CSP2005 Anthropology of Religion

(Formerly CVA2005)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsAnthropology of religion is a four-credit intermediate History and Society course. From an ethnographic and qualitative perspective, we will explore religious expression around the globe, including the major Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam but also Buddhism, Hinduism, African religions, and lesser-known faiths from small-scale, non-industrialized societies. Emphasis is placed on the analytic categories for understanding religious experiences and the prospects and challenges of cross-cultural comparison. We will adopt the techniques of anthropological inquiry to consider the social forces at work within religious life, including the political, colonial, gendered, and transnational dimensions of worship. Topics of ritual, mythology, witchcraft, magic, and science will guide our exploration of belief and spirituality beyond the formal boundaries of institutional religions. Experiential assignments, including participant observation and interviews with practitioners from unfamiliar spiritual traditions, are combined with in-depth written exercises to strengthen your intercultural and rhetorical competencies.

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

QTM3610 Applied Multivariate Statistics

(Formerly QTM2610)
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course extends the modeling tools presented in prior statistics courses and focuses on the application and validation of models developed using real data in the context of finance, economics, and marketing research. Examples of applications include modeling the impact of advertising on sales, admission yields for business schools, patterns of voting behavior and a variety of survey data. This course focuses on implementing data analysis techniques using a statistical software package and interpreting the results in a decision-making environment. Emphasis is placed on understanding the limitations of modeling approaches, as well as the diversity of potential applications in business.

Prerequisites: QTM1010

SEN1334 Applying the Creative Cloud

(Student Instructor: Benjamin Stegeman) Any method of augmenting ideas to allow them to become more digestible can set entrepreneurs and other communicators apart from the masses. In this course, students will learn the basics of four Adobe Creative Cloud products--PhotoShop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and After Effects--along with how to apply them to different business settings. Students will learn the fundamentals: product mock-up design using flat art, product commercials, product photo editing, basic animations, and general visual presentation techniques. Although this course covers the fundamentals, all skill levels are welcome. Class sessions will consist of learning and practicing the functions of the software, and students will get hands-on experience by working on a small project.

Wednesdays, 6:30-9:00pm

ARB4650 Arab Culture for Business

(Formerly Business Arabic)

4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

This course aims to help students acquire cultural intelligence and develop the tools necessary to learn about business culture of the Arab world and be aware of local traditions and sensitivities. It provides an understanding of Arab business etiquette and culture, and discusses related topics such as travel, dress codes, Islam and business, communication and negotiation styles, attitudes, and hierarchy in the workplace. Students survey countries like UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia …etc. They use diverse forms of authentic and recent media and examine materials from different Arabic newspapers and media sources such as Al-Hayat, Al- Ahram and Al-Jazeera to comprehend practical business issues, cultural values and social etiquette in the Arab world and the Middle East.

The course is taught in English. No prior knowledge of Arabic is needed.

ARB4640 Arab Cinema and Culture

(Formerly ARB4600)
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course is designed as an advanced-level conversation class, with a strong cultural component. It explores Arab cinema from the colonial period to the present, and provides an in-depth exploration of "cultural identity" and "politics" in the Arab World. Although Egypt is considered the biggest film producer in the Arab world, the course aspires to represent various cinemas across the region, from Morocco and Algeria to Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine, introducing students to notable moments and phenomena in the history of these cinemas. The course will be taught in Arabic and all films will be in Arabic with English subtitle. In addition to film viewings, students will be required to read critical and theoretical articles that pertain to class discussion. These films and readings serve as the basis for debate, discussion and written analysis of issues relevant to the history, culture and politics of the Arab world and the Middle East. Films will be on reserve at Horn Library, and screenings will be scheduled.

Prerequisites: Students need to be at least at a high intermediate level
This course is open to advanced and heritage speakers of Arabic

ARB4610 Elementary Arabic II: Language and Culture
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

Arabic 4610 is a project-based course designed to give students the opportunity to develop Arabic language and culture knowledge through engaging projects set around daily activities and situations students may experience in the real world. These projects will help students to build vocabulary, grammar and general communicative competence. They will help them enhance the spoken skills necessary for a variety of daily activities and will expose them to the diverse dialects and rich cultures of the Arab World. Projects include cooking lessons at the Foundry, learning Dabke dance, learning Arabic calligraphy, dining at an Arab restaurant … and much more.

You may sign-up for this class if you have successfully completed ARB2200 or its equivalent, or you are a heritage speaker who can understand Arabic minimally.

Prerequisites: ARB2200

LTA2005 Art as a Visual Language
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course is designed to introduce you to the realm of visual communication - how it's done, how it works and how cultural and personal experiences shape your reactions to it. Fine arts (painting, sculpture, architecture), industrial arts (graphic and product design) and everyday objects will be presented as the workings of visual communication, the role of art and artists in a variety of times and places, the nature of good and bad art and design are explored.

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

LTA 2006: Art in Latin America

4 intermediate liberal arts credits

This course presents a panorama of art and culture in Latin America from ancient times to the present. Topics include Pre-Columbian Empires; Spanish Colonial Cities; Revolution, Reform and Modernism; Indigeneity, African diasporas, and Nationalism. Looking through the lens of art and architecture, the course pays special consideration to Latin America's enduring legacies and dynamic processes of change. This is an introductory survey intended for students of all academic and professional interests: no previous art history courses or experience with Latin America necessary.

Prerequisites: (AHS 1000 or FCI 1000) and (RHT1000 or WRT1001)

OIM3580 Artificial Intelligence in Business
(Formerly MIS3580)
4 Advanced Management Credits

**Students who took this as MIS3580 cannot register for this course**

This elective is intended to introduce you to a variety of different types of artificial intelligence and to many of the issues involved in their business application. We will cover a variety of AI tools, from machine learning to natural language processing to "deep learning." We will learn about both the functions performed by these technologies and the business issues they generate - including the roles to be performed by humans in organizations of the future.
Some introductory material is provided by online videos on AI in general. We will have several external experts as guest speakers during sessions. No programming or detailed technology background is required, although you should be interested in new technology and will need to study materials about how AI works.

The objective is to equip you to be a manager or professional who makes use of this technology, not a developer of it-or a translator of business requirements to professional data scientists. The course is also intended to encourage some students to go on for more technical training in AI. Specific learning objectives are listed for each session.

Prerequisites: SME2012

NST1011: Astrobiology

4 foundation liberal arts credits

Introduction to the new science of astrobiology, study of the origin and evolution of life on Earth, and the search for microbial and intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe. Study of the information necessary to make estimates of the probability of extraterrestrial life, what characteristics it might have and how we might expect to communicate with it if it exists.

Prerequisites: None