Babson prides itself on the depth and breadth of its curriculum, as students are challenged by the dual business and liberal arts structure of the academic program. Faculty divisions within the liberal arts area include Arts & Humanities, History & Society, Economics, Law, and Math & Science. Faculty offer courses in all academic levels, providing students with immense room for development and growth in transferrable skills. These professors are leaders in their fields of research and contribute to the richness of both academic and student life through special programs and events.
Business Environment of the New Europe
Advanced Liberal Arts – Professor Neal Harris
This course examines the history and development of the economic and political integration of the European Union. Beginning with a detailed review of the treaties and agreements upon which the EU is based, we look at the institutional structure of the EU including the Commission, the Court of Justice, the European Council and the European Parliament. We also will focus on the EU budget process, the policy process, agricultural policy, external relations between the EU and nonmember nations, and on the key questions of EU enlargement, common defense, and national sovereignty versus EU integration.
Modern Drama
Advanced Liberal Arts – Professor Jon Dietrick
This is a survey of Western drama from the late 19th century to the present day. We’ll study representative works of major dramatists of this period such as Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Shaw, Brecht, O’Neill, Pirandello, Beckett, O’Casey, Soyinka, Churchill, Wilson, Stoppard, Mamet, Kushner, and Parks. You will research and report on theater movements such as symbolism, expressionism, realism, naturalism, epic theatre, and theatre of the absurd. We’ll consider the play as both text and performance, making use of theater reviews, director's notes, interviews, photographs, videos, and, when possible, live performances.
- Limit Cases: International Literature, Film, and Economic Rights
Advanced Liberal Arts – Professor Elizabeth Goldberg
This interdisciplinary course in literature and human rights will take as its main focus literary and cinematic representations of economic rights problems, and the contribution of literary artists to discourses on economic rights in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will begin by examining the challenges of ensuring economic rights in customary international law and policy, and will then study specific problems of land, resource, and wealth distribution. Cases and authors likely to be studied include water and mega-dams in India (Arundhati Roy); oil in Nigeria (Ken Saro-Wiwa); sugar in the Caribbean (Toni Morrison; Alan Cambeira); urban and rural land use (Rigoberta Menchu, Fernando Mereilles, Ann Petry, Mike Davis); the global trade in humans (Kevin Bales, Rohinton Mistry, Stephen Frears).
- Abnormal Psychology
Advanced Liberal Arts – Professor William O’Brien
Mental health problems disrupt the lives of millions of Americans every day. This advanced psychology course will examine major mental illness from various perspectives. Primarily discussion-based, students will learn the symptoms, etiology, course, prevalence, and treatment of various forms of psychopathology, including anxiety disorders, depression, ADHD, Asperger’s disorder, and bipolar disorder. Students also will learn about the history of disorder in Western thought, and explore contemporary clinical practices such as diagnosis, case formulation, and treatment. Students also will be expected to research a specific disorder, and present their findings in class.
- Imagining Sustainability: Nature, Humanity, Business and the End of Sorrow
Intermediate Liberal Arts – Professor Michelle Graham
The primary focus of this course is on the exploration of the concept of sustainability as a juncture of economic, environmental, and social concerns. With the rapid expansion of globalization, and the attenuating crises that accompany it, with regard to these concerns, future business and public policy leaders will need to be in the vanguard at determining how best to effect solutions. To that end, this course will examine a variety of sources in the consideration both of what allows for the implementation of sustainability and what prohibits it–from business case study to philosophical/economic analysis to literary memoir. Within this context, students will be invited to examine what we mean when we talk about justice, ethics, profit, growth, and community. In sum, we will explore how concepts that contribute to our understanding of individual and communal responsibility might be revisited and redefined in the effort to create a world that offers sustainable economic opportunity for all, ensured within a vital commitment to environmental stewardship.
- Time Series and Forecasting
Advanced Liberal Arts – Professor Bill Huss
This course will introduce time series models and discuss advanced forecasting methods in the context of real financial data and decision-making situations. The objectives of the course are to provide experience in using time series data (e.g., sales, profits, stock prices, economic indicators, industry sector indicators) to explain the impact of various internal and external factors and predict future trends; to provide a framework for comparing alternative forecasting models for validity, accuracy, and feasibility; to enhance an appreciation for the limitations of forecasting models; to provide exposure and experience in using statistical software to develop forecasting models; and to develop skills at communicating statistical results, and inferences effectively in a managerial context. Teamwork and professional presentation of analysis and recommendations will be required during this course.