disciplines, with the goal of strengthening their academic foundation in preparation for the Diploma Project. Students who have earned credit for MLSC 797 cannot earn credit for INDS 797. Department Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

INDS 798 - DIPLOMA PROJECT I

Short Title: DIPLOMA PROJECT I

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 1-9

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students. Enrollment limited to students in a Diploma in Liberal Studies degree.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This is the first of a two-semester research sequence for students in the Diploma in Liberal Studies (DLS) program. Under the guidance of a three-member faculty committee, students begin work on their interdisciplinary Diploma Project, which culminates in a substantial written thesis and public defense. Department Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

INDS 799 - DIPLOMA PROJECT II

Short Title: DIPLOMA PROJECT II

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 1-9

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students. Enrollment limited to students in a Diploma in Liberal Studies degree.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This is the second of a two-semester research sequence for students in the Diploma in Liberal Studies (DLS) program. Under the guidance of a three-member faculty committee, students complete their interdisciplinary Diploma Project, which culminates in a substantial written thesis and public oral defense. Department Permission Required.