40000

Course deals with classic and contemporary environmental ethics and focuses on the controversies shaping the relationship between humans and nature, both now and in the future. Topics include theories of intrinsic value of nature, wilderness preservation, deep ecology, ecofeminism, and nature friendly Native American spirituality. Cross-listed with PHL 40023 Environmental Ethics.

Explores scientific methodology, religious methodology and the relationship between these domains of inquiry. Brief survey of the historical relationship between science and religion (e.g., Christianity and the rise of western scientific method, the Galileo affair, etc.) and contemporary controversial issues such as Big Bang and evolution. Cross-listed with BIO 41523 Issues in Science & Religion and REL 41523 Issues in Science & Religion.

This interdisciplinary seminar gives seniors (classified as having earned 92 or more credit hours) the opportunity to bring their entire college experience to bear on a complex issue. Working in small groups (usually four or five), students first identify and define a significant problem or issue (e.g.child abuse, athletics and education, the energy crisis), and then articulate a way or ways to solve or cope with that problem or issue. The student group is given the major responsibility for the task. The tutor acts as a resource person and critic. Twice during the course, the group presents and defends its work before a jury of faculty and persons from the University community who have particular expertise in the areas of their research. The first presentation and defense occurs midway through the course, the second occurs during the last week of classes. Prerequisite: Senior standing (92 credit hours or more) and an approved learning contract.

In this liberal arts capstone course, students reflect on experience, knowledge, and skills in each of four breadth areas and apply that learning as they examine current issues and concerns in global contexts.  Students use critical thinking skills to recognize different values systems, cultural interpretations, and social constructs. They demonstrate research and writing skills in exploring a global issue.

Students focus on a selected business perspective which culminates in a travel-abroad experience. Cross-listed with OAD 45570 Special Topics: Global Business Perspectives.

Students apply critical thinking and appropriate research skills to demonstrate ability to confront an integrated problem, issue, or circumstance in the liberal arts. Research will reflect learning acquired through the business or liberal arts track.

Religion and spirituality are an essential part of culture. Whether they are implicit or explicit, religious and spiritual orientations can affect our daily lives, including an individual's attitudes, motivations, cognition, emotions, and behaviors. Religious and spiritual perspectives also affect the way people express, suppress and regulate emotions, define themselves within the family system, experience their sexuality, conduct interpersonal relationships, plan their future etc. This course will examine religion through different theoretical approaches: neurobiological, psycho-dynamic, behavioral, cognitive, evolutionary, humanistic, existential, etc. This course will be research and case-study oriented and will consider measurements of religiosity and spirituality in a research and/or clinical context.  Prerequisite: PSY 12053 General Psychology. Cross-listed with PSY 49000.

With an eye to clinical applications, this course will teach the main notions that define Buddhism as a spiritual system: karma, dharma, the origin and use of mantras, the 8-fold path, the psycho-physical nature of the self, the cause-and-effect law, the "world as a mirror", the intrinsic Buddha condition to all human beings, the four Noble Truths, the three treasures as well as essential definitions of existential aspects of life as suffering, happiness, altruism, love, success, fortune, etc.  This course will also propose the multiple potential to pose a challenge to students who take it to engage in self-reflection as a healing practice.  Prerequisite:  PSY 12053 General Psychology.  Cross-listed with PSY 49901 Buddhist Psychology.

Course reviews the written and material record of continuous settlement in the Orkney Islands, dating back 5000 years. Topics include a select review of archaeological evidence for Neolithic and Bronze Age sites as well as the contemporary socio-cultural structure of the Islands from a literary and anthropological perspective. This course meets the LAS capstone requirement.

As one of the LAS capstone courses, this class aspires to provide students with an introduction to a variety of written manifestos and documentary films that espouse particular diets. In the course of the semester, we will gain an understanding of dietary plans, both personal and collective, as well as an appreciation for the social and cultural forces that produce them. Texts may include 'The Omnivore's Dilemma', 'Food, Inc.', 'In Defense of Food', 'Forks over Knives', and a volume of essays entitled 'Know That What You Eat, You Are'. Cross-listed with ENG 49400 The American Diet.