African American History II is a course that examines the broad range of experiences of African Americans from the close of the American Civil War to the 1980s. We will explore both the relationship of blacks to the larger society and the inner dynamic of the black community. We will devote particular attention to Reconstruction, the migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North, and the political machinations of the African American community.

Built around Plato's Symposium, Shakespeare (including A Midsummer Night's Dream), Catholic writings (including Humanae Vitae), and several movies, this course explores the nature of romance and erotic love. We will examine such topics as sexuality, marriage, and procreation with an eye towards how we can be better at being in love. The course generally tries to integrate the analytic approach of philosophy with the imaginative approach of literature.

This course will concentrate on major figures and persistent themes in ancient and medieval philosophy. A balance will be sought between scope and depth, the latter ensured by a close reading of selected texts.

This seminar provides a look at immigration from diverse perspectives, principally through a week-long immersion at the Annunciation House on the border of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

This course provides a historical, theoretical and practical overview of the principles and themes of the Roman Catholic social encyclical tradition. It explores views on Christian social responsibility through classic texts and contemporary problems.

This course introduces students to the language of Haitian Kreyòl, or Creole, and to the culture of its speakers. The course is intended for students with no prior knowledge of the language and will develop both reading and writing skills--emphasizing communicative competence as well as grammatical and phonetic techniques. Importantly, this study of Kreyòl explores the language's social and cultural elements, as seen in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean. The course includes an anthropological survey of Haitian history, economy, politics and religion. In addition to class work, music and film combine for a multilateral approach to language development. The program is designed to meet the needs of those who plan to conduct research in Haiti or in the Haitian diaspora, or who intend to work in a volunteer or professional capacity either in Haiti or with Haitians abroad.

The aim of this course is to enable participants to bring together materials from various disciplines bearing on our current environmental crisis, and from this integrated perspective to evaluate possible ways in which the crisis might be resolved. Disciplines to be consulted include ecology, thermodynamics, economics, value theory, and environmental history, among others. This project will rely on the integrative skills of philosophy to discern how materials from these disparate sources fit together.

This course will introduce students to the African American faith experience, with particular attention being given to the historical development of spiritualities of liberation in the American Diaspora. Brief lectures and seminar discussions will offer "perspectives" on this rich and heterogeneous tradition from several vantage points within the humanities, social sciences, and theological disciplines.

This is an introductory course to the Bible and historical Christianity that aims to familiarize the student with the contents of the Bible and the development of the early Church. Special emphasis is placed on theological themes of perennial interest and the significance of the Bible for Christian thought and practice as well as the relationship of Christianity to Judaism.

This course surveys: (1) the major causes of deadly conflict around the world; (2) various definitions of “peace” and the conditions under which it occurs and is sustained; and (3) the style and comparative success of various strategies such as building peace movements and nonviolent social change as ways to achieve peace.

This course is an introduction to philosophy for students seeking (or being forced) to fulfill the first of their university philosophy requirements. The course is intended to introduce you to philosophical questions, to make you aware of how some of history's greatest philosophers have approached those questions and what they have had to say about them, to help you articulate philosophical concerns of your own and, most importantly, to learn how to address them. Among the areas of philosophy will explore this semester are ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics and theory of knowledge.

This course is designed as a "topics-based" introduction to philosophy. What this means is that instead of working through the history of philosophy focusing on great historical figures and their views on different topics, we will focus on great philosophical topics and look at what historical and contemporary writers have said about them. Topics to be addressed will include the existence of God, the relation between the mind and the body, human freedom, and the foundations of morality.

The overarching goal of this class is to provide students with a working knowledge of social psychology and to stimulate an interest in ourselves, the world around us, and the connections between the two. This is a course about how we become who we are - how our personalities (or our selves) are shaped by others, the groups we belong to, the social structures around us, and our interactions as social beings. However, interaction is a process between entities, a two-way street. Hence, it is not only about how the world around us shapes who we are, but also a course about how we shape the groups that we belong to and the social structures around us.

This new course offers a panoramic survey of the Islamic societies of the Middle East and North Africa from their origins to the present day. It will deal with the history and expansion of Islam, both as a world religion and civilization, from its birth in the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century to its subsequent spread to other parts of western Asia and North Africa. Issues of religious practices, political governance and movements, gender, social relations and cultural norms will be explored in relation to a number of Islamic societies in the region. The course foregrounds the complexities and diversity present in a critical geographic area of what we call the Islamic world today.

This course will explore a number of issues which emerge from the history of Christian theology: How did a negative image of Judaism develop within Christianity? In what ways did these unfavorable teachings contribute toward violence against the Jews over the centuries?What is the relationship between Christian anti-Jewish teachings and Anti-Semitism? Is there any corresponding Jewish hostility towards Christians? In what ways have Jewish authors reacted to developments within the Christian tradition?

This course will examine the development of Latino religion and theology in the United States and how U.S. Latina and Latino theologians have articulated the meaning and implications for Christian living of core theological topics such as Christology, worship, evangelization, and social justice.

This course will cover some basic principles on making the adjustment to college learning. It will include not only information but also opportunities to practice what you learn.

This Honors Program first-year political theory seminar explores the intellectual relationship of Mary Shelley, the author of the novel Frankenstein, to her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of the first book on women's rights, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

This course offers an introduction to differing conceptions of disease, health, and healing throughout American history, the changing role and image of medicine and medical professionals in American life, and the changing social and cultural meanings and entanglements of medical science and practice throughout American history.