2018-2019 University Catalogue 
    
    Apr 16, 2024  
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2018-2019 University Catalogue [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions

 

Art and Art History

Course classifications:

Studio Arts (SA)
Art History (AH)
  

  • ARTS 220 - Bodies in Space: European Architecture, 1400-1800 (AH)

    Explores European architectural history and theory from c.1400-1800. It is designed to give the student with little or no exposure to architectural history and thinking, or to the period in question, an understanding of issues ranging from the most fundamental to the more advanced, across a number of contexts and case studies. Engages with architectural history as it relates to the body, place, and site; draws heavily on primary source texts as well as foundational and recent scholarship.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Recommended: Recommended for students wishing to prepare for advanced studies in architecture.
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 221 - Video Art: Representing Reality (SA)

    An introduction to the artistic practice of experimental video production, with a special topical emphasis on the practical, aesthetic and ethical issues associated with nonfiction (or “documentary”) form. Special attention will be paid to works of moving image art bridging boundaries between the art world, the realm of experimental cinema, amateur or “outsider” art and/or popular cultural production. Students are given significant freedom to develop a meaningful, challenging, ambitious final video project. Technical skills in camera, sound, lighting and basic editing are introduced. Students learn not only the technical skills required for basic video production, but how to engage with the form critically and creatively as they develop their own personal artistic practice. Class time is divided between screenings, discussions, labs and critique of student work. Attendance at the weekly Alternative Cinema screening is a required and essential element of this course. Equipment is provided by the department.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: ARTS 221L  
    Prerequisites: ARTS 100  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 221L - Required Film Screening

    Required corequisite to ARTS 221.

    Credits: 0.00
    Corequisite: ARTS 221  
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 222 - Video Art: Image Recycling (SA)

    An introduction to the artistic practice of experimental video production, with a special emphasis on the practical, aesthetic and ethical issues associated with creating new artworks which use pre-existing or “found” material: archival documents, advertisements, pop cultural detritus, etc. Special attention will be paid to works of moving image art bridging boundaries between the art world, experimental cinema, amateur or “outsider” art and/or popular cultural production. Technical skills in image-based research, collection, curating and editing are introduced in hands-on labs and further developed through a series of short assignments and exercises. This course focuses on editing, sound design and other aspects of post-production; video production (camera) skills will not be emphasized. Equipment is provided by the department. ARTS 222 is designed to complement ARTS 221; the two courses emphasize different aspects of artistic creation in video and can be taken sequentially (in any order).

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: ARTS 222L
    Prerequisites:   or   
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 222L - Required Film Screening

    Required corequisite to ARTS 222.

    Credits: 0.00
    Corequisite: ARTS 222
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 225 - Renaissance and Reformation in Northern Europe (AH)

    A study of painting, sculpture, manuscripts, and prints of the 15th and 16th centuries produced in the Low Countries, the Austrian Habsburg lands, France, and the Baltic states. The course concentrates on style developments and the changing religious and social context of works of art. Themes explored include the emergence of panel painting, new forms of devotional imagery, the role of symbols in the art of Van Eyck and Bosch, the impact of the Protestant Reformation, cross-influences between northern Europe and the Italian Renaissance, and the roles of Dürer, Holbein, and Brueghel in creating the humanistic Renaissance of the 16th century.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 226 - Nature’s Order: Baroque Arts 1550-1750 (AH)

    European painting and sculpture ca. 1550-1750 in its cultural, political, and social settings. Themes include the impact of the Counter-Reformation on the visual arts; Caravaggio and international Caravaggism; “realism” and “verisimilitude”; the intersection of mysticism, spirituality, and art; art and science; theatricality; art as propaganda.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 231 - Painting (SA)

    An introduction to the study and practice of painting. Problems related to composition and the formal properties peculiar to this medium are investigated through both prescribed and self-directed studio assignments. Questions related to content and subject matter are explored in studio, class lectures, critiques, and visits by outside lecturers who share their professional expertise in studio art, art history, and art criticism. The student’s cost for materials is $150-$350.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 100  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 233 - Latin American Art (AH)

    Surveys modern and contemporary Latin American art within the context of regional socio-political concerns. Considers a wide variety of visual media, including exhibitions and artists’ texts, focusing on local and global events that prompted their production. Students examine how artworks embodied, challenged, and helped to shape Latin American history.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 236 - Realism and Impressionism: Global Styles (AH)

    From the 1820s to 1880, artists working on traditional media such as painting and sculpture, as well as on new ones such as photography, engaged everyday life in an environment transformed by industrialization, urbanization, and imperialism. In this period, modern art developed some of its characteristic strategies, such as an emphasis on originality, an ambivalent relation with tradition, problematic ties with cultural and economic institutions, and a strained allegiance to radical politics. This course explores the exhibitions, institutions, and art-critical discourses supporting the circulation of art, with particular regard to the impact of nationalism and globalization on the production and dissemination of art objects.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 238 - Avant-Gardes: 1880-1920 (AH)

    This is a critical and historical survey of the visual arts from 1880 to 1920, examining how modern art transformed in reaction and response to radical technological, social, and political change. Particular attention will be paid to the roles played by industrialization, political and sexual revolution, rapid urban growth, and an expanding consumer culture in defining a wide range of visual culture. The course examines problems of representation, abstraction, and modernism as they are exemplified in painting, drawing, and sculpture, alongside the newer media of photography, assemblage, film, and collage.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 239 - Global Modernisms 1920-1950 (AH)

    World War II, totalitarian regimes, and revolutions form the backdrop for this global study of art and artists during the middle of the 20th century. Begins with an examination of the challenges to rationalism raised by the Dada and Surrealists groups in the context of World War I and its aftermath. The course also considers the forms of realism that coalesced concurrently in several countries as a reaction to the shifting political landscape of the interwar years. The reemergence of abstract painting at mid-century is considered in relation to the theoretical formation of modernist criticism and the tensions of the Cold War. Through the analysis of case studies — such as iconic exhibitions and the publication of key theoretical interventions — the students will develop close readings of objects and texts and situate them in their geo-political, theoretical, and social contexts.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 240 - Art and Theory 1950-1980 (AH)

    Surveys international art movements since 1950 that questioned the definition of art, the status of the art object, and the role of the artist in the late 20th century. The crisis of modernism serves as a point of departure for consideration of shifting modes of production and interpretation in art and criticism. Varied theoretical paradigms that have informed artistic practice are examined in the context of rapid and radical social change, the emergence of new media, the breakdown of conventional artistic boundaries, the impact of post-colonial thinking, and the explosive growth of art circulation.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None
    Formerly: ARTS 339


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  • ARTS 241 - Photography (SA)

    An introduction to analog black and white photography, emphasizing creative expression and critical engagement with photography as a form of art. Students learn the basics of operating a 35mm camera, the principles of film exposure and processing, fundamental darkroom technique, and select alternative processes. Through study and experimentation students gain a material understanding of photography as the manipulation of light and time. Thematic projects – complimented by slide shows and readings – engage the tradition of documentary photography, as well as avant-garde experimentation, and constructed scenes. A limited number of cameras are available for checkout, when possible students are encouraged to provide their own 35 mm camera with manual focusing, aperture, and shutter speed adjustments and a light meter ($150 or so used). Additional student’s cost for materials is $250-$350.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 100  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 242 - Digital Photography (SA)

    Students learn about color photography, studio lighting, digital workflow, and inkjet printing. Special attention is paid to the ideas most closely linked to the emergence of digital photography, including artificial realities, social constructs, and image as information. Students will engage in a series of thematic projects, culminating in a final project of their own design. Through critique, discussion, and writing students are asked to articulate the ideas, issues and visual qualities that animate their work, finding their place in ongoing conversations around photography and contemporary art. A limited number of cameras are available for checkout, when possible students are encouraged to provide their own digital SLR camera with manual settings ($250 or so used). Additional student cost for materials is $100-$150.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 100  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 243 - Art & Theory 1980 to Present (AH)

    Focuses on the artistic outburst in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Breaking away from the traditional chronological survey of art along a Europe-US axis, students study themes and issues such as relational aesthetics, collaboration, and globalization to understand how art has been reinvented within the contemporary period. Along with studying particular artists and art practices, students discuss the increased importance of curators and exhibitions, especially the biennial system, as central to the circulation and networking of contemporary· art.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 244 - Temples, Caves, and Stupas of India before 1300 (AH)

    Begins with South Asia’s most ancient civilization (ca. 2500 BCE) and then tracks the classic forms of Buddhist stupas, rock-cut cave temples, early mosques, and the increasingly grand stone temples dedicated to the worship of Hindu gods. Elegant figures, carved in an aesthetic language that persists in Indian dance, guide visitors through these monuments, teaching them about the nature of the divine. Special attention is devoted to analyzing elements that lend South Asian art its distinctive character.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 245 - Palaces and Paintings of India Since 1300 (AH)

    As South Asian temple complexes expand, they become entire cities and they share the form of kings’ palatial fort-complexes. Expanding outward in concentric rings from their sacred, private cores, these temples and palaces, as well as garden-tombs and houses of government for the British Raj, create visions of divine transcendence on earth, transformative spaces where every visitor has a chance to engage with the ultimate order of creation. This course also explores the paintings made for the people who inhabited these palaces, with special attention to delicate Mughal portraits, impassioned love lyrics favored by Rajput princes, and spaces magically transformed by the presence of the sacred–Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Muslim. Special attention in this course is devoted to analyzing elements that lend South Asian art its distinctive character.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 246 - From Emperors to Anime: Pictorial Practices in China and Japan (AH)

    A focus on East Asia’s pictorial arts–especially paintings and prints, but also film and new media–from prehistoric times through the 21st century. This chronological survey begins with China, switches to Japan after the mid-term break, and spends the last few classes comparing these regions and taking a longer view of each. Student work focuses upon close analysis of visual materials and scholarly essays, and on the challenges of integrating visual and verbal information.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Recommended: Previous coursework in art history or Asian studies is helpful
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 248 - African Art (AH)

    A study of the principal art styles of sub-Saharan Africa, this course gives attention to both the formal and cultural aspects of indigenous art. The manufacture and usage of art objects is examined within the contexts of local religious, social, and political systems, as well as within the larger framework of language and cultural areas. Traditional art styles are analyzed as products of both collective aesthetics and individual innovation. Attention is given to transmission of art forms from culture to culture and to the persistence of traditional art in the face of social change.

    Credits: 1.00
    Crosslisted: ANTH 248  
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 249 - Art and Architecture of the Ancient Americas (AH)

    Examines the principal art styles of the pre-Columbian cultures of South and Middle America, while also considering their impact on the art of indigenous cultures of North America. Relying on archaeological and art historical sources, students discover the usefulness of art and architecture in reconstructing the cultures of the pre-Columbian past. The course also considers the relationship of art and architecture to the environment; the effects of migration, trade, warfare, and technological innovation on the development of art styles; and the use of art in maintaining social hierarchies, political institutions, and religious systems.

    Credits: 1.00
    Crosslisted: ANTH 249  
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 250 - Native Art of North America (AH)

    Relying on archaeological, art historical, and ethnographic sources, this course examines the principal art styles of the indigenous cultures of North America. The course explores such issues as the usefulness of art objects in reconstructing cultures of the past and as historical documents for living peoples; gender roles in art production; the relationship between art, technology, and utility; the use of art as educational tools, memory aids, and religious devices; the relative importance of tradition and innovation; and the role of contemporary art in Native North American life today.

    Credits: 1.00
    Crosslisted: ANTH 250  
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 251 - Printmaking (SA)

    Introduces a range of printmaking media including relief, lithographic and digital printing. Students will develop a series of prints based on studio research, an understanding of formal visual issues, and a carefully considered individual approach to the projects introduced in class. Historical and contemporary prints introduce a range of aesthetic possibilities. The student’s cost for materials is about $150.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 100  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 255 - Museum Exhibitions: Design, Rhetoric, and Interpretation

    Takes advantage of special learning opportunities that arise in conjunction with temporary museum exhibitions and/or permanent installations. Normally focuses on at least two related exhibitions that are currently on view either on Colgate’s campus or at nearby institutions. Students will meet with curators to learn about the exhibit and the decision-making process behind it. Students will examine how museums use wall text, labels, juxtapositions, frames, cases, lighting, architecture, and, above all, their choices of what to include and exclude, to craft particular narratives and encourage particular interpretations of objects and historical phenomena. May also include a hands-on practicum as well, giving students the opportunity to curate and install a real exhibition of their own design.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 263 - Sculpture: Surface and Form (SA)

    Introduces, through a series of directed projects, basic sculptural concepts and processes, both analog and digital, in a contemporary critical context. There is a focus on understanding form and space, including direct modeling, digital design and scanning, 3D printing, moldmaking and additive techniques.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 100  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 264 - Sculpture: Material & Process (SA)

    Introduces, through a series of directed projects, basic sculptural concepts and processes, both analog and digital, in a contemporary critical context. There is a focus on a range of processes – construction, casting, welding, digital design, 3D printing – and materials – wood, plaster, metal and plastics.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 100  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 270 - Critical Museum Theory

    Museums are didactic institutions which manifest implicit judgments about the structure of history and the value of culture. They are also political institutions, responsive to the priorities of the municipalities and private patrons that support them. Students gain insight into the professional practices of museums, as well as their identity as cultural institutions that operate for the public good.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None
    Formerly: ARTS 370


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  • ARTS 271 - Architectural Design I (SA)

    This studio-based course introduces students to the basic elements of architectural research and design. Beginning with basic exercises in the construction and arrangement of all given shapes, students progress to increasingly more complex design challenges. They learn about programming, circulation, structure, and form in architecture. Design exercises are accompanied by regular lectures on relevant techniques and problems in architecture. Most importantly, students are challenged to address the social implications of the design factors and skills they focus on in this course. Priority is given to juniors, seniors, and students concentrating in art and art history.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 100  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


    Click here for Course Offerings by term
  

  • ARTS 273 - Architecture of Art Museums (AH)

    Offers a critical and historical exploration of art museum architecture since the French Revolutionary era. Emphasis is on museums since World War II, but students also become familiar with iconic museums of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, such as the Altes Museum in Berlin, the British Museum in London and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. As a way of gaining a robust understanding of spatial design factors, students model a historical museum using CAD software before designing a gallery installation using the same software.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 275 - American Campus Architecture (AH)

    The American Campus, a distinctive planning and architectural tradition, is the focus of this course. In the course of its study, students gain an overview of the evolution of American architecture from the colonial period to the present. Emphasis is on stylistic evolution of structures and the accommodation of shifting educational priorities in campus organization and planning. Analysis of the Colgate campus and its history is part of the course.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Recommended: Experience of ARTS 105  is valuable but not necessary
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 277 - Modern Architecture (AH)

    Studies the emergence of a self-consciously modern architecture in European and the United States at the turn of the 20th Century, follows its maturation in the interwar period, and explores its international proliferation following World War II. Students become familiar with many key buildings and architects as well as the theory associated with them.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Recommended: Experience of ARTS 105  is valuable but not necessary
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 280 - Visual Culture of Fascism (AH)

    Through a close analysis of cultural production and ideological statements, this course will examine the relationship between the politics of fascism and its visual practices, analyzing the role of art in the formation of the regimes’ self-identity and in the formation of the fascist subjects. Students will consider the related but diverse manifestations of fascist culture in Japan, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy in order to compare and contrast the heterogeneous modes of fascist visual culture in the interwar period. As well as examine responses to fascism in countries such as Great Britain, the United States, and Mexico, in order to understand the ways in which liberal regimes reacted to the visual propaganda of totalitarianism. Materials will include painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, graphic design, film, and forms of public spectacle and pageantry.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 287 - History and Theory of Cinema (AH)

    This survey of the history of cinema examines all aspects of filmmaking, the development of cinematic language, and film theory in relation to intellectual thought in the 20th century. Emphasis is on the development of film analysis as well as individual visual thinking. All students enrolled in the course are required to attend the Tuesday evening Alternative Cinema series.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: ARTS 287L  
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 287L - Required Film Screening

    Required corequisite to ARTS 287.

    Credits: 0.00
    Corequisite: ARTS 287  
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 291 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 302 - Advanced Digital Studio (SA)

    Digital Studio II builds on the aesthetic investigations and technical skills introduced in ARTS 201 or ARTS 202. Discussion, critical reading, and evaluation of contemporary works are incorporated into the course. Students create advanced works of art that demonstrate a significantly more sophisticated use of both theoretical and technical aspects of digital art.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 201  or ARTS 202  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 311 - The Arts in Venice during the Golden Age (Venice Study Group) (AH)

    The republic of Venice offers a special opportunity to study the interaction of the various fine arts that flowered simultaneously at the peak of one of Europe’s greatest cultural centers. The course examines artistic achievements of the Renaissance and early Baroque ages (ca. 1400-1700), chiefly in architecture and music. Students make frequent excursions to exemplary churches and palazzi, may attend local concerts, and learn to sing some Italian Renaissance music. Does not count toward 300-level elective requirement for majors, but may count towards period elective.

    Credits: 1.00
    Crosslisted: MUSI 311  
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 312 - Advanced Drawing (SA)

    Builds on the fundamental skills and the various approaches to drawing introduced in Drawing I. Assignments will require students to build on prior strengths as well as explore new approaches, both conceptually and technically. This will be accomplished by examining a wide range of artists and approaches to image making. Working at this level presupposes a willingness to work with a series of challenging problems and develop sophisticated, well resolved solutions. The student’s cost for the materials is $150.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 211  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 322 - Advanced Video Art (SA)

    An extension of ARTS 221  and/or ARTS 222 . Students are expected to make one or two works of art in video. These individual projects should reflect, upon completion, a level of sophistication that supersedes the project executed in ARTS 221  and/or ARTS 222 . All equipment is provided by the department. All students enrolled in the course are required to attend the Tuesday evening Alternative Cinema series.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: ARTS 322L  
    Prerequisites: ARTS 221  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 322L - Video Art II Required Film Screening

    Required corequisite to ARTS 322.

    Credits: 0.00
    Corequisite: ARTS 322  
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


    Click here for Course Offerings by term
  

  • ARTS 332 - Advanced Painting (SA)

    A continuation of ARTS 231 designed for the advanced study of painting. Directed through assigned projects, lectures, and independent studio hours, and supported by individual and group critiques. Directed assignments develop increased technical proficiency and an understanding of formal issues of painting, while research and experimentation in both traditional and nontraditional media aids students in the process of defining a conceptual focus and refining a body of work based on these ideas. The student’s cost for materials is $150-$300.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 231  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 340 - Contemporary Issues in Native American Art

    Examines the responses of Native American artists and critics to issues that face Native American and First Nations peoples of the United States and Canada today. The course first considers the political, social, and economic milieu in which modern and contemporary indigenous art developed. It evaluates terms such as “traditional” and “contemporary” in discussing indigenous art. The course then focuses on Native artists of the last twenty-five years and the issues addressed in their work.

    Credits: 1.00
    Crosslisted: ANTH 340  
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 342 - Advanced Photography (SA)

    An intermediate level course in photography that includes lecture-demonstrations, reading, writing, discussions, critiques, studio, field, and lab work. Assignments are structured to reinforce foundations and introduce specialized techniques in image control and manipulation. The course encourages students to use the photographic processes as a means of both investigation and expression. Students learn to integrate a sophisticated conceptual framework with technical skills and a distinct personal vision. The student’s cost for materials is $100–$400.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 241  or ARTS 242  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 344 - Hindu Temples: Architecture and Sculpture, Architecture as Sculpture (AH)

    From rock-cut halls carved into cliffs to elaborately ornamented constructions with multiple interior spaces, the buildings that have housed worship of the Goddess Shiva, Vishnu, and other deities of the Hindu pantheon honor the ideals of the divine palace and of the silent caves embedded in a mountain. This course explores what characteristics the wide range of Hindu temples share, how they vary from one region to another, and how they changed from the 3rd century BCE to 12th century CE. What do they share with structures for Buddhist, Jaina, and Muslim worship? How did ritual shape buildings and sculpture, and can we reconstruct ritual from material remains?

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 345 - Exhibiting the New: 1960-2000 (AH)

    With an eye to geopolitics in the art world, students examines key exhibitions that have displayed new artistic practices. They analyze how new art challenged traditional displays of art, breaking away from the famous “white cube” gallery display to transform the exhibition space into a more fluid environment. It shows how contemporary art practices affected art institutions that, in turn, prompted new exhibition formats and institutional discourses.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 348 - Modern Art on Display, 1850-1950 (AH)

    Explores the history of group exhibitions of modern art and related debates on the nature of display. Using visual, historical, and theoretical materials to study select case studies from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries, students will focus on how the history of art display impacts our understanding of modernism today, studying installations of art as creations that manifest ideologies and aesthetics. An important aspect of the course will be thinking about how photography — the primary medium through which we can now know how past exhibitions looked like — operates as a medium of visual representation as well as a force of cultural innovation by circulating modern art. In addition to the study of the history of exhibitions, students will also investigate the changing role of the art critic and the curator. As part of the course, students will study exhibitions on campus, applying to contemporary shows the critical skills learned by studying art displays from the past.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 350 - Art and the Goddess

    Looks at the recent popularity of goddesses and the ancient art that have celebrated the worship of goddesses in various parts of the world. Why are goddesses so popular now and what do they mean to us? What can architecture teach us about what goddesses have meant to other cultures and at other times? Are we now reviving ancient goddesses or are we inventing the pasts we need?

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 355 - Photography and Political Conflict

    Offers a critical and historical examination of the relation between photography and political conflict. Considering some key international photographic experiments in the context of the social, cultural, and political upheavals of their time, key to the course will be the broader question of how modern visual culture transformed in reaction and response to political change. Among the topics covered will be the history of photography in relation to colonialism, issues of photographic display and exhibitions, and notions of the documentary and the fictional in contemporary photography. Students will develop visual literacy, and become familiar with the complex relations between photography and its context through discussion and analysis of key artistic and photographic movements, practitioners, and techniques.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 357 - Storytelling Without Word

    Explores a wide range of ways in which sculpture can tell stories without using words – as one moment or many, with single or repeated figures moving through the imagined space of a relief or the actual space of the viewer, leading visitors around and through buildings, teaching and confounding, enlightening and transforming. Starting with sculptures from India/South Asia on Buddhist stupas and Hindu temples, the course will branch out to consider paintings from the Tale of Genji from Japan, sculptural reliefs on Trajan’s Column from ancient Rome, and other visual narratives around the globe.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 360 - Borderlands (AH)

    Examines the form and transmission of art and architecture in the eastern and southeastern borderlands of Europe from the 15th through the early 19th centuries. By focusing on early modern “cultural fault lines” students study the ways in which traditions and identities particular to the area shaped visual expression and the built environment. Draws on examples chiefly from within the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Venetian Republic. Students will consider what is particular about the arts and architecture in the borderlands, and by extension the impact of geography on visual culture.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 364 - Advanced Sculpture (SA)

    As an intermediate-level offering, this course introduces the use of a more advanced range of conceptual and technical tools involved in the making of sculpture. Seminar discussions on selected readings and group and private critiques encourage the student to attain greater independence in the execution of assigned projects. The student’s cost for materials is $175-$200.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 263  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 372 - Great Cities: Urban Form and Meaning (AH)

    Cities function as series of forms and spaces that direct people’s movements and states of mind. Some urban forms arise unplanned, from patterns of usage and individual need. Some are planned to produce specific kinds of impact. Sometimes those plans succeed; always they remain to some degree unfinished. In all cases, the spatial arrangements of cities tell important stories that we cannot help but experience and that we can learn to understand. Each semester focuses on a single city, such as London or Rome.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: At least one Art History course at the 100- or 200-level
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: No First-year
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 375 - Advanced Projects in Studio Art (SA)

    Students will develop a distinctive artistic practice and personal voice by building on previous strengths and addressing weaknesses. Conceptual, perceptual, and technical work will be deepened through a series of thematic prompts culminating in an independent project, to be exhibited at the end of the semester. Through encounters with other artists, select readings, research, presentations, writing, and rigorous critiques, students will pioneer a cohesive body of work and situate it within a legacy of arts practice, disciplinary and inter disciplinary dialogues, social issues, and contemporary arts.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 201  or ARTS 202  or ARTS 211  or ARTS 221  or ARTS 231  or ARTS 241  or ARTS 242  or ARTS 251  or ARTS 263  or ARTS 264  or ARTS 271  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Recommended: Studio Arts Emphasis majors must take before the fall of their senior year. 
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 381 - Seminar in Art History: Pre-1300 (AH)

    An umbrella course designed to utilize the expertise of the Art History staff and to explore specialized themes as they relate to the art of diverse cultures and geographical areas during the centuries before 1300 CE.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 382 - Seminar in Art History: 1300-1800 (AH)

    An umbrella course designed to utilize the expertise of the Art History staff and to explore specialized themes as they relate to the art of diverse cultures and geographical areas at any time between 1300 and 1800 CE.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 383 - Seminar in Art History: After 1800 (AH)

    An umbrella course designed to utilize the expertise of the Art History staff and to explore specialized themes as they relate to the art of diverse cultures and, geographical areas during the centuries since 1800 CE.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 391 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 406 - Senior Project: Studio Art (SA)

    Students work closely with a faculty member to develop and realize a coherent body of studio work that serves as a capstone for the concentration. It is the culmination of previous coursework that has required conceptualization, an understanding of artistic theoretical frameworks and technical knowledge. Class meetings serve as an opportunity to share ideas and work in progress; regular critiques incorporate the critical language acquired in ARTS 375. Work from the project is shown as part of a senior exhibition at the end of the term. All students with a studio arts emphasis are required to take and complete this course in the fall of the senior year.

    Credits: 1.00
    When Offered: Fall semester only

    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 375  and (ARTS 240  or ARTS 243  or ARTS 339) or 200-level ARTS course
    Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Art & Art History Majors and Minors
    Class Restriction: Only Senior
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 475 - Senior Project: Art History (AH)

    The student works closely with a faculty member to develop and complete a substantive independent research paper. Majors with an art history emphasis are required to take and complete ARTS 475 in the fall of their senior year.

    Credits: 1.00
    When Offered: Fall semester only

    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: ARTS 474  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Art & Art History Majors and Minors
    Class Restriction: Only Senior
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 491 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ARTS 499 - Advanced Studies for Honors

    For students pursuing honors in Art History. Normally taken as an independent study with the faculty member whose expertise most closely matches the area of the student’s project.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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Arts and Humanities
  

  • AHUM 220 - Literatures of Oppression

    This survey course provides an overview of the literary expressions of oppression in the West, from antiquity to the present and covering various events within history such as manifestations of ethnocentrism in classical antiquity; the philosophy of domination and social inequality; the era of discovery, conquest, and colonization; the Women’s Movement; American slavery; the Holocaust; and the Gay Rights Movement. As students analyze the literary works of people writing within these social and cultural contexts and shifting political views, they are forced to question the nature of oppression. Who does the oppressing? Who are the oppressed? What is the nature of such a relationship? What are the structures of oppression? How does the voice of the oppressed find expression in the language and literary constructs of the dominant culture? What narrative techniques and strategies are employed by oppressors and oppressed in the quest for self-representation? This course allows students to explore the themes of power, self-representation, and language, while developing some important critical reading and analytical writing skills.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
    Liberal Arts CORE: None
    Formerly: HUMN 220


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  • AHUM 291 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • AHUM 391 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • AHUM 491 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • LCTL 191 - Less Commonly Taught Languages

    Part of Colgate’s Less Commonly Taught Languages Program (for further description of LCTL see the program description).

    Credits: 0.50
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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Asian Studies
  

  • ASIA 291 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASIA 313 - Environmental Problems and Environmental Activism in the People’s Republic of China

    Explores China’s complex environmental issues, their historical roots, and social implications. It also examines the rise of environmental social activism in China. The course will utilize pedagogical methods from InterGroup Relations (IGR) to provide students with the intellectual tools to analyze issues of power, privilege, and identity and by extension, their own position in the world in relation to these environmental issues. This course is linked to an extended study to China. Students will travel to the People’s Republic of China, where they will examine sites of environmental problems, but also meet activists and see their work in progress. The trip will also bring to the forefront some of the issues of power, privilege, and race issues that were discussed in the course.

    Credits: 1.00
    Crosslisted: ENST 313  & SOCI 313 
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: No First-year
    Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASIA 313E - Environmental Problems and Environmental Activism in the People’s Republic of China (Extended Study)

    This extended study is linked to the on-campus course ASIA 313. Students will travel to the People’s Republic of China, where they will examine sites of environmental problems, but also meet activists and see their work in progress. The trip will also bring to the forefront some of the issues of power, privilege, and race issues that were discussed in the course.

    Credits: 0.50
    Crosslisted: ENST 313E  & SOCI 313E 
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASIA 313L - Environmental Problems and Environmental Activism in the People’s Republic of China Lab

    Examines the rise of environmental social activism in China; the historical, political, cultural, and economic roots of China’s current environmental problems, including deforestation, air pollution, water pollution, and species loss. Students learn theories of environmental justice and explore the rise of environmental activism in the PRC. The course will utilize pedagogical methods from InterGroup Dialogue (IGD) to provide students with the intellectual tools to analyze issues of power, privilege, and identity and by extension, their own position in the world in relation to these environmental issues.

    Credits: 1.00
    Crosslisted: ENST 313L  & SOCI 313L   
    Corequisite: ASIA 313   
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASIA 391 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASIA 491 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASIA 499 - Special Studies for Honors

    Students pursuing honors research enroll in this course.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: None
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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Astronomy
  

  • ASTR 101 - Solar System Astronomy

    Deals with the exploration of the solar system through ground-based observations and spacecraft missions. Topics include motions of solar system objects, properties of the solar system, origin and evolution of the solar system, uncovering the nature of objects in our solar system through comparative planetology, detection techniques and characteristics of planets orbiting other stars, and the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. Evening observing and Ho Tung Visualization Lab sessions supplement lectures.

    Credits: 1.00
    When Offered: Fall semester only

    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 102 - Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe

    Explores our modern view of the universe. Building on several basic observational techniques and physical principles, students demystify the science of astronomy and illuminate the evidence that establishes our physical understandings of stars and planetary systems, galaxies, and the universe. Students seek evidence-based answers to questions including: Of what stuff are stars made? What powers the Sun and other stars? How do stars and planetary systems form and evolve? Do other Earth-like planets exist? What determines the distribution and nature of galaxies in the universe? How did the universe begin and what is its future? Ho Tung Visualization Lab and observing sessions supplement lectures.

    Credits: 1.00
    When Offered: Spring semester only

    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 165 - How Old is the Universe?

    The last 20 years is often characterized as the Golden Age of modern astronomy due to the number of paradigm-shifting discoveries that have revolutionized our vision and understanding of the universe. This course explores several of these ground-breaking discoveries in great detail by focusing on the physical concepts and observations as well as the historical narrative that traces the progression of the scientific endeavor that made these discoveries possible. This course is distinctly different from ASTR 101 and 102, and allows for the interested non-science student to delve more deeply into the many discoveries that lead us to conclude that the universe is 13.77 +/- 0.059 billion years old; a number, by cosmological standards, that is staggeringly precise. No prior course work in physics, astronomy, or mathematics is required for this course.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: No Senior
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 210 - Intermediate Astronomy and Astrophysics

    A discussion of the fundamental physical principles of astronomy and astrophysics emphasizing topics of current interest such as stellar structure, evolution, neutron stars, black holes, and the interstellar medium.

    Credits: 1.00
    When Offered: Fall semester only, in alternate years

    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: (MATH 111 or MATH 161 ) and PHYS 233   (PHYS 233  may be taken concurrently)
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 220 - Deciphering the Sky: Practical and Historic Astronomy

    An investigation of the observed motions of the stars, Sun, Moon and planets in the celestial sky. Study of the physical models that explain these motions. The historic and cultural development of our understanding of celestial motions will be considered. Using the planetarium capabilities of the Ho Tung Visualization Laboratory, observations will be made of the night sky from different locations on Earth over time intervals ranging from minutes to centuries. Basic algebra, trigonometry and graphs will be used to quantify and visualize these motions. Additional outdoor observing sessions will supplement the class instruction.

    Credits: 1.00
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 230 - Astronomy in Culture

    Deals with the development of astronomy and, in a more general sense, with the relationship between the natural world and people in different societies and walks of life. Students examine the role of the sky in shaping religions and political ideologies in various kinds of cultures, among them hunter-gatherers, agrarian societies, and dynasties. Specific goals of the course include 1) gaining familiarization with the sky as seen with the naked eye, 2) understanding how various ways of comprehending the sky shapes a society’s world view, and 3) examining where cross-cultural parallels exist by seeking out the similarities and differences between the development of techno-assisted Western science and the so-called “ethno-sciences” in other cultures, both ancient and contemporary. Lectures are accompanied by sessions in the planetarium of the Ho Tung Visualization Lab, as well as out of doors, weather permitting.

    Credits: 1.00
    Crosslisted: ANTH 230  
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None
    Formerly: SOAN 230


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  • ASTR 312 - Astronomical Techniques

    A laboratory course introducing students to basic astronomical observations, methods of data acquisition and reduction using the university’s 16-inch telescope, CCD electronic camera, and image-processing workstation. Students are instructed in methods of astronomical imaging including detector calibration and atmospheric effects; in fundamentals of photometric reductions, including obtaining a light curve for a selected variable star; and in astronomical spectroscopy and spectral classification.

    Credits: 1.00
    When Offered: Fall semester only, in alternate years

    Corequisite: ASTR 312L  
    Prerequisites: PHYS 121 or PHYS 232  or ASTR 101  or ASTR 102  or ASTR 210 

     
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 312L - Astronomical Techniques Lab

    Required corequisite to ASTR 312 .

    Credits: 0.25
    When Offered: Fall semester only, in alternate years

    Corequisite: ASTR 312 
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 313 - Planetary Science

    Study of the solar system with emphasis on physical processes. Topics include formation of the solar system, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, meteorites, orbital mechanics, tides, atmospheric structure, planetary surfaces and interiors, impact cratering, and rings. Although challenging in breadth, this course is intended to be accessible to juniors and seniors majoring in physics, astronomy-physics, astrogeophysics, chemistry, or geology.

    Credits: 1.00
    When Offered: Fall semester only, in alternate years

    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: MATH 111 or MATH 161  or MATH 112 or MATH 162  or MATH 113 or MATH 163   and (PHYS 232  or any two GEOL courses) 
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 391 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a faculty member, and following a course-like format. The content and syllabus must be approved in advance by the department chair.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 392 - Independent Study - Research

    Opportunity for research-based individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. This course does not count towards the upper-level course requirement for the physics or Astronomy-physics majors or for honors.

    Credits: variable
    Prerequisites: PHYS 334  (waived for astrogeophysics majors) 
    Major/Minor Restrictions: PHYS, ASTR, ASGE, NASC only
    Class Restriction: Only Junior
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 414 - Astrophysics

    A study of stellar atmospheres and interiors, this course develops a fundamental understanding of stars and their evolution from the application of several basic principles found in atomic physics, electricity and magnetism, Newtonian mechanics, and statistical mechanics. Topics include fusion processes, reaction rates, stellar structure, the formation of spectral lines, opacity and optical depth effects, and radiative processes in the interstellar medium.

    Credits: 1.00
    When Offered: Spring semester only, in alternate years

    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: PHYS 334  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 416 - Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy

    Study of the astronomical techniques, methods, and fundamental data relating to the Milky Way Galaxy and objects located outside our galaxy, such as normal galaxies, radio galaxies, and quasars. Topics include galactic stellar populations, large-scale structure and rotation of the galaxy, the structure and content of other galaxies, galaxy classification, clusters of galaxies, active galactic nuclei, quasars, and the large-scale structure of the universe. The physical processes responsible for the radio, infrared, visual, and x-ray radiation from these objects are studied in detail.

    Credits: 1.00
    When Offered: Spring semester only, in alternate years

    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: PHYS 233 
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: No First-year, Sophomore
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 491 - Independent Study

    Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a faculty member, and following a course-like format. The content and syllabus must be approved in advance by the department chair.

    Credits: variable
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • ASTR 492 - Independent Study - Research

    Opportunity for research-based individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty. This course does not count towards the upper-level course requirement for the physics or Astronomy-physics majors or for honors.

    Credits: variable
    Prerequisites: PHYS 334  (waived for astrogeophysics majors) 
    Major/Minor Restrictions: PHYS, ASTR, ASGE, NASC only
    Class Restriction: Only Seniors
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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Biology
  

  • BIOL 101 - Topics in Organismal Biology

    Introduces students to the complexities of biodiversity, from the ecosystem to the genetic level. By examining the factors affecting the structure and function of terrestrial, marine, and freshwater communities, students learn about the diversity of organisms in these systems. Students gain an appreciation for the roles of evolutionary and ecological history, as well as modern ecological interactions, in shaping biodiversity across the globe. Students are exposed to the many ways that human activities affect biodiversity.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Recommended: First-year students and non-science majors. May be beneficial for entering students who do not have extensive biology background in preparation for enrollment in the foundation courses (BIOL 181  and BIOL 182 ). Not intended for students who have completed a biology foundation course.
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • BIOL 102 - Topics in Human Health

    Human beings are composed of nearly 100 trillion cells of over 200 different specialized types. For an individual to remain alive and healthy, these cells must be effectively organized into tissues and organs that perform specific functions. This course examines external and internal factors that influence both normal and abnormal cell, tissue, and organ function, providing students without an extensive science background with exposure to the biology of human health and disease. Course topics include human diet and nutrition and the cell biology of disease. Students examine how biologists address issues relating to health and disease and how our understanding of basic biology contributes to enhancing human health. The course is composed of lectures and discussions, and may include in-class laboratory-based exercises.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: None
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Recommended: Designed for first-year students and non-science majors. May be beneficial for entering students who do not have extensive biology background in preparation for enrollment in the foundation courses (BIOL 181  and BIOL 182 ). Not intended for students who have completed a biology foundation course.
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • BIOL 181 - Evolution, Ecology, and Diversity

    Concentrates on the evolutionary biology of organisms and the ecological processes that influence the distribution and abundance of plants and animals, as well as their interactions. The history of biological diversification (including the origin of life; the evolution of prokaryotes and eukaryotes; and the invasion of land by plants, fungi, and animals) is discussed. In addition, the mechanisms of evolution, including natural selection, adaptation, and extinction, are studied. Topics in population ecology as they relate to evolutionary processes including physiological and behavioral ecology, population growth, and species interactions (e.g., competition, predation, mutualism) are also covered; there is a strong focus on the physical, chemical, and biological factors that affect populations. The course ends with studying ecosystem ecology and the impacts of global warming and anthropogenic impacts on the environment. 

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: BIOL 181L  
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None
    Formerly: BIOL 211


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  • BIOL 181L - Evolution, Ecology, and Diversity Lab

    Required corequisite to BIOL 181 . Projects in the laboratory and field include experiments designed to understand evolutionary principles and to test ecological hypotheses.

    Credits: 0.25
    Corequisite: BIOL 181  
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None
    Formerly: BIOL 211L


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  • BIOL 182 - Molecules, Cells, and Genes

    At the level of molecules and cells, the different forms of life on earth are surprisingly similar. This course introduces aspects of life at the cellular and molecular level that are broadly applicable to all living things. The course begins by examining the basic chemistry of life. Building on this chemical foundation we develop an appreciation for cellular structure, the central role of cellular membranes, cellular energetics, and cell growth and reproduction. Special emphasis is placed on proteins and nucleic acids as the informational macromolecules, and how cells use these molecules to encode and express a genetic program. Mechanisms of inheritance are examined from both a classical and a modern molecular perspective.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: BIOL 182L 
    Prerequisites: CHEM 101  or CHEM 111  
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None
    Formerly: BIOL 212


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  • BIOL 182L - Molecules, Cells, and Genes Lab

    Required corequisite to BIOL 182 . This laboratory features experimental approaches in both modern cell biology and genetics.

    Credits: 0.25
    Corequisite: BIOL 182 
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None
    Formerly: BIOL 212L


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  • BIOL 201 - Evolution

    Uses the study of evolutionary biology to explore the collaborative process of scientific research, the critical reading of primary literature, the design and implementation of experimental studies, quantitative skills, and the interpretation and communication of research results. Like in all 200-level courses, students focus on the “process” of exploring biology. Provides for a study of how evolutionary theory illuminates and unifies our vast and growing knowledge of the biological world and affects many aspects of our lives. Emphasis is on the observations and experiments that have led to our current understanding of evolutionary processes and on the dynamic nature of evolutionary research.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: BIOL 201L  
    Prerequisites: (BIOL 181  or BIOL 211) and (BIOL 182  or BIOL 212)
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: No Senior
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • BIOL 201L - Evolution Lab

    Required corequisite to BIOL 201 . The laboratory includes investigative experiments that familiarize students with the approaches used to address questions in evolutionary biology.

    Credits: 0.25
    Corequisite: BIOL 201 
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • BIOL 202 - Genetics

    Uses the study of genetics to explore the collaborative process of scientific research, the critical reading of primary literature, the design and implementation of experimental studies, quantitative skills, and the interpretation and communication of research results. Like in all 200-level courses, students focus on the “process” of exploring biology. Provides students with a firm foundation in classical, quantitative and molecular genetics and covers topics in population genetics. Emphasis is on understanding how organisms encode, regulate, and inherit their genomes; current genetic applications; and the social and ethical issues that result from these technologies.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: BIOL 202L  
    Prerequisites: (BIOL 181  or BIOL 211) and (BIOL 182  or BIOL 212)
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: No Senior
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • BIOL 202L - Genetics Lab

    Required corequisite to  . The laboratory includes investigative experiments that familiarize students with the classical techniques used to address questions in genetics.

    Credits: 0.25
    Corequisite: BIOL 202  
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • BIOL 203 - Ecology

    Uses the study of ecology to explore the collaborative process of scientific research, the critical reading of primary literature, the design and implementation of experimental studies, quantitative skills, and the interpretation and communication of research results. Like in all 200-level courses, students focus on the “process” of exploring biology. Emphasizes the quantitative aspects of ecology by exploring concepts of population and community ecology including competition and predation, the use of diversity and community similarity indices, population regulation models, island biogeography, food web analysis, and community and ecosystem-level processes. In addition to textbook readings, students also read papers from the primary literature on topics covered in class.

    Credits: 1.00
    Corequisite: BIOL 203L  
    Prerequisites: (BIOL 181  or BIOL 211) and (BIOL 182  or BIOL 212)
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: No Senior
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


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  • BIOL 203L - Ecology Lab

    Required corequisite to BIOL 203 . The laboratory includes field trips to examine terrestrial and aquatic communities, exposing students to field methods that quantitatively measure population and community parameters.

    Credits: 0.25
    Corequisite: BIOL 203 
    Prerequisites: None
    Major/Minor Restrictions: None
    Class Restriction: None
    Area of Inquiry: Natural Sciences & Mathematics
    Liberal Arts CORE: None


    Click here for Course Offerings by term
 

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