This course, which is actually an English course cross listed with ENG 4800, will provide students with practice in applying what has come to be known as Critical Theory to literature. It will also study formalist theories of literature and the aesthetic theories governing other arts. In recent decades theorists of language and literature have gone beyond the boundaries of the properly "literary" to study the interaction of the symbolic realm with economic means of production, with psychology, and with identity politics. This broadening of the field has made disciplinary definitions difficult. Still, there are central texts, and students will read them as well as key works in the history of Western literature such as Oedipus the King, Frankenstein, and A Passage to India. We will cultivate an awareness of the ways that the questions we bring to a work of art condition our appreciation of it. We will pay attention to questions of beauty, of self-expression, of social commentary, and of the transmission of ethnic and national identity.

For centuries the design of urban landscapes were influenced by a community's collective understanding of their relationship to a power greater than themselves.  Until the modern age, these encounters were not limited to the confines of places of worship, but were also mediated in the public square.  People would gather in public squares for ceremonies; they would pass through complex interactions between believers like themselves and others holding competing ideas. In contemporary times, cities are much more diverse in faith practice, and the influence of religion in forming the public square is often ignored. The focus of this seminar will be to explore the interaction between contemporary spaces dedicated to the sacred, and their intersection with the public square.

The objective of this course is to study the conditions that will strengthen the viability and vitality of enterprise and increase employment in the community. Topics include: Principles of Economic Development and Growth (community history and community growth potential, the role of business, labor, & jobs, building sustainable systems, social capital); the Role of Community-Based Institutions (community support organizations, sources of funding); Economic Development Planning (local economic development incentives, building public/private collaboratives); The Economic Influence of Neighborhood and Building Design; and Measuring Economic Growth (data sources, methodology).

This course is an introduction to the Organizational Development concentration. It will survey topics of transformational leadership, organizational management, and financial management. Primary emphasis will be on understanding 1) how to create, inspire and sustain a shared vision for community-based or agency-based initiatives; 2) the theories, dynamics, and life cycles of community development; and 3) how to utilize strategic planning, action planning, and financial management strategies to create sustainable community change initiatives. The course will utilize open systems theory as the theoretical framework in which community assessment and organizing, organizational design and development, interpersonal and team dynamics, and organizational funding and financial management are studied. Theory and practice are integrated.

This course examines the contested meanings of social justice within the context of a society which understands itself to be a liberal democracy based on the conviction that all humans are created equal. This course will raise questions about the ethical adequacy of existing social norms (legal and ethical) by examining concrete economic and environmental issues related to the dehumanizing conditions that shape communities of marginalized people, disproportionately persons of color, women and children. As a course shaped by the theory that knowledge, including social norms, is constructed by privileged social groups, the course will intentionally introduce contesting ‘knowledges' from marginalized voices. Throughout this process, the principles involved in doing social ethics, that is, for determining what is just, will be revealed and examined. Guest speakers will provide links to local community activism related to the issues raised.