Summer Sessions

MATH 10000: Math in Contemporary Society

Instructor: D. Pasteur
Meeting Times: Monday through Friday, 10:00-11:00 am EDT
Length of Course: 6 weeks
Designations: MNS/QL

This is a survey course that explores a broad spectrum of mathematical topics; examples include the search for good voting systems, the development of efficient routes for providing urban services, and the search for fair procedures to resolve conflict. The emphasis is on observing the many practical uses of mathematics in modern society and not on mastering advanced mathematical techniques. This course does not satisfy the prerequisites for further Mathematics courses, nor does it count toward a major or minor. Mathematics majors and minors may take the course only if they have permission of the chair.

Asynchronous Information: In addition to the class meetings, students should expect to complete exercises and quizzes each week as part of the course content.

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DATA 10200: Introduction to Statistics

Instructor: C. Horr
Meeting Times: Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 3:00-4:30 pm EDT
Length of Course: 4 weeks
Designations: MNS/QL

This course covers an introduction to basic statistical methods and concepts – the basic elements of descriptive and inferential statistics. Topics include exploratory data analysis, experimental design, sampling, inference for means and proportions, regression, and categorical data. This course does not satisfy the prerequisites for further Mathematics courses, nor does it count toward a major or minor.

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PHIL 23000: World Comparative Philosophy

Instructor: E. Schiltz
Meeting Times: Wednesdays, 1:00-4:00 pm EDT
Length of Course: 4 weeks, starting June 7
Designations: AH/GE

In this class, we will critically engage with the key ideas of significant philosophers from a variety of world traditions, carefully considering and critically analyzing their views on some of the fundamental questions of philosophy. Who am I? What really exists? What is knowledge – and how can I get it? How should I live?  At the same time, we will engage with the larger questions of cross-cultural philosophy. How should we approach different philosophical traditions? What conclusions follow for the pursuit of wisdom?

Asynchronous Information: In addition to class meetings, students should expect roughly three hours of asynchronous work each week for this course. 

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SPAN 10100: Beginning Spanish, Level 1

Instructor: A. Díaz de León
Meeting Times: Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday, 10:00-11:50 am EDT
Length of Course: 6 weeks

Beginning Spanish: Level I (10100) is the first of a two-semester sequence of courses that introduces students to the Spanish language and the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. Through the integration of grammar topics, conversational activities, reading materials and listening exercises, students will receive a basic training in the language with special attention given to the acquisition of a functional vocabulary. Homework and exams will be completed and submitted on the textbook website. The course textbook is Aventuras (e-Book and online access key required), which can be purchased through the Wilson Bookstore. Students will attend four synchronous sessions per week, MTWF, from 10:00 AM – 11:50 AM, to practice the language in an online group setting. Upon completion of this course, students will be fully prepared to continue with SPAN 102, which will cover the second half of the Aventuras textbook.

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SPAN 10200: Beginning Spanish, Level 2

Instructor: Osmer Balam
Meeting Times: Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday, 10:00-11:50 am EDT
Length of Course: 6 weeks

Beginning Spanish, Level II (10200) is the second semester of the Spanish Language Program in the Department of Spanish. This course builds on the language skills that students have previously acquired. Through the completion of grammar exercises, listening and speaking activities, and exams in the textbook website, students will further develop their communicative competence in Spanish. Students will attend four synchronous sessions per week to practice their listening and speaking skills. At the end of this course, students will have the ability to engage in Spanish conversations with more ease and confidence.

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ENGL 27008: Writers’ Habits and Routines

Instructor: Alicia Brazeau
Meeting Times: Monday/Wednesday, 7:00-8:30 pm EDT
Length of Course: 6 weeks
Designations: AH/W

Maya Angelou wrote in the mornings, in a space cleared of decoration and distraction. Steven King assigned himself the task of completing six pages every day. Kurt Vonnegut and Haruki Murakami swim, run, and do push-ups. In this course, we will explore how professional writers practice and conceptualize the work of writing, and then consider how these individual accounts match up with academic research on how writers learn and develop their abilities. We will also experiment with adopting and evaluating these habits, routines, and strategies for ourselves. Course projects will prompt students to examine and analyze their own writing process, and critically evaluate the strategies and routines of professional writers.

Asynchronous Information: In addition to class meetings and corresponding reading, students should expect to spend about three hours each week in writing “lab time” which includes writing exercises and reflections.

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PSCI 23100: Modern Western Political Thought

Instructor: W. Kujala
Meeting Times: Tuesday/Thursday, 2:00-3:30 pm EDT
Length of Course: 6 weeks
Designations: HSS

This course surveys the development of political concepts in modern Western thought. We will trace paradigmatic shifts in political ideas about sovereignty, the state and rights as they begin to surface in 17th and 18th century European thought, evidenced in the writings of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant, amongst others. And we will compare these ideas with the thinking of some prominent 19th and 20th century critics, including Bentham, Mill, Marx, and Nietzsche. Through close textual readings and contextual analysis, we will engage in a systematic comparison of our assumptions about politics with those expressed in these philosophical debates. And, in so doing, we will attempt to further our understanding of contemporary politics and the problems particular to our own political practices.

Asynchronous Information: In addition to class meetings, students should expect approximately three hours each week of asynchronous content that includes video lectures, message board iterations, and collaborative work.

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BIOL 399: Cancer Cell Biology

Instructor: E. Regan
Meeting Times: Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 10:00-11:50 am EDT
Length of Course: 6 weeks

This course focuses on cellular and molecular processes leading to the initiation and progression of cancer. As we explore multiple facets of cell behavior altered by cancer, we will examine the intersection of genetic, epigenetic and environmental causes of cancer-forming cell behavior. With a strong emphasis on reading primary literature, the course will engage topics such as immunotherapy, the link between cancer and aging, the role of the microbiome, and the promise of predictive models for developing novel therapeutic approaches. Prerequisite: BIOL-20100, minimum grade of C- or instructor permission. 

Asynchronous Information: In addition to class meetings, students can expect additional course work to include online quizzes, preparation for Journal Club, and a discussion forum.

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PSYC 29916: Neurodiversity

Instructor: G. Herzmann
Meeting Times: Tuesday/Thursday, 12:00-1:30 pm EDT
Length of Course: 6 weeks
Designations: HSS/D

This course will introduce students to neurodiversity, the idea that neurological differences, whether arising from developmental (i.e., Dyslexia, ADHD, Autism) or mental conditions (i.e., Schizophrenia or Tourette’s) should be accepted and valued as natural variations to human brain and behavior. This course will combine synchronous and asynchronous activities including small-group discussions, large-group discussions, students presentations, and lectures with active learning components. Asynchronous activities will include reading of primary literature as well as auto- and biographical essays, watching videos, reflective writing, and experiential learning. The usual pre-requisite for this course is Psychology 100 or Advanced Placement Psychology, but this requirement will be waived as long as the student has taken an introductory level course in one of the social or natural sciences, such as Biology 111, Neuroscience 200, or Sociology/Anthropology 100.

Asynchronous Information: In addition to class meetings, students should expect approximately three hours each week of asynchronous course content.

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BIOL 199: Fighting Climate Change

Instructor: R. Lehtinen
Meeting Times: Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 10:00-11:50 am EDT
Length of Course: 4 weeks
Designation: MNS

This non-majors course will be investigate the current scientific understanding of climate change as well as the needed policy, social and economic changes needed to avoid its worst effects. The first part of the course (‘knowledge’, two weeks) will establish the scientific basis for global climate change including coverage of essential aspects of Earth’s climate system (especially the carbon-cycle) as well as coverage of previous climate change events in Earth’s history and current and projected climate change impacts on biological and cultural systems. The second part of the course (‘action’, one week) will cover the changes needed to both collective and individual human behavior to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The third and final part of the course (‘anger’, one week) would focus on efforts by the status quo to prevent or forestall climate action (political movements, disinformation campaigns, etc.) and official and grassroots efforts worldwide to implement change (with a special focus on youth movements and activism). While some of the content can be perceived as “doom and gloom”, we will have a special and repeated focus on some of the important progress being made (at both the local, national and global levels) to meet the unprecedented challenges.  

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ENVS 19903: Introduction to Environmental Humanities

Instructor: M. Mariola
Meeting Times: Wednesday/Friday, 6:00-8:00 pm EDT
Length of Course: 4 weeks
Designations: AH

What does it mean to know the land upon which we stand? Does it matter if that land is urban, suburban, or rural? How are the histories of our environments legible to us? How does deepening our knowledge of place allow for us to better understand our position in the ecosystem? To begin answering these questions, we will each engage in deep experiences such as walking or interacting with the ecosystem – asynchronously and each in in our respective landscapes; we will read key essays in the environmental humanities to help understand our ecosystem experiences; and we will write personal essays to express this growing understanding. This class attempts to turn the passive nature of remote learning into ACTIVITY.

Asynchronous Information: In addition to the two synchronous class meetings per week, students should expect approximately four hours of weekly asynchronous time, consisting of one “Humanities Lab” and one peer review session per week.

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GRMN/GMDS 22811: Imagining Berlin: Visual and Graphic Texts of the Weimer Era

Instructor: B. Muellner
Meeting Times: Tuesdays, 5:00-7:30 pm EDT
Length of Course: 6 weeks
Designations: AH/C

The Netflix Series “Babylon Berlin” has reignited interest in representations of 1920s Weimar era Berlin, Germany, like no other cultural text of late, unless compared with the long-awaited publication of graphic novel trilogy Berlin (2000-2018) by the American artist Jason Lutes. This is exactly what this summer class will do. We explore the Babylon series via its fictionalized characters such as the New Woman/stenographer (Charlotte Ritter) and the WWI veteran/detective/morphine addict (Gereon Rath) with Lutes’ art student Marthe Müller and journalist Kurt Severing and ask to what degree do these fictional characters reflect the real woes of individuals living in the metropolis of Berlin during that inner-war period of tumultuous change. Discussion and comparison of histories of Weimar era, contemporary newspaper stories, Weimar film (including those by G.W. Pabst, Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg), and documentary photography discuss class discrepancies, modernity, industrialization, changing gender roles, history of queer culture, social and political unrest. Course in English.

Asynchronous Information: In addition to class meetings, each week students should expect about 3 hours of asynchronous, guided work, and discussion board interaction.