May 10, 2024  
Course Catalog 2021-2022 
    
Course Catalog 2021-2022 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions


Students planning a program of study or concentration are urged to review program requirements and course descriptions before meeting with their advisors. Not all courses listed here are taught every year, and students should consult the Course Schedule on the Wheaton website for information about offerings in a particular semester. Courses are numbered to indicate levels of advancement as follows: 100–199, elementary or introductory; 200–299, intermediate; 300 and above, advanced. Departments often design new courses, either to be offered on a one-time basis or an experimental basis, before deciding whether to make them a regular part of the curriculum.  These courses are numbered 098, 198, 298 or 398.

Information is available online through WINDOW about prerequisites that must be completed before enrolling in a course, as well as the curriculum and general education requirements that a course fulfills. Most courses are offered for one course credit; a course credit at Wheaton is the equivalent of four semester hours.

 

English

  
  • ENG 298 - American Environmental Literature


    A study of the development of environmental writing over the course of the American literary tradition. Concentrating mostly on essay and life writing, this course will investigate the development of a literature that both engages with and responds to the American environment from the early explorers to the most recent writers. Reading works from writers such as Cabeza de Vaca, Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, and Terry Tempest Williams, this course will examine the ways in which American writers have sought to understand and reflect the vital role nature plays in the construction of American personal, social, and national identity. In concert with these essays, students will also read theories of ecocriticism from Leo Marx, Carolyn Merchant, and others to advance our understanding of environmental criticism.

    Prerequisites
    ENG 101  or AP English credit

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 298 - Caribbean Literature and Popular Culture


    This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the rich literary traditions and oral roots of Caribbean literature, with an emphasis on the ways in which the literature shapes and has been shaped by popular cultural discourses in the English-speaking Caribbean.  We will pay close attention to Caribbean oral literature and poetry (including  dub poetry), as well as the music genres of reggae, calypso, soca, and dancehall. Through our exploration of Caribbean literatures and languages, as well as music and film, we will critically reflect on issues of diaspora, migration, creolization, race, and gender in an attempt to comprehend the complexities of Caribbean cultures in the Caribbean region and beyond. 

     

     



    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 298 - Cultural Linguistics


    This course offers an introduction to the study of the relationship between culture, language and society. It will cover topics such as: language variation according to different cultures, classes, ethnicities, genders, identities, ideologies; multilingualism; and language policy. We will look at how language is actually used, how people feel about it—how the two are often opposed—and how the structure of language interacts with both. We consider language as a resource to convey cultural and personal identity, and investigate what it reveals of language attitudes and social structures—and therefore of status and inequality in areas such as social class, gender, age, and ethnicity. We will see how social identity illuminates variation in language, and learn about such topics as regional and social dialects, language variation and change, and multilingualism and code-switching.

    Credits 1



    Connection
    Beyond the West 

  
  • ENG 298 - From Text to Screen: Adapting British Plays and Novels to the Screen


    Is the book always better than the film? How does a film adaptation succeed or fail once the story leaves the page? In this course we’ll discuss various British plays and novels—as well as Australian and Canadian works–and explore the decisions made to cut and/or condense scenes, represent characters and emphasize themes. Texts-to-films that we’ll study may include Shakespeare’s Henry V; Austen’s Persuasion; Bronte’s Jane Eyre; Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, Monica Ali’s Brick Lane.  Students will consider the criteria that makes a successful written text and a film text. How does “interiority” manifest onto a film adaptation? Students will keep observation journals and perhaps create story boards. Two short papers and one longer one are part of the course work as well.  

     

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 298 - Hip Hop, Spoken Word & Black Poetics


    This course leads students on a journey through the evolution of hip hop, spoken word and performance poetry from the 1970s to the present. Our primary aim is to understand Black literary aesthetics as conveyed through poetic genres of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. We will also concern ourselves with the manner in which the Black poetic tradition both engages and challenges Western literary values in content and in structure.

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 298 - Race & Ethnicity in Child Literature


    Children’s literature offers a special space for considerations of identity. While a presumed homogeneity of that identity has often been a point of fervent pride, protest, counter-protest, and reimagining, race and ethnicity are as deeply interwoven with the subject of childhood as invocations of children have been to the political discourse surrounding race and ethnicity. This course engages that discourse by offering literary representations of young peoples in racialized contexts paired with critical vocabularies attuned to equity and social justice. Key children’s and adolescent texts include but are not limited to poetry, memoir, speculative fiction, and graphic novels. Critical thinking in the form of class discussion, academic writing, and multimodal production is anticipated.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-liisted with WGS 298   

  
  • ENG 298 - Writing as Global Communication


    English may not actually be everywhere, though it can seem that way. It is becoming the language of business and diplomacy. Globally, people use English for their social media accounts and other online activities, often alongside or in conjunction with their native tongues. We use it on campus for everything from casual conversations to participating in academic discourse. Through discussion and writing, this course investigates how we communicate in written English across cultural barriers, including the opportunities English provides for opening us to new experiences and the complications that arise when other cultures adopt a colonialist language as their own. 

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 299 - Independent Writing


    As part of the creative writing concentration, after successful completion of at least one advanced writing workshop, students may be invited to undertake a semester of independent writing under the guidance of and with permission of the instructor.

    Prerequisites
    Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 306 - Chaucer


    A study of the Canterbury Tales and other Chaucerian verse in the original Middle English. We will discuss the ways that Chaucer portrays the social and cultural struggles of the 14th century as we marvel at the poet’s skill with verse and laugh at his dirty stories. Students do not need previous experience with medieval literature or Middle English to be successful in the course.

    Prerequisites
    Open to Juniors and Seniors or by Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Connection
    20086

  
  • ENG 309 - Shakespeare and the Performance of Cultures


    “What is my nation?” This key question from Henry V can be interjected into many of Shakespeare’s plays. This course will look especially at how Shakespeare’s plays serve to define places and peoples. We will investigate how different productions may have aided rebellion and question how others may be used for affirmation of nationhood. How have different productions fortified pride and prejudice? Richard III, and Henry IV, Henry V, along with Hamlet, Othello, Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Troilus and Cressida and the Tempest may be among the plays we’ll read. There will be a midterm and a final exam in this course.

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 310 - Shakespeare and the Company He Keeps


    Focusing on Shakespeare’s poetry and plays and the sources he used as well as the social and cultural contexts that produced them, this course looks, too, at the dramatic responses the Bard’s work provokes. We’ll read, for instance, Shakespeare’s ” English’ sonnet and compare it to some of Sidney’s Petrarchan sonnets. We’ll read Hamlet, King Lear, and Henry V, Othello, As You Like It and Twelfth Night, among others, to understand the ideas and conventions of thought and bias among the early modern English literary and play-going culture. Using documents contemporary with Shakespeare’s writing, we’ll see how Shakespeare’s ideas are perhaps unoriginal, and how his inventions, experiments and riffs are extraordinary. There will be a midterm and a final exam in this course.

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 312 - Feminist Theory


    This advanced-level course is designed to explore in depth many of the theoretical frameworks and methodological issues that are touched upon in women’s studies and gender-balanced courses. The course focuses on historical and contemporary writings from a range of perspectives, including liberal feminism, radical feminism, socialist feminism and postmodernism. Special topics such as racism, lesbianism and international women’s issues are also examined.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Open to Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. Cross-listed with WGS 312  and PHIL 312 .

    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    23005

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • ENG 313 - Renaissance Poetry


    We begin with Skelton and proceed to sonnets by Wyatt, Surrey, Sidney, Drayton, Spenser, Shakespeare and Mary Wroth. Various theoretical perspectives will help us to consider how gender is constructed by the sonneteers as well as Jonson, Herrick, Queen Elizabeth I and Amelia Lanyer. Through our close reading, we’ll examine the literary conventions of form and meter and the divergence from such conventions made by Donne, Herbert, Marvell, Milton and Bradstreet.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • ENG 320 - Beowulf


    In this course students will translate all of Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon poem that is usually called the earliest English epic. Topics of discussion will include manuscripts and material culture, comparative philology, heroism and epic morality, influence, adaptation and oral tradition. Students must be proficient in Old English, having taken either ENG 208  or its equivalent.

    Prerequisites
    ENG 208  or Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • ENG 325 - The Eighteenth-Century Novel


    Before the 18th century, novels in English did not exist. By the end of the 18th century, however, many cultural figures worried about the seemingly obsessive novel reading that was going on among young (particularly female) readers. This course will examine what changed between 1700 and 1800 to make the novel the most important genre of English literature. We will explore the novel as a historical and literary phenomenon. We will see the many ways that the novel answered the grand social and cultural questions which dominated the 18th century. What is the difference between men and women? What makes a human life worthwhile? How should I relate to my family and loved ones? What makes a story seem truthful or false? By reading the prose of Defoe, Haywood, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Burney and Austen, we shall find out.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with WGS 324  

    Compass Attributes
    Global Honors, Structure/Power/Inequality
  
  • ENG 326 - Digital Victorians


    Coming after the English Civil War, the period from 1660 to 1800 involved some of the most significant transformations in British life, and poetry played a crucial part. We will begin by looking at vicious satires of gender and sexual relations and of political and religious beliefs composed by Rochester, Behn, Pope, Swift and Montagu. Then, we will chart how poetry changes when authors discover new motives for writing—such as financial gain or describing the exotic locales in Scotland, India and America”—or when poetry is written by figures who had historically been excluded from it, like lower-class workers or African Americans. Finally, we will see what happens at the end of the 18th century when poetry becomes visionary and spiritual, as it does for Blake, or self-consciously “ordinary,” as it does for Wordsworth and Coleridge.

    Prerequisites
    ENG 290  or Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    21004

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Global Honors, Humanities
  
  • ENG 332 - Creative Industries in the Digital Age


    The creative industries span a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit areas of artistic and cultural production, including everything from television, film and video, photography, music, and publishing, to advertising, architecture, crafts, design, fashion, games, the studio and performing arts, etc. In the U.S. alone, these industries employ roughly five million people and contribute nearly $1 trillion to the economy each year. This course provides students interested in the creative industries an opportunity to study and contribute to some of the ways in which new media and digital technologies are transforming how, when, where and by whom creative content is produced, distributed, consumed and experienced. In particular, we will take up several case studies to consider how digital technologies simultaneously and somewhat paradoxically democratize and professionalize creative innovation, creative labor, artistic production and intellectual property. Like the creative industries, the course will be project-based and will emphasize the importance of both basic digital literacy and data literacy as adjuncts to cultural literacy. Students should expect to explore and evaluate the cultural, social, technical and economic aspects of creative content production, distribution and consumption; to collect, analyze and visualize cultural data; and to work both individually and as members of teams throughout the semester. The course counts toward both the Area A and 300-level requirements for Film & New Media Studies majors.

    Prerequisites
    FNMS 231 Introduction to New Media or Permission of Instructor.

    Notes
    Cross-listed with FNMS 332

  
  • ENG 341 - Public Poetry, Private Poetry


    Is rap poetry? Do poetry slams encourage “bad” poets? We will look at questions like these in order to examine two competing ideas about poetry’s role in the contemporary world. Is poetry the last refuge of the individual in a world dominated by corporations, as poet Robert Pinsky argues? Or can poetry be the effective vehicle for public culture, as when Maya Angelou read her poetry at Clinton’s presidential inauguration? Poets will usually include established writers like Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, Adrienne Rich, Rita Dove, Joy Harjo and Yusef Komunyakaa and newer names like the gay, Cuban American poet Rafael Campo and slammers such as Willie Perdomo and Tracie Smith.

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 343 - Fictions of the Modern


    Fiction responding to the radical changes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – industrialization, urbanization, colonization, mass culture, the women’s movement, and the emerging scientific studies of sex and sexuality. We will study writers who searched for new ways to represent and explore experiences that the traditional novel did not or could not express. The novel’s response to emerging media such as film and radio will also be central to the course. The course’s thematic focus will vary from year to year, but will always include comparison between writers from the modernist period with one or two later 20th century or contemporary novels. In Spring 2017, the course focus will be on novelist’s treatment of modern ideas of gender and sexuality, figures such as the effeminate homosexual, the mannish woman, the new woman, the immigrant, and the spinster. We will read works by authors such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, May Sinclair, Samuel Selvon, Jean Rhys, Dorothy Sayers, and Radclyffe Hall.

    Prerequisites
    Seniors, Juniors or Sophomores who have taken ENG 290  or by Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    Global Honors
  
  • ENG 346 - Postmodern American Literature: The Pursuit of Meaning: Process and Provocation


    Postmodern texts and films undermine the linear sequences of cause and effect that we find in traditional fictions. They often defy normal logic, and since language is built on grammatical logic” a subject, a verb, the action upon an object” how can we ever get a grip on what appears to be non-rational, random and unprecedented? How do structure and styles change to accommodate this new perspective? Postmodernism also wrestles with the unknowability and inaccessibility of other people and ourselves.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    20059

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • ENG 347 - Blackness, Futurism, and Supernatural Fiction


    This class will explore Black literary and cultural aesthetics that operate in speculative and science fiction. Students will read across media, including short stories, manifestos, journalism, critical theory, novels, music and film to engage and answer questions about the links between the African diaspora, cultural politics, technological development, communication systems, distant pasts and possible futures. 

    Prerequisites
    ENG 290  .  Minors by Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with AFDS 347  

  
  • ENG 349 - Harlem Renaissance and Modernity


    An important period for artists in North America, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, the Harlem Renaissance (1919-1940) was also a chronicle of social and political dynamics such as uplift philanthropy and migration. This course examines its emergence as a distinctive current of black literature and arts in the modern world.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities, Structure/Power/Inequality, Taylor and Lane Scholars
  
  • ENG 357 - Cinema and the City


    From its beginning, cinema has been fascinated with the city as a site of social cohesion, capital flows and intense ideological conflicts. From Hollywood to Bollywood to Hong Kong, from Soviet socialist realism to German expressionism, Italian neo-realism and the French New Wave, virtually all major film movements have a special relationship to the metropole. In this course, we will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the relationship between film production and consumption, urban space, architecture and cultural geography. Required weekly film viewing.

    Prerequisites
    ENG 258 or ENG 290 or Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 376 - Literary and Cultural Theory


    This course enables students to explore in greater depth some of the ideas introduced in ENG 290 . Topics will change from year to year, but the course will include the study of language theories, postcolonial theory, cultural studies theory, and film and media theory. This course will be especially important for students who wish to attend graduate school in English.

    Prerequisites
    Two courses in English Literature or Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with FNMS 376   and WGS 376  

  
  • ENG 377 - Feminist Criticism


    Do women read or write differently? Has their work been marginalized? What difference do race, class and sexual orientation make? We will explore U.S., British and French approaches to feminist criticism; also psychoanalytic, Marxist, African American, queer, postcolonial and cultural-studies approaches.

    Prerequisites
    Two courses in Literature and/or Women’s and Gender Studies

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with WGS 377  

    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    23005

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • ENG 386 - Young Adult Literature


    What is Young Adult literature? Is it anything written for young people (aged 12 to 17? 10 to 25?) or is it literature appropriated by the young? Is it characteristically edgy? hopeful? defined by power relations? by abjection? Can it be canonical? What counts as a crossover novel? … In addition to grappling with criticism and theory, we’ll explore a wide range of literature for young adults, including science fiction, graphic fiction, poetry, and realistic fiction. The works address such topics as sex, love, LGBTQ, racism, violence, rape, the media, incest, history, hope, despair. Students will write frequently and create an online anthology.

    Prerequisites
    At least one English course at the 200-level or above or one Education course

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with WGS 386  

    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • ENG 399 - Independent Writing


    As part of the creative writing concentration, after successful completion of at least one advanced writing workshop, students may be invited to undertake a semester of independent writing under the guidance of and with permission of the instructor.

    Prerequisites
    Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 401 - Senior Seminar


    Students study individual authors or special topics in their seminar. A list for the following year is announced each spring. Students will be asked to express preferences among the subjects offered. Each group meets weekly. There are certain sections especially suited to writing and literature majors and to American Studies majors.

    Prerequisites
    Open to Senior Majors by permission of Department Chair

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 499 - Independent Writing


    As part of the creative writing concentration, after successful completion of at least one advanced writing workshop, students may be invited to undertake a semester of independent writing under the guidance of and with permission of the instructor.

    Prerequisites
    Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



  
  • ENG 500 - Individual Research and Writing


    Open to senior majors by invitation of the department; other interested students should consult with the chair of the department.

    Credits 1




Environmental Studies

  
  • ENV 210 - Water Resources Planning and Management


    Offered through the Marine Studies Consortium. Previously offered under INT 210.

    Credits 1



    Division
    Social Sciences

    Compass Attributes
    Social Science
  
  • ENV 215 - Coastal and Ocean Policy Management


    Offered through the Marine Studies Consortium.  Previously offered as INT 215 - Coastal Zone Management.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Social Sciences

    Division
    Social Sciences

    Compass Attributes
    Social Science
  
  • ENV 399 - Independent Research


    Discussion and research on special aspects of environmental studies. Content varies with the interest of students and instructors. Offered at the discretion of the department.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Permission of Instructor


Film and New Media Studies

  
  • FNMS 099 - Independent Study


    An opportunity to do independent work in a particular area not included in the regular courses.

    Credits .5



  
  • FNMS 115 - Problem Solving and Python Programming


    Problem-solving techniques and algorithm development with emphasis on program design, introductory numerical methods, and object-oriented programming in the Python language. This course is intended for those seeking a thorough and rigorous exposure to programming. While this is the introductory course for the Computer Science major, it is appropriate for programming in any field. Topics covered include programming language syntax, coding, debugging, testing, and good documentation style. Concepts include arithmetic and logical operations, simple input and output, functions, and introductory data structures such as strings, arrays/lists, dictionaries, and classes.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    A lab section must be selected with lecture.  Cross-listed with COMP 115 

     

    Area
    Math and Computer Science

    Connection
    20016, 21004

    Foundation
    Quantitative Analysis

    Compass Attributes
    Quantitative Analysis

  
  • FNMS 131 - Computing for Poets


    The use of computers to manage the storage and retrieval of written texts creates new opportunities for scholars of ancient and other written works. Recent advances in computer software, hypertext and database methodologies have made it possible to ask novel questions about a story, a trilogy, an anthology or corpus. This course teaches computer programming as a vehicle to explore the formal symbol systems currently used to define our digital libraries of text. Programming facilitates top-down thinking and practice with real-world problem-solving skills such as problem decomposition and writing algorithms.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with COMP 131   

    Area
    Math and Computer Science

    Connection
    20056

    Foundation
    Quantitative Analysis

    Compass Attributes
    Quantitative Analysis
  
  • FNMS 161 - Web Design


    As websites are found in every industry, it is increasingly important to understand today’s technology. Web Design is a hands-on course covering design principles and the core technologies used to implement modern websites.  Students design and implement websites using semantic markup languages, style sheets, and various software tools and applications.  Pages are brought to life by adding custom graphics and other media.  The course includes techniques for implementing effective, user-friendly, and real-world websites.  Students practice many concepts while in the classroom, and design, program, and upload their own pages to the department’s server as a major component of the course.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with COMP 161  

    Area
    Math and Computer Science

    Connection
    20042

    Foundation
    Quantitative Anaylsis

    Compass Attributes
    Quantitative Analysis
  
  • FNMS 175 - Media and Society


    The role and influence of the media in contemporary societies, with specific attention to questions regarding: the influence of the media over people’s lives in “mass society,” the political ideology inherent in mass media messages, the organization of media industries and the media as means for subcultural expressions.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with SOC 175   

    Area
    Social Sciences

    Connection
    20088, 20095

    Division
    Social Sciences

    Compass Attributes
    Social Science
  
  • FNMS 198 - Digital Tools for Art and Design


    This foundational course is an opportunity for students to gain familiarity and confidence with digital tools used commonly by artists and designers. Students will tackle a variety of exercises and creative projects using software such as Adobe Creative Suite, and emerge with skills that will serve them well in upper level courses in Visual Art as well as in creative professions.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with ART 198 Digital Tools for Art and Design   

  
  • FNMS 199 - Independent Study


    An opportunity to do independent work in a particular area not included in the regular courses.

    Credits 1



  
  • FNMS 230 - Comics and Graphic Novels


    During this course students will study the language of comics and learn how to develop original concepts and characters to create visual stories.

    Over the course of the semester we’ll study comics, graphic novels, and sequential art as a medium for communicating stories, ideas, and experiences. Students will learn the fundamentals of how to self-publish a short comic book; the workflow of taking an idea from start to finish using digital tools, drawing, and book layout software.

    Generating ideas, writing concept, developing characters, and designing visual language will be practiced through weekly sketchbook assignments, and in-class drawing and writing projects. During the semester each student will produce several short comic projects and one longer length comic.

    Prerequisites
    ART 111 Two-Dimensional Design  or  ART 116 Drawing I .  This course requires the completion of a survey to determine eligibility to register.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with ART 230 Comics and Graphic Novels  

  
  • FNMS 231 - Introduction to New Media


    This course introduces students to central issues in “new media”, a term that refers both to the emergence of new information and communication technologies as well as to the convergence of formerly distinct media — print, photography, cinema, radio, television, etc. — in digital environments. Though specific areas of focus will vary from year to year, students will engage topics such as the history and future of the Internet; the digitization of art, literature and film; digital copyright and intellectual property; the ‘freedom’ of information; social media and participatory culture; privacy vs. security; ‘smart’ technologies; and the role of new media in globalization and political movements.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    20095

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 235 - Journalism 2.0: Civic Media in the Digital Age


    This course will examine the present crisis in journalism and the decline of civic engagement in the US.  Students will build a class blog that will feature quality journalism that we produce in class. In addition, we will work towards organizing two public meetings towards the end of the semester inviting the broader Wheaton community to talk about topics relevant to misinformation and disinformation in today’s media.

    Unlike ENG 285 Journalism , which is primarily an introduction to news writing, this course combines 1) media literacy training, 2) an introduction to the theory and practice of civic media, and 3) opportunities to create civic media beyond the classroom.

    Our broader goal is to support and further develop civic engagement on campus.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities

  
  • FNMS 241 - Modernism and Mass Culture in France, 1848-1914


    See ARTH 250  for course description.

  
  • FNMS 244 - Visualizing Cultural Data


    This is a project-based, hands-on introductory course for anyone with an interest in data visualization and information design. No prior experience with design, data science, or programming is necessary. Students will learn to collect, prepare, and analyze data, and will use entry-level tools to build visualizations that produce meaningful insights. Projects will include designing an information dashboard, a narrative infographic, an interactive map, and a multi-panel interactive visual story. Students will learn to combine creative, critical, and computational thinking in ways that will strengthen their information fluency and digital literacy skills, skills that are increasingly important to academic success and professional pursuits alike.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Math and Computer Science

    Foundation
    Quantitative Analysis

    Compass Attributes
    Quantitative Analysis
  
  • FNMS 249 - Film Genres


    What makes a western a western, a musical a musical? For Hollywood, genre has historically served as a form of product differentiation organized around specific narrative codes and conventions. Genres reveal much about how Hollywood interacts with and responds to shifts in audience tastes and cultural values. The course will introduce students to a variety of Hollywood genres and theories of generic formation in order to increase our understanding of the commercial, artistic and ideological function of genres. Required weekly film viewing.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    20034

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 251 - Introduction to World Cinema


    This course is designed as an introduction to the critical concepts in the study of “world cinema”: Orientalism, Third World nationalism, diasporic cultural production and Global Hollywood. We will study a broad range of films, from the colonial adventure to the anti-colonial documentary, from avant-garde cinema to popular blockbusters. Rather than force the vast cinemas of the world into a stable grid of discrete national formations, this course encourages students to explore the connections between “global” and “local” cinematic worlds. Required weekly film viewing.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    20085

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Global Honors, Humanities
  
  • FNMS 252 - Photography and Knowledge, 1830-1930


    This course is a social history of photography which examines how the medium shaped categories of subjectivity in the 19th century (class, gender, race, nationality, for example). We study how photographic representations were a means to archive and classify fields of knowledge. The development of photography in this period intersected with the burgeoning sciences of ethnography and anthropology, and it was used in both topographical and expeditionary surveys. Faith in photography as a document made it a powerful witness to war, urban development, colonial expansion and social inequalities. While we study the work of photography’s more well-known practitioners from Europe and North America, our approach will not emphasize the aesthetic innovations of self-consciously artistic photography. Rather, we examine both professional and domestic photography as a means to produce knowledge about the world.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with ARTH 257  

    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 257 - Race and Racism in United States Cinema


    U.S. cinema has always struggled with both race and racism. This course examines the long, complex history of representations (and erasures) of racial difference in U.S. film. Although most mainstream films and public discussions frame race as a black-and-white issue, this course understands racial formations in the U.S. to be more multiple. We will watch films from a wide historical range that speak to and problematize the experiences of Chicanos, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and Anglo Americans (yes, white is a race, too) in the U.S. Required weekly film viewing.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    20034, 20094

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 258 - Introduction to Film Studies


    Current trends stemming from the globalization of the media and its accompanying media synergies make it untenable to view the cinema as a discrete, unitary phenomenon. This course addresses this phenomenon in a parallel manner by bridging the disciplinary divides between film theory, media and cultural studies. Conjoining theoretical and historical approaches to cinematic texts, institutions and audiences, this course explores the multidimensional nature of the cinema and its place in society: (1) as representational spaces with textual properties and reading protocols enabling the creation of “meaning,” (2) as a unique industry driven by political and economic agendas; and (3) as a social practice that audiences “do,” involving relations of subjectivity and power. As such, we shall survey various approaches to the study of the cinema, and work through crucial questions regarding film analysis (e.g., what is the relationship between film and literature?), the political economy of the media (e.g., is the cinema a democratic institution?) and audience reception (e.g., what is a fan? Why do we adore “stars”?). By engaging these issues, this course will teach you not only how to engage critically with media texts, but also how to “talk” to the powerful media institutions that touch our lives.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    20093

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 260 - Production I: Visual Storytelling with Film and Video


    An intensive hands-on introduction to the art and craft of visual storytelling with film/ video. The class is conceptually divided into four core areas; Image, Sound, Editing, and Storytelling. Students plan, shoot, and edit two short non-sync (no dialogue) projects while engaging in a broad exploration of the technical and artistic components of filmmaking. These projects are supported by in-class exercises, discussion, readings and some film screenings. This course is cross listed with ART 260  .

    Prerequisites
    Survey to determine eligibility to enroll in this course must be completed prior to registration.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Survey to determine eligibility to enroll in this course must be completed the week before registration.  Cross-listed with ART 260   

    Area
    Creative Arts

    Connection
    20093

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Creative Arts
  
  • FNMS 262 - Screenwriting


    Screenwriting examines the fundamentals of writing for visual media; idea development, screenplay format, story structure, character, dialogue, visualization, and conflict.  Students will write and workshop three scripts of varying lengths over the course of the semester, read a variety of scripts and screenplays, and review/critique a variety of short films.

    Prerequisites
    Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Survey to determine eligibility to enroll in this course must be completed the week before registration.  Cross-listed with ART 262 .

    Area
    Creative Arts

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Creative Arts, Writing
  
  • FNMS 264 - Animation l


    This course will introduce students to the world of animation through a series of hands-on exercises, projects, and screenings of the most impressive independent animation from around the world. The projects cover a variety of animation concepts and techniques, all of which are based in animating real materials and digital recording methods. Basic editing and sound design are introduced, as is output to a variety of digital formats and compressions. Group discussions accompany the discovery of animation films, techniques and methods. A final project of the student’s own design will be based on a Haiku. This course is cross listed with ART 264 .

    Prerequisites
    Survey to determine eligibility to enroll in this course must be completed prior to registration.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with ART 264 .  Formerly taught as Introduction to Animation.

    Area
    Creative Arts

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Creative Arts
  
  • FNMS 280 - Documentary Storytelling


    As online distribution has contributed to a golden age of short form non-fiction filmmaking, it is imperative that aspiring filmmakers and media-makers become fluent in the aesthetics and story potential of the documentary form. Documentary Storytelling is an intensive hands-on introduction to the art and craft of short form documentary production. Students will produce two documentary projects, engage in a variety of in-class filmmaking exercises and challenges, study a variety of films and texts, and critique each other’s work.

    Prerequisites
    Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Survey to determine eligibility to enroll in this course must be completed the week before registration.  Cross-listed with ART 280 .

    Area
    Creative Arts

    Division
    Arts and Humanites

    Compass Attributes
    Creative Arts
  
  • FNMS 283 - Advanced Writing: Digital Controversies


    In an electronic era, medium and message talk alike spark debate. Brownsville, Brooklyn police used Omnipresence, a video surveillance technology, leading one journalist to ask, “Sound policing, or stop and frisk by another name?” When Europe’s top court ruled that Google could be compelled to erase news articles about individuals, scholars wondered, “Should people have the right to be forgotten?” This course explores the different ways that writers discover, frame and deliberate digital controversies. Students will read and write about these controversies, honing their writing skills by composing and revising print essays, blogs, and digital essays in our workshop-centered course.

    Prerequisites
    ENG 101  or AP English. 

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with ENG 282 .  

    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 284 - Writing in Professional Contexts


    An advanced course in practical writing, with emphasis on writing as problem solving and on conciseness and clarity. Each student will select a particular local problem requiring a professional or technical solution, research the history of that problem, and write a report recommending a course of action to a specific audience. In addition to preparing frequent shorter writing assignments and the final large report, students will also be required to attend at least one career-related workshop or seminar offered by the Filene Center and to prepare a short report based on that seminar.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Open to Juniors and Seniors or Permission of Instructor.  Cross-listed with ENG 280    

    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    20018, 20080

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 285 - Journalism


    Journalism is the practice of presenting the public with timely and accurate information about matters of public interest. Our goal in this class is to develop skills that will allow you to produce journalism of your own. To this end we will practice and discuss reporting, investigating, interviewing, writing, editing, revising, re-investigating and polishing.  

    The only way to learn to write journalistically is to do it. You will therefore be doing a lot of writing in this class: multiple short news briefs and full-length articles, as well as a comparative essay and a final in-depth enterprise story. But writing in a journalistic style is not enough to make you a journalist. The essence of journalism is timely publication, and the course, therefore, will operate according to the same kinds of strict deadlines, for both initial drafts and revisions, that are required in the profession. This course is cross listed with ENG 285 .

    Prerequisites
    ENG 101 or AP credit

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Open to Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors.  Cross listed with ENG 285  

    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities, Writing
  
  • FNMS 298 - Film Genres


    What makes a western a western? What’s the difference between sci-fi and fantasy? This course will explore how genres like these form and change over time, as a way of examining how the film industry responds to shifting audience tastes and cultural values. We’ll also explore how the animating tensions of Hollywood genre cinema—civilization v. the wild; whiteness v. the Other; justice v. vengeance; emotion v. reason—play out in stories that seem at once thoroughly fantastical and uniquely American.

    Credits 1



  
  • FNMS 298 - Horror Film and the Unruly Body


    Horror films often treat marginalized bodies as monstrous “Others.” Histories of stigmatization, however, tell only part of the story. Minority audiences have always enjoyed and critiqued the horror genre, and filmmakers from F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu) to Jordan Peele (Get Out) have appropriated the genre to their own ends. This course will explore how unruly bodies—women, people of color, queer populations, and disabled groups—have defined the horror film in front of the camera, and increasingly, how they have moved behind the camera to create their own tales of power, fear, irony, and identity.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with WGS 298  

  
  • FNMS 298 - Introduction to TV Studies


    Televisions still sit in most American homes but the way we consume TV is increasingly “cordless.” We use the internet, smart phones, or watch through subscription services (ex. Netflix) that do not require a television set. To understand how we got here, this class will look to television’s past. We’ll explore TV in three phases: the network era; the 1970s-80s in which cable television loosened networks’ hold on consumers; and the current “on-demand” moment that has further destabilized traditional ideas of audience and content delivery. Using an interdisciplinary critical toolbox that includes television history and theory, cultural studies, and theories of representation, students will learn how to critically engage (while still enjoying) a medium that has powerfully shaped American life.

    Credits 1



  
  • FNMS 298 - Journalism 2.0


    This course will examine the fundamental shifts in the way news has been produced, circulated and received at the twilight of the Big News era.  Unlike ENG 285 Journalism, which is primarily an introduction to news writing, this course is designed as an in-depth examination of the power and pitfalls of citizen journalism—news writing by non-professional journalists using digital platforms and following individually-determined standards of objectivity. We will track its material conditions of possibility, its democratic potential for facilitating civic engagement as well as its complicity in the spread of fake news. The course will provide you with an understanding of the origins and impact of citizen journalism and ultimately ask you to seek solutions to the problem of fake news by examining the conditions, challenges and supports that promote responsible citizen journalism.

    Credits 1



  
  • FNMS 298 - Museums in the Digital Age


    From audio guides to crowdsourced exhibitions to award-winning social media accounts, museums have always experimented with the latest forms of technology, at times driven to do so by artists who incorporate new media into their work. Today, museums receive exponentially greater numbers of visitors to their websites than their physical sites, and the pace of technological change has staff scrambling to gather the human and financial resources needed to function in the digital age. This course explores how museums – highly respected, yet often controversial cultural institutions – use digital media and technologies to better care for their collections, engage their audiences, and navigate relationships with source communities.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with ARTH 298 Museums in the Digital Age .

  
  • FNMS 298 - Podcast Production and Storytelling


    Students will learn the art and craft of audio-based storytelling by producing their own audio projects and engaging with a variety of creative work within the medium. They will learn the process of properly recording and editing sound, both in the field and in-studio environments. They will learn the proper development process in advance of recording, how to structure interviews and conversations, and how to build complex soundscapes. Students will create and develop their own original podcast in a mode of their choice; narrative, documentary, experimental, or conversational.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with ART 298 Podcast Production and Storytelling . Survey to determine eligibility to enroll in this course must be completed prior to registration.

  
  • FNMS 298 - Race, Gender and Television


    How has television dealt with race, gender, and other forms of difference? How have marginalized artists created space for themselves in the TV industry? This seminar will explore how four groups—African Americans, LGBTQ+ populations, women, and those with disabilities—have shaped, and were shaped by, TV history. In addition to studying televisual representation, students will explore how industrial shifts (ex. the demographics of writers’ rooms) and audience practices (ex. binge-watching), affect what we see on TV and who gets the power to make it. Required weekly viewing.

    Prerequisites
    Permission of instructor

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

  
  • FNMS 298 - Racism in the US Media


    This course explores racialized narratives in the U.S. media ecosystem. We will examine how media has historically shaped our perceptions of racial tensions in the 20th century U.S. context, how the introduction of new media forms has fractured this once more streamlined process, and what opportunities and challenges this presents for both producers and consumers of media. In order to produce quality, social-justice oriented digital content, the course will also dedicate time to learning the techniques of audio production: ethical considerations, story outlines, recording equipment, interviews, and postproduction.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-referenced with SOC 298  

  
  • FNMS 299 - Independent Study


    An opportunity to do independent work in a particular area not included in the regular courses.

    Credits 1



  
  • FNMS 316 - Music, Sound and the Moving Image


    An exploration of film music from 1895 to the present through classic and contemporary films and film scores by important directors and composers.  Considerable viewing, discussion, frequent reading and writing assignments, and creative editing projects using Garage Band and IMovie.

    Prerequisites
    MUSC 114  or MUSC 115  and one 200-level Music course or Permission of Instructor.  

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with MUSC 316   

    Area
    Creative Arts

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Creative Arts
  
  • FNMS 331 - Digital Culture


    Designed for students with a wide range of interests in print and visual media, this course explores the various ways in which the new communication technologies and the digitization of culture impacts issues such as representation, textuality, narrative, interpretation and the production of cultural meaning. Sample topics of inquiry include: the future of print, film and television in the age of trans-media entertainment; Digital Humanities; intellectual property rights vs. open-access and the digital commons; social media and online communities; the impact of ethnic and community media and global Internet culture on language, race and citizenship. 

    Prerequisites
    FNMS 231 Introduction to New Media    

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanites

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 332 - Creative Industries in the Digital Age


    The creative industries span a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit areas of artistic and cultural production, including everything from television, film and video, photography, music, and publishing, to advertising, architecture, crafts, design, fashion, games, the studio and performing arts, etc. In the U.S. alone, these industries employ roughly five million people and contribute nearly $1 trillion to the economy each year. This course provides students interested in the creative industries an opportunity to study and contribute to some of the ways in which new media and digital technologies are transforming how, when, where and by whom creative content is produced, distributed, consumed and experienced. In particular, we will take up several case studies to consider how digital technologies simultaneously and somewhat paradoxically democratize and professionalize creative innovation, creative labor, artistic production and intellectual property. Like the creative industries, the course will be project-based and will emphasize the importance of both basic digital literacy and data literacy as adjuncts to cultural literacy. Students should expect to explore and evaluate the cultural, social, technical and economic aspects of creative content production, distribution and consumption; to collect, analyze and visualize cultural data; and to work both individually and as members of teams throughout the semester. The course counts toward both the Area A and 300-level requirements for Film & New Media Studies majors.

    Prerequisites
    FNMS 231  or Permission of Instructor.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 335 - Exhibition Design


    This course introduces students to the history, practice and theory of exhibition design. In this course, we will engage in all aspects of the exhibition design process through reading, in-class discussions, site visits, and guest lectures as well as the design and installation of an exhibition. We will consider the visitor experience and how objects and ideas are inter­preted by and for different audiences, as well as how museums use technology to engage the public. Students will gain an understanding of the history of exhibition design as well as the challenges museums/like institutions face in making their collections accessible to the communities they serve. Students will be required to participate fully in the practical component of the course, which involves the research for and the design and installation of an exhibition for Wheaton’ Beard and Weil Galleries.

    Prerequisites
    Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Registration for the pre-application section of this course is required.  Eligibility to enroll in this course will be determined at the first day of class.  Cross-listed with ARTH 335  

    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities, Sophomore Experience
  
  • FNMS 355 - Global Cinemas


    How has cinema “gone global”? This course explores how globalization has impacted the way films are made, circulated and received in an increasingly interconnected world system. Through specific case studies, we will examine how transnational circuits of cultural exchange have dramatically transformed the world’s media landscape, giving rise to a global imaginary with profound implications for the construction of identity.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Foundation
    Beyond the West

    Compass Attributes
    Global Honors, Humanities, Structure/Power/Inequality, Taylor and Lane Scholars
  
  • FNMS 356 - Third Cinema


    In this course, we will trace the political, economic and cultural contexts that shaped Third Cinema, the only body of film theory that did not originate in Europe or North America. First elaborated in the militant manifestos of Latin American filmmakers during the 1960s, the theory argued for an independent and aesthetically radical cinema keyed to the anti-colonial politics of an emergent Third world political consciousness. Through a mix of case studies and theoretical explication, this course asks you to think about how the issues flagged by Third Cinema may actually be especially relevant today.

    Credits 1



    Area
    Humanities

    Connection
    20091

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Foundation
    Beyond the West

    Compass Attributes
    Global Honors, Humanities, Structure/Power/Inequality, Taylor and Lane Scholars
  
  • FNMS 358 - Digital Humanities Methods and Tools


    See HISP 358  for course description.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Course taught in English.  Cross-listed with HISP 358  

    Area
    Humanities

    Division
    Arts and Humanites

    Compass Attributes
    Humanities
  
  • FNMS 360 - Film Production II


    An intensive hands-on film/video production in which students will explore advanced techniques in directing, cinematography, lighting, editing, and sound design. The class will be broken up into teams of four students, who will conceive a story, translate it into visual language, and produce a 10-minute film. This project is supported with a variety of in-class critique sessions, hands-on production challenges, discussions, and film screenings.

    Prerequisites
    ART 260 . Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Registration for the pre-application section of this course is required.  Eligibility to enroll in this course will be determined at the first day of class.  Cross-listed with ART 360  

    Area
    Creative Arts 

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Creative Arts, Sophomore Experience
  
  • FNMS 376 - Literary and Cultural Theory


    See ENG 376  for course description.

    Prerequisites
    Two courses in English literature or Permission of Instructor

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Juniors and Seniors only.  Cross-listed with ENG 376 and WGS 376  

  
  • FNMS 398 - Creative Industries in the Digital Age


    The creative industries span a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit areas of artistic and cultural production, including everything from television, film and video, photography, music, and publishing, to advertising, architecture, crafts, design, fashion, games, the studio and performing arts, etc. In the U.S. alone, these industries employ roughly five million people and contribute nearly $1 trillion to the economy each year. This course provides students interested in the creative industries an opportunity to study and contribute to some of the ways in which new media and digital technologies are transforming how, when, where and by whom creative content is produced, distributed, consumed and experienced. In particular, we will take up several case studies to consider how digital technologies simultaneously and somewhat paradoxically democratize and professionalize creative innovation, creative labor, artistic production and intellectual property. Like the creative industries, the course will be project-based and will emphasize the importance of both basic digital literacy and data literacy as adjuncts to cultural literacy. Students should expect to explore and evaluate the cultural, social, technical and economic aspects of creative content production, distribution and consumption; to collect, analyze and visualize cultural data; and to work both individually and as members of teams throughout the semester. 

    Prerequisites
    FNMS 231  or permission of Instructor.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    The course counts toward both the Area A and 300-level requirements for Film & New Media Studies majors. 

  
  • FNMS 398 - Queer Cinema


    Queer Cinema and TV: What does mean to “queer” a film? How have LGBTQ+ artists created space for themselves on television? The seminar will focus on queer media, with the goal of exploring how film and television shape the perception of sexual and gendered identities (particularly at intersection with other forms of difference including race, class, region, and disability). The class will be organized chronologically, moving from classical Hollywood cinema through queer representation in a post-marriage equality world. Queer theory, television studies, critical race theory, and feminist readings will be interwoven through the course, and texts examined will range from Paris is Burning and Moonlight to Orange is the New Black and Black Mirror.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-referenced with WGS 398

  
  • FNMS 398 - Transmedia Franchises


    Transmedia storytelling—a narrative or universe that unfolds across multiple platforms—seems a very modern phenomenon. However, this form of storytelling has a much longer history. This course will examine that longer history of transmedia franchising through a series of case studies that will range from Star Wars to Veronica Mars and the Marvel universe (think: The Avengers). Our exploration will take us down still-emerging paths in media studies, and will also allow us to discuss key issues in media history: how producers have historically dealt with fan cultures, the influence of video games and new media on Hollywood, how storytelling conventions change across media, the development of genre, and the ever-shifting power dynamic between fans, artists, industry professionals, and stars.

    Credits 1



  
  • FNMS 398 - Women in Film


    This course is formulated around paradoxes: it will trouble the category of “woman,” while also analyzing key areas in which gender identity has affected the film industry: the representation of women, women filmmakers (cis, trans, non-binary, and otherwise self-identifying), and feminist film theory. Students will watch films from Rear Window and Daughters of the Dust to The Witch and Legally Blonde, with the goal of illuminating how the idea of “woman” is constructed on film and how audiences engage, reshape, and elaborate on that construction in their everyday lives. 

    Prerequisites
    Students are strongly encouraged to have taken either FNMS 258, WGS 101 or WGS 102 prior to taking this course.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with WGS 398  

  
  • FNMS 399 - Independent Study


    An opportunity to do independent work in a particular area not included in the regular courses.

    Credits 1



  
  • FNMS 401 - Senior Seminar


    This is the capstone course for Film and New Media Studies majors. Each seminar will focus on one or more aspects of film, new media and/or other creative industries. Although topics will vary from year to year, the seminar is fundamentally project-based insofar as it is designed to provide students with both the guidance and autonomy necessary to design and complete a capstone project that is meaningful to them “Ò academically, creatively, professionally. In addition to the capstone project, students will co-facilitate at least one seminar meeting and will be expected to participate actively in the intellectual and creative community of the seminar both in class and online. Students will also complete an inventory and self-assessment of the knowledge, experience and expertise they have developed throughout their coursework in order to identify connections between their academic and professional skill sets, and to help them to leverage their experiences as Film and New Media Studies majors in their post-Wheaton pursuits effectively and intentionally.

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Normally open to Senior majors. Permisison of Program Coordinator

  
  • FNMS 471 - Ensemble Experience


    Development of a theme-based theatre project, including the writing and performance of a script, the design of sets, lights and costumes, and the preparation of effective publicity. This is the Theatre Studies and Dance Department’s senior seminar/capstone experience. Students may petition for an alternative capstone. Limited to senior majors and minors.

     

    Credits 1



    Notes
    Cross-listed with THEA 471  

    Area
    Creative Arts

    Division
    Arts and Humanities

    Compass Attributes
    Creative Arts


First Year Experiences

  
  • FYE 101 - A Better and Mores Sustainable Future For All: Policy, Social Innovation and the Politics of the UN Sustainable Development Goals


    Imagine a world with no poverty, a world in which hunger is a relic of the past, where clean air and water are accessible to everyone, quality education available to all, gender equity a universal reality, and societies becoming ever more prosperous thanks to advanced transportation and communications infrastructure. Although this may sound like a utopian fantasy, they are just some of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which call for bold efforts to foster dramatic social and economic development around the world by the year 2030. Together, the SDGs are a summons to harness humanity’s ingenuity, organization, and idealism. This course will introduce students to some of the world’s most pressing problems in development by exploring the UN SDGs and various efforts to achieve them. Through case studies and team-based exercises, students will learn about how different sectors–government, business, and the nonprofit sector–approach development from diverse perspectives. For their final project, students will work in teams to design an initiative that will address one of the 17 SDGs. They will identify a development problem, assess its impact on a community, and then propose a set of solutions to the problem they have identified. Proposed solutions will identify: the stakeholders affected and how they will be engaged; the resources required and how they will be obtained; the impact of the political environment and how it might influence the course of the project, and the expected impact of the project on the community.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - Controlling Cultural Heritage: Perspectives from Museum Studies, Philosophy, and Political Theory


    What do the Parthenon Marbles, an ancient carved obelisk, and the tattooed head of a Maori chief have in common? They have all been the focus of contested claims over cultural property, specifically for repatriation. Repatriation occurs when a nation (or people) demands the return of objects currently found in another country, often in a museum. Contested claims over cultural heritage have existed for millennia. In our first-year experience course, we will explore several questions from three different perspectives: museum studies, philosophy, and political theory. Among these are: Who controls cultural heritage? What is its political relevance? How do individuals, nations, and the international community create and resolve disputes over cultural heritage? We will investigate different cultural, historical, and philosophical understandings of aesthetics, value, property, and ownership and use case studies — and Wheaton’s Permanent Collection — to study attempts to exercise control over cultural objects. We will consider the beliefs, economics, ethics, political theory, and laws that underpin such attempts and explore their success or failure by critiquing the arguments used to demand the return of cultural objects and to reject such claims.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - Cross-Cultural Encounters


    What happens when cultures cross geopolitical, historical and imaginary borders? How do they migrate through both time and place, navigate communication and exchange, and transform their identity and experience of others? Through an exploration of musical, linguistic, artistic, visual, and literary texts, we will examine questions about personal belonging, identity, and home in order to understand the nature of community identity as a dynamic relationship between the shifting boundaries between self and other.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - Dialogue Across Difference for Social Change


    Our world is plagued with racism, sexism, poverty, climate change, and other systemic social problems.  It is also increasingly polarized, with people insulating themselves from hearing viewpoints that differ from their own.  News outlets cater to the worldviews their watchers already possess.  This FYE will help students understand how our identities construct our positions, develop empathy towards those who might have different lived experiences, and dialogue with those who hold different views. Therefore, early in the semester students will engage in experiential exercises to reflect on their own social location/identities—how our identities embody social difference. How do those social groups impact our experience?  How do power and privilege show up in our lives, especially as we relate to people who are different from us?  They will learn about and practice the art of dialogue -what does dialogue mean? How are individuals and institutions using different types of dialogues to fight for social justice in local, national and global contexts?  Students will participate in actual dialogues to learn how to listen, empathize and act to become social change agents.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - Entrepreneurship, Sports, and Popular Culture


     In “Sports: Economics and Impact,” James Freeman explores microeconomic concepts and analysis through the sports industry. In addition to studying economic concepts of demand, supply, markets, ticket pricing, taxation and equity, labor contracts, NCAA collegiate amateur sports, and public financing of sports stadiums and arenas, Freeman also covers gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality discrimination in employment and wages and social activism in sports.

    In “Business and Culture in the Nineteenth-Century United States,” Kathryn Tomasek investigates historical examples of popular culture, entrepreneurship, and sensational news. The people studied include a millworker turned daredevil, a family of free African Americans before the U.S. Civil War, the founders of Wheaton Female Seminary, and newspaper editors.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience

  
  • FYE 101 - First Year Experience


    The Connected First Year Experience (FYE) is designed for and required of new students at the beginning of their college studies. The experience is designed to put connections/interdisciplinarity at the core of the first-year experience, encourage exploration and excitement, develop strong student cohorts, and introduce students to the rigor of college-level work. Teams of two to four faculty representing at least two disciplines will work together to determine a shared topic, question, or problem that will guide their FYE class. These faculty will teach collaboratively, but will have the autonomy to design the structure of the student experience.

    Section topics vary from year to year and are available within the  Course Schedule. Recent sections have covered topics in the arts, ecology, international relations, social and public policy, personal development, the sciences and history. Students typically are placed in an FYE section by late June before registering for other first-semester courses.

    Learning Outcomes

    • Engage with multiple disciplinary perspectives and the tools, habits of mind, and problem-solving approaches inherent in those perspectives
    • Create a product applying at least two disciplinary perspectives to address a big question, issue, or problem
    • Create a collaborative, communicative, and cooperative cohort through classwork in teams, team projects, or shared work across sections of the Connected FYE
    • Practice and demonstrate professional decorum through time-management, preparation, communication, and relationship-development skills to be assessed by the instructor


    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience

  
  • FYE 101 - History in American and Russian Film


    Human beings are narrative creatures.  We have always told stories as a way of understanding ourselves and the world around us.  The common themes of these stories provide the broad outlines of a common human experience, while their variety embodies the richness of imagination and lived experience. In this FYE, we’ll look at American and Russian films in parallel periods to see how film storytelling varies by culture, region, and historical context. Over the millennia, these stories have been told around campfires, acted out in ritual and theater, and recorded in texts. In the past 100 years, film has become a powerful new way for human beings to tell and share stories.  With the advent of film, people from vastly different cultures could see and hear each other’s stories with a new immediacy. In this course, students will examine the phenomenon of human storytelling by learning to “read” films with special attention to their cultural and historical contexts. By engaging films and other texts, students will be able to draw connections, make interpretive arguments, and share what they have learned in oral and written presentations.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - Make it New: Modernism in Literature and the Arts


    Do we experience the world as it really is? Do the arts represent the world? Or do they create the world for us to understand? Can we understand the world at all? How about ourselves? These are a few of the questions raised by the artists, musicians, and writers whose ideas became central to early-twentieth century modernism. We will focus especially on German and Austrian figures such as the psychologist Sigmund Freud, the artist Wassily Kandinsky, the composer Arnold Schoenberg, the architect Mies van der Rohe, and the writer Franz Kafka who didn’t just change their disciplines: they radically transformed the ways that humans thought about themselves, their relationships with each other and with society as a whole, and how the arts could be used to explore these new conceptions of the world. By questioning, reformulating, and even destroying 19th-century ideas about art, music, literature, and human nature, modernism paved the way for a new world: one marked by an unceasing critical exploration of nearly every aspect of human culture and society.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - Our Green World: Discovering Science in Nature


    This course will celebrate the biodiversity of the plant kingdom and the role that plants play in providing valuable ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration. Plants are Earth’s first defense against anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions while also being highly vulnerable to climate change. Plants are ecosystem engineers and occupy the base of most food chains.

    They provide humans with food, beverages, medicines, recreational drugs, fiber, and building materials. Have you thanked a plant today? In this class we will hug trees, develop an appreciation for their beauty and diversity, assess their diversity on the Wheaton campus, and explore their ability to ameliorate climate change and pollution. This course will also examine how nature uses green plants to clean up contaminated soil, groundwater, and wastewater.  Students in this FYE will learn about how plants remediate contaminated wastewater. They will apply these principles to waste tea leaves as sorbent for removal of toxic heavy metals from wastewater. Molecular modeling software MOE will be employed to model the interaction of chemical structures found in tea waste with toxic heavy metals.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience

  
  • FYE 101 - Putin’s Russia


    Across the globe in the last decade, the world has seen a rise in populist movements. Hungary, Poland, Italy, even Britain and the United States have seen authoritarian figures swept into power on a wave of resentment over economic inequality and xenophobia. Interestingly enough, Russia experienced a similar movement, just much earlier. Vladimir Putin has maintained power in Russia for the last 20 years partly by harnessing such feelings and even stoking them abroad. In this class, we will examine the history of Putin’s rise to power, the cultural environment it has produced, and the furtive democratic moments that have risen to meet it. Among other things, we’ll look at the fall of the Soviet Union, the rise of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s political meddling, Pussy Riot and Alexei Navalny.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - Racial Justice and the Arts


    Small slights and slips of the tongue happen in conversation, and often can be perceived as instances of unconscious bias or even racism in our everyday encounters. Perhaps even more offensive are the harmful stereotypes we witness in public spaces—online, on TV, on public transit, in sports and entertainment, the arts, and so forth. The stress takes a toll on the person or persons being targeted, sometimes fatally. Importantly, both unconscious bias and overt racism ruin relationships and threaten our democracy. In this FYE, group participants will use Claudia Rankine’s Citizen to open up room for reflection, critical analysis, and artistic expression that imagine new ways for moving forward  as citizens of the United States.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - Stories through Sound and Music


    How does sound combine with images to create meaning in film? Sound can suggest images of its own and, likewise, moving images can take on musical characteristics through editing. In this course we will study the “rhetoric” of sound and how it works with and sometimes against images, to tell stories. We will examine how sound and the music elements of melody, harmony, rhythm, and orchestration deepen our understanding of the characters, stories and narrative elements in film through such films The Rules of the Game, High Noon, Hiroshima mon amour, Psycho, Blue, Moonrise Kingdom, Love Me Tonight, Casablanca, The Phantom of the Opera, High Noon, Psycho, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - Storytelling and Social Change


    Stories make us, and we make ourselves through the stories we hear and don’t hear, tell, and don’t tell.  Over millennia and across cultures, stories about particular places, people, objects, or ideas have been told and retold in different ways and from different perspectives.  Today, everyone is a publisher, and anyone can tell their story to the world with a few clicks. Support is shown, communities are built, and revolutions rise all through the creation and sharing of stories.

    This class will focus on how storytelling can be used for social change and will engage the work of artists, organizations, advertising campaigns, museums, and more. We’ll move beyond simply consuming stories and begin creating our own. Change is coming, and your stories will be part of it.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience

  
  • FYE 101 - The Mind: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives


    What is the mind, and how is it related to the brain? Though philosophers have long considered the topic, the interdisciplinary approach of cognitive science is relatively recent. In this course, we will approach topics such as consciousness, agency and free will, and the mind/body problem from the perspectives of a philosopher and a cognitive psychologist.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - The Monstrous and the Marvelous: Fairy Tales across Cultures


    This FYE analyzes the structure, meaning, and function of fairy tales and their enduring influence on literature and popular culture. We will draw fairy tales from various national traditions and historical periods and examine them as cherished yet controversial conduits of learning that framed our childhood and shaped personal identities. We will explore pedagogical and political uses and abuses of fairy tales and investigate their origins and their continued relevance in, for example, children’s psychological development, traditional gender roles, as well as the means by which fairy tale and folk motifs are transferred to other media such as film (think Disney!) and music.

    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience
  
  • FYE 101 - What Good is College?


    We will explore the different ways people think about college, as well as whether college is equally good for everyone who attends.  In the U.S., people have long idealized higher education as a meritocracy, offering opportunities for upward social mobility for any student with the drive, intelligence, and desire to succeed. But, is it possible that the way college is organized benefits some people more than others?

    Using tools from sociology, education, and history, we will explore these issues by asking three questions:

    • What is college good for? (What are its purposes? Who should attend? Who should pay for it?)
    • For whom is college good? (Does every student have an equal chance to succeed? Does success mean the same thing for each student?)
    • How is college good? (How do colleges approach their work? How do they know if they’re succeeding?)


    Credits 1



    Compass Attributes
    First Year Experience


First Year Seminars

  
  • FSEM 101 - “The Night Shift:” Tales of the Supernatural


    Even in our technological twenty-first century, we are still haunted by the supernatural. Armies of vampires, ghosts, and zombies continue to roam across our screens and book pages. What makes these stories so frightening, and so compelling? What cultural functions do they perform? Do they have literary status, or do works like The Shining or the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina represent a “lesser” or “popular” genre? This course asks students to closely consider these questions, critically examining both fiction and film, as well as the works of scholars who have theorized about the appeal and function of the supernatural tale.

    Credits 1



  
  • FSEM 101 - Addressing Inequality in the U.S.: An Integrated FYS


    Is inequality a trap set by society? Can we do something about it? Should we? This innovative First-Year Seminar will explore these questions and consider possible solutions through the lens of four disciplines: art + design, literature, politics, and sociology. You will engage with four professors from these areas over the course of the semester, working collaboratively and individually toward a final project that will draw on interdisciplinary thinking to address urgent social problems. Topics will include housing inequality, poverty, racial discrimination, and the politics of public art. You will meet in small class groups led by your individual faculty advisor, but will come together with other professors and students in a joint investigation of these topics.

    Credits 1



 

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