HSS2090/NST2090 Socio-Ecological Systems: Feeding the Modern United States
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThe sustainability of the global food system hinges on the full scope of the system's environmental resilience and safety. This course will be co-taught by a U.S. historian and a biologist, and it focuses on the history, science, and future sustainability of the food system in the United States and across the globe. Students will study food security and food deserts, the origins of our plant and animal food products, and the labor required to bring food to our tables. They will learn about the social and environmental stressors across the entirety of the food system - from the use of the world's resources and the impact of climate change, to the communities nearby to where the food is grown, raised, processed or sold; they will study the health and safety of the agricultural and food service labor force, comprised first of enslaved people and later of im/migrant workers, many of whom lack official documentation. This interdisciplinary course on sustainability is designed to teach students about the social, historical, and environmental dimensions of a sustainable food system.

Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)

NST2012 Socio-Ecological Water Systems
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts Credits

Water is not only vital for all life on our planet, it is also intrinsically linked to all systems on which we rely as humans. Securing access to clean water for the growing global population is a defining challenge of the 21st century that is intensified by the climate crisis, pollution, unbalanced extraction rates, outdated infrastructure, and environmental injustice. Co-taught by an environmental scientist and governance analyst, this course will use a transdisciplinary approach to outline the diverse functions and uses of water in Socio-Ecological Systems (SES). Through a series of case studies, students will investigate how disruptions to the natural water cycle can lead to disruption of ecological, social, political, industrial, and economic networks. The cases will also highlight the ways in which structural injustice such as racism and socio-economic inequality pervade matters of access to clean water. In this course students will be taught system-thinking and will learn to identify and understand the interdependent/related components and feedbacks of dynamic water systems. Students will explore the concept of integrated sustainability to understand how social and political institutions are depended upon ecological integrity. The overall goal of this course is for students to develop the tools and thinking necessary to understand regional and global water challenges and to identify management solutions that are efficient, equitable, and sustainable.

Prerequisites: RHT1000 and RHT1001 and AHS1000 and NST10%%

HSS2012 Socio-Ecological Water Systems

4 Intermediate Liberal Arts Credits

Water is not only vital for all life on our planet, it is also intrinsically linked to all systems on which we rely as humans. Securing access to clean water for the growing global population is a defining challenge of the 21st century that is intensified by the climate crisis, pollution, unbalanced extraction rates, outdated infrastructure, and environmental injustice. Co-taught by an environmental scientist and governance analyst, this course will use a transdisciplinary approach to outline the diverse functions and uses of water in Socio-Ecological Systems (SES). Through a series of case studies, students will investigate how disruptions to the natural water cycle can lead to disruption of ecological, social, political, industrial, and economic networks. The cases will also highlight the ways in which structural injustice such as racism and socio-economic inequality pervade matters of access to clean water. In this course students will be taught system-thinking and will learn to identify and understand the interdependent/related components and feedbacks of dynamic water systems. Students will explore the concept of integrated sustainability to understand how social and political institutions are depended upon ecological integrity. The overall goal of this course is for students to develop the tools and thinking necessary to understand regional and global water challenges and to identify management solutions that are efficient, equitable, and sustainable.

Prerequisites: RHT1000 and RHT1001 and AHS1000 and NST10%%

ECN2611 Socio-Ecological Systems and Disaster Resilience
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

**NST2011/ECN2611: Socioecological Systems and Disaster Resilience will be co-taught by Prof. Winrich and Prof. Way as a single course.**

ECN2611/NST2011 are two separate courses

Natural disasters can affect us wherever we go. Disasters might be localized or far-reaching, and may come from severe weather, seismic events, biological catastrophe, or outer space. Natural disasters may seem random, but their impact on people and their communities is not. While natural systems spark an event, like an earthquake, the "disaster" is often the result of economic, political and social systems. And in the case of climate change, the economic system itself may be the catalyst for ever-more-destructive natural forces such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires, potentially creating a negative feedback loop that leads toward more destructive events, both natural and man-made. This course looks at the rising number of natural disasters in the context of the economic systems that impact the environment and put communities in harms' way. It investigates the connections between humans and the environment when they are impacted by anticipated and unanticipated natural events, and how they plan for the future. It explores resilience planning for more survivable, sustainable communities in the face of disasters. It specifically looks at the role of economic systems and how these systems can either worsen or mitigate the severity of natural disasters themselves.

Prerequisites: AHS1000, RHT1000 and NST1

NST2011 Socio-Ecological Systems and Disaster Resilience
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

**NST2011/ECN2611:nSocioecological Systems and Disaster Resilience will be co-taught by Prof. Winrich and Prof. Way as a single course.**

**These are two separate courses and students are held responsible to register for the course that they would like to receive credit for.**

Natural disasters can affect us wherever we go. Disasters might be localized or far-reaching, and may come from severe weather, seismic events, biological catastrophe, or outer space. Natural disasters may seem random, but their impact on people and their communities is not. While natural systems spark an event, like an earthquake, the "disaster" is often the result of economic, political and social systems. And in the case of climate change, the economic system itself may be the catalyst for ever-more-destructive natural forces such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires, potentially creating a negative feedback loop that leads toward more destructive events, both natural and man-made. This course looks at the rising number of natural disasters in the context of the economic systems that impact the environment and put communities in harms' way. It investigates the connections between humans and the environment when they are impacted by anticipated and unanticipated natural events, and how they plan for the future. It explores resilience planning for more survivable, sustainable communities in the face of disasters. It specifically looks at the role of economic systems and how these systems can either worsen or mitigate the severity of natural disasters themselves.

Prerequisites: AHS1000 and RHT1000 and RHT1001 and NST1

SOC4620 Sociology of Health and Medicine
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course exercises the sociological imagination in understanding how health, illness, and healthcare, are socially constructed. This construction occurs at a local, national, and international level, at the interplay of culture, policy, service, and business. By examining both health and health systems, students will gain an understanding of how an individual's health both shapes their navigation through society, and is affected by the society they navigate. We will examine this phenomenon at the interpersonal, structural, and international level. Our course will begin by understanding health and healthcare as a fundamentally social process - one that is affected by both the history of society at large and systems of inequality inherent to that society. We will then explore how these phenomena translate (or do not translate) in an international capacity. Finally, we will examine the process behind manufacturing health and healthcare, before exploring what can be done about health inequalities.

Through in-class discussions and writing assignments, students will gain a more critical understanding of health and health systems as a process, rather than as stagnant entities. We will analyze the intersecting roles of the family, culture, education, authority, gender, race, social class, ideology, economic commensuration, and nation of origin in the process of health - and how each of those in turn affect the business of healthcare and system of healthcare delivery.
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
v Explain sociological theories of illness in the context of real-world experiences
v Thoroughly understand the impact of the social world on the manufacturing of healthcare, the roles of health/illness to individuals, and the processes of (de)medicalization
v Describe the role of intersecting systems of disadvantage and cultural meanings on health treatments and outcomes
v Effectively critique competing mechanisms to address various 'health crisis'
v Responsibly apply empirical findings to current policies and discourse

Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate liberal arts courses (CVA, LVA, HSS, CSP, LTA in any combination)

MOB7518 Solving Big Problems
3 Elective CreditsThe core strategy course, which emphasizes knowledge, covers the application of widely used strategy concepts and frameworks. This course emphasizes skills, specifically, those of diagnosis and problem solving. Good thinking and problem solving will set you apart no matter what your choice of profession and career. To make learning both challenging and compelling, we will use the setting of big problems. These are uncommon, difficult, visionary attempts at transforming industries and societies to better people's lives. By studying a variety of attempts at solving big problems, both successes and failures, we will learn the following skills. One, integrative or systemic thinking, which is not limited to any function or discipline but draws upon all of them. Two, conceptual thinking, which is different from but complements analytical thinking that you learn in core courses. The ability to think conceptually is uncommon and a trait possessed by those who accomplish transformative things. Three, critical thinking, a skill regularly stated as desirable by recruiters and in studies of effective executives. The course is ultimately about becoming an effective and valued problem solver.

Prerequisites: MOB7202 or MOB7801

HSS2006 South Asian History
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsHistory has been the unfortunate ground on which many of South Asia's fiercest political battles have played, and continue to play themselves out. This course considers a few of the key debates that have animated South Asian history. These include debates on the nature of colonialism, nationalism; the shape of a free India; the founding principles of the states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan; and the legacy of colonialism on democracy, development, and globalization in these South Asian countries. We will also consider how recourse to certain interpretations of 'history' has influenced the crafting of policy and politics. Structured chronologically, the course begins with a study of colonialism in the early nineteenth century and ends by considering the challenges of deepening democratization, unequal development and the varied manifestations of globalization.

Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)

SPN4640 Spanish Cinema and Culture
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

This course is designed as a conversation class, with a strong cultural component. The major course materials are contemporary Spanish language films and supplementary readings. Through the lens of ethical questions and concerns that surface in these films, students will study issues relevant to the history, culture, and politics of contemporary Latin America and Spain. Films and readings serve as the basis for debate, discussion, and written analysis. This course aims to ease the path towards greater fluency through improvements in accuracy and more spontaneous communication.

Open to students with an Intermediate level of Spanish, or higher.

Prerequisites: SPN4620, or equivalent proficiency as demonstrated through a placement test.

SPN2200 Spanish I

(FORMERLY SPN1200)
4 General CreditsThis is a fast-paced introductory course that prepares students for further study of the language. Through engaging, meaningful activities, students will learn to accomplish real-world communicative tasks. The course incorporates a wide variety of interactive and authentic materials to put language into practice. As the course adopts an intensive and immersive approach, it is recommended for students with some previous exposure to language learning and/or the highly motivated rank beginner.