| Prerequisites
for ALL TS 2 courses: Comp 150 (or Comp 125/126), Lib 150 and all
four TS 1 courses (one from each theme, including one with a science
lab).
N—The Natural Environment
TS2N 400
Environmental Science and Policy: Analysis of Global and Local Issues
(4-0) 4
This course explores the science behind key environmental issues
and policies that have been or are being developed at the local,
regional or global level. The role of science in policymaking will
receive particular attention. Topics covered may include such issues
as energy, ozone depletion, climate change, population growth, and
sustainable development.
TS2N 401
Simply Science
(4-0) 4
This course will examine the scientific process, including the strengths
and weaknesses of western science, as a way of learning about natural
phenomena and environmental issues. The natural environment serves
as the arena for class discussions and exercises. The methods of
science form the foundation from which questions about our environment
are posed and investigations of possible causes and consequences
are conducted.
TS2N 406
Water in the West
(4-0) 4
This class explores how biological, geological, political, and economic
forces affect and are affected by a limited resource—water.
Students from different fields participate in analyzing local and
global case studies and conducting research. This course uses water
in the western United States as a springboard to address the global
importance of sustainable water use and resource conservation.
TS2N 407
Business and the Environment
(4-0) 4
This course examines how businesses both create and can help alleviate
environmental problems. Among the topics covered are life cycle
analysis, full-cost accounting, closed loop production systems,
eco-efficiency, and environmental reporting and labeling. Class
assignments will include case analyses and student research of business
practices at the local and national level.
R—Culture, Identity, and Expression
TS2R 400
Forgotten Antilles Island: Puerto Rico
(4-0) 4
This interdisciplinary course is designed to deepen students’
knowledge of the Latin Antilles, particularly Puerto Rico, through
studying Puerto Rican social structures and history. Through readings
dealing with historical events, topics of human interest, biographies,
artistic expressions, poems, and humorous anecdotes, students will
develop an understanding of Antilles cultures and a broader appreciation
of different cultural frameworks and infrastructures.
TS2R 401
Worldwide Displacement: Migration and Diaspora
(4-0) 4
This course looks at cultural aspects of migration as a local, regional,
national, and global phenomenon of our age, and at the creation
and history of diasporas (commercial, ethnic, cultural, racial,
national). A major component of the course will be research and
group presentations.
TS2R 402
Power and Knowledge: The History of the Book
(4-0) 4
This course focuses on the book to examine notions of “progress”
and the relationships between technological development and intellectual
activity. Ancient information recording systems and the development
of Western writing will be studied along with writing technologies
in non-Western cultures. The most revolutionary book – the
computer or “virtual book” – will also be examined.
TS2R 403
The Spirit of Adventure
(4-0) 4
This course looks at the role of adventure from historic, economic,
nationalistic, colonialist, gendered, and individual perspectives.
The culture or spirit of adventure is a phenomenon found in all
cultures throughout history, where “to adventure” means
to challenge the individual physically, emotionally, and intellectually.
Attention is given to gender differences, the role of science and
nationalism, economic forces, tourism, and the visual and written
productions of adventurers.
TS2R 404
Ethnic Families in America
(4-0) 4
This course focuses on how cultural values and belief structures,
immigration and adjustment experiences, and other socioeconomic
conditions shape current ethnic family compositions and functioning
patterns. Students will gain knowledge of selected theoretical perspectives,
recent research findings, and future trends pertinent to ethnic
families. Ecological socialization and socioeconomic models that
address the functioning of ethnic families in the United States
will also be explored.
TS2R 405
Culture and Music in Non-Western Civilization
(4-0) 4
This course investigates the artistic and imaginative creative processes
through which culture and music are expressed in non-western societies.
Various music-cultures are studied through readings, audio recordings,
videos, student oral presentations, written papers, guest lecturers,
and experiential musical performances. Students learn about different
cultural ideas of what music is, what its powers are, and how it
relates to other aspects of life.
TS2R 407
Representations and Power
(4-0) 4
This course examines representations, particularly of difference
as expressed in museum exhibitions, photography, media reports,
fiction writing, tourist experiences, National Geographic articles,
and even ethnographic descriptions, as constructions of reality
that produce both cultural understanding and misunderstanding. Students
are challenged to critically analyze commonplace assertions about
what is fact, truth, and reality, and to examine what counts as
evidence.
TS2R 408
Genius, Knowledge, and Representation
(4-0) 4
One of the most recurrent depictions in various film genres, television
programs, and art historical material is the figure of genius—natural,
successful, failed, corrupted, artificial, and subversive. This
course investigates the appearance and limits of such representations
within film and visual culture.
S—Systems and Institutions
TS2S
400
Deconstructing Systems and the Pursuit of Anarchy
(4-0) 4
This course examines the critical arguments anarchists make against
the capitalist nation-state system Popular culture perceptions of
anarchy, the ways that political and economic systems construct
commonly held beliefs, and presuppositions about human nature, ownership,
equality and the roles of laws are studied. The course also examines
alternative models of living in the world.
TS2S
401
Systems Perspective on Literacy
(3-0) 3
This course examines literacy as a normative practice embedded in
and produced by the social, cultural, political, and economic systems.
Through theoretical, ethnographic, and historical essays exploring
the ways that acts of reading and writing are connected to larger
systems, students will practice bringing a historically-informed,
systems thinking perspective to social-cultural practices, issues
and problems.
TS2S
402
Movements of Resistance
(4-0) 4
This course explores how various modes of resistance are launched,
maintained, and sometimes falter in a number of different sociological,
historical and cultural contexts. Mainstream corporate media tend
to portray resistance movements as trivial or fanatical. This course
asks students to examine different modes of resistance to various
forces as disparate as nation-states, international policies sponsored
by various states, and international organizations.
TS2S
403
Game Theory: Rationality and the Social Sciences
(4-0) 4
Game theory is the formal analysis of strategic situations. This
course will provide students with a structured approach to tactical
problem solving. It will also consider the interplay between strategic
behavior and social structures, norms, and the human psyche. Although
the course involves theoretical modeling, no mathematics beyond
elementary algebra is required.
TS2S
404
Gender and the Sciences
(4-0) 4
This course explores the ways that the socio-cultural systems of
sex/gender and scientific production influence one another. Using
an interdisciplinary approach informed by sociology, the history
of science, and feminist critiques of knowledge, this course examines
issues such as the socialization of women into scientific communities;
the ways that scientific methodology and questions carry gender
bias; and strategies for critically analyzing the cultural assumptions
of science.
T—Technology
TS2T
400
Computers, Solar Energy, Ethics, and You!
(4-0) 4
This course is a seminar in building an informed sense of individual
and social responsibility regarding the development and use of technology.
Focusing on computer information representation and solar energy
technology, students gain first hand lab experience, explore the
historical contexts and underlying scientific principles of these
technologies, and critically assess their impacts on society.
TS2T 401
Ethics and Biotechnology
(4-0) 4
Students will explore the ethical implications of technology in
molecular biology. They will learn to use scientific principles
to understand the science underlying new technologies, such as genetically
modified organisms in agriculture, genetically engineered human
drugs, genetic testing, and gene therapy. The tools of philosophy
will provide a way to analyze the moral dilemmas such technologies
create.
TS2T
402
Agricultural Issues in Society
(3-0) 3
In this course students examine a number of technological changes
in agriculture and their impact on society, cultures, and the environment.
Throughout the course, technological change is examined from scientific,
social, and public policy perspectives.
TS2T
403
The Science of Peak Sport Performance
(3-0) 3
What is the science behind recordbreaking elite sport performances
and what are the limits of human athletic performance? This course
examines peak and recordbreaking performances in sport and explains
the science behind them. The physics of performance, analysis of
motion and technique, new equipment, altitude, and surfaces, plus
sociological and psychological factors will be considered.
TS2T
404
Endocrinological Technology and the Body/Brain Connections
(3-0) 3
This course examines endocrinological technology and how the endocrine
system affects the body and brain. The endocrine system and major
hormones involved in the reproductive, digestive, and immune systems
are reviewed. The course will examine the development of the technology
of hormone measurement and hormone system management. An exploration
of the relationship between the mind and body will focus on the
field of psychoneuroimmunology.
TS2T
405
Visual Literacy: The Art and Science of the Book
(2-4) 4
This course surveys the technology of the book from its mechanical
production in pre-modern times through the technological innovations
of the printing revolution to the electronic age of virtual text.
Taught from an applied art perspective, this course will engage
students in a hands-on exploration of the science and craft that
make the book an enduring medium for communication and artistic
expression.
TS2T
406
Finding Secrets, Keeping Secrets: Information Technology and Individual
Privacy
(4-0) 4
This course explores what constitutes privacy and how privacy is
affected by new information technologies (IT). The historical, legal
and philosophical underpinnings of privacy will be examined along
with technologies of data collection, retrieval, distribution, data
mining, encryption, and network surveillance. Pre- and non-network
IT and its effect on privacy are also considered.
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