ANTH 161/ Cultural Anthropology/ Professor Tami Hill
Cultural Anthropology is the study of individuals and groups within the context of culture. Anthropology draws on many disciplines (history, politics, economics, gender studies, philosophy, linguistics) in the exploration, description, and interpretation of how people use culture to make meaning out of their lives. In this course, we will use the lens of various groups, countries, and cultures across the globe to examine the following topics: how humans have organized themselves over time and across space, religion and ritual, social identity, difference and inequality, colonialism and globalization, immigration and refugees. My main approach is to make the “familiar strange and the strange familiar”—helping us to question our own cultural beliefs and practices which we may take for granted and assume as “natural”—while trying to better understand other cultural practices that we might initially consider strange or bizarre.
GEOG 410/510/ Environment, Society, and the Imagination of Place/ Professor Scott Warren
In geography, delineating regions is one of our most basic tasks. But it is not an easy task. To do it well requires a keen eye to places and their characteristics. Often, the process of regional delineation reflects our imagination of a place and what we think it is like more than its actual characteristics. And the act of dividing up the world into distinct regions, when political or economic power is involved, has profound consequences for people, their livelihoods, and the environment. The course is divided into three parts. First, we learn what the sub discipline of regional geography teaches us about this basic task, and we reflect critically on the relationship between regional delineation, power, and imagination. Second, we dive into the geography of the North American Southwest, the region in which I live and a place often defined more by imagination than reality. Third, students reflect on the places and the regions in which they are from, whether they define that as the Pacific Northwest or elsewhere.
GEOG 442/542/ Urban Geography/ Professor Leslie McLees
Urban geography is the study of the development of cities and the people in them, with a focus on how the built environment and people shape each other. The spaces we live in are planned, built, maintained, and debated by government and non-governmental agencies as well as thousands of individual residents. This class explores the evolution of cities; urban hierarchies, space and belonging; global cities; urban land use patterns; urban renewal; residential segregation, race, and immigration; urban poverty and homelessness; and the challenges and opportunities of life in urban settings.
MATH 111/ College Algebra/ Professor AJ Rise
Algebra needed for calculus including graph sketching, algebra of functions, polynomial functions, rational functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, linear and nonlinear functions.
PS 405/605/ Democracy and Power in Contemporary American Politics/ Professor Gerry Berk
This class examines the ongoing debate about the health and future of American democracy. Some argue that the problem is that politicians violate norms that are necessary to keep the system healthy. Others argue that there are deeper causes of the threats to democracy. The US has seen a massive rise in economic inequality, in which powerful corporations have come to dominate the political process. Racial hierarchy remains a persistent problem, which keeps the US from becoming a fully inclusive democracy. While vigorous social movements have emerged in the past decade to address these issues, the challenges to American democracy persist.
PSY 407/507/ SPANISH – Psychological Perspectives on Social Conflict/ Professor Tamara Niella
This course is centered on Social Psychology, a discipline of science that utilizes the scientific method to comprehend human behavior within a social context. Initially, the class will delve into the foundations of the scientific method, providing an understanding of how knowledge in this field is established. Next, we will explore key findings pertaining to the origins and characteristics of social conflicts, such as political polarization and ideological extremes. A focus of our course will be the role of face-to-face dialogue to encourage idea exchange between differing viewpoints to aid conflict resolution. Throughout the course, we will discuss how these topics can be applied to daily life.